Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 20:6
Yet I will send my servants unto thee tomorrow about this time, and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, [that] whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put [it] in their hand, and take [it] away.
6. to-morrow about this time ] The imperious victor (as he thought himself) would suffer no delay. His orders were to be carried out at once.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ben-hadad, disappointed by Ahabs consent to an indignity which he had thought no monarch could submit to, proceeds to put a fresh construction on his former demands.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. Whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes] It is not easy to discern in what this second requisition differed from the first; for surely his silver, gold, wives, and children, were among his most pleasant or desirable things. Jarchi supposes that it was the book of the law of the Lord which Ben-hadad meant, and of which he intended to deprive Israel. It is however evident that Ben-hadad meant to sack the whole city, and after having taken the royal treasures and the wives and children of the king, to deliver up the whole to be pillaged by his soldiers.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Yet now I will not accept of those terms, but, together with thy royal treasures, I expect all the treasures of thy servants or subjects; nor will I wait till thou deliver them to me, but I will send my servants into the city, and they shall have free liberty and power to search out and take away all which they desire, and this to prevent fraud and delay; and then I will grant thee a peace.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Yet I will send my servants unto thee tomorrow about this time,…. He gave him twenty four hours to consider of it:
and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy servants; the royal palace, and the houses of the noblemen, and even of every of his subjects in Samaria:
and it shall be, that whatsoever is pleasant (or desirable) in thine eyes, they shall put it in, their hand, and take it away; not be content with what should be given, but search for more; and if any in particular was more desirable to the possessor than anything else, that should be sure to be taken away; which was vastly insolent and aggravating.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(6) Whatsoever is pleasant.The demand, which is virtually for the plunder of Samaria, probably neither expects nor desires acceptance, and is therefore a refusal of all but unconditional surrender. It is notable that in the last extremity Ahab falls back on an exceptional appeal to the patriotism of the people.
The elders of the land (evidently present in Samaria at this time) were the representatives in the northern kingdom of the ancient assembly of the elders of Israel, existing from the time of Moses downwards as a senate, having power not only of advice, but of concurrence, in relation to the Judge or King. (See Exo. 3:16; Exo. 12:21; Exo. 24:1; Deu. 27:1; Deu. 31:9; Jos. 7:6; 2Sa. 5:3; 1Ki. 8:3). The solemn appointment of the seventy in Num. 11:24-25 seems to be simply the re-constitution and consecration of the original body. Each tribe and each town had also its lesser body of elders. (See 1Sa. 30:26, the elders of Judah; Deu. 19:12; Deu. 21:3, &c., the elders of the city.) The authority of all these assemblies must have been at all times largely overborne by the royal power (see 1Ki. 21:11), and must have varied according to time and circumstance.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. I will send my servants To this humiliation Ahab will not submit. He will allow no searching of his palace and his city by foreign emissaries, and no violent seizure of any of his goods, for this would be the same as to let the enemy come in and freely plunder all Samaria.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ki 20:6 Yet I will send my servants unto thee to morrow about this time, and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, [that] whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put [it] in their hand, and take [it] away.
Ver. 6. Whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes. ] Ahab, as bad as he was, had a name among these Syrians for a merciful man; 1Ki 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.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
search: as from the top: i.e. ransack.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
and they shall search: 1Sa 13:19-21, 2Sa 24:14, 2Ki 18:31, 2Ki 18:32
pleasant: Heb. desirable, Gen 27:15, Ezr 8:27, Isa 44:9, Jer 25:34, Lam 1:7, Lam 1:10, Hos 13:15, Joe 3:5, *marg.
Reciprocal: Exo 9:18 – to morrow 1Ki 12:13 – answered 2Ch 10:13 – answered
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
20:6 {c} Yet I will send my servants unto thee to morrow about this time, and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, [that] whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put [it] in their hand, and take [it] away.
(c) He would not accept his answer unless he out of hand delivered whatever he asked, for he sought an opportunity to make war against him.