2 Samuel 10:4

shaved off the one half of their beards Compare the story in Herodotus of the thief who made some guards drunk, and for an insult shaved their right cheeks (II. 121). No grosser insult could have been devised. The beard was and still is to an Oriental the badge of the dignity of manhood. It was only shaved as a sign of the deepest mourning. See Isaiah 15:2; Jeremiah 41:5. "Cutting off a person's beard is regarded by the Arabs as an indignity equal to flogging and branding among ourselves. Many would rather die than have their beard shaved off." D'Arvieux" Customs of the Bedouin Arabs. A similar occurrence is said to have taken place in modern times. "In 1764 Kerim Khan, a pretender to the Persian throne, sent ambassadors to Mir Mahenna, the prince of Bendervigk, on the Persian Gulf, to demand tribute from him; but he in return cut off the ambassadors" beards. Kerim Khan was so enraged at this that he went the next year with a large army to make war upon this prince, and took the city, and almost the whole of his territory, to avenge the insult." Niebuhr's Description of Arabia.

cut off their garments The ambassadors, who wore long dignified garments, were sent away in the shameful plight of captives. See Isaiah 20:4.