And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh. (2 Kings 6:30)
Under the circumstances this seemed to be the king’s only possible response. He could not order a woman to produce her son that the child might be eaten, nor was he in a position to end this terrible distress. His clothes were rent, not in grief or repentance like his father (1 Kings 21:27), but in horror and consternation.
Sackcloth within.
Instead of wearing sackcloth on the outside, Joram, it seems, had put on this ascetic garment under his outer attire and was wearing it less openly. By such a device he probably hoped to appease the wrath of Jehovah. The people saw in the sackcloth an expression of the king’s sympathy for them in their distress.