So Ahab answered the messengers of Ben-hadad, “Tell my lord the king, ‘All that you demanded of your servant the first time I will do, but this thing I cannot do.’” So the messengers departed and relayed the message to Ben-hadad.
Here is, I. The threatening descent which Ben-hadad made upon Ahab's kingdom, and the siege he laid to Samaria, his royal city, Kg1 20:1. What the ground of the quarrel was we are not told; covetousness and ambition were the principle, which would never want some pretence or other.
Commenting on 1 Kings 20:1-11
Wherefore he sent unto the messengers of Benhadad,.... Upon the advice the elders had given him, and encouraged thereby, though in a poor sneaking manner after all: tell my lord the king, all that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do; owning him as his lord, and himself as his servant, and promising to grant his first demand, though...
1Ki 20:8-9 The elders and all the people, i.e., the citizens of Samaria. advised that his demand should not be granted. תאמה ולא אל־תּשׁמע, “hearken not (to him), and thou wilt not be willing” (ולא is stronger than אל; yet compare Ewald, §350, a.); whereupon Ahab sent the messengers away with this answer, that he would submit to the first demand, but that the second he could not grant.
Commenting on 1 Kings 20:8-9