So far as we can tell, the School of Prophets established by Samuel, and restored by Elijah, were responsible for the historical records that form the books of Samuel and Kings. There are multiple stories told by different observers, stitched together by some authority within the school. It would appear that very little editing took place, as each tale is self-contained and often presents a variation in the character of the storytelling.
This short narrative sticks out as being about a particular problem: the Syrian raids into Israel. The passage uses a Hebrew word indicating predatory raiding, taking plunder of crops, animals, slaves, etc., whenever they were vulnerable. The issue was to avoid armed protection, because a raiding party was itself vulnerable, particularly after the loot was being hauled away by rather small raiding bands. They traveled light for speed of movement. The purpose of this story is to show how the raids were stopped.
Along with this raiding, King Ben-hadad got the bright idea of ambushing Jehoram, King of Israel. So he conferred with his spies and set up his ambush along various routes Jehoram was known to use. In those days, there would have been far more trees than now, providing cover along the ridge lines, and some deep canyon pockets here and there. Every time they had an ambush waiting, the spotters watched as Jehoram would slip by on another road. Elisha kept warning Jehoram of these ambushes because the Lord kept revealing them to him. This happened several times.
So Ben-hadad flew into a rage and demanded to know who was tipping off his quarry. One of his advisers warned him that Elisha was a real prophet of Jehovah who knew all of Ben-hadad’s most intimate secrets. So the king turned his attention to Elisha and sent spies to find out where he was staying. For the time being, he was in Dothan. This is the site where Joseph’s brothers dropped him in a well before selling him to slavers. The site today is called Tel Dothan where there have been intermittent archaeological digs. It’s roughly ten miles (16km) north and a little east of Samaria.
The site of Dothan stands on a prominent hill, with a lot of flat ground to the west, a saddle with another hill to the east, and fairly wide valleys on the north and south sides. Ben-hadad sent a substantial force by night to surround the hill top city. Early in the morning, when Elisha and his trainees were getting ready to leave, one of them saw the surrounding forces and panicked. There was no doubt whom the troops were after.
Elisha told the young man to settle down, because the forces of Jehovah outnumbered the Syrian troops. Then he prayed for his attendant to see the truth: the slopes of the hill covered with angelic forces, in their glowing chariots. So it was no big deal for Elisha and his gang to stroll down the hill into the Syrian camp where the ensign indicated the commander could be found. He prayed that God would strike the troops with a peculiar form of blindness, in that they could not recognize the terrain. Suddenly, they weren’t too sure where they were.
Then Elisha told them that they had taken the wrong road, and this was not Dothan. He led them over the seemingly unfamiliar terrain for the next couple of hours until he brought them right into the middle of Samaria, where we believe there was a very large open plaza out in front of the palace. Then Elisha prayed that the Syrian troops would get their senses back. When they realized where they were, they were surrounded by Israel’s troops in a hostile environment. We can be sure they surrendered.
Jehoram asked if Elijah had brought these enemy soldiers there to be slaughtered. Elisha insisted that was a bad idea. The men were all captives now; would you attack helpless prisoners of war? No, this time the right move was to feed them and send them home with the tale of what happened to them. So Jehoram gave them a feast and released them to return. Ben-hadad stopped sending raiding parties. That didn’t prevent him coming down in a full invasion later, but the raids stopped.
This is the kind of power God can exert when people trust Him, and sometimes when He’s being patient waiting for someone to turn to Him.
“When they realized where they were, they were surrounded by Israel’s troops in a hostile environment.”
That must’ve been a one-of-a-kind “oh sh*t” moment for those raiders.
I imagine, too, some of them would have defected to the Jehovah camp after the vision of the hillside forces.
I don’t suppose they saw the angelic forces. Elisha could, and his servant could only after Elisha prayed for him.