2 Kings 10:19

_NOW THEREFORE CALL UNTO ME ALL THE PROPHETS OF BAAL, ALL HIS SERVANTS, AND ALL HIS PRIESTS; LET NONE BE WANTING: FOR I HAVE A GREAT SACRIFICE TO DO TO BAAL; WHOSOEVER SHALL BE WANTING, HE SHALL NOT LIVE. BUT JEHU DID IT IN SUBTILTY, TO THE INTENT THAT HE MIGHT DESTROY THE WORSHIPPERS OF BAAL._ Call unto me the prophets of Baal. The votaries of Baal are here classified under the several titles of prophets, priests, and servants, or worshippers generally. They might be easily convened into one spacious temple, as their number had been greatly diminished both by the influential ministrations of Elijah and Elisha, and also from the late king Joram's neglect and discontinuance of the worship Jehu's appointment of a solemn sacrifice in honor of Baal, and a summons to all his worshippers to join in its celebration, was a deep-laid plot, which he had resolved upon for their extinction. It was...

15-28 Is thine heart right? This is a question we should often put to ourselves. I make a fair profession, have gained a reputation among men, but, is my heart right? Am I sincere with God? Jehonadab owned Jehu in the work, both of revenge and of reformation. An upright heart approves itself to God, and seeks no more than his acceptance; but if we aim at the applause of men, we are upon a false foundation. Whether Jehu looked any further we cannot judge. The law of God was express, that idolaters were to be put to death. Thus idolatry was abolished for the present out of Israel. May we desire that it be rooted out of our hearts....

Verse 2 Kings 10:19. _WHOSOEVER SHALL BE WANTING, HE SHALL NOT LIVE._] Because, as he will thereby show himself without zeal for the service of his God, he will justly forfeit his life. All this was done in the very spirit of deceit....

It appears from this verse that the “prophets” and “priests” of Baal were not identical. The former would correspond to the dervishes, the latter to the mullahs, of Muslim countries. By the “servants” of Baal are meant the ordinary worshippers....

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

Ver. 19 NOW THEREFORE CALL UNTO ME ALL THE PROPHETS OF BAAL, ALL HIS SERVANTS, AND ALL HIS PRIESTS, LET NONE BE WANTING,.... All that were employed in the several parts of religious worship given him, and in performing any rite and ceremony belonging to it; in invocation of him, and singing praises to him, as the prophets; in offering sacrifices to him, as the priests; or in assisting them in their service, who may be meant by his servants or ministers: FOR I HAVE A GREAT SACRIFICE [TO DO] TO BAAL; by which, though he might mean a sacrifice of his prophets, priests, servants, and worshippers, he would have it otherwise understood, and his design was to deceive, which cannot be justified: WHOSOEVER SHALL BE WANTING, HE SHALL NOT LIVE: but be put to death; this he said, pretending his great zeal for Baal, when his view was by this threatening to get all his worshippers together to destro...

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 ...

WORSHIPPERS. servants....

_call unto me all the prophets of Baal_ The LXX. represents Jehu's words as an address to the prophets of Baal, -Now, O ye prophets of Baal, call ye unto me all his servants &c." _all his servants_ R.V. WORSHIPPERS. As the same word is so translated at the close of this verse, and again in 21, 22, and 23, there can be no warrant for a change in this place. R.V. makes the whole consistent. _all his priests_ These were not the same as the prophets. The latter gave oracles to enquirers and taught the mysteries of the worship, the priests attended on the numerous sacrifices. _Jehu did_it _in subtilty_ The word in the original is one connected with the same root as the name Jacob, a name interpreted by Esau to signify -supplanter". Such an action as his implies a certain degree of guile, and hence the sense in this verse....