2 Kings 6:22

wouldest thou smitethose whom thou hast taken captive The prophet points out that the men are not even captives whom the king himself has taken. Had they been so, yet the laws of war would have forbidden their slaughter at such a time and in cold blood. Much more is it unlawful to slay these, who are God's prisoners. Some have preferred to take the sentence as not interrogative. -Those whom thou hadst taken prisoners thou mightest be allowed to slay, but not these." Deuteronomy 20:13 sanctions the slaying prisoners of war; but it is doubtful whether the grammar of the original in this verse can be taken as anything but interrogative.

set bread and water before them It is manifest that the prophet was setting forth a higher degree of humanity than was usual towards prisoners. We need not therefore be surprised, if in the former clause of the verse he does not speak according to the sterner precept of Deuteronomy, which was laid down in order that the idolaters might be exterminated from Canaan.