The messengers came again and said, “Thus says Ben-hadad: ‘I sent to you, saying, “Deliver to me your silver and your gold, your wives and your children.”
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
And the messengers came again,.... From Benhadad: and said, thus speaketh Benhadad, saying, although I have sent unto thee, saying: at the first message: thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children; into his possession, and not as Ahab understood it, that he should be his vassal, and pay a yearly tribute for his quiet enjoyment of them...
1Ki 20:2-7 During the siege Benhadad sent messengers into the city to Ahab with this demand: “Thy silver and thy gold are mine, and the best of thy wives and thy sons are mine;” and Ahab answered with pusillanimity: “According to thy word, my lord king, I and all that is mine are thine.” Benhadad was made still more audacious by this submissiveness, and sent...
Commenting on 1 Kings 20:2-7