2 Kings 8:99So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels' burden, and came and stood before him, and said, Thy son Ben-hadad king of Syria hath sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recover of this disease? (2 Kings 8:9). So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ burden, and came and stood before him.
There is no reason to suppose, as some commentators have done, that these camels were loaded with all that they could carry “of every good thing of Damascus.” It was merely the Oriental desire for display which sent the forty camels. No doubt the royal present was really valuable, but the different articles of which it was composed were probably so distributed that each camel had but a small portion, and thus a caravan was brought into use. Maillet (cited by Harmer, vol. 2, p. 313) says, speaking of bridal presents, “Through ostentation, they never fail to load upon four or five horses what might easily be carried by one; in like manner, as to the jewels, trinkets, and other things of value, they place in fifteen dishes what a single plate would very well hold.”
Probably the present which the children of Israel sent to Eglon, king of Moab, was accompanied with a similar parade. It is said of Elm, that “when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present” (Judg. 3:1818And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present. (Judges 3:18)). This indicates that a number of persons were called into requisition to convey the gift. It is said to be a custom in Persia, when a present is brought to the king, not to permit any person to carry more than one article, no matter how small it may be.