And the children of Israel were numbered, and were all present, and went against them: and the children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids; but the Syrians filled the country.
Like two little flocks of kids Goats are never seen in large flocks or scattered like sheep; and hence the two Like two little flocks of kids. Goats are never seen in large flocks or scattered, like sheep; and hence, the two small; but compact divisions of the Israelite force are compared to goats, not sheep. Humanly speaking, that little handful of men must have been overpowered by numbers. But a prophet was sent to the small Israelite army to announce the victory, in order to convince the Syrians that the God of Israel was omnipotent everywhere-in the valley as well as on the hills. And accordingly, after the two armies had pitched opposite each other for seven days (i:e., according to the Oriental mode of reckoning, including only parts of the first and last days: cf. Matthew 12:40; Luke 2:21; also 1 Kings 20:29), they came to an open battle: 100,000 Syrians lay dead on the field, while the fugitives took refuge in Aphek, and there, crowding on the city walls, they endeavoured to make a stand against their pursuers; but the old walls giving way under the incumbent weight, fell, and buried 27,000 in the ruins. Ben-hadad succeeded in extricating himself, and with his attendants, sought concealment in the city, fleeing from chamber to chamber; or, as some think it, the chamber of a chamber - i:e., a harem, the most private apartment of a house. The Septuagint has: eiseelthen eis ton oikon tou koitoonos eis to tameion, entered into the house of the bedchamber; into the closet]; but seeing no ultimate means of escape, he was advised to throw himself on the tender mercies of the Israelitish monarch.