Misinterpretations often include reading 'stank before David' literally as a physical stench instead of figuratively meaning they had become repugnant due to their insult, portraying the Ammonites as justified defenders rather than aggressors provoked by their own folly, exaggerating the mercenaries' numbers or origins to downplay the desperation behind the hiring as mere prudence, or disconnecting it from the prior context of dishonor to David's envoys, thus missing the theme of consequences for mistreating God's representatives.
II Samuel 10:6
King James Version (1769)
6 And when the children of Ammon saw that they stank before David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth–rehob, and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty thousand footmen, and of king Maacah a thousand men, and of Ish–tob twelve thousand men.
This passage reveals the Ammonites' escalating fear and hostility after their humiliating treatment of David's ambassadors made them odious to him, prompting them to hire a large force of Syrian mercenaries from Bethrehob, Zoba, Maacah, and Ishtob to prepare for war, illustrating how unrepentant offense leads to reliance on foreign alliances rather than seeking peace and highlighting the inevitable conflict arising from prideful actions against God's anointed king.