(11) Troubled.--Literally, storm-tost. The phrase is not found elsewhere in the Old Testament. (Comp. the use of the same verb in Jonah 1:11; Jonah 1:13; Isaiah 54:11.)

Which of us is for the king of Israel?--"Which of us?" is an expression only found here (mishshell?n-). Pointed differently, the word would give the sense of the LXX., ??? ????????? ?? ??????? ?????? --"Who betrays me to the king of Israel?"--malshin?n-, "our betrayer," an Aramaic term. (Comp. Prov. XXX. 10.) Better still is B”ttcher's correction: "Who leads us astray unto the king of Israel?" (mashl?n-). This would be the natural supposition of the Syrian king when he found himself unexpectedly confronting an armed Israelitish force, and harmonises well enough with the LXX. and Vulg. The received text, which the Targum, Syriac, and Arabic support, can only mean, "Which of those who belong to us inclines to the king of Israel?" (Comp. Psalm 123:2.) The Syriac follows the Hebrew exactly; the Targum and Arabic add a verb--"reveals secrets"--before "to the king of Israel."

Verse 11. - Therefore the heart of the King of Syria was sore troubled for this thing. Keil says, "The King of the Syrians was enraged at this;" but סָעַר exactly expresses "trouble," "disturbance," not "rage," being used of the tossing of the sea, in Jonah 1:11. And he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not show me which of us is for the king of Israel? Benhadad not unnaturally suspected treachery among his own subjects. How otherwise could the King of Israel become, over and over again, aware of his intentions? Some one or other of his officers must, he thought, betray his plans to the enemy. Cannot the others point out the traitor?

6:8-12 The king of Israel regarded the warnings Elisha gave him, of danger from the Syrians, but would not heed the warnings of danger from his sins. Such warnings are little heeded by most; they would save themselves from death, but will not from hell. Nothing that is done, said, or thought, by any person, in any place, at any time, is out of God's knowledge.Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing,.... There was as it were a storm in his breast, as the word signifies; he was like a troubled sea, tossed with tempests, exceeding uneasy in his mind, fretting at the disappointment he met with time after time:

and he called his servants, and said unto them, will ye not show me which of us is for the king of Israel? he suspected that some one of his counsellors was in the interest of the king of Israel, and betrayed his secrets to him, which was the cause of his disappointments.