1 Kings 20:3

1Ki 20:3 Thy silver and thy gold [is] mine; thy wives also and thy children, [even] the goodliest, [are] mine.

Ver. 3. Thy silver and thy gold is mine.] Non iure, sed imperio; not by any right that Benbadad had to it, but because he was at this time mightier than Ahab, and able, as he thought, to over power him. Thus a great dog worrieth a less, only because he is bigger and stronger.

“ Sic cedit viribus aequum. ”

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.

1Ki 20:3-4. Thy silver and thy gold is mine — I challenge them as my own, and expect to have them forthwith delivered, if thou expect peace with me. The king said, My lord, O king, I am thine — I do so far comply with thy demand, that I will own thee for my lord, and myself for thy vassal, and will hold my wives, and children, and estate, as by thy favour, and with an acknowledgment.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. even the goodliest] These words are omitted in the LXX. The claim laid to the wives and children would in Oriental eyes amount to a deposition of the monarch, or a deprivation of his royal power. It was one of the first acts of a conqueror to seize the wives of the vanquished opponent. Ahab’s fear of going forth would encourage Ben-hadad to treat him thus, just as his submissive answer at first only led to larger demands on the part of the besieger.

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.

Thy silver and thy gold is mine,.... Not of right, but reckoning it as good as in his hands, Ahab not being able to resist him:

and thy wives also; for it seems he had more than Jezebel:

and thy children; which were many, for he had no less than seventy sons, Kg2 10:1,

even the goodliest are mine: some aggravate this, as if his view was to commit the unnatural sin with his male children, when in his possession.

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

Mine. He had a desire to dispose of them, as he though proper. Achab was willing to pay tribute, to remove the impending danger. (Calmet)

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).

I challenge them as my own, and accordingly expect to have them forthwith delivered into my possession, if thou expectest peace with me.

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

3. Thy silver and thy gold is mine — This demand was somewhat ambiguous and uncertain, and Ahab seems to have understood it as merely a proposition of Ben-hadad to raise the siege and go away from Samaria on condition of receiving certain amounts of gold and silver, and the goodliest of his wives and children, leaving Ahab to make the selection.

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

Thy silver and thy gold is mine Heb. mine it is; thy wives also and thy children Nothing reveals Ben-hadad"s object more clearly than the mention of Ahab"s wives. When we consider how jealously the seraglio of an Eastern prince is guarded, and how the surrender of the harem is a virtual surrender of the throne (2Sa_16:21, 2Sa_16:22; note on, 1Ki_2:22) and certainly a surrender of all manhood and self-respect, we see that his aim was to wound Ahab in his tenderest point, to humble him to the lowest depths of degradation, and possibly to force a quarrel upon him, even the goodliest The LXX omits this. Bahr says the word can only apply to the sons, and that it must mean the most eminent young men of the city not Ahab"s children whom Ben-hadad demanded as hostages. But against this is

(1) Ahab"s answer, "All that I have," etc.;

(2) the fact that Ben-hadad obviously meant insult and plunder; and

(3) the language of ver. 7, where see note, are mine. Heb. mine are they. Rawlinson would explain this excessive demand of the Syrian king by the assumption that when it was made the siege had already lasted a long time, and that the people were now reduced to the greatest straits, circumstances which the historian, with the characteristic brevity of the sacred writers, omits to mention. But really no such supposition is needed. The overwhelming force which Ben-hadad had at his back would, in his eyes, justify any demands. And the prima facie view of ver. 2 is that the messengers were sent on the first approach of the army, or rather at the beginning of the siege.

They silver,.. is mine." A conspicuous instance this of that law of old time

the simple plan That they should take who have the power, And they should keep who can.

But is our modern warfare so very different in principle? Why may kings remove landmarks any more than peasants? Why may a Ben-hadad, an Alexander, a Napoleon cry, "Your lands or your life," without reproach, and yet the footpad who plays at the same game on the highway is hanged for it? Why should what is plain "stealing" in private life be called conveying" or annexing" when practised on a larger scale?

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

Thy silver, &c. - I challenge them as my own, and expect to have them forthwith delivered, if thou expect peace with me.

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