1 Chronicles 19:4
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Cross References
2 Samuel 10:4-5
4So Hanun took David’s servants, shaved off one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away. 5When they told David this, he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed. The king said, “Wait at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return.”
Jeremiah 41:5
5men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even eighty men, having their beards shaved and their clothes torn, and having cut themselves, with meal offerings and frankincense in their hand, to bring them to the LORD’s house.
Mark 12:4
4Again, he sent another servant to them; and they threw stones at him, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated.
Isaiah 20:4
4so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
Isaiah 15:2
2They have gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba. Baldness is on all of their heads. Every beard is cut off.
5 more
Leviticus 19:27
27“‘You shall not cut the hair on the sides of your head or clip off the edge of your beard.
Luke 20:10-11
10At the proper season, he sent a servant to the farmers to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the farmers beat him and sent him away empty. 11He sent yet another servant, and they also beat him and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty.
Isaiah 47:2-3
2Take the millstones and grind flour. Remove your veil, lift up your skirt, uncover your legs, and wade through the rivers. 3Your nakedness will be uncovered. Yes, your shame will be seen. I will take vengeance, and will spare no one.”
2 Chronicles 36:16
16but they mocked the messengers of God, despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the LORD’s wrath arose against his people, until there was no remedy.
Psalms 109:4-5
4In return for my love, they are my adversaries; but I am in prayer. 5They have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
Study
The new Ammonite ruler, Hanun, opposed Israel being near his nation. The Ammonites hired Aramean armies from the north. These combined forces gathered at Medeba to challenge David's control of Moab's plateau.
Section overviews (1)
This section tells about David's wars and military successes, showing him as a great warrior in Israel's history. It focuses on the public and political sides of David's enemies, with little about their private lives.
There are three main parts that match accounts in Samuel:
Battles during the kingdom's expansion (1 Chronicles 18:1–17; see 2 Samuel 8:1–16)
The battle against the Ammonites (1 Chronicles 19:1–20:3; see 2 Samuel 10:1–11:1; 12:30–31)
The deeds of David's mighty men (1 Chronicles 20:4–8; see 2 Samuel 21:18–22)
Each part starts with a time transition (some time later) that loosely connects these events (1 Chronicles 18:1; 19:1; 20:4).
shaved them--not completely, but only the half of their face. This disrespect to the beard, and indecent exposure of their persons by their clothes being cut off from the girdle downwards, was the grossest indignity to which Jews, in common with all Orientals, could be subjected. No wonder that the men were ashamed to appear in public--that the king recommended them to remain in seclusion on the border till the mark of their disgrace had disappeared--and then they might, with propriety, return to the court.
Let us here observe, 1. That is becomes good people to be neighbourly, and especially to be grateful. David will pay respect to Hanun because he is his neighbour; and religion teaches us to be civil and obliging to all, to honour all men, and to be ready to do all offices of kindness to those we live among; nor must difference in religion be any obstruction to this. But, besides this, David remembered the kindness which his father showed to him. Those that have received kindness must return it as they have ability and opportunity: those that have received it from the parents must return it to the children when they are gone. 2. That, as saith the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked, Sa1 24:13. The vile person will speak villany, and the instruments of the churl will be evil, to destroy those with lying words that speak right, Isa 32:6, Isa 32:7. Those that are base, and design ill themselves, are apt to be jealous and to suspect ill of others without cause. Hanun's servant suggested that David's ambassadors came as spies, as if so great and mighty a man as David needed to do so mean a thing (if he had any design upon the Ammonites, he could effect it by open force, and had no occasion for any fraudulent practices), or as if a man of such virtue and honour would do so base a thing. Yet Hanun hearkened to the suggestion, and, against the law of nations, treated David's ambassadors villainously. 3. Masters ought to protect their servants, and with the greatest tenderness to concern themselves for them if they come by any loss or damage in their service. David did so for his ambassadors, Ch1 19:5. Christ will do so for his ministers; and let all masters thus give unto their servants that which is just and equal.
And cut off their garments in the midst - Usque ad eorum, pudenda. So the Targum, Jarchi, and others; leaving exposed what nature and decency require to be concealed. See on Sa2 10:4 (note).
See Chapter Introduction
See Chapter Introduction
Next: 1 Chronicles Chapter 20