Wherefore Hanun took David's servants, and shaved them, and cut off their garments in the midst hard by their buttocks, and sent them away.

1 CHRONICLES 19:4KJV
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1 Chronicles 19:4 (KJV)

What does 1 Chronicles 19:4 mean?

1 Chronicles 19:4 describes how Hanun, the Ammonite king, publicly disgraced the men David had sent to him. By shaving them and cutting their clothes so that their buttocks were exposed, Hanun treated David’s representatives as objects of shame rather than receiving them as messengers.

The verse follows the suspicion raised in verse 3 that David’s men were spies. Hanun sends the men away in that condition, making their return a visible sign of his rejection of David’s approach.

Why 1 Chronicles 19:4 matters

  • The treatment of the men reflects Hanun’s response to David himself. They are called “David’s servants,” so the insult reaches beyond the individuals Hanun seized.
  • The shaving was a serious public disgrace. In verse 5, David tells the men to stay at Jericho until their beards grow back because they are “greatly ashamed.”
  • The incident helps explain the conflict that follows. Verse 6 says the Ammonites saw that they had made themselves “odious to David” and hired forces for the coming fight.

Where else these words appear

“garments” Hebrew H4063 · used in 2 verses

  • 2 Samuel 10:4 Wherefore Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away.

“Hanun” Hebrew H2586 · used in 10 verses

  • 2 Samuel 10:1 And it came to pass after this, that the king of the children of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his stead.
  • 2 Samuel 10:4 Wherefore Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away.
  • 1 Chronicles 19:6 And when the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious to David, Hanun and the children of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver to hire them chariots and horsemen out of Mesopotamia, and out of Syriamaachah, and out of Zobah.

“shaved” Hebrew H1548 · used in 18 verses

  • Genesis 41:14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.
  • Numbers 6:9 And if any man die very suddenly by him, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it.
  • Judges 16:22 Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.

“midst” Hebrew H2677 · used in 103 verses

  • Exodus 12:29 And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.
  • Joshua 13:31 And half Gilead, and Ashtaroth, and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan, were pertaining unto the children of Machir the son of Manasseh, even to the one half of the children of Machir by their families.
  • 1 Chronicles 6:71 Unto the sons of Gershom were given out of the family of the half tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with her suburbs, and Ashtaroth with her suburbs: