Dothan
Dothan is a town and surrounding district in Palestine that surfaces twice in the UPDV: once as the destination Joseph's brothers move toward when they leave Shechem, and once as the city where Elisha is besieged by a Syrian force that is then struck blind.
A District and Town in Palestine
When Joseph is sent to find his brothers and does not find them at Shechem, a stranger redirects him: "And the man said, They have departed from here; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan" (Gen 37:17). The town is the place where the brothers are pasturing the flocks and the place where Joseph is taken and sold.
The Syrian Army Made Blind
In the Elisha narrative, Dothan becomes the setting for a siege and a deliverance. The Syrian king learns the prophet's location: "Go and see where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Look, he is in Dothan" (2Ki 6:13). A heavy force is sent: "Therefore he sent there horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and surrounded the city" (2Ki 6:14).
The prophet's young attendant sees the Syrian army at dawn and panics, and Elisha answers him by prayer rather than by arms: "And he answered, Don't be afraid; for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Yahweh, I pray you, open his eyes, that he may see. And Yahweh opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, look, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha" (2Ki 6:16-17).
Elisha then prays a second time, and the Syrians themselves are blinded: "And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh, and said, Strike this people, I pray you, with blindness. And he struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha" (2Ki 6:18). The prophet leads them away from Dothan and into the Israelite capital: "And Elisha said to them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you⁺ to the man whom you⁺ seek. And he led them to Samaria" (2Ki 6:19). Dothan is the staging-ground; Samaria is where the Syrian force ends up.