Ammonite leaders suggested David’s servants had come to spy out the land rather than to show kindness. Hanun shaved off half their beards and cut their garments, sending them away in shame. See 2 Samuel 10:3–4.
In 2 Samuel 10:3–5, Ammon’s leaders reinterpret David’s condolence visit as an intelligence mission. Their suspicion persuades Hanun to insult David’s servants publicly by humiliating their faces and exposing their bodies. This scene sits inside a larger turning point where an attempted act of courtesy becomes the spark for conflict. Just before this, David sends representatives to show kindness to Hanun after his father’s death, expecting a normal diplomatic exchange.
The passage presents a diplomatic misunderstanding that becomes an intentional public insult. David sends representatives as “comforters,” which normally signals goodwill after a royal death. Ammon’s leaders reinterpret that gesture as covert hostility: they propose the servants were sent to “search,” “spy,” and “overthrow” the city.
A careful answer keeps the immediate passage, the book's argument, and the whole-Bible storyline together, so the question is answered in context instead of as a detached idea.
Start with 2 Samuel 10:3-4, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
3But the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, Do you think that David honors your father, in that he has sent comforters to you? Hasn`t David sent his servants to you to search the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it?
4So 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.