1 Kings 20:7

7 Then the king of Isra'el summoned all the leaders of the land and said, "Please take notice! Do you see how this man is trying to make trouble? First he demanded my wives, children, silver and gold; and I denied him nothing."

1 Kings 20:7 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 20:7

Then the King of Israel called all the elders of the land
His poor sneaking spirit was a little aroused with the last message, and therefore called a council of the elders of the people upon it, which was a piece of wisdom in him:

and said, mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeketh mischief;
nothing less than the entire ruin of the nation:

for he sent unto me for my wives, and for my children, and for my
silver, and for my gold, and I denied him not;
in the sense he understood him, which was, that he was to be a vassal, and tributary to him, for the sake of holding these, which yet was very mean; but he wanted to have these in hand, and not them only, but the pillaging of all his subjects.

1 Kings 20:7 In-Context

5 The messengers returned and said, "Here is Ben-Hadad's response: 'I sent you a message to hand over your silver, gold, wives and children to me.

6 But I am going to send my servants to you tomorrow around this time; they will ransack your house and the houses of your servants; and whatever they see that they like they will seize and remove.'"

7 Then the king of Isra'el summoned all the leaders of the land and said, "Please take notice! Do you see how this man is trying to make trouble? First he demanded my wives, children, silver and gold; and I denied him nothing."

8 All the leaders and all the people said to him, "Don't listen, and don't agree."

9 So he said to Ben-Hadad's messengers, "Tell my lord the king, 'I will do all that you asked of me the first time, but this I cannot do." The messengers left and brought word back to him.