1 Kings 20:8

And all the elders and all the people said unto him,.... They were unanimous in their advice:

hearken not unto him, nor consent; promising, no doubt, that they would stand by him.

“The people” had no distinct place in the ordinary Jewish or Israelite constitution; but they were accustomed to signify their approbation or disapprobation of the decisions of the elders by…

Hearken not unto him - The elders had every thing at stake, and they chose rather to make a desperate defense than tamely to yield to such degrading and ruinous conditions.

Here is, I. The threatening descent which Ben-hadad made upon Ahab's kingdom, and the siege he laid to Samaria, his royal city, Kg1 20:1. What the ground of the quarrel was we are not told;…

Hearken notunto him, nor consent The R.V. omits the needless italics and reads neither instead of nor. The shorter the form of such a decision the better and more natural.