Hanun's folly

1 Chronicles 19:1-5 - In the course of time, Nahash king of the Ammonites died, and his son succeeded him as king. David thought, "I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me." So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father.

When David's men came to Hanun in the land of the Ammonites to express sympathy to him, the Ammonite nobles said to Hanun, "Do you think David is honoring your father by sending men to you to express sympathy? Haven't his men come to you to explore and spy out the country and overthrow it?" So Hanun seized David's men, shaved them, cut off their garments in the middle at the buttocks, and sent them away.

When someone came and told David about the men, he sent messengers to meet them, for they were greatly humiliated. The king said, "Stay at Jericho till your beards have grown, and then come back."

I wonder how old Hanun was at this time. He acted like a bratty child. And maybe he was. I wonder if he had any wiser advisers that suggested a different course of action. Then again he did initially reject his visitors at the prompting of his nobles. I wonder how old they were.

I wonder who came up with the idea of shaving them and cutting their clothes to shame them. Hanun? His nobles? A committee? His childhood buddies? I wonder what other ideas they considered first. On second thought, I don't.