1 Kings 20:31

AHAB FOOLISHLY MADE A COVENANT WITH "BROTHER BEN-HADAD"

"And his servants said unto him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings: let us, we pray thee, put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel; peradventure he will save thy life. So they put sackcloth on their loins, and ropes upon their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, Thy servant Benhadad saith, I pray thee, let me live. And he said, Is he yet alive? he is my brother. Now the men observed diligently, and hasted to catch whether it were his mind; and they said, Thy brother Benhadad. Then he said, Go ye, bring him. Then Benhadad came forth to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot. And Benhadad said unto him, The cities which my father took from thy father I will restore; and thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. And I, said Ahab, will let thee go with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him and let him go."

What an incredibly stupid and ridiculous thing was this that Ahab did, allowing Benhadad to announce the terms upon which he received his life and his freedom. What about all that gold and silver that Ahab had paid prior to the first battle? Why did he not demand its re-payment? Benhadad did not even promise to build streets for Ahab in Damascus, but would allow Ahab to build them! And those cities Benhadad promised to give Ahab, they already belonged to Israel! Poor Ahab here "brothered" himself out of the spoils that should have belonged to the victor; and as a prophet soon would tell him, he had "brothered" himself out of his own life as well!

"To set free a man with passionate hatred, immense ambitions, and boundless capacities for warfare, binding him only with a pack-thread of insincere promises was the conduct of a fool. It was a terrible treachery against the interests of God's people for Ahab not to clip Benhadad's wings and make him incapable of future injuries against Israel."[17] "Ordinary gratitude to God should have prompted Ahab to inquire of the Lord what his duty was in this situation; Ahab's conduct was unjustifiable."[18] "It was Ahab's duty to punish this bitter foe of Israel with death."[19]