_JEHU IS ANOINTED KING OF ISRAEL, THAT HE MAY DESTROY THE HOUSE OF AHAB: HE KILLS JORAM, AND AFTERWARDS AHAZIAH: HE COMMANDS JEZEBEL TO BE THROWN OUT OF A WINDOW, WHOSE FLESH THE DOGS DEVOUR, ACCORDING TO THE PREDICTION OF ELIJAH._ _Before Christ 884._... [ Continue Reading ]
ELISHA—CALLED ONE OF THE CHILDREN OF THE PROPHETS— Some of the Jewish doctors have been of opinion, that this messenger was the prophet Jonah, who, upon this supposition, must have been a very young man, because Jeroboam the second, in whose reign Jonah prophesied, did not ascend the throne till abo... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE ANOINTED THEE KING OVER ISRAEL— According to the Jews, none of the kings of Israel were anointed but those of the house of David, and these only when there was a question about their succession; as Solomon, they say, needed not to have been anointed, had it not been for the faction of Adonija... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE CAME THIS MAD FELLOW TO THEE?— See Numbers 11:25. The officers who were in company with Jehu might easily perceive, by the air, habit, and manner of speech of the person who accosted Jehu so boldly, and when he had done his business vanished so suddenly, that he was a prophet; but then the... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE STOOD A WATCHMAN ON THE TOWER— In times of peace as well as war, it was usual to have watchmen set on high and eminent places wherever the king was, to prevent his being surprised. Thus David at Jerusalem was informed by the watchmen, that his sons were escaped from the slaughter of Absalom, w... [ Continue Reading ]
SO LONG AS THE WHOREDOMS OF THY MOTHER JEZEBEL AND HER WITCHCRAFTS ARE SO MANY— i.e. Whilst her idolatries, wherewith she bewitches the people, are still continued and multiplied. He upbraids Jehoram with his mother's sins, not with his own, because her's were more notorious and infamous, and what b... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BLOOD OF NABOTH, AND THE BLOOD OF HIS SONS— It is to be observed, that in the history of Naboth, recorded 1 Kings 21 we find no mention made of the death of his _sons;_ but it is no unusual thing for the Scripture to supply in one place that which has been omitted in another. It is not improbabl... [ Continue Reading ]
SHE PAINTED HER FACE— Rendered in the margin, _put her eyes in painting:_ the word פוךֶ _puk,_ rendered _painting,_ signifies a mineral substance, _stybium_ or _stimmi,_ otherwise called _plumbago,_ or black-lead, a kind of ochre of very fine and loose parts. The word occurs again, Jeremiah 4:30 and... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE LOOKED OUT—TWO OR THREE EUNUCHS— According to the custom of the eastern nations, the business of this sort of people was to attend upon queens in their chambers. By their great fidelity and obsequiousness they generally gained the esteem, and were admitted to the confidence of those whom they... [ Continue Reading ]