2Kgs 6:8

“DISCLOSES THE KING OF SYRIA'S COUNSEL. (Kg2 6:8-17) the king of Syria warred against Israel--This seems to have been a sort of guerrilla warfare, carried on by predatory inroads on different parts of the country. Elisha apprised King Jehoram of the secret purpose of the enemy; so, by adopting precautionary measures, he was always enabled to anticipate and defeat their attacks. The frequency of his disappointments having led the Syrian king to suspect some of his servants of carrying on a treacherous correspondence with the enemy, he was informed about Elisha, whose apprehension he forthwith determined to effect. This resolution was, of course, grounded on the belief that however great the knowledge of Elisha might be, if seized and kept a prisoner, he could no longer give information to the king of Israel.”

“Elisha's Action in the War with the Syrians. - Kg2 6:8-10. In a war which the Syrians carried on against the Israelitish king Joram (not Jehoahaz, as Ewald, Gesch. iii. p. 557, erroneously supposes), by sending flying parties into the land of Israel (cf. Kg2 6:23), Elisha repeatedly informed king Joram of the place where the Syrians had determined to encamp, and thereby frustrated the plans of the enemy. תּחנתי...אל־מקום: "at the place of so and so shall my camp be." אלמני פּלני as in Sa1 21:3 (see at Rut 4:1). תּחנות, the encamping or the place of encampment (cf. Ewald, 161, a.), is quite appropriate, so that there is no need either for the alteration into תּחבאוּ, "ye shall hide yourselves" (Then.), or into תּנחתוּ, with the meaning which is arbitrarily postulated, "ye shall place an ambush" (Ewald, Gesch. iii. p. 558), or for the much simpler alteration into לי תּחנוּ, "pitch the camp for me" (Bttcher). The singular suffix in תּחנתי refers to the king as leader of the war: "my camp" = the camp of my army. "Beware of passing over (עבר) this place," i.e., of leaving it unoccupied, "for there have the Syrians determined to make their invasion." נחתּים, from נחת, going down, with dagesh euphon., whereas Ewald (187, b.) is of opinion that נחתּים, instead of being an intrans. part. Kal, might rather be a part. Niph. of חת, which would not yield, however, any suitable meaning. Thenius renders מעבר, "to pass by this place," which would be grammatically admissible, but is connected with his conjecture concerning תּחנתי, and irreconcilable with Kg2 6:10. When the king of Israel, according to Kg2 6:10, sent to the place indicated on account of Elisha's information, he can only have sent troops to occupy it; so that when the Syrians arrived they found Israelitish troops there, and were unable to attack the place. There is nothing in the text about the Syrians bursting forth from their ambush. הזהיר means to enlighten, instruct, but not to warn. נשׁמר־שׁם, "he took care there," i.e., he occupied the place with troops, to defend it against the Syrians, so that they were unable to do anything, "not once and not twice," i.e., several times.”