[Learn about the Advent Beard, and these weekly devotionals, here]“And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king. He had [not]…trimmed his beard…from the day the king departed until the day he came back in safety…” (2 Sam 19:24).
Preparation. Anticipation. Expectation. Beards. This Advent season, brave and spiritual men shall embark on a journey that takes us back to the Old Testament times of King David: The Advent Beard. Advent, in its simplest terms, means “the coming of…” or “the arrival of…” something. Throughout Christian history, the four weeks preceding Christmas are known as the season of Advent. During Advent, the church prepares to celebrate the most blessed birth in history: the arrival of the Christ Child; the incarnation of God the Son; the birth of Jesus, born in a lowly manger to a virgin mother and a bearded earthly father. Christmas: the appearance of the promised Messiah. And no act, no object, no symbol… nothing better represents a time of waiting, as seen first on the face of Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel, than a beard.
Years of longing hope and bearded men anticipated the coming Messiah. In fact, “in ancient Assyria, Babylon, and Persia, the beard was cared for with great detail. They oiled, dressed, and curled their beards…” (bible-history.com). These were the neighbors of God’s people. And in Leviticus 19:27, God commands his own men to wear full, trimmed beards: “You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.”
Thus, in 2 Samuel 19, we find David, the great, assumably-bearded king of Israel (and the ancestor of our LORD) returning from exile to Jerusalem, victorious in battle over Absalom, the rebellious son of Saul. On his return to Jerusalem, David makes peace with his men, meeting various surely-bearded persons he had encountered during his flight from Jerusalem. And most notable among these men is Mephibosheth, the descendent of Saul and the rightful heir to Jerusalem’s throne. But bowing beard-to-chest to the will of God, Mephibosheth denies himself and exalts David as the rightful sovereign over Israel.
Not only does Mephibosheth willingly submit to the reign of God’s chosen king; he also had eagerly anticipated David’s return! 2 Sam 19:24 (above) indicates that he neither washed his clothes nor bathed himself during the entire time of David’s exile. And most importantly, during his time of waiting; of anticipating of the coming king, Mephibosheth never “trimmed his beard!”
A fast from shaving; a statement of preparation; an outward symbol of longing grew across his face as he waited. O the joy that must have occurred in this unshaven man when David appeared! O the smile that would have been seen under the bushy hairs that covered his eager face! O the beard, the age-old symbol marking Mephibosheth’s preparation for the advent of his king!
During this season of Advent, we join with centuries of bearded, biblical men, desperately crying out for their Messiah to come. We form ranks with Mephibosheth, covering our faces with hair in a spiritual act of anticipation; of preparation; an outward symbol of the longing in our hearts. And like Mephibosheth, the object of our yearning is a King; a descendent of David whose birth we celebrate, a lowly babe so many years ago. But this same Christ will, like his ancestor to Jerusalem, return one day to his throne a triumphant King, of the earth and of our hearts.
Our beards are grown in celebration. Our beards are grown in hope. For in precious few weeks, we celebrate with joyful bearded faces, the arrival of our King, the rightful sovereign God.
