Hanun
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(granted) (2 Sam. 10:1–4; 1 Chron. 19:2–4) — son of Nahash, king of the Ammonites, contemporary of David. As is known, David had enjoyed the goodwill of Nahash, Hanun’s father. After his death, David sent envoys to comfort Hanun and to express his condolences for the deceased. But Hanun thought, or suspected, that he had sent spies to him — as a result of which he seized the envoys, shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut their garments off at the middle, to their hips, and sent them back to David in this condition.
Hearing of this, David sent servants to meet them, with instructions to remain at Jericho until their beards had grown back. Hanun’s dishonorable act became the occasion of a long war, in the course of which a great many Ammonites and their allies, the Syrians, and other peoples, were destroyed, at the end of which David placed the crown of the Ammonites upon his own head.