2 Kings 7:7 - Exposition

Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight . At the very time when the lepers were drawing off from the gate of Samaria to fall away to them (see 2 Kings 7:5 ). And left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was . Partly, perhaps, in mere panic; partly to induce a belief on the part of the enemy that they had not quitted their camp. So Darius Hystaspis, when he began his retreat from Scythia (Herod; 4.135), left his camp standing, and the camp fires lighted, and the asses tethered (see 2 Kings 7:10 ), that the Scythians, seeing the tents and hearing the noise of the animals, might be fully persuaded that his troops were still in the same place. Asses were the chief baggage-animals in many ancient armies. And fled for their life. Thinking that, if they waited till dawn, the Israelite allies, Hittites and Egyptians, would exterminate them.