2 Kings 10:11

So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his kinsfolks, and his priests, until he left him none remaining.

Ver. 11. So Jehu slew all.] Neither was this cruelty, but zeal and justice; because according to God's will, which is the rule of righteousness. There cannot be a better or more noble act, than to do justice upon obstinate malefactors. a It was therefore without good reason that the Roman laws forbade the common executioner, as accursed, to dwell within the city, or to draw breath therein. Doth not God truss up notoriously wicked men sometimes with his own bare hand? and are not his angels executioners of his judgments, as on the Sodomites, Sennacherib, &c.?

And his priests.] His household chaplains: and had not Baal's priests now some cause to be afraid of Jehu?

Until he left none remaining.] This had been well done, but that he had ill aims; and so there was malum opus in bona materia. Works materially good, may never prove so formally and eventually.

a Cic., pro Rabir.