1 Kings 20:31
And his servants said unto him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings: let us, I pray thee, put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel: peradventure he will save thy life.
This plea belongs to Benhadad's second war against Israel, coming after the Syrians were defeated with 100,000 footmen falling, when Benhadad fled to Aphek and surrendered himself to Israel's king. In it his servants appeal to what they had heard of the merciful character of the kings of the house of Israel, putting sackcloth on their loins and ropes on their heads as they go out to ask that their king's life be spared. The word for life here is the Hebrew nephesh, rendered life in this place, one of 118 Old Testament places where nephesh is translated life or lives rather than soul. The whole account of Ben-hadad's defeat to which this appeal belongs was another effort by God to win the weak Ahab. Yet Ahab's compassion in sparing Benhadad was counterfeit virtue, a seemingly merciful act not grounded in reverence for God nor governed by God's word.