2 Kings 6:24 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

It came to pass after this, that Ben-hadad, &c.— It has been often observed, that injuries are more gloriously overcome by benefits, than requited by pertinacious and mutual hatred; but the sense of benefits does not last long in bad natures. No sooner do we read of the kind treatment which the Syrians received, than it immediately follows, that the king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria: which, seeming not to agree with what is said in the preceding verse, that the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel, some suppose, that the Syrians quite retreated for this time, and laid aside all thoughts of war, though afterwards they altered their minds, and broke out again into hostilities. Others, however, suppose the meaning to be, that the bands of the Syrians made no more incursions and inroads, but that they were resolved to fall upon the Israelites at once, with a regular and formed army; and so Josephus understands it, Antiq. lib. ix. c. 2.