Hanun

Hanun is best known as the Ammonite king whose insult of David's ambassadors triggers a long Syrian war. Two further men carry the same name in Nehemiah's wall-rebuilding roster — one stationed at the valley gate, one a son of Zalaph on another stretch of the wall.

Succession at Ammon

The story opens with a death and a transition: "And it came to pass after this, that the king of the sons of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his stead" (2 Sa 10:1). David, remembering kindness from the dead king, moves at once to extend it to the new one: "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" (2 Sa 10:2). The Chronicles parallel makes the father's name explicit at the head of the chapter: "And it came to pass after this, that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon died, and his son reigned in his stead" (1 Ch 19:1). The condolence embassy is the inciting act for everything that follows.

The insult of the ambassadors

The Ammonite princes read the embassy as cover for espionage and persuade Hanun to treat the men as spies: "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?" (2 Sa 10:3). Hanun acts on the suspicion. The shaming is precise — half-beards and half-garments — and the men go home in disgrace: "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" (2 Sa 10:4). David has them halt at Jericho: "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 Sa 10:5). The Chronicles parallel mirrors the same chain of events at 1 Ch 19:3-5.

Hiring the Syrian alliance

Hanun's people, sensing the rupture, hire a coalition. The Samuel summary names the parties: "And when the sons of Ammon saw that they had become a stench to David, the sons of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-rehob, and the Syrians of Zobah, twenty thousand footmen, and the king of Maacah with a thousand men, and the men of Tob twelve thousand men" (2 Sa 10:6). The Chronicles parallel itemises the cost and adds Hanun's direct hand: "And when the sons of Ammon saw that they had made themselves a stench to David, Hanun and the sons of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver to hire themselves chariots and horsemen out of Mesopotamia, and out of Arammaacah, and out of Zobah" (1 Ch 19:6). The two passages together set the stage for the Joab/Abishai engagement and the Syrian rout that closes the chapter.

Hanun the wall-builder

A different Hanun appears with a Judaean village in Nehemiah's roster of repairs: "The valley gate repaired Hanun, and the inhabitants of Zanoah; they built it, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and a thousand cubits of the wall to the dung gate" (Ne 3:13). The notice is unusually specific — gate, doors, bolts, bars, and a thousand cubits to the next gate — making this Hanun's section one of the larger documented allotments.

Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph

The same chapter records a third bearer of the name on another stretch: "After him repaired Hananiah the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph, another portion. After him repaired Meshullam the son of Berechiah across from his chamber" (Ne 3:30). The patronymic and the birth-rank ("the sixth son of Zalaph") distinguish this Hanun from the valley-gate worker earlier in the same wall-list.