1 Kings 20:10

1Ki 20:10 And Benhadad sent unto him, and said, The gods do so unto me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me.

Ver. 10. The gods do so to me, and more also.] Indictio belli plusquam Thrasonica. Such prodigious pride and presumption usually precedeth ruin. Thus Julian the apostate, going against the Persians, vowed at his return to sacrifice the blood of Christians. So the Constable of France vowed the destruction of Geneva, but God forbade it.

If the dust of Samaria.] We shall be able not only to reduce it to dust, but also to carry it away in our hands when we have so done; quanquam aurum quaerebant Syri, non arenam, although it was not dust they came for, but gold, silver, and all desirables. {1Ki 20:5-6}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20:10-11 Ben-hadad’s third delegation delivered an ultimatum: Surrender or die. His caustic threat to thoroughly plunder Samaria was reinforced with a curse, an example of the psychological warfare often practiced in the ancient Near East (see 2 Kgs 18:19-35). • Ahab’s third reply to Ben-hadad contained proverbial wisdom. The outcome of the conflict was not yet sealed.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Much less shall there be found any prey that is worth anything, when they shall be so many.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 10. If the dust of Samaria shall suffice] This is variously understood. Jonathan translates thus: "If the dust of Shomeron shall be sufficient for the soles of the feet of the people that shall accompany me;" i.e., I shall bring such an army that there will scarcely be room for them to stand in Samaria and its vicinity.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(10) The dust of Samaria—when razed to the ground. The phrase probably implies a threat of destruction, as well as a boast of overwhelming strength. Josephus (Ant. viii. 14, 2) has a curious explanation—that, if each of the Syrians took only a handful of dust, they could raise a mound against the city, higher than the walls of Samaria.

The historian, with a touch of patriotic scorn, paints Ben-hadad as a luxurious and insolent braggart. He receives the message at a feast, “drinking himself drunk,” and, stung by its tone of sarcasm, does not condescend to bestir himself, but orders his servants to an instant attack. The command is given, with a haughty brevity, in a single word (“Set”), which may be “Array troops,” or “Place engines,” as in the margin. The LXX. translates, “Build a stockade” (for attack on the walls).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me] i.e. I will bring such a host that if each man were but to take with him a handful of earth, Samaria would be all carried away. The boastful tone is quite of a piece with all Ben-hadad’s previous conduct.

The LXX. has read שֻׁעָלִים instead of שְׁעָלִים and so instead of ‘handfuls’ it gives ταο͂ς ἀλώπεξι = ‘for the foxes (or jackals).’ Josephus explains Ben-hadad’s threat to have meant, that the Syrian army, bringing each man his handful of earth, would make a mound against Samaria higher than the present walls. Thus contemptuously hinting at the ease with which he could overthrow the Israelitish fortifications. The original text is incapable of such a sense.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Benhadad sent unto him, and said,.... That is, to Ahab:

the gods do so unto me, and more also; bring greater evils upon me than I can think or express:

if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me, signifying that he made no doubt of it of reducing it to dust by numbers of men he should bring with him, which would be so many, that if each was to take an handful of dust of the ruins of Samaria, there would not enough for them all; which was an hectoring and parabolical speech, uttered in his wrath and fury.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

If the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls ... - In its general sense this phrase is undoubtedly a boast that the number of Ben-hadad’s troops was such as to make resistance vain and foolish. We may parallel it with the saying of the Trachinian at Thermopylae, that the Persian arrows would darken the light of the sun. Probably the exact meaning is, “When your town is reduced to ruins, as it will be if you resist, the entire heap will not suffice to furnish a handful of dust to each soldier of my army, so many are they.” There was a threat in the message as well as a boast.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Handfuls. Hebrew shohal. The Septuagint, read "shuhal" and render it, "suffice for the foxes, for all the people, (even for) my infantry;" (Haydock) as if his forces were so numerous as to cover the whole land, and leave no room for even foxes to occupy. The hyperbole is equally great, supposing that his soldiers could by each taking a handful, or what might stick to his feet, (Chaldean) carry off all Samaria. Josephus intimates, that Benadad speaks of erecting terraces of equal height with the walls; others, that he would level the city with the ground, Ezechiel xxvi. 4. (Sanctius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

If I do not assault thy city with so potent and numerous an army, that shall turn all thy city into a heap of dust, and shall be sufficient to carry it all away, though every soldier take but one handful of it: see the like boast 2Sa 17:13.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. If the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls — That is, I will bring such a host that all the dust of the city of Samaria will not be sufficient to give each soldier a handful. This threat involved the idea of reducing the entire city to dust and ashes. Some have incorrectly taken שׁעלים, handfuls, to mean soles of the feet, and have explained: The dust of Samaria will not be sufficient room for the soles of the feet of the multitude of soldiers. Josephus explains it that Ben-hadad threatened to bring so vast an army that, by only each man of his army taking a handful of earth, they would raise a mound higher than the walls of Samaria. But this has no support in the Scripture text.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Ben-hadad sent unto him, and said These words would be quite superfluous, if the oaths of which we now hear were the "word" of ver. 9, The gods do so unto me, and more also, (see notes on 1Ki_2:23 1Ki_19:2) if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls The meaning of pugilli, is fixed by Isa_40:12, and Eze_13:19 for all the people that follow me. Heb. that are in my feet. Same expression Jud_1:4:16 5:15; 1Sa_25:27; 2Sa_15:17, etc. This thoroughly Oriental piece of bluster and boasting, which was intended, no doubt, to strike terror into the hearts of king and people, has been variously interpreted, but the meaning appears to be sufficiently clear. Ben-bahad vows that he will make Samaria a heap of dust, and at the same time affirms that so overwhelming is his host, that this dust will be insufficient to fill the hands of his soldiers. Rawlinson compares with it the well-known saying of the Trachinian to Dieneces, that the Median arrows would obscure the sun (Heb 7:226), but 2Sa_17:18 is still more apposite.

The gods do so to me,".etc. How often has the swearer to eat his words. The hero does; he never talks of what he will do. "Victory is to be achieved, not to be sworn." This vulgar fashion of calling upon God to do oneself some hurt thus appears to be of great antiquity. But it always proceeds from those who have very little belief in God at all. The profane swearer is practically an infidel, so far as the gods he invokes are concerned. An Italian workman was once reproved in a Roman studio for the oaths which he swore by the sacred name of Gesu. "Oh," said he boldly, "I"m not afraid of Him at all." Then, lowering his voice to a whisper, he added, "I"ll tell you what I"m afraid of: it is His blessed mother" He never swore by the Deity he believed in.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And said, &c. - If I do not assault thy city with so numerous an army, as shall turn all thy city into an heap of dust, and shall be sufficient to carry it all away, though every soldier take but one handful of it.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

If the dust of Shomron will be sufficient for the soles of the feet, etc. [Targum Yonoson rendered,] “to take with the footsteps of all the people who are with me,” the earth that sticks to the sole of the feet.

For the soles of the feet. An expression of, “treading with the sole of the foot,” and similarly, “in a narrow path [משעול] of the vineyards,” and similarly, “who measured the water with his step [בשעלו],” for He trod in the Red Sea, as it is stated, “You tramped them in the sea with Your horses.”

Will be sufficient. If there is enough.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.