8 When these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drink, and carried there silver, and gold, and clothing, and went and hid it. Then they came back, and entered into another tent, and carried there also, and went and hid it.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent,.... The first they came to:
and did eat and drink; which was the first thing they did, being hungry, and almost starved:
and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; in a place without the camp, where they thought it would be safe, and where they could come at it again:
and came again and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it; this, Josephus says (z), they did four times.
(z) Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 4.) sect. 5.
these lepers . . . did eat and drink--After they had appeased their hunger and secreted as many valuables as they could carry, their consciences smote them for concealing the discovery and they hastened to publish it in the city.
When these lepers (these, pointing back to 2-Kings 7:3.) came into the camp which the Syrians had left, they first of all satisfied their own hunger with the provisions which they found in the tents, and then took different valuables and concealed them. But their consciences were soon aroused, so that they said: We are not doing right; this day is a day of joyful tidings: if we are silent and wait till the morning light, guilt will overtake us; "for it is the duty of citizens to make known things relating to public safety" (Grotius). They then resolved to announce the joyful event in the king's palace, and reported it to the watchman at the city gate. העיר שׁער stands as a generic term in a collective sense for the persons who watched at the gate; hence the following plural להם, and in 2-Kings 7:11 השּׁערים. "And the gate-keepers cried out (what they had heard) and reported it in the king's palace."
*More commentary available at chapter level.