1)
Why did he say to wait until their beards grow? They could cut the other half!
1.
Radak: The custom was not to cut the beard at all, even with a scissors (so there is no Isur of shaving), only the mustache, if not due to pain or Aveilus - "Megulchei Zaken u'Keru'ei Begadim" (Yirmeyah 41:5). A shaved beard is shameful, just the custom is to do so in the lands in which we live [nowadays].
