מלכים א, פרק כ׳, פסוק י׳

Ben-Hadad delivers an arrogant and threatening message to the king of Israel, highlighting the sheer size of his massive army in stark contrast to the small city of Samaria [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. To show he is serious, the king frames his threat using a classic oath formula. He calls a curse upon himself if he fails to carry out his promise, though, as is typical with such declarations, he deliberately stops short of naming the specific punishment [מצודת דוד, רד״ק].

At the center of this menacing vow is a vivid boast about the dust of Samaria. Ben-Hadad claims that the physical ground of the city will simply not be enough for the multitude of soldiers marching behind him [מצודת ציון]. The commentators agree that the core of the threat revolves around this concept of insufficiency, meaning there will not be enough of the city's soil for the invading troops [רש״י, מצודת ציון, רד״ק, ביאור שטיינזלץ].

Exactly how the dust will fall short is explained in two distinct ways. One approach suggests the boast is about handfuls of dirt. The army is so vast that if each soldier were to scoop up just a single handful of Samaria's soil, the entire city would be reduced to nothing before every man had his share [מצודת דוד, מצודת ציון, רלב״ג, רד״ק]. A second perspective focuses directly on the soldiers' marching steps. In this view, the invading force is so overwhelmingly large compared to the tiny city that Samaria's dust would not even provide enough dirt to stick to the soles of the soldiers' feet as they march through it [רש״י, רד״ק, ביאור שטיינזלץ].