2 Kings 3:23

23 and they said, This is blood; the kings are surely destroyed, and they have struck each man his fellow: now therefore, Mo'av, to the spoil.

2 Kings 3:23 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 3:23

And they said, this is blood
They were very confident of it, having no notion of water, there having been no rain for some time; and perhaps it was not usual to see water at any time in this place:

the kings are surely slain;
they and their forces:

and they have smitten one another;
having quarrelled either about their religion, or about want of water, and the distress they were come into through it, laying the blame of their coming out to war, or of their coming that way, on one another; and the Moabites might rather think something of this kind had happened, from what had lately been done among themselves, and their allies, ( 2 Chronicles 20:23 )

now therefore, Moab, to the spoil;
having no occasion to fight, or prepare for it; all they had to do was to march directly to the enemy's camp, and plunder it.

2 Kings 3:23 In-Context

21 Now when all the Mo`avim heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, they gathered themselves together, all who were able to put on armor, and upward, and stood on the border.

22 They rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone on the water, and the Mo`avim saw the water over against them as red as blood:

23 and they said, This is blood; the kings are surely destroyed, and they have struck each man his fellow: now therefore, Mo'av, to the spoil.

24 When they came to the camp of Yisra'el, the Yisra'elites rose up and struck the Mo`avim, so that they fled before them; and they went forward into the land smiting the Mo`avim.

25 They beat down the cities; and on every good piece of land they cast every man his stone, and filled it; and they stopped all the springs of water, and felled all the good trees, until in Kir-Hareset [only] they left the stones of it; however the men armed with slings went about it, and struck it.