Mortification

The umbrella collects mortification in its older sense — public humiliation, the dishonor of being shamed in person. The clearest extended case in scope is the indignity inflicted on David's ambassadors by Hanun of Ammon, where a diplomatic mission of comfort is turned into a calculated humiliation.

David's Ambassadors at Hanun's Court

After the death of Nahash, David sends an embassy of condolence to his son Hanun. The Ammonite princes persuade Hanun that the kindness is a cover for spying, and the response is an act designed to disgrace the messengers and their king together: their beards are half-shaved and their garments cut off at the buttocks before they are sent away. "And it came to pass after this, that the king of the sons of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his stead. And David said, I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me. So David sent by his slaves to comfort him concerning his father. And David's slaves came into the land of the sons of Ammon. But the princes of the sons of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, Do you think that David honors your father, in that he has sent comforters to you? Has not David sent his slaves to you to search the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it? So Hanun took David's slaves, 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. When they told it to David, he sent to meet them; for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your⁺ beards are grown, and then return" (2 Sam 10:1-5). The narrative names the result directly — "the men were greatly ashamed" — and David's response, holding them at Jericho until their beards regrow, is itself a recognition that the humiliation is something to be waited out, not displayed.