Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 6:13-23
Here is, 1. The great force which the king of Syria sent to seize Elisha. He found out where he was, at Dothan (Kg2 6:13), which was not far from Samaria; thither he sent a great host, who were to come upon him by night, and to bring him dead or alive, Kg2 6:14. Perhaps he had heard that when only one captain and his fifty men were sent to take Elijah they were baffled in the attempt, and therefore he sent an army against Elisha, as if the fire from heaven that consumed fifty men could not as easily consume 50,000. Naaman could tell him that Elisha dwelt not in any strong-hold, nor was attended with any guards, nor had any such great interest in the people that he needed to fear a tumult amo…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 6:13
Dothan--or, "Dothaim," a little north of Samaria (see on Gen 37:17).
Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 6:13
Behold, he is in Dothan - This is supposed to be the same place as that mentioned in Gen 37:17. It lay about twelve miles from Samaria.
John Gill on 2 Kings 6:13
And he said, go, and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him,.... But how could he expect to take him, who could give the king of Israel such intelligence of his designs against him, that he might escape his snares?
and it was told him, saying, behold, he is in Dothan; a city in the tribe of Manasseh, not far from Shechem; see Genesis 37:17.
Keil & Delitzsch on 2 Kings 6:12-14
Then one of the servants answered, "No, my lord king," i.e., it is not we who disclose thy plans to the king of Israel, "but Elisha the prophet tells him what thou sayest in thy bed-chamber;" whereupon the king of Syria inquired where the prophet lived, and sent a powerful army to Dothan, with horses and chariots, to take him prisoner there. Dothan (see Gen 37:17), which according to the Onom. was twelve Roman miles to the north of Samaria, has been preserved under its old name in a Tell covered with ruins to the south-west of Jenin, on the caravan-road from Gilead to Egypt (see Rob. Bibl. Res. p. 158, and V. de Velde, Journey, i. pp. 273,274).
