מלכים א כ׳:א׳-כ״ב

כי שלחתי אליך וגו' לי תתן. ידעתי כי תתנם לי, אבל אחרת אני גוזר עליך:

When I have sent to you, etc., you must give [them] to me. I know that you will give them to me, but I am decreeing upon you something else.

כל מחמד עיניך ישימו בידם ולקחו. והלא כל הראשונים דברי חמדה הם, אלא מהו מחמד עיניך, חמדה מתוך חמדה, זה ספר תורה, שנאמר בו (תהלים יט יא): הנחמדים מזהב ומפז רב, אמר אחאב בלבו, דבר גדול זה מבקש, אין זה שלי לבדי, של זקני ישראל היא, לפיכך: ויקרא לכל זקני הארץ, (מדרש תנחומא שמות כט, סנהדרין קב ב) אף על פי שהיו עובדין עבודה זרה, היו מכבדין את התורה:

Everything you cherish they will put in their hands and take. Were not the first [things] cherished things? What, then, is the meaning of “[everything] you cherish”? [This means] a treasure within a treasure, referring to the Torah Scroll, about which it is stated, “more desirable than gold, even more than quantities of fine gold.”¹Tehillim 19:11. Achov said to himself, “He demands a great thing, but this is not mine alone; it belongs to the elders of Yisroel.”²He therefore could not give away the Torah without consulting the elders. Therefore, he “called all the elders of the land,”³Below v. 7. for even though they worshiped idols, they honored the Torah.⁴See Maseches Sanhedrin 102b. Despite all his sins, Achov believed in the Torah and refused to give it up. He was ready to go to war if necessary, to defend it. God therefore rewarded him with a reign of 22 years corresponding to the 22 letters of the Alef Beis with which the Torah is written.

אם ישפוק עפר שומרון לשעלים וגו'. (תרגום:) למיסב בשעולי פרסת רגלי עמא דעמי, עפר שנדבק בפרסת רגלים:

If the dust of Shomron will be sufficient for the soles of the feet, etc. [Targum Yonoson rendered,] “to take with the footsteps of all the people who are with me,” the earth that sticks to the sole of the feet.⁵Alternatively, שעלים means fistfuls, and Ben-Hadad said, that if each of his soldiers was to take a fistful of the dirt of Shomron, there would not be enough dirt for them, for his army was so large.—Radak

לשעלים. לשון מדרך כף רגל, וכן (במדבר כב כד): במשעול הכרמים ; וכן (ישעיהו מ יב): מי מדד בשעלו מים, שדרך בים סוף, שנאמר (חבקוק ג טו): דרכת בים סוסיך:

For the soles of the feet. An expression of, “treading with the sole of the foot,” and similarly, “in a narrow path [משעול] of the vineyards,”⁶Bamidbar 22:24. and similarly, “who measured the water with his step [בשעלו],”⁷Yeshayahu 40:12. for He trod in the Red Sea, as it is stated, “You tramped them in the sea with Your horses.”⁸Chavakuk 3:15.

אם ישפוק. אם יש די:

Will be sufficient. If there is enough.

דברו אל יתהלל חוגר כמפתח. תרגום: אמרו ליה, לא ישתבח דמיזדרז ונחית בקרבא, כגבר דנצח וסליק מינה. אל יתהלל החוגר חרבו לרדת למלחמה, שאינו יודע אם ינצח אם לאו:

“Tell him, ‘He who puts on the sword shall not brag like the one who takes it off.’” “Say to him, ‘One should not boast, he who arms himself and goes down to war like a man who has been victorious and is coming up from it.’” One should not boast he who puts on his sword to wage to war, for he does not know whether or not he will be victorious.

כמפתח. חגורת חרבו, שעלה כבר מן המלחמה ונצח, כך אין לאדוניכם להתהלל בדבר העתיד:

Like the one who takes it off. His sword binding, [after] he has come up from the war victorious. Similarly, your master should not boast about a future event.

שימו. כלי המצור על העיר:

Prepare. The implements of siege against the city.

נביא אחד. הוא מיכיהו בן ימלה (סדר עולם):

A certain prophet. That was Michoyhu the son of Yimloh.⁹See below 22:8.

בנערי שרי המדינות. הם בני התערובות, שהיו כל השרים של שאר האומות נותנים בניהם תחת ידו ערבים שלא ימרדו בו:

By the youths of the officers of the provinces. They are the hostages, for all the governors of the other nations would give their children into his custody [as a guarantee] that they will not rebel against him.¹⁰Also, this may have served as a demonstration of loyalty to the king. Alternatively, they were the children of Achov’s high ranking officers who were raised in the royal court.—Radak

מי יאסור המלחמה. יערוך לצוות אותה:

Who will lead the battle? Who will array [the battle], to command it.¹¹Being an idolater, Achov felt that he was unworthy to have a miracle performed through him and therefore he looked for another leader.—Radak

אתה. צא אתה תחלה וכה תמיתנו (ועתה תריעו ספרים אחרים אינו):

You. You go forth first and so you shall kill him. (And now you shall shout: Omitted in some texts)

שבעת אלפים. אומר אני, הם שאמר עליהם (לעיל יט יח): כל הברכים אשר לא כרעו לבעל שבעת אלפים:

Seven thousand. I say that they are the ones about whom it is stated, “All those whose knees did not bend to the Baal,” were seven thousand.¹²Above 19:18.

בסכות. שעשו להם מפני החמה:

In the shelters. That they had made for themselves [as protection] from the sun.

לתשובת השנה. (תרגום:) לזמן סופא דשתא:

At the end of the year. [Targum Yonoson rendered], “at the time of the year’s end.”¹³Alternatively, in the spring, kings go out to war because there provisions are available in the fields for the troops and their animals. See II Shmuel 11:1 and Rashi there.