2 Kings 3:26

26 When the king of Moab saw he was losing the battle, he took 700 swordsmen to try to break through to the king of Edom. But they couldn't do it.

2 Kings 3:26 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 3:26

And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for
him
The siege was so close, the slingers or engineers did so much execution, that he saw the city would soon be taken, and he be obliged to deliver it up:

he took with him seven hundred men that drew swords;
men expert in war, bold and daring:

to break through even unto the king of Edom;
through his quarters, and so escape, he lying nearest to the city, and perhaps the weakest body of men with him; or he might think he was not so hearty in the cause of the kings, and would make but a feeble resistance, and let him pass:

but they could not;
break through they met with a greater opposition than was expected perhaps the Edomites remembered how they had lately used them, which made them fight more desperately against them, see ( 2 Chronicles 20:23 ) .

2 Kings 3:26 In-Context

24 So when the Moabites came to Israel's camp, the Israelites attacked them, and they fled from the Israelites. Israel went after the Moabites and defeated them.

25 Then Israel tore down the cities, each man throwing rocks on every good field until it was covered. They sealed every well and cut down every good tree. Only the stones [in the walls] of Kir Hareseth were left. Soldiers surrounded Kir Hareseth and attacked it with slings and stones.

26 When the king of Moab saw he was losing the battle, he took 700 swordsmen to try to break through to the king of Edom. But they couldn't do it.

27 Then he took his firstborn son, who would have succeeded him as king, and sacrificed him on the wall as a burnt offering. There was bitter anger against the Israelites. So they went home to their own country.