I Chronicles 19:1-4

I Chronicles 19:1-4 Now it came to pass after this, that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon died, and his son reigned in his stead. And David said, I will shew kindness unto Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father shewed kindness to me. And David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. So the servants of David came into the land of the children of Ammon to Hanun, to comfort him. But the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun, Thinkest thou that David doth honour thy father, that he hath sent comforters unto thee? are not his servants come unto thee for to search, and to overthrow, and to spy out the land? Wherefore Hanun took David's servants, and shaved them, and cut off their garments in the midst hard by their buttocks, and sent them away. This is a funny story, but David’s men didn’t think it was so funny. They were sent to mourn King Nahash’s death, but the Ammonites thought that they were spies, mistreated them, and sent them back all embarrassed. Hebrew men were supposed to wear beards all the time, so the Ammonites cut off their beards and cut their robes off right up to their thighs. King David’s ambassadors were embarrassed, as you would expect. David sent them home for a couple of months until their beards grew back out. And, of course, they changed their mini-skirt robes for full robes. The new king of the Ammonites had taken bad advice, and it cost him dearly. David was enraged and sent his army in to teach the rude Ammonites a lesson. King Hanun should have been more careful before he listened to his advisors. And that’s good advice for us. Think twice before you listen to hasty advice. Think twice before you do something careless. You will regret it, and it may be too late to straighten things out. Think!