2 Kings 10:13

_JEHU MET WITH THE BRETHREN OF AHAZIAH KING OF JUDAH, AND SAID, WHO ARE YE? AND THEY ANSWERED, WE ARE THE BRETHREN OF AHAZIAH; AND WE GO DOWN TO SALUTE THE CHILDREN OF THE KING AND THE CHILDREN OF THE QUEEN._ We are the brethren of Ahaziah - i:e., not full, but step-brothers, sons of Jehoram by various concubines. Ignorant of the revolution that had taken place, they were traveling to Samaria on a visit to their royal relatives of Israel, when they were seized and put to death from the apprehension that they might probably stimulate and strengthen the party that still remained faithful in their allegiance to Ahab's dynasty. CHILDREN OF THE QUEEN - i:e., of the queen-mother, or regent, Jezebel....

1-14 In the most awful events, though attended by the basest crimes of man, the truth and justice of God are to be noticed; and he never did nor can command any thing unjust or unreasonable. Jehu destroyed all that remained of the house of Ahab; all who had been partners in his wickedness. When we think upon the sufferings and miseries of mankind, when we look forward to the resurrection and last judgment, and think upon the vast number of the wicked waiting their awful sentence of everlasting fire; when the whole sum of death and misery has been considered, the solemn question occurs, Who slew all these? The answer is, SIN. Shall we then harbour sin in our bosoms, and seek for happiness from that which is the cause of all misery?...

Verse 2 Kings 10:13. _THE BRETHREN OF AHAZIAH_] The relatives of his family; for it does not appear that he had any _brethren_, properly so called: but we know that the term brethren among the Jews signified the relatives of the same family, and especially _brothers'_ and _sisters'_ children: and that these-were such, see 2 Chronicles 22:8. _WE GO DOWN TO SALUTE, C._] So promptly had Jehu executed all his measures, that even the nearest relatives of the murdered kings had not heard of their death, and consequently had no time to escape. They were all taken as in a net....

THE BRETHREN OF AHAZIAH - Not the actual brothers of Ahaziah, who had all been slain by the Arabs before his accession to the throne 2 Chronicles 21:17; 2 Chronicles 22:1; but his nephews, the sons of his brothers (marginal reference). It is remarkable that they should have penetrated so far into the kingdom of Israel without having heard of the revolution. THE CHILDREN OF THE KING ... - i. e.” the sons of Jehoram, and the children (sons and grandsons) of the queen-mother, Jezebel.” Some of both may well have been at Jezreel, though the younger branches of the royal family were at Samaria 2 Kings 10:1....

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 10:1 THE REIGN OF JEHU OVER ISRAEL. 2 KINGS 10:1 The revolution initiated by the destruction of Joram and Jezebel is here traced through its second and its third stages. The immediate question, after Joram's death, was—Would any member of his family rise up as a claimant of the throne, and dispute the succession with Jehu? Ahab had seventy male descendants, all of them resident in Samaria: would there be any one among their number bold enough to come forward and assert his hereditary fight? Jehu regarded this as the most pressing and imminent danger, wherefore his first step was to challenge such action, and either pr

JEHU MET WITH THE BRETHREN OF AHAZIAH KING OF JUDAH,.... At the above place; these were the sons of his brethren, called his brethren, as Lot was called Abraham's brother, being his brother's son; for as for his brethren, they had been slain by the Arabians before he was made king, 2 Chronicles 22:1, AND SAID, WHO ARE YE? though perhaps he knew who they were: AND THEY ANSWERED, WE ARE THE BRETHREN OF AHAZIAH; the sons of his brethren: AND WE GO DOWN TO SALUTE THE CHILDREN OF THE KING, AND THE CHILDREN OF THE QUEEN; meaning either the children of Ahab and Jezebel, or of Joram and his queen; for they knew nothing of the death of Joram and Jezebel, and the revolution made in the kingdom, and therefore with great simplicity tell who they were, and where they were going, and on what account....

2. JEHU'S JUDGMENTS, BAAL-WORSHIP DESTROYED, AND HIS DEATH CHAPTER 10 _ 1. The judgment upon the house of Ahab (2 Kings 10:1)_ 2. The relations of Ahaziah slain (2 Kings 10:12; 2 Chronicles 22:8) 3. Jehonadab spared (2 Kings 10:15) 4. The Baal worship destroyed (2 Kings 10:18) 5. Jehu's record (2 Kings 10:29) 6. Israel cut short ...

DESTRUCTION OF THE HOUSE OF AHAB AND OF THE BAAL WORSHIPPERS. The same source is continued, but 2 Kings 10:28 are from a Deuteronomist. The whole story is one of the most terrible in the OT, Ahab had a large family in Samaria. Jehu with a sort of rude chivalry invited the elders of the city to choose one of them as king, and to fight for the throne. But the cowardly rulers promised submission, and at Jehu's command sent the heads of the seventy sons to Jezreel in baskets (2 Kings 10:7). A further massacre of all Ahab's adherents at Jezreel followed, and of forty-two of the family of Ahaziah, king of Judah (2 Kings 10:13). Jehu next ...

BRETHREN. Put by Figure of speech _Synecdoche_ (of the Part) for near relatives. Compare 2 Chronicles 22:8, where we have "sons of the brethren". CHILDREN. sons. THE KING. Joram. THE QUEEN. Jezebel, the queen-mother....

_the brethren of Ahaziah_ And so part of Ahab's kinsfolk, of whom Jehu was commissioned to leave none remaining. _the children of the king_ i.e. Of Joram. They manifestly knew nothing of what had happened in the last few days in Jezreel. _the children of the queen_ The original is the word employed elsewhere for the -queen-mother". Cf. 1 Kings 15:13. So here the word must have reference to Jezebel, whose influence in Israel was very great. The LXX. notes the word by rendering it ἡ δυναστεύουσα....