‘And they blew the three hundred ram's horns, and Yahweh set every man's sword against his fellow and against all the host.'
The three hundred continued to blow as they watched the disorder revealed in the camp, by cries, and clashes of steel, and moving torches, and Yahweh fed the panic until it became a rout, with men slaughtering each other. For once the escape began the three allied forces would be intermingled and recognition would totally have gone. Every man would be seen as an enemy, and everyone thought the other was an enemy, for who was to know? Note the stress on the fact of Yahweh's direct involvement. This was Yahweh's doing.
“And the host fled to Bethshittah toward Zererath, as far as the border (‘lip, bank”) of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.'
The places are unknown to us but ‘bank' suggests either a wadi leading down to the Jordan or even the Jordan itself. Abel-meholah later became part of Solomon's fifth district (1 Kings 4:12) and was Elisha's birthplace (1 Kings 19:16). It is usually seen as sited in the Jordan valley, south of Beth-shean. Some place Zererah as south of Jabesh Gilead. So they fled towards the Jordan rift, heading for ‘home'.