Proverbs-Related Topical Wisdom

The Beard, its Historical and Biblical Significance

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Old Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2011-07-19

Synopsis: John Weaver argues that the beard holds profound biblical and historical significance, serving as a symbol of life, submission to God, separation unto God, and divine blessing. He traces the history of beards from ancient Egypt through the Reformation, showing how beards have been associated with godliness and masculinity, while clean-shaven faces often indicated slavery, paganism, or judgment. Weaver emphasizes that while the beard is not a requirement for holiness, it is a God-given distinction for men that should not be dismissed, and he calls believers to think biblically about the practice of shaving.

[John Weaver] All right, so let's open our Bibles into the book of Leviticus chapter 19. The message today is the biblical and the historical significance of the beard. And you will not think that there's too much in the Bible concerning that, but there is a wealth of material. So look in Leviticus chapter 19 and let's look at verses 26 through 28. God tells the people. You shall not eat anything with the blood, neither shall you use enchantment, nor observe times. Then in verse 27, Leviticus 19, you shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you. I am the Lord. Then if you'll look in Leviticus 21, beginning there with verse one, And this is in reference to even the priest here. The other was in reference to all of God's people in general. And the Lord said unto Moses, speak down to the priests, the sons of Aaron and say to them, there shall none be defiled for the dead among his people, but for his kin that is near unto him, that is for his mother and for his father, for his son, for his daughter, for

[John Weaver] his brother and for a sister or virgin that is nigh unto him, which hath no husband. For her may he be defiled, but he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself. They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh. They shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the name of their God. For the offerings of the Lord made by fire and the bread of their God they do offer. Therefore they shall be holy." Many years ago, I preached this message on the biblical and the historical significance of the beard. This message has basically been around the world. And when I say it's been around the world, I have received comments from this message from Italy, South Africa, England, Wales.

[John Weaver] It is one of the most listened to messages on sermon audio. It is one of the most downloaded messages. But since I preached this message many years ago, it has been copied. It has been plagiarized. In some instances, it has been vilified. I have seen this message with. Another. pastor's name attached to it. And which I really don't mind. And the one that I'm thinking of particularly, he added just one or two little things.

[John Weaver] And I showed Alice, I got so tickled, I said, look at this, look at this. And it's on the internet, by the way. And he even used an illustration that I have. And since he didn't know me, he said, there is in Pastor John Weaver's office. So I said, well, that's fine, too. But I certainly do not mind the message being preached or repreached or reclaimed by anyone.

[John Weaver] I'm kind of like Paul. I'm just rejoicing in the fact that at least the word of God is being preached and is getting out. So there have been a number of preachers that have asked me and a number of people that have asked me to redo this message. So let me begin by telling you what I'm not going to be doing in this message. First, I'm not defending my beard very obviously. It does not need defending. And the very fact that I've had it for over 40 years. Demonstrates and proves that I really genuinely believe what I'm going to share with you this day. In fact, my grandchildren, none of them have ever seen me without a beard.

[John Weaver] And probably my children do not even remember me with not having a beard, unless they glance at a picture occasionally every now and then. So I'm not defending the beard.

[John Weaver] Secondly, I'm not trying to bind my convictions upon your conscience. I do pray that the Word of God will be open to you, that you may see the truth of what I am preaching. But the fact of the matter is, it's your responsibility to study the Scripture for yourself and search out the matter. The Bible tells you in Proverbs 25 and verse 2, it is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but it's the honor of kings to search out a matter. So, it's your responsibility then to search out this matter according to the Word of God.

[John Weaver] Thirdly, I am not saying, and listen carefully, I am not saying that a man that does not have a beard is less holy than one who does have a beard. Moreover, I am not saying that a man with a beard is more holy than a man without a beard. But I am going to show you shortly from Scripture what a beard does indeed represent and why I believe from Scripture especially a godly man should have a visible beard.

[John Weaver] Fourthly, I'm not asking you, the men particularly, to grow a beard for my benefit. I would never encourage anyone to do anything that they do not understand that is based upon the pure word of God. I am not the Lord of your conscience. Jesus Christ is the Lord of your conscience, so you are to be bound by His word and not my word. But I would ask you to submit to the Word of God and to be easily entreated, as James says, to the engrafted Word of God, which I believe will give you a great deal of understanding upon this subject, and you will find out that in reality a beard is not only A very

[John Weaver] important matter, it is a biblical matter, according to Scripture. Now, let me tell you what I'm going to ask you to do at the very beginning. I'm going to ask you to do that which our Lord commands in John 7 and verse 24, when he says, judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment. Unhappily, most people judge by appearance. They do not judge by righteous judgment or just judgment.

[John Weaver] If you want to go by appearance, I could take you down to our local post office, and I could take you through the FBI's most wanted list, or the pictures they have there of the men that they want, and I could show you where probably 90% of the wanted men on the FBI list are clean-shaven. I could conclude then, based upon that, that anyone who is clean shaven is a criminal and is probably wanted by the FBI.

[John Weaver] Now, you would say that would be an erroneous judgment. It would be. But I would be judging by appearance. You see what I'm saying? So our Lord says that we're not to judge by appearance. We're to judge just and righteous judgment. You see, there's another objective. or an objection, I should say, that appears in relationship to that. And that's because in times past, there were those individuals who lived the hippie lifestyle and wore their beards, and oftentimes they were dirty, they were unkempt, and they were certainly rebellious. And I hope you understand that just because someone abuses or misuses a truth, does not mean that we disobey or disregard the truth. For instance, we do not cease observing the Lord's table just because the Roman Catholics have turned it into a perpetual mass. We do not cease baptizing people just because there are some who teach baptismal regeneration. We do not discard marital sex just because there are adulterers and fornicators. All I'm trying to say is this, you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

[John Weaver] Just because someone abuses and misuses a truth does not mean that the truth is wrong. It just means that they are wrong for abusing and misusing the truth. In fact, the truth of the matter is there is a growing trend, and it has been over the past years, especially among young people, to go for what is known as the Kung Fu or the Kojak look, which In our day and time, it's now referred to the unisex look. In fact, if you will go into some of the larger department stores and you start to go to a bathroom and you will usually see gentlemen and ladies and then unisex. I can point you to several down in Florida and they're there or sometimes they will say now a family bathroom. A family bathroom? I get tickled because You know, I I go into these bathroom and it says baby changing station Man, I stayed there all day and tried to get somebody to change babies with me and nobody will take my No, I know what it means, but I get tickled every time I see that baby

[John Weaver] changing station up who wants to change babies But but anyhow, I'm just simply saying here is this that you and I Understand it and what is happening is this I? Since this unisex look is going around, men are looking like women, women are looking like men, and certainly we were going to condemn that because that is condemned in the word of God. There is indeed a biblical significance to a beard and to a man looking like a man. Second, I want you to understand that a man who has a full beard The beard is not prohibited in the Word of God. In fact, the beard is commended in the Word of God, and there are definite regulations laid down in the Scripture concerning the beard.

[John Weaver] You see, the biggest taboo, and it's not so much today as it was back in the 70s when I first preached this message, but the biggest taboo was a bearded pastor. In other words, back then pastors just did not have beards. I mean, everybody was basically clean shaven is what it amounted to. In fact, even the university that I went to originally back in the 60s did not allow beards. I have known of Christian men who were not accepted in other churches because they had a beard. I've known Christian men who were turned down for positions of teaching because they had a beard. So the taboo that I'm pointing out is not God's taboo, but it is man's taboo.

[John Weaver] They've never, ever considered what the word of God teaches. Thirdly, I would like to encourage you to think biblically today. You see, we claim to be Christians, and we claim to love the Word of God, and yet for all practical purposes, most professing Christians neglect the Word of God. We neglect to study these subjects. I will guarantee you, I could probably count on one hand The number of preachers and especially the number of Christians who ever, ever looked in the Bible to see what the Bible has to say about a beard. Very few.

[John Weaver] In fact, I'll tell you how I came to preach this message. One of my pastor friends who I've known for years and years, I went to see him one day and he had a beautiful head full of gray hair and he had this beautiful gray beard. And I looked at him, I said, why did you grow a beard? And his response was. Because of what the Bible teaches about the beard. And I looked at him and I said, well, what does the Bible teach about the beard? And he looked at me and said. I'm not going to tell you if you want to know, go home and study it out for yourself. And that's exactly what I did, and that's why I came to preach this message years ago. But listen to what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10, verses 4 and 5.

[John Weaver] The Apostle Paul said, For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Now listen, casting down imaginations and every high thing or every high thought that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. So that means if we think about a beard, if we think about government, if we think about education, if we think about money, if we think about family, whatever we think, we're responsible to bring every thought captive to Jesus Christ. That is, we're responsible to think biblically. Most people have never thought upon this subject at all.

[John Weaver] You know, I've Heard this said in times past, someone would offer an objection and they would say, well, I just don't know if it's right or wrong for a man to have a beard. And my response to that is this. Let's stop right there. That is not really for you and I to decide. Because God has already determined that. He has created men so that they may have beards. So the question in reality is not, is it right or wrong to have a beard? But the question should be, is it right or wrong to shave? And you cannot shave it off. It keeps going back.

[John Weaver] You have to keep shaving over and over and over. Now, I've had one person to say this to me years ago. And it was a woman. And she said, your beard is offensive to me. Well, if someone tries to say that beards are offensive, my first response is this. I would argue that anyone who finds a beard offensive, they need to take that up with God because God gave beards to men.

[John Weaver] Secondly, I'd point out to offend someone biblically, means to encourage them to do what you're doing without having your knowledge. You remember the word in the Greek is the word skandalon for offend. You'll find that in Romans 14, 1 Corinthians 8. It's where we get our English word scandal. And the only woman who ever said that to me, I said to her as I smiled, dear lady, my beard could not possibly offend you. Because you could not do what I'm doing, even if you had my knowledge. And if you remember when I brought that brief series on Romans 14 on how to avoid conflicts between Christians, I pointed out that when someone says something like this, when your beard offends me, what they really mean is this. You need to shave it off, I don't like it. That's what they really mean.

[John Weaver] In other words, you please me. Obviously, listen carefully, anyone who has a problem with a beard, or any other biblical subject, not only has a problem with God, but they have a problem with the law of God. How can I say that? Because the Bible says in Psalm 119 in verse 165, great peace have they that love by law and nothing shall offend them. So if you're offended. Obviously, you don't love the law of God because he says great peace have they that love by law and nothing shall offend them. So clearly, then, There's a problem with someone between God and his word. So men have beards and that's the way God has created us.

[John Weaver] So you've got to ask yourself this question. Why did God give men beards? Why do men have beards? And you have to also ask this question, what does a beard signify? Before I finish, I'm going to show you that a beard really and truly is a public and a private testimony. It's a public testimony when the beard is grown and neatly trimmed and groomed because everyone who sees it many times will ask concerning it. It's also a private testimony for when the man who has it, he looks into the mirror and all of a sudden he remembers now why God gave him that beard and what it means and what his life should be. I'm going to try to show you five things very quickly today. First of all, I want to share with you the history of beards.

[John Weaver] Before I get into the biblical passages, I wish to point out that history may be studied and analyzed simply by looking at the rise and the fall of the beard. Historical truth is important. It is not equal to biblical truth, yet all history is God's history, for God is the God of history. But history does show us something. History does teach us something. It reveals to us either the lack and the ignorance of, or the knowledge and the importance of, biblical truth upon civilization. So you can look at civilization, and you can see when the word of God is in the supremacy, certain things transpired. When the word of God is not in the supremacy, when rationalism, when man's thoughts are supreme, certain things transpired as well.

[John Weaver] Now, an interesting tidbit of history is this, that Egypt was about the only country in antiquity that forbade a man to have a beard or to let his beard grow out. The Egyptians disliked facial hair. They shaved themselves and they forced their slaves to shave. Now, any biblical scholar will tell you very quickly that Egypt is a type of the world. Egypt has always been in the Bible, that which represents contrariness to God, to his law, and to his people. So Egypt, then, by and large, was a nation of beardless men.

[John Weaver] Yet, when you look at the sculptures, and even a picture, ancient art, of Pharaoh, you will see that Pharaoh always had a sharp pointed goatee. But if you look very carefully at the picture or at the sculpture, you will see there is a very thin line that goes up his cheeks and over his ears. And you know why? Because the beard was a fake beard. It was simply tied on.

[John Weaver] Do you realize there is a reason for that? Even women sometimes in Egypt had these fake beards. For instance, Queen Hatshepsut dressed like a man and is shown with a fake beard. In Egypt, the fake beard was either used for celebrations or public appearances. There was also a religious significance attached to that beard, because the beard in Egypt was considered a divine attribute of the gods to the Egyptians, and thus when the pharaoh or the queen or some other public person donned a fake beard, what they were showing and demonstrating was that they were identifying themselves as a living god. And thus the Pharaoh had that fake beard tied just so he could identify himself with deity.

[John Weaver] Another interesting thing is this. If you will study the history of Egypt, you will find that the enemies of Egypt are always depicted with beards. The enemies of Egypt are always depicted with beards. Maybe that's another reason why the Egyptians found facial hair disgusting to themselves, because they identified it with an enemy of Egypt. There's another interesting tidbit, and if you will check it out, you'll find it true, that in Greek mythology and in Roman mythology, usually the false gods are presented as beardless. Now, there were some that were presented with beards, that is true. But in their paintings, in their sculpturing, the false gods were usually beardless. I'm trying to give you some history concerning this.

[John Weaver] And the Council of Carthage, which was a church council in the early 200 AD, were discussing problems in the church. And in the Council of Carthage in 200 AD, One of the problems they were discussing was the problem of immodest dress. Now, we could think, how in the world could they be having problems with immodest dress in 200 A.D.? I mean, today we look around and we see the miniskirts and the shortened halters and the tank tops, and you say, yeah, we've got problems with immodest dress. Well, they had problems with immodest dress in 200 A.D. But let me tell you what the council of Carthage said was a modest dress. Listen carefully. Here's the quote from the council. Concerning a modest dress, any man who appears in church with long hair and a clean shaven face will be excluded from communion for that man is a modest dress. And that amazing. A man with long hair and a clean-shaven face was immodestly dressed. So if you came to church with long hair and a clean-shaven face, you were to be excluded from communion.

[John Weaver] It was Tertullian, one of the early church fathers, who wrote his treatise on the beard and said that the purpose of the beard was to keep lust down. I've heard some women say, well, he looks better without a beard. Well, he may. But Tertullian said one of the reasons was to keep lust down. The fourth council of Carthage in 398 said this, the clergyman shall not let his hair grow, neither shall he remove his beard. How about that?

[John Weaver] Many of the ancients believed and they taught that God gave man a beard to distinguish him from a woman and therefore it was wrong to antagonize nature by shaving. One of the early church fathers, Clement of Alexandria, probably wrote more against shaving than any other of the Christian writers combined. Clement called, and I'm quoting now, the beard man's natural adornment and said it is never permissible to remove it. He goes on to say the hairs of the beard have been numbered. Clement warns his readers to seek beauty in hairlessness is sheer ephemisy. if done by men. He goes on to say, God planned, I love this one, God planned that the woman be smooth skin, taking pride in her natural tresses, the only hair she has as the horse in its mane. But man, he adorned like the lion with a beard. So women were like the horses with the long, fluid mane Men were like lions with the beard. He went on to say, this then is the mark of the man, the beard.

[John Weaver] By this he is seen to be a man. It is older than Eve. It is the token of superior nature. It is therefore unholy to desecrate the symbol of manhood, hairiness. Isn't that amazing? So when the barbarian hordes invaded the Roman Empire, they had long hair and they had clean shaven faces. And it was at this particular time when Rome fell that Christendom as a whole was what you and I would call Romanized.

[John Weaver] So the barbarians then began to infiltrate the church and all of these pagan rites and rituals were incorporated into the church. And at that particular time, since the barbarians had long hair and clean shaven faces, that's basically what began to happen. The men had long hair and they had clean, shaven faces. It's interesting that if you will look at the early pictures of Christ, even pictures today, Christ is always pictured with long hair and a beard.

[John Weaver] Have you ever wondered about that? Let me tell you dogmatically, in no uncertain terms, Our Lord did not have long hair. How can I say He did not have long hair? Well, first of all, you have to remember that when our Lord was alive, Caesar was on the throne. The style was known as the Caesar cut or the Caesar style. It was short hair on the top of the head, never even touched the ears. That was the style. during our Lord's lifetime. Moreover, specifically, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 14, doth not even nature itself teach you, listen, that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him.

[John Weaver] Now, the Greek word for shame is atemia, which literally refers to that which is vile, shameful, dishonorable, ignominious, disgraceful, and a reproach. Now, if it was a reproach and shameful and vile for a man to have long hair, you've got to remember that Jesus Christ was and still is the sinless Son of God. He would have never, ever done anything that would have been vile and reproachful. Moreover, the Bible tells us in Isaiah 42 and verse 21, concerning Christ, The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake.

[John Weaver] He will magnify the law and make it honorable. So therefore, if the law says it's unnatural and a shame for a man to have long hair, I can assure you Christ never had long hair.

[John Weaver] Now, Christ is also presented in these pictures and in these works of art as having a beard. And that's because you could not deny that it was very plain and very clearly said, not only in scripture, but in truth and in history as well. I want to point out a glaring inconsistency. Have you ever thought about this? Have you ever considered the glaring inconsistency of people who literally worship the Lord Jesus Christ who had a beard, and then turn around and try to say it's wrong for a man to have a beard. Have you ever thought about that?

[John Weaver] It was during the 16th century that one of the great awakenings occurred, known as the Reformation. Bloody Mary, Queen of England, was on the throne, 1516 to 1558. It was in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the castle church door in Wittenberg, Germany, and he began to teach and preach the just shall live by faith. Now, so it's noticeable if you will go back and look then at some of these men as they began in the Reformation and then after they began. You'll notice.

[John Weaver] Short hair and beards, isn't that amazing? Then, on the other hand, if you will look during the Renaissance, when man's rationalism prevailed, men then had long hair and clean shaven faces. Same thing in France during the period of the Enlightenment, where you had so many people there who were agnostics and atheists and infidels and deists, they would have the long hair and the clean shaven faces. But it's interesting, during the War of Northern Aggression, when you look at the pictures of godly men, you always find that they have beards. Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Jeb Stuart, James Longstreet, Richard Stoddard Ewell, all of these men. And it's interesting, if you will look back at some of the old pictures of the Confederate veterans, 90% of them have beards. And beards were worn from that period of time up basically until you get to World War I, when German liberalism began to infiltrate into this society. And then of course, beards then began to disappear. And once again, the long hair and the clean shaven faces came out.

[John Weaver] So I'm just trying to show you, you can study civilization with the rise and fall of a beard. There were a few men down through the ages who cried out against clean-shaven faces. In 1528, William Tyndale was one of those, and here's what he said. He pointed out that shaving is borrowed of the heathen and proclaimed that the shaven nation had put Christ out of his room. Wow. William Shakespeare even...

[John Weaver] said this in his play Much Ado About Nothing. He said, He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man. He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man. In 1859, an Englishman, James Ward, wrote a book, The Defense of the Beard, which was a pamphlet which listed 18 reasons why men were bound to grow a beard unless that man was indifferent as to offending the Creator and good taste.

[John Weaver] The next year, one year later, a work was published, listen to the title of this, Shaving, a Breach of the Sabbath and a Hindrance to the Spread of the Gospel. In this book, the author described the beard on the grounds that it was a divinely provided chest protector. So they had long beards coming down here. And here is just one part, one sentence out of that book. Listen, beard shaving and the common use of the razor, an unnatural, irrational, unmanly, ungodly and fatal fashion among Christians. Wow. One of the more humorous quotes I found concerning the beard came from Tom Robbins, he said. Of the seven dwarves, Only Dopey had a clean-shaven face, and that should tell us something about the custom of shaving. Only Dopey had a clean-shaven face. Wow!

[John Weaver] The bearded races of mankind have commonly held the beard in high honor. It's a sign of full manhood, and the very young male or eunuch was beardless and the bearded woman was considered a witch. Whenever you see pictures of Adam, or God, or the prophets, or kings, and nobles, they are always presented with beards. So the Semites, those who descended from Shem, or the Hebrews, Israelites, have always held a beard and great esteem. Listen to this. Here's a quote directly. Among them, that is among the Hebrews, the Israelites, among them, it is more injurious for anyone to have his beard cut off than among us to be publicly whipped or branded with a hot iron.

[John Weaver] Many men in that country would prefer death to such a punishment. The wives kiss their husbands beards. and the children their fathers when they come to salute them. The men kiss one another's beards reciprocally when they salute in the streets or come from a journey. They say that the beard is the perfection of the human face, which would be more disfigured by having this cut off than by losing the nose. They admire any and envy those who have fine beards. Pray do but see, they cried, that beard, and the very sight of it would persuade anyone that he to whom it belongs is an honest man. If anyone with a fine beard is guilty of an unbecoming action, they would say, what a disadvantage is this to such a beard? How much such a beard should be pitted? If they would correct anyone's mistakes, they will tell him, for shame on your beard. Does not the confusion that follows such an action light upon your beard? If they entreat anyone or use oath affirming or denying anything, they would say, I conjure you by your beard or by the life of your beard to grant me this or by your beard this is or is not so.

[John Weaver] They say further in the way of acknowledgement, may God preserve your blessed beard or may God pour out his blessings upon your beard. And in comparison, this is more valuable than anyone's beards or anyone's beard.

[John Weaver] Now, if you understand these sayings, you're going to begin to understand a lot of scripture. For instance, do you remember, and you don't turn there please, the dishonor that David did to his own beard when he was escaping from King Saul and he fled to Achish, king of Gath. It was the Philistine, by the way. And when David understood that some of the men saying, well, is not this David? Did not he kill all of our men? And then listen to what David did. 1 Samuel 21, verse 13, and he, David, changed his behavior before them and feigned himself mad in their hands and scrabbled on the doors of the gate and let his spittle fall down upon his beard. So he's clawing at the door, foaming at the mouth, we would say, and letting all the spittle run down upon his beard. Well, what happened? Here's what Achish said. 1 Samuel 21, 14 and 15. Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo! You see, the man is mad.

[John Weaver] Wherefore then have you brought him to me? Have I need of madmen that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?" So David's actions then of scrabbling at the door and clawing at the door and letting the spittle fall down upon his beard persuaded Achish that he was crazy, that it was out of his mind, because Achish understood that no man in his right mind would ever defile his beard.

[John Weaver] Do you remember when David was driven off the throne by Absalom? David had taken Mephibosheth, Saul's grandson, into his home. Mephibosheth, you remember, was laying upon his feet. And Ziba, his servant, lied to him. And Ziba escaped to go carry some things to David and said, Mephibosheth said, well, the kingdom of my father is going to be returned to me this day. But when David came back after the destruction of Absalom and his army, in 2 Samuel 19 verse 24, listen to this, and Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king and had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes from the day the king departed until the day he came in peace. Mephibosheth then was in mourning concerning the travesty that had been done to David and the very proof that Ziba had lied, was Mephibosheth had not even dressed his feet, trimmed his beard, or even washed his clothes. The beard was always a cherished and a sacred thing.

[John Weaver] Israel brought the beard safely out of the bondage of the universally shaven Egypt And the beard was always the outward sign and the visible sign of a true man. Now listen carefully, and you're going to see this from the scripture in just a moment. To rudely touch the beard was to cruelly assail a man's dignity. Children and other kinfolks might gently touch it as a sign of love. A fugitive might reverentially raise his hand to it while praying for succor or for help. And he who put his own hand upon his own beard and swore by it, bound himself by the most solemn of oaths to violate which would render him infamous among his fellow men. To touch the beard in allegiance of love established peace and trustfulness between two parties. Now listen carefully.

[John Weaver] Do you remember when Joab went to Amasa? He took him by the beard to kiss him and he said, Aren't thou in health, my brother? Here was a pretended act of love and a pretended act of friendship. But Joab had an ulterior motive. Let me read it to you from Scripture, 2 Samuel 20 verses 9 and 10. And Joab said to Amasa, art thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand.

[John Weaver] So he smote him there under the fifth rib and shed out his bowels to the ground and struck him not again, and so he died. So what did Joab do? Joab, was following a customary greeting, which was a sign of trust and friendship, of respect and devotion. He took Amasa's beard, and he was going to kiss that beard, and he asked for God's help, my brother. Amasa was so concerned with the compliment, in all probability, getting ready to return that compliment, because he would in turn then kiss Joab's beard. He took no notice of the sword in Joab's hand, and Joab then literally murdered him and shed out his blood. In other words, it was during this act of kindness and respect and honor, and he did not suspect the deadly blow from Joab, nor did he suspect his treasonous attitude toward him.

[John Weaver] By the way, may I remind you Maybe this will shed light on this Scripture for you. In Luke 22 and verse 28, Judas had already told the people, Him who I kiss, hold fast. And when Judas came to betray Christ, Christ said, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man? with a kiss. So Judas would have gone up to take our Lord's beard and kiss it. Undoubtedly, Judas had learned this method from Joab, who was a traitor and a deceiver. Secondly, I want you to note the beard is an assumed fact and reality in scripture. And when I say the beard is an assumed fact, an assumed fact is something that is taken for granted.

[John Weaver] It is a presuppositional truth. It is something like the doctrine of God. By the way, do you know that the Bible never, ever tries to prove the existence of God? The Bible just assumes it. Genesis 1-1, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. Never does the Bible try to prove there is a God. It just assumes it. Likewise, in the Bible, there is no definite command for men to grow a beard. However, it is assumed that a man will have a beard because that's the way God created him, and his facial hair is going to grow. Moreover, there are divine regulations concerning the beard in the Bible. The Hebrew word for beard is the word zakon. And the Hebrew word for elder is ahen. So the elders in Israel got their names from their beard. Hence the word actually means a bearded one. OK, so you've seen the history of the beard and the fact that the beard is an assumed fact. Let me give you thirdly, the value of the beard.

[John Weaver] The Hebrews always looked upon the beard as the glory and the pride of man. They would say that the glory of the face is the beard. The beard was a badge of honor, dignity and manhood. Anyone wishing to express the value of an object would say this, it is worth more than a man's beard. When a woman wanted to express the value of something, she would say it's more valuable than my husband's beard. Men often took oaths by their beard.

[John Weaver] They swore by their beards. Every one of us knows the story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf. What did he say? I'm going to huff and puff and blow your ass down. And what did the little pig say? Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin. What was he doing? He was taking an oath. Now I realize pigs don't have beards, but that was a fairytale. But that's where it came from, because historically and biblically, men took oaths based upon their beards. Proverbs 20 and verse 29 says this, and by the way, even Shakespeare in his plays have men swearing and taking oaths by their beards. But Proverbs 20 and verse 29 says this, the glory of young men is their strength. And the beauty of old men is their gray head. The ornament of young men is their strength, and the honor of old men is the gray hairs, and here it is in the Hebrew, or the hanging gray from the chin. It was not necessarily talking about the gray hair up here.

[John Weaver] Some of us aren't able to have gray hair up here, but it does refer to the hanging gray from the chin. Whenever you see a man with a beard, you ought to consider several things. First of all, to pull it is to inflict an indignity. I've really only had my beard pulled that I can remember one time. And I will tell you, anger flew over me instantaneously.

[John Weaver] Not that I wanted to be angry. But the individual who did it did not realize what he was doing. And I very quickly said, no, you never, ever pull a man's beard. It's an indignity, it's an insult.

[John Weaver] Secondly, to have it forcibly cut off or mutilated is a symbol of disgrace, which I'm going to show you from the Bible momentarily. Thirdly, to remove the beard voluntarily is a sign of mourning, which they did occasionally in the Bible. And then to stroke the beard like this is a preface to uttering seemingly very important words or words of weight and value. And I might point this out. To kiss the beard is a great is a sign of great respect, honor, friendship and brotherly love.

[John Weaver] You cannot understand a number of verses in the New Testament If you do not understand this simple fact, for instance, let me just quote 1 Corinthians 16 verse 20. The Apostle Paul said, all the brethren greet you. Listen, greet you one another with a holy kiss. Greet you one another with a holy kiss. In Romans 16 verse 16, Paul again said, salute one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 26, greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. And then 1 Peter 5, verse 14, greet you one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen. How do you greet the brethren with a holy kiss? Because it was customary, not only in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament, when brethren met, out of great respect and affection, they would take each other's beard and kiss the beard. And yes, I've had men kiss my beard.

[John Weaver] One man did it, particularly every time he saw me, he understood this passage and I was not offended by it. In fact, I thought, well, at least he at least understands the scripture. I'm just simply saying you cannot understand the value. of the beard unless you understand these scriptures, and that's how men normally greeted each other in the Old Testament and the New Testament by kissing each other's beards. Now, let me show you how valuable a beard was.

[John Weaver] I do want you to turn to 2 Samuel 10. 2 Samuel 10, and let's read the first seven verses. I want you to watch this passage, 2 Samuel, chapter 10, and look, if you would please, beginning there with verse one. 2 Samuel, chapter 10, verse one. And it came to pass after this that the king of the children of Ammon died, and Hanun, his son, reigned in his stead. Then said David, I will show kindness unto Hanun, the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness unto me. And David sent to comfort him by the hand of his servants for his father. And David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon. And the princes of the children of Ammon said unto Hanun, their lord, thinkest thou that David doth honor thy father, that he had sent comforters unto thee? Have not David rather sent his servants unto thee to search the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it? Wherefore, Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even their buttocks, and sent them away.

[John Weaver] And when they told it unto David, he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, Terry, Jericho, until your beards be grown and then return. And when the children of Ammon saw that they stank before David, the children of Ammon said, and hired the Syrians of Beth-Rehoboam and the Syrians of Zobah, 20,000 foot men of King Meaca, 1,000 men of Ishtab, 12,000 men. And when David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the hosts of the mighty men. And the children of Ammon came out and put the battle in the ray, etc. Now, by the way, David wiped out the Ammonites and the Syrians.

[John Weaver] But the point I'm trying to make is this. Hanun took David's diplomats, his servants, and shaved off one half their beards and cut their garments off and exposed their buttocks. The Ammonites knew exactly what they were doing when they mutilated the Hebrews' beards. They knew that it was a deadly insult. I want you to note something. I want you to see how times have changed. When the diplomats sent word to David, That their beards had been mutilated and their garments had been cut off, their buttocks had been exposed. David said this to them, tarry ye at Jerusalem until your beards be grown. That was the insult. It did not concern them, to put it bluntly, that their fannies had been exposed.

[John Weaver] Now you stop and think about this. What embarrassed them, what humiliated them was their beards had been mutilated and defiled. It was an insult. You can buy more clothes, but you can't grow a beard overnight. And so David then destroyed the Ammonites and the Syrians. Here's a whole war that's fought over beards. Moreover, in the year 1764, a pretender to the Persian throne named Karam Khan sent ambassadors to Mir Mahanan, the Prince of Bengaravik on the Persian Gulf, to demand tribute from him, but he in return cut off the ambassador's beards. Karam Khan was so enraged at this that he went the next year, took a large army, assaulted and took the city and almost the entire territory to avenge the insult. So to touch the beard was an insult unless it was done as an act of friendship and a token of respect.

[John Weaver] Beards have been so valued down through the years that it would be interesting for you to look not only at the Bible prophets, pictures of them, but look at the preachers down through the years. And you will find that most preachers, the old preachers, Up until the turn of this century, all of them had beards. Did you know that not only did Charles Haddon Spurgeon have a very beautiful beard, but Charles Haddon Spurgeon demanded that all of his deacons have beards. You could not be a deacon in Spurgeon's tabernacle unless you had a beard. And I have a picture in my library of Spurgeon and all of his deacons, and every one of them are well bearded. Now, let me very quickly give you the meaning of the beard. Why did God give men beards? What is a beard to signify? First of all, the beard represents and signifies life unto God. Stop and think. Only living men can grow a beard. In the Bible, it was the leper who had to be shaven. Leprosy in the Bible is not only representative of sin and death, but leprosy in the Bible is also a symbol of the judgment of God.

[John Weaver] Do you remember how God smote Miriam with leprosy when she rebelled against Moses? Do you remember how God gave Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the leprosy that Naaman had because of his sin and his deceit?

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to listen to the law of the leper. Listen carefully. This is Leviticus 13, 29 and 30 in verse 33. God says, If a man or a woman have a plague upon the head or the beard, then the priest shall see the plague, and behold, if it be in sight deeper than the skin, and there being it a yellow thin hair, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is a dry skull, even a leprosy, upon the head or the beard. And he shall be shaven, and the skull shall he not shave, but the priest shall shut him up, that had the skull seven days more. So if a man had leprosy, he had to be clean shaven. Leprosy is a sign of sin and death and the judgment of God. When you get to the healing of a leper in Leviticus chapter 14, once again, when he came and presented everything that God demanded, he had to be clean shaven once again. And then when the priest pronounced him clean, only then was he allowed to grow his beard.

[John Weaver] So the beard, first and foremost, is a symbol of life unto God. It signifies life. We're free from sin. We're free from death. We're free from the judgment of God. Secondly, a beard signifies submission unto God.

[John Weaver] Now, listen carefully, I'm going to show you this from the scripture, a beardless man or one with a clean shaven face indicated that he was a slave or in submission to man. Let me state this another way to be deprived of a beard was and still is in many places a badge of civility, a mark of infamy that degraded a man from the ranks of men to those of slaves and women. Now, Joseph. wore his beard while he was in prison. You remember, he was a slave.

[John Weaver] He was sold into slavery. While he was in prison, he wore his beard. But, when Pharaoh called him to stand before him, what did Joseph do? He shaved his beard. Why did he shave his beard? Because he was a slave. And he was going to appear now before Pharaoh, and it would have been an insult and a dishonor to Pharaoh for him to have stood there with his beard. Listen to this, Genesis 41, verse 14, Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon, and he shaved himself and changed his rim, and he came unto Pharaoh.

[John Weaver] Why did he do that? Because to be beardless was signifying that you were in submission to man, that you were a slave. And so Joseph, then, since he was a slave, took the mark of a slave. He shaved himself. And by the way, Genesis 41 in verse 40, Pharaoh said this to Joseph, thou shalt be over my house according to thy word, shall all my people be ruled only in the throne will I be greater than thou. What was he saying? You're subject to me. You're my servant, everybody else is going to be your servant, but you are my servant. So biblically speaking, then the beard indicates that men are in submission to God. Now, I'm not saying that Joseph was out of the will of God when he shaved his beard, because God certainly put him there. However, I am saying that in the context of what happened when a man changed his beard, it indicates that he is now in a position of servitude or in submission to man. And I am not implying that just because a man has a beard that he is in subjection to God.

[John Weaver] Unhappily, that is not true, because multitudes of men across this world who have beards are in rebellion to God, and they are in rebellion to the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are lost in their sins. But the beard in reality is to signify submission unto God. In other words, The men who have beards and who are not in submission of God are betraying the symbol of what the beard represents. It's just like long hair on a woman symbolizes that she's in submission to her husband. I know plenty of women who have long hair that are not in submission to their husband. The long hair does them no good at all. Their life betrays the symbol. Thirdly, a beard indicates separation unto God. In Bible times, when a man looked at another man's beard, he knew who that man worshipped and who was his God. A beard basically told you who your God was. Pagans usually marred their beards.

[John Weaver] As well as their heads. When God said, and I will show you later, when God says, thou shalt not mar the corner of your beard, this is the corner of the beard. To mar the corner then would be to have what you and I would call the goatee. And the pagans did that because they did it in honor of the sun, which was around the moon, the stars and the heavenly bodies. Herodotus, one of the early historians, said that the Arabs were accustomed to shave the hair around the head and left a tuft to stand up on the crown in honor of Bacchus. In Leviticus 19, which we read a little bit earlier, in verses 26-28, God says this, You shall not eat anything with the blood, neither shall you use enchantment nor observe times. You shall not round the corners of your head, neither shall thou mar the corners of thy beard." Why? In Leviticus 21, verses 5 through 6, the priest was not to make any baldness upon his head, neither shall they shave the corners of their beards.

[John Weaver] Why? Because the Hebrews had full beards and that full beard represented separation to God. When you saw the man with just the goatee and the mustache, it meant in history times, in Bible times, that he was a worshipper of Bacchus or Baal or Ortal or one of the heavenly bodies. So it's important for us to understand that the beard then in scripture represents life. It represents freedom. It represents separation with God.

[John Weaver] But the symbol is nothing without reality. When God's people act like the wicked, God will punish them exactly like the wicked. And God indicates that he will cut or mar the corners of their beard. The expression that I will just read very quickly in Jeremiah 9, Jeremiah 25, Jeremiah 49, when God talks about those who are in the utmost corners, He's not talking about places. He's not talking about geographical places. He's talking about the beard. Listen carefully. God says, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will punish all them that are circumcised with the uncircumcision, Egypt and Judah and Edom and the children of Ammon and Moab and all that are in the most corners that dwell in the wilderness, for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart." Well, they were uncircumcised in the heart. They were circumcised physically. They were in the covenant, but they were acting like the heathen. God says, you want to act like the heathen? Fine, I'll judge you like the heathen.

[John Weaver] You find the same thing in Jeremiah 25, 23, Jeremiah 49, verse 32. God says, I will mar the corners.

[John Weaver] Fourthly, very quickly, the beard signifies the blessings of God upon his people. Let me just read it in Psalm 133, beginning with verse one. Listen carefully. Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard. that went down to the skirts of his garments, as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life evermore." So when Aaron and his sons then were anointed with that oil, that oil poured on their head, ran down their beards, even to their garments. Thus, a well-groomed and a well-cared for beard indicates the blessings of God upon that individual and his dedication to the service of God. Listen carefully.

[John Weaver] The beard was plucked off or plucked out or shaved off or left unattended only during a time of great mourning and great calamity. We've already pointed this out in Mephibosheth, but you remember when Job Lost everything he had and his ten children and Job 120. Then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground in worship. In Ezra chapter 9, Ezra when he saw the sin of all the people in verse 3 says this, And when I heard this thing, I ripped my garment and my mantle and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard and sat down astonished.

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you something in light of this. If you really want to understand what happened to our Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to listen carefully. When God. Was going to bring judgment upon his people because they refused to repent. And refused to return to him. God indicated that great judgment. By telling them that he was going to shave their beards. I remember years ago, and Alice can verify this. When I first drew my beard, which has been about 40 years now. I would have nightmares.

[John Weaver] And my nightmare was this, that I would wake up clean shaven and didn't know how I got clean shaven. I'm serious. I mean, and I would just about wake up with chills because I didn't know what happened. Why would that affect me so or why should it affect anyone so? Because when God is going to bring judgment upon his disobedient people, he's going to do it. Under the symbol of shaving their beards, listen, Isaiah seven and verse 20.

[John Weaver] In the same day, shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired namely by them beyond the river that is the Assyrians. by the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet, and it shall also consume the beard." What did God say to those people? I'm going to shave you bald. Why? Because the beard represents life unto God. It represents submission to God, and separation to God, and the blessings of God, and dedication to God. But these people refuse to repent and refuse to surrender to God. And God said, you want to live like the heathen? Fine, I will judge you like the heathen. He said in Isaiah 15 in verse 2, He is going up to Bajeth and to Dibba and high places to weep.

[John Weaver] Moab shall howl over Nebon and over Medeva. All their heads shall be baldness and every beard shall be cut off. In Jeremiah 48 in verse 37, God said for every head shall be bald and every beard shall be clipped. Upon all the hands shall be cuttings and upon the loins sackcloth. God said I'll shave you bald. And in Ezekiel chapter five in verse one to represent what God was going to do, God told Ezekiel, and thou son of man, take the sharp knife, listen, take me a barber's razor and cause it to pass upon mine head and upon my beard, then take the balances to weigh and divide the hair. What did God say? Ezekiel, just like you shaved your beard, I'm going to shave the nation. And so when God then is going to set forth the severity of His judgment upon His people because of their sin and rebellion, He does so under the picture and the emblem of taking away the beard. You see, the greatest indignity that could be inflicted upon a man is to have his beard plucked out.

[John Weaver] It was a sheer and a sure sign of the judgment of God upon him. What did I say earlier? I said, if you wanted to know what happened to our Lord Jesus Christ, you need to understand this. And Isaiah 50 and verse six concerning our Lord, here's what he said, I gave my back to the smiters. And my cheeks to those that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting." What? Our Lord gave His cheeks to those who plucked off the hair.

[John Weaver] In other words, they reached up and took handfuls of the beard and jerked it out. You say that had to be excruciatingly painful. Oh, it was painful. But they did not jerk the beard out just to increase the pain. They jerked the beard out because it was a custom then to symbolize, and it was a way of saying, you are under the curse of God. You're judged by God. You're under the wrath of God. God's shaving you.

[John Weaver] And was that not true concerning our Lord who was our substitute? Did not He bear our wrath? Did not He take our punishment? Why was His beard plucked out? To show that he stood as our surety and our substitute, and he suffered the judgment of God in our stead. One last point, I want you to understand the purpose of the beard. God gave beards to men, and I told you earlier, the question is not whether it's right or wrong to have a beard, the question is whether it's right or wrong to shave. The beard is the distinguishing mark of a man. A bearded man can never be mistaken for a woman. Beards were regarded as sacred ornaments given by God to men to distinguish them from women.

[John Weaver] In Deuteronomy 22 and verse 5, here's a verse that has been around the world. The woman shall not wear that which pertains to the man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment for all that do so are an abomination to the Lord. And I've preached and I've explained that verse, but I want you to listen to what Colin Dalich said. One sentence upon this verse. Colin Dalich said this. The immediate design of this prohibition was not to prevent licentiousness or to oppose idolaters practices, but to maintain the sanctity of that distinction of the sexes which was established by the creation of man and woman and in relation to which Israel was not to sin. Every violation or wiping out of this distinction was unnatural and therefore an abomination in the sight of God.

[John Weaver] So what Kyle and Dalish are saying in their commentary is that this verse is directed against any and all who would obliterate or blur the distinctions between the sexes and idolatry was often associated with unisex or transgenderism. You remember in Acts chapter 19, I think it was, where Paul got into trouble there with the people because They worshiped Diana of the Ephesians and they kept shouting, great is Diana of the Ephesians. Did you know that Diana, look up her picture, get it and Google it on the internet. Put Diana of the Ephesians and you're going to come and see a statue of a woman that has multiple breasts. Why would they put multiple breasts on a statue of a woman? Because that is the distinguishing mark of a woman. But when you look at Diana, she only has multiple breasts. She also has a beard because that's the distinguishing mark of a man.

[John Weaver] And those who worshiped her, oftentimes men dressed like women and the women dressed like men to give sacrifices. Many of the pagans did the same thing. If you look in Greece, if you look in Rome, If you look in ancient Egypt, there was a deliberate attempt to break down the distinction between the sexes. And thus, the ancients believed that the beardless man was an effeminate man. And thus, when the pagans even then made their statue of Diana, they gave her a beard. Laying in his commentary says this, to destroy the divine the institution distinction between the sexes leads to licentiousness, immorality and confusion. Whatever leads to render the male sex effeminate or the female sex masculine is an injury to both. One thing for sure. A short haired man.

[John Weaver] might be mistaken for a woman if he had very tender looks. But a short-haired man with a beard could never, ever be taken for a woman. Herodotus, whom I mentioned earlier, one of the early historians, when the barbarians invaded the Roman Empire, said this. Since the barbarians had long hair and clean-shaven faces, he said, they had been smitten by a deity and turned into a woman. Isn't that amazing?

[John Weaver] Now, let me just make a couple of applications. The first one is this. We cannot deny, disparage, or denigrate any part of the Word of God. All Scripture is inspired of God and is given for our instruction and edification. If there was no importance concerning the beard, why would God not only give regulations concerning it, but why would He use it then as a symbol to express His divine judgment? Very obviously there is something to the beard.

[John Weaver] Secondly, there has been Lately, for which I'm thankful, a resurgence of the beard in recent days. And I think that is an indication that men as a whole are growing weary with the effeminacy of our modern day society. And I think there's another implication that men are indeed growing weary of servitude and serfdom and slavery. And once again, you have to remember, the beard indicated freedom. from those things. And so when men wear beards, then they are saying, in essence, I'm willing and I want to be in submission to God and separated to him and blessed by him. And thirdly, the beard is to picture our life unto God, our submission to God, our separation of God, the blessings of God upon us. But. The symbol is nothing without the life. I said that the beard is to be a public and a private testimony. I've had innumerable people over the years ask me why I have a beard.

[John Weaver] And I take the opportunity to explain and answer. But I'll tell you something else. Each time I look in the mirror and I see the beard and I trim my beard, I have to think This beard tells me I'm to be in submission to the one true and the living God. The question is, am I? I'm to be separated unto him, am I? I'm to have his blessings upon me, do I? The beard is important. Historically and biblically, and there's a reason why God gave men beards.

[John Weaver] And we need to understand that and be able to apply it. Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ for your help, for your grace, for your mercy, for your truth. We pray, Lord, that you would teach us, that you'd build us up in the most holy faith, and that you'd give us grace that we may serve thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. In thy name we pray. Amen.

[John Weaver] This program was produced by Dominion Ministry. For more information about Pastor Weaver's sermons, you may contact Dominion Ministry by mail at 7400 Abercorn, that's A-B-E-R-C-O-R-N Street, Suite 705, P-M-D 175, Savannah, Georgia, 31406. Or give us a call at 912 You can also visit our website at www.dominionministry.com

The Beard, its Historical and Biblical Significance

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	1210362019
Subject	Old Testament Studies
Course	Proverbs-Related Topical Wisdom
Genre	Sermon
Date	2011-07-19
Dictation Name
Book	Book 085: Proverbs-Related Topical Wisdom — Chapter 5
Source Timed Segments	94

Formatted Transcript

Introduction and Personal Testimony

Weaver introduces the topic, noting the widespread impact of his original message and clarifying that he is not defending his beard, binding consciences, or equating beards with holiness. He encourages listeners to study Scripture for themselves.

All right, so let's open our Bibles to the book of Leviticus chapter 19. The message today is the biblical and the historical significance of the beard. And you will not think that there's too much in the Bible concerning that, but there is a wealth of material. So look in Leviticus chapter 19 and let's look at verses 26 through 28. God tells the people,

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 19:26-28

"You shall not eat anything with the blood, neither shall you use enchantment, nor observe times."

Then in verse 27, Leviticus 19,

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 19:26-28

"You shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you. I am the Lord."

Then if you'll look in Leviticus 21, beginning there with verse one, and this is in reference to even the priest here. The other was in reference to all of God's people in general. "And the Lord said unto Moses, speak unto the priests, the sons of Aaron and say to them, there shall none be defiled for the dead among his people, but for his kin that is near unto him, that is for his mother and for his father, for his son, for his daughter, for

his brother and for a sister or virgin that is nigh unto him, which hath no husband. For her may he be defiled, but he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself. They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh. They shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the name of their God. For the offerings of the Lord made by fire and the bread of their God they do offer. Therefore they shall be holy." Many years ago, I preached this message on the biblical and the historical significance of the beard. This message has basically been around the world. And when I say it's been around the world, I have received comments from this message from Italy, South Africa, England, Wales.

It is one of the most listened to messages on SermonAudio. It is one of the most downloaded messages. But since I preached this message many years ago, it has been copied. It has been plagiarized. In some instances, it has been vilified. I have seen this message with another pastor's name attached to it, which I really don't mind. And the one that I'm thinking of particularly, he added just one or two little things.

And I showed Alice, I got so tickled, I said, "Look at this, look at this." And it's on the internet, by the way. And he even used an illustration that I have. And since he didn't know me, he said, "There is in Pastor John Weaver's office..." So I said, "Well, that's fine, too." But I certainly do not mind the message being preached or re-preached or reclaimed by anyone. I'm kind of like Paul. I'm just rejoicing in the fact that at least the word of God is being preached and is getting out. So there have been a number of preachers that have asked me and a number of people that have asked me to redo this message. So let me begin by telling you what I'm not going to be doing in this message. First, I'm not defending my beard very obviously. It does not need defending. And the very fact that I've had it for over 40 years demonstrates and proves that I really genuinely believe what I'm going to share with you this day. In fact, my grandchildren, none of them have ever seen me without a beard.

And probably my children do not even remember me with not having a beard, unless they glance at a picture occasionally every now and then. So I'm not defending the beard. Secondly, I'm not trying to bind my convictions upon your conscience. I do pray that the Word of God will be open to you, that you may see the truth of what I am preaching. But the fact of the matter is, it's your responsibility to study the Scripture for yourself and search out the matter. The Bible tells you in Proverbs 25 and verse 2,

Scripture Reading — Proverbs 25:2

"It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but it's the honor of kings to search out a matter."

So, it's your responsibility then to search out this matter according to the Word of God. Thirdly, I am not saying, and listen carefully, I am not saying that a man that does not have a beard is less holy than one who does have a beard. Moreover, I am not saying that a man with a beard is more holy than a man without a beard. But I am going to show you shortly from Scripture what a beard does indeed represent and why I believe from Scripture especially a godly man should have a visible beard.

Judging Righteously and Avoiding Misconceptions

Weaver warns against judging by appearance, using the example of FBI wanted posters and the hippie stereotype. He argues that abuse of a truth does not invalidate the truth itself.

Fourthly, I'm not asking you, the men particularly, to grow a beard for my benefit. I would never encourage anyone to do anything that they do not understand that is based upon the pure word of God. I am not the Lord of your conscience. Jesus Christ is the Lord of your conscience, so you are to be bound by His word and not my word. But I would ask you to submit to the Word of God and to be easily entreated, as James says, to the engrafted Word of God, which I believe will give you a great deal of understanding upon this subject, and you will find out that in reality a beard is not only a very important matter, it is a biblical matter, according to Scripture. Now, let me tell you what I'm going to ask you to do at the very beginning. I'm going to ask you to do that which our Lord commands in John 7 and verse 24, when he says,

Scripture Reading — John 7:24

"Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment."

Unhappily, most people judge by appearance. They do not judge by righteous judgment or just judgment.

If you want to go by appearance, I could take you down to our local post office, and I could take you through the FBI's most wanted list, or the pictures they have there of the men that they want, and I could show you where probably 90% of the wanted men on the FBI list are clean-shaven. I could conclude then, based upon that, that anyone who is clean shaven is a criminal and is probably wanted by the FBI. Now, you would say that would be an erroneous judgment. It would be. But I would be judging by appearance. You see what I'm saying? So our Lord says that we're not to judge by appearance. We're to judge just and righteous judgment. You see, there's another objection that appears in relationship to that. And that's because in times past, there were those individuals who lived the hippie lifestyle and wore their beards, and oftentimes they were dirty, they were unkempt, and they were certainly rebellious. And I hope you understand that just because someone abuses or misuses a truth, does not mean that we disobey or disregard the truth. For instance, we do not cease observing the Lord's table just because the Roman Catholics have turned it into a perpetual mass. We do not cease baptizing people just because there are some who teach baptismal regeneration. We do not discard marital sex just because there are adulterers and fornicators. All I'm trying to say is this, you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Just because someone abuses and misuses a truth does not mean that the truth is wrong. It just means that they are wrong for abusing and misusing the truth. In fact, the truth of the matter is there is a growing trend, and it has been over the past years, especially among young people, to go for what is known as the Kung Fu or the Kojak look, which in our day and time, it's now referred to the unisex look. In fact, if you will go into some of the larger department stores and you start to go to a bathroom and you will usually see gentlemen and ladies and then unisex. I can point you to several down in Florida and they're there or sometimes they will say now a family bathroom. A family bathroom? I get tickled because, you know, I go into these bathrooms and it says "baby changing station." Man, I stayed there all day and tried to get somebody to change babies with me and nobody will take mine. No, I know what it means, but I get tickled every time I see that baby

The Beard in History

Weaver surveys historical attitudes toward beards, from ancient Egypt's fake beards to the Council of Carthage's rules, the Reformation's bearded leaders, and the decline of beards with the rise of liberalism.

Before I get into the biblical passages, I wish to point out that history may be studied and analyzed simply by looking at the rise and the fall of the beard. Historical truth is important. It is not equal to biblical truth, yet all history is God's history, for God is the God of history. But history does show us something. History does teach us something. It reveals to us either the lack and the ignorance of, or the knowledge and the importance of, biblical truth upon civilization. So you can look at civilization, and you can see when the word of God is in the supremacy, certain things transpired. When the word of God is not in the supremacy, when rationalism, when man's thoughts are supreme, certain things transpired as well.

Now, an interesting tidbit of history is this, that Egypt was about the only country in antiquity that forbade a man to have a beard or to let his beard grow out. The Egyptians disliked facial hair. They shaved themselves and they forced their slaves to shave. Now, any biblical scholar will tell you very quickly that Egypt is a type of the world. Egypt has always been in the Bible, that which represents contrariness to God, to his law, and to his people. So Egypt, then, by and large, was a nation of beardless men. Yet, when you look at the sculptures, and even a picture, ancient art, of Pharaoh, you will see that Pharaoh always had a sharp pointed goatee. But if you look very carefully at the picture or at the sculpture, you will see there is a very thin line that goes up his cheeks and over his ears. And you know why? Because the beard was a fake beard. It was simply tied on.

Do you realize there is a reason for that? Even women sometimes in Egypt had these fake beards. For instance, Queen Hatshepsut dressed like a man and is shown with a fake beard. In Egypt, the fake beard was either used for celebrations or public appearances. There was also a religious significance attached to that beard, because the beard in Egypt was considered a divine attribute of the gods to the Egyptians, and thus when the pharaoh or the queen or some other public person donned a fake beard, what they were showing and demonstrating was that they were identifying themselves as a living god. And thus the Pharaoh had that fake beard tied just so he could identify himself with deity. Another interesting thing is this. If you will study the history of Egypt, you will find that the enemies of Egypt are always depicted with beards. The enemies of Egypt are always depicted with beards. Maybe that's another reason why the Egyptians found facial hair disgusting to themselves, because they identified it with an enemy of Egypt. There's another interesting tidbit, and if you will check it out, you'll find it true, that in Greek mythology and in Roman mythology, usually the false gods are presented as beardless. Now, there were some that were presented with beards, that is true. But in their paintings, in their sculpturing, the false gods were usually beardless. I'm trying to give you some history concerning this.

And the Council of Carthage, which was a church council in the early 200 AD, were discussing problems in the church. And in the Council of Carthage in 200 AD, one of the problems they were discussing was the problem of immodest dress. Now, we could think, how in the world could they be having problems with immodest dress in 200 A.D.? I mean, today we look around and we see the miniskirts and the shortened halters and the tank tops, and you say, yeah, we've got problems with immodest dress. Well, they had problems with immodest dress in 200 A.D. But let me tell you what the council of Carthage said was a modest dress. Listen carefully. Here's the quote from the council. Concerning a modest dress, any man who appears in church with long hair and a clean shaven face will be excluded from communion for that man is immodestly dressed. And that's amazing. A man with long hair and a clean-shaven face was immodestly dressed. So if you came to church with long hair and a clean-shaven face, you were to be excluded from communion.

It was Tertullian, one of the early church fathers, who wrote his treatise on the beard and said that the purpose of the beard was to keep lust down. I've heard some women say, "Well, he looks better without a beard." Well, he may. But Tertullian said one of the reasons was to keep lust down. The fourth council of Carthage in 398 said this, "The clergyman shall not let his hair grow, neither shall he remove his beard." How about that? Many of the ancients believed and they taught that God gave man a beard to distinguish him from a woman and therefore it was wrong to antagonize nature by shaving. One of the early church fathers, Clement of Alexandria, probably wrote more against shaving than any other of the Christian writers combined. Clement called, and I'm quoting now, the beard "man's natural adornment" and said "it is never permissible to remove it." He goes on to say "the hairs of the beard have been numbered." Clement warns his readers "to seek beauty in hairlessness is sheer effeminacy if done by men." He goes on to say, "God planned," I love this one, "God planned that the woman be smooth skin, taking pride in her natural tresses, the only hair she has as the horse in its mane. But man, he adorned like the lion with a beard." So women were like the horses with the long, fluid mane. Men were like lions with the beard. He went on to say, "This then is the mark of the man, the beard.

By this he is seen to be a man. It is older than Eve. It is the token of superior nature. It is therefore unholy to desecrate the symbol of manhood, hairiness." Isn't that amazing? So when the barbarian hordes invaded the Roman Empire, they had long hair and they had clean shaven faces. And it was at this particular time when Rome fell that Christendom as a whole was what you and I would call Romanized.

So the barbarians then began to infiltrate the church and all of these pagan rites and rituals were incorporated into the church. And at that particular time, since the barbarians had long hair and clean shaven faces, that's basically what began to happen. The men had long hair and they had clean shaven faces. It's interesting that if you will look at the early pictures of Christ, even pictures today, Christ is always pictured with long hair and a beard. Have you ever wondered about that? Let me tell you dogmatically, in no uncertain terms, our Lord did not have long hair. How can I say He did not have long hair? Well, first of all, you have to remember that when our Lord was alive, Caesar was on the throne. The style was known as the Caesar cut or the Caesar style. It was short hair on the top of the head, never even touched the ears. That was the style during our Lord's lifetime. Moreover, specifically, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 14, "Doth not even nature itself teach you," listen, "that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him."

Now, the Greek word for shame is atimia, which literally refers to that which is vile, shameful, dishonorable, ignominious, disgraceful, and a reproach. Now, if it was a reproach and shameful and vile for a man to have long hair, you've got to remember that Jesus Christ was and still is the sinless Son of God. He would have never, ever done anything that would have been vile and reproachful. Moreover, the Bible tells us in Isaiah 42 and verse 21, concerning Christ, "The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake. He will magnify the law and make it honorable." So therefore, if the law says it's unnatural and a shame for a man to have long hair, I can assure you Christ never had long hair.

Now, Christ is also presented in these pictures and in these works of art as having a beard. And that's because you could not deny that it was very plain and very clearly said, not only in scripture, but in truth and in history as well. I want to point out a glaring inconsistency. Have you ever thought about this? Have you ever considered the glaring inconsistency of people who literally worship the Lord Jesus Christ who had a beard, and then turn around and try to say it's wrong for a man to have a beard. Have you ever thought about that? It was during the 16th century that one of the great awakenings occurred, known as the Reformation. Bloody Mary, Queen of England, was on the throne, 1516 to 1558. It was in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the castle church door in Wittenberg, Germany, and he began to teach and preach the just shall live by faith. Now, so it's noticeable if you will go back and look then at some of these men as they began in the Reformation and then after they began. You'll notice.

Short hair and beards, isn't that amazing? Then, on the other hand, if you will look during the Renaissance, when man's rationalism prevailed, men then had long hair and clean shaven faces. Same thing in France during the period of the Enlightenment, where you had so many people there who were agnostics and atheists and infidels and deists, they would have the long hair and the clean shaven faces. But it's interesting, during the War of Northern Aggression, when you look at the pictures of godly men, you always find that they have beards. Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Jeb Stuart, James Longstreet, Richard Stoddard Ewell, all of these men. And it's interesting, if you will look back at some of the old pictures of the Confederate veterans, 90% of them have beards. And beards were worn from that period of time up basically until you get to World War I, when German liberalism began to infiltrate into this society. And then of course, beards then began to disappear. And once again, the long hair and the clean shaven faces came out.

So I'm just trying to show you, you can study civilization with the rise and fall of a beard. There were a few men down through the ages who cried out against clean-shaven faces. In 1528, William Tyndale was one of those, and here's what he said. He pointed out that shaving is borrowed of the heathen and proclaimed that the shaven nation had put Christ out of his room. Wow. William Shakespeare even...

The Beard as an Assumed Fact in Scripture

Weaver explains that the Bible assumes men will have beards, as seen in the Hebrew word for elder (zaqen) meaning 'bearded one,' and provides divine regulations for the beard.

It is a presuppositional truth. It is something like the doctrine of God. By the way, do you know that the Bible never, ever tries to prove the existence of God? The Bible just assumes it. Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth." Never does the Bible try to prove there is a God. It just assumes it. Likewise, in the Bible, there is no definite command for men to grow a beard. However, it is assumed that a man will have a beard because that's the way God created him, and his facial hair is going to grow. Moreover, there are divine regulations concerning the beard in the Bible. The Hebrew word for beard is the word zaqan. And the Hebrew word for elder is zaqen. So the elders in Israel got their names from their beard. Hence the word actually means "a bearded one." OK, so you've seen the history of the beard and the fact that the beard is an assumed fact. Let me give you thirdly, the value of the beard.

The Hebrews always looked upon the beard as the glory and the pride of man. They would say that the glory of the face is the beard. The beard was a badge of honor, dignity and manhood. Anyone wishing to express the value of an object would say this, "It is worth more than a man's beard." When a woman wanted to express the value of something, she would say "It's more valuable than my husband's beard." Men often took oaths by their beard.

The Value and Meaning of the Beard

Weaver details the cultural and biblical value of the beard, including its role in oaths, greetings, and as a symbol of dignity. He explains that the beard signifies life, submission to God, separation, and blessing.

They swore by their beards. Every one of us knows the story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf. What did he say? "I'm going to huff and puff and blow your house down." And what did the little pig say? "Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin." What was he doing? He was taking an oath. Now I realize pigs don't have beards, but that was a fairytale. But that's where it came from, because historically and biblically, men took oaths based upon their beards. Proverbs 20 and verse 29 says this, and by the way, even Shakespeare in his plays have men swearing and taking oaths by their beards. But Proverbs 20 and verse 29 says this, "The glory of young men is their strength. And the beauty of old men is their gray head." The ornament of young men is their strength, and the honor of old men is the gray hairs, and here it is in the Hebrew, or the hanging gray from the chin. It was not necessarily talking about the gray hair up here.

Some of us aren't able to have gray hair up here, but it does refer to the hanging gray from the chin. Whenever you see a man with a beard, you ought to consider several things. First of all, to pull it is to inflict an indignity. I've really only had my beard pulled that I can remember one time. And I will tell you, anger flew over me instantaneously. Not that I wanted to be angry. But the individual who did it did not realize what he was doing. And I very quickly said, "No, you never, ever pull a man's beard. It's an indignity, it's an insult."

Secondly, to have it forcibly cut off or mutilated is a symbol of disgrace, which I'm going to show you from the Bible momentarily. Thirdly, to remove the beard voluntarily is a sign of mourning, which they did occasionally in the Bible. And then to stroke the beard like this is a preface to uttering seemingly very important words or words of weight and value. And I might point this out. To kiss the beard is a sign of great respect, honor, friendship and brotherly love. You cannot understand a number of verses in the New Testament if you do not understand this simple fact, for instance, let me just quote 1 Corinthians 16 verse 20. The Apostle Paul said,

Scripture Reading — 1 Corinthians 16:20

"All the brethren greet you. Listen, greet you one another with a holy kiss."

Greet you one another with a holy kiss. In Romans 16 verse 16, Paul again said, "Salute one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you." 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 26, "Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss." And then 1 Peter 5, verse 14, "Greet you one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen." How do you greet the brethren with a holy kiss? Because it was customary, not only in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament, when brethren met, out of great respect and affection, they would take each other's beard and kiss the beard. And yes, I've had men kiss my beard.

One man did it, particularly every time he saw me, he understood this passage and I was not offended by it. In fact, I thought, well, at least he understands the scripture. I'm just simply saying you cannot understand the value of the beard unless you understand these scriptures, and that's how men normally greeted each other in the Old Testament and the New Testament by kissing each other's beards. Now, let me show you how valuable a beard was. I do want you to turn to 2 Samuel 10. 2 Samuel 10, and let's read the first seven verses. I want you to watch this passage, 2 Samuel, chapter 10, and look, if you would please, beginning there with verse one. 2 Samuel, chapter 10, verse one.

Scripture Reading — 2 Samuel 10:1-7

"And it came to pass after this that the king of the children of Ammon died, and Hanun, his son, reigned in his stead. Then said David, 'I will show kindness unto Hanun, the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness unto me.' And David sent to comfort him by the hand of his servants for his father. And David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon. And the princes of the children of Ammon said unto Hanun, their lord, 'Thinkest thou that David doth honor thy father, that he had sent comforters unto thee? Have not David rather sent his servants unto thee to search the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it?' Wherefore, Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even their buttocks, and sent them away.

And when they told it unto David, he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, 'Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown and then return.' And when the children of Ammon saw that they stank before David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-Rehob and the Syrians of Zobah, 20,000 footmen of King Maacah, 1,000 men of Ishtob, 12,000 men. And when David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the hosts of the mighty men. And the children of Ammon came out and put the battle in array, etc." Now, by the way, David wiped out the Ammonites and the Syrians.

But the point I'm trying to make is this. Hanun took David's diplomats, his servants, and shaved off one half their beards and cut their garments off and exposed their buttocks. The Ammonites knew exactly what they were doing when they mutilated the Hebrews' beards. They knew that it was a deadly insult. I want you to note something. I want you to see how times have changed. When the diplomats sent word to David that their beards had been mutilated and their garments had been cut off, their buttocks had been exposed, David said this to them, "Tarry ye at Jericho until your beards be grown." That was the insult. It did not concern them, to put it bluntly, that their fannies had been exposed.

Now you stop and think about this. What embarrassed them, what humiliated them was their beards had been mutilated and defiled. It was an insult. You can buy more clothes, but you can't grow a beard overnight. And so David then destroyed the Ammonites and the Syrians. Here's a whole war that's fought over beards. Moreover, in the year 1764, a pretender to the Persian throne named Karim Khan sent ambassadors to Mir Mahanan, the Prince of Bengaravik on the Persian Gulf, to demand tribute from him, but he in return cut off the ambassador's beards. Karim Khan was so enraged at this that he went the next year, took a large army, assaulted and took the city and almost the entire territory to avenge the insult. So to touch the beard was an insult unless it was done as an act of friendship and a token of respect.

Beards have been so valued down through the years that it would be interesting for you to look not only at the Bible prophets, pictures of them, but look at the preachers down through the years. And you will find that most preachers, the old preachers, up until the turn of this century, all of them had beards. Did you know that not only did Charles Haddon Spurgeon have a very beautiful beard, but Charles Haddon Spurgeon demanded that all of his deacons have beards. You could not be a deacon in Spurgeon's tabernacle unless you had a beard. And I have a picture in my library of Spurgeon and all of his deacons, and every one of them are well bearded. Now, let me very quickly give you the meaning of the beard. Why did God give men beards? What is a beard to signify? First of all, the beard represents and signifies life unto God. Stop and think. Only living men can grow a beard. In the Bible, it was the leper who had to be shaven. Leprosy in the Bible is not only representative of sin and death, but leprosy in the Bible is also a symbol of the judgment of God.

Do you remember how God smote Miriam with leprosy when she rebelled against Moses? Do you remember how God gave Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the leprosy that Naaman had because of his sin and his deceit? Now, I want you to listen to the law of the leper. Listen carefully. This is Leviticus 13, 29 and 30 in verse 33. God says,

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 13:29-30, 33

"If a man or a woman have a plague upon the head or the beard, then the priest shall see the plague, and behold, if it be in sight deeper than the skin, and there be in it a yellow thin hair, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is a dry scall, even a leprosy, upon the head or the beard. And he shall be shaven, and the scall shall he not shave, but the priest shall shut him up, that had the scall seven days more."

So if a man had leprosy, he had to be clean shaven. Leprosy is a sign of sin and death and the judgment of God. When you get to the healing of a leper in Leviticus chapter 14, once again, when he came and presented everything that God demanded, he had to be clean shaven once again. And then when the priest pronounced him clean, only then was he allowed to grow his beard.

So the beard, first and foremost, is a symbol of life unto God. It signifies life. We're free from sin. We're free from death. We're free from the judgment of God. Secondly, a beard signifies submission unto God.

Now, listen carefully, I'm going to show you this from the scripture, a beardless man or one with a clean shaven face indicated that he was a slave or in submission to man. Let me state this another way: to be deprived of a beard was and still is in many places a badge of servility, a mark of infamy that degraded a man from the ranks of men to those of slaves and women. Now, Joseph wore his beard while he was in prison. You remember, he was a slave. He was sold into slavery. While he was in prison, he wore his beard. But, when Pharaoh called him to stand before him, what did Joseph do? He shaved his beard. Why did he shave his beard? Because he was a slave. And he was going to appear now before Pharaoh, and it would have been an insult and a dishonor to Pharaoh for him to have stood there with his beard. Listen to this, Genesis 41, verse 14, "Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon, and he shaved himself and changed his raiment, and he came unto Pharaoh."

Scripture Reading — Genesis 41:14

Why did he do that? Because to be beardless was signifying that you were in submission to man, that you were a slave. And so Joseph, then, since he was a slave, took the mark of a slave. He shaved himself. And by the way, Genesis 41 in verse 40, Pharaoh said this to Joseph, "Thou shalt be over my house according to thy word, shall all my people be ruled only in the throne will I be greater than thou." What was he saying? You're subject to me. You're my servant, everybody else is going to be your servant, but you are my servant. So biblically speaking, then the beard indicates that men are in submission to God. Now, I'm not saying that Joseph was out of the will of God when he shaved his beard, because God certainly put him there. However, I am saying that in the context of what happened when a man changed his beard, it indicates that he is now in a position of servitude or in submission to man. And I am not implying that just because a man has a beard that he is in subjection to God.

Unhappily, that is not true, because multitudes of men across this world who have beards are in rebellion to God, and they are in rebellion to the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are lost in their sins. But the beard in reality is to signify submission unto God. In other words, the men who have beards and who are not in submission to God are betraying the symbol of what the beard represents. It's just like long hair on a woman symbolizes that she's in submission to her husband. I know plenty of women who have long hair that are not in submission to their husband. The long hair does them no good at all. Their life betrays the symbol. Thirdly, a beard indicates separation unto God. In Bible times, when a man looked at another man's beard, he knew who that man worshipped and who was his God. A beard basically told you who your God was. Pagans usually marred their beards.

As well as their heads. When God said, and I will show you later, when God says, "Thou shalt not mar the corner of your beard," this is the corner of the beard. To mar the corner then would be to have what you and I would call the goatee. And the pagans did that because they did it in honor of the sun, which was around the moon, the stars and the heavenly bodies. Herodotus, one of the early historians, said that the Arabs were accustomed to shave the hair around the head and left a tuft to stand up on the crown in honor of Bacchus. In Leviticus 19, which we read a little bit earlier, in verses 26-28, God says this, "You shall not eat anything with the blood, neither shall you use enchantment nor observe times. You shall not round the corners of your head, neither shall thou mar the corners of thy beard." Why? In Leviticus 21, verses 5 through 6, the priest was not to make any baldness upon his head, neither shall they shave the corners of their beards.

Why? Because the Hebrews had full beards and that full beard represented separation to God. When you saw the man with just the goatee and the mustache, it meant in history times, in Bible times, that he was a worshipper of Bacchus or Baal or Astarte or one of the heavenly bodies. So it's important for us to understand that the beard then in scripture represents life. It represents freedom. It represents separation with God.

But the symbol is nothing without reality. When God's people act like the wicked, God will punish them exactly like the wicked. And God indicates that he will cut or mar the corners of their beard. The expression that I will just read very quickly in Jeremiah 9, Jeremiah 25, Jeremiah 49, when God talks about those who are in the utmost corners, He's not talking about places. He's not talking about geographical places. He's talking about the beard. Listen carefully. God says, "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will punish all them that are circumcised with the uncircumcision, Egypt and Judah and Edom and the children of Ammon and Moab and all that are in the utmost corners that dwell in the wilderness, for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart." Well, they were uncircumcised in the heart. They were circumcised physically. They were in the covenant, but they were acting like the heathen. God says, you want to act like the heathen? Fine, I'll judge you like the heathen.

You find the same thing in Jeremiah 25:23, Jeremiah 49:32. God says, "I will mar the corners." Fourthly, very quickly, the beard signifies the blessings of God upon his people. Let me just read it in Psalm 133, beginning with verse one. Listen carefully.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 133:1-3

"Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments, as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life evermore."

So when Aaron and his sons then were anointed with that oil, that oil poured on their head, ran down their beards, even to their garments. Thus, a well-groomed and a well-cared for beard indicates the blessings of God upon that individual and his dedication to the service of God. Listen carefully.

The Beard and Divine Judgment

Weaver shows how the removal or marring of the beard in Scripture symbolizes God's judgment, culminating in the plucking of Christ's beard as a sign of bearing God's wrath for sinners.

The beard was plucked off or plucked out or shaved off or left unattended only during a time of great mourning and great calamity. We've already pointed this out in Mephibosheth, but you remember when Job lost everything he had and his ten children in Job 1:20. "Then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground in worship." In Ezra chapter 9, Ezra when he saw the sin of all the people in verse 3 says this, "And when I heard this thing, I ripped my garment and my mantle and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard and sat down astonished." Now, let me show you something in light of this. If you really want to understand what happened to our Lord Jesus Christ, I want you to listen carefully. When God was going to bring judgment upon his people because they refused to repent and refused to return to him, God indicated that great judgment by telling them that he was going to shave their beards. I remember years ago, and Alice can verify this, when I first grew my beard, which has been about 40 years now, I would have nightmares.

And my nightmare was this, that I would wake up clean shaven and didn't know how I got clean shaven. I'm serious. I mean, and I would just about wake up with chills because I didn't know what happened. Why would that affect me so or why should it affect anyone so? Because when God is going to bring judgment upon his disobedient people, he's going to do it under the symbol of shaving their beards, listen, Isaiah 7 and verse 20.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 7:20

"In the same day, shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired namely by them beyond the river that is the Assyrians, by the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet, and it shall also consume the beard."

What did God say to those people? I'm going to shave you bald. Why? Because the beard represents life unto God. It represents submission to God, and separation to God, and the blessings of God, and dedication to God. But these people refuse to repent and refuse to surrender to God. And God said, you want to live like the heathen? Fine, I will judge you like the heathen. He said in Isaiah 15 in verse 2, "He is going up to Bajeth and to Dibon and high places to weep.

Moab shall howl over Nebo and over Medeba. All their heads shall be baldness and every beard shall be cut off." In Jeremiah 48 in verse 37, God said "for every head shall be bald and every beard shall be clipped. Upon all the hands shall be cuttings and upon the loins sackcloth." God said I'll shave you bald. And in Ezekiel chapter 5 in verse 1 to represent what God was going to do, God told Ezekiel, "And thou son of man, take the sharp knife, listen, take me a barber's razor and cause it to pass upon mine head and upon my beard, then take the balances to weigh and divide the hair." What did God say? Ezekiel, just like you shaved your beard, I'm going to shave the nation. And so when God then is going to set forth the severity of His judgment upon His people because of their sin and rebellion, He does so under the picture and the emblem of taking away the beard. You see, the greatest indignity that could be inflicted upon a man is to have his beard plucked out.

It was a sheer and a sure sign of the judgment of God upon him. What did I say earlier? I said, if you wanted to know what happened to our Lord Jesus Christ, you need to understand this. And Isaiah 50 and verse 6 concerning our Lord, here's what he said,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 50:6

"I gave my back to the smiters. And my cheeks to those that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting."

What? Our Lord gave His cheeks to those who plucked off the hair.

In other words, they reached up and took handfuls of the beard and jerked it out. You say that had to be excruciatingly painful. Oh, it was painful. But they did not jerk the beard out just to increase the pain. They jerked the beard out because it was a custom then to symbolize, and it was a way of saying, you are under the curse of God. You're judged by God. You're under the wrath of God. God's shaving you.

And was that not true concerning our Lord who was our substitute? Did not He bear our wrath? Did not He take our punishment? Why was His beard plucked out? To show that he stood as our surety and our substitute, and he suffered the judgment of God in our stead. One last point, I want you to understand the purpose of the beard. God gave beards to men, and I told you earlier, the question is not whether it's right or wrong to have a beard, the question is whether it's right or wrong to shave. The beard is the distinguishing mark of a man. A bearded man can never be mistaken for a woman. Beards were regarded as sacred ornaments given by God to men to distinguish them from women.

The Purpose of the Beard and Applications

Weaver argues the beard distinguishes men from women, opposing the blurring of sexes. He applies the message by urging respect for all Scripture, noting a resurgence of beards as a rejection of effeminacy, and emphasizing that the symbol must match the life.

In Deuteronomy 22 and verse 5, here's a verse that has been around the world.

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 22:5

"The woman shall not wear that which pertains to the man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment for all that do so are an abomination to the Lord."

And I've preached and I've explained that verse, but I want you to listen to what Keil and Delitzsch said. One sentence upon this verse. Keil and Delitzsch said this. "The immediate design of this prohibition was not to prevent licentiousness or to oppose idolaters practices, but to maintain the sanctity of that distinction of the sexes which was established by the creation of man and woman and in relation to which Israel was not to sin. Every violation or wiping out of this distinction was unnatural and therefore an abomination in the sight of God."

So what Keil and Delitzsch are saying in their commentary is that this verse is directed against any and all who would obliterate or blur the distinctions between the sexes and idolatry was often associated with unisex or transgenderism. You remember in Acts chapter 19, I think it was, where Paul got into trouble there with the people because they worshiped Diana of the Ephesians and they kept shouting, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians." Did you know that Diana, look up her picture, get it and Google it on the internet. Put Diana of the Ephesians and you're going to come and see a statue of a woman that has multiple breasts. Why would they put multiple breasts on a statue of a woman? Because that is the distinguishing mark of a woman. But when you look at Diana, she not only has multiple breasts. She also has a beard because that's the distinguishing mark of a man.

And those who worshiped her, oftentimes men dressed like women and the women dressed like men to give sacrifices. Many of the pagans did the same thing. If you look in Greece, if you look in Rome, if you look in ancient Egypt, there was a deliberate attempt to break down the distinction between the sexes. And thus, the ancients believed that the beardless man was an effeminate man. And thus, when the pagans even then made their statue of Diana, they gave her a beard. Lange in his commentary says this, "to destroy the divine institution distinction between the sexes leads to licentiousness, immorality and confusion. Whatever leads to render the male sex effeminate or the female sex masculine is an injury to both." One thing for sure. A short haired man

might be mistaken for a woman if he had very tender looks. But a short-haired man with a beard could never, ever be taken for a woman. Herodotus, whom I mentioned earlier, one of the early historians, when the barbarians invaded the Roman Empire, said this. Since the barbarians had long hair and clean-shaven faces, he said, "they had been smitten by a deity and turned into a woman." Isn't that amazing?

Now, let me just make a couple of applications. The first one is this. We cannot deny, disparage, or denigrate any part of the Word of God. All Scripture is inspired of God and is given for our instruction and edification. If there was no importance concerning the beard, why would God not only give regulations concerning it, but why would He use it then as a symbol to express His divine judgment? Very obviously there is something to the beard. Secondly, there has been lately, for which I'm thankful, a resurgence of the beard in recent days. And I think that is an indication that men as a whole are growing weary with the effeminacy of our modern day society. And I think there's another implication that men are indeed growing weary of servitude and serfdom and slavery. And once again, you have to remember, the beard indicated freedom from those things. And so when men wear beards, then they are saying, in essence, I'm willing and I want to be in submission to God and separated to him and blessed by him. And thirdly, the beard is to picture our life unto God, our submission to God, our separation to God, the blessings of God upon us. But the symbol is nothing without the life. I said that the beard is to be a public and a private testimony. I've had innumerable people over the years ask me why I have a beard.

And I take the opportunity to explain and answer. But I'll tell you something else. Each time I look in the mirror and I see the beard and I trim my beard, I have to think, this beard tells me I'm to be in submission to the one true and the living God. The question is, am I? I'm to be separated unto him, am I? I'm to have his blessings upon me, do I? The beard is important. Historically and biblically, and there's a reason why God gave men beards.

And we need to understand that and be able to apply it. Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ for your help, for your grace, for your mercy, for your truth. We pray, Lord, that you would teach us, that you'd build us up in the most holy faith, and that you'd give us grace that we may serve thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. In thy name we pray. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Biblical Thinking and Submission to Scripture

Summary: Believers must bring every thought captive to Christ and study what the Bible says on all subjects, including the beard, rather than relying on cultural taboos or personal preference.

Evidence: Weaver cites 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 and John 7:24, urging listeners to 'think biblically' and 'judge righteous judgment.' He states, 'it's your responsibility to study the Scripture for yourself and search out the matter.'

The Beard as a Symbol of Manhood and Distinction

Summary: The beard is a God-given mark to distinguish men from women, and its removal or absence is associated with effeminacy, slavery, or paganism.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Clement of Alexandria calling the beard 'the mark of the man' and cites Deuteronomy 22:5 against blurring sexual distinctions. He notes that beardlessness was a 'badge of servility.'

The Beard as a Sign of Life, Submission, and Blessing

Summary: The beard represents life unto God, submission to Him (as opposed to slavery to man), separation from paganism, and the blessings of God's anointing.

Evidence: Weaver explains that lepers had to shave (symbol of death), Joseph shaved as a slave, and Aaron's beard received the anointing oil (Psalm 133).

The Beard and Divine Judgment

Summary: The forcible removal or marring of the beard in Scripture symbolizes God's judgment on sin, most poignantly seen in the plucking of Christ's beard as He bore God's wrath.

Evidence: Weaver references Isaiah 7:20, Isaiah 50:6, and Ezekiel 5:1, showing that God threatened to 'shave' Israel as judgment and that Christ's beard was plucked as a sign of bearing the curse.

Historical Testimony to the Beard's Importance

Summary: Throughout history, godly men and periods of spiritual awakening have been marked by the wearing of beards, while beardlessness often accompanied paganism, rationalism, and liberalism.

Evidence: Weaver cites the Council of Carthage, the Reformers, Confederate generals, and the decline of beards with German liberalism in World War I.

Key Arguments

The Bible assumes men will have beards and regulates them, implying their importance.

Summary: Scripture never commands growing a beard but takes it for granted, giving laws about not marring it, which indicates God's concern for the beard as a symbol.

Evidence: Weaver points to Leviticus 19:27 and 21:5, and notes that the Hebrew word for elder (zaqen) means 'bearded one.'

The beard is a symbol of freedom and submission to God, not man.

Summary: In biblical culture, slaves and those in submission to human masters were often beardless, while free men wore beards as a sign of submission to God alone.

Evidence: Weaver uses Joseph shaving before Pharaoh (Genesis 41:14) as an example of a slave adopting the mark of servitude.

The beard distinguishes men from women, and its removal contributes to the blurring of sexes condemned in Scripture.

Summary: Deuteronomy 22:5 prohibits cross-dressing and, by extension, any practice that obliterates the distinction between the sexes, which the beard naturally maintains.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Keil and Delitzsch on Deuteronomy 22:5 and references the androgynous depiction of Diana of the Ephesians.

The plucking of Christ's beard was a sign of Him bearing God's judgment as our substitute.

Summary: Isaiah 50:6 prophesies that the Messiah would give His cheeks to those who pluck out the hair, which was a cultural sign of being under God's curse, fulfilled in Christ's passion.

Evidence: Weaver connects Isaiah 50:6 with the custom of beard-plucking as a symbol of divine judgment, showing Christ bore that judgment for sinners.

Historical patterns show that beards are associated with godliness and spiritual revival.

Summary: From the early church to the Reformation to the 19th century, beardedness among Christian men coincided with periods of biblical fidelity, while beardlessness often marked spiritual decline.

Evidence: Weaver cites the Council of Carthage (200 AD), the Reformers, and the Confederate generals as examples of bearded godly men.

Scripture References

Leviticus 19:26-28

Context: God commands Israel not to round the corners of their heads or mar the corners of their beards, linking it to separation from pagan practices.

Leviticus 21:1-6

Context: Priests are forbidden to shave off the corner of their beards as part of being holy unto God.

Proverbs 25:2

Context: It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the honor of kings to search out a matter, applied to studying the beard.

John 7:24

Context: Jesus commands not to judge by appearance but to judge righteous judgment, applied to avoiding superficial judgments about beards.

Psalm 119:165

Context: Great peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them, used to argue that offense at beards indicates a problem with God's law.

1 Corinthians 11:14

Context: Nature teaches that long hair on a man is a shame, used to argue Christ did not have long hair.

Isaiah 42:21

Context: The Lord will magnify the law and make it honorable, applied to Christ's obedience to the law regarding hair.

1 Samuel 21:13-15

Context: David feigned madness by letting spittle fall on his beard, which convinced Achish he was insane because no sane man would defile his beard.

2 Samuel 19:24

Context: Mephibosheth did not trim his beard from the day David departed until his return, as a sign of mourning.

2 Samuel 20:9-10

Context: Joab took Amasa by the beard to kiss him as a pretended act of friendship before murdering him.

Luke 22:28

Context: Judas betrayed Christ with a kiss, likely involving taking His beard, learned from Joab's treachery.

Proverbs 20:29

Context: The beauty of old men is their gray head, interpreted as the hanging gray from the chin (beard).

1 Corinthians 16:20

Context: Greet one another with a holy kiss, understood as kissing the beard as a sign of respect.

2 Samuel 10:1-7

Context: Hanun shaved off half the beards of David's servants, a great insult that led to war.

Leviticus 13:29-30, 33

Context: A leper with a plague on the beard had to be shaven, linking beardlessness to sin and death.

Genesis 41:14

Context: Joseph shaved himself before appearing before Pharaoh, signifying his status as a slave.

Psalm 133:1-3

Context: The anointing oil running down Aaron's beard symbolizes the blessing of God upon unity and dedication.

Isaiah 7:20

Context: God threatens to shave Israel with a hired razor as a sign of judgment.

Isaiah 50:6

Context: The Messiah gives His cheeks to those who pluck out the hair, fulfilled in Christ's passion as bearing judgment.

Deuteronomy 22:5

Context: Prohibition against cross-dressing, applied to maintaining the distinction of sexes which the beard supports.

Historical References

Ancient Egypt

Context: Egyptians disliked facial hair, forced slaves to shave, and pharaohs wore fake beards as a divine attribute. Egypt is a type of the world in Scripture.

Council of Carthage (200 AD)

Context: Declared that a man with long hair and a clean-shaven face was immodestly dressed and should be excluded from communion.

Tertullian

Context: Early church father who wrote a treatise on the beard, saying its purpose was to keep lust down.

Clement of Alexandria

Context: Early church father who wrote extensively against shaving, calling the beard 'man's natural adornment' and saying it is never permissible to remove it.

Reformation (16th century)

Context: Reformers like Martin Luther wore short hair and beards, contrasting with the long hair and clean-shaven faces of the Renaissance and Enlightenment.

Confederate Generals

Context: Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and other Confederate leaders wore beards, and 90% of Confederate veterans had beards.

William Tyndale (1528)

Context: Pointed out that shaving is borrowed from the heathen and proclaimed that the shaven nation had put Christ out of his room.

James Ward, 'The Defense of the Beard' (1859)

Context: A pamphlet listing 18 reasons why men were bound to grow a beard unless indifferent to offending the Creator.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Context: Spurgeon had a beard and required all his deacons to have beards.

Diana of the Ephesians

Context: A pagan deity depicted with multiple breasts and a beard, representing the blurring of sexual distinctions in idolatry.

Important Quotes

Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

Significance: Weaver uses this command of Jesus to caution against superficial judgments about beards and to call for biblical evaluation.

Great peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them.

Significance: Weaver cites this verse to argue that being offended by a beard indicates a lack of love for God's law.

He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man.

Significance: Weaver quotes Shakespeare to illustrate the historical association of beards with mature manhood.

The immediate design of this prohibition was not to prevent licentiousness or to oppose idolaters practices, but to maintain the sanctity of that distinction of the sexes which was established by the creation of man and woman and in relation to which Israel was not to sin.

Significance: Weaver quotes Keil and Delitzsch on Deuteronomy 22:5 to support the beard's role in preserving the God-ordained distinction between sexes.

I gave my back to the smiters. And my cheeks to those that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

Significance: Weaver uses this Messianic prophecy to show that Christ's beard was plucked as a sign of bearing God's judgment for sinners.

Discussion Questions

How does the command to 'judge not according to appearance' apply to our attitudes toward men with or without beards?

Context: Weaver emphasizes that most people judge by appearance rather than by righteous judgment, using the example of FBI wanted posters.

In what ways might the historical association of beards with godliness challenge our modern cultural assumptions?

Context: Weaver traces the history of beards from the early church to the Reformation, showing that beards were often expected of Christian men.

What does the beard symbolize in Scripture, and how should that symbolism affect a Christian man's decision to wear or not wear a beard?

Context: Weaver explains that the beard represents life, submission to God, separation, and blessing, and that the symbol should match the reality of one's life.

How does the plucking of Christ's beard deepen our understanding of His substitutionary atonement?

Context: Weaver connects Isaiah 50:6 with the cultural meaning of beard-plucking as a sign of being under God's curse, which Christ bore for us.

Why is it important to maintain the distinction between the sexes, and how does the beard contribute to that distinction?

Context: Weaver discusses Deuteronomy 22:5 and the androgynous depictions of pagan deities, arguing that the beard naturally distinguishes men from women.

Applications

Study Scripture for yourself on every subject, including the beard.

Summary: Weaver urges believers not to rely on tradition or culture but to search the Scriptures to understand God's mind on all matters, including the beard.

Evidence: He cites Proverbs 25:2 and shares how he was challenged to study the topic himself.

Do not judge by appearance but by righteous judgment.

Summary: Weaver warns against superficial judgments about beards based on stereotypes (e.g., hippies) and calls for biblical evaluation.

Evidence: He references John 7:24 and the example of FBI wanted posters.

Let the symbol of the beard match the reality of a life submitted to God.

Summary: Weaver emphasizes that wearing a beard is meaningless if one's life does not reflect submission, separation, and blessing from God.

Evidence: He states, 'the symbol is nothing without the life' and shares how his own beard serves as a private reminder.

Maintain the God-given distinction between men and women.

Summary: Weaver applies Deuteronomy 22:5 to the modern blurring of sexes, arguing that the beard helps preserve that distinction.

Evidence: He quotes Keil and Delitzsch and references the unisex trend and Diana of the Ephesians.

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T04:53:47Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T16:58:04Z

Clean Transcript

The Beard, its Historical and Biblical Significance

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

All right, so let's open our Bibles to the book of Leviticus chapter 19. The message today is the biblical and the historical significance of the beard. And you will not think that there's too much in the Bible concerning that, but there is a wealth of material. So look in Leviticus chapter 19 and let's look at verses 26 through 28. God tells the people, "You shall not eat anything with the blood, neither shall you use enchantment, nor observe times." Then in verse 27, Leviticus 19, "You shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you. I am the Lord." Then if you'll look in Leviticus 21, beginning there with verse one, and this is in reference to even the priest here. The other was in reference to all of God's people in general. "And the Lord said unto Moses, speak unto the priests, the sons of Aaron and say to them, there shall none be defiled for the dead among his people, but for his kin that is near unto him, that is for his mother and for his father, for his son, for his daughter, for
#1 | 0:02 to 1:18 | cleaned
his brother and for a sister or virgin that is nigh unto him, which hath no husband. For her may he be defiled, but he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself. They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh. They shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the name of their God. For the offerings of the Lord made by fire and the bread of their God they do offer. Therefore they shall be holy." Many years ago, I preached this message on the biblical and the historical significance of the beard. This message has basically been around the world. And when I say it's been around the world, I have received comments from this message from Italy, South Africa, England, Wales.
#2 | 1:18 to 2:14 | cleaned
It is one of the most listened to messages on SermonAudio. It is one of the most downloaded messages. But since I preached this message many years ago, it has been copied. It has been plagiarized. In some instances, it has been vilified. I have seen this message with another pastor's name attached to it, which I really don't mind. And the one that I'm thinking of particularly, he added just one or two little things.
#3 | 2:15 to 2:58 | cleaned
And I showed Alice, I got so tickled, I said, "Look at this, look at this." And it's on the internet, by the way. And he even used an illustration that I have. And since he didn't know me, he said, "There is in Pastor John Weaver's office..." So I said, "Well, that's fine, too." But I certainly do not mind the message being preached or re-preached or reclaimed by anyone.
#4 | 2:59 to 3:23 | cleaned
I'm kind of like Paul. I'm just rejoicing in the fact that at least the word of God is being preached and is getting out. So there have been a number of preachers that have asked me and a number of people that have asked me to redo this message. So let me begin by telling you what I'm not going to be doing in this message. First, I'm not defending my beard very obviously. It does not need defending. And the very fact that I've had it for over 40 years demonstrates and proves that I really genuinely believe what I'm going to share with you this day. In fact, my grandchildren, none of them have ever seen me without a beard.
#5 | 3:24 to 4:04 | cleaned
And probably my children do not even remember me with not having a beard, unless they glance at a picture occasionally every now and then. So I'm not defending the beard.
#6 | 4:04 to 4:15 | cleaned
Secondly, I'm not trying to bind my convictions upon your conscience. I do pray that the Word of God will be open to you, that you may see the truth of what I am preaching. But the fact of the matter is, it's your responsibility to study the Scripture for yourself and search out the matter. The Bible tells you in Proverbs 25 and verse 2, "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but it's the honor of kings to search out a matter." So, it's your responsibility then to search out this matter according to the Word of God.
#7 | 4:15 to 4:47 | cleaned
Thirdly, I am not saying, and listen carefully, I am not saying that a man that does not have a beard is less holy than one who does have a beard. Moreover, I am not saying that a man with a beard is more holy than a man without a beard. But I am going to show you shortly from Scripture what a beard does indeed represent and why I believe from Scripture especially a godly man should have a visible beard.
#8 | 4:48 to 5:17 | cleaned
Fourthly, I'm not asking you, the men particularly, to grow a beard for my benefit. I would never encourage anyone to do anything that they do not understand that is based upon the pure word of God. I am not the Lord of your conscience. Jesus Christ is the Lord of your conscience, so you are to be bound by His word and not my word. But I would ask you to submit to the Word of God and to be easily entreated, as James says, to the engrafted Word of God, which I believe will give you a great deal of understanding upon this subject, and you will find out that in reality a beard is not only a very
#9 | 5:17 to 5:58 | cleaned
important matter, it is a biblical matter, according to Scripture. Now, let me tell you what I'm going to ask you to do at the very beginning. I'm going to ask you to do that which our Lord commands in John 7 and verse 24, when he says, "Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment." Unhappily, most people judge by appearance. They do not judge by righteous judgment or just judgment.
#10 | 5:58 to 6:29 | cleaned
If you want to go by appearance, I could take you down to our local post office, and I could take you through the FBI's most wanted list, or the pictures they have there of the men that they want, and I could show you where probably 90% of the wanted men on the FBI list are clean-shaven. I could conclude then, based upon that, that anyone who is clean shaven is a criminal and is probably wanted by the FBI.
#11 | 6:30 to 7:04 | cleaned
Now, you would say that would be an erroneous judgment. It would be. But I would be judging by appearance. You see what I'm saying? So our Lord says that we're not to judge by appearance. We're to judge just and righteous judgment. You see, there's another objection that appears in relationship to that. And that's because in times past, there were those individuals who lived the hippie lifestyle and wore their beards, and oftentimes they were dirty, they were unkempt, and they were certainly rebellious. And I hope you understand that just because someone abuses or misuses a truth, does not mean that we disobey or disregard the truth. For instance, we do not cease observing the Lord's table just because the Roman Catholics have turned it into a perpetual mass. We do not cease baptizing people just because there are some who teach baptismal regeneration. We do not discard marital sex just because there are adulterers and fornicators. All I'm trying to say is this, you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
#12 | 7:05 to 8:21 | cleaned
Just because someone abuses and misuses a truth does not mean that the truth is wrong. It just means that they are wrong for abusing and misusing the truth. In fact, the truth of the matter is there is a growing trend, and it has been over the past years, especially among young people, to go for what is known as the Kung Fu or the Kojak look, which in our day and time, it's now referred to the unisex look. In fact, if you will go into some of the larger department stores and you start to go to a bathroom and you will usually see gentlemen and ladies and then unisex. I can point you to several down in Florida and they're there or sometimes they will say now a family bathroom. A family bathroom? I get tickled because, you know, I go into these bathrooms and it says "baby changing station." Man, I stayed there all day and tried to get somebody to change babies with me and nobody will take mine. No, I know what it means, but I get tickled every time I see that baby
#13 | 8:23 to 9:34 | cleaned
changing station up. Who wants to change babies? But anyhow, I'm just simply saying here is this, that you and I understand it. And what is happening is this: since this unisex look is going around, men are looking like women, women are looking like men, and certainly we ought to condemn that because that is condemned in the word of God. There is indeed a biblical significance to a beard and to a man looking like a man. Second, I want you to understand that a man who has a full beard, the beard is not prohibited in the Word of God. In fact, the beard is commended in the Word of God, and there are definite regulations laid down in the Scripture concerning the beard.
#14 | 9:34 to 10:29 | cleaned
You see, the biggest taboo, and it's not so much today as it was back in the 70s when I first preached this message, but the biggest taboo was a bearded pastor. In other words, back then pastors just did not have beards. I mean, everybody was basically clean shaven is what it amounted to. In fact, even the university that I went to originally back in the 60s did not allow beards. I have known of Christian men who were not accepted in other churches because they had a beard. I've known Christian men who were turned down for positions of teaching because they had a beard. So the taboo that I'm pointing out is not God's taboo, but it is man's taboo.
#15 | 10:29 to 11:20 | cleaned
They've never, ever considered what the word of God teaches. Thirdly, I would like to encourage you to think biblically today. You see, we claim to be Christians, and we claim to love the Word of God, and yet for all practical purposes, most professing Christians neglect the Word of God. We neglect to study these subjects. I will guarantee you, I could probably count on one hand the number of preachers and especially the number of Christians who ever, ever looked in the Bible to see what the Bible has to say about a beard. Very few.
#16 | 11:21 to 12:00 | cleaned
In fact, I'll tell you how I came to preach this message. One of my pastor friends who I've known for years and years, I went to see him one day and he had a beautiful head full of gray hair and he had this beautiful gray beard. And I looked at him, I said, "Why did you grow a beard?" And his response was, "Because of what the Bible teaches about the beard." And I looked at him and I said, "Well, what does the Bible teach about the beard?" And he looked at me and said, "I'm not going to tell you. If you want to know, go home and study it out for yourself." And that's exactly what I did, and that's why I came to preach this message years ago. But listen to what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10, verses 4 and 5.
#17 | 12:02 to 12:55 | cleaned
The Apostle Paul said, "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." Now listen, "casting down imaginations and every high thing or every high thought that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." So that means if we think about a beard, if we think about government, if we think about education, if we think about money, if we think about family, whatever we think, we're responsible to bring every thought captive to Jesus Christ. That is, we're responsible to think biblically. Most people have never thought upon this subject at all.
#18 | 12:55 to 13:42 | cleaned
You know, I've heard this said in times past, someone would offer an objection and they would say, "Well, I just don't know if it's right or wrong for a man to have a beard." And my response to that is this. Let's stop right there. That is not really for you and I to decide. Because God has already determined that. He has created men so that they may have beards. So the question in reality is not, is it right or wrong to have a beard? But the question should be, is it right or wrong to shave? And you cannot shave it off. It keeps going back.
#19 | 13:43 to 14:30 | cleaned
You have to keep shaving over and over and over. Now, I've had one person to say this to me years ago. And it was a woman. And she said, "Your beard is offensive to me." Well, if someone tries to say that beards are offensive, my first response is this. I would argue that anyone who finds a beard offensive, they need to take that up with God because God gave beards to men.
#20 | 14:31 to 15:02 | cleaned
Secondly, I'd point out to offend someone biblically means to encourage them to do what you're doing without having your knowledge. You remember the word in the Greek is the word skandalon for offend. You'll find that in Romans 14, 1 Corinthians 8. It's where we get our English word scandal. And the only woman who ever said that to me, I said to her as I smiled, "Dear lady, my beard could not possibly offend you. Because you could not do what I'm doing, even if you had my knowledge." And if you remember when I brought that brief series on Romans 14 on how to avoid conflicts between Christians, I pointed out that when someone says something like this, "Your beard offends me," what they really mean is this: "You need to shave it off, I don't like it." That's what they really mean.
#21 | 15:03 to 16:05 | cleaned
In other words, "You please me." Obviously, listen carefully, anyone who has a problem with a beard, or any other biblical subject, not only has a problem with God, but they have a problem with the law of God. How can I say that? Because the Bible says in Psalm 119 in verse 165, "Great peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them." So if you're offended, obviously, you don't love the law of God because he says great peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them. So clearly, then, there's a problem with someone between God and his word. So men have beards and that's the way God has created us.
#22 | 16:06 to 17:02 | cleaned
So you've got to ask yourself this question. Why did God give men beards? Why do men have beards? And you have to also ask this question, what does a beard signify? Before I finish, I'm going to show you that a beard really and truly is a public and a private testimony. It's a public testimony when the beard is grown and neatly trimmed and groomed because everyone who sees it many times will ask concerning it. It's also a private testimony for when the man who has it, he looks into the mirror and all of a sudden he remembers now why God gave him that beard and what it means and what his life should be. I'm going to try to show you five things very quickly today. First of all, I want to share with you the history of beards.
#23 | 17:03 to 18:02 | cleaned
Before I get into the biblical passages, I wish to point out that history may be studied and analyzed simply by looking at the rise and the fall of the beard. Historical truth is important. It is not equal to biblical truth, yet all history is God's history, for God is the God of history. But history does show us something. History does teach us something. It reveals to us either the lack and the ignorance of, or the knowledge and the importance of, biblical truth upon civilization. So you can look at civilization, and you can see when the word of God is in the supremacy, certain things transpired. When the word of God is not in the supremacy, when rationalism, when man's thoughts are supreme, certain things transpired as well.
#24 | 18:03 to 18:53 | cleaned
Now, an interesting tidbit of history is this, that Egypt was about the only country in antiquity that forbade a man to have a beard or to let his beard grow out. The Egyptians disliked facial hair. They shaved themselves and they forced their slaves to shave. Now, any biblical scholar will tell you very quickly that Egypt is a type of the world. Egypt has always been in the Bible, that which represents contrariness to God, to his law, and to his people. So Egypt, then, by and large, was a nation of beardless men.
#25 | 18:54 to 19:37 | cleaned
Yet, when you look at the sculptures, and even a picture, ancient art, of Pharaoh, you will see that Pharaoh always had a sharp pointed goatee. But if you look very carefully at the picture or at the sculpture, you will see there is a very thin line that goes up his cheeks and over his ears. And you know why? Because the beard was a fake beard. It was simply tied on.
#26 | 19:37 to 20:11 | cleaned
Do you realize there is a reason for that? Even women sometimes in Egypt had these fake beards. For instance, Queen Hatshepsut dressed like a man and is shown with a fake beard. In Egypt, the fake beard was either used for celebrations or public appearances. There was also a religious significance attached to that beard, because the beard in Egypt was considered a divine attribute of the gods to the Egyptians, and thus when the pharaoh or the queen or some other public person donned a fake beard, what they were showing and demonstrating was that they were identifying themselves as a living god. And thus the Pharaoh had that fake beard tied just so he could identify himself with deity.
#27 | 20:15 to 21:17 | cleaned
Another interesting thing is this. If you will study the history of Egypt, you will find that the enemies of Egypt are always depicted with beards. The enemies of Egypt are always depicted with beards. Maybe that's another reason why the Egyptians found facial hair disgusting to themselves, because they identified it with an enemy of Egypt. There's another interesting tidbit, and if you will check it out, you'll find it true, that in Greek mythology and in Roman mythology, usually the false gods are presented as beardless. Now, there were some that were presented with beards, that is true. But in their paintings, in their sculpturing, the false gods were usually beardless. I'm trying to give you some history concerning this.
#28 | 21:18 to 22:20 | cleaned
And the Council of Carthage, which was a church council in the early 200 AD, were discussing problems in the church. And in the Council of Carthage in 200 AD, one of the problems they were discussing was the problem of immodest dress. Now, we could think, how in the world could they be having problems with immodest dress in 200 A.D.? I mean, today we look around and we see the miniskirts and the shortened halters and the tank tops, and you say, yeah, we've got problems with immodest dress. Well, they had problems with immodest dress in 200 A.D. But let me tell you what the council of Carthage said was a modest dress. Listen carefully. Here's the quote from the council. Concerning a modest dress, any man who appears in church with long hair and a clean shaven face will be excluded from communion for that man is immodestly dressed. And that's amazing. A man with long hair and a clean-shaven face was immodestly dressed. So if you came to church with long hair and a clean-shaven face, you were to be excluded from communion.
#29 | 22:20 to 23:46 | cleaned
It was Tertullian, one of the early church fathers, who wrote his treatise on the beard and said that the purpose of the beard was to keep lust down. I've heard some women say, "Well, he looks better without a beard." Well, he may. But Tertullian said one of the reasons was to keep lust down. The fourth council of Carthage in 398 said this, "The clergyman shall not let his hair grow, neither shall he remove his beard." How about that?
#30 | 23:46 to 24:18 | cleaned
Many of the ancients believed and they taught that God gave man a beard to distinguish him from a woman and therefore it was wrong to antagonize nature by shaving. One of the early church fathers, Clement of Alexandria, probably wrote more against shaving than any other of the Christian writers combined. Clement called, and I'm quoting now, the beard "man's natural adornment" and said "it is never permissible to remove it." He goes on to say "the hairs of the beard have been numbered." Clement warns his readers "to seek beauty in hairlessness is sheer effeminacy if done by men." He goes on to say, "God planned," I love this one, "God planned that the woman be smooth skin, taking pride in her natural tresses, the only hair she has as the horse in its mane. But man, he adorned like the lion with a beard." So women were like the horses with the long, fluid mane. Men were like lions with the beard. He went on to say, "This then is the mark of the man, the beard.
#31 | 24:19 to 25:37 | cleaned
By this he is seen to be a man. It is older than Eve. It is the token of superior nature. It is therefore unholy to desecrate the symbol of manhood, hairiness." Isn't that amazing? So when the barbarian hordes invaded the Roman Empire, they had long hair and they had clean shaven faces. And it was at this particular time when Rome fell that Christendom as a whole was what you and I would call Romanized.
#32 | 25:38 to 26:07 | cleaned
So the barbarians then began to infiltrate the church and all of these pagan rites and rituals were incorporated into the church. And at that particular time, since the barbarians had long hair and clean shaven faces, that's basically what began to happen. The men had long hair and they had clean shaven faces. It's interesting that if you will look at the early pictures of Christ, even pictures today, Christ is always pictured with long hair and a beard.
#33 | 26:07 to 26:46 | cleaned
Have you ever wondered about that? Let me tell you dogmatically, in no uncertain terms, our Lord did not have long hair. How can I say He did not have long hair? Well, first of all, you have to remember that when our Lord was alive, Caesar was on the throne. The style was known as the Caesar cut or the Caesar style. It was short hair on the top of the head, never even touched the ears. That was the style during our Lord's lifetime. Moreover, specifically, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 14, "Doth not even nature itself teach you," listen, "that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him."
#34 | 26:47 to 27:40 | cleaned
Now, the Greek word for shame is atimia, which literally refers to that which is vile, shameful, dishonorable, ignominious, disgraceful, and a reproach. Now, if it was a reproach and shameful and vile for a man to have long hair, you've got to remember that Jesus Christ was and still is the sinless Son of God. He would have never, ever done anything that would have been vile and reproachful. Moreover, the Bible tells us in Isaiah 42 and verse 21, concerning Christ, "The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake.
#35 | 27:40 to 28:19 | cleaned
He will magnify the law and make it honorable." So therefore, if the law says it's unnatural and a shame for a man to have long hair, I can assure you Christ never had long hair.
#36 | 28:20 to 28:37 | cleaned
Now, Christ is also presented in these pictures and in these works of art as having a beard. And that's because you could not deny that it was very plain and very clearly said, not only in scripture, but in truth and in history as well. I want to point out a glaring inconsistency. Have you ever thought about this? Have you ever considered the glaring inconsistency of people who literally worship the Lord Jesus Christ who had a beard, and then turn around and try to say it's wrong for a man to have a beard. Have you ever thought about that?
#37 | 28:38 to 29:24 | cleaned
It was during the 16th century that one of the great awakenings occurred, known as the Reformation. Bloody Mary, Queen of England, was on the throne, 1516 to 1558. It was in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the castle church door in Wittenberg, Germany, and he began to teach and preach the just shall live by faith. Now, so it's noticeable if you will go back and look then at some of these men as they began in the Reformation and then after they began. You'll notice.
#38 | 29:26 to 30:03 | cleaned
Short hair and beards, isn't that amazing? Then, on the other hand, if you will look during the Renaissance, when man's rationalism prevailed, men then had long hair and clean shaven faces. Same thing in France during the period of the Enlightenment, where you had so many people there who were agnostics and atheists and infidels and deists, they would have the long hair and the clean shaven faces. But it's interesting, during the War of Northern Aggression, when you look at the pictures of godly men, you always find that they have beards. Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Jeb Stuart, James Longstreet, Richard Stoddard Ewell, all of these men. And it's interesting, if you will look back at some of the old pictures of the Confederate veterans, 90% of them have beards. And beards were worn from that period of time up basically until you get to World War I, when German liberalism began to infiltrate into this society. And then of course, beards then began to disappear. And once again, the long hair and the clean shaven faces came out.
#39 | 30:05 to 31:32 | cleaned
So I'm just trying to show you, you can study civilization with the rise and fall of a beard. There were a few men down through the ages who cried out against clean-shaven faces. In 1528, William Tyndale was one of those, and here's what he said. He pointed out that shaving is borrowed of the heathen and proclaimed that the shaven nation had put Christ out of his room. Wow. William Shakespeare even...
#40 | 31:32 to 32:04 | cleaned
said this in his play Much Ado About Nothing. He said, "He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man. He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man." In 1859, an Englishman, James Ward, wrote a book, The Defense of the Beard, which was a pamphlet which listed 18 reasons why men were bound to grow a beard unless that man was indifferent as to offending the Creator and good taste.
#41 | 32:06 to 32:41 | cleaned
The next year, one year later, a work was published, listen to the title of this, Shaving, a Breach of the Sabbath and a Hindrance to the Spread of the Gospel. In this book, the author described the beard on the grounds that it was a divinely provided chest protector. So they had long beards coming down here. And here is just one part, one sentence out of that book. Listen, "beard shaving and the common use of the razor, an unnatural, irrational, unmanly, ungodly and fatal fashion among Christians." Wow. One of the more humorous quotes I found concerning the beard came from Tom Robbins, he said, "Of the seven dwarves, only Dopey had a clean-shaven face, and that should tell us something about the custom of shaving." Only Dopey had a clean-shaven face. Wow!
#42 | 32:42 to 33:43 | cleaned
The bearded races of mankind have commonly held the beard in high honor. It's a sign of full manhood, and the very young male or eunuch was beardless and the bearded woman was considered a witch. Whenever you see pictures of Adam, or God, or the prophets, or kings, and nobles, they are always presented with beards. So the Semites, those who descended from Shem, or the Hebrews, Israelites, have always held a beard in great esteem. Listen to this. Here's a quote directly. "Among them," that is among the Hebrews, the Israelites, "among them, it is more injurious for anyone to have his beard cut off than among us to be publicly whipped or branded with a hot iron."
#43 | 33:45 to 34:42 | cleaned
Many men in that country would prefer death to such a punishment. The wives kiss their husbands' beards, and the children their fathers' when they come to salute them. The men kiss one another's beards reciprocally when they salute in the streets or come from a journey. They say that the beard is the perfection of the human face, which would be more disfigured by having this cut off than by losing the nose. They admire any and envy those who have fine beards. "Pray do but see," they cried, "that beard, and the very sight of it would persuade anyone that he to whom it belongs is an honest man." If anyone with a fine beard is guilty of an unbecoming action, they would say, "What a disadvantage is this to such a beard? How much such a beard should be pitied?" If they would correct anyone's mistakes, they will tell him, "For shame on your beard. Does not the confusion that follows such an action light upon your beard?" If they entreat anyone or use oath affirming or denying anything, they would say, "I conjure you by your beard or by the life of your beard to grant me this or by your beard this is or is not so."
#44 | 34:43 to 36:00 | cleaned
They say further in the way of acknowledgement, "May God preserve your blessed beard" or "May God pour out his blessings upon your beard." And in comparison, "This is more valuable than anyone's beards" or "anyone's beard."
#45 | 36:01 to 36:17 | cleaned
Now, if you understand these sayings, you're going to begin to understand a lot of scripture. For instance, do you remember, and you don't turn there please, the dishonor that David did to his own beard when he was escaping from King Saul and he fled to Achish, king of Gath. It was the Philistine, by the way. And when David understood that some of the men saying, "Well, is not this David? Did not he kill all of our men?" And then listen to what David did. 1 Samuel 21, verse 13, "And he, David, changed his behavior before them and feigned himself mad in their hands and scrabbled on the doors of the gate and let his spittle fall down upon his beard." So he's clawing at the door, foaming at the mouth, we would say, and letting all the spittle run down upon his beard. Well, what happened? Here's what Achish said. 1 Samuel 21, 14 and 15. "Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo! You see, the man is mad.
#46 | 36:17 to 37:29 | cleaned
Wherefore then have you brought him to me? Have I need of madmen that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?" So David's actions then of scrabbling at the door and clawing at the door and letting the spittle fall down upon his beard persuaded Achish that he was crazy, that it was out of his mind, because Achish understood that no man in his right mind would ever defile his beard.
#47 | 37:30 to 37:55 | cleaned
Do you remember when David was driven off the throne by Absalom? David had taken Mephibosheth, Saul's grandson, into his home. Mephibosheth, you remember, was lame upon his feet. And Ziba, his servant, lied to him. And Ziba escaped to go carry some things to David and said, "Mephibosheth said, 'Well, the kingdom of my father is going to be returned to me this day.'" But when David came back after the destruction of Absalom and his army, in 2 Samuel 19 verse 24, listen to this, "And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king and had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes from the day the king departed until the day he came in peace." Mephibosheth then was in mourning concerning the travesty that had been done to David and the very proof that Ziba had lied, was Mephibosheth had not even dressed his feet, trimmed his beard, or even washed his clothes. The beard was always a cherished and a sacred thing.
#48 | 37:57 to 39:15 | cleaned
Israel brought the beard safely out of the bondage of the universally shaven Egypt. And the beard was always the outward sign and the visible sign of a true man. Now listen carefully, and you're going to see this from the scripture in just a moment. To rudely touch the beard was to cruelly assail a man's dignity. Children and other kinfolks might gently touch it as a sign of love. A fugitive might reverentially raise his hand to it while praying for succor or for help. And he who put his own hand upon his own beard and swore by it, bound himself by the most solemn of oaths to violate which would render him infamous among his fellow men. To touch the beard in allegiance of love established peace and trustfulness between two parties. Now listen carefully.
#49 | 39:16 to 40:18 | cleaned
Do you remember when Joab went to Amasa? He took him by the beard to kiss him and he said, "Art thou in health, my brother?" Here was a pretended act of love and a pretended act of friendship. But Joab had an ulterior motive. Let me read it to you from Scripture, 2 Samuel 20 verses 9 and 10. "And Joab said to Amasa, 'Art thou in health, my brother?' And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand.
#50 | 40:18 to 40:56 | cleaned
So he smote him there under the fifth rib and shed out his bowels to the ground and struck him not again, and so he died." So what did Joab do? Joab was following a customary greeting, which was a sign of trust and friendship, of respect and devotion. He took Amasa's beard, and he was going to kiss that beard, and he asked for God's help, "my brother." Amasa was so concerned with the compliment, in all probability, getting ready to return that compliment, because he would in turn then kiss Joab's beard. He took no notice of the sword in Joab's hand, and Joab then literally murdered him and shed out his blood. In other words, it was during this act of kindness and respect and honor, and he did not suspect the deadly blow from Joab, nor did he suspect his treasonous attitude toward him.
#51 | 40:57 to 42:03 | cleaned
By the way, may I remind you, maybe this will shed light on this Scripture for you. In Luke 22 and verse 28, Judas had already told the people, "Him who I kiss, hold fast." And when Judas came to betray Christ, Christ said, "Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?" So Judas would have gone up to take our Lord's beard and kiss it. Undoubtedly, Judas had learned this method from Joab, who was a traitor and a deceiver. Secondly, I want you to note the beard is an assumed fact and reality in scripture. And when I say the beard is an assumed fact, an assumed fact is something that is taken for granted.
#52 | 42:04 to 43:09 | cleaned
It is a presuppositional truth. It is something like the doctrine of God. By the way, do you know that the Bible never, ever tries to prove the existence of God? The Bible just assumes it. Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth." Never does the Bible try to prove there is a God. It just assumes it. Likewise, in the Bible, there is no definite command for men to grow a beard. However, it is assumed that a man will have a beard because that's the way God created him, and his facial hair is going to grow. Moreover, there are divine regulations concerning the beard in the Bible. The Hebrew word for beard is the word zaqan. And the Hebrew word for elder is zaqen. So the elders in Israel got their names from their beard. Hence the word actually means "a bearded one." OK, so you've seen the history of the beard and the fact that the beard is an assumed fact. Let me give you thirdly, the value of the beard.
#53 | 43:10 to 44:23 | cleaned
The Hebrews always looked upon the beard as the glory and the pride of man. They would say that the glory of the face is the beard. The beard was a badge of honor, dignity and manhood. Anyone wishing to express the value of an object would say this, "It is worth more than a man's beard." When a woman wanted to express the value of something, she would say "It's more valuable than my husband's beard." Men often took oaths by their beard.
#54 | 44:23 to 44:58 | cleaned
They swore by their beards. Every one of us knows the story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf. What did he say? "I'm going to huff and puff and blow your house down." And what did the little pig say? "Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin." What was he doing? He was taking an oath. Now I realize pigs don't have beards, but that was a fairytale. But that's where it came from, because historically and biblically, men took oaths based upon their beards. Proverbs 20 and verse 29 says this, and by the way, even Shakespeare in his plays have men swearing and taking oaths by their beards. But Proverbs 20 and verse 29 says this, "The glory of young men is their strength. And the beauty of old men is their gray head." The ornament of young men is their strength, and the honor of old men is the gray hairs, and here it is in the Hebrew, or the hanging gray from the chin. It was not necessarily talking about the gray hair up here.
#55 | 44:59 to 46:12 | cleaned
Some of us aren't able to have gray hair up here, but it does refer to the hanging gray from the chin. Whenever you see a man with a beard, you ought to consider several things. First of all, to pull it is to inflict an indignity. I've really only had my beard pulled that I can remember one time. And I will tell you, anger flew over me instantaneously.
#56 | 46:13 to 46:46 | cleaned
Not that I wanted to be angry. But the individual who did it did not realize what he was doing. And I very quickly said, "No, you never, ever pull a man's beard. It's an indignity, it's an insult."
#57 | 46:47 to 47:06 | cleaned
Secondly, to have it forcibly cut off or mutilated is a symbol of disgrace, which I'm going to show you from the Bible momentarily. Thirdly, to remove the beard voluntarily is a sign of mourning, which they did occasionally in the Bible. And then to stroke the beard like this is a preface to uttering seemingly very important words or words of weight and value. And I might point this out. To kiss the beard is a sign of great respect, honor, friendship and brotherly love.
#58 | 47:07 to 47:46 | cleaned
You cannot understand a number of verses in the New Testament if you do not understand this simple fact, for instance, let me just quote 1 Corinthians 16 verse 20. The Apostle Paul said, "All the brethren greet you. Listen, greet you one another with a holy kiss." Greet you one another with a holy kiss. In Romans 16 verse 16, Paul again said, "Salute one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you." 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 26, "Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss." And then 1 Peter 5, verse 14, "Greet you one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen." How do you greet the brethren with a holy kiss? Because it was customary, not only in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament, when brethren met, out of great respect and affection, they would take each other's beard and kiss the beard. And yes, I've had men kiss my beard.
#59 | 47:47 to 48:53 | cleaned
One man did it, particularly every time he saw me, he understood this passage and I was not offended by it. In fact, I thought, well, at least he understands the scripture. I'm just simply saying you cannot understand the value of the beard unless you understand these scriptures, and that's how men normally greeted each other in the Old Testament and the New Testament by kissing each other's beards. Now, let me show you how valuable a beard was.
#60 | 48:55 to 49:28 | cleaned
I do want you to turn to 2 Samuel 10. 2 Samuel 10, and let's read the first seven verses. I want you to watch this passage, 2 Samuel, chapter 10, and look, if you would please, beginning there with verse one. 2 Samuel, chapter 10, verse one. "And it came to pass after this that the king of the children of Ammon died, and Hanun, his son, reigned in his stead. Then said David, 'I will show kindness unto Hanun, the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness unto me.' And David sent to comfort him by the hand of his servants for his father. And David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon. And the princes of the children of Ammon said unto Hanun, their lord, 'Thinkest thou that David doth honor thy father, that he had sent comforters unto thee? Have not David rather sent his servants unto thee to search the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it?' Wherefore, Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even their buttocks, and sent them away.
#61 | 49:29 to 50:40 | cleaned
And when they told it unto David, he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, 'Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown and then return.' And when the children of Ammon saw that they stank before David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-Rehob and the Syrians of Zobah, 20,000 footmen of King Maacah, 1,000 men of Ishtob, 12,000 men. And when David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the hosts of the mighty men. And the children of Ammon came out and put the battle in array, etc." Now, by the way, David wiped out the Ammonites and the Syrians.
#62 | 50:41 to 51:16 | cleaned
But the point I'm trying to make is this. Hanun took David's diplomats, his servants, and shaved off one half their beards and cut their garments off and exposed their buttocks. The Ammonites knew exactly what they were doing when they mutilated the Hebrews' beards. They knew that it was a deadly insult. I want you to note something. I want you to see how times have changed. When the diplomats sent word to David that their beards had been mutilated and their garments had been cut off, their buttocks had been exposed, David said this to them, "Tarry ye at Jericho until your beards be grown." That was the insult. It did not concern them, to put it bluntly, that their fannies had been exposed.
#63 | 51:16 to 52:29 | cleaned
Now you stop and think about this. What embarrassed them, what humiliated them was their beards had been mutilated and defiled. It was an insult. You can buy more clothes, but you can't grow a beard overnight. And so David then destroyed the Ammonites and the Syrians. Here's a whole war that's fought over beards. Moreover, in the year 1764, a pretender to the Persian throne named Karim Khan sent ambassadors to Mir Mahanan, the Prince of Bengaravik on the Persian Gulf, to demand tribute from him, but he in return cut off the ambassador's beards. Karim Khan was so enraged at this that he went the next year, took a large army, assaulted and took the city and almost the entire territory to avenge the insult. So to touch the beard was an insult unless it was done as an act of friendship and a token of respect.
#64 | 52:32 to 53:40 | cleaned
Beards have been so valued down through the years that it would be interesting for you to look not only at the Bible prophets, pictures of them, but look at the preachers down through the years. And you will find that most preachers, the old preachers, up until the turn of this century, all of them had beards. Did you know that not only did Charles Haddon Spurgeon have a very beautiful beard, but Charles Haddon Spurgeon demanded that all of his deacons have beards. You could not be a deacon in Spurgeon's tabernacle unless you had a beard. And I have a picture in my library of Spurgeon and all of his deacons, and every one of them are well bearded. Now, let me very quickly give you the meaning of the beard. Why did God give men beards? What is a beard to signify? First of all, the beard represents and signifies life unto God. Stop and think. Only living men can grow a beard. In the Bible, it was the leper who had to be shaven. Leprosy in the Bible is not only representative of sin and death, but leprosy in the Bible is also a symbol of the judgment of God.
#65 | 53:41 to 55:12 | cleaned
Do you remember how God smote Miriam with leprosy when she rebelled against Moses? Do you remember how God gave Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the leprosy that Naaman had because of his sin and his deceit?
#66 | 55:13 to 55:26 | cleaned
Now, I want you to listen to the law of the leper. Listen carefully. This is Leviticus 13, 29 and 30 in verse 33. God says, "If a man or a woman have a plague upon the head or the beard, then the priest shall see the plague, and behold, if it be in sight deeper than the skin, and there be in it a yellow thin hair, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is a dry scall, even a leprosy, upon the head or the beard. And he shall be shaven, and the scall shall he not shave, but the priest shall shut him up, that had the scall seven days more." So if a man had leprosy, he had to be clean shaven. Leprosy is a sign of sin and death and the judgment of God. When you get to the healing of a leper in Leviticus chapter 14, once again, when he came and presented everything that God demanded, he had to be clean shaven once again. And then when the priest pronounced him clean, only then was he allowed to grow his beard.
#67 | 55:26 to 56:37 | cleaned
So the beard, first and foremost, is a symbol of life unto God. It signifies life. We're free from sin. We're free from death. We're free from the judgment of God. Secondly, a beard signifies submission unto God.
#68 | 56:37 to 56:55 | cleaned
Now, listen carefully, I'm going to show you this from the scripture, a beardless man or one with a clean shaven face indicated that he was a slave or in submission to man. Let me state this another way: to be deprived of a beard was and still is in many places a badge of servility, a mark of infamy that degraded a man from the ranks of men to those of slaves and women. Now, Joseph wore his beard while he was in prison. You remember, he was a slave.
#69 | 56:57 to 57:30 | cleaned
He was sold into slavery. While he was in prison, he wore his beard. But, when Pharaoh called him to stand before him, what did Joseph do? He shaved his beard. Why did he shave his beard? Because he was a slave. And he was going to appear now before Pharaoh, and it would have been an insult and a dishonor to Pharaoh for him to have stood there with his beard. Listen to this, Genesis 41, verse 14, "Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon, and he shaved himself and changed his raiment, and he came unto Pharaoh."
#70 | 57:30 to 58:17 | cleaned
Why did he do that? Because to be beardless was signifying that you were in submission to man, that you were a slave. And so Joseph, then, since he was a slave, took the mark of a slave. He shaved himself. And by the way, Genesis 41 in verse 40, Pharaoh said this to Joseph, "Thou shalt be over my house according to thy word, shall all my people be ruled only in the throne will I be greater than thou." What was he saying? You're subject to me. You're my servant, everybody else is going to be your servant, but you are my servant. So biblically speaking, then the beard indicates that men are in submission to God. Now, I'm not saying that Joseph was out of the will of God when he shaved his beard, because God certainly put him there. However, I am saying that in the context of what happened when a man changed his beard, it indicates that he is now in a position of servitude or in submission to man. And I am not implying that just because a man has a beard that he is in subjection to God.
#71 | 58:18 to 59:30 | cleaned
Unhappily, that is not true, because multitudes of men across this world who have beards are in rebellion to God, and they are in rebellion to the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are lost in their sins. But the beard in reality is to signify submission unto God. In other words, the men who have beards and who are not in submission to God are betraying the symbol of what the beard represents. It's just like long hair on a woman symbolizes that she's in submission to her husband. I know plenty of women who have long hair that are not in submission to their husband. The long hair does them no good at all. Their life betrays the symbol. Thirdly, a beard indicates separation unto God. In Bible times, when a man looked at another man's beard, he knew who that man worshipped and who was his God. A beard basically told you who your God was. Pagans usually marred their beards.
#72 | 59:30 to 1:00:50 | cleaned
As well as their heads. When God said, and I will show you later, when God says, "Thou shalt not mar the corner of your beard," this is the corner of the beard. To mar the corner then would be to have what you and I would call the goatee. And the pagans did that because they did it in honor of the sun, which was around the moon, the stars and the heavenly bodies. Herodotus, one of the early historians, said that the Arabs were accustomed to shave the hair around the head and left a tuft to stand up on the crown in honor of Bacchus. In Leviticus 19, which we read a little bit earlier, in verses 26-28, God says this, "You shall not eat anything with the blood, neither shall you use enchantment nor observe times. You shall not round the corners of your head, neither shall thou mar the corners of thy beard." Why? In Leviticus 21, verses 5 through 6, the priest was not to make any baldness upon his head, neither shall they shave the corners of their beards.
#73 | 1:00:50 to 1:02:05 | cleaned
Why? Because the Hebrews had full beards and that full beard represented separation to God. When you saw the man with just the goatee and the mustache, it meant in history times, in Bible times, that he was a worshipper of Bacchus or Baal or Astarte or one of the heavenly bodies. So it's important for us to understand that the beard then in scripture represents life. It represents freedom. It represents separation with God.
#74 | 1:02:05 to 1:02:43 | cleaned
But the symbol is nothing without reality. When God's people act like the wicked, God will punish them exactly like the wicked. And God indicates that he will cut or mar the corners of their beard. The expression that I will just read very quickly in Jeremiah 9, Jeremiah 25, Jeremiah 49, when God talks about those who are in the utmost corners, He's not talking about places. He's not talking about geographical places. He's talking about the beard. Listen carefully. God says, "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will punish all them that are circumcised with the uncircumcision, Egypt and Judah and Edom and the children of Ammon and Moab and all that are in the utmost corners that dwell in the wilderness, for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart." Well, they were uncircumcised in the heart. They were circumcised physically. They were in the covenant, but they were acting like the heathen. God says, you want to act like the heathen? Fine, I'll judge you like the heathen.
#75 | 1:02:44 to 1:03:55 | cleaned
You find the same thing in Jeremiah 25:23, Jeremiah 49:32. God says, "I will mar the corners."
#76 | 1:03:55 to 1:03:59 | cleaned
Fourthly, very quickly, the beard signifies the blessings of God upon his people. Let me just read it in Psalm 133, beginning with verse one. Listen carefully. "Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments, as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life evermore." So when Aaron and his sons then were anointed with that oil, that oil poured on their head, ran down their beards, even to their garments. Thus, a well-groomed and a well-cared for beard indicates the blessings of God upon that individual and his dedication to the service of God. Listen carefully.
#77 | 1:04:04 to 1:05:03 | cleaned
The beard was plucked off or plucked out or shaved off or left unattended only during a time of great mourning and great calamity. We've already pointed this out in Mephibosheth, but you remember when Job lost everything he had and his ten children in Job 1:20. "Then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground in worship." In Ezra chapter 9, Ezra when he saw the sin of all the people in verse 3 says this, "And when I heard this thing, I ripped my garment and my mantle and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard and sat down astonished."
#78 | 1:05:04 to 1:05:46 | cleaned
Now, let me show you something in light of this. If you really want to understand what happened to our Lord Jesus Christ, I want you to listen carefully. When God was going to bring judgment upon his people because they refused to repent and refused to return to him, God indicated that great judgment by telling them that he was going to shave their beards. I remember years ago, and Alice can verify this, when I first grew my beard, which has been about 40 years now, I would have nightmares.
#79 | 1:05:51 to 1:06:50 | cleaned
And my nightmare was this, that I would wake up clean shaven and didn't know how I got clean shaven. I'm serious. I mean, and I would just about wake up with chills because I didn't know what happened. Why would that affect me so or why should it affect anyone so? Because when God is going to bring judgment upon his disobedient people, he's going to do it under the symbol of shaving their beards, listen, Isaiah 7 and verse 20.
#80 | 1:06:53 to 1:07:38 | cleaned
"In the same day, shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired namely by them beyond the river that is the Assyrians, by the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet, and it shall also consume the beard." What did God say to those people? I'm going to shave you bald. Why? Because the beard represents life unto God. It represents submission to God, and separation to God, and the blessings of God, and dedication to God. But these people refuse to repent and refuse to surrender to God. And God said, you want to live like the heathen? Fine, I will judge you like the heathen. He said in Isaiah 15 in verse 2, "He is going up to Bajeth and to Dibon and high places to weep.
#81 | 1:07:38 to 1:08:28 | cleaned
Moab shall howl over Nebo and over Medeba. All their heads shall be baldness and every beard shall be cut off." In Jeremiah 48 in verse 37, God said "for every head shall be bald and every beard shall be clipped. Upon all the hands shall be cuttings and upon the loins sackcloth." God said I'll shave you bald. And in Ezekiel chapter 5 in verse 1 to represent what God was going to do, God told Ezekiel, "And thou son of man, take the sharp knife, listen, take me a barber's razor and cause it to pass upon mine head and upon my beard, then take the balances to weigh and divide the hair." What did God say? Ezekiel, just like you shaved your beard, I'm going to shave the nation. And so when God then is going to set forth the severity of His judgment upon His people because of their sin and rebellion, He does so under the picture and the emblem of taking away the beard. You see, the greatest indignity that could be inflicted upon a man is to have his beard plucked out.
#82 | 1:08:28 to 1:09:39 | cleaned
It was a sheer and a sure sign of the judgment of God upon him. What did I say earlier? I said, if you wanted to know what happened to our Lord Jesus Christ, you need to understand this. And Isaiah 50 and verse 6 concerning our Lord, here's what he said, "I gave my back to the smiters. And my cheeks to those that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting." What? Our Lord gave His cheeks to those who plucked off the hair.
#83 | 1:09:40 to 1:10:22 | cleaned
In other words, they reached up and took handfuls of the beard and jerked it out. You say that had to be excruciatingly painful. Oh, it was painful. But they did not jerk the beard out just to increase the pain. They jerked the beard out because it was a custom then to symbolize, and it was a way of saying, you are under the curse of God. You're judged by God. You're under the wrath of God. God's shaving you.
#84 | 1:10:22 to 1:10:55 | cleaned
And was that not true concerning our Lord who was our substitute? Did not He bear our wrath? Did not He take our punishment? Why was His beard plucked out? To show that he stood as our surety and our substitute, and he suffered the judgment of God in our stead. One last point, I want you to understand the purpose of the beard. God gave beards to men, and I told you earlier, the question is not whether it's right or wrong to have a beard, the question is whether it's right or wrong to shave. The beard is the distinguishing mark of a man. A bearded man can never be mistaken for a woman. Beards were regarded as sacred ornaments given by God to men to distinguish them from women.
#85 | 1:10:58 to 1:11:50 | cleaned
In Deuteronomy 22 and verse 5, here's a verse that has been around the world. "The woman shall not wear that which pertains to the man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment for all that do so are an abomination to the Lord." And I've preached and I've explained that verse, but I want you to listen to what Keil and Delitzsch said. One sentence upon this verse. Keil and Delitzsch said this. "The immediate design of this prohibition was not to prevent licentiousness or to oppose idolaters practices, but to maintain the sanctity of that distinction of the sexes which was established by the creation of man and woman and in relation to which Israel was not to sin. Every violation or wiping out of this distinction was unnatural and therefore an abomination in the sight of God."
#86 | 1:11:51 to 1:12:39 | cleaned
So what Keil and Delitzsch are saying in their commentary is that this verse is directed against any and all who would obliterate or blur the distinctions between the sexes and idolatry was often associated with unisex or transgenderism. You remember in Acts chapter 19, I think it was, where Paul got into trouble there with the people because they worshiped Diana of the Ephesians and they kept shouting, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians." Did you know that Diana, look up her picture, get it and Google it on the internet. Put Diana of the Ephesians and you're going to come and see a statue of a woman that has multiple breasts. Why would they put multiple breasts on a statue of a woman? Because that is the distinguishing mark of a woman. But when you look at Diana, she not only has multiple breasts. She also has a beard because that's the distinguishing mark of a man.
#87 | 1:12:41 to 1:13:46 | cleaned
And those who worshiped her, oftentimes men dressed like women and the women dressed like men to give sacrifices. Many of the pagans did the same thing. If you look in Greece, if you look in Rome, if you look in ancient Egypt, there was a deliberate attempt to break down the distinction between the sexes. And thus, the ancients believed that the beardless man was an effeminate man. And thus, when the pagans even then made their statue of Diana, they gave her a beard. Lange in his commentary says this, "to destroy the divine institution distinction between the sexes leads to licentiousness, immorality and confusion. Whatever leads to render the male sex effeminate or the female sex masculine is an injury to both." One thing for sure. A short haired man
#88 | 1:13:46 to 1:14:53 | cleaned
might be mistaken for a woman if he had very tender looks. But a short-haired man with a beard could never, ever be taken for a woman. Herodotus, whom I mentioned earlier, one of the early historians, when the barbarians invaded the Roman Empire, said this. Since the barbarians had long hair and clean-shaven faces, he said, "they had been smitten by a deity and turned into a woman." Isn't that amazing?
#89 | 1:14:55 to 1:15:37 | cleaned
Now, let me just make a couple of applications. The first one is this. We cannot deny, disparage, or denigrate any part of the Word of God. All Scripture is inspired of God and is given for our instruction and edification. If there was no importance concerning the beard, why would God not only give regulations concerning it, but why would He use it then as a symbol to express His divine judgment? Very obviously there is something to the beard.
#90 | 1:15:39 to 1:16:12 | cleaned
Secondly, there has been lately, for which I'm thankful, a resurgence of the beard in recent days. And I think that is an indication that men as a whole are growing weary with the effeminacy of our modern day society. And I think there's another implication that men are indeed growing weary of servitude and serfdom and slavery. And once again, you have to remember, the beard indicated freedom from those things. And so when men wear beards, then they are saying, in essence, I'm willing and I want to be in submission to God and separated to him and blessed by him. And thirdly, the beard is to picture our life unto God, our submission to God, our separation to God, the blessings of God upon us. But the symbol is nothing without the life. I said that the beard is to be a public and a private testimony. I've had innumerable people over the years ask me why I have a beard.
#91 | 1:16:14 to 1:17:27 | cleaned
And I take the opportunity to explain and answer. But I'll tell you something else. Each time I look in the mirror and I see the beard and I trim my beard, I have to think, this beard tells me I'm to be in submission to the one true and the living God. The question is, am I? I'm to be separated unto him, am I? I'm to have his blessings upon me, do I? The beard is important. Historically and biblically, and there's a reason why God gave men beards.
#92 | 1:17:29 to 1:18:14 | cleaned
And we need to understand that and be able to apply it. Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ for your help, for your grace, for your mercy, for your truth. We pray, Lord, that you would teach us, that you'd build us up in the most holy faith, and that you'd give us grace that we may serve thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. In thy name we pray. Amen.
#93 | 1:18:16 to 1:18:39 | cleaned
This program was produced by Dominion Ministry. For more information about Pastor Weaver's sermons, you may contact Dominion Ministry by mail at 7400 Abercorn, that's A-B-E-R-C-O-R-N Street, Suite 705, P-M-D 175, Savannah, Georgia, 31406. Or give us a call at 912-... You can also visit our website at www.dominionministry.com
#94 | 1:18:42 to 1:19:22 | cleaned

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T04:53:47Z

The Beard, its Historical and Biblical Significance

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver argues that the beard holds profound biblical and historical significance, serving as a symbol of life, submission to God, separation unto God, and divine blessing. He traces the history of beards from ancient Egypt through the Reformation, showing how beards have been associated with godliness and masculinity, while clean-shaven faces often indicated slavery, paganism, or judgment. Weaver emphasizes that while the beard is not a requirement for holiness, it is a God-given distinction for men that should not be dismissed, and he calls believers to think biblically about the practice of shaving.

Introduction and Personal Testimony

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 19:26-28

"You shall not eat anything with the blood, neither shall you use enchantment, nor observe times."

Then in verse 27, Leviticus 19,

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 19:26-28

"You shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you. I am the Lord."

Scripture Reading — Proverbs 25:2

"It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but it's the honor of kings to search out a matter."

Judging Righteously and Avoiding Misconceptions

Weaver warns against judging by appearance, using the example of FBI wanted posters and the hippie stereotype. He argues that abuse of a truth does not invalidate the truth itself.

Scripture Reading — John 7:24

"Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment."

Unhappily, most people judge by appearance. They do not judge by righteous judgment or just judgment.

The Beard in History

The Beard as an Assumed Fact in Scripture

Weaver explains that the Bible assumes men will have beards, as seen in the Hebrew word for elder (zaqen) meaning 'bearded one,' and provides divine regulations for the beard.

The Value and Meaning of the Beard

Scripture Reading — 1 Corinthians 16:20

"All the brethren greet you. Listen, greet you one another with a holy kiss."

Scripture Reading — 2 Samuel 10:1-7

"And it came to pass after this that the king of the children of Ammon died, and Hanun, his son, reigned in his stead. Then said David, 'I will show kindness unto Hanun, the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness unto me.' And David sent to comfort him by the hand of his servants for his father. And David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon. And the princes of the children of Ammon said unto Hanun, their lord, 'Thinkest thou that David doth honor thy father, that he had sent comforters unto thee? Have not David rather sent his servants unto thee to search the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it?' Wherefore, Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even their buttocks, and sent them away.

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 13:29-30, 33

"If a man or a woman have a plague upon the head or the beard, then the priest shall see the plague, and behold, if it be in sight deeper than the skin, and there be in it a yellow thin hair, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is a dry scall, even a leprosy, upon the head or the beard. And he shall be shaven, and the scall shall he not shave, but the priest shall shut him up, that had the scall seven days more."

Scripture Reading — Genesis 41:14

Why did he do that? Because to be beardless was signifying that you were in submission to man, that you were a slave. And so Joseph, then, since he was a slave, took the mark of a slave. He shaved himself. And by the way, Genesis 41 in verse 40, Pharaoh said this to Joseph, "Thou shalt be over my house according to thy word, shall all my people be ruled only in the throne will I be greater than thou." What was he saying? You're subject to me. You're my servant, everybody else is going to be your servant, but you are my servant. So biblically speaking, then the beard indicates that men are in submission to God. Now, I'm not saying that Joseph was out of the will of God when he shaved his beard, because God certainly put him there. However, I am saying that in the context of what happened when a man changed his beard, it indicates that he is now in a position of servitude or in submission to man. And I am not implying that just because a man has a beard that he is in subjection to God.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 133:1-3

"Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments, as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life evermore."

The Beard and Divine Judgment

Weaver shows how the removal or marring of the beard in Scripture symbolizes God's judgment, culminating in the plucking of Christ's beard as a sign of bearing God's wrath for sinners.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 7:20

"In the same day, shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired namely by them beyond the river that is the Assyrians, by the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet, and it shall also consume the beard."

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 50:6

"I gave my back to the smiters. And my cheeks to those that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting."

What? Our Lord gave His cheeks to those who plucked off the hair.

The Purpose of the Beard and Applications

In Deuteronomy 22 and verse 5, here's a verse that has been around the world.

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 22:5

"The woman shall not wear that which pertains to the man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment for all that do so are an abomination to the Lord."

The Beard, its Historical and Biblical Significance

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	1210362019
Subject	Old Testament Studies
Course	Proverbs-Related Topical Wisdom
Genre	Sermon
Date	2011-07-19
Dictation Name
Book	Book 085: Proverbs-Related Topical Wisdom — Chapter 5
Source Timed Segments	94

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction and Personal Testimony: Weaver introduces the topic, noting the widespread impact of his original message and clarifying that he is not defending his beard, binding consciences, or equating beards with holiness. He encourages listeners to study Scripture for themselves.
Judging Righteously and Avoiding Misconceptions: Weaver warns against judging by appearance, using the example of FBI wanted posters and the hippie stereotype. He argues that abuse of a truth does not invalidate the truth itself.
The Beard in History: Weaver surveys historical attitudes toward beards, from ancient Egypt's fake beards to the Council of Carthage's rules, the Reformation's bearded leaders, and the decline of beards with the rise of liberalism.
The Beard as an Assumed Fact in Scripture: Weaver explains that the Bible assumes men will have beards, as seen in the Hebrew word for elder (zaqen) meaning 'bearded one,' and provides divine regulations for the beard.
The Value and Meaning of the Beard: Weaver details the cultural and biblical value of the beard, including its role in oaths, greetings, and as a symbol of dignity. He explains that the beard signifies life, submission to God, separation, and blessing.
The Beard and Divine Judgment: Weaver shows how the removal or marring of the beard in Scripture symbolizes God's judgment, culminating in the plucking of Christ's beard as a sign of bearing God's wrath for sinners.
The Purpose of the Beard and Applications: Weaver argues the beard distinguishes men from women, opposing the blurring of sexes. He applies the message by urging respect for all Scripture, noting a resurgence of beards as a rejection of effeminacy, and emphasizing that the symbol must match the life.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

The Bible assumes men will have beards and regulates them, implying their importance.

Scripture never commands growing a beard but takes it for granted, giving laws about not marring it, which indicates God's concern for the beard as a symbol.

Weaver points to Leviticus 19:27 and 21:5, and notes that the Hebrew word for elder (zaqen) means 'bearded one.'

The beard is a symbol of freedom and submission to God, not man.

In biblical culture, slaves and those in submission to human masters were often beardless, while free men wore beards as a sign of submission to God alone.

Weaver uses Joseph shaving before Pharaoh (Genesis 41:14) as an example of a slave adopting the mark of servitude.

The beard distinguishes men from women, and its removal contributes to the blurring of sexes condemned in Scripture.

Deuteronomy 22:5 prohibits cross-dressing and, by extension, any practice that obliterates the distinction between the sexes, which the beard naturally maintains.

Weaver quotes Keil and Delitzsch on Deuteronomy 22:5 and references the androgynous depiction of Diana of the Ephesians.

The plucking of Christ's beard was a sign of Him bearing God's judgment as our substitute.

Isaiah 50:6 prophesies that the Messiah would give His cheeks to those who pluck out the hair, which was a cultural sign of being under God's curse, fulfilled in Christ's passion.

Weaver connects Isaiah 50:6 with the custom of beard-plucking as a symbol of divine judgment, showing Christ bore that judgment for sinners.

Historical patterns show that beards are associated with godliness and spiritual revival.

From the early church to the Reformation to the 19th century, beardedness among Christian men coincided with periods of biblical fidelity, while beardlessness often marked spiritual decline.

Weaver cites the Council of Carthage (200 AD), the Reformers, and the Confederate generals as examples of bearded godly men.

Scripture References

Leviticus 19:26-28: God commands Israel not to round the corners of their heads or mar the corners of their beards, linking it to separation from pagan practices.
Leviticus 21:1-6: Priests are forbidden to shave off the corner of their beards as part of being holy unto God.
Proverbs 25:2: It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the honor of kings to search out a matter, applied to studying the beard.
John 7:24: Jesus commands not to judge by appearance but to judge righteous judgment, applied to avoiding superficial judgments about beards.
Psalm 119:165: Great peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them, used to argue that offense at beards indicates a problem with God's law.
1 Corinthians 11:14: Nature teaches that long hair on a man is a shame, used to argue Christ did not have long hair.
Isaiah 42:21: The Lord will magnify the law and make it honorable, applied to Christ's obedience to the law regarding hair.
1 Samuel 21:13-15: David feigned madness by letting spittle fall on his beard, which convinced Achish he was insane because no sane man would defile his beard.
2 Samuel 19:24: Mephibosheth did not trim his beard from the day David departed until his return, as a sign of mourning.
2 Samuel 20:9-10: Joab took Amasa by the beard to kiss him as a pretended act of friendship before murdering him.
Luke 22:28: Judas betrayed Christ with a kiss, likely involving taking His beard, learned from Joab's treachery.
Proverbs 20:29: The beauty of old men is their gray head, interpreted as the hanging gray from the chin (beard).
1 Corinthians 16:20: Greet one another with a holy kiss, understood as kissing the beard as a sign of respect.
2 Samuel 10:1-7: Hanun shaved off half the beards of David's servants, a great insult that led to war.
Leviticus 13:29-30, 33: A leper with a plague on the beard had to be shaven, linking beardlessness to sin and death.
Genesis 41:14: Joseph shaved himself before appearing before Pharaoh, signifying his status as a slave.
Psalm 133:1-3: The anointing oil running down Aaron's beard symbolizes the blessing of God upon unity and dedication.
Isaiah 7:20: God threatens to shave Israel with a hired razor as a sign of judgment.
Isaiah 50:6: The Messiah gives His cheeks to those who pluck out the hair, fulfilled in Christ's passion as bearing judgment.
Deuteronomy 22:5: Prohibition against cross-dressing, applied to maintaining the distinction of sexes which the beard supports.

Historical References

Ancient Egypt: Egyptians disliked facial hair, forced slaves to shave, and pharaohs wore fake beards as a divine attribute. Egypt is a type of the world in Scripture.
Council of Carthage (200 AD): Declared that a man with long hair and a clean-shaven face was immodestly dressed and should be excluded from communion.
Tertullian: Early church father who wrote a treatise on the beard, saying its purpose was to keep lust down.
Clement of Alexandria: Early church father who wrote extensively against shaving, calling the beard 'man's natural adornment' and saying it is never permissible to remove it.
Reformation (16th century): Reformers like Martin Luther wore short hair and beards, contrasting with the long hair and clean-shaven faces of the Renaissance and Enlightenment.
Confederate Generals: Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and other Confederate leaders wore beards, and 90% of Confederate veterans had beards.
William Tyndale (1528): Pointed out that shaving is borrowed from the heathen and proclaimed that the shaven nation had put Christ out of his room.
James Ward, 'The Defense of the Beard' (1859): A pamphlet listing 18 reasons why men were bound to grow a beard unless indifferent to offending the Creator.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon: Spurgeon had a beard and required all his deacons to have beards.
Diana of the Ephesians: A pagan deity depicted with multiple breasts and a beard, representing the blurring of sexual distinctions in idolatry.

Important Quotes

Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

Weaver uses this command of Jesus to caution against superficial judgments about beards and to call for biblical evaluation.

Great peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them.

Weaver cites this verse to argue that being offended by a beard indicates a lack of love for God's law.

He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man.

Weaver quotes Shakespeare to illustrate the historical association of beards with mature manhood.

The immediate design of this prohibition was not to prevent licentiousness or to oppose idolaters practices, but to maintain the sanctity of that distinction of the sexes which was established by the creation of man and woman and in relation to which Israel was not to sin.

Weaver quotes Keil and Delitzsch on Deuteronomy 22:5 to support the beard's role in preserving the God-ordained distinction between sexes.

I gave my back to the smiters. And my cheeks to those that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

Weaver uses this Messianic prophecy to show that Christ's beard was plucked as a sign of bearing God's judgment for sinners.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does the command to 'judge not according to appearance' apply to our attitudes toward men with or without beards?

[Context]

Weaver emphasizes that most people judge by appearance rather than by righteous judgment, using the example of FBI wanted posters.

[Question]

In what ways might the historical association of beards with godliness challenge our modern cultural assumptions?

[Context]

Weaver traces the history of beards from the early church to the Reformation, showing that beards were often expected of Christian men.

[Question]

What does the beard symbolize in Scripture, and how should that symbolism affect a Christian man's decision to wear or not wear a beard?

[Context]

Weaver explains that the beard represents life, submission to God, separation, and blessing, and that the symbol should match the reality of one's life.

[Question]

How does the plucking of Christ's beard deepen our understanding of His substitutionary atonement?

[Context]

Weaver connects Isaiah 50:6 with the cultural meaning of beard-plucking as a sign of being under God's curse, which Christ bore for us.

[Question]

Why is it important to maintain the distinction between the sexes, and how does the beard contribute to that distinction?

[Context]

Weaver discusses Deuteronomy 22:5 and the androgynous depictions of pagan deities, arguing that the beard naturally distinguishes men from women.

Applications

Format deepseek deepseek-v4-pro structured study JSON | Source Commentary.net transcript enrichment

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T16:58:04Z