John Gill Commentary 1 Kings 20

And Benhadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together ,
&c.] This was Benhadad the second, the son of that Benhadad, to whom Asa sent to help him against Baasha, (1 Kings 15:18)

and there were thirty and two kings with him ;
these were heads of families, so called, and at most governors of cities under Benhadad; petty princes, such as were in the land of Canaan in Joshua's time:

and horses and chariots ;
how many is not said:

and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it ;
he went up with such an intent, but had not as yet done it in form; what moved him to it cannot be said precisely, whether an ambitious view of enlarging his dominions, or because the king of Israel paid not the tribute his father had imposed upon him, see (1 Kings 20:34) , however, so it was, through the providence of God, as a scourge to Ahab for his impiety.

And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel, into the city ,
&c.] Who there remained, and attempted not to go forth and meet him, and stop his progress, though he must have passed great part of his dominions to come to Samaria:

and said unto him, thus saith Benhadad ;
by them, his messengers, as follows.

Your silver and your gold is mine: Not of right, but reckoning it as good as in his hands, Ahab not being able to resist him:

and your wives also: for it seems he had more than Jezebel:

and your children: which were many, for he had no less than seventy sons, (2 Kings 10:1) ,

even the goodliest are mine: some aggravate this, as if his view was to commit the unnatural sin with his male children, when in his possession.

And the king of Israel answered and said, my lord, O king
So he said to Benhadad's messengers, representing him, as acknowledging his sovereignty over him:

according to your saying, I am yours, and all that I have :
which he understood of holding all that he had of him, by giving him homage, and paying him tribute; not that he was to deliver all his substance, and especially his wives and children, into his hands.

And the messengers came again From Benhadad:

and said, thus speaks Benhadad, saying, although I have sent unto you, saying : at the first message:

you shall deliver me your silver, and your gold, and your wives, and your children ; into his possession, and not as Ahab understood it, that he should be his vassal, and pay a yearly tribute for his quiet enjoyment of them; yet even this he would not now abide by, growing still more haughty upon the mean submission of Ahab, as by what follows.