This thing I may not do If I would do it, I cannot; because my people will not suffer it. If the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls, &c. If I do not assault thy city with so potent and numerous an army, as shall turn it all into a heap of dust, and shall be sufficient to carry it all away, though every soldier take but one handful of it. See the like boast, 2 Samuel 17:13. The king of Israel said, Let not him that girdeth, &c. Do not triumph before the victory, for the events of war are uncertain.
Related Commentaries of 1 Kings 20:9
1 Kings 20:9-11
9 Wherefore he said unto the messengers of Benhadad, Tell my lord the king, All that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do: but this thing I may not do. And the messengers departed, and brought him word again.
10 And Benhadad sent unto him, and said, The gods do so unto me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that followc me.
11 And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.