For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a
noise
of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a
great host,
&c.] Or of many armies, as the Targum; either in the air by
the ministry of angels; or the Lord so wrought upon their
imagination, that they fancied they heard such noises; or he
caused such noises in their ears:
and they said one to another, lo, the king of Israel hath
hired against
us the kings of the Hittites;
one of the nations of the Canaanites, and may be here put for the
whole of those that remained, and who lived upon the borders of
the land of Israel; though Josephus F25 has it, the kings of
the isles; that is, of Chittim, see ( Jeremiah
2:10 )
and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon
us;
Egypt being now divided into petty kingdoms; or else the
governors of the several nomes or districts of it are here meant:
for the king of Israel to hire these kings was very unlikely in
his present circumstances; but those unreasonable things, in
their panic, their imaginations suggested to them.