Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Kings 20:6

"but I will send my servants unto thee to-morrow about this time, and they shall search thy house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, that whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put it in their hand, and take it away." — 1 Kings 20:6 (ASV)

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 onward as a senate, having power not only of advice, but of concurrence, in relation to the Judge or King (Exodus 12:21; Exodus 24:1; Deuteronomy 27:1; Deuteronomy 31:9; Joshua 7:6; 2 Samuel 5:3; 1 Kings 8:3).

The solemn appointment of the seventy in Numbers 11:24-25 seems to be simply the reconstitution and consecration of the original body. Each tribe and each town also had its lesser body of elders (See 1 Samuel 30:26, `the elders of Judah`; Deuteronomy 19:12; Deuteronomy 21:3, and other such references to `the elders of the city`). The authority of all these assemblies must have been at all times largely overridden by the royal power (see 1 Kings 21:11), and must have varied according to time and circumstance.