Eastward - Syria of Damascus lay partly east, but still more north, of the holy land. The arrow was to be shot, eastward, not so much against Syria itself as against the scene of the recent Syrian successes, Gilead 2 Kings 10:33, which was also to be the scene of Joash’s victories over them. Aphek is almost due east from Shunem, where it is not unlikely that Elisha now was.
The arrow ... - literally, “An arrow of deliverance from the Lord, and an arrow of deliverance against Syria; and thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, even to consuming.”