And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bow and arrows.
Take bow and arrows. Hostilities were usually proclaimed by a herald, sometimes by a king or general making a public and formal discharge of an arrow into the enemy's country. Elisha directed Joash to do this, as a symbolical act designed to intimate more fully and significantly the victories promised to the king of Israel over the Syrians. His laying his hands upon the king's hands was to represent the power imparted to the bow-shot as coming from the Lord through the medium of the prophet. His shooting the first arrow eastward-to that part of his kingdom which the Syrians had taken, and which were east of Samaria-was a declaration of war against them for the invasion. His shooting the other arrows into the ground was in token of the number of victories be was to gain; but his stopping at the third betrayed the weakness of his faith; for as the discharged arrow signified a victory over the Syrians, it is evident that the more arrows be shot, the more victories he would gain; and as he stopped so soon, his conquests would be incomplete.