Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Samuel 10:5

"When they told it unto David, he sent to meet them; for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown, and then return." — 2 Samuel 10:5 (ASV)

Tarry at Jericho. —In consideration for his humiliated ambassadors, David directs them to remain at Jericho, which lay directly on their road. Jericho had been destroyed on the first entrance of the Israelites into Canaan, and a solemn curse pronounced upon whoever riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho. This curse fell upon Hiel, more than a century after the time of David (1 Kings 16:34). But “buildeth” is here, as often, to be understood as “fortifying”; and Jericho, under the name of the city of palm trees (Judges 1:16; Judges 3:13), appears to have been all along an inhabited place.