1 Kings 15:19 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Behold, I have sent unto thee a present— The presenting of gifts is one of the most universal methods of doing honour. The sending presents to princes to engage them to help the distressed, has been practised in the east in late times, as well as in the days of Asa. To us it may appear strange, that a present should be thought capable of inducing one prince to break with another, and engage himself in war; but it was anciently sufficient: so we find in the Gesta Dei per Francos, that an eastern nobleman, who had the custody of a castle called Hasarth, quarrelling with his master, the prince of Aleppo, and finding a want of foreign aid, sent presents to Godfrey of Boulogne to induce him to assist him. What they were, we are not told; but gold and silver, the things which Asa sent Ben-hadad, were frequently sent in those times to the Croisade princes, and might probably be sent on this occasion to Godfrey. Presents were frequently sent to the great, before those who sent them made their appearance. See Observations, p. 246.