And he said, take the arrows, and he took them
The rest of them:
and he said unto the king of Israel,
smite upon the ground; the floor of the room in which the prophet lay:
and he smote thrice, and stayed;
made a stop, ceased smiting; he might think this action trifling, and beneath him, only was willing to please the prophet, but did not do it with a good will, and therefore smote no more; though this was an emblem of his smiting the Syrians, which he might not understand.