1 Reis 20:6

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 Êxodo 3:16; Êxodo 12:21; Êxodo 24:1; Deuteronômio 27:1; Deuteronômio 31:9; Josué 7:6; 2 Samuel 5:3; 1 Reis 8:3). The solemn appointment of the seventy in Números 11:24 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 1 Samuel 30:26, “the elders of Judah;” Deuteronômio 19:12; Deuteronômio 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 1 Reis 21:11), and must have varied according to time and circumstance.