2 Kings 3:24

24 But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and attacked the Moabites, who fled before them; as they entered Moab they continued the attack.

2 Kings 3:24 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 3:24

And when they came to the camp of Israel
Not in an orderly regular manner, in rank and file, as an army should march, but in a confused manner, everyone striving who should get thither first, and have the largest share of the booty:

the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites, so that they fled before
them;
being prepared for them, they fell upon them sword in hand, and soon obliged them to flee:

but they went forward smiting the Moabites, even in their country;
they pursued them closely, and slew them as they fled, and followed them not only to their borders, but into their own country: though Schultens {m}, from the use of the word (hbn) in the Arabic language, renders the passage, "and they blunted their swords in it (in that slaughter), even by smiting the Moabites".

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 De Defect. Hod. Ling. Heb. sect. 26.

2 Kings 3:24 In-Context

22 When they rose early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood.

23 They said, "This is blood; the kings must have fought together, and killed one another. Now then, Moab, to the spoil!"

24 But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and attacked the Moabites, who fled before them; as they entered Moab they continued the attack.

25 The cities they overturned, and on every good piece of land everyone threw a stone, until it was covered; every spring of water they stopped up, and every good tree they felled. Only at Kir-hareseth did the stone walls remain, until the slingers surrounded and attacked it.

26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through, opposite the king of Edom; but they could not.

Footnotes

• [a]. Compare Gk Syr: Meaning of Heb uncertain