2 Kings 10:1
SEVENTY SONS - i. e., descendants; there were included among them children of Jehoram (2 Kings 10:2, etc.).... [ Continue Reading ]
SEVENTY SONS - i. e., descendants; there were included among them children of Jehoram (2 Kings 10:2, etc.).... [ Continue Reading ]
A FENCED CITY - Or, “fenced cities.” If Samaria had refused to acknowledge Jehu, many other Israelite towns would have been sure to follow the example.... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehu, placing his adversaries’ advantages before them in the most favorable light, called upon them to decide what they would do. The unscrupulous soldier shows shrewdness as well as courage, a sharp wit as well as a bold heart.... [ Continue Reading ]
TWO KINGS - literally, “the two kings,” i. e., Jehoram and Ahaziah 2 Kings 9:21.... [ Continue Reading ]
The officer who had the charge of the place (1 Kings 4:6 note) and the governor of the town (1 Kings 22:26 note) seem to correspond to the “rulers” of 2 Kings 10:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
The heads of rivals, pretenders, and other obnoxious persons are commonly struck off in the East, and conveyed to the chief ruler, in order that he may be positively certified that his enemies have ceased to live. In the Assyrian sculptures we constantly see soldiers conveying heads from place to pl... [ Continue Reading ]
TWO HEAPS - Probably placed one on either side of the gateway, to strike terror into the partisans of the late dynasty as they passed in and out of the town.... [ Continue Reading ]
YE BE RIGHTEOUS - i. e., “Ye are just, and can judge aright.” Jehu unfairly keeps back the fact that he had commanded the execution.... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL FALL TO THE EARTH - i. e., “Shall remain unfulfilled” (compare the marginal reference). Jehu and others were but executing the word of the Lord.... [ Continue Reading ]
SO JEHU SLEW - Rather, “And Jehu slew.” The reference is to fresh executions (compare 2 Kings 10:17). He proceeded on his bloody course, not merely destroying the remainder of the kindred of Ahab, but further putting to death all the most powerful of Ahab’s partisans. HIS PRIESTS - Not the Baal pri... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SHEARING-HOUSE - literally, as in margin. Perhaps already a proper name, Beth-eked, identical with the Beth-akad of Jerome, which is described as between Jezreel and Samaria; but not yet identified.... [ Continue Reading ]
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 th... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehonadab (compare the margin) belonged to the tribe of the Kenites, one of the most ancient in Palestine Genesis 15:19. Their origin is unknown, but their habits were certainly those of Arahs. Owing to their connection with Moses (Numbers 24:21 note), they formed a friendship with the Israelites, a... [ Continue Reading ]
Compare 2 Kings 10:11. Thus was finally completed the political revolution which transferred the throne from the house of Omri to that of Nimshi, the fifth of the royal families of Israel. ACCORDING TO THE SAYING OF THE LORD - This emphatic reiteration (compare 2 Kings 10:10) marks, first, how in th... [ Continue Reading ]
Though we cannot ascribe to Jehu a spirit of true piety (see 2 Kings 10:29), we can well enough understand how the soldier, trained in the Syrian wars, revolted against the unmanly and voluptuous worship of the Dea Syra, and wished to go back to the simple solemn service of Yahweh. These views and f... [ Continue Reading ]
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.... [ Continue Reading ]
A SOLEMN ASSEMBLY - Jehu applies to his proposed gathering the sacred name assigned in the Law to the chiefest festivals of Yahweh (see Leviticus 23:36; Numbers 29:35; Deuteronomy 16:8).... [ Continue Reading ]
In order to understand how such numbers could find room, we must remember that the ancient temples had vast courts around them, which could contain many thousands.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VESTRY - The sacred robes of the Baal priests seem to have been of linen, and were probably white. The vestry here mentioned may, probably, be the robe-chamber of the royal palace, from which the king gave a festal garment to each worshipper.... [ Continue Reading ]
The presence of persons belonging to another religion was usually regarded by the ancients as a profanation of the rites. In the case of the Greek mysteries such intrusion is said to have been punished by death. Consequently Jehu could give these injunctions without arousing any suspicion.... [ Continue Reading ]
AS SOON AS HE HAD MADE AN END OF OFFERING - The actual sacrificers were no doubt the priests of Baal; but Jehu is considered to have made the offering, since he furnished the victims. Compare 1 Kings 8:62. THE GUARD - literally, “the runners.” This name seems to have been given to the royal body-gu... [ Continue Reading ]
THE IMAGES - Or “pillars” of wood. The Phoenician pillar idols were mere columns, obelisks, or posts, destitute of any shaping into the semblance of humanity (compare 1 Kings 14:23 note).... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY BRAKE DOWN THE IMAGE OF BAAL - The other images, it appears, were not images of Baal, but of inferior deities. The image of Baal, which was “broken down,” and not burned, would seem to have been of stone, perhaps erected in front of the temple.... [ Continue Reading ]
To abolish the calf-worship was a thought which had probably never occurred to Jehu. He had religious feeling enough, and patriotism enough, to detest the utterly debasing Astarte worship; but the pure worship of Yahweh was altogether beyond and above him.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SAID UNTO JEHU - Probably by the mouth of Elisha. To a certain extent Jehu’s measures were acts of obedience, for which God might see fit to assign him a temporal reward. THY CHILDREN ... - This was accomplished in the persons of Jehoahaz, Joash, Jeroboam, and Zachariah, the son, grand... [ Continue Reading ]
TO CUT ISRAEL SHORT - literally, “to cut off in Israel,” i. e., to take away from Israel portions of its territory (see the marginal reference).... [ Continue Reading ]
The loss of the entire trans-Jordanic territory seems to be intended, or at any rate its complete ruin and devastation (compare marginal reference “y”). This was the home of the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and of the half tribe of Manasseh Joshua 22:1. It was more accessible from Damascus than the reg... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL HIS MIGHT - It is remarkable that this expression, which is not used by the author of Kings in connection with any other king of Israel, should be applied to Jehu, whose ill success in his struggle with Hazael has just been noted, and who submitted to the Assyrians and consented to become a trib... [ Continue Reading ]
IN SAMARIA - The family of Ahab had made Jezreel a sort of second capital, and had reigned there, at least in part 2 Kings 9:15. Jehu and his descendants seem to have fixed their residence wholly in Samaria 2 Kings 13:1, 2Ki 13:10; 2 Kings 14:23; 2 Kings 15:8.... [ Continue Reading ]