2 Kings 7:6

6 (The LORD had made the Aramean army hear what sounded like chariots, horses, and a large army. The Aramean soldiers said to one another, "The king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!"

2 Kings 7:6 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 7:6

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.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 4.) sect. 5.

2 Kings 7:6 In-Context

4 If we go into the city, the famine is also there, and we'll still die. But if we stay here, we'll die. So let's go to the Aramean camp. If they give us something to keep us alive, we'll live. But if they kill us, we'll die anyway."

5 So they started out at dusk to go into the Aramean camp. When they came to the edge of the camp, no one was there.

6 (The LORD had made the Aramean army hear what sounded like chariots, horses, and a large army. The Aramean soldiers said to one another, "The king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!"

7 So at dusk they fled. They abandoned the camp as it was with its tents, horses, and donkeys and ran for their lives.)

8 When the men with skin diseases came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent, ate and drank, and carried off the silver, gold, and clothes they found in that tent. They went away and hid them. Then they came back, went into another tent, carried off its contents, went away, and hid them.