Ver. 1. And there were thirty and two kings with him.] Reguli; petty kings, such as once were the kings of Canaan, thirty-two likewise in number; (Joshua 12:7, &c.) such as were once the kings of this land. Caesar telleth us of four kings of Kent in his time, viz., Cingentorix, Carvilius, Taximagulus, and Segonax, who shared that country amongst them. And he went up and besieged Samaria.] Some towns of Israel Benhadad or his father had taken thirty years before, (1 Kings 15:17-20) and now he would have all; like as the Gauls, having once tasted of the sweet wines of Italy, would never be at rest till they had got that whole country. Plutarch in Camillo.
Ver. 2. And he sent messengers.] As presuming they should find that favour with Ahab which himself denied to Ahab’s messengers, whom he commanded to be taken alive, whatsoever their errand was. This was against the law of arms. (1 Kings 20:18)
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. ”
Ver. 4. I am thine, and all that I have.] This, say some, was responsum admodum muliebre, a very cowardly answer of Ahab. Others hold that he did well and wisely, whilst, as a reed in a tempest, he thus stoopeth to the violent charge of so potent an enemy. It is not for the overpowered to capitulate; weakness may not argue, but yield.
Ver. 5. And the messengers came again] Ita fere fit, ut veterem fereudo iniuriam invites novam. Insolency is unreasonable: “the unjust knoweth no shame.” (Zephaniah 3:5)
Ver. 6. Whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes.] Ahab, as bad as he was, had a name among these Syrians for a merciful man; (1 Kings 20:31) this is now not respected, because he is at such an under. How much better Mithridates, king of Pontus, of whom it is said that he hated such as trampled upon virtue forsaken of fortune.
Ver. 7. And I denied him not.] I refused not to be his vassal and tributary, acknowledging his sovereignty; but no reason will content him, nothing but the rifling of our houses, ravishing of our wives, spoiling us of all.
Ver. 8. Hearken not unto him.] Stand to the issue of a bloody war rather. “ Victorem a victo superari saepe videmus. A cane non magno saepe tenetur aper.”
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.” (2 Timothy 1:7)
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. (1 Kings 20:5,6)
Ver. 11. Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast, &c.] Ne glorietur accinctus quasi discinctus. It is no wisdom to triumph before the victory, and to sell the hide before the beast is taken; as did Xerxes in his expedition against Greece; the Pompeians before the Pharsalian field was fought; the French at the battle of Agincourt; the Spaniards in 1588, with their invincible Armada, as they called it, but falsely and foolishly. It had been three years a-rigging; and triumphant poems were beforehand printed by Don Bernardine Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador in France, concerning the good success thereof. But what was the issue? the Armada was defeated and dispersed, God from heaven fighting against them, not a hundred English lacking, and but one small ship lost, &c. Exitus belli incertus. When Francis I, king of France, was busily consulting with his captains how to lead his army over the Alps into Italy, whether this way or that way, Amaril, his fool, sprang out of a corner where he sat unseen, and bade them rather take care which way they should bring their army out of Italy back again. Camden’s Elisab.
Ver. 12. As he was drinking.] Even unto drunkenness, (1 Kings 20:16) which is none of the best counsellors. Drunkards are besotted and disabled: as a snuff of a candle in a socket drowned in the tallow yieldeth little or no light, but only a stench. He and the kings.] Who were, likely, preferred by him to places of honour and trust in the army, according to their ability in drinking: like as Novellus surnamed. Tricongius—for that he could drink three bottles of wine together with one breath—was therefore made proconsul by Tiberius. Alexander, also inviting various of his lords to supper, provided a crown of one hundred and eighty pounds to be given to those that should drink most.