2 Kings 9:30

_AND WHEN JEHU WAS COME TO JEZREEL, JEZEBEL HEARD OF IT; AND SHE PAINTED HER FACE, AND TIRED HER HEAD, AND LOOKED OUT AT A WINDOW._ Jezebel ... painted her face, х_ `EEYNEYHAA_ (H5869), her eyes; _ BAPUWK_ (H6320), in the painting; 'put her eyes in the painting,'] according to a custom universal in the East among women, of staining the eyelids with stibium, the sulphuret of antimony, a black powder, mixed with oil, called in Syria, Egypt, and Persia, kohl, and applied with a small brush or blunt probe of wood, ivory, or silver, on the border, so that by this dark liniment on the edge, the arch of the eyebrow is darkened and elongated, the largeness as well as the luster of the eye itself was thought to be increased, and the natural beauty of the countenance supposed to be heightened by the effects of contrast. This practice existed in early times, as is proved

30-37 Instead of hiding herself, as one afraid of Divine vengeance, Jezebel mocked at fear. See how a heart, hardened against God, will brave it out to the last. There is not a surer presage of ruin, than an unhumbled heart under humbling providences. Let those look at Jezebel's conduct and fate, who use arts to seduce others to commit wickedness, and to draw them aside from the ways of truth and righteousness. Jehu called for aid against Jezebel. When reformation-work is on foot, it is time to ask, Who sides with it? Her attendants delivered her up. Thus she was put to death. See the end of pride and cruelty, and say, The Lord is righteous. When we pamper our bodies, let us think how vile they are; shortly they will be a feast for worms under ground, or beasts above ground. May we all flee from that wrath which is revealed from heaven, against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men....

Verse 30. _SHE PAINTED HER FACE, AND TIRED HER HEAD_] She endeavoured to improve the appearance of her _complexion_ by paint, and the general effect of her countenance by a _tiara_ or turban head-dress. _Jonathan_, the _Chaldee Targumist_, so often quoted, translates this וכחלת בצדידא עינהא _vechachalath bitsdida eynaha_: "She stained her eyes with _stibium_ or _antimony_." This is a custom in _Astatic_ countries to the present day. From a late traveller in Persia, I borrow the following account: - "The Persians differ as much from us in their notions of _beauty_ as they do in those of taste. _A large soft, and languishing black_ _eye_, with them constitutes the perfection of beauty. It is chiefly on this account that the women _use the powder of antimony_, which, although it _adds to the vivacity of the eye, throws a kind of_ _voluptuous languor over it_, which makes it appear, (if I

PAINTED HER FACE - literally, “put her eyes in antimony “ - i. e., dyed the upper and under eyelids, a common practice in the East, even at the present day. The effect is at once to increase the apparent size of the eye, and to give it unnatural brilliancy. Representations of eyes thus embellished occur on the Assyrian sculptures, and the practice existed among the Jews (marginal reference; and Jeremiah 4:30). TIRED HER HEAD - Dressed (attired) her head, and no doubt put on her royal robes, that she might die as became a queen, in true royal array. A WINDOW - Rather, “the window.” The gate-tower had probably, as many of those in the Assyrian sculptures, one window only....

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 9:1 THE ANOINTING OF JEHU. His MURDER OF JEHORAM AND AHAZIAH. THE DEATH OF JEZEBEL. 2 KINGS 9:1 Elisha is still the primary figure in the historical drama; but at this point his personality merges in the general account of the kingdom of Israel, which it is one of the objects of the writer to trace from beginning to end. Elisha here performs his last public act, being commissioned, and carrying out his commission, to transfer the kingdom of Israel from the unworthy dynasty of Omri, which on account of its p

AND WHEN JEHU WAS COME TO JEZREEL, JEZEBEL HEARD OF IT,.... And of what he had done to Joram: AND SHE PAINTED HER FACE; or put "stibium" on her eyes; a sort of paint, to make them look beautiful perhaps the same with powder of lead ore, the Moors now use to tinge their eyebrows with, and make them look black, which they reckon graceful, Ezekiel 23:40, this custom now obtains among the white Indians, who, to heighten the lustre of their complexion, and render their eyes more languishing, put a little black about them n: AND TIRED HER HEAD; dressed her head in the most elegant manner; not with a view to tempt Jehu, which she could not expect, being an aged woman; but for grandeur and majesty, and in the pride and haughtiness of her spirit, which she retained to the last, and resolved to keep up and show in her extremity and calamity: an

III. THE PERIOD OF DECLENSION AND APOSTASY 1. Jehu, King of Israel and His Deeds CHAPTER 9:11-37 _ 1. Jehu is king (2 Kings 9:11)_ 2. Jehoram, King of Israel slain (2 Kings 9:14) 3. Ahaziah slain (2 Chronicles 22:9) 4. Jezebel and her end (2 Kings 9:30) Jehu revealed the secret anointing as King over Israel, and under the blare of the trumpets the army hails him as King. “Jehu is King!” Oh! for that day when our Lord Jesus will be hailed as King to begin His righteous judgment over the earth. The Assyrian monuments bear interesting testimony to a good deal of the histo

2 KINGS 9:1 TO 2 KINGS 10:31. THE REVOLUTION AND OVERTHROW OF THE BAAL WORSHIP. This spirited narrative is probably derived from the same source as 1 Kings 20, 22; and, if we strike out the short Deuteronomic portion (2 Kings 9:7), we cannot fail to notice the detachment of the writer, who neither condemns nor approves, but merely relates the tragedy. Hosea (Hosea 1:4), a little more than a century later, evidently condemns the whole transaction, and traces the fall of Jehu's house to the blood of Jezreel. This is in strong contrast with the Deuteronomic passage,...

HEARD OF IT: i.e. of the murder of her grandson. FACE. eyebrows and eyelids. TIRED. adorned. A WINDOW. the lattice....

The fate of Jezebel (Not in Chronicles) 30. _when Jehu was come to Jezreel_ Very little time could have elapsed between the slaying of Joram and the advance from Naboth's vineyard to the palace. But the news of what Jehu had done had already been brought to Jezebel, for she knows that he has murdered the king her son. As queen-mother she lived in the royal city, and probably in the royal palace. On the position of the queen-mother and her influence in Eastern courts see on 1 Kings 2:19. Her action Bp Hall thinks was with the hope -to daunt the courage of a usurper with the sudden beams of majesty". _and she painted her face_ R.V. EYES. The A.V. gives a wrong idea, though placing the literal rendering on the margin -put her eyes in painting". The process is common still in the East. The preparation used is made from antimony, which gives when applied to the eyelash