1 Kings 20:9

1Ki 20:9 Wherefore he said unto the messengers of Benhadad, Tell my lord the king, All that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do: but this thing I may not do. And the messengers departed, and brought him word again.

Ver. 9. But this thing I may not do.] He saith not, This thing I will not do, which plainly discovereth his dastardliness and pusillanimity. {cowardliness} He had not "the spirit of power," because not "of a sound mind." {2Ti 1:7}

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 20:9-11. This thing I may not do — If I would do it, I cannot; because my people will not suffer it. If the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls, &c. — If I do not assault thy city with so potent and numerous an army, as shall turn it all 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. The king of Israel said, Let not him that girdeth, &c. — Do not triumph before the victory, for the events of war are uncertain.

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

9. Tell my lord the king] The LXX. says ‘your lord’. The Hebrew accords better with the generally submissive conduct of Ahab throughout the whole narrative. The picture of the power of the Israelitish king is not very magnificent. Even in this final answer he speaks of himself as Ben-hadad’s ‘servant’.

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.

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 so insolent, in the sense he understood him, of paying tribute to him for it:

but this thing I may not do; to have not only all put into his hands, but his and his servant's houses to be searched and pillaged, because the elders of his people would not agree; and yet he seems to speak as if he himself would have submitted to it, but was restrained by his council:

and the messengers departed, and brought him word again; reported to Benhadad the answer they received from Ahab.

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

This thing I may not do; if I would do it, I cannot, because my people will not suffer it.

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

Wherefore Heb. and he said unto the mcaeengers of Benhadad, Tell my lord the king He still employs the same obsequious language as in ver. 4, All that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do: but this thing I may Heb. can not do At first sight it appears as if Ahab objected to the search (ver. 6), i.e., plunder, of his house and capital much more than to the surrender of his wives to shame and of his children to slavery. But we must remember that a man is ready to promise almost anything in his extremity, and that we do not know what construction he put, or would have claimed to put, upon Ben-hadad"s first demand, had that monarch consented to revert to these conditions, or by what means he hoped to evade it. And the messengers departed, and brought him Ben-hadad, not Ahab, as Rawlinson imagines word again. Not the "word related in the next verse" (Rawlinson), but the message just recorded.

This thing I may not do." "Better die than live in disgrace," says the Greek proverb. The king of Samaria was in a similar strait to those four logical lepers who, a few years later, in another siege, lay at the gate of the city. (2Ki_7:4) He could but die in any case, and he might perchance live if he stood on his defence. Even a worm will turn when trod upon. We should think scorn of Ahab, had he not made a stand for his life and wife and children.

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

May the gods do so to me and more also

This is an oath with great emphasis. See how you translated this in 1 Kings 19:2.

if even the ashes of Samaria will be enough for all the people who follow me to have a handful each

Ben Hadad is threatening that his army will totally destroy everything in Samaria. (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

Ahab

messenger

king

false god

ash

Samaria

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.