2 Kings 10:1-11. Jehu destroys the whole family of Ahab (Not in Chronicles) 1. _And_[R.V. NOW] _Ahab had seventy sons_ The conjunction is the usual copulative, but it is somewhat in the style of O.T. translation to commence a new section of the narrative with -Now". _in Samaria_ It would seem that... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now_[R.V. AND NOW] _as soon as this letter cometh to you_ Only an extract from the letter is here given, which the Hebrew correctly represents, and which R.V. has shewn by its translation. See a similar instance before, chap. 2 Kings 5:6. _a fenced city_ This must refer to the city of Samaria, whi... [ Continue Reading ]
_look even_[R.V. LOOK YE] _out the best_ The insertion of -even" gives a false emphasis, and the conjunction of the original is merely the mark of the apodosis, and is properly left unrendered in English. No doubt in the popular mind some prince had been marked out as heir to the throne, and some or... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, two kings stood not before him_ Jehu's prompt action had prevented any details of what had been done from reaching Samaria. Perhaps had they known how the two kings had been taken by surprise and shot down as they were expecting to hear a message from the army, the elders of Samaria might h... [ Continue Reading ]
_And_he _that_was _over the house_ R.V. HOUSEHOLD. This was an official personage, the chief of the royal personal officers. So it appears from the enumeration in this verse that all the authorities yielded at once. The LXX. gives the phrase in the plural -they that were over the household &c." With... [ Continue Reading ]
_a letter the second time_ Before he presents himself to them, he will let their alarm involve them more deeply than he is involved in the destruction of the royal family. _take ye the heads_ So Nicanor's head (1Ma 7:47; 2Ma 15:30) was struck off and brought to Jerusalem, and David smote off the he... [ Continue Reading ]
_and slew seventy persons_ R.V. AND SLEW THEM, EVEN SEVENTY PERSONS. Though the pronoun is not expressed in the original, it is needed for the sense. The A.V. might signify any seventy persons. _in baskets_ The word is that which is used (Jeremiah 24:2) for the baskets in which the figs were gather... [ Continue Reading ]
_And there came a messenger, and told him_ Josephus (_Ant._IX. 6. 5) adds to the picture, and says that the message was received by Jehu, -While he was at a meal with his friends". _Lay ye them_in _two heaps_ Josephus here says -one on one side and the other on the other". No doubt the place was ch... [ Continue Reading ]
_he went out, and stood_ At the gate, the place of concourse, where the people usually gathered, and whither recent events would bring them in full number. Jehu in this way began to play the king. _Ye_be _righteous_ He is about to make an appeal to the people. He therefore puts them first of all in... [ Continue Reading ]
_Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the Lord_ Thus Jehu constitutes himself, in the eyes of the people, the instrument by which the Lord is to avenge the evil doings of the house of Ahab. He also leads them to expect that there is more vengeance yet in store. On the... [ Continue Reading ]
_and his kinsfolks_ R.V. FAMILIAR FRIENDS. The word indicates those who were well known to him, [LXX. γνωστοὺς] and contains no notion of kinship. It is rendered, by A.V. -familiar friends" in Job 19:14, and -acquaintance" in Psalms 31:11 and in several other places. The final _s_in _kinsfolks_makes... [ Continue Reading ]
On his way to Samaria Jehu slays the brethren of Ahaziah, king of Judah. He takes Jehonadab to be the witness of his zeal for Jehovah (Not in Chronicles) 12. _And he arose and departed, and came_[R.V. WENT] to _Samaria_ Beside being the more strictly correct rendering of the verb, the change in R.V... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 employe... [ Continue Reading ]
_Take them alive_ i.e. Make them prisoners. Perhaps for a moment he was uncertain what he should do with them, however being of Ahab's lineage they must share the fate of the rest of that house. _And they took them alive_ The LXX. has nothing to represent these words. The -pit" (R.V. margin, CISTER... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jehonadab the son of Rechab_ We are told (1 Chronicles 2:55) that the house of Rechab belonged to the Kenites. The marriage of Moses to a Kenite wife (Judges 1:16) led to the Kenites going up with the children of Judah into the wilderness, and so they came to dwell among the people of Israel. We re... [ Continue Reading ]
_see my zeal for the Lord_ This was the boast of a man who did not know his own heart. He had some zeal and manifested it in the destruction of Baal, but stopped short at the suppression of the calves in Dan and Bethel. Josephus makes Jehu invite Jonadab to be witness -how he will spare no wicked ma... [ Continue Reading ]
_all that remained unto Ahab in Samaria_ i.e. Others more remotely connected with the royal family than the direct descendants. The great men in Samaria having slain the sons of Ahab, must be content to side with their new ruler in clearing off all that remained of his connexions, for otherwise veng... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehu by subtilty destroys the worshippers of Baal and the house of Baal. He walks in the ways of Jeroboam (Not in Chronicles) 18. _Ahab served Baal a little_ Hitherto Jehu's action had been directed only against the family of Ahab, and the people had no reason to suppose that a religious reform was... [ Continue Reading ]
_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,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Proclaim_[R.V. SANCTIFY] _a solemn assembly_ The verb is not the same which is correctly rendered -they proclaimed" in the next clause. It is constantly rendered -Sanctify" elsewhere. Cf. Exodus 13:12; Joshua 7:13; Joel 1:14; Joel 2:15-16; and is the word used of making a _holy_war. See Jeremiah 6:... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Jehu sent through all Israel_ Here the LXX. adds the words of the notice; -saying, And now all ye worshippers, and all his priests and all his prophets, let no one be absent, for I am about to make a great sacrifice: whosoever shall be absent, he shall not live". Similarly after -And all the wo... [ Continue Reading ]
_he said unto_him _that_was _over the vestry_ The vestry must have belonged to the house of Baal; we cannot suppose that the king's wardrobe-keeper had a stock of robes to supply such a multitude of worshippers. Probably because of the control which had been exercised there by the house of Ahab, Jeh... [ Continue Reading ]
_Search, and look_, &c. Not only did he manifest anxiety that all the Baal-worshippers should be present, but that none of the rest of the people should be included in the destruction. As the worshippers would be full of the thought that they were to become possessed of special privileges in the new... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when they went in_ R.V. omits -when", and makes this clause an independent sentence. The LXX. has -and he went in" (καἰ εἰσῆλθε). _Jehu appointed_ In consequence of what has been done in the previous clause, R.V. renders - NOW Jehu HAD appointed". And as there is in the sentence a pronoun and... [ Continue Reading ]
_as soon as he had made an end of offering_ That is, when the priests had completed the offering. We are not to suppose that Jehu himself acted as priest on the occasion, only as he had been the convoker of the solemn assembly, the whole ceremony is referred to him. _Jehu said to the guard_ The -gua... [ Continue Reading ]
_And they brought forth the images_ R.V. PILLARS. On this word see above, 2 Kings 3:2 note. The same change is also made by R.V. in the next verse. The LXX. has the singular in this verse (στήλην) and the plural in 27. As the worship of Astarte was combined with that of Baal, we can understand that... [ Continue Reading ]
_they brake down the image of Baal_ As the verb is the same as that used immediately afterwards for the breaking down of the house, we may be almost certain that this chief object of worship was of stone. The verb is constantly employed of pulling down buildings. The LXX. omits the next clause, -And... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel_ The false worship had not taken such root in the land that it could ever revive again. Probably no buildings were reared to Baal except in the cities where the royal family dwelt. Hence when they were cut off, it would have no fosterers.... [ Continue Reading ]
_who_[R.V. WHEREWITH HE] _made Israel to sin_ See above on 2 Kings 2:3. The same change is to be made in verse 31. _golden calves that_were] From 1 Kings 12:28-29, we see that only _one_image was in each place.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Because thou hast done well_ i.e. To a certain extent. When David strives to do God's will perfectly with a true heart, the promise is that -he shall not be without a lamp before God for ever". The partial obedience of Jehu obtains the gift of a succession for four generations. _thy children_[R.V.... [ Continue Reading ]
_with all his heart_ He only went partially on the right way, and probably personal ambition had much to do with his zeal against Baal. With the calves it was another matter. They formed, as it were, the emblems of Israel's independence, and so the king's feeling would be enlisted on their side.... [ Continue Reading ]
Cutting short of Israel. Jehu's death, his successor and the duration of his reign (Not in Chronicles) 32. _to cut Israel short_ Literally -to cut off _in_Israel". The meaning is -to give over some parts of their land into the enemy's hand". This, it is said, should rather be expressed by -to cut o... [ Continue Reading ]
_Gilead_ This country lay between Bashan on the north, and Moab and Ammon on the south. It was of a mountainous character, and was chosen by the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh because it was so well adapted for the pasturage of their numerous flocks. These tribes were all included at this time i... [ Continue Reading ]
_the acts of Jehu_ Jehu is one of the kings of whom we learn something from the cuneiform inscriptions. There we are told that he was the ally of Assyria. Hence he was the enemy of Hazael who was frequently at war with the Assyrians. To Assyria Jehu appears to have been a tributary ally, for his tri... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jehoahaz his son_ We are told (chap. 2 Kings 13:1) that Jehu's death, and the accession of Jehoahaz, was in the three and twentieth year of Joash, king of Judah. As Jehu reigned twenty-eight years he must have been on the throne about _five_or _six_years when Joash was made king. In chapter 2 Kings... [ Continue Reading ]