BEARD (Heb. זָקָן, H2417). The possession of a beard was a sign of maturity among all the Sem. peoples of the ancient Near E. In most of the languages the word for “elder” or “grownup” is a cognate of the verbal and nominal forms meaning “beard”; e.g. the common Heb. phrase, זִקְנֵ֖י בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל, “the elders of the children of Israel” (Exod 4:29, et al.). The ancient monuments display many types of bearded figures, certain styles being characteristic of specific peoples and cultures. So important was this in the formal regalia of high officials that statues and paintings of certain royal women of Egypt show them wearing false beards on state occasions. In the OT the beards of the Israelites were not to be altered along the edges, and the rabbinical comments on this injunction (Lev 19:27) point out that in the Jewish view the beard was the man’s glory. The priests were prohibited from clipping the edges of their beards (21:5), while the anointing of the beard was a serious religious act. The shaving of the beard was an act of striking and severe contrition and symbolized a radical alteration in the state of things (Isa 7:20, et al.), wherein the shaving of the prophet’s beard portends God’s judgment. The assurance of the sacrosanct character of the masculine beard is that of restraining women from cutting their hair and the cutting off or shaving of prisoners of war. In the case of Samson (Judg 16:19) the shaving of his head carried an additional stigma—that of rendering him less than a man. Another less frequent term used in the OT is Heb. שָׂפָם, H8559, “mustache,” and appears only in Leviticus 13:45 and a few other passages. The Gr. and Rom. civilizations did not prefer the beard and went clean shaven which only reinforced the Jewish traditions respecting the growth of beards.