CHAPTER X _Jehu sends an ironical letter to the elders of Samaria, telling_ _them to choose one of the best of their master's sons, and put_ _him on the throne; to which they return a submissive answer_, 1-6. _He writes a second letter, and orders them to send him the_ _heads of Ahab's_ sevent... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Kings 10:2. _A FENCED CITY ALSO_] All here seems to refer to Samaria alone; in it were the magazines and implements of war, c. No reader need be told that these letters were all _ironical_. It was the same as if he had said, "Ye have no means of defence Israel is with _me_: if you yield not... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Kings 10:4. _TWO KINGS STOOD NOT BEFORE HIM_] That is Joram and Ahaziah.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Kings 10:5. _HE THAT WAS OVER THE HOUSE, C._] Thus all the constituted authorities agreed to submit. _WILL DO ALL THAT THOU SHALT BID US_] They made no conditions, and stood pledged to commit the horrid murders which this most execrable man afterwards commanded.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Kings 10:6. _COME TO ME TO JEZREEL_] Therefore the letters were not written to Jezreel, but from Jezreel to Samaria.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Kings 10:7. _PUT THEIR HEADS IN BASKETS_] What cold-blooded wretches were the whole of these people!... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Kings 10:8. _LAY YE THEM IN TWO HEAPS_] It appears that the heads of these princes had arrived at Jezreel in the _night time_: Jehu ordered them to be left at the gate of the city, a place of public resort, that all the people might see them, and be struck with terror, and conclude that all... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Kings 10:9. _YE BE RIGHTEOUS_] Another irony, intended partly to excuse himself, and to involve them in the odium of this massacre, and at the same time to justify the conduct of both, by showing that all was done according to the commandment of the Lord.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Kings 10:11. _JEHU SLEW ALL_] So it appears that the _great men_ who had so obsequiously taken off the heads of Ahab's _seventy_ sons, fell also a sacrifice to the ambition of this incomparably bad man.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Kings 10:12. _THE SHEARING HOUSE_] Probably the place where the shepherds met for the annual sheep shearing.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Kings 10:13. _THE BRETHREN OF AHAZIAH_] The relatives of his family; for it does not appear that he had any _brethren_, properly so called: but we know that the term brethren among the Jews signified the relatives of the same family, and especially _brothers'_ and _sisters'_ children: and th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Kings 10:14. _THE PIT OF THE SHEARING HOUSE_] Probably the place where they washed the _sheep_ previously to shearing, or the _fleeces_ after they were shorn off.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Kings 10:15. _JEHONADAB THE SON OF RECHAB_] For particulars concerning this man, his _ancestry_, and _posterity_, see the notes on Jeremiah 35. _IS THINE HEART RIGHT_] With me, in the prosecution of a reform in Israel; _as my heart_ is _with thy heart_ in the true religion of Jehovah, and t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Kings 10:16. _COME WITH ME, AND SEE MY ZEAL FOR THE LORD._] O thou ostentatious and murderous hypocrite! Thou have zeal for Jehovah and his pure religion! Witness thy calves at Dan and Bethel, and the general profligacy of thy conduct. He who can call another to witness his zeal for religion... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Kings 10:18. _AHAB SERVED BAAL A LITTLE_] Jehu had determined to have no worship in Israel but that of the golden calves at Dan and Bethel; therefore he purposes to destroy all the worshippers of Baal: and that he may do it without _suspicion_, he proclaims a great sacrifice; and that he may... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Kings 10:19. _WHOSOEVER SHALL BE WANTING, HE SHALL NOT LIVE._] Because, as he will thereby show himself without zeal for the service of his God, he will justly forfeit his life. All this was done in the very spirit of deceit.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Kings 10:22. _HE SAID UNTO HIM THAT_ WAS _OVER THE VESTRY_] The word _vestry_ comes from _vestiarium_, and that from _vestes, garments_, from _vestio, I clothe_; and signifies properly the _place_ where the _sacerdotal robes_ and _pontifical ornaments_ are kept. The priests of Baal had their... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Kings 10:23. _NONE OF THE SERVANTS OF THE LORD_] Though he was not attached to that service, yet he would tolerate it; and as he was led to suppose that he was fulfilling the will of _Jehovah_ in what he was doing, he would of course treat his worship and worshippers with the more respect.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Kings 10:25. _AS SOON AS HE HAD MADE AN END OF OFFERING_] Had Jehu been a man of any conscientious principle in religion, he would have finished the tragedy before he offered the _burnt-offering_; but to a man of no religion, the worship of Jehovah and of Baal are alike. If he prefers either... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 27. _MADE IT A DRAUGHT HOUSE_] A place for human excrement; so all the _versions_ understand it. Nothing could be more degrading than this; he made it a _public necessary_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 30. _THY CHILDREN OF THE FOURTH GENERATION_] These four descendants of Jehu were _Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam_ the second, and _Zechariah_; see 2 Kings 14 and 2 Kings 15. This was all the compensation Jehu had in either world, as a recompense of _his zeal_ _for the Lord_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 31. _JEHU TOOK NO HEED_] He never made it his study; indeed, he never intended to walk in this way; it neither suited his _disposition_ nor his _politics_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 32. _THE LORD BEGAN TO CUT ISRAEL SHORT_] The _marginal_ reading is best: _The Lord cut off the ends_; and this he did by permitting Hazael to seize on the _coasts_, to conquer and occupy the _frontier towns_. This was the commencement of those miserable ravages which Elisha predicted; see 2 K... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Kings 10:34. ARE _THEY NOT WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES_] We have no chronicles in which there is any thing farther spoken of this bad man. His reign was long, _twenty-eight_ years; and yet we know nothing of it but the commencement. FOR _barbarity_ and _hypocrisy_ Jehu has few pa... [ Continue Reading ]