And Judah was put to the worse before Israel,.... Could not face them; but, as Josephus d says, a sudden fear and consternation seized them, and before they joined battle with the Israelites, turned their backs:
and they fled every man to their tents; to their cities, as the Targum, and left their king alone.
d Antiqu. l. 9. c. 9. sect. 3.