Matthew Poole and continuators on 2 Kings 13:17

17 And he said, Open the window east-ward : and he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot: and he shot. And he said, The arrow of the LORDS deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek , till thou have consumed them .

Either, towards Syria, which lay North-East-ward from the Land of Israel: or, towards the Israelites Land beyond Iordan, which lay East-ward from Canaan, and which was now possessed by the Syrians. Either way this Arrow is shot against the Syrians, as a token what God intended to do against them.

Not in the City, but in the Territory of it, where it seems there was a great Battel to be fought between the Israelites and Syrians. Of Aphek see 1 Sam. 4. 1. and 29. 1, 1 King. 20. 30. though it is possible there might be several Cities of that name. Or, as in Aphek, i. e. thou shalt smite them as they were smitten in the City and Territory of Aphek, i. e. utterly destroy them. See 1 King. 20. 26, 29, 30. the Particle as being oft understood, as hath been formerly and frequently proved.

i. e. The Syrians, not all that people, but their Armies, or at least that which was to be at Aphek, where a dreadful Battel was to be fought. Or, if this be meant of all the Syrian Armies, this is to be understood conditionally, if he did not hinder it by his unbelief or neglect, signified in the following Verses.