And he said, open the window eastward
Syria lying east of the land of Israel, as the Jewish commentators in general observe, and for which they quote ( Isaiah 9:12 ) , but it lay northeast, or rather more to the north; wherefore this may respect the eastward part of the land of Israel, which the Syrians had got possession of, and should be recovered, as this sign showed, see ( 2 Kings 10:33 ) ,
and he opened it: then Elisha said, shoot, and he shot;
the arrow, out of the window, being opened:
and he said, the arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of
deliverance from Syria;
meaning, that that arrow was a sign of the Lord's deliverance of Israel from the Syrians, by whom they had been sadly oppressed, and reduced very low:
for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek till thou hast consumed
them;
not the whole nation, but that army they should bring thither; which was a city in the land of Israel, where the Syrians were routed in Ahab's time; 100,000 were slain near it on one day, and 27,000 by the fall of the wall of it, ( 1 Kings 20:26 1 Kings 20:29 1 Kings 20:30 ) hence some read the words here, "as in Aphek."