1 Kings 20:34
And Ben-hadad said unto him, The cities, which my father took from thy father, I will restore; and thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. Then said Ahab, I will send thee away with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and sent him away.
The verse belongs to the history of the two separate kingdoms of Judah and Israel for about eighty years from the revolt of the ten tribes to the death of Jehoshaphat, comprising the histories of the reigns of several kings of both Judah and Israel. It stands in the account of Ben-hadad's defeat, after Israel defeated the Syrian army, when Ben-hadad surrendered to Ahab. It records Ben-hadad's offer to restore the cities his father had taken from Ahab's father and to grant Ahab trading streets in Damascus, as his father had made in Samaria, and Ahab's acceptance of the agreement and release of Ben-hadad.
The transaction shows that a covenant can be an agreement between rulers, in which Ahab agreed to send Ben-hadad away under that covenant. It follows a victory God gave Ahab over Ben-hadad, with a prophet's warning that the victory came from Jehovah, showing another effort by God to win the weak Ahab. Ahab's act of sparing Ben-hadad and making a covenant with him and sending him away was disobedience, part of the greater disobedience that followed. It was an instance of counterfeit compassion in sparing Ben-hadad.
That disobedience in sparing Ben-hadad had the remarkable consequence that Ahab was later killed in battle with him. In connection with this history, Ahab later fought as an ally of Ben-hadad at the battle of Karkar near the end of his life. The chapter is part of a sad historical record that teaches lessons about the moral decline of Israel and Judah and the responsibility of their leaders, whose faithfulness or failure strongly influenced the people. The verse is included in the account of Ahab's reign, which is presented as a lesson for later generations, showing that he was a capable ruler who nevertheless chose idolatry and led Israel away from the worship of Jehovah.