Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 10:1
And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to them that brought up Ahab’s [children], saying,
Ch. 2Ki 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 the name here is for the whole district, as some of those slain appear to have been in Jezreel (see verse 11). But in verse 2 we have an allusion to a fenced city as though the city of Samaria were specially intended.
And Jehu wrote letters ] Josephus ( Ant. IX. 6. 5) says ‘ two letters, one to the bringers up of the children, the other to the authorities of Samaria’.
sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel ] There is a difficulty here. We cannot see why the rulers of Jezreel should be in Samaria, or why the great men in Israel should have been named ‘rulers of Jezreel’. Hence some have suggested that for ‘Jezreel’ we should read ‘Israel’. The LXX. says ‘unto the rulers of Samaria’, and with this agrees Josephus. But it is very clumsy to say ‘he sent to Samaria unto the rulers of Samaria’. Thenius suggests that the original was ‘he sent from Jezreel to the rulers of Samaria’ which seems much the easiest solution.
It was extremely politic of Jehu to send a letter to Samaria rather than to go there before he had gathered a force around him. He had come from Ramoth-gilead with a very small company, and the fame of what he had done at Jezreel would produce more effect than his presence in Samaria with a mere handful of men to support him.
to [R.V. even ] the elders ] As there is no preposition here in the original, and the preposition is expressed in the next clause, it seems more correct to take ‘the elders’ as in apposition to ‘the rulers of Jezreel’.
and to [R.V. unto ] them that brought up Ahab’s children] [R.V. the sons of Ahab ]. The change in the preposition is merely to indicate that it is the same word as that before ‘rulers’ in the previous clause. In the final words the Hebrew is somewhat irregular. ‘Them that brought up’ should properly be in construction with some noun, but as ‘children’ or ‘sons’ is not expressed, the word stands absolutely, and ‘Ahab’ is put without connection after it. No doubt the sense is expressed in the translation. Of course it was only for the ‘sons’ of the royal family that this provision of tutors was made, because out of them would come the successor to the throne.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Seventy sons – i. e., descendants; there were included among them children of Jehoram (2Ki 10:2-3, etc.).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Ki 10:1-17
Jehu wrote letters and sent to Samaria.
Jehu
Jehu. He did not rest until he had destroyed the house of Ahab and the worship of Baal. There are many Jehus to-day and there is much Jehuism: religion that goes a long way, and is very earnest and zealous–only there is a fatal but in it.
I. Jehu spends all his time in hacking at other peoples sins. Perhaps it is too much to expect a man to do more than one thing well, but somehow one does expect that when a man is so tremendously in earnest against other peoples sins he should occasionally see to his own. Have we not often met the man? Have we not heard him denouncing the dreadful heresy of other people: storming them with hard words–papist, heretic, infidel–and then he goes down to his Bethel? See my zeal for orthodoxy. Yet he goes hard, loveless, unbrotherly, the day through. And Jehu is not always in a carriage driving furiously. I have met him sometimes with shuffling steps, whining and whimpering about other peoples dreadful doings, holding up hands of pious horror and shaking the head sternly in an agony of concern as to what will become of them! And yet he too has his calves at Bethel My dear sir, what will become of you? Your Jehu comforts himself that his zeal against Baal will be set over against the little matter of Bethel and the golden calves, as if the Almighty kept a debit and credit account, and that the balance will come out on the right side. Never, Jehu–never. You are not only omitting some trifling detail of religion,–it is the undoing of it all. And look again. There was a terrible danger that Jehu should be satisfied with what he had done. If anybody spoke to him about the calves at Bethel, he would take refuge at once, But see what I did to Baal. If any one called him an idolater he would say. See how I served God in the matter of Ahab. Ah, it is a terrible thing to cheat even ourselves thus.
II. Jehu served God just so far as he could serve himself, and no further. If Jehu was going to be king, then of course he must get rid of Joram: and if he meant to keep the throne, then his safety will be to get rid of the whole house of Ahab; for so long as one was left there would be a centre for disturbance and plots. His safety depended upon the clean sweep that he made. And the priests of Baal would be another source of mischief. So Jehu cried, Come, see my zeal for the Lord. And the whip cracks and the horses gallop and not a prince of Ahabs house or a priest of Baal is left. Then Jehu goes down and worships the calves at Bethel, and worships them for the same reason–that it served his purpose. Yes, Jehu, we have seen thy zeal–thy zeal for thyself. The calves at Bethel were put up at the first as a matter of policy. When the two kingdoms were rent in twain, by possessing Jerusalem Judah had the advantage of the temple and its holy associations. So the king of Israel said, It will never do to let my people acknowledge the supremacy of. Judah by going up to worship. To expose them to this temptation to return to Judah is too much. So he set up the calves at Bethel and at Dan, and cried, These be thy gods, O Israel. Now the same policy that prompted Jeroboam to put them up, prompted Jehu to keep them up. I know that he could explain it all and satisfy everybody–except those that were stupidly particular, you know, and quite ignorant of the ways of the world. You see I did not set them up; I would not have done such a thing on any account, and I cannot, but wish that they never had been set up. Of course Jeroboam is to blame, very much to blame. But now that they are set up and the people are accustomed to them, it would never do for me to interfere. They would not understand it. Really, it may seem otherwise to you, but a man in my position has to be very careful–very. It is an utterly mean and despicable kind of religion this, serving God just as far as it serves our own purpose. To be religious, chiefly on Sundays, not because sin is hateful, but because it is the proper thing;–religious not from many love to holiness, but because it may be expedient in the long run. True religion may have its source in selfish motives, as great rivers may have their rise in marshy swamps–but Jehuism ends there. It is all through a subtle self-service. What suits me and my interests, that decides the whole duty of man.
III. Then again, Jehu goes so far in serving God as it suits his tastes. He liked furious driving and fierce excitements. Set him up behind a pair of wild horses and he was in his element. He was a soldier, and such cruel and bloody horrors were what his nature and his calling inclined him to. But when Ahabs household was slain, and Jezebel was dead, and the worshippers of Baal murdered, and the image burned, and the temple of their foul idolatry left for ever defiled–then it was quite a different thing for him to go troubling himself about pleasing God in the thousand little matters of everyday life. Some people will be religious so far as it suits their tastes. I like it settles everything. We cannot help our tastes and preferences–they are gifts of God like our instincts, of which they are indeed part. But the danger is when we exalt our tastes into that which regulates our duty. Many a course has for its only reason and its bit of poor defence, this–I like it. Now if religion mean anything at all, it means that I am bound to consider first and foremost in everything what God likes, and to serve Him: and I am bound to consider my likes in reference to my brother and see that I offend him not; to consider his preferences and his claims; to stay myself in my furious driving and fierce destruction, lest I should ride over him. Religion is not a system provided only to quiet my uneasy fears, and to put into me happy feelings, and to tell me not to worry myself–a ministry to our selfishness and indolence–vices that no religion need fatten, they know how to take care of themselves, and failings that no religion can satisfy. If religion mean anything it means this, and if it have any reality in it, it will show itself thus–I am bound to deny myself wherever I can really help any man in Gods world. And to us workers in the Church is there not here a word of warning? All that Jehu did was done by him as the servant of the Lord–yet the very bustle and energy of the service shut out the times of meditation and waiting upon God by which he was to learn what he had to do and to find the fitness for doing it. The work, however well done, is but very ill done which steals from us the time of quiet communion with God. The reason of Jehus failure is not far to seek. He walked not in the way of the Lord with all his heart, because his heart was not in it. There is the secret. Let Jehu be handling the reins, or in the excitement of the battle, and there all the man appeared. No task was too difficult for this determined man; no position was too exposed for his courage; nothing was too much to expect of him. But when it was to do the will of God in other things, then Jehu had excuses and hindrances ready by the score. Then the strong man was really so weak and helpless. Ah, so it is that to-day there are many Jehus–men who have a whole heart for anything, everything, but the service of God. Here is a man of business–how he can stick at it, grudging no labour, sticking at it day and night in the hope of increasing his returns–a smart fellow, men say, and very clever. But for the Lord this man can only sigh. Here this earnest man can content himself with excuses. Once more Jehus name is mentioned–And Jehu slept with his fathers. The restless energetic life was over. The furious driver could not escape the old enemy. He lies and looks back upon his course, and looks forward into that dread world which is opening before him. The coveted crown is passing to another head; the sceptre is falling from the trembling grasp. (M. G. Pearse.)
The scavenger of God
By the philosopher, and still more by the philosopher who believes in the Divine guidance of human affairs, the true relation of Napoleon to the worlds history will be reduced to a very simple conception: that he was launched into the world as a great natural or supernatural force, as a scourge and a scavenger, to effect a vast operation, partly positive, but mainly negative; and that when he has accomplished that work he is withdrawn as swiftly as he came. Caesar, Attila, Tamerlane, and Mahomet are forces of this kind; the last a much more potent and abiding factor in the universe than Napoleon; another proof, if proof were needed, of how small is the permanent effect of warfare alone on the history of mankind. These men make great epochs; they embody vast transitions; they perplex and appal their contemporaries; but when viewed at a distance they are seen to be periodical and necessary incidents of the worlds movement. The details of their career, their morals, their methods, are then judged, interesting though they may be, to be merely subordinate details. Scavenger is a coarse word, yet it accurately represents Napoleons first function as ruler. The volcano of the French Revolution had burned itself out. He had to clear away the cold lava; the rubbish of past destruction; the cinders and the scoriae; the fungus of corruption which had overgrown all, and was for the moment the only visible result . . . Then he is a scourge. He purges the floor of Europe with fire. (Lord Rosebery.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
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 seventy sons; they do so, and they are laid in
two heaps at the gate of Jezreel, 7, 8.
Jehu shows them to the people, and excuses himself, and states
that all is done according to the word of the Lord, 9, 10.
He destroys all the kindred of Ahab that remained in Jezreel,
11.
He also destroys forty-two men, the brethren of Ahaziah, king
of Judah, 12-14.
He meets with Jehonadab, and takes him with him in his chariot,
15, 16.
He comes to Samaria, and destroys all that were of the kindred
of Ahab there, 17.
He pretends a great zeal for the worship of Baal, and gathers
all his priests together, under the pretense of a grand
sacrifice, and slays them all, 18-25.
He burns Baal’s images, and makes his temple a draught house,
26-28.
But he does not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, and does not
prosper, 29-31.
Hazael vexes Israel, 32, 33.
Jehu dies, having reigned over Israel, in Samaria, twenty-eight
years, 34-36.
NOTES ON CHAP. X
Verse 1. Ahab had seventy sons] As he had several wives, he might have many children. The Israelites, from the earliest part of their history, were remarkably fruitful. How amazingly did they multiply in Egypt, even under the hand of the severest oppression! And as to the individuals of whose families we have an account, they are quite remarkable: Rehoboam had thirty-eight sons; Abdon had forty; Tola had thirty; Ahab, seventy; and Gideon, seventy-one.
Unto the rulers of Jezreel] It certainly should be, unto the rulers of Samaria; for to them and to that city the whole context shows us the letters were sent. See 2Kg 10:6.
To them that brought up Ahab’s children] It appears that the royal children of Israel and Judah were intrusted to the care of the nobles, and were brought up by them, (see 2Kg 10:6😉 and to these, therefore, Jehu’s letters are directed. It is supposed Isaiah (Isa 49:23) alludes to this custom: Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nursing mothers.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Ahab had seventy sons; either, first, properly sons by several wives; or rather, secondly, grandsons are comprehended, who are oft called sons, and grandfathers fathers, in Scripture. In Samaria; either because they were bred up there, that being the chief city of the kingdom; or because upon the tidings of Jorams slaughter they fled thither, or were by their friends conveyed from several parts thither, as to the strongest place; in which it may seem by Jehus message they intended to defend themselves and Ahabs children, and to set up one as king in Jorams stead; or rather, because they were left there by Joram when he went to Ramoth-gilead, that if the Syrians had prevailed against him, they might have safety in that very strong and great city, and he by their means succour from it.
Unto the rulers of Jezreel, Heb. the princes of Jezreel, i.e. the great persons and officers of the court, which then was and had been for some time at Jezreel, who either had fled thither with Ahabs sons, upon the news of Jehus actions and successes; or rather, had been sent by Joram with his sons to Samaria, to take care of them there.
To the elders; either by age, or rather by office; the rulers or senators of Samaria.
To them that brought up Ahabs children; that had a more particular care of the several children under the inspection of the princes or rulers here mentioned.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1-4. Ahab had seventy sons inSamariaAs it appears (2Ki10:13), that grandsons are included it is probable that thisnumber comprehended the whole posterity of Ahab. Their being allassembled in that capital might arise from their being left there onthe king’s departure for Ramoth-gilead, or from their taking refugein some of the strongholds of that city on the news of Jehu’sconspiracy. It may be inferred from the tenor of Jehu’s letters thattheir first intention was to select the fittest of the royal familyand set him up as king. Perhaps this challenge of Jehu was designedas a stroke of policy on his part to elicit their views, and to findout whether they were inclined to be pacific or hostile. The boldcharacter of the man, and the rapid success of his conspiracy,terrified the civic authorities of Samaria and Jezreel intosubmission.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria,…. These might not be all his immediate sons, but some of them his grandsons, as such are sometimes called in Scripture:
and Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel; who fled thither, perhaps on Jehu’s coming to Jezreel, having slain Joram, being the metropolis of the kingdom, to consult about a successor, or how to oppose Jehu, and to frustrate his designs: but the Septuagint version is, “to the rulers of Samaria”, which seems most likely to be the true reading:
to the elders; the civil magistrates of the city of Samaria:
and to them that brought up Ahab’s children: who had the care of their education; who either always dwelt at Samaria, being the royal city, or were sent with their charge thither, when Joram went to Ramothgilead, for safety, supposing he should be worsted by the Syrians; or they fled thither with them upon the death of Joram:
saying; as follows.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Extermination of the Seventy Sons of Ahab in Samaria. – 2Ki 10:1-3. As Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria ( in the wider sense, viz., sons, including grandsons see at 2Ki 10:13, as is evident from the fact that , foster-fathers, are mentioned, whereas Ahab had been dead fourteen years, and therefore his youngest sons could not have had foster-fathers any longer), Jehu sent a letter to the elders of the city and to the foster-fathers of the princes, to the effect that they were to place one of the sons of their lord upon the throne. There is something very strange in the words , “to the princes of Jezreel, the old men,” partly on account of the name Jezreel, and partly on account of the combination of with . If we compare 2Ki 10:5, it is evident that cannot be the adjective to , but denotes the elders of the city, so that the preposition has dropped out before . , the princes or principal men of Jezreel, might certainly be the chief court-officials of the royal house of Ahab, since Ahab frequently resided in Jezreel. But against this supposition there is not only the circumstance that we cannot discover any reason why the court-officials living in Samaria should be called princes of Jezreel, but also 2Ki 10:5, where, instead of the princes of Jezreel, the governor of the city and the governor of the castle are mentioned. Consequently there is an error of the text in , which ought to read , though it is older than the ancient versions, since the Chaldee has the reading , and no doubt the Alexandrian translator read the same, as the Septuagint has sometimes , like the Vulgate, and sometimes , both unquestionably from mere conjecture. The “princes of the city” are, according to 2Ki 10:5, the prefect of the palace and the captain of the city; the , “elders,” the magistrates of Samaria; and , the foster-fathers and tutors appointed by Ahab for his sons and grandsons. is governed freely by . In 2Ki 10:2 the words from to form an explanatory circumstantial clause: “since the sons of your lord are with you, and with you the war-chariots and horses, and a fortified city and arms,” i.e., since you have everything in your hands, – the royal princes and also the power to make one of them king. It is perfectly evident from the words, “the sons of your lord,” i.e., of king Joram, that the seventy sons of Ahab included grandsons also. This challenge of Jehu was only a ruse, by which he hoped to discover the feelings of the leading men of the capital of the kingdom, because he could not venture, without being well assured of them, to proceed to Samaria to exterminate the remaining members of the royal family of Ahab who were living there. , to fight concerning, i.e., for a person, as in Jdg 9:17.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Death of Ahab’s Sons; the Death of Ahaziah’s Brethren. | B. C. 884. |
1 And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to them that brought up Ahab’s children, saying, 2 Now as soon as this letter cometh to you, seeing your master’s sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, a fenced city also, and armour; 3 Look even out the best and meetest of your master’s sons, and set him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s house. 4 But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, Behold, two kings stood not before him: how then shall we stand? 5 And he that was over the house, and he that was over the city, the elders also, and the bringers up of the children, sent to Jehu, saying, We are thy servants, and will do all that thou shalt bid us; we will not make any king: do thou that which is good in thine eyes. 6 Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If ye be mine, and if ye will hearken unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men your master’s sons, and come to me to Jezreel by to morrow this time. Now the king’s sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought them up. 7 And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king’s sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent him them to Jezreel. 8 And there came a messenger, and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the king’s sons. And he said, Lay ye them in two heaps at the entering in of the gate until the morning. 9 And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, Ye be righteous: behold, I conspired against my master, and slew him: but who slew all these? 10 Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the LORD, which the LORD spake concerning the house of Ahab: for the LORD hath done that which he spake by his servant Elijah. 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. 12 And he arose and departed, and came to Samaria. And as he was at the shearing house in the way, 13 Jehu met with the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, Who are ye? And they answered, We are the brethren of Ahaziah; and we go down to salute the children of the king and the children of the queen. 14 And he said, Take them alive. And they took them alive, and slew them at the pit of the shearing house, even two and forty men; neither left he any of them.
We left Jehu in quiet possession of Jezreel, triumphing over Joram and Jezebel; and we must now attend his further motions. He knew the whole house of Ahab must be cut off, and therefore proceeded in this bloody work, and did not do it deceitfully, or by halves, Jer. xlviii. 10.
I. He got the heads of all the sons of Ahab cut off by their own guardians at Samaria. Seventy sons (or grandsons) Ahab had, Gideon’s number, Judg. viii. 30. In such a number that bore his name his family was likely to be perpetuated, and yet it is extirpated all at once. Such a quiver full of arrows could not protect his house from divine vengeance. Numerous families, if vicious, must not expect to be long prosperous. These sons of Ahab were now at Samaria, a strong city, perhaps brought thither upon occasion of the war with Syria, as a place of safety, or upon notice of Jehu’s insurrection; with them were the rulers of Jezreel, that is, the great officers of the court, who went to Samaria to secure themselves or to consult what was to be done. Those of them that were yet under tuition had their tutors with them, who were entrusted with their education in learning, agreeable to their birth and quality, but, it is to be feared, brought them up in the idolatries of their father’s house and made them all worshippers of Baal. Jehu did not think fit to bring his forces to Samaria to destroy them, but, that the hand of God might appear the more remarkably in it, made their guardians their murderers. 1. He sent a challenge to their friends to stand by them, 2Ki 10:2; 2Ki 10:3. “You that are hearty well-wishers to the house of Ahab, and entirely in its interests, now is your time to appear for it. Samaria is a strong city; you are in possession of it; you have forces at command; you may choose out the likeliest person of all the royal family to head you; you know you are not tied to the eldest, unless he be the best and meetest of your master’s sons. If you have any spirit in you, show it, and set one of them on his father’s throne, and stand by him with your lives and fortunes.” Not that he desired they should do this, or expected they would, but thus he upbraided them with their cowardice and utter inability to contest with the divine counsels. “Do if you dare, and see what will come of it.” Those that have forsaken their religion have often, with it, lost both their sense and their courage, and deserve to be upbraided with it. 2. Hereby he gained from them a submission. They prudently reasoned with themselves: “Behold, two kings stood not before him, but fell as sacrifices to his rage; how then shall we stand?” v. 4. Therefore they sent him a surrender of themselves: “We are thy servants, thy subjects, and will do all that thou shalt bid us, right or wrong, and will set up nobody in competition with thee.” They saw it was to no purpose to contend with him, and therefore it was their interest to submit to him. With much more reason may we thus argue ourselves into a subjection to the great God. Many kings and great men have fallen before his wrath, for their wickedness; and how then shall we stand? Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? No, we must either bend or break. 3. This was improved so far as to make them the executioners of those whom they had the tuition of (v. 6): If you be mine, bring me the heads of your master’s sons by to-morrow at this time. Though he knew it must be done, and was loth to do it himself, one would think he could not expect they should do it. Could they betray such a trust? Could they be cruel to their master’s sons? It seems, so low did they stoop in their adoration to the rising sun that they did it; they cut off the heads of those seventy princes, and sent them in baskets a present to Jehu, v. 7. Learn hence not to trust in a friend nor to put confidence in a guide not governed by conscience. One can scarcely expect that he who has been false to his God should ever be faithful to his prince. But observe God’s righteousness in their unrighteousness. These elders of Jezreel had been wickedly obsequious to Jezebel’s order for the murder of Naboth, 1 Kings xxi. 11. She gloried, it is likely, in the power she had over them; and now the same base spirit makes them as pliable to Jehu and as ready to obey his orders for the murder of Ahab’s sons. Let none aim at arbitrary power, lest they be found rolling a stone which, some time or other, will return upon them. Princes that make their people slaves take the readiest way to make them rebels; and by forcing men’s consciences, as Jezebel did, they lose their hold of them. When the separated heads were presented to Jehu, he slyly upbraided those that were the executioners of this vengeance. The heads were laid in two heaps at the gate, the proper place of judgment. There he acquitted the people before God and the world (v. 9, You are righteous), and, by what the rulers of Samaria had now done, comparatively acquitted himself: “I slew but one; they have slain all these: I did it by conspiracy and with design; they have done this merely in compliance and with an implicit obedience. Let not the people of Samaria, nor any of the friends of the house of Ahab, ever reproach me for what I have done, when their own elders, and the very guardians of the orphans, have done this.” It is common for those who have done something base to attempt the mitigation of their own reproach by drawing others in to do something worse. But, (2.) He resolves all into the righteous judgment of God (v. 10): The Lord hath done that which he spoke by Elijah. God is not the author of any man’s sin, but even by that which men do from bad principles God serves his own purposes and glorifies his own name; and he is righteous in that wherein men are unrighteous. When the Assyrian is made the rod of God’s anger, and the instrument of his justice, he meaneth not so, neither does his heart think so, Isa. x. 7.
II. He proceeded to destroy all that remained of the house of Ahab, not only those that descended from him, but those that were in any relation to him, all the officers of his household, ministers of state, and those in command under him, called here his great men (v. 11), all his kinsfolks and acquaintance, who had been partners with him in his wickedness, and his priests, or domestic chaplains, whom he employed in his idolatrous services and who strengthened his hand that he should not turn from his evil way. Having done this in Jezreel, he did the same in Samaria (v. 17), slew all that remained to Ahab in Samaria. This was bloody work, and is not now, in any case, to be drawn into a precedent. Let the guilty suffer, but not the guiltless for their sakes. Perhaps such terrible destructions as these were intended as types of the final destruction of all the ungodly. God has a sword, bathed in heaven, which will come down upon the people of his curse, and be filled with blood.Isa 34:5; Isa 34:6. Then his eye will not spare, neither will he pity.
III. Providence bringing the brethren of Ahaziah in his way, as he was going on with this execution, he slew them likewise, v. 12-14. The brethren of Ahaziah were slain by the Arabians (2 Chron. xxii. 1), but these were the sons of his brethren, as it is there explained (v. 8), and they are said to be princes of Judah, and to minister to Ahaziah. Several things concurred to make them obnoxious to the vengeance Jehu was now executing. 1. They were branches of Ahab’s house, being descended from Athaliah, and therefore fell within his commission. 2. They were tainted with the wickedness of the house of Ahab. 3. They were now going to make their court to the princes of the house of Ahab, to salute the children of the king and the queen, Joram and Jezebel, which showed that they were linked to them in affection as well as in affinity. These princes, forty-two in number, being appointed as sheep for the sacrifice, were slain with solemnity, at the pit of the shearing-house. The Lord is known by these judgments which he executeth.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Second Kings – Chapter 10
Destruction of Ahab’s Family-2Ki 10:1-11
It is to be recalled that Jehu had embarked on a mission of fulfillment of the Lord’s word, as spoken by Elijah, in recompense of Ahab and Jezebel’s evil, especially in regard to Naboth’s murder (1Ki 21:17-29; 2Ki 9:1-10). His deeds were ruthless and cruel, and certainly not approved by the Lord, but God allowed them, according to Jehu’s evil inclination, in fulfillment of His word. More will be said of this later.
Samaria was the capital of the kingdom, and it lay some forty miles southwest of Jezreel. The kings had a palace in Jezreel, which appears to have been a kind of resort, or get-away refuge, for the family. This is where they came for relaxation, which explains the presence of Joram there during his recuperation and at the time of his assassination. Most of the family remained in Samaria, as well as the servants and Counselors of the king. Jehu still had these to contend with. So he sent them a challenge, to choose the man of Ahab’s descendants felt to be most capable and crown him king. They had some advantages with them, as the army and chariots and the strongly fortified city of Samaria.
But the elders and great men of Ahab’s court were seized with cowardly fear of Jehu. They reasoned that their king and the king of Judah had fallen already to Jehu’s insurgent army, and it was unlikely they would be able to stand against him either. Thus they stated their willingness to surrender themselves into Jehu’s hand. They said they would become his servants and stood ready to do whatever he should command them.
Now the hard, callous heart of Jehu is really exposed, for he sent word again to Samaria that if these are really ready to join his battle they should take the h-:ads of the royal family and come to him by the next day. And the craven spinelessness of those who should have been loyal to their charges also appears in the persons of the late king’s Counselors and governors of the affairs of the royal family. Seventy sons (including grandsons and other very close relatives) of Ahab were in Samaria, possibly feeling secure for the present moment. But their supposed friends betrayed them, caught them and beheaded all seventy. The heads were put in baskets and sent to Jehu at Jezreel.
The messengers bearing their gory baskets did not wait until the next day, but came with the heads of the slaughtered princes that night. Jehu told them to lay the heads in two heaps, on either side, of the chief gate into Jezreel until morning. At that time, when people began to come into and go out of the city, Jehu addressed them in sarcasm. “Are you not righteous! you who slew your helpless charges out of craven fear! True, I slew my evil master, the king, but what have you done?”
Jehu then knew that the throne was almost secure for him. He
recalled to the people the prophecy of Elijah concerning the utter decimation of the house of Ahab Nothing, he said, would fail of all that had been prophesied by the man of God. And of course they were learning what men should always know, that God cannot be successfully defied, His word is sure (Lu 21:33). Jehu proceeded to kill all the great men of Ahab’s government and all his kinfolk, the false priests, leaving none of them alive.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
THE FALL OF BAAL
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.
2Ki. 10:1. Seventy sonsi.e., descendants, sons grandsons, &c. The rulers of JezreelJezreel has no authoritative place in the text. The LXX. suggests Samaria, and the Vulgate supplies civitatis; other translators have changed (Jezreel) into (Israel). Keil suggests that the rulers of Jezreel mean the supreme court officials of the royal house of Ahab. Them that brought up Ahabs childrenThese are the guardians and educators of the royal princes of Ahab.
2Ki. 10:2. This letterIt is full of satire. Jehu is so sure he is possessor of the throne that he tantalizes those he addresses by urging them to select a rival!
2Ki. 10:2. Your masters sons, &c.This master meant Joram.
2Ki. 10:5. He that was over the house, perfect.
2Ki. 10:11. So Jehu slew allHow remarkable this honest record in Gods book! The cunning dissembler wished to impress all the people (2Ki. 10:9) with the idea that the chief men in charge of Ahabs house had conspired to murder these seventy descendants of Ahab, and then had hypocrisy enough to quote Elijahs prophecy as being fulfilled in the extirpation of Ahabs house. But neither his dissembling nor his religious cant hinders the plain record that Jehu slew all.
2Ki. 10:13. Brethren of AhaziahRather, blood relationsstep-brothers, nephews, cousinsfor Jehoram died when he was forty years old, and it is incredible that he could have forty-two sons. To salute the children of the kingi.e., as they in their ignorance of Jehus conspiracy and murders supposed, Joram; and the queen meant the queen-mother, Jezebel.
2Ki. 10:16. My zeal for the LordAmbitious blood-thirstiness rather; but a villain knows how to use religious phrases, as the devil did (Mat. 4:6).
HOMILETICS OF 2Ki. 10:1-17
ZEAL IN EXECUTING DIVINE JUDGMENTS
I. Is not deficient in resources for accomplishing its purpose (2Ki. 10:1-11). Joram, Ahaziah, and Jezebel have fallen, but the Divine vengeance, which had so long and patiently slumbered, will not have finished its work of retribution till every member of Ahabs guilty house is brought to judgment. Jezreel was in the power of Jehu, and with his characteristic promptitude, he seeks to get Samaria in his grasp, and wreak his vengeance on the children of Ahab there. His artifice in writing to the rulers in Samaria to set up a child of Ahabs as king, and fight for him, is full of both irony and menaceof irony because he knew how unlikely it was that they would champion the cause of a fallen house, known to be doomed of God, and of menace, as it seemed to involve a demand, either to surrender, or else prepare for the worst. Bhr paraphrases it thus:I am king, but if ye, who have in your possession the chariots and horses and arms, are desirous of placing a prince of the house of Ahab on the throne, you thereby begin a war with me. They submitted; and it is a melancholy evidence of the utter demoralisation caused by the prevailing idolatry, that the guardians, without the least show of defence, coolly massacred the seventy sons of Ahab, many of them young and tender, who had been committed to their care, and sent their heads to the blood-thirsty Jehu. By this stratagem it would seem that the slaughter of these descendants of Ahab was charged upon the rulers of Samaria, and that Jehu gained his object without the odium of the guilt. Not so. Jehu takes the full responsibility, and regards it as a fulfilment of the Divine word (2Ki. 10:9-11). The man fired with zeal to do a work which is so congenial to his own taste and aims, knows how to make the best of his power and opportunities.
II. May excite a love of slaughter which tempts it to exceed the limits of its original commission (2Ki. 10:12-14). Jehu moves on to Samaria to take possession of the capital of his newly-acquired kingdom, and every stage of his progress is marked with blood. When the thirst for blood is once aroused, it is not readily slaked. On the way he met a gay and gallant party of princes from Judah, proceeding on a visit to the court of Israel, whom the tidings of the revolution had not reached, so rapid had been Jehus movements. These, in his still unslaked-thirst for blood, he ordered to be slain on the spot; and it is quite possible that, like the early Moslem conquerors, he sincerely thought that, while performing these and other atrocities, which were greatly beyond his commission, though under cover of it, he was doing God service, and that he suffered not himself to perceive that he was following to a greater extent the ferocious instincts of his nature, or that sanguinary excitement under which he laboured, combined with an undercurrent of selfish policy, which taught him that, after such a beginning as he had made, the more complete the riddance he accomplished of all the adherents of the house of Ahabwhether from sympathy of principle, or from alliance of bloodthe more thoroughly the power of future reaction would be weakened. Jezebels questionHad Zimri peace when he slew his master? rang constantly in his ears; and he was answering it after his hard fashion, which seemed to say: Zimri had no peace, because he slew only his master; I slay more that I may have peace.(Kitto). The intoxication of slaughter is a dangerous symptom in any nature, and will soon hurry one beyond the bounds of duty and justice.
III. Finds sympathy and encouragement in those who fully believe in the righteousness of the judgment (2Ki. 10:15-16). Here Jehu comes across a figure who might have reminded him of Elijah himself. It was Jehonadab, the son of Rechabthat is, the son of the Rider, an Arab chief of the Kenite tribe, who was the founder, or second founder, of one of those Nazarite communities which had grown up in the kingdom of Israel, and which, in this instance, combined a kind of monastic discipline with the manners of the Bedouin race, from whom they were descended. It seems that he and Jehu were already known to each other. The king knew the stern tenacity of purpose that distinguished Jehonadab and his tribe. The hand was grasped in a clasp which was not afterwards parted. The king lifted him up to the edge of the chariot, apparently to whisper into his ear the first indication of the religious revolution which he had determined to make with the political revolution already accomplished. Side by side with the king, the austere hermit sat in the royal chariot as he entered the capital of Samaria, the warrior in his coat of mail, the ascetic in his haircloth (Stanley).Jehonadab had probably mourned over the prevailing idolatry, and hearing of what Jehu had done and said, he recognised in him a minister of Jehovah, to execute judgment on the wicked house of Ahab, and went forth to meet him, and declare that his heart was with him in this ministry of judgment. To have the sympathy and approval of such a man would be no small advantage to Jehu; and one does not know how far Jehonabab restrained him from excesses into which his impulsive nature might have driven him. It is an unspeakable benefit to any cause when zeal is at once encouraged and controlled. Even the fierce minister of Divine judgment is relieved when the terrible responsibility of his action is shared by a congenial and sympathizing companion.
IV. Persists in fully carrying out the Divine command (2Ki. 10:17). Jehu was commissioned to destroy the whole house of Ahab, and he rested not till he had done in Samaria what he had done in Jezreelput to death all the members of the doomed house. It was customary in the East, from the earliest times, for the founder of a new dynasty to put to death, not only the deposed monarch, but also his descendants and relativesespecially all the malesand we have several examples of this in these books of Kings (1Ki. 15:29; 1Ki. 16:11; 2Ki. 25:7). Jehu, therefore, did not commit an unheard of crime, but followed, in this respect, the example of other founders of new dynasties, though there was in his case the solemn charge and warrant from Jehovah. A zealous nature is restless until the work committed to it is finished, and finished with all fidelity of detail. The marvel is that such strong, fiery spirits do not oftener exceed their commission and plunge into deeper crimes. Naturalists tell us that, among birds and butterflies, the swiftest, strongest flyers approach man much nearer than those with weaker wings, feeling confident that they can dart away from any threatened danger; and this misplaced confidence brings them into the net of the collector. How often has a confidence similarly inspired, and similarly misplaced, brought a strong ardent nature to the very brink of some terrible excess. How few can do just as much, and no more, than he is authorised to do!
LESSONS:
1. It is no enviable office to be the executioner of Divine vengeance.
2. There are natures to whom the work of slaughter is congenial.
3. If so much seal is shown in carrying out the Divine judgments, with how much eagerness should the Divine mercy be proclaimed!
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2Ki. 10:1-7. Idolatry: its emasculating and degrading tendency. I. It has not the courage to defend the interests of its best patron but trembles with fear before the ambiguous threat of a usurper (2Ki. 10:1-4). II. It makes a cowardly and humiliating submission (2Ki. 10:5). III. Without even a remonstrance it surrenders its guardianship over lives it had pledged itself to protect and educate (2Ki. 10:6). IV. It does not hesitate to commit the cruellest and most infamous crimes (2Ki. 10:7).
Moral decline among the highest ranks of a nation generally proceeds from a corrupt court which sets the fashion. As is the master, so is the servant. He who has the power in his hands always finds instruments among the great and those of high rank who shrink back from no demand which is made upon them, however much it may conflict with honour and duty. Those who no longer fear God, must fear men. Fear of men may become the cause of the greatest crimes.Lange
2Ki. 10:1. The plentiful issue of princes is no small assurance to the people. Ahab had sons enough to furnish the thrones of all the neighbouring nationsto maintain the hopes of succession to all times. How secure did he think the perpetuation of his posterity when he saw seventy sons from his own loins. Neither was this royal issue trusted either to weak walls or to one roof; but to the strong bulwarks of Samaria, and there in to the several guards of the chief peers. It was the wise care of their parents not to have them obnoxious to the danger of a common miscarriage, but to order their separation, so as one may rescue the other from the peril of assault. Had Ahab and Jezebel been as wise for their souls as they were for their seed, both had prospered.Bp. Hall.
Though a large family of children is a blessing of God, yet we must not rely upon them, or be self-willed on that account, as if the family could not die out; but we must fear God, must not stain ourselves with sin against our consciences, and must bring up children in the fear of God, else He will take them away, and destroy the entire family.
2Ki. 10:5. Unconditional submission. I. Unjustifiable when it involves a greater wrong than continued resistance. II. Should not be made till every other expedient is first exhausted. III. Evidence of a weak and cowardly spirit. IV. May involve irreparable disgrace and ruin. V. Is always legitimate when made to the King of Heaven.
Well may Jehu thinkThese men which are thus disloyal to their charge cannot be faithful to me; it is their fear that draws them to this observation. Were they not cowards, they would not be traitors to their princes, subjects to me. I may use their hands, but I will not trust them. It is a thankless obedience that is grounded upon fear. There can be no true fidelity without love and reverence. Neither is it other betwixt God and us. If, out of a dread of hell, we be officious, who shall thank us for these respects to ourselves?Bp. Hall.
2Ki. 10:6-7. Here we have an example of unfaithful tutors, governors, and friends, who look in their actions not to the interests of the orphans, but to their own advantage, and let the orphans and their cause be ruined. As Jehu nevertheless destroyed them all, so will the just God also bring upon the heads of false friends and trustees all the unfaithfulness which they inflict upon orphans; therefore let such be warned against all violation of their trust. How they probably promised with all zeal to guard the life, the honour, and the rights of these princes. Now they themselves become their murderers. Let no man trust the golden words of him who fears man more than he fears God. Unfaithfulness ruins those who practise it. Though the crime which these men perpetrated against their wards could hardly occur in our day, yet instructors and guardians are not wanting who become murderers of the souls of their pupils, in that they mislead them by example and precept into apostasy from the living God, and disbelief in His holy word, instead of educating them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. What is the worth of all the friendship, favour, and trust of this World? It is like a tree in soft, loose ground, which, so long as thou holdest it aright, covers thee pleasantly with its shadow; but which, when the storm roars through its top, and it is overthrown, no longer takes account of thee, but crushes thee in its fall.Lange.
2Ki. 10:7. No doubt among so many sons of Ahab some had so demeaned themselves that they had won zealous professions of love from their guardians. What tears, what entreaties, what conjurations must here needs have been! What have we done, O ye peers of Israel, that we deserve this bloody measure! We are the sons of Ahab, therefore have ye hither to professed to observe us. What change is this? Why should that which hath hitherto kept you loyal now make you cruel? Is this the reward of the long peaceable government of our father? Are these the trophies of Ahabs victories against Benhadad, Jehorams against Hazael? If we may not reign, yet at least let us live; or, if we must die, why will your hands be imbrued in that blood which ye had wont to term royal and sacred? Why will ye of tutors turn murderers? All pleas are in vain that are deafened with their own fears. Perhaps these expostulations might have fetched some dews of pity from the eyes, and kisses from the lips of these unfaithful tutors, but cannot prevent the stroke of death. These crocodiles weep upon those whom they must kill; and if their own sons had been in the place of Ahabs, doubtless they had been sacrificed to the will of a usurper, to the parents safety. It is ill relying upon timorous natures: upon every occasion those crazy reeds will break and run into our hands. How worthy were Ahab and Jezebel of such friends! They had been ever false to God; how should men be true to them? They had sold themselves to work wickedness, and now they are requited with a mercenary fidelity. For a few lines have these men sold all the heads of Ahabs posterity. Could ever the policy of Jezebel have reached so far as to suspect the possibility of extirpation of so ample an issue, in one night, by the hands of her trustiest subjects?Bp. Hall.
2Ki. 10:8. This cutting off of heads in collective masses, and making them into heaps, is and has been frightfully common in the East, and an Oriental familiar with blood and beheading from his cradle would read this portion of Scripture with little, if any, of the disgust and horror, and certainly with none of the surprise, with which it inspires us. After a battle, or a massacre, or the rout of a band of robbers, the heads are, as in the present instance, heaped up pyramidally, face outward, on each side the palace gates; and the builder of this horrid pile, if a man of taste and fancy, usually reserves a picturesque head, such as one with a fine long beard, to form the crown of his handiwork. Indeed, we have it on credible authority, that these men make little scruple of taking off the head of a bystander for the purpose, if they find not one in their stock equally becoming for the apex of the pile. Nothing in the East so much shocks a European as the frightful cheapness of human life, and with it of human heads. In Persia, the king has not seldom been known to express his displeasure at a town or village by demanding from it a pyramid of heads of given dimensions.Kitto.
2Ki. 10:9. Who slew all these? The terrible havoc of sin. I. The fruitful source of suffering and misery. II. The instigator of anarchy and confusion in the family, the court, the nation, the universe. III. Provides the ghastly harvests of death.
2Ki. 10:9-10. He wished the people to understand that in this work of blood, there were other ministers of Divine judgment besides himself. Most commentators explain these words as the language of sarcasm or irony, and suppose that Jehu either intended to involve them in the odium and guilt of this slaughter, or at least to keep them in ignorance of the fact that he had himself given orders for their slaughter. But this is altogether unnecessary and unauthorised by anything that appears in the text. Doubtless what Jehu had done towards this massacre was well known to all the people of Jezreel. He had, indeed, in a certain sense, ordered it, but yet in such a way as to involve the nobles, elders, and guardians in the guilt as much as himself. Their ready and prompt obedience in beheading these seventy persons was, perhaps, hardly expected by Jehu; and when he saw it, he at once began to feel that he was comparatively guiltless of their blood. Jehu wishes them to understand that these massacres are no works of private revenge, but a most signal fulfilling of Jehovahs word by the prophet Elijah (1 King 2Ki. 21:19-26). Strange that the man who so clearly. recognised his mission as a minister of Divine judgment, utterly failed to see that, by cleaving to the sins of Jeroboam, he exposed himself to the same judgment, and that sooner or later Divine righteousness would avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu.Whedon.
2Ki. 10:10. The righteous judgments of God.
1. May be wrought out by the basest villanies of man.
2. Are brought about by persistence in disobedience and sin.
3. Impress the most obdurate with awe.
4. Should lead to humiliation and repentance.
2Ki. 10:12-14. A thirst for slaughter.
1. A dangerous appetite to indulge.
2. May impel to unnecessary cruelty.
3. Is indifferent to the number of its victims.
4. May be used as an instrument for inflicting deserved punishment.
2Ki. 10:15. The right state of the heart. Whatever professions of kindness and friendship we receive from men, their whole value depends on their agreement with the sentiment of the heart. We admit this so uniformly, that there is nothing so detestable as insincerity. The most friendly smiles, the most engaging attentions, become the objects of aversion when seen to be separated from the heart. When the base tinsel, which had given currency to the counterfeit coin, is worn off, we cast the piece away, notwithstanding the correctness of Csars image and superscription impressed on it, and hold its utterer as a deceiver and cheat. Nothing is so thoroughly contemptible as hypocrisy, when once the mask falls off. If we exact this sincerity from each otherand this is what Jehu required from Jehonadabhow much more strictly may we not expect that it should be required from us by the all-seeing God! He claims the heart in all its principles and feelings. He searches the heart, and tries the reins. He regulates his present proceedings towards us by the state of our heart, and by this will He judge us at the last day.
I. If the state of our hearts be right, then they will be right with God. The greatest idea that can be presented to our mind is that of God. He is not a distant being, unconnected with us, unrelated to us; and the state of our hearts towards Him must always be either right or wrong. Every sentiment we cherish contains in it, as to Him, some positive good or evil.
1. A heart truly right with God implies that we venerate him. How little of this is expressed, or even felt, on earth! Yet in Heaven, where all hearts are right, the seraphim veil their faces, and all living beings fall prostrate before His throne. When, therefore, we are conscious of His presence, when we walk as under His inspection, fear His displeasure more than the frowns of the world, and, bowing before His Majesty with lowliness of mind, give unto Him the honour due unto His name, then only are our hearts right with him.
2. A heart truly right with God implies that we entirely submit ourselves to him. The very word God, is a name of dominion, and never be it forgotten that He to whom it belongs has a supreme will concerning us. There cannot be a sadder spectacle than a heart wrestling with its Makers will; but when we recognise His will as our only rule, when we keep this before us as our supreme law, regarding it as the light and guide of our conduct, when we acknowledge His sovereignty in providence, take our place in society as He appoints, submit to His dispensations, and, even in the greatest afflictions, even when nature agonizes, meekly bow, like Him in the garden, and say: Not my will, but thine be done, then is our heart right with God.
3. A heart truly right with God implies that, by the cultivation of a devotional spirit, we maintain a sacred intercourse with Him. Prayer and praise are the great instruments of the fellowship of our spirits with God, and illapses of light, and love, and moral power, are the returns which the condescension of God makes to them. Ever since created intelligences existed, to desire good from God, to receive supplies of it from Himself, to be devoutly grateful, and to express their loveso far as it can be expressedin praises, has been the Heaven of happy spirits. It is the Heaven even of earth, the only one to be enjoyed, and which all may enjoy. How dead the heart which has no intercourse with Heaven! True joy is a stranger there, and all is darkness and sin. Barren and unwatered, it bears no fruit of either righteousness or peace.
II. If our hearts be right, they are right with Christ. Till this be the case, the heart cannot even be right with God. Some have attempted, indeed, to produce a state of mind, reverential, submissive, and devotional, without respect to Christ; but the attempt has been vain. That our heart be right with Christ is the foundation of all religion.
1. It is so when it accepts His sacrifice as the only ground on which to claim the remission of sins. How many are there that are not, in this respect, right with Christ! One depends on his own virtues, another on his benevolence and charities; and more still (for the heart will rest its hopes somewhere) upon some undefined, unscriptural views of Gods mercy. Others, more enlightened, it is true, but still egregiously wrong, repose a general trust in the merits of Christ; forgetting that this trust is the personal specific act of a broken and contrite heart, which not only flees to that atoning sacrifice, but, despairing of all other help, eagerly embraces this. A heart right with Christ in this respect has gone through the process of awakening, of arousing fears, of conviction of utter helplessness, and then surrenders its whole case to Christ, trusting solely in the merit of his death, and the power of his intercession; looking through them alone, and looking now, for the mercy of God into eternal life.
2. The heart is not right with Christ unless it loves him. Considered abstractedly, all would pronounce it a thing monstrous, and almost a diabolical act, not to love the Saviour, and yet, sad as is this state of the heart, what can be more common? He stands before us arrayed in the perfection of virtue and holiness, and yet his character possesses no interest for us, as though it had no form or comeliness that men should desire Him as their example. He exhibits the tenderest benevolence, but what heart is moved by it, or shows forth its praise? Men are under an infinite obligation to Him, for He died to save them, but this excites no gratitude. He holds out to them the blessings purchased by His blood, and they spurn them for every trifle. What a state of the heart is this? You see that it is wrong, awfully wrong. Yes, and it never can be right till it loves Christ supremely.
3. When the heart is right with Christ, there is an habitual confidence in His intercession. That is what is called the life of faith, or living by faith, and it is by this that the real is distinguished from the nominal believer. Faith is not one single act, but a constant reliance on the Saviours mediation, as that which alone stands between the extreme of justice and ourselves, and by which we are looking for all good, for the supply of every want. Thus when the heart is right with Him it rests not in acknowledging His merit, but draws its virtue from heaven. It is not satisfied with acknowledging a fulness of spiritual blessings to be in Him, but derives them from Him through its specific and habitual exercises.
III. If our hearts be right, they are right with the church of Christ.
1. When the heart is in a right state, the church is avowed. There is the church and the worldthe one is renounced, the other embraced. Baptism is not of itself a sufficient avowal. We shall unite ourselves to some portion of the visible church, and so place ourselves under its discipline. Where this is not the case the heart is not right. That which keeps us in the world is some bad principle which we will not renounce, some guilty shame which we will not cast off, some sinful association which we will not break, some evil practice which we will not amend.
2. Its members are loved. A new sentiment is now awakened, and cherished in obedience to the commandment of Scripture, Love one another. And this is holy charity. There would be some peculiarities in the opinions and practices of Jehonadab; yet Jehu says to him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? If it be, give me thine hand.
3. When our heart is right with the church, we feel we are identified with it. We grieve at its failures. In its successes we rejoice. We say, with the psalmist, If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its cunning. We pray for its prosperity, and say, Peace be within thy walls. We are willing to labour in any part which the providence of God may assign to us, if we may but promote its interests.
IV. If the heart be right, it will be right with itself. There are strange oppositions and divisions in the heart, and this cannot be a right state of it. There is opposition between conviction and choice. Many know the good, who choose it not, who make no effort for its attainment. There is opposition between will and power. To will is indeed present with them, but how to perform they find not. There is the struggle between the flesh and the spirit; the counteraction of graces by opposite evils. There is the stunted growth. The seed is at least so far choked, that there is no fruit unto perfection. When it is thus with us, the heart is manifestly wrong. When it is right, it exerts an enlightened sway over the whole man. All its powers are in obedient order, all its graces fruitful and abundant.
1. Perhaps our heart is wrong. Let us be thankful that we perceive this; but be patient and persevering. Go to the very depths of its error and wrong. Heal not the wound slightly. The case may be hard; but it is not a hopeless one.
2. Perhaps it is in part right. For this be thankful; but rest not here. Many evils have already given way. I see you laden with the spoils of some conquered enemies, more are nearly overthrown. O pursue the fugitives; seek them in their caves, and dens, and hiding-places. Be determined on their final, their utter extirpation.
3. Know and use the means by which this may be accomplished. Exercise faith in the Saviour, live in habitual watchfulness and self-denial, keeping the heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. O lovely sight, not only to men and angels, but to God also, even a heart renewed, stamped with the Divine image, warmed with the Divine life, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. It is the temple of God, the glorious workmanship of Christ; and He shall exhibit it at the last day as the fruit of his passion, and the monuments of his all-subduing all-restoring grace.R. Watson.
Jehonadab and Jehu: a symbol
1. Of war and peace.
2. Of the man of action and the man of contemplation.
3. Of zeal and prudence.
4. Of the union of various gifts and graces in the common service of God.
Jehonadab is a type of faithful adherence to the faith and the customs of the fathers in the midst of an apostate, wavering people. Decided and firm faith, combined with a strict and earnest life, compels respect even from those who themselves follow another course. Where there is agreement in the highest and most important interests, there one may find a speedy and easy basis of intercourse, whatever may be the difference of rank or nationality. Jesus says to me and thee, what Jehu said to JehonadabIf thine heart is right with mine, as mine with thine, then come to me upon my throne (Rev. 3:21).Lange.
2Ki. 10:16. Zeal for God. I. A laudable and desirable impulse. II. Should be used in exposing and punishing wrong, and in promoting that which is good. III. Should be under the control of a heart right with God.
Why should Jehu so desire that his zeal should be noted and noticed? Hypocrisy is very ostentatious. Drones make more noise than bees, though they make neither honey nor wax. It is reported of John Fox that as he was going along London streets, a woman of his acquaintance met with him, and as they discoursed together she pulled out a Bible, telling him she was going to hear a sermon; whereupon he said to her, If you will be advised by me, go home again. But said she, when shall I then go? To whom he answered, When you tell nobody of it.Trapp.
Zeal for the Lord is a great and rare thing when it is pure. It forfeits its reward, however, when it aims to be seen. How many a one deceives himself with his zeal for the Lord and for His kingdom, when at the bottom he is zealous only for himself, for his own honour and fame, his own interest and advantage.Lange.
Some have thought that this was all pretended zeal and showy hyprocrisy, but in 2Ki. 10:30 the Lord commends Jehu for having done well, and declares that his bloody work was right in His eyes and according to the feelings of His own heart. In other things Jehu sinned, and it is not pretended that all his measures and motives in his work of doom had the approval of God; but in executing judgment on Ahabs house his zeal was praised, though it was not without a selfish ambition, and perhaps other elements of wickedness. But we need not call Jehu a heartless boaster and a murderous hypocrite. Shall he be blamed as murderous and cruel who obeys to the very letter Jehovahs positive command? If the fall of the tower in Siloam were really a Divine judgment on the eighteen hapless victims whom it ground to powder (Luk. 13:4), need we charge the tower with blood-guiltiness and cruelty? Sometimes, indeed, God uses wicked hands to execute His counsels, and holds them guilty for their deeds (Act. 2:23); but never does He blame a minister of vengeance for doing what His own word has positively commanded him to do. Let us beware how we curse and blame what God has not blamed. There are in our times too many shallow and unbiblical attempts to ignore the awful severities of Divine justice, as revealed in Gods word.Whedon.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
III. THE AFTERMATH OF THE COUP 10:127
In chapter 10 the historian discusses some of the consequences of the revolution of 841 B.C. He discusses the bloody massacre of the house of Omri (2Ki. 10:1-11) and of the royal house of Judah (2Ki. 10:12-14). He then inserts a note to show how Jehu gained the support of the more conservative elements of the nation (2Ki. 10:15-17). The chapter reaches its climax in the account of how Jehu deceitfully gathered and then slew the Baal worshipers (2Ki. 10:18-27).
A. THE EXTERMINATION OF THE HOUSE OF OMRI 10:111
TRANSLATION
(1) Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent them to Samaria unto the rulers of Jezreel, the elders, and unto those who brought up Ahabs children, saying (2) And now when this letter comes unto you, seeing the sons of your master are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, a fortified city, and armor; (3) select the best and the most upright of the sons of your master, and set him upon the throne of his father, and fight on behalf of the house of your master. (4) But they feared exceedingly, and said, Behold two kings could not stand before him, how then shall we stand? (5) And he that was over the house, and he that was over the city, and the elders, and those who had brought up the children sent unto Jehu, saying, Your servants are we, and whatever you say unto us, we will do. We will not make any man king. Do that which is good in your eyes. (6) And he wrote unto them a second letter, saying, If you are mine, and you hearken to my voice, take the heads of the sons of your master, and come unto me about this tune tomorrow to Jezreel. Now the sons of the king, seventy men, were with the great ones of the city who were bringing them up. (7) And it came to pass when the letter came unto them, that they took the sons of the king, and slew seventy men, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them unto him to Jezreel. (8) And the messenger came, and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the sons of the king. And he said, Set them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until morning. (9) And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and stood, and said unto all the people, You are righteous. Behold I conspired against my master, and I slew him; but who smote all of these? (10) Know now that there shall fall to the ground nothing of the word of the LORD, which the LORD has spoken concerning the house of Ahab. The LORD has done that which He spoke by the hand of Elijah his servant. (11) So Jehu smote all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great ones, and his acquaintances, and his priests, until he left none remaining.
COMMENTS
The immediate question after the death of Joram wasWould any member of his family rise up to claim the throne and dispute the succession with Jehu? Ahab had seventy sons, i.e., male descendants, who lived in the capital, Samaria. Jehu decided to take the initiative in dealing with this potential threat. Letters were sent to the elders of the nation[563] and those who had tutored and trained Ahabs sons. In them Jehu taunted and challenged his potential adversaries. The sons of the deceased king, the legitimate heirs to the throne, lived in Samaria. Furthermore, the main chariot force of the country, and the chief arsenal containing both armor and arms were there as well (2Ki. 10:2). Jehu scornfully challenged them to make use of these resources against him. Let them select the boldest and ablest son of Joram, make him king and leader against him. Omri had been able to establish himself on the throne of Israel only after a civil war, and Jehu is fully prepared to fight for the throne if necessary. But he was confident that the garrison at Samaria would not dare to venture forth against the army of Ramoth-gilead which had so recently proclaimed him to be king(2Ki. 10:3).
[563] It is not clear why these elders are called rulers of Jezreel. One would expect here rulers of Samaria which the Septuagint actually reads.
The elders in Samaria were men of peace, and not military commanders. They were intimidated by the scornful and ominous tone of Jehus letters. How could these agents of an unpopular regime hope to be able to rally enough support to challenge a popular general like Jehu? Joram and Ahaziah had not been able to stand before Jehu; how could they succeed where two kings had failed? Of course this argument was fallacious, for those two kings had been taken by surprise and treacherously murdered. But the most flimsy argument can convince a coward that bold action is inappropriate (2Ki. 10:4). So the chief officials of Samariathe majordomo of the royal palace, the mayor of the city, the elders, and those who had raised Ahabs childrensent a letter of capitulation to Jehu. The bluff had worked! The leaders might have simply declined the challenge to put forth a rival king; but they went much further. They placed themselves unreservedly on Jehus side when they declared, We are your servants and will do all that you ask. They closed their brief note by urging Jehu to take whatever steps he thought were necessary to confirm himself in the kingdom (2Ki. 10:5).
The reply of the rulers of Jezreel gave Jehu an opportunity of which he was not slow to take advantage. He fired back a letter which in effect demanded that they demonstrate the loyalty they had so recently professed. If they were really his servants, and if they would follow his orders, then let them decapitate their masters sons and bring their heads to Jezreel within twenty-four hours (2Ki. 10:6). Heads of rebels and pretenders were generally brought to the sovereign, and then exposed in some public place in order that the public might be convinced that they were really dead. As Jezreel was but twenty miles from Samaria, the order could easily be carried out in the time stipulated. Nevertheless, prompt action would have been necessary, and thus the leaders had little time for consideration and deliberation. Having committed themselves in their letter to obedience, the leaders of Samaria seemed to have no choice but to allow themselves to become the tools of Jehu. Without hesitation they slew the seventy princes, put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jezreel by messenger (2Ki. 10:7). Jehu had ordered them to bring the heads to Jezreel; but because they so greatly feared Jehu, they decided to send the heads by messenger.
When the heads of Ahabs sons arrived at Jezreel, Jehu ordered that they be put on public display in two heaps at the city gate (2Ki. 10:8). Such a spectacle must have awakened the morbid curiosity of the inhabitants of Jezreel and attracted a great throng of spectators. The next morning, Jehu went out to address the crowds at the gate. Since they were upright men, Jehu called upon them to render a judgment. He openly admitted that he had slain his master; but who, he asked, slew all these? (2Ki. 10:9). He confessed to one murder; but here are seventy murders! Everyone knew by that time how these sons of Ahab had met their death. They were slain, not by Jehu and his soldiers, but by the most trusted officials of the former regime. Did this not prove that all the leaders of the nation were weary of the Ahabites? Did this not clear Jehu of any private or selfish motive in what he had done? Furthermore, Jehu argued, what had transpired had been predicted by Elijah the prophetAhab had been requited in the portion of Jezreel; the dogs had eaten the flesh of Jezebel; the house of Ahab was being destroyed. Since the accomplishment had gone so far, Jehu was confident that the entire prophecy of Elijah would shortly be fulfilled. The whole house of Ahab would perish (2Ki. 10:10)it would become like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah (1Ki. 21:23).
Encouraged by his past success, Jehu proceeded to great lengths. He slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel. This no doubt included the princesses as well as the princes. In addition he executed his great men, perhaps even those who had been used by Jehu to slay the seventy sons of Ahab, and the Baal priests who were on the royal payroll. The details of how these priests met their death is recorded later in chapter 10. Thus did Jehu destroy the entire Ahabite faction from the land (2Ki. 10:11).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
X.
JEHU MASSACRES THE FAMILY OF AHAB, THE KINSMEN OF AHAZIAH, AND BAAL-WORSHIPPERS.
(1) Ahab had seventy sons.His posterity in general are meant. Ahab had been dead about fourteen years (2Ki. 3:1; 1Ki. 22:51), and had had two successors on the throne. The name Ahab seems to be used here as equivalent to the house of Ahab. Many of the number might be strictly sons of Ahab, as he no doubt had a considerable harem.
Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria.Jehu was crafty as well as fierce. He could not venture to the capital without first sounding the inclinations of the nobles of the city.
Unto the rulers of Jezreel.Jezreel is an ancient error. The LXX. has unto the rulers of Samaria. So Josephus. Thenius accordingly suggests that the original reading was, and sent from Jezreel to the princes of Samaria. The Vulg. gives ad optimates civitatis, which seems preferable. Before the elders we must restore and unto with some MSS., the LXX., Syriac, and Vulg. The original text would then run: and sent to the princes of the city and unto the elders, &c. Reuss, on the other hand, reads Israel for Jezreel.
Them that brought up Ahabs children.Literally, them who brought up Ahab (i.e., the house of Ahab). The word occurs in Num. 11:12; Isa. 49:23 (nursing father). The nobles entrusted with this charge would be responsible for the good behaviour of their wards. Ahab may have dreaded the evils of an education in the harem, and possible disputes about the succession.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
SLAUGHTER OF AHAB’S SONS, 2Ki 10:1-11.
Although Joram and Ahaziah and Jezebel have fallen, the Divine vengeance, which so long has slumbered, will not have finished its work of retribution till every member of Ahab’s guilty house is brought to judgment.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1. Seventy sons in Samaria The word sons here, as often, is meant to include all Ahab’s living posterity sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons. Some of these children of Ahab were no doubt very young.
Wrote letters Intercourse by means of written epistles was at this period very common.
Sent to Samaria Where was the chief seat of government, the royal palace, and the court, and where the nobles of the kingdom were generally to be found. The kings of Israel had a palace at Jezreel, (1Ki 21:1,) and often abode there, but that did not diminish the importance of Samaria. It was more of a summer residence of the king and his family than the chief capital of the kingdom.
The rulers of Jezreel Or, princes of Jezreel, nobles of the kingdom, whose common residence was Jezreel, but who, for some reason not stated, were now at the royal palace at Samaria, where, doubtless, they were often wont to resort.
To the elders The elders of the city of Samaria. These are not to be identified with the rulers or princes just mentioned, but were men of less dignity and power, having their authority confined to matters pertaining more especially to Samaria.
Them that brought up Ahab’s children That is, the guardians and instructors, who had the oversight and training of the young princes. Thus Jehu’s letters were directed to three classes of persons, all of them more or less responsible for the care of the royal family, namely, the nobles, the elders, and the guardians. Expositors have been much troubled to explain why Jehu sent letters from Jezreel to Samaria to the princes of Jezreel. Some have proposed to read rulers of Israel instead of rulers of Jezreel. Keil emends the text according to the Septuagint and Vulgate, and reads rulers of the city, being a corruption of . But it seems better to understand that the rulers of Jezreel were the supreme court officers of the kingdom, and that they were so called because they commonly resided in Jezreel. It need not seem strange that they were at this time in Samaria, for many supposable items of official business may have called them to the chief seat of the nation; or, perhaps, as some have supposed, they had fled thither from the face of Jehu.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Initial Destruction Of The Seventy ‘Sons’ Of The House Of Ahab ( 2Ki 10:1-8 ).
Very few kings of that time (if any) who replaced another dynasty with their own, would have acted ant differently from Jehu. In such a situation the extirpation of the royal seed of the previous dynasty was seen as very much a political necessity (David’s sparing of the house of Saul was a remarkable exception). In partial justification of it we should recognise that it was essential if the kingdom was to be given stability, and in order to prevent the possibility of future insurrections by supporters of the previous dynasty (compare what happened to Athaliah because she failed in her attempt to eliminate all the seed royal – 2Ki 11:1-20). It thus in the end probably resulted in the saving of a multitude of lives.
The ‘sons’ (descendants) of Ahab were all to be found in Samaria which still remained to be captured, and Jehu had to decide how to go about the taking of the city. His letter was in fact almost certainly intended to be an ultimatum. Either they could surrender to him, or they could appoint a king from the seed royal. As Jehoram of Israel had probably succeeded to the throne at a young age (his father Ahaziah had only reigned for about a year – 1Ki 22:51), and had only reigned for twelve years, the seed royal would all be minors. Thus their choice lay between a seasoned warrior, supported by the army, or a king who was young and inexperienced with only the support of Samaria behind him. Recognising the strength of the rebellion, which included all the active army commanders, and was almost certainly supported by the common people who had nothing but hatred for the foreign innovations of Jezebel, the leading men in Samaria decided on the most sensible way out. They would surrender on Jehu’s terms, terms which would not in fact have come as any surprise to them for the reasons mentioned above.
Accordingly the heads of the seventy sons were delivered to Jehu in Jezreel, where they were piled up at the gate, a common practise among ancient kings when they wanted to awe the people (Assyrian kings such as Ashernasirpal and Shalmaneser III repeatedly boasted about the heads piled up in a pyramid outside their cities). It both indicated that the previous dynasty was no more, and acted as a warning as to what would happen to any dissentients in the future.
He then assured all that they had done the right thing, for they had brought about the necessary fulfilment of the word of YHWH concerning the house of Ahab. YHWH’s will had been done (even if not necessarily in God’s way). This was why the author has entered into such detail, for his main concern is with the activity of YHWH in history.
Analysis.
a
b “And now as soon as this letter comes to you, seeing your master’s sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, a fortified city also, and armour, look you out the best and most suitable of your master’s sons, and set him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s house.” But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, “Behold, the two kings did not stand before him. How then shall we stand?” (2Ki 10:2-4).
c And he who was over the household, and he who was over the city, the elders also, and those who brought up the children, sent to Jehu, saying, “We are your servants, and will do all that you shall bid us. We will not make any man king. You do what is good in your eyes” (2Ki 10:5).
d Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, “If you are on my side, and if you will listen to my voice, you take the heads of the men your master’s sons, and come to me to Jezreel by tomorrow this time” (2Ki 10:6 a).
c Now the king’s sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who brought them up (2Ki 10:6 b).
b And it came about, when the letter came to them, that they took the king’s sons, and slew them, even seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Jezreel (2Ki 10:7).
a And there came a messenger, and told him, saying, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons.” And he said, “Lay you them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning” (2Ki 10:8).
Note that in ‘a’ the seventy descendants of Ahab were in Samaria, and in the parallel their heads were piled up at Jezreel. In ‘b’ a letter was sent to the leading men of Samaria, and in the parallel a letter was received by them. In ‘c’ are described those who were in charge in Samaria including those who brought up the king’s descendants, and in the parallel the king’s descendants were with those who brought them up. Centrally in ‘d’ the heads of the seventy were to be delivered to Jehu in Jezreel.
2Ki 10:1
‘Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, to the rulers of Jezreel, even the elders, and to those who brought up the sons of Ahab, saying.’
The powerful city of Samaria was still in the hands of the house of Ahab, which as far as direct descendants of Jehoram were concerned probably consisted of minors. There were ‘seventy’ recognised male members of the royal house in Samaria who might have been seen as having some claim to the throne. Like the number seven, ‘seventy’ (which is seven intensified) is often used in order to indicate completeness (compare Gen 46:27; Jdg 8:30; Jdg 9:2). Thus we need not see it as an exact number (it is made exact in Genesis 46 by artificial means). It is rather a general indication, It is rather a general indication, with an emphasis on the completeness of the grouping. Samaria was the city built by Omri on land owned by him, and was the centre of political power and royal influence (it was also the centre for worship of the foreign Baal introduced by Jezebel), and the royal family would include not only the sons of Jehoram, but also his brothers and their sons, and other near relations, which is why the term used is ‘sons of Ahab’, covering the whole.
Multiple copies of his letter were sent to various authorities in Samaria, to the elders in Jezreel, and to those responsible for the royal house. The sons of Jehoram would be under their tutors and teachers who were preparing them for their royal roles ahead (compare 2Ch 21:2-3). The city itself therefore was being ruled by its governor, the head of the king’s household, the elders of the city, and the tutors of the king’s sons (2Ki 10:5). It was to these then that Jehu wrote his letters. He also sent copies to the elders of Jezreel so that they would be joined with him in his demands (and he still had to officially establish his authority in Jezreel).
2Ki 10:2-3
“And now as soon as this letter comes to you, seeing your master’s sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, a fortified city also, and armour, look you out the best and most suitable of your master’s sons, and set him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s house.”
‘Now as soon as this letter comes to you –.’ This was a recognised form of opening for an official letter. Compare 2Ki 5:6. It is also found among the Lachish letters (number 4).
The content of the letters was simple. He openly acknowledged the strength of the city’s fortifications, the number of their chariots, and the effectiveness of their armour. If they wished to resist him let them then choose the best and most suitable of the king’s sons as their ruler (he probably had his tongue in his cheek), and let them make him king (an indication to them, if they did not already know it, that Jehoram was dead), and let them fight under him for their master’s house.
Note the subtlety of his method. He was drawing attention to the inexperience of whoever would rule them, and was asking them to compare what they had with what was under his control, for he was supported by the army of all Israel. It was basically inviting them to surrender or die.
2Ki 10:4
‘But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, “Behold, the two kings did not stand before him. How then shall we stand?” ’
Understandably his words struck fear in their hearts. They probably did not know the details of what had happened, but they were aware that the combined bodyguards of the kings of Israel and Judah had been in Jezreel. And they recognised that if such seasoned campaigners had not been able to resist Jehu it was unlikely that an immature ‘son of Ahab’ would be able to do so. And all knew what happened to a city that resisted when besieged (see Deu 20:12-13).
2Ki 10:5
‘And he who was over the household, and he who was over the city, the elders also, and those who brought up the children, sent to Jehu, saying, “We are your servants, and will do all that you shall bid us. We will not make any man king. You do what is good in your eyes.”
So the leading men of the city who were ruling it in the king’s name, the steward of the royal household (the high chamberlain, the highest in status as his influence went far beyond the city), the governor or commandant of the city (the next highest in status with responsibility for the city), the city elders (who acted as advisers to the governor/commandant), and those responsible for the training and tutoring of the king’s sons (who would be important men and advisers of the royal steward), all came together to discuss what should be done. And they all with one accord recognised that resistance was useless. They would know perfectly well what the result of their decision would be, and that their charges, the king’s sons, would not be allowed to live. But they also had to take into account the safety of all the people in Samaria. It was not a pleasant choice.
Thus they replied to Jehu that they were ready to swear fealty to him, and that they would do whatever he bade them. They would not seek to set up a rival king, but were ready to acknowledge him as king. They would do whatever seemed good in his eyes. They would not be in any doubt about the fact that they were sacrificing their charges, but recognised that they had little option.
2Ki 10:6
‘Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, “If you are on my side, and if you will listen to my voice, you take the heads of the men your master’s sons, and come to me to Jezreel by tomorrow this time.” Now the king’s sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who brought them up.’
The demands laid on them would not be unexpected. No ‘usurper’ could allow the male members of the previous royal house to live. It would have been political suicide. Thus they would not have been surprised when they received the demand that the execution of the king’s ‘sons’ had to be carried out. This was to be done by execution, and the severing of their heads, which were then to be sent to Jehu in Jezreel as proof that his demands had truly been carried out. While it may sound a gruesome to us it was necessary for Jehu to be sure that all the king’s sons had been slain, and the only way to do that was to have proof of their deaths and of their identifies.
Jehu could, of course, have demanded that they be handed over alive, but he wanted the responsibility for the executions to fall squarely on the people themselves. This was a wise move politically, for it ensured that in future the direct blame could not be laid at his door. It would mean that they would be seen to have cooperated with him in it.
It is then explained that the king’s sons were under the jurisdiction of the most powerful men in the city who had had responsibility for their upbringing and training. Had the king’s sons lived, with Jehoram as king, most of them would have gone on to positions of authority and power for which they had therefore to be prepared (compare 2Ch 21:3).
2Ki 10:7
‘And it came about, when the letter came to them, that they took the king’s sons, and slew them, even seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Jezreel.’
In response to the letter these powerful men took all ‘seventy’ (the totality) of ‘the king’s sons’ (all royal claimants), and executed them, severing their heads and placing them in pots or baskets (the word usually refers to earthenware pots, but may have widened to indicate any container. On the other hand earthenware pots would have prevented the heat from causing the heads to deteriorate and would have prevented any blood from seeping out). These were then sent to Jehu in Jezreel, thus sparing Samaria from being besieged and destroyed, and yielding it officially to Jehu.
2Ki 10:8
‘And there came a messenger, and told him, saying, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons.” And he said, “Lay you them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning.” ’
On their arrival at Jezreel a messenger was sent to Jehu to inform him of their arrival, and he commanded that they be piled up in two heaps at the entrance to the city. No doubt appropriate checks as to their identity would be carried out. As mentioned above this practise of piling up the heads of important enemies at the city gates was one which was well recognised at the time. It demonstrated to any waverers that the king’s sons really were dead, and that there was nowhere else to look but to Jehu. It also stood as a stark warning to any who might be thinking of dissent.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Relatives of Ahab Slain
v. 1. And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria, v. 2. Now, as soon as this letter cometh to you, seeing your master’s sons are with you, v. 3. look even out the best and meetest of your master’s sons, v. 4. But they, v. 5. And he that was over the house, v. 6. Then he, v. 7. And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king’s sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent him them to Jezreel, v. 8. And there came a messenger and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the king’s sons, v. 9. And it came to pass in the morning that he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, Ye be righteous, as just men they could pass a correct judgment; behold, I conspired against my master and slew him; but who slew all these? v. 10. Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the Lord which the Lord spake concerning the house of Ahab; for the Lord hath done that which He spake by His servant Elijah. v. 11. So Jehu, v. 12. And he arose and departed, and came to Samaria, v. 13. Jehu met with the brethren of Ahaziah, king of Judab, and said, Who are ye? And they, v. 14. And he said,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
2Ki 10:1-36
THE REIGN OF JEHU OVER ISRAEL.
2Ki 10:1-28
The revolution initiated by the destruction of Joram and Jezebel is here traced through its second and its third stages. The immediate question, after Joram’s death, wasWould any member of his family rise up as a claimant of the throne, and dispute the succession with Jehu? Ahab had seventy male descendants, all of them resident in Samaria: would there be any one among their number bold enough to come forward and assert his hereditary fight? Jehu regarded this as the most pressing and imminent danger, wherefore his first step was to challenge such action, and either precipitate it or crush it. In 2Ki 10:1-11 is related the action taken by him, so far as the descendants of Ahab were concerned, and his success in ridding himself of all rivals possessed of so strong a claim. 2Ki 10:12-14 relate his dealings with another body of Ahab’s relations, belonging to the neighboring kingdom of Judah. In 2Ki 10:15-28 an account is given of the still more bloody and more sweeping measures by which he cowed the party opposed to him, and firmly established his dynasty in the Israelite kingdom.
2Ki 10:1-11
The destruction of the seventy seas of Ahab.
2Ki 10:1
And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. By ” sons” we must understand “male descendants. Most of the seventy wore probably his grandsons (see 2Ki 10:3); some may have been great-grandsons. They lived in Samaria; since Samaria was the principal residence of the court, Jezreel being simply a country palacethe “Versailles,” as it has been called, or “Windsor” of the Israelite kings. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel. “Jezreel” is almost certainly a corrupt reading. The “rulers of Jezreel” would be at Jezreel; and, if Jehu wished to communicate with them, he would not need to “write.” Had any chance taken them to Samariaa very improbable circumstancethey would have had no authority there, and to address them would have been useless. John’s letters were, no doubt, addressed to the rulers of Samaria; and so the LXX. expressly state ( ); but the reading “Jezreel” can scarcely have arisen out of “Samaria” ( out of ), since the difference of the two words is so great. Most probably the original word was “Israel” (), which is easily corrupted into “Jezreel” (). The rulers of Samaria, the capital, might well be called “the rulers of Israel.” To the elders rather, even the elders. Not distinct persons from the “rulers,” but the same under another name (see 1Ki 21:8, 1Ki 21:13; and compare the Revised Version). And to them that brought up Ahab’s childreni.e. the tutors, or governors, under whose charge they were placedsaying
2Ki 10:2
Now as soon as this letter cometh to you. In the East at this time, and in most parts of it to the present day, letters can only be sent by special messengers. There is no public post. Kings and private individuals must equally find persons who will undertake to carry and deliver their despatches. Even the post organized by Darius Hystaspis was not one that went daily, but only one kept ready for the king to use when he had occasion for it. Seeing your master’s sons are with you. “Your master’s sons” must mean Joram’s sons; by which we learn that, unlike his brother Ahaziah (2Ki 1:17), Joram had male offspring who survived him, and were now with the rest of Ahab’s descendants, at Samaria. And there are with you chariots and horses, a fenced city also, and armor; literally, the chariots, and the horses, a fenced city also, and the armor. The main chariot force of the country, and the chief arsenal, containing both armor and arms, were naturally at Samaria, the capital, and might thus be regarded as at the disposition of the Samaritan municipality. Jehu scornfully challenges them to make use of their resources against him. He is quite ready for a contest. Let them do their worst. The LXX. have “fenced cities” ( ) instead of “a fenced city;” but the existing Hebrew text is probably right Samaria was the only fortified town in their possession.
2Ki 10:3
Look even out the belt and meetest of your master’s sons, and set him on his father’s throne. “Choose,” i.e; “among the sons of Joram the strongest, the boldest, and the ablest, and make him king in his father’s zoom; take him for your leader against me; do not hesitate and beat about the bush; but at once make up your minds, and let me know what I have to expect.” And fight for your master’s house. There had been a civil war before the dynasty of Omri succeeded in settling itself on the throne (1Ki 16:21, 1Ki 16:22). Jehu believes, or affects to believe, that there will now be another. He does not deprecate it, but invites it. Probably he felt tolerably confident that the garrison of Samaria, even if called upon by the municipality, would not venture to take up arms against the army of Ramoth-Gilead, which had declared itself in his favor. Still, supposing that it did, he was not fearful of the result.
2Ki 10:4
But they wore exceedingly afraid. They were men of peace, not men of waraccustomed to discharge the duties of judges and magistrates, not of commandants and generals. They could not count on the obedience even of the troops in Samaria, much less on that of any others who might be in garrison elsewhere. They would naturally have been afraid of taking up arms under almost any circumstances. What, however, caused them now such excessive fear was probably the tone which Jehu had adoptedhis “scornful challenge,” as it has been called. He evidently entertained no fear himself. He dared them to do that which he pretended to recommend them to do. They must have felt that he was laughing at them in his sleeve. And said, Behold, two kings stood not before him: how then shall we stand? The kings intended are Joram and Ahaziah, who had confronted Jehu, and had met their deaths. What were they that they should succeed where “two kings” had failed? The argument was fallacious, and a mere cloak for cowardice. The two kings had been taken by surprise, and treacherously murdered. Their fate could prove nothing concerning the probable issue of a civil war, had the “princes” ventured to commence it. It must be admitted, however, that the chance of success was but slight.
2Ki 10:5
And he that was ever the housei.e. the officer in charge of the royal palaceand he that was over the city. There would be a single “governor of the city”net the commandant of the garrison, but the chief civil ruler nearly corresponding to a modern “mayor” (see 1Ki 22:26). The elders also. The “governor” of a town was assisted by a council of elders. And the bringers up of the children (see the comment on 2Ki 10:1). Sent to Jehu, saying, We are thy servants, and will do sit that thou shalt bid us; we will not make any king. Jehu’s letter had the effect which he intended, of making the authorities of Samaria declare themselves. They might, perhaps, have temporized, have sent an ambiguous answer, or have sent no answer at all, and have let their action be guided by the course of events. But, taken aback by Jehu’s directness and plainness of speech, it did not occur to them to be diplomatic; they felt driven into a corner, and compelled to make their choice at once. Either they must resist Jehu in arms or they must submit to him. If they submitted, they had best (they thought) do it with a good grace. Accordingly, his letter produced a reply, more favorable than he can possibly have expected”They were his servants,” or “his slaves,” ready to do all his pleasure; they would not set up a king, or in any way dispute his succession; they submitted themselves wholly to his will. Do thou [they said] that which is good in thine eyes; i.e. “take what steps thou pleasest to confirm thyself in the kingdom.”
2Ki 10:6
Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying; rather, a second time. The reply of the Samaritan authorities gave Jehu an opportunity, of which he was not slow to take advantage. They might have been contented with their negative response, “We will not make any man king;” but they had gone beyond itthey had departed from the line of neutrality, and had placed themselves unreservedly on Jehu’s side. “We are thy servants,” they had said, “and will do all that thou shalt bid us.” It is always rash to promise absolute obedience to a human being. To volunteer such a promise, when it is not even asked, is the height of folly. If ye be mineas they had said they were, when they called themselves his “slaves”and if ye will hearken unto my voicei.e; obey me, do as I requiretake ye the heads of the men your master’s sons, and come to me to Jezreel. The Samaritan authorities were ordered to bring the heads with them, that they might be seen and counted. In the East generally, the heads of rebels and pretenders, by whatever death they may have died, are cut off, brought to the sovereign, and then exposed in some public place, in order that the public at large may be certified that the men are really dead. By tomorrow this time. As Jezreel was not more than about twenty miles from Samaria, the order could be executed by that time. It necessitated, however, very prompt measures, and gave the authorities but little time for consideration. Now the king’s sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought them up.
2Ki 10:7
And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king’s sons, and slew seventy persons. Having committed themselves by their answer to Jehu’s first letter, the Samaritan great men seemed to themselves to have no choice, on receiving his second, but to allow themselves to become the tools and agents of his policy. They accordingly put the seventy princes to death without any hesitation, though they can scarcely have done so without reluctance. And put their heads in baskets. Thus concealing their bloody deed as long as they could. In the Assyrian sculptures, those who slay the king’s enemies carry the heads openly in their hands, as though glorying in what they have done. And sent him them to Jezreel. Jehu had bidden them to bring the heads to him; but this was a degradation to which they did not feel bound to submit. They therefore sent the heads by trusty messengers.
2Ki 10:8
And there came a messenger, and told him; saying, They have brought the heads of the king’s sons. And he said, Lay ye them in two heaps at the entering in of the gate until the morning. Thus all who entered into the town or quitted it would see them, and, being struck by the ghastly spectacle, would make inquiry and learn the truth. “The gate” was also a general place of assembly for the gossips of the town and others, who would soon spread the news, and bring together a crowd of persons, curious to see so unusual a sight.
2Ki 10:9
And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, Ye be righteous. Not an ironical reproach to those who had brought the heads”Ye consider yourselves righteous, yet this bloodshed rests upon you;” much less a serious declaration (Gerlach) that now at last the sins of idolatrous Israel were atoned for; but an argument ad captandum, addressed to the crowd of spectators whom the unwonted spectacle had brought together, “Ye are just persons, and capable of pronouncing a just judgment; judge, then, if I am the wicked person which men generally consider me.” Behold, I conspired against my master, and slew him: but who slew all these? I confess to one murder; but here are seventy murders. And who is guilty of them? Not I, or my party, but the trusted adherents of the Ahabite dynasty, the rulers placed by them over the capital, and the governors to whom they had entrusted the royal children. Does not this show that all parties are weary of the Ahabites and of their system? Does it not clear me of any private or selfish motive, and indicate the desire of the whole nation for a change, civil and religionsa change which shall entirely subvert the new religion introduced by Jezebel, and fall back upon the lines of that maintained by Elijah and Elisha?
2Ki 10:10
Know now that there shall fall unto the earthi.e. “perish,” “come to naught”nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spake concerning the house of Ahab. As the accomplishment had gone so far, it was safe to predict, or at any rate Jehu felt emboldened to predict, that the entire prophecy of Elijah would be fulfilled to the letter. The whole house of Ahab would perishit would be made like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah (1Ki 21:23), and its adherents would share its fate. For the Lord hath done that which he spake by his servant Elijah; i.e. “has requited Ahab in the portion of Jezreel; has caused dogs to eat the flesh of Jezebel; and has begun the destruction of his house. The inchoate fulfillment of prophecy was always felt to be the strongest possible argument for its ultimate complete fulfillment.
2Ki 10:11
So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his kinsfolks; rather, and Jehu slew. Encouraged by his past success, having killed Jehoram, Ahaziah, and Jezebel, having secured the adhesion of the chief men in Samaria, and effected the destruction of all those who might naturally have claimed the succession and involved him in civil war, Jehu proceeded to greater lengths. He “slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel”the princesses probably, as well as the princesand further put to death all the leading partisans of the dethroned dynasty, the “great men,” perhaps even those who had worked his bloody will at Samaria, and the intimate friends and supporters of the housethe , as they are here callednot relatives, but “intimate acquaintances.” And his priests. This expression causes a difficulty, since the destruction of the Baal-priests is related subsequently (2Ki 10:19-25). It has been suggested to understand by , not” priests,” but “high state officers” (Bahr)a meaning which the word is thought to have in 2Sa 8:18 and 1Ki 4:5. But this signification of is scarcely an ascertained one. Perhaps the same persons are intended as in 1Ki 4:19, the present notice of their death being a mere summary, and the narrative of 1Ki 4:19-25 a full statement of the circumstances. Until he left him none remaining; i.e. until the entire Ahabite faction was blotted out.
2Ki 10:12-14
The massacre of the brethren of Ahaziah.
2Ki 10:12
And he arose and departed, and came to Samaria; rather, went on his way to Samaria ( , LXX.). Having arranged matters at Jezreel as his interests required, and secured the adhesion of the Samaritan “great men,” Jehu now sot out for the capital. The narrative from this point to 2Ki 10:17 is of events that happened to him while he was upon his road. And as he was at the shearing-house in the way. Between Jezreel and Samaria was a station where the shepherds of the district were accustomed to shear their flocks. The custom gave name to the place, which became known as Beth-Eked (, LXX.; Beth-Akad, Jerome), “the house of binding,” from the practice of tying the sheep’s four feet together before shearing them, The situation has not been identified.
2Ki 10:13
Jehu met with the brethren of Ahaziah King of Judah. The actual “brethren” of Ahaziah had been carried off and slain by the Arabians in one of their raids into Palestine, as we learn from 2Ch 21:17; 2Ch 22:1; the youths here mentioned were their sons (2Ch 22:8), and therefore Ahaziah’s nephews. And said, Who are ye? Travelers in a foreign country were always liable to be questioned, and were expected to give an account of themselves (see Gen 42:7-13; Story of Saneha, line 38; Herod, 2:159, etc.). The princes were thus not surprised at the inquiry, and readily answered it. And they answered, We are the brethren of Ahaziah; and we go down to salute the children of the king. There is something abnormal and needing explanation in this visit. Forty-two princes, with their retinues, do not, under ordinary circumstances, start off on a sudden from one capital, on a complimentary visit to their cousins at another. Perhaps Ewald is right in surmising that, “at the first report of disturbances in the kingdom of the ten tribes, they had been sent off by Athaliah to render any assistance that they could to the house of Ahab in its troubles”. In this case their answer must be regarded as insincere. Falling in with an armed force stronger than their own, they pretended ignorance of the revolution that had taken place, and sought to pass off their hostile purpose under the pretence of a visit of compliment. But the pretence did not deceive Jehu. And the children of the queen. The queen-mother, Jezebel, is probably intended. Her rank entitled her to special mention.
2Ki 10:14
And he said, Take them alive. And they took them alive, and slew them. The Brevity of the narrative leaves many points of it obscure. It is impossible to say why the order was given, “Take them alive,” when, immediately afterwards, they were massacred. Perhaps Jehu at first intended to spare their lives, but afterwards thought that it would be safer to have them put out of his way. It must be borne in mind that they were descendants of Ahab. At the pit of the shearing-house; rather, at the well of Beth-Eked. Probably the bodies were thrown into the well (comp. Jer 41:7). Even two and forty men. It is this number which makes the idea of a visit of compliment incredible. Neither left he any of them. The Greeks said, ; and the general Hebrew practice was to give effect to the teaching conveyed by the maxim (see Jos 7:24, Jos 7:25; 2Ki 9:26; 2Ki 14:6).
2Ki 10:15-17
Jehonadab the son of Rechab associated by Jehu in his acts.
2Ki 10:15
And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab. Between Beth-Eked and Samaria Jehu fell in with the great Kenite chief, Jehonadab, the founder of the remarkable tribe and sect of the Rechabites (Jer 35:6-19). Jehonadab is mentioned only here and in the passage of Jeremiah just quoted; but it is evident that he was an important personage. His tribe, the Kenites, was probably of Arab origin, and certainly of Arab habits. It attached itself to the Israelites during their wanderings in the Sinaitic desert, and was given a settlement in “the wilderness of Judah,” on the conquest of Palestine (Jdg 1:16). Jehonadab seems to have been of an ascetic turn, and to have laid down for his tribe a rule of life stricter and more severe than any known previously. He required them not merely to dwell in tents, and, unless under the compulsion of war, never to enter cities, but also to abstain wholly from the use of wine, and to have neither house, nor field, nor vineyard (Jer 35:8-10). Gautama, between three and four centuries later, enjoined a somewhat similar rule upon his disciples. It is indicative of much strength of character in either case, that so strict a rule was accepted, adopted, and acted upon for centuries. On the present occasion, Jehu, it would seem, desired the sanction of Jehonadab to the proceedings upon which he was about to enter, as calculated to legitimate them in the eyes of some who might otherwise have regarded them with disapproval. Jehonadab had, no doubt, the influence which is always wielded by an ascetic in Oriental countries. Coming to meet him. This expression tells us nothing of Jehonadab’s intent. The meeting may have been merely a chance one. And he saluted him, and said to him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? literally, he blessed him; but the word used (barak) has frequently the sense of “to salute” (see 1Sa 13:10; 1Sa 25:14; 2Ki 4:29, etc.). Jehu’s inquiry was made to assure himself of Jehonadab’s sympathy, on which no doubt he counted, but whereof he was glad to receive a positive promise. Jehonadab must have been known as a zealous servant of Jehovah, and might therefore be assumed to be hostile to the house of Ahab. And Jehonadab answered, It is. Unhesitatingly, without a moment’s pause, without the shadow of a doubt, the Kenite chief cast in his lot with the revolutionist. Heart and soul he would join him in an anti-Ahab policy. If it he, Give me thine hand. The Hebrews did not clench agreements, like the Greeks and Romans, by grasping each other’s hands. Jehu merely means to say, “If this is so, if thou art heart and. soul with me in the matter, put out thy hand, and I will take thee into my chariot.” Jehu intended at once to do honor to the Kenite chief, and to strengthen his own position by being seen to be so familiar with him. And hei.e. Jehonadabgave himi.e. Jehuhis hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot. There was always room in a chariot for at least three or four personsthe charioteer and the owner of the chariot in front, and one or two guards behind.
2Ki 10:16
And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord. Jehonadab must have understood that some further measures were about to be taken against the family and adherents of Ahab. He evidently approved of all that Jehu had already done, and was willing to give his countenance to further severities. He probably did not know exactly what Jehu designed; but he must have been able to make a tolerably shrewd guess at what was impending. So they made him ride in his chariot. Perhaps should be changed into , which seems to have been the reading of the LXX; who translate, by , “he made him ride in his chariot.”
2Ki 10:17
And when he came to Samaria, he slew all that remained unto Ahab in Samria, till he had destroyed him. Seventy male descendants of Ahab had been already destroyed in Samaria (2Ki 10:1-7). It seems unlikely that the city can have contained any other members of his house excepting females. Did Jehu now destroy the daughters of Ahab resident in Samaria, with their families? The masculine form useddoes not disprove this. According to the saying of the Lord, which he spake to Elijah.
2Ki 10:18-28
Jehu destroys the worshippers of Baal, arid puts an end to the Baal-worship.
2Ki 10:18
And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said unto them, Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu shall serve him much. Hitherto the revolution had borne the appearance of a mere dynastic change, like those introduced by Baasha (1Ki 15:27-29), Zimri (1Ki 16:9-12), and Omri (1Ki 16:17-19), and had had none of the characteristics of a religious reformation. Probably, as yet, no suspicion had touched the public mind that Jehu would be a less zealous worshipper of Baal than his predecessor. The outburst against Jezebel’s “whoredoms” and “witchcrafts” (2Ki 9:22) would be known to few, and might not have been understood as a condemnation of the entire Baalistic system. The “zeal for Jehovah” whispered in the ear of Jehonadab (2Ki 10:16) had been hitherto kept secret. Thus there was nothing to prevent the multitude from giving implicit credence to the proclamation now made, and looking to see the new reign inaugurated by a magnificent and prolonged festival in honor of the two great Phoenician deities, Baal the sun-god, and Ashtoreth or Astarte the famous “Dea Syra” Such festivals were frequently held in Phoenicia and the rest of Syria, often lasting over many days, and constituting a time of excitement, feasting, and profligate enjoyment, which possessed immense attraction for the great mass of Asiatics.
2Ki 10:19
Now therefore call unto me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests. In Phoenicia, it would seem, as in Egypt and among the Jews, “prophets” and “priests” were distinct classes of persons. The Egyptians called the priest ab, the prophet neter hen, literally, “servant of God.” They held the priest in the greater honor. In Phoenicia, on the contrary, judging from the scanty notices that we possess, prophets appear to have taken precedence of priests, and to have had the more important functions assigned to them (see 1Ki 18:19-40; 1Ki 22:6). Let none be wantingliterally, let not a man failfor I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal. Like the other gods of the heathen, Baal and Ashtoreth were worshipped chiefly by sacrifice. The sacrifice was sometimes human, but more Commonly a sacrificial animal, such as a bull, a ram, or a he-goat. In the greater festivals several hundreds of victims were offered; and their flesh was served up at the banquets by which the festivals were accompanied. Whosoever shall be wanting, he shall not live. His absence would be regarded as an act of contumacy verging on rebellion, and so as deserving of capital punishment. But Jehu did it in subtilty, to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal. “Subtilty” was characteristic of John, who always preferred to gain his ends by cunning rather than in a straightforward way. Idolaters were by the Law liable to death, and Jehu would have had a perfect right to crush the Baal-worship throughout the land, by sending his emissaries everywhere, with orders to slay all whom they found engaged in it. But to draw some thousands of his subjects by false pretences into a trap, and then to kill them in it for doing what he had himself invited them to do, was an act that was wholly unjustifiable, and that savored, not of the wisdom which is from above, but of that bastard wisdom which is “earthly, sensual, devilish” (Jas 3:15). Jehu’s religious reformation did not succeed, and it was conducted in such a way that it did not deserve to succeed. A little more honest boldness, and a little less frequent resort to subterfuge and craft, might have had a different result, and have been better both for himself and for his people.
2Ki 10:20
And Jehu said, Proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal. The word translated “solemn assembly” is the same which is applied to the great feasts of Jehovah among the Israelites in Le 2Ki 23:36; Num 29:35; Deu 16:8; 2Ch 7:9; Neh 8:18; Isa 1:13; Joe 1:14; Joe 2:15; and Amo 5:21. Originally, it signified a time of repression, or abstention from worldly business; but it had probably grown to mean a day when worldly business was suspended for the sake of a religious gathering. Such gatherings had no doubt been held from time to time in honor of Baal; and Jehu’s proclamation consequently excited no distrust. And they proclaimed it. No opposition was made to the king’s wish. No Jehovist party showed itself. The “solemn assembly” was proclaimed for some day in the near future, when all the people had been apprised of it.
2Ki 10:21
And Jehu sent through all Israel; i.e. through the whole of his own kingdom, from Dan on the north to Bethel on the south. And all the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that came not. Duty and inclination for once coincided. The king’s command made it incumbent on them, they would argue, to attend; and attendance would, they supposed, result in a time of excitement and enjoyment, which they were not disposed to miss. The death-penalty threatened for non-attendance (2Ki 10:19) was scarcely needed to induce them all to come. And they came into the house of Baal. Ahab had erected a temple to Baal in Samaria shortly after his marriage with Jezebel (1Ki 16:22). Like the other temples of the time, in Judaea, in Egypt, and in Phoenicia, it was not a mere “house,” but contained vast courts and corridors fitted for the reception of immense numbers. And the house of Baal was full from one end to another; literally, from brim to brim; i.e. brimful”metaphora sumpta a vasibus humore aliquo plenis.”
2Ki 10:22
And he said unto him that was over the vestry. The word translated “vestry” () occurs only in this place; but its meaning is sufficiently ascertained, first, from the context, and secondly, from the cognate Ethiopic altah, which means “a linen garment.” Linen garments were regarded as especially pure, and were generally affected by the priests of ancient religions, and preferred by the worshippers. Heathen temples had almost always “vestries” or “wardrobes” attached to them, where garments considered suitable were laid up in store. Bring forth vestments for all the worshippers of Baal. It may be doubted whether “all the worshippers of Baal” could have been supplied with robes out of the temple vestry, which would ordinarily contain only vestments for the priests. But Jehu may have had the supply kept up from the robe-room of the palace, which would be practically inexhaustible. The gift of garments to all comers, which was certainly not usual, must have been intended to render the festival as attractive as possible. And he brought them forth vestments. The keeper of the wardrobe obeyed the order given him, and supplied vestments to all the worshippers.
2Ki 10:23
And Jehu went, and Jehonadab the son of Rechab, into the house of Baal. Keeping up the pretence that he was a devotee of Baal, anxious to “serve him much” (2Ki 10:18), Jehu himself entered the sacred edifice, together with Jehonadab the son of Rechab, whom he wished to have as a witness to his “zeal for the Lord” (2Ki 10:16). Having entered, he addressed the multitude, or the chief authorities among them, requiring that they should exercise extreme vigilance, and make it quite certain that none but true followers of Baal were present. And said unto the worshippers of Baal, Search, and look that there be here with you none of the servants of the Lord, but the worshippers of Baal only. Jehu’s real object was undoubtedly to save the lives of any “servants of Jehovah” who might incautiously have mixed themselves up with the Baal-wor-shippers, out of curiosity, or to have their share in the general holiday. That he should have thought such a thing possible or even probable indicates the general laxity of the time, and the want of any sharp line of demarcation between the adherents of the two religions. He cleverly masked his desire for the safety of his own religionists under a show of keen anxiety that the coming ceremonies should not be profaned by the presence of scoffers or indifferent persons. His requirement was in the spirit of that warning which the heathen commonly gave before entering upon the more sacred rites of their religion”Proculeste, profani.”
2Ki 10:24
And when they went inrather, when they had gone in; i.e. when the whole multitude of Baal-worshippers, priests and people, had entered within the precincts of the templeto offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. The priests officiate, but the offerings are regarded as conjointly made by priest and people. Jehu appointed four score men without. Josephus says (‘Ant. Jud.,’ 9.6. 6) that they were the most trusty men of his body-guard, which is likely enough. They were no doubt also known to Jehu as attached to the worship of Jehovah. And said, If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escape, he that letteth him go, his life shall be for the life of him. Gaolers were commonly put to death if a prisoner committed to their charge escaped them (see Act 12:19; Act 16:27).
2Ki 10:25
And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering. It has been concluded from this that Jehu” offered the sacrifices with his own hand, as though he were the most zealous of Baal’s adorers”; but the conclusion does not follow necessarily from the expression used. The suffix in may be used indefinitely, “when one finished,” or “when they finished;” or Jehu may be said to have made the offerings, because he famished the victims, not because he immolated them with his own hand. Throughout heathendom, wherever there wore priests, it was the duty of the prints to slay the victims offered. That Jehu said to the guardliterally, to the runners (see the comment on 1Ki 1:38)and to the captainsi.e; the officers in command of the guardGo in, and slay them; let none come forth. We must suppose that some guarded the doors, while others advanced into the crowd and struck right and left. The unarmed multitude seems to have made no resistance. And they smote them with the edge of the swordi.e. cut them down unsparingly, smote and slew till none were left aliveand the guard and the captains cast them out. This is generally understood to mean that all the bodies were thrown by the guards out of the temple. Dean Stanley says, “The temple was strewn with corpses, which, “as fast as they fell, the guard and the officers threw out with their own hands”. But it is not apparent why they should have taken this trouble. Perhaps Bahr is right in suggesting that no more is meant than that the guard and the officers thrust the bodies out of their way, as they pressed forward to enter the sanctuary which contained the sacred images. And went to the city of the house of Baal. “They made their way,” as Ewald says, “into the inner sanctuary, the enclosure of which rose like a lofty fortress originally meant “fortress”where Baal was enthroned, surrounded by the images of his fellow-gods” (‘History of Israel,’ l.s.c.). It is to be remembered that the assembled multitude occupied the court or courts of the temple, within which, in a commanding position, was the “house” or “sanctuary”perhaps reserved for the priests only.
2Ki 10:26
And they brought forth the images out of the house of Baal; rather, the pillars (see the comment on 1Ki 14:23). It was a special feature of the Phoenician worship to represent the gods by or , which appear to have been conical stones, or obelisks, destitute of any shaping into the semblance of humanity. The Phoenicians acknowledged several deities besides Baal, as Ashtoreth, Melkarth, Dagon, Adonis or Tammuz, El, Sadyk, Esmun, and the Kabiri. The “pillars brought forth” may have represented some of these deities, who might all of them be “contemplar” deities with Baal; or they may have been “Baalim,” i.e. forms and aspects of Baal, each the object of some special cult. And burned them. The “pillars” in this instance were probably, not of stone, but of wood.
2Ki 10:27
And they brake down the image of Baal; rather, they brake in pieces the pillar of Baal. The representation of Baal, the main stele of the temple, being of stone or metal, could not be destroyed by fire, and was therefore broken to pieces. And brake down the house of Baali.e. partially ruined it, but still left portions of it standing, as a memorial of the sin and of its punishmenta solemn warning, one would have thought, to the people of the capitaland made it a draught-house unto this day; made it, i.e; “a depository for all the filth of the town” (Stanley); comp. Ezr 6:11; Dan 2:5; Dan 3:29; and for the word “draught” in this sense, see Mat 15:17. Such a use was the greatest possible desecration.
2Ki 10:28
Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel. The measures taken were effectual; the worship of Baal was put down, and is not said to have been revived in the kingdom of the ten tribes. Moloch-worship seems to have taken its place (see 2Ki 17:17).
2Ki 10:29-31
Jehu‘s shortcomings.
2Ki 10:29
Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them. It was a crucial test of Jehu’s faithfulness to Jehovah; would he maintain the calf-worship of Jeroboam or not? With whatever intent the worship had been set up by its author, the curse of God had been pronounced against it by the chief prophet of the time (1Ki 13:2), and his word had been attired as from heaven by two miracles (1Ki 13:4, 1Ki 13:5). Jehu ought to have known that the calf-worship, if not as hateful to God as the Baal-worship, at any rate was hateful, was a standing act of rebellion against Jehovah, and laid the nation under his displeasure. But, while his own interests were entirely detached from the one, they were, or at least would seem to him to be, bound up with the other. The calf-worship was thought to be essential to the matureance of the divided kingdom. Abolish it, and all Israel would “return to the house of David” (1Ki 12:26-30). Jehu was not prepared to risk this result. His “zeal for Jehovah” did not reach so far. Thus his “reformation of religion” was but a half-reformation, a partial turning to Jehovah, which brought no permanent blessing upon the nation. To wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan. The erection of the calves (1Ki 12:29) was the initial sin, their worship the persistent one. (On the nature of the calf-worship, see the comment on 1Ki 12:28, and compare the ‘Speaker’s Commentary’ on the same passage.)
2Ki 10:30
And the Lord said unto Johnscarcely by direct revelation, rather by the mouth of a prophet, most probably of Elisha, as Thenius supposesBecause thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes. In making himself the executor of God’s will with respect to the house of Ahab, and utterly destroying it, as he had been commanded (2Ki 9:7), Jehu had “done well;” he had also done well in putting down the worship of Baal, and slaying the idolaters, for the destruction of idolaters was distinctly commanded in the Law (Exo 22:20; Exo 32:27; Num 25:5). These acts of his are praised; but nothing is said of his motives in doing them. They were probably to a great extent selfish. And hath done unto the house of Ahab all that was in mine heart (see 2Ki 9:26-37; 2Ki 10:1-7, 2Ki 10:11, 2Ki 10:14), thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel. External obedience was suitably rewarded by an external, earthly honorthe honor of having his dynasty settled upon the throne during five generations, and for a period of above a hundred years. No other Israelite dynasty held the throne longer than three generations, or for so much as fifty years. The “children” or descendants of Jehu who sat upon the throne after him were Jehoahaz, his son, Jehoash or Joash, his grandson, Jeroboam II; his great-grandson, and Zachariah, son of Jeroboam II; his great-great-grandson
2Ki 10:31
But Jehu took no heed to walk in the Law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart. Jehu’s character is thus summed up by Dean Stanley: “The character of Jehu is not difficult to understand, if we take it as a whole, and consider the general impression left upon us by the biblical account. He is exactly one of those men whom we are compelled to recognize, not for what is good or great in themselves, but as instruments for destroying evil, and preparing the way for good; such as Augustus Caesar at Rome, Sultan Mahmoud II. in Turkey, or one closer at hand in the revolutions of our own time and neighborhood. A destiny, long kept in view by himself or ethersinscrutable secrecy and reserve in carrying out his plansa union of cold, remorseless tenacity with occasional bursts of furious, wayward, almost fanatical zeal;this is Jehu, as he is set before us in the historical narrative, the worst type of a son of Jacobthe ‘supplanter’ without the noble and princely qualities of Israel; the most unlovely and the most coldly commended of all the heroes of his country”. The estimate is lower than that formed by most other writers; but it is not far from the truth. For he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.
2Ki 10:32-36
Jehu’s wars, length of reign, and successor.
2Ki 10:32
In those days the Lord began to out Israel short. It is certainly not stated in direct terms that the ill success of Jehu’s foreign wars was a punishment on him for his continued maintenance of the calf-idolatry; but the juxtaposition of 2Ki 10:31 and 2Ki 10:32 naturally raises the idea, and constitutes a strong presumption that it was in the writer’s mind. The “theocracy” under the kings was carried on mainly, as the writer of Chronicles clearly saw, by the bestowal of worldly prosperity and military success on good kings, and the accumulation of misfortunes and military disasters on bad ones (see 2Ch 12:5-12; 2Ch 13:4-18; 2Ch 14:2-15; 2Ch 15:2-15; 2Ch 17:3-5. etc.). By “cutting Israel short”literally, “cutting off in Israel”is probably meant the conquest of certain portions of the territory. Hazael resumed the war which Benhadad had so long waged, and gained numerous successes. And Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel; or, along their whole frontier (Bahr). The frontier intended is, of course, that on the north and east, where the Israelite territory was conterminous with that of Syria.
2Ki 10:33
From Jordan eastward. The territory west of the Jordan was not attacked at this time. Hazael’s expeditious were directed against the trans-Jordanic region, the seats of the three tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. This tract was far easier of access than the other, and was more tempting, being the richest part of Palestine. The region comprised all the land of Gileadi.e. the more southern region, reaching from the borders of Moab on the south to the Hieromax or Sheriat-el-Mandhur upon the north, the proper land of the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and [a portion of] the Manassitestogether with Bashan, the more northern region, which belonged wholly to Manassehfrom Aroer (now Arair), which is by the river Arnonthe Wady-el-Mojeb, which was the boundary between Israel and Moab (Num 21:13, Num 21:24), both in the earlier and (Isa 16:2) in the later timeseven Gilead and Bashan. There is other evidence, besides this, that Hazael was one of the most warlike of the Syrian kings. We find him, on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser II; mentioned as a stubborn adversary of the Assyrian arms. In the seventeenth campaign of Shalmaneser, a great battle was fought between the two monarchs. Hazael brought into the field more than twelve hundred chariots, but was defeated, and obliged to retreat, his camp falling into the hands of the enemy. Four years later Shalmaneser invaded Hazael’s territory, and took, according to his own account, four cities or fortresses belonging to him. He does not claim, however, to have made him a tributary; and By his later annals it is evident that he avoided further contest, preferring to turn his arms in other directions. (On Hazael’s campaign in Philistia, and designs against Jerusalem, see the comment upon 2Ki 12:17, 2Ki 12:18,)
2Ki 10:34
Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might. This last phrase is remarkable, considering that Jehu’s wars, after he became king, seem to have been entirely unsuccessful ones, that he lost a large portion of his dominions to Syria, and (as appears by the Black Obelisk) paid tribute to the Assyrians. “Might” has been ascribed by the writer of Kings only to Baasha and Omri among previous Israelite monarchs, and only to Asa and Jehoshaphat among previous Jewish ones. “All his might” has only been used of Asa. We must probably understand, that, although defeated, Jehu gained much distinction, by his personal prowess and other military qualities, in the Syrian wars, and was reckoned “a mighty man of valor” in spite of the ill success of his wars. Are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? (see the comment on 2Ki 1:18).
2Ki 10:35, 2Ki 10:36
And Jehu slept with his fathers: and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead. And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty and eight years. Twenty-eight years was a long reign for an Israelite king, only exceeded by one other king in the entire list, viz. Jeroboam II; who is said in 2Ki 14:23 to have reigned forty-one years. The kings of Judah were longer lived,
HOMILETICS
2Ki 10:1-7
The fear of man a stronger motive with the wicked and worldly than the fear of God.
Revolutions subject to severe trial most of those who occupy high stations at the time of their occurrence. Such persons have to determine, at very short notice for the most part, the line which they Will pursue, the side which they will embrace, and the lengths to which they will go in their support of it. In making their choice they are apt to think less of what they ought to do than of what their worldly interests require them to do. They “are in a strait betwixt two”on the one hand is the fear of man, on the other the fear of God. The one ought to prevail; the other commonly does prevail. Let us consider a little why this is so.
I. REASONS WHY THE FEAR OF GOD IS WEAK.
1. The wicked and worldly, who form, alas! the vast mass of mankind, do not generally even so much as realize the existence of God. They may not be absolute atheists, but practically they do not have God in their thoughts.
2. Those who believe in God and have some fear of him view him as distant, and his vengeance as a thing that may come or may not. He is merciful, and may be propitiated; he is compassionate, and may not be “extreme to mark what is done amiss” Men hope that he Will forget their misdeeds, or forgive them for his Son’s sake, or accept a tardy repentance as compensating for them and blotting them out.
3. Some view God as altogether benevolent and beneficent, and therefore as incapable of punishing men, forgetting that, if he is kind, he is also just, and, if he is forgiving, he is also jealous. They take their idea of God, not from what is revealed concerning him in Scripture, but from their own imaginations respecting himimaginations which are echoes of their wishes.
II. REASONS WHY THE FEAR OF MAN IS STRONG.
1. Man is visibly present, and has a power to injure and punish which cannot be doubted.
2. Man’s vengeance falls heavily and speedily. It is rarely delayed; and it is often of great severity.
3. It consists of pains and penalties, which are more easily realized than those which God threatens. We know very well what is meant by the death of the body, but what the death of the soul may mean is obscure to us.
4. If we offend men, it is very unlikely that they will forgive us. Most men regard clemency as a weakness, and exact the uttermost farthing from those who, they think, have injured them. Under these circumstances, the fear of man prevails. The rulers of Samaria, challenged by Jehu either to raise the standard of revolt against him, or definitely to embrace his cause, and mark their adhesion to it by imbuing their hands in blood, must have balanced in their minds for a time the two alternativesshould they consent to slay, without offence alleged, seventy persons obnoxious to the powers that were, undeterred by fear of Divine vengeance, to escape the anger of Jehu? or should they brave his anger, and refuse to engage in the massacre required of them, out of regard for the Law of God (Exo 20:13), and through fear of the vengeance denounced By God upon such as contravened it (Gen 9:6)? They yielded to the lower, but more immediate, fear, and submitted themselves to be mere tools in Jehu’s hands, because they feared man rather than God. Having made up their minds that their forces were insufficient to contend with those of Jehu, they put themselves at his disposal, and consented to do all that he required of them. So, constantly, in civil struggles, parties have put before them the alternative of following conscience and embroiling themselves with the civil authorities, or of defying those authorities, keeping their conscience clear, and observing the strict Law of God in the matters whereon they have to exercise a choice. Sometimes, as in the case of the Girondists, the better part is takenduty, truth, virtue, are preferred to expediency, and martyrdom, a glorious martyrdom, is for the most part the consequence; but generally the result is differentexpediency carries the day, and the sad spectacle is seen of men sacrificing their principles to their immediate interest, and consenting to wade through crime if they may preserve their worthless lives by so doing.
2Ki 10:8-11
The wicked have small regard for their helpers and confederates.
Jehu had made the authorities of Samaria his tools. He had required of them the performance of a wicked and bloody act, such as despotism has rarely exacted from its instruments. Seventy persons to be slain in the course of a few hoursfor no offence, for no state necessity except to smooth the path of a usurper! And the seventy persons for the most part boys and youths, some probably infants, and these defense-less ones entrusted to the care and protection of those who were now called upon to take their lives! It was a tremendous burden to cast on men not previously his partisans, not bound to him by any interchange of good offices and benefitsrather, under the circumstances, his natural opponents and adversaries. Yet they took the burden on themselves; they accepted the miserable task assigned to themthey accepted it, and carried it out. No doubt they thought that by so doing they had bound the king to them, made him their debtor, and laid him under an obligation which he would not be slow to acknowledge. But the deed once done, the deaths once accomplished, and immediately the instigator of the crime turns against his accomplices. “Ye are righteous,” he says to the crowd which has gathered together to gaze at the heads of the victims”ye can discern aright; now judge between me and these murderers. I slew my masterI killed one man, political necessity compelling me but who slew all these?” He holds up his friends and allies, without the least compunction, to the popular odium. He entirely conceals the fact that he himself has been at the root of the whole matter, has conceived the massacre, and commanded it (2Ki 10:6). He contrasts the terrible deed of blood, which has horrified all who have heard of it, with his own comparatively small crime, and claims to have his light offence condoned, overshadowed as it is by the heinous deed of the Samaritans. We do not know whether by his speech he provoked any popular outbreak. At the least, he turned the tide of popular disfavor from himself to his confederates, and left them to answer, as best they might, the serious question, “Who slew all these?” It is worth the preacher’s while to impress on men the frequency of such conduct on the part of the persons who conceive evil designs, but must have tools to execute them. There is no solidarity among those who are confederates in wickedness. We hear of “honor among thieves;” but it is often “conspicuous by its absence.” Monarchs engaged m plots denounce and disgrace their agents, when the plots fail, even sometimes permitting their execution; ministers are conveniently oblivious of the services rendered by those who win elections by intimidation and bribery; even “head-centers” are apt to look coldly on the work done by “ratteners” or “moonlighters” and, instead of commending and rewarding them, are rather anxious to disclaim all complicity in their actions. If the poor tools knew beforehand how little benefit they would derive from their wicked violence, what small thanks they would get from those who set them on, and how ready these last would be, on any difficulty arising, to leave them in the lurch, they would scarcely lend themselves to the purposes of their instigators. It is one of the weaknesses of the kingdom of evil that its agents do not keep faith one with another. It would weaken the kingdom still more if the conviction were general that this is so, and that the subordinate agents who work out an end have little to look for in the way of reward or encouragement from their employers.
2Ki 10:15-23
John and Jehonadab-the man of the world and the recluse ascetic.
Worldly policy often finds it advisable to call to its aid the sanctions of religion, and the support of those who stand high in popular estimation as religionists of more than ordinary strictness and sanctity. It is comparatively seldom in the East that a political revolution is effected without the assistance of a dervish or a mullah of high reputation for strictness of life, who throws over a questionable movement the halo of his reputed holiness. In the present instance we have, on the one hand
I. JEHU, THE MAN OF THE WORLD, versed in the ways of courts, experienced in affairs both civil and military, a good general, popular with his brother-officers, prompt in action, decided, not overburdened with scruples, and at the same time subtle, inclined to gain his ends by cunning and artifice rather than by force. Circumstances have brought him to the front, and put the direction of a politico-religious movement into his hands; but the situation is not without its risks and dangers. Jehu, if he does not absolutely require, cannot but welcome, and feel Ms position strengthened by, any spiritual support. From the time that he took action, he had not received, and he did not dare to invite, the cooperation of Elisha. He could not expect that Elisha would approve the proceedings on which he was bent, involving, as they did, a large amount of falsehood and dissimulation. All the more, therefore, must he have rejoiced when help appeared from another quarterhelp on which it is scarcely possible that he can have reckoned. Over against Jehu stands
II. JEHONADAB THE SON OF RECHAB, a chief whose position is abnormal and peculiar. The tribe of the Rechabites, whose sheikh he was, was a branch of the Kenites, Midianitish Arabs apparently, settled at the time of the Exodus in the Sinaitic peninsula. The Kenites, or some of them, had accompanied the Israelites during a large part of their wanderings in the wilderness, and had been of great assistance to them (Num 10:29-32; 1Sa 15:6); in return for which they were allowed to settle in Southern Judaea (Jdg 1:16) and other parts of the Holy Land (Jdg 4:11). They retained, however, their nomadic habits, and were a wandering people, like our gypsies, in the midst of the settled inhabitants of Palestine. When the Rechabite tribe fell under the chieftainship of Jehonadab, he appears to have bound them down by stricter rules than they had previously observed, and to have required of them an austerity of life whereof there have been few examples in the history of nations (Jer 35:6, Jer 35:7). They were to dwell in tents, avoid cities, drink no wine, and cultivate no land. Jehonadab must himself have been a recluse and an ascetic, or he would never have instituted such a “rule.” He had probably the same sort of reputation as now attaches to a Mohammedan santon or fakir, and represented to the mind of his tribe, and even to numbers among the Israelites, the strict devout religionist, whose accession to a party or a cause stamped it at once with a high moral and religious character. Jehu needed Jehonadab; but there was not much to attract Jehonadab to Jehu. He would seem to have lent Jehu his countenance simply from a regard for the honor of Jehovah, and a detestation of the Baal-worship. But he would, perhaps, have done Jehovah more honor had he held himself aloof from the crafty schemer who disgraced the cause of true religion by lies and treachery.
2Ki 10:29-33
Half-heartedness punished by God as severely as actual apostasy from true religion.
The temper of the Laodiceans is no uncommon one. Men may even think that they have a “zeal for the Lord” (2Ki 10:16), and yet show by their acts that it is every half-hearted zeala zeal that goes a certain length, and then stops suddenly. There is no reason to doubt that Jehu honestly disliked, nay, perhaps detested, the religion of Baal. It was an effeminate, sensual, weakening, debasing system, which a rough soldier might well view with abhorrence. Jehu was honest and earnest in his opposition to it, as he showed by the measures which he took to put it down. They were no half-measuresthey stamped out the religion, for the time at any rate (2Ki 10:28). But with this destructive process his zeal terminated. He did not go on to consider what he could do to reintroduce and stimulate the true worship of Jehovah. Had his thoughts moved in this direction, he would have been brought face to face with the calf-worship, and would have had to consider seriously the question of its maintenance or abolition. But this question probably never presented itself to his mind. He was not possessed by any real love of God, or desire to worship him in spirit and in truth. Had he been, he would have called in the advice and help of Elisha, and taken counsel with him as to what was best to be done. But this is exactly what he does not do. He comes into no contact with Elisha. After delivering his one great attack upon Baalism, he rests upon his oars, and is “neither cold nor hot” (Rev 3:15). Consequently, punishment fails upon him. Hazael smites him in all his coasts.” While the apostate Ahab and his dynasty had maintained the kingdom, on the whole, without serious loss or diminution of power, Jehu loses province after province to Syria, is deprived of all his trans-Jordanic territories, and induced to submit to the indignity of paying tribute to Assyria. God punishes his lukewarmness as severelymay we not say more severely than Ahab’s open rebellion?
HOMILIES BY C.H. IRWIN
2Ki 10:1-11
Ahab’s sons put to death.
Jehu’s commission is to cut off utterly the whole house of Ahab. Like a moral plague was the iniquity of Ahab’s house. Every member of it, by heredity, by example, by association, shared the guilt of Ahab and Jezebel There is a good moral reason for the extermination of such a nest of evildoers. But Jehu was not troubled with many scruples or difficulties. He had got a certain work to do, and he did it. We have here
I. FAITHLESS SERVANTS. The general corruption and demoralization were manifest in the way in which Ahab’s sons were treated by the elders of Samaria, and those that brought up Ahab’s children. It was no zeal for what was right, no particular hatred of what was wrong, that caused them to yield so complaisantly to Jehu’s real wish. Jehu, indeed, satirized them to their face. He made it appear as if he really wanted them to defend their master’s children and fight for their master’s house. It would not have been unnatural to expect this from them. But they were sore afraid. Not only were they willing, in their craven cowardice, to surrender Ahab’s children to Jehu, to let him work his own will on them, but they actually slew them with their own hands, and sent their heads to Jehu. Where there is unfaithfulness toward God, there wilt be unfaithfulness in the relations between man and man. Fickleness is a characteristic of the world’s friendships. Deception is a characteristic of the world’s business. But the Christian will be faithful to duty, to conscience, to God. “He sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not” (Psa 15:4).
II. THE UNFAILING WORD. “There shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spake concerning the house of Ahab: for the Lord hath done that which he spake by his servant Elijah.” Every judgment of God which was threatened upon Ahab’s house was fulfilled. God’s judgments upon Israelhow literally and fully have they been fulfilled! Every judgment pronounced against sin is sure of certain and complete fulfillment. So also God‘s promises will be fulfilled. Not a single promise of God was ever broken, why, then, should any of us doubt his word, his willingness to receive, his power to save, his desire to pardon? “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”C.H.I.
2Ki 10:12-14
Ahaziah’s brethren put to death.
Fresh from the scene of retribution and bloodshed at Jezreel, Jehu is now on his way to Samaria. At the shearing-house on the way he meets the brethren of Ahaziah King of Judah. Ahaziah himself had already perished at Jehu’s hands for his companionship with Jehoram. And now his brethren, not warned by Ahaziah’s fate, go down “to salute the children of the king and the children of the queen.” Jehu’s vengeance on Ahab’s house was searching and complete. He had already slain at Jezreel not only Ahab’s kinsfolk, but his great men and his priestsall who in any way showed favor or encouragement to Ahab. In the same spirit he now puts to death these brethren of Ahaziah because of their relationship and sympathy with Ahab’s house. Note here
I. THE RESULTS OF EVIL COMPANIONSHIP. “The companion of fools,” says the wise man, “shall be destroyed.” These brethren of Ahaziah might have pleaded that they were doing no harm. But the house of Ahab was notorious for its wickedness. It had been singled out for the terrible retribution of God. To keep up friendship with men and women so wicked was to become a partaker of their crimes. The old Latin proverb was Noseitur a sociis“A man is known by the company he keeps.” If we would avoid the fate of the wicked, let us avoid their fellowship. “Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.” “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”
II. THE RESULT OF UNHEEDED WARNINGS. The brethren of Ahaziah had already got a warning in the fate which had befallen their brother. But notwithstanding this, they went on to their own destruction. So men act every day.
1. God‘s Word warns them, but in vain. They laugh to scorn the message of the gospel that urges them to accept salvation, and to flee from the wrath to come. They act as the people in the days of Noah, who disregarded the warnings of that faithful, patient preacher, and knew not till the flood came and swept them all away.
2. God‘s providences warn them, but in vain. Sudden deaths remind them of life’s uncertainty. Perhaps for a day or two they are impressed; and then they become engrossed with the world again. If one were to speak to them about their soul, they would say, “Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.”
3. Goers judgments warn them, but in vain. The intemperate man, the immoral man, the dishonest man, infatuated with evil desires, go on in their sinful courses, notwithstanding the ruin and misery, the premature deaths, the unhappy lives, the degradation and disgrace, which so many have suffered in consequence of these sins. “See that ye refuse not him that speaketh.”C.H.I.
2Ki 10:15-31
The zeal of Jehu, and its lessons.
Jehu is now going up to Samaria with the resolve to destroy the prophets of Baal firmly rooted in his heart. On his way he meets Jehonadab the son of Rechab. This Jehonadab was the founder of the Rechabites. It was he who commanded his children to drink no wine, to build no houses, and plant no vineyards, but to live in tents all their daysa command which was so scrupulously obeyed by their descendants that the Lord instructed the Prophet Jeremiah to hold them up as an example of obedience to the Jews in after-years; and with this obedience God was so much pleased that he made the promise that Jonadab the son of Rechab should not want a man to stand before him forever. It was this simple-minded, temperate, serf-denying man whom Jehu met in his career of vengeance and ambition, and whom doubtless he wanted to associate with himself in order to give a measure of respectability to his further proceedings. He invited him into his chariot, and said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord.”
I. THERE WAS MUCH THAT WAS GOOD ABOUT JEHU‘S ZEAL. From the day that Jehu got his work to do, he lost no time in the doing of it. He was eminently a man of action. That he had good qualities no one can doubt. There are many things that are attractive about Jehu. He was a brave and fearless soldier. Decision, earnestness, promptness, thoroughness,these were the chief features of his character, His decided character impressed itself on every detail of his life. When he was still far off from Jezreel, the watchman upon the city wall was able to distinguish him in the dim distance by the way he drove his horses. “The driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously.” He did not waste many words. When the messengers of King Jehoram rode out to meet him with the question, “Is it peace?” his answer to one after the other of them, without reining in his homes for a moment, was, “What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me.” Neither did he waste words when he came to deal with Jezebel and Jehoram. He knew that in such work as he was engaged there is danger in delay. We may learn much from what was good in Jehu’s character. Zeal itself is a grand thing. It is men of zeal who have revolutionized the world. Moses was a man of zeal. So was Elijah. So was Daniel. So was St. Paul. So was Martin Luther. SO was John Knox. All these men were mocked at as fools and fanatics and enthusiasts in their time. But every one of those men has left his mark for good upon the history of the world. We may say the same of such enthusiasts as William Wilberforce and John Howard, and, to come to more modern times, as Plimsoll, the sailors’ friend. It is the world’s enthusiasts that have been its greatest benefactors. Yes; we want more zeal; we want more enthusiasm. It is the fashion amongst many to sneer at enthusiasm, and to mock at zeal. But let those who mock at enthusiasm show what they can do compared with what the enthusiasts have done. Give me the man who has an enthusiasm about something. Give me the man who thinks that life is worth living, and that there is something worth living for. Let it be study, let it be business, let it be one of the learned professionsthe man who has enthusiasm in his work is the man that is most likely to succeed. If there is any one who should show enthusiasm, it is the Christian. Who should be so full of zeal? Who has so much cause to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory? Who can point to such a leader as the great Captain of our salvation? What example so inspiring as the example of Christ? What name is such a watchword as the precious Name of Jesusthe Name above every name? Who can look forward to such a prospect as that which awaits the faithful Christian? “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life.” Who has such resources at his disposal as the Christian for work and conflict? Zeal! surely the Christian ought to overflow with zeal. Zeal! when he thinks of his Savior and his cross. Zeal! when he thinks that heaven with all its glory awaits him. Zeal! when he thinks of the welcome from the King. Zeal! when he thinks how short his time is here. Zeal! when he thinks of the perishing and needy all around him. Yes; it is well to have within your heart the glow and fire of Christian zeal. What if the careless and the callous, the godless and the worldly, mock? You have a heart, you have a hope, you have a strength, that is above their shallow sneers. And, having Christian zeal, let it not spend itself in mere sentiment, profession, or words. But let it show itself in action prompt and decisive, in earnestness and thoroughness of life. “Whatever ye do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord, and not unto men.”
II. THERE WAS MUCH THAT WAS WRONG, AND THERE WAS SOMETHING WANTING, IN JEHU‘S ZEAL.
1. There was much that was wrong mingled with Jehu‘s zeal.
(1) In the first place, there was boastfulness. “Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord.” The man who thus parades his good deeds is lacking in one of the first elements of true goodness and usefulness, and that is humility. Yet there has been a good deal of that kind of zeal for God in all ages. The Pharisees considered themselves very zealous for the Law of God, but they sounded a trumpet before them when they gave their alms, and loved to pray standing at the corner of the streets. We have not the sounding of the trumpet nowadays in the same form, but we have other ways of making known our generous and philanthropic acts. There is nothing wrong in these acts being made known. On the contrary, a public acknowledgment of charitable and religious contributions is necessary to guard against fraudulence and deceit. It is of use also to remind others of their duty and stimulate them, perhaps, to greater liberality. But when we give our alms in order that we may be known to have given them”to be seen of men”we give from a wrong motivewe do that which Christ condemned. It is the same with all branches of Christian work. And it seems to be one of the dangers of modem Christian life that there is too much temptation to boast of mere numbers in our Churches, or of so much money accumulated, or of so many converts made. Too many Christian workers act like Jehu when he said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord.” True Christian work is far quieter than this.
(2) There was something worse than boastfulness in Jehu’s zeal. There was cruel treachery and deceit. When he came to Samaria, he gathered all the people together and said, “Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu shall serve him much.” Then, under the pretence of offering a great sacrifice to Baal, he assembled all the worshippers of Baal in the temple of that false deity, and, having thus unfairly and deceitfully entrapped them, caused them to be put to death. It was an act of deceit for which there was no excuse. Matthew Henry truly observes, “God’s service requires not man’s lie.” What a contrast to Elijah’s honest, outspoken conduct when he, single-handed, confronted the prophets of Baal, and put their god and his God to the test! No cause will ever prosper, no matter how much zeal may be manifested in it, if it is built up by the treachery and deceit of those who are at the head of it. Let us never so far accommodate ourselves to the false morality of our time as to do evil that good may come. God can, and does, bring good out of evil. But those who do the evil must suffer for it, according to that Divine law of retribution which was so plainly and terribly fulfilled in the case of Ahab and Jezebel.
2. In addition to all this, there was something wanting in all Jehu‘s zeal. He had not the love of God in his heart. He had indeed obeyed God’s command and fulfilled his commission in one particular direction, but the ruling motive in his actions would seem to have been personal ambition. It was no hatred of idolatry as such that caused him to destroy the worship of Baal. Perhaps it was because it was a foreign worship. It certainly was not his zeal for the pure worship of God, because we read, “Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan” (verse 29). And again, “But Jehu took no heed to walk in the Law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart” (verse 31). We may learn here that a man may have the outward form of godliness without the power of it. He may appear to be a foremost worker in the cause of religion, and yet have no religion in his own heart. He may even appear to be a great religious reformer, and yet he may be utterly destitute of any personal reformation of character. Jehu was able to pull down, but he built nothing up. Why? Because his own character and life were not founded on the rock. He had not begun at the beginningthe fear of God and the Law of God. “He took no heed to walk in the Law of God with all his heart.” See to it that your zeal springs from a right motive, and that it works in ways of which God will approve.
III. NOTE HERE SOME LESSONS ABOUT GOD‘S DEALINGS.
1. God often makes use of even godless men. Perhaps you start at this. Yes; but it is true. He uses them for certain purposes. There are some things which do not require a high kind of character. So God sometimes uses even wicked men to be the executioners of his judgments. The kings and nations whom he used to execute his judgments upon Israel were by no means righteous themselves. Many of them were grossly corrupt. But they were the rod in his hand to chasten and punish his offending people. We might give many illustrations from history. To take one only. King Henry VIII. of England was far from being a model man, yet God in his all-wise providence used his quarrel with the pope to be the means of furthering and establishing the Reformation in England. It was in the time of Henry VIII. that for the first time the papal supremacy in England was overthrown.
2. God gives such agents of his justice and providence their own reward. We find this in the case of Jehu. For the good he had done, God rewarded him. He had set his heart on the throne, and God gave it to him. The measure of our desires is very often the measure of our blessings. If we set our ambition on earthly rank, or riches, or honor as our chief good, we shall very likely get them. But in getting them We shall perhaps lose something that is far better worth having. “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
3. For God‘s work of salvation, he uses consecrated men. Jehu was of use as a destroyer, as an image-breaker, but he was no national or moral reformer in the true sense. He was of no spiritual benefit to others. For such work God uses only those who themselves have received spiritual blessing. There is a limit to the extent and to the ways in which he will use godless men. Even DavidGod’s own servant, who had repented of his sinswas not permitted to build a house to his Name, because his hands were stained with blood; he had been a man of war all his days. David was permitted to provide and store up the material, but to Solomon, David’s son, was given the great honor of buildings, a temple to the God of Israel. If we want to be of use in God s service, we must be thoroughly consecrated to God. We must be vessels meet for the Master’s use. “Their hands must be clean, who bear the vessels of the Lord.” It is personal character that gives power for God’s service. It is personal character that gives fitness for God’s fellowship here and hereafter. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”C.H.I.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR
2Ki 10:1-14
Destruction of Ahab’s house.
Jehu was not a man to do things by halves. Whatever matter he had in hand, he pushed with unhesitating feet to his goal. His motto was, “If it were then done when ’tis done, then ’twere well it were done quickly.” This vigorous determination is a feature in his character worthy of commendation It is not so clear that the craft and guile he employed in securing his ends were, even from an Old Testament standpoint, justifiable.
I. THE CRAFTY MESSAGE. No small amount of craft, as this chapter shows, mingled with Jehu’s headlong zeal.
1. The seed royal in Samaria. The direct posterity of Ahabhere called Ahab’s sonsamounted to seventy persons. Some may have been his own children, others the children of Jehoram, or of his other sons. They resided at Samaria, and were under the care of nobles responsible for their education and up-bringing. On them, too, the judgment of God was to fall. In itself it was a common Oriental practice for the founder of a new dynasty to put to death the descendants and blood-relations of his predecessor (cf. 1Ki 15:29; 1Ki 16:11; 2Ki 11:1; 2Ki 25:7). This was to protect the new ruler from blood-vengeance. In the present case the destruction was by direct command of Heaven. The principle of corporate responsibility for sins committed is recognized and- acted on throughout the Old Testament (see Mozley’s ‘Ruling Ideas of the Old Testament’). It embodies a truth of permanent validity (Mat 23:34, Mat 23:35). Nevertheless, a pathos attends a fate like that of Ahab’s sons. “Whirled down,” as Carlyle says of other unfortunates, “so suddenly to the abyss; as men are, suddenly, by the wide thunder of the mountain avalanche, awakened not by them, awakened far off by others.”
2. The crafty letter. Having struck his first blow, Jehu lost no time in delivering his second. But instead of openly advancing to Samaria, and demanding the surrender of the seventy sons, he proceeds by guile. His policy was, not to put the nobles and elders in Samaria in opposition to him, but to gain them to his side. His further object was to implicate those persons in his deeds, by making them the direct agents in the slaughter of Ahab’s sons. The manner in which he accomplished these ends shows no little skill. He first sends a letter to the great men in the capital, offering them a challenge to open war. He recounts to them their advantagesthe presence of their master’s sons, a fortified city, horses, chariots, armor, etc.; then bids them select the one of Ahab’s descendants whom they think most suitable, and make him king, and fight for their master’s house. This put the nobles in the dilemma, either of getting up an improvised resistance to Jehu, or of making unconditional submission. No time was given them to consider. They must decide at once, and that, in circumstances like theirs, meant only submission.
3. The submissive reply. The course taken by the nobles and elders was what Jehu anticipated. A terrible panic took possession of them. They saw how vain it was to attempt war with the most popular and energetic general in the army, backed as he was by the support of other captains. They had no head, and, notwithstanding Jehu’s sarcastic list of their advantages, no proper means of defense. The fact that two kingsnot to speak of Jezebelhad already fallen before this “scourge of God” added to their dismay. With the unanimity of despair, “he that was over the house, and he that was over the city, the elders also, and the bringers up of the children,” indebted a humble epistle, sent it to Jehu, and put themselves entirely in his hands, offering to do whatever he bade them. Necessity is a terrible tyrant. How many things men yield to force and fear which they would not yield to reason or persuasion!
II. THE TREACHEROUS MASSACRE.
1. The new demand. Jehu took the leaders at their word, and sent them the conditions of his acceptance of their submission. If they were his, and would hearken to his voice, the proof of allegiance he would require of them would be that they bring to him by the same hour to-morrow the heads of their master’s sons. The requisition was peremptory, the time given brief, and they had already committed themselves by promising obedience to whatever Jehu wished. Their case was a hard one; nevertheless, the act they were called upon to perform was, from their side, a revolting and treacherous one.
2. Ahab‘s sons slain. Hateful as the requirement was, the nobles and elders of Samaria, now that they had come to terms with Jehu, do not seem to have shown any hesitation in carrying it out. The sons of Ahab had been entrusted to their care; they had no quarrel with them; they did not profess to be moved by any regard for a command of God; yet now that policy and their own safety dictated that their charges should be given up to death, they acquiesced without a murmur. This shows the weakness of moral feeling in the riding classes of Samaria. It shows how utterly rotten were all the bends that bound man to man. The willingness with which the men of Jezreel swore away Naboth’s life at Jezebel’s command (1Ki 19:1-21.) was one instance, and here is another. “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man” (Psa 146:3). Political morality is of the weakest fiber. For some paltry interest men will turn their backs to-morrow on the most sacred professions of today. They will forswear the closest friendships, stoop even to the lowest treachery.
3. Jehu‘s public appeal. That very evening apparently, the heads of Ahab’s sons were brought to Jehu in baskets. He bade them be piled in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning. Then, standing in the gateway, he called the people to witness that the leaders in Samaria were as deeply incriminated as he. They, the people whom he addressed, were “righteous,” i.e. clear from blood-guiltiness, and might be disposed to judge him severely for his acts of the previous day. He acknowledged that he had conspired against his master, and had slain him; butpointing to the pyramids of headswho had slain all these? In truth, he went on to aver, not any of them were guilty, for this was but the fulfillment of the word of the Lord which he had spoken by Elijah.
(1) Jehu was right in his averment, “Know now that there shall fall to the earth nothing of the word of the Lord.” Many demonstrations of that fact have been given. We do well to impress the truth upon our minds.
(2) It is a common thing for men to shield themselves from the consequences of their acts by pleading that others are as guilty as they are. This, however, will not justify them.
III. AHAZIAH‘S BRETHREN. A further act in the tragedy of the destruction of Ahab’s house took place at a certain shearing-house on the read to Samaria. Thither forty-two brethren (kinsmen) of Ahaziah had come down on their way to pay a pleasure visit to their relations, the princes at the capital. They were apparently as yet unaware of the revolution that had taken place. It was, however, to prove a costly visit to them. Jehu, fresh from his work of blood, encountered them at the shearing-house, and, on ascertaining who they-were, had them all put to death on the spot their bodies were cast into the pit of the place. In pursuit of their pleasures, how many, like Ahaziah’s brethren, have found themselves overtaken by death! The way of pleasure is, for many, the way of deaththe way to the pit of destruction.J.O.
2Ki 10:15-28
Destruction of the worshippers of Baal.
The plans of Jehu were already assuming larger shape. He had now a scheme in view for rooting Baal entirely out of the land.
I. THE MEETING WITH JEHONADAB.
1. A helpful ally. While relying mainly on his own promptitude and energy, Jehu had a shrewd eye to whatever would help to strengthen his position before the people. Hasting to Samaria in his chariot, he met a man of much reputation for sanctityJehonadab the son of Rechab. As a protest against the corruption and luxury of his time, Jehonadab had withdrawn from life in cities, and had laid upon his sons a vow that they would drink no wine, neither build houses, nor plant vineyards, but would dwell in tents all their days (Jer 35:6, Jer 35:7). To get this man of ascetic virtue on his side would, Jehu felt, greatly fortify his claims. It would give color and repute to his proceedings. Jehu at once sounded Jehonadab as to his feelings in regard to him, and finding that Jehonadab’s heart was as his heart, he extended his hand to the anchorite, and took him up with him into his chariot. It is noticeable how anxious men who make no pretensions to godliness often are to get the countenance and approval of good men for their deeds. Hypocrisy has been called the homage which vice pays to virtue, and this desire for the approval of a holy man is, in another form, the tribute of worldly policy to the superior power of character.
2. Zeal for the Lord. “Come with me,” said Jehu, “and see my zeal for the Lord.”
(1) Of Jehu’s “zeal,” in itself considered, there could be no question. Zeal was his most prominent characteristic. His zeal is seen in his eager haste to attain his ends, in his scouting of difficulties, in the thoroughness with which each piece of work is accomplished, in the quickness and skill of his devices. Such zeal is in large measure a natural endowmenta thing of temperament. Still, it is an essential to success in practical undertakings, spiritual as well as worldly. The man who gets on is the man who does not let the grass grow beneath his feet, who is an enthusiast, in, what he takes in hand. “It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing” (Gal 4:18).
(2) More doubtful is the quality of Jehu’s zeal “for the Lord.” Ostensibly it was God’s will Jehu was carrying out; outwardly it was God’s work he was doing. He may even have persuaded himself into the belief that he was honestly and disinterestedly serving God’s ends. But the result showed that, in serving God, it was really his own ends Jehu was serving. His zeal was impure. It was largely inspired by selfish ambition, by considerations of policy, by the thought of the reward to himself. It was impure also in its admixture of craft and worldly expediency. Had the same service been proposed to Jehu without any apparent material advantages to himself, his zeal would not have been so easily evoked.
(3) Similarly, how much that passes for “zeal for the Lord” in this world is of the same impure nature! How much of it is inspired by sectarian rivalry, by party spirit, by the desire to make “a fair show in the flesh” (Gal 6:12), by self-interest and worldly policy! How largely is it alloyed with human passion and intrigue! Truly we do well to examine ourselves. Zeal is to be tested, not by its passing and spasmodic exhibitions, but by its power of endurance amidst good report and evil report.
3. The end of Ahab‘s house, When Jehu reached Samaria with Jehonadab, he made an end of all that remained of the family of Ahabthe word of the Lord by Elijah being thus completely fulfilled.
II. THE FEAST TO BAAL.
1. Jehu‘s proclamation. Hitherto Jehu had acted without giving to any one much explanation of his motives and designs. He had denounced to Jehoram Jezebel’s idolatries and witchcrafts; he had whispered to Jehonadab of his “zeal for the Lord;” but to the eye of the crowd his proceedings bore only the complexion of an ordinary political conspiracy. Having established himself upon the throne, the stage was clear for the revelation of his own intentions. And great dismay must have spread through the ranks of all those who looked for a revival of true religion from the downfall of Ahab’s house, when the first public manifesto of the new king proclaimed him an enthusiastic worshipper of Baal. “Ahab,” were his words, “served Baal a little; but Jehu shall serve him much.” If Ahab’s service of Baal was reckoned little, what was to be expected from one who would serve him so much more? It was certain that, whatever Jehu did, he would do it with abounding zeal. If he took up Baal’s cause, there was no saying to what lengths he would carry it, or what severities he would employ to crush rival worships. Terrible disappointment would seize the hearts of the worshippers of Jehovah; and the servants of Baal, who had thought their cause destroyed, would be correspondingly elated. It is good neither to be unduly uplifted nor too heavily cast down at unexpected turns in public affairs. Those who rely for the success of their cause on the favors of great men are apt to be sorely disappointed.
2. The deluded assembly. It seemed at the first as if Jehu were to be every whir as good as his word. His proclamation not only included a declaration of his fixed intention to worship Baal, but gave effect to that intention by summoning a great assembly of the prophets, priests, and servants of Baal, to be held in the house of Baal at Samaria. A day was set apart, and the assembly was proclaimed throughout all Israel. The king was to offer a great sacrifice, publicly ratifying his avowal of allegiance to the heathen god. From all parts of the land the worshippers of Baal come trooping up, and the spacious courts of the great “house of Baal” were filled to overflowing. As if to give the highest possible eclat to the occasion, Jehu first ordered vestments to be produced from the temple or palace robe-chamber, and given to the worshipers; then he caused search to be made that none but servants of Baal were present. The worshippers of Baal were charmed; yet in truth they were there as sheep gathered together for the slaughter. All this, we are told, “Jehu did in subtilty, to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal.” It is impossible to condone this extant hypocrisy, which even went the length of offering up a sacrifice to the false god. How unlike the open challenge of Elijah, who gave orders, indeed, for the destruction of Baal’s prophets, but only after they had been publicly convicted of imposture (1Ki 18:1-46.)! We must not do evil, even that good may come. We see, however, how sometimes the wicked are on the very brink of their destruction when their hearts are most lifted up (Est 5:11, Est 5:12; Psa 73:18-20). Things are not always what they seem. It is no uncommon thing to see the haters of truth given up to believe a delusion, that they may be destroyed.
III. BAAL ROOTED OUT.
1. The guards posted. While the festal throng is rejoicing within, eighty strong guards are posted without by the wily Jehu, to secure that none shall escape. To the captains and guard are committed the task of actual slaughter.
2. Jehu‘s sacrifice. Proceeding to the interior, Jehu takes part in the various solemnities. At length the worship reaches its climax in the offering of the great burnt offering of the king. This, as remarked above, was an act not to be justified. It showed how little Jehu understood the spiritual nature of God, or was sincerely desirous of serving him, when he could bring himself to promote God’s cause by going through this idolatrous farce. Is it, however, worse than many other things that are professedly done in the Name, and ostensibly for the honor, of God?
3. A promiscuous slaughter. When the festivity was thus at its height, Jehu gave the word, and, the soldiers entering, an indiscriminate and merciless slaughter took place. Not one of Baal’s worshippers was allowed to escape. It was a fearful massacre, but seems effectually to have rooted Baal-worship out of the land. The slaughter of the deluded votaries was followed by the breaking down of the house of Baal, with its pillars, images, etc. The retribution in itself was righteous, and shadows forth the terrible, sudden, and overwhelming ruin that shall yet overtake all God’s enemies. But the deed of vengeance is sadly stained with human passion, deceit, and wrong.J.O.
2Ki 10:29-36
The reign of Jehu.
Under this head we note
I. JEHU‘S REWARD.
1. Four generations on the throne. Jehu had outwardly fulfilled the commission given him by God, and had wrought a great deliverance for Israel. This public service God acknowledged by the promise that his sons should sit upon the throne to the fourth generation. The service was outward, and the reward was outward. Approval of Jehu’s deeds did not extend to approval of every detail in his conduct. The limit”fourth generation”already implies that Jehu was not all he should have been, and anticipates that his sons would not be morally better, else the line would have been continued.
2. The stain of blood. Jehu had shed much blood. Guilt could not be imputed to him in this, so far as he was acting under an express Divine command. He “delivered his soul” (Eze 33:9), however, only if this Divine command furnished the actual motive of his conduct. If the Divine mandate but covered designs of selfish ambition, the stain of blood came back on him. Hence the different judgment passed on these deeds in Hos 1:4, “I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu.” In 2 Kings Jehu’s acts are regarded on their outward side, while in Hosea they are considered on their inner and spiritual side. His real character was made apparent by his subsequent deeds. He obeyed God only so far as he could at the same time serve himself. He would willingly have shed the same amount of blood to secure the throne for himself, had there been no Divine command at all. It hence became impossible to exonerate him from a measure of blood-guiltiness. By making himself one with Ahab in his sins, Jehu fell back to the position of an ordinary manslayer.
II. JEHU‘S FAILURE.
1. His sin. Generally it is affirmed that, after his elevation to the throne, “he took no heed to walk in the Law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart,” and particularly it is charged against him that he did not remove the golden calves of Jeroboam. He continued that idolatrous and schismatic worship at Bethel and at Dan. This means that his “zeal for the Lord” stopped short at the point needed for the consolidation of his own power. Once seated on the throne, with no more blood of Ahab’s house to shed, he became indifferent to religious reform. The self-will that underlay his pretended zeal for God thus became apparent. It seemed to him politically prudent to keep up the division of the kingdoms by perpetuating the calf-worship of Jeroboam; so, though he knew it was wrong, he refrained from interfering with it. We see in this the distinction between true and false zeal. True zeal for God is careful above all things to walk in God’s ways. It honors his commandment above considerations of expediency. It is not spasmodic, but persists in well-doing. False zeal, on the contrary, is fitful and willful. It is moved when self-interest, or private passion, or inclination, or the praise of men, coincides with the Divine command; it throws off the mask when religion and interest point in opposite directions. It is time alone can test the quality of zeal.
2. His punishment. We find that after his declension Jehu suffered severe losses of territory. Hazael and the Syrians pressed in, and took from him most of the land on the east side of Jordan. It is not difficult to connect the two things as cause and effect. Had Jehu remained faithful to God, it is not to be thought that he would have suffered these losses. Because he did not remain faithful, he was scourged more severely than perhaps another man would have been. He was raised up to punish others, and, foreseeing his declension, an instrument had been prepared to punish him (2Ki 8:12). When God was against him, his generalship and valor were of no avail. We are thus taught that true self-interest and irreligion do not coincide. Jehu sought his own ends, and, as a politic ruler, thought it wiser to disobey God than to run the risk of putting down a popular idolatry. The result showed how short-sighted his calculations were. The wisest course, even for our own interests, is to do what God requires. Nothing more is told of the twenty-eight years’ reign of Jehu. He was buried in Samaria, and his son Jehoahaz succeeded him.J.O.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
2Ki 10:1. Sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel From the context some have thought, that the letters were sent to the rulers of Samaria; and this they think the more probable, as the LXX render it Samaria, and not Jezreel. Le Clerc conjectures, that the rulers of Jezreel, who had the care of Ahab’s children, might have been fled with them to Samaria. In the Vulgate it is read, to the nobles, or chief men of the city; a reading which Houbigant follows, and thinks is confirmed by the 5th verse. See his note, and Pilkington’s Remarks.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
THIRD EPOCH
FROM THE ELEVATION OF JEHU TO THE THRONE UNTIL THE DESTRUCTION OF THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL
2 Kings 10-17
FIRST SECTION
the monarchy under jehu in israel and under athalia and joash in judah
2 Kings 10-12
A.The Reign of Jehu
2Ki 10:1-36
1And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel [the city],1 to the elders, and to them that brought up [the guardians of] Ahabs children, saying,2 2Now as soon as this letter cometh to you, seeing your masters sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, a fenced city, also, and armor [weapons]: 3look even out the best and meetest of your masters sons, and [that ye may] set him on his fathers throne, and fight for3 your masters house. 4But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, Behold, two kings stood not before him: how then shall we stand? 5And he that was over the house [palace], and he that was over the city, the elders also, and the bringers up of the children, sent to Jehu, saying, We are thy servants, and will do all that thou shalt bid us; we will not make any [one] king: do thou that which is good in thine eyes. 6Then he wrote a [second] letter the second time [omit the second time] to them, saying, If ye be mine [on my side], and if ye will hearken unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men your masters sons, and come to me to Jezreel by to morrow this time. [(]Now the kings sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought them up[)]. 7And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the kings sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent him them to Jezreel. 8And there came a messenger, and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the kings sons. And he said, Lay ye them in two heaps at the entering in [entrance] of the gate until the morning. 9And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, Ye be righteous [just]: behold, I conspired against 10my master, and slew him: but who slew all these? Know now [therefore] that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spake concerning the house of Ahab: for the Lord hath done that which Hebrews 11 spake by his servant Elijah. So [And] Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his kinsfolks [intimate friends], and his priests [chief officers], until he left4 him none remaining [no survivor].
12And he arose and departed, and came to Samaria. And [On the way,] as he was at the shearing house in the way [Shepherds House of Meeting], 13Jehu met with the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, Who are ye? And they answered, We are the brethren of Ahaziah; and we go down to salute the children of the king and the children of the queen[-mother]. 14And he said, Take them alive. And they took them alive, and slew them at the pit of the shearing house [House of Meeting], even two and forty men; neither left he any of them.
15And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him: and he saluted him, and said to him, Is thine heart right [verily sincere], as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is [Verily, verily, it is]. If it be [said Jehu], give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot. 16And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord. So they [he]5 made him ride in his chariot. 17And when he came to Samaria, he slew all that remained unto Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed him, according to the saying of the Lord, which he spake to Elijah.
18And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said unto them, Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu shall serve him much. 19Now therefore call unto me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests; let none be wanting: for I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal; whosoever shall be wanting, he shall not live. But Jehu did it in subtilty, to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal. 20And Jehu said, Proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal. And they proclaimed it. 21And Jehu sent through all Israel: and all the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that came not. And they came into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal was full from one end to another [wall to wall]. 22And he said unto him that was over the vestry, Bring forth vestments for all the worshippers of Baal. And he brought them forth vestments. 23And Jehu went, and Jehonadab the son of Rechab, into the house of Baal, and [he, (Jehu)] said unto the worshippers of Baal, Search, and look that there be here with you none of the servants of the Lord, but the worshippers of Baal only. 24And when they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings, Jehu appointed [stationed] fourscore men without, and said, If [Whoso lettethomit if]6 any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escape, he that letteth him go, his life shall be for the life of him [he shall pay for it, life for life]. 25And it came to pass, as soon as he [they] had made an end of [completed the preparations for] offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains [royal foot-guards and horse-guards], Go in, and slay them; let none [not one] come forth. And they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains [foot-guards and horse-guards] cast them out, 26and went [pressed through] to the city [strong-hold] of the house of Baal. And they brought forth the images out of the house of Baal, and burned them. 27And they brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house [privy] unto this day.
28, 29Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel. Howbeit, from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Beth-el, and that were in Dan. 30And the Lord said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well [been zealous] in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel. 31But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.
32In those days the Lord began to cut [off parts from] Israel short [omit short]: and Hazael smote them in all the coasts [along the entire frontier] of Israel; 33from Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan. 34Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel? 35And Jehu slept with his fathers: and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead. 36And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty and eight years.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
2Ki 10:1. Seventy sons in Samaria, &c. 2Ki 10:3 shows (your masters sons) that the grandsons of Ahab are included, for the master cannot mean Ahab, who had been dead for twelve years, but Joram. We must understand the words as referring to all the male descendants of Ahab.To Samaria, to the rulers of Jezreel. 2Ki 10:5 shows who are meant, viz., he who was over the house (palace), and he who was over the city; and we may understand it to refer to Samaria, which was the capital and the residence of the king, and not to Jezreel, which only served as summer residence of the court. The governors, who were the highest officers in Samaria, cannot possibly have been the rulers of Jezreel, for these could have had no authority in Samaria. The word is entirely wasting in the Sept. and Vulg. The former have ; the latter has: ad optimates civitatis et ad majores natu. Keil, therefore, conjectures that is an error , This is favored by , before which, since it cannot be taken as an apposition to , must certainly be supplied. This seems better than, with Clericus, Michaelis, and Ewald, to change into , or, with Thenius, to adopt the conjecture that there stood in the original text: He sent from Jezreel to the rulers of Samaria. The are the tutors appointed by Ahab for his sons.
2Ki 10:2. Only the main point of Jehus letter is given (2Ki 5:6). It is not necessary to understand that this letter was a trick, or irony, or scorn, as is generally done; it rather expresses contrariness or perversity. Its meaning may be expressed thus: I am king; but if you, who have chariots and horses and weapons in your power, want to put a prince of Ahabs house on the throne, commence a war with me. [The letter is very characteristic in its form. It is composed in that comprehensive satire which says much in a few words. It implies self-confidence so great that the writer can afford to tantalize the reader with an apparent command of the situation, and an apparent freedom of choice, which in reality he has not got. It implies also a threat of consequences if the readers are sanguine enough to choose the policy of resistance. If on the other hand they choose the policy of submission, they will find out what they have to do to please the new ruler. It is a satirical and scornful challenge.W. G. S.] As Jehu was well known to them by reputation as one of the boldest and bravest generals, and no one of them felt competent to meet him, they became frightened, and surrendered at once; all the more readily when they heard what he had already done. It was very cautious of him not to go himself immediately, with his small force (2Ki 9:17), against the strongly fortified city of Samaria, but to first write them threatening letters, so as to find out what disposition he must expect to find in the capital.
2Ki 10:6. Then he wrote a second letter, &c. The reason why Jehu not only commands to put to death the sons of Ahab, but also to bring their heads, at the same hour the next day, to Jezreel, which was nine hours, journey from Samaria, is plain from 2Ki 10:9-10. It was important for him to be acknowledged, by the people as king as soon as possible. The people were to be convinced by the sight of the heads that all who might eventually become pretenders to the crown were dead, and also that the rulers and the great men of the kingdom, who had sent these heads, had thereby broken utterly with the dynasty of Ahab.The parenthesis in 2Ki 10:6 is not to be translated according to the massoretic punctuation: The kings sons were seventy persons, for this would be an entirely superfluous repetition of 2Ki 10:1. It means rather that the sons, mentioned in 2Ki 10:1, resided with these important persons ( is not a sign of the nominative, but a preposition: with), and that this is the reason why the command was addressed to them.
2Ki 10:8. Jehu ordered the heads to be brought to the entrance of the gate, because the people were accustomed to assemble there. It is an old oriental custom to cut off the heads of slain enemies, and then to show these publicly, 2Ma 15:30; 1Sa 17:54 (cf. Winer, R.-W.-B., i. s. 681). Even now, in the Orient, the heads of those who are beheaded are placed upon the gate, in order that they may be seen by all.
2Ki 10:9 sq. And said to all the people, &c. The sight of the seventy heads very naturally produced consternation among the people, probably also dissatisfaction and complaints against Jehu, the supposed cause of their death. Thereupon he appeared before the people in order to soothe them. He does not attack them rudely, but appeals to their just judgment. Ye are just; i.e., not, Ye insist upon it that ye are right (Luther); nor: Ye are righteous, i.e., I declare you guiltless (Richter); nor: Now is the sin of the people atoned for, now are ye once more righteous before God; the punishment began through me, here ye see how it has gone on (Gerlach). The sense is rather: Ye are just, so judge yourselves; I have, it is true, made a conspiracy against Joram and killed him; but I did not kill these seventy. The rulers in Samaria, the friends of the house of Ahab, the tutors of the royal princes, killed these. If ye will lament and complain, ye have far greater reason to do so against them than against me, but consider that both I and they acted according to divine ordinance and in consequence of the sentence which Elijah, the great prophet, pronounced. In all this, Jehu carefully conceals the main point, viz., that the murders were committed by his command. Perhaps he saw a providential dispensation in the very fact that the rulers at Samaria yielded to him at once, and executed his further commands from fear. His speech had the desired effect. The people ceased their complaints and resigned themselves contentedly. He was thereby encouraged to go farther, and to put to death all the higher officers and friends of the house of Ahab, as is recorded in 2Ki 10:11. The are not Ahabs relatives (Luther, E. V.), but his friends and intimate companions. In like manner are not his priests (Keil), but, as in 2Sa 8:18 and 1Ki 4:5, his highest officers and servants. The turn of the idolatrous priests came later (2Ki 10:18 sq.). Not until after this had all taken place, did Jehu go to Samaria, where he no longer needed to fear any opposition (2Ki 10:12).
2Ki 10:12. At the Shepherds House of Meeting. The Chaldee version has , the meeting-house of the shepherds, so that it was probably a house which stood alone, and which served the shepherds of the region round about as a place of assembling. The commonest interpretation is, binding-house (where the shepherds tied up their sheep for the shearing), but opposed to this is the fact that the shearing and not the binding is the main point in that connection, and moreover, that the shearing took place, according to Gen 38:12; 1Sa 25:2; 2Sa 13:23, in the separate localities, and not at one place for an entire district (Thenius).
2Ki 10:13. Instead of Brethren of Ahaziah, 2Ch 22:8 has: Sons of the brethren of Ahaziah. Considering the comprehensiveness of the signification of , this is no contradiction. We must understand in general cousins and relatives of Ahaziah. They undertook the journey to Jezreel, as they themselves say in 2Ki 10:13, ad salutandum, in order to make a friendly visit at the court there. The fact that they came in such a large number shows clearly that Joram, at this time, no longer lay ill from his wound, but was already recovered, as we saw also from 2Ki 9:21. They expected to enjoy a pleasant visit, and knew nothing of what had occurred since they last heard from the court of Joram. When Jehu heard who they were and whither they were going, he called to his retinue: Take them alive; i.e., take them captives. Perhaps they would not submit to be captured, and undertook, as many suppose, to defend themselves, whereupon he caused them to be slaughtered. There is no ground whatever for the notion which Duncker adopts, that he did this in the hope of getting possession of the kingdom of Judah also. There is no sign anywhere of any such intention on the part of Jehu. Evidently his purpose was, by slaying these relatives of Ahab, who, as their journey showed, were friends and retainers of the house of Ahab, to make every attempt at blood-vengeance, or at the overthrow of his royal authority, impossible.
2Ki 10:15. He lighted on Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, &c. No one doubts that this is the same Jehonadab who, according to Jer 35:1-19, gave to the so-called Rechabites their stern, nomadic rules of life, and whom they there call their father. Josephus says of him: , [] . It is uncertain whether his meeting with Jehu was accidental, or whether Jehonadab came on purpose to meet him. According to the Hebrew text Jehu saluted him and said: Is thine heart right, &c. According to Josephus, Jehonadab saluted Jehu, and commenced to praise him, because he had done everything according to the will of God for the rooting out of the house of Ahab. Jehu called upon him to mount into the chariot, and to ride with him to Samaria, saying that he would show him how he would spare none of the wicked, but would punish the false prophets and priests and all who had misled the people to the abandonment of Jehovah, and to the worship of false gods. He said that it was the most beautiful, and, for an honorable and just man, the pleasantest sight to see the punishment of the wicked. Jehonadab, prevailed upon by this, mounted the chariot and came to Samaria.Doubtless some such conversation preceded the words: Is thine heart right, &c. At any rate, Jehonadab was a zealous servant of Jehovah, and, therefore, also an opponent of the house of Ahab. As he also stood at the head of a religious community, it was of great importance for Jehu to have him on his side, and to be accompanied to Samaria by him. It was a mark of high esteem to invite him to mount into the chariot. before [is used to form an accusative of specification, equivalent to a nominative absolute. Is it right, as to thy heart, or Thy heart, is it right=Is thy heart right. The form gives peculiar emphasis], see Ewald, Lehrb., 277 d. here involves the idea of a sincere agreement in feeling (Thenius). Almost all the versions render , 2Ki 10:16, as if they had read , i.e., He made him ride. According to 2Ki 10:17, the first thing which Jehu did in Samaria was just what he had done in Jezreel (2Ki 10:11). After the entire house of Ahab had been destroyed, he went on to overthrow the worship of Baal.
2Ki 10:18. And Jehu gathered all the people together, &c. The fact that Jehu was believed, when he said that he would serve Baal far more than Ahab had done, is explained by the consideration that his entire enterprise was regarded as a military revolution, like that of Baasha and Zimri, in which the thing at stake was the supreme power and the throne, not a religious reform and the restoration of the service of Jehovah. No one any longer thought of that as a possibility.On the prophets of Baal, 2Ki 10:19 sq., see note above on 1Ki 18:19., 2Ki 10:20, is not feast-day (Vulg. diem solemnem) but a solemn festal assembly, as in Isa 1:13; Joe 1:14; Amo 5:21.The House of Baal is the one built by Ahab (1Ki 16:32), which seems to have been a large and rambling structure, in which were 450 priests of Baal and 400 of Astarte. , 2Ki 10:21, strictly, mouth to mouth, or opening to opening, i.e., as far as it was open, as much as it could hold. It refers to the outer court in which the altar of sacrifice stood, for the house, strictly speaking, that is, the sanctuary or shrine in which the statue of Baal was, was, as in all temple structures, very small., 2Ki 10:22, occurs only here, but means, unquestionably, vestiarium (Ges., Thes., p. 764). Thenius thinks, because the king here gave especial commands, that we must understand it to refer to the stores of festal garments in the palace, not to the wardrobe of the temple of Baal, or to especial sacrificial dresses of all who took part in the ceremony. However, the king ordains everything here; it was he who planned the feast. Neither before this nor afterwards is there any reference to anything but the house of Baal, and certainly there were priestly garments in that, just as the dresses of the priests of Jehovah were preserved in the temple at Jerusalem (Braun, De Vest. Sacerdot., ii. 26, p. 675). Clericus says that, in Ethiopic, , with which is connected, means vestis byssina. Garments of byssus were the peculiar dress of priests in all ancient countries (Symb. des Mosaischen Kult, ii. s. 87 sq.). According to Josephus, it was especially important for Jehu that all the priests of Baal Should be there. They all received priestly garments, and became thereby all the more easily recognizable for the eighty men who were commanded to slay them before all others.
2Ki 10:23. And Jehu went, and Jehonadab, &c. When they came into the outer court of the temple, Jehu gave orders to examine carefully and see whether there were any of the servants of Jehovah there. He thereby gave himself the appearance of a strict adherent of Baal; but his object was to take care that no servant of Jehovah should be killed. There is no foundation for Ewalds representation of the incident: Jehu gave orders that the feast should be celebrated with all pomp, just as a powerful man may show himself open-handed towards mysteries into which he desires to be admitted. He commanded that garments should be given to all who had not any such as were proper for the feast. When the time for the solemnity approached, he commanded with severity that any servants of Jehovah should be cast out. (It is well known what an importance the heathen attached to the procul profani! in their mysteries.) Finally he sacrificed with his own hand as if he were a most zealous worshipper of Baal. Eisenlohr, who always follows Ewald, thinks that 2Ki 10:22 refers to the unchaste garments woven by the Kedeshoth [women who prostituted themselves in the service of Astarte]. But we know nothing at all of any mysteries of Baal. There is no syllable of reference to any such thing here, much less of reference to any intention, which was even pretended, of initiating the king. Nor does the text say that Jehu himself sacrificed, and then gave the signal for the slaughter of all who were present.
2Ki 10:25, , cannot here be translated: When he, Jehu, had finished, nor, with some of the Rabbis and Keil: When he (the sacrificing priest), had finished the burnt-offering. The suffix is to be taken as equivalent to an indefinite subject, one (German, man) [commonly rendered in English by an indefinite plural, they, or by a passive construction]: When they had completed the preparations for the sacrifice, or, When the preparations for the sacrifice were completed. The Sept. give this same sense: ; and the Vulg. also, cum completum esset holocaustum. It is not therefore necessary to read as Thenius does (cf. Ew. 294, b).
As soon as they had completed the preparations for offering. Not, when the sacrifice itself was over, for then the feast of Baal would have been at an end, but, at the moment when the sacrifice was just fully prepared, and was on the point of being offered, Jehu gave command to the runners and riders, i.e., to the royal body-guard and its officers (see note on 1Ki 1:38; 1Ki 9:22; 1Ki 14:28) to force their way in. Ewald translates : And threw the corpses aside unburied, but of course it is plain that they could not undertake to bury them at once. It did not need another sentence to tell us that they did not bury them as fast as they killed them. The interpretation: They threw the corpses out of the temple, is somewhat better, but the athnach with and the express repetition of the subject (the runners and riders) seem to indicate that a new sentence begins with . This sentence does not, therefore, join immediately on to the preceding, but to what follows, and it is to be connected with . In this connection De Dieu translates: proripuerunt se cum impetu et festinatione, and Thenius: And the guards pressed forward. stands in this sense in 1Ki 14:9. They threw the corpses behind them as they pressed forward, and forced their way through to the of the house. Under this we have not to understand a neighboring city (De Dieu and others), nor a particular district of the city of Samaria (De Wette, Maurer, and others), for this would not fit into the context. The fundamental signification of is sepimentum, munimentum, locus circumseptus (Frst, Concord., p. 805). It is then used for city, because every city, as such, was surrounded by a wall, and so formed a stronghold. In this place, however, it refers to that part of the entire sacred enclosure, which, in contrast with the outer courts, was firmly surrounded by a wall, the temple strictly speaking, in which was the chief image of Baal. This may have stood upon a base, and risen like a fortress from it, as the temple of Solomon did. On see note on 1Ki 14:23. We cannot determine whether they were small images of Baal himself, or images of other and inferior divinities. Movers (Rel. der Phnizier, s. 674) thinks they were the or of Baal. Thenius proposes to read in 2Ki 10:26, and in 2Ki 10:27, as the Sept. do, on account of the sing. surf. in . It is to be noticed, however, that, the images were burned (2Ki 10:26), so that they must have been of wood, while the chief image was broken in pieces (), as the stone temple-building was. This image was therefore probably of stone, as indeed we might presume that the large image would be of stone and the smaller ones of wood rather than vice versa. The old expositors translate the suffix by unamquamque earum (Piscator). According to Keil the singular suffix refers to , the plural being taken as an abstract, as in 2Ki 3:3. [The latter is the correct explanation of the construction. Cf. Ew. 317, a.] The destruction of this idol was perfectly in accordance with the law, Deu 7:5; Deu 7:25; Deu 12:2-3.In order to make the destroyed temple a place forever unclean and abominable, they made it a sink or privy. (The Massoretes propose the word , exits, as a euphemism.) Cf. Ezr 6:11; Dan 2:5 (Rosenmller, Morgenland, iii. s. 279).
2Ki 10:28. Thus Jehu destroyed Baal, &c. This is here once more emphasized as the chief act of Jehu, but it is added that he persisted in the sins of Jeroboam, viz., the worship of the golden calves in Bethel and Dan.
2Ki 10:30. And the Lord said unto Jehu, i.e., by a prophet, but whether by Elisha (Thenius), is very uncertain. is correctly rendered by the Vulg. studiose egisti; Piscator: quia strenuum te prbuisti ad faciendum, etc. He had an earnest will to execute the purposes of God (2Sa 13:28; Rth 3:7; Rth 3:10). The rooting-out of the house of Ahab and the attendant overthrow of idolatry, the latter of which not even Elijah had succeeded in accomplishing, were accomplished by Jehu. It was in truth an act of kindness toward Israel, which otherwise would, at this time, have gone to ruin. In so far Jehu had accomplished a great deed which is here recognized and acknowledged. The manner in which he carried it out, in all its details, is not, however, approved; especially is it recorded as unsatisfactory that he persisted in the worship of Jeroboams calves. Therefore it was announced to him that his dynasty should not reign beyond the fourth generation (Exo 20:5; Exo 34:7), cf. 2Ki 15:12.
2Ki 10:31 is not to be connected with 2Ki 10:30 by but, but rather with 2Ki 10:32. It states the occasion for what is narrated in 32 and 33. The threatened calamities from foreign foes came upon them through Hazael (2Ki 8:12), because Jehu did not walk in the ways of the Lord with all his heart. [If we hold to the massoretic verse-division,and there is no reason to abandon it,
2Ki 10:30 is a promise of the throne during four generations as a reward for the vigor with which Jehu had carried out the task which was laid upon him, and not a warning that he should not keep it longer than that because he had kept up the worship of the calves. The but at the commencement of 2Ki 10:31 is therefore quite correct. Although God commended Jehu and promised to reward him, yet Jehu did not walk perfectly with God. The origin of the calf-worship was political, and Jehu unquestionably kept it up for political reasons. While we certainly could not deny that the military misfortunes east of the Jordan were divine punishments, if the record said that they were such, yet in the absence of any such definite combination of the two things as cause and effect, we may leave that hypothesis aside, as something which we are not competent to decide. Such a revolution as this was certainly never accomplished without great internal commotion. Jehu found it necessary to consolidate his authority at home and could not give his attention to the foreign war. Hazael in the meantime was a very warlike and energetic king, and he pushed his conquests with vigor while his enemy was weak. We shall see below that this district was recovered when Israel once more was united and contented under a vigorous ruler (Jeroboam II.).W. G. S.]
2Ki 10:32. In those days the Lord began to cut off parts from Israel. Instead of , i.e. to cut off parts of, the Chald. and Arab. read i e. to become enraged (Luther: berdrssig zu werden; Vulg. taedere super Israel). There is no ground, however, for changing the text, which is sustained by the Sept. ().Along the entire frontier, not in all the coasts (Luther, De Wette, E. V.). The frontier country is, in general, the land beyond the Jordan, which was divided among the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. Their territory formed the district which was also called Gilead. Aroer on the Arnon was the southern limit of the Israelitish territory east of the Jordan. These conquests of Hazael, therefore, extended to the frontier of the Moabites. The closing words: Even Gilead and Bashan [cf. Amo 1:3] are meant to show that the land east of the Jordan, in all its extent, even to its farthest eastern limit, came into the hands of the enemy (Thenius). These conquests were made gradually, and they reached this extent at about the end of the twenty-eight years reign of Jehu.On , 2Ki 10:34, see 1Ki 15:23.
HISTORICAL AND ETHICAL
1. In regard to the reign of Jehu during the long period of twenty-eight years, the author gives only the summary at the end of the passage before us, viz., that he retained the calf-worship which Jeroboam had introduced, and that he lost a large portion of his territory, piece by piece, to Hazael of Syria. For all else he refers to the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel. The destruction of the house of Ahab, and the abolition of idolatry, with which Jehu commenced his reign, are narrated with full details. It was these two things that made his reign remarkable, and that constituted it an epoch in the history of the Israelitish monarchy, and of the Old Testament theocracy. All other incidents or actions of his reign seem to this theocratical historian to be inferior in significance and importance to these. Dunckers assertion is astonishing and it is false (Gesch. des Alt., i. s. 416): The house of Omri, under which Israel had flourished and prospered, was overthrown and annihilated by a wild murderer whom the prophet of Jehovah had instigated. Jehu was a good assassin, but a bad ruler and a bad general. Although the prophets of Jehovah did not oppose him as they had opposed Ahab and Joram, but, on the contrary, Elishas authority and influence were lent to his support, yet Israel, under his reign, became weaker and weaker. Under the house of Ahab, of which the shameless and fanatical Jezebel was the soul, the kingdom of Israel, so far from being elevated and prospered, had been shattered to its very foundations. Under this house Moab revolted, and Ahab and his successors never succeeded, even with the assistance of Judah, in completely conquering the Syrian arch-enemy, who continually threatened Israel and even brought it near to ruin (2 Kings 7:24). No fact can be cited from the record to prove that Jehu reigned for twenty-eight years wickedly, still less that he was a bad general; if he had been this latter, his fellow-commanders would never have proclaimed him king. Moreover, the record mentions his with especial emphasis (2Ki 10:34), even adding , which is not found elsewhere except in 1Ki 15:23, and 2Ki 20:20, and which Ewald correctly takes as referring to his great and inexhaustible manly courage. It is true that he saw himself compelled to give up to Hazael land after land on the east of the Jordan, but this may have been due partly to the superior strength of the Syrians, partly to the lack of assistance from Judah, such as Ahab and Joram had enjoyed, partly to the state in which the kingdom had been left by the house of Ahab. [It is a simple truism to say that he was defeated partly because his enemy was stronger than he, and partly because he did not have more help. It is not at all certain that Joram left the kingdom weak in material respects. If it was shattered morally, as it undoubtedly was, it would not long prosper materially, but, for a time, moral decay and material prosperity might co-exist. The fact that Jorams last act was to collect an army and go into Gilead to try to recover Ramoth, even by a conflict with a general like Hazael, is certainly strong evidence that Israel was not weak in material and military force under his rule. A far more natural ground for Jehus inactivity (for all we know to the contrary) while Hazael was making these conquests, is the one suggested above in the note on 2Ki 10:30 under Exegetical. That is, that the revolution was not accomplished so quickly as one might suppose on reading the only details of it which are here given, and that it was not accomplished by those few great and terrible blows which are alone mentioned here. To kill the royal family and mount the throne, to kill the priests of a certain religion, and put an end to the public performance of its rites, were comparatively easy things. We may be sure, however, that the house of Ahab had friends and supporters, and that Baal had worshippers who saw with sorrow his joyous worship give place to the austere religion of Jehovah. These elements of discontent had to be watched and time had to be spent in healing the wounds which the revolution had inflicted, before the state could be made docile, contented, and loyal at home, and reliable for campaigns abroad. It was during this interval that Hazael probably made his conquests.W. G. S.] The author sees in the misfortunes east of the Jordan a divine judgment, because Jehu had persisted in the sins of Jeroboam, and had not fulfilled his appointed task. [See Exeg. notes on 2Ki 10:31. Bhr connects 2Ki 10:31-32, but it is more correct to begin a new paragraph with 2Ki 10:32 as the English translators do.] We do not learn in what relation the prophet Elisha stood to Jehu during his reign. Elishas name does not occur, as has been said above, from 2Ki 9:1 to 2Ki 13:14, where his death, in the reign of Joash, is mentioned.
2. The rooting-up of the house of Ahab, and the destruction of the worship of Baal, ought not to be measured by the New Testament standards, and ought not to be judged from a modern, humanitarian stand-point. As for the slaughter of Ahabs family, it was customary in the Orient from the earliest times for the founder of a new dynasty to put to death, not only the deposed monarch, but also his descendants and relatives, especially all the males. We have several examples of this in these very books (1Ki 15:29; 1Ki 16:11; 2Ki 25:7). Similar instances occur in the East even in our own day. This cruel conduct was connected, not only with their ideas of the solidarity of all blood-relations in one family, but also with the universal custom of blood-vengeance, according to which it appeared to the relatives of a murdered man to be their right and their duty to pursue and slay the murderer. Not seldom their vengeance extended to the whole family of the murderer (Gen 34:30; 2Sa 14:7; 2Ki 14:6). How wide-spread and deep-rooted the custom of blood-vengeance was, may be seen from the fact that the Mosaic law could not abolish it, but only limit it and restrain it, as was the case also in regard to polygamy (Winer, R.-W.-B., i. s. 189). When, therefore, Jehu put to death all the adherents of the deposed dynasty, he did not commit an unheard-of crime, but only followed the example of other founders of new dynasties (Ewald). What is more, Ahabs house had introduced and fostered idolatry, and it was not to be hoped that it could be absolutely rooted out, as long as there were still members of this family alive. The case is similar as regards his conduct toward the worship of Baal. The Israelitish constitution knew nothing of freedom of religion or of worship, but assigned the death-penalty for all idolatry (see 1 Kings 18, Hist. 5). Jehu acted as little contrary to the law when he caused the servants of Baal to be put to death, as Elijah did in. 1Ki 18:40. Nevertheless his mode of action is to be condemned, even from the Old Testament stand-point. He allowed himself to be carried away by his fierce, violent, soldierly, despotic disposition. He proceeded to extremes, and observed no limits. When he had once spilled blood, he thirsted for more, and thought that this thirst for blood was zeal for Jehovah. Especially did he fail in the matter of the cunning and deceit and falsehood which he employed. In Jezreel he pretended to the people that he was innocent of the murder of the seventy descendants of Ahab, although he had himself ordered it. In Samaria he declared that he was a zealous servant of Baal, in order that he might get all the servants of Baal into his power, and slaughter them all at once. Therefore also the prophet Hosea speaks of the blood of Jezreel which Jehovah will avenge upon the house of Jehu (Hos 1:4). Krummacher asserts, in opposition to this prophetical declaration, as well as to the fact before us (Elisa, iii. s. 152): Nevertheless he (Jehu) comes out from this horrible massacre pure, because he did not draw the sword in obedience to his own thirst for blood, but in the name of Him who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire [Psa 104:4, where the translation is incorrect. It should read, maketh winds his messengers, and flames his ministers.W. G. S.], and who had chosen Jehu as His executioner. Lilienthal observes correctly (Die gute Sache der gttl. Offenbarung, iv. s. 410): An executioner does what is right when he takes the life of an evil-doer, at the command of the civil authority, and receives for this service his proper wages. But when he purposely torments and tortures the culprit, he deserves to be especially punished for it. Therefore blood-guilt is ascribed to Jehu, because it was a gratification to his fierce disposition to spill the blood of those who had indeed merited death, but who ought not to have been slain at the instigation of private hate. Every attempt to wash Jehu clean from blood-guilt becomes, in spite of itself, a defence of falsehood and deceit in majorem Dei gloriam. Jehu was indeed a Scourge of God, but he certainly was not a man of God, as appears in the fact that, with all his pretended zeal for Jehovah, he nevertheless did not desist from the sins of Jeroboam as long as he ruled. The instruments of the divine punishments are not made pure by the fact that they are Gods instruments, but they are, in their turn, punished for their own sins; cf. Isa 10:5-7; Isa 10:12.
[Would it not be a hard fate to be chosen to be an instrument of Gods vengeance, and then to be held to a strict account, if ones human infirmities of judgment led one to overdo or to fall short in some points of the just execution of the task? The trouble is that Jehu in the first place gets credit for far more pure and hearty zeal for the restoration of the Jehovah-religion than he deserves, and then has to be correspondingly under-estimated. If we attempt, with all the light given us by the text, to estimate Jehus personal feeling in regard to this revolution, we shall reach the following conclusion: Jehu was a military man to whom the crown presented itself as an object of earthly ambition worth some effort. Supposing him to have been, by conviction, an adherent of the: religion of Jehovah, the call to him to put himself at the head of a reaction in favor of the Jehovah-religion, and the anointment to the royal office by a prophet of Jehovah, might move him to make the attempt. The adherence of the army determined him. When he had won his victory, he carried out faithfully the policy to which he was bound as leader of the Jehovah-party. He put an end to the worship of Baal. The crown, however, was his reward. It was a political reward, and he took political means to secure it. He slew all the possible pretenders to the crown from the house of Ahab, according to the oriental custom in such cases, as a means of securing himself on the throne. He stopped short with his religious reforms and did not destroy the golden calves; he left them for the same political reasons for which Jeroboam erected them, i.e., that the northern kingdom might have its own religious centres outside of Jerusalem. He saw in the revolution principally a gratification of his own ambition. He was willing to be the instrument of the overthrow of a wicked dynasty and a corrupt religion, and he stopped just where his personal interests were in danger of being impaired. It is not strange that his contemporaries rejoiced so much at the rescue of their ancestral religion that they were indifferent to the excesses by which Jehu tried to establish his royal power, nor that later and calmer judges, on the contrary, raised his bloodshed into prominence in judging of his career (Hos 1:4).See further, below, 5.W. G. S.]
3. In connection with the violent and bloody conduct of Jehu, the religious and moral condition into which the kingdom had been brought, under the dominion of the house of Ahab, is thrown into distinct relief. What a shocking picture of demoralization, vulgarity, and slavery (Eisenlohr) presents itself to us in the rulers, the elders, and the tutors of the royal princes, that is to say, among the highest officials and the most familiar frequenters of the court! Although the fortified city, with all the necessary means of defence, chariots, horses, and weapons, were still in their possession, yet not one energetic man could be found who would put himself at the head. Upon Jehus first letter, which did not even contain a command, but only a question, or, in a certain sense, only a challenge to resist, they all yielded timidly, like cowards. No one of them thinks of even moving a finger in behalf of the royal house, whose confidants, favorites, and servants they have been. They change their disposition with the change of events, and place themselves as instruments without will at the disposal of the new ruler, who had killed their king and master. Jehu would hardly have addressed this challenge to them if he had not been sure of their utter want of principle, and had not known that he had not the least independent opposition to fear from them. Then when he demands of them the very highest crime, the murder of the scions of the royal house, who have been entrusted to their care and their protection, they do not hesitate a moment; they slaughter the whole seventy in one night, and send their heads the next morning to Jezreel, in order to win the favor of the new ruler. If the conduct of the elders at Jezreel, when they slew Naboth at the command of Jezebel, testified to the deep corruption of the time (see 1 Kings 11, Hist. 3), how much more does this behavior of those of the highest rank and office bear witness to the same. The religious decay was as deep as the moral decay. In the capital of the kingdom there was no sanctuary of Jehovah, but a fortress-like temple of Baal which Ahab had built (1Ki 16:32), furnished with idols of wood and stone, and surrounded by large courts. In spite of the great day on Mount Carmel, where the people had solemnly declared for Jehovah, and had slain 450 priests of Baal (1Ki 18:21 sq.), this temple remained standing, and the worship of idols continued to be, as it had been before, the prevailing religion of the kingdom. It appears, it is true, that Joram, at his accession, removed the statue of Baal (2Ki 3:2), but he did not put a stop to the worship of Baal; and the feast of Baal which Jehu ordained, at which so many worshippers of the god were present from all parts of the kingdom that the extended courts of the temple were packed full, shows how numerous the worshippers of the god had already become again. To this point had Israel come, under the rule of the house of Ahab; since there had been any people of Israel, such a state of things had not existed.
4. The only facts in regard to Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, which can be deduced from this passage, are, that, at the time of the great apostasy under the house of Ahab, he was one of the most earnest opponents of that dynasty, and of the idolatry which it introduced; that he was a firm adherent of Jehovah, and moreover a man who was held in honor by the people, and highly esteemed by Jehu. From the 35th chapter of Jeremiah, we learn further that he stood at the head of a community, the so-called Rechabites, to which he had given peculiar rules of life, according to which they were not to live in houses, not to possess farms or vineyards, and not to drink-wine. They held so firmly to these rules that Jeremiah, 300 years later, could present them to the people, who were disobedient to the commands of Jehovah, as models of obedience. This is sufficient to prove that Jehonadab, although he was a contemporary of Elisha, and probably also of Elijah, yet stood in no direct connection with the prophet-communities which they managed (2Ki 2:3 sq.), since these did not probably have any special rules of life, and certainly did not have those of the Rechabites. Neither is there any indication anywhere that he acted in concert with Elijah, who had caused Jehu to be anointed. This fact is what makes him important for the history of redemption. Ewald (Gesch., iii. 504 sq. [3d ed. 543]) explains this phenomenon by the theory that, after Elijahs death, new institutions of influence for the old religion had been formed, viz., on the one hand, the so-called schools of the prophets, which prosecuted the objects which had been set before them by Elijah, and, on the other hand, a society of those who despaired of being able to observe true religion undisturbedly, in the midst of the nation, with the stringency with which they understood it, and who, therefore, withdrew into the desert, and preferred, as all Israel had once done under Moses, the hardships of life in tents to all the fascinations of city-life. They borrowed from the Nazarites the principle of abstention from wine and all food connected with wine, and the ancient Kenites were their models for their tent-life. He goes on to say that they were called Rechabites from the father of their founder, Jehonadab; that their oath was extended and made more stringent at a later time; that they only returned into ordinary social life at long intervals and under compulsion, etc. This theory, to which Eisenlohr and Thenius give their adhesion, is contradicted, first of all, by the fact that Jeremiah calls them , i.e., strangers and sojourners in the land in which they dwelt. They were not of the race of Israel, but were an offshoot of the family of the Kenites (1Ch 2:55), which is traced back to Moses father-in-law (Num 10:29; Jdg 4:11), and which migrated to Canaan (Jdg 1:16), in friendship and alliance with Israel (1Sa 15:6). In this passage in 1 Sam. they appear as still unsettled. According to Jdg 4:11; Jdg 4:17 sq. they continued to be nomadic, as Rechab was also, even before Jehonadabs regulation.It is an established historical fact, which is further confirmed by the part. , that they were already nomadic.Jehonadab only fixed by law what he already found as a generally observed usage, and thereby cut off beforehand all possible temptations to adopt a settled life (Hitzig). The Rechabites call Jehonadab their father (Jer 35:6; Jer 35:8), but they do not thereby designate him as their ancestor (Winer and others). They only mean that he was their teacher and lawgiver, just as the prophet-disciples called Elijah their father (2Ki 2:12). If they had originated with Jehonadab, they would have named themselves after him and not after his father. Moreover, it is certain that Rechab was not, strictly speaking, the father of Jehonadab, but the ancestor of the family to which he and the other Rechabites belonged. We must understand by this name, therefore, a national and nomadic community, and not Simply a religious organization. It was much older than Elijah, and not directly or indirectly an outgrowth of his activity. There is no hint in the history that other communities than the schools of the prophets were formed, after Elijahs death, for the conservation of true religion. The most extraordinary feature is this, that a family, which did not belong to the race of Israel, maintained itself in separation and independence in the midst of this people from the entrance into Palestine until the fall of the kingdom, and was more completely devoted to the service of Jehovah than Israel itself. Jehonadab may have been led to give them fixed regulations of life by the growth of the idolatry which Ahab had introduced, and against which he desired to fortify them by a strict exclusion. The result was that he accomplished his object. He saw in Jehu a deliverer from the tyrannical and idolatrous dynasty, and he willingly accepted his invitation to accompany him to Samaria. He must have known of Jehus dissimulation in proclaiming the feast of Baal, and must have approved of it, for he was present with Jehu at it (2Ki 10:23). Clericus justly observes: conscius rei erat, nec laudandus est hoc in negotio. Hess thinks that he belonged to the number of those who hardly regarded it as an error in Jehu, that, in his zeal, he went too far, on account of their joy at the overthrow of the idolatrous dynasty. It is worth noticing that Elisha, who had been the prime mover in raising Jehu to the throne, took no part in this proceeding. It seems that Jehu purposely did not call for his assistance, because he could not expect from him any approval of his falsehood and dissimulation. Jehonadab certainly does not appear here in the favorable light in which Krummacher represents him: In fact, we hardly know what to praise most in this person, whether the soul, elevated and carried heavenward by divine inspiration, or the rare wisdom, which, in its rich measure, is so peculiar to him, or the clear, unwavering insight with which he commands everything, and which enables him to pass spiritual judgment upon all, or the foresight and care, as enlightened as tender, which we see him employ in behalf of his family and its interests for centuries to come. Neither the passage before us nor Jeremiah 35 mentions with a syllable these grand characteristics. The further delineation is still more arbitrary and unfounded: So they (Jehu and Jehonadab) sit togethera dark thunder-cloud softly enfolded in a rainbow of promise, as if Law and Gospel had been personified in living allegories: Jehu, the woe of Gods condemnation upon all godlessness; Jehonadab, the divine director to point upward to the throne of grace. Jehonadab, the Church, which lives in heaven; Jehu, the State, which protects, &c.
5. The continuance of the worship of the calves under Jehu shows that he was not fully in earnest in the zeal for Jehovah, of which he boasted to Jehonadab, otherwise he must have destroyed the golden calves in Bethel and in Dan, as well as the idols in the temple of Baal at Samaria. He did not let them stand because he considered that what he had done was enough to satisfy the obligation (?) which he had undertaken towards the prophet of Jehovah (Menzel). The reason was rather the same one which had led the founder of the kingdom of Israel, Jeroboam, to introduce the worship of these images (1Ki 12:26 sq., and Hist. 1). By abolishing the worship of the calves, Jehu would have torn down the partition between the two kingdoms and would have endangered his throne. His zeal for Jehovah did not go so far as this. His royal authority was more important to him than the law of Jehovah. Political and dynastic interests restrained him after he had extinguished the house of Ahab and abolished the worship of Baal. The manner in which he conducted himself in this matter showed that he did not walk in the law of the Lord with all his heart (2Ki 10:31), and this became still clearer when he was firmly established on the throne. He is, therefore, it is true, praised for his zeal in rooting out and destroying the worship of Baal, but is, at the same time, declared guilty of the sins of Jeroboam, and this is given as the reason why Jehovah began, in his reign, to cut off provinces from Israel, and why his dynasty should have no firm duration. This criticism of his reign by the author of the history (who was probably one of the prophets) shows that the prophets of the time opposed the worship of the calves [although it was intended, in a certain way, as a worship of Jehovah], and did not simply, as Ewald asserts (see above, Pt. II. p. 35), combat the worship of false gods. [The view of these things entertained by the prophet-author of the Book of Kings, who lived at a much later period and under very different circumstances, cannot be regarded as any indication of the views of the prophets of the time, in regard to them.W. G. S.] The great and bloody revolution of Jehu had, therefore, a merely negative result, namely, the abolition of the worship of false gods; the positive results, the restoration of the constitution, i.e., of the covenant of Jehovah, was prevented by political considerations, i.e., by personal ambition and love of power. It is another proof that a religious reformation can only fail of its objects and come to naught, so soon as political and dynastic interests get control of it, or, indeed, are involved in it.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
2Ki 10:1-27.The two Chief Acts of King Jehu: (a) The destruction of the entire family of Ahab, 2Ki 10:1-17; (b) the abolition of the worship of Baal, 2Ki 10:18-27 (see the Hist. notes).
2Ki 10:1. Wrt. Summ.: Though a large family of children is a blessing of God (Psa 127:3), yet we must not rely upon them, or be self-willed on that account, as if the family could not die out, but we must fear God, must not stain ourselves with sin against our consciences, and must bring up children in the fear of God, else He will take them away and destroy the entire family. Psa 112:1-2.
2Ki 10:1-7. The Governors and Chief Men at Samaria: (a) Their cowardice, (b) their blind slavishness, (c) their unfaithfulness.Moral decline among the highest ranks of a nation generally proceeds from a corrupt court which sets the fashion (Ahab and Jezebel). As is the master, so is the servant.He who has the power in his hands always finds instruments among the great and those of high rank, who shrink back from no demand which is made upon them, however much it may conflict with honor and duty.Those who no longer fear God, must fear men. Fear of men may become the cause of the greatest crimes. Therefore the Lord says: (Mat 10:28).
2Ki 10:6-7. Wrt. Summ.: Here we have an example of unfaithful tutors and governors and friends, who look, in their actions, not to the interests of the orphans, but to their own advantage, and let the orphans and their cause be ruined. As Jehu nevertheless destroyed them all (2Ki 10:17), so will the just God also bring upon the heads of false friends and trustees, all the unfaithfulness which they inflict upon orphans: therefore, let such be warned against all violation of their trust.Kyburz: The children of this world become traitors to one another, as we see in the case of these guardians of the royal children. How they probably promised with all zeal to guard the life, the honor, and the rights of these princes! Now, they themselves become their murderers. Let no man trust the golden words of him who fears man more than he fears God.Unfaithfulness ruins those who practise it. Jehu must infer from the treason of these guardians towards their wards that they would still less be faithful to him. He, therefore, treated them as they treated those who had been entrusted to them.Though the crime which these men perpetrated against their wards could hardly occur in our day, yet instructors and guardians are not wanting who become murderers of the souls of their pupils, in that they mislead them by example and precept into apostasy from the living God and disbelief in His holy word, instead of educating them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. (Cf. Mat 18:6.)Krummacher: What is the worth of all the friendship and favor and trust of this world! It is like a tree in soft, loose ground, which, so long as thou holdest it upright, covers thee pleasantly with its shadow, but which, when the storm roars through its top, and it is overthrown, no longer takes account of thee, but crushes thee in its fall.
2Ki 10:8-11. Jehus Words to the People: (a) He says to the people just what they like to hear: Ye are just; (b) he throws the guilt off from himself on to others: But who slew all these? (c) he represents something which he had done himself as a divine dispensation: The Lord hath done that which he spake, &c.He who has a good conscience may alone appeal to Gods word. Guard thyself from the great mistake of glossing over and justifying thy sins and errors by citations from the word of God.Human sins are not justified by the fact that they are made means in the hand of God for accomplishing his judgments.
2Ki 10:12-16. Jehus Journey to Samaria: (a) His meeting with the brethren of Ahaziah, 2Ki 10:12-14; (b) his meeting with Jehonadab, 2Ki 10:15-16.
2Ki 10:12-13. The quiet and peaceful house of the shepherd becomes a house of terror and of death. Destruction overtakes the self-assured on their way to pleasure and joy!Wrt. Summ.: When we go out of the house, let us commit ourselves into the hands of God, for much may happen on our journey to prevent us from coming in life or happiness homeward (Jam 4:13-15).
Ver 15. Jehonadab, son of Rechab, chief of the Rechabites (Jeremiah 35), is a type of faithful adherence to the faith and the customs of the fathers in the midst of an apostate, wavering people.Decided and firm faith, combined with a strict and earnest life, compels respect even from those who themselves follow another course.Where there is agreement in the highest and most important interests, there one may find a speedy and easy basis of intercourse, whatever may be the difference of rank or nationality.Kyburz: Jesus says to me and thee what Jehu said to Jehonadab: If thine heart is right with mine, as mine with thine, then come up to me upon my throne (Rev 3:21).
2Ki 10:16. Zeal for the Lord is a great and rare thing, when it is pure. It forfeits its reward, however, when it aims to be seen (Mat 6:1-6). How many a one deceives himself with his zeal for the Lord, and for His kingdom, when, at the bottom, he is zealous only for himself, for his own honor and fame, his own interest and advantage.
2Ki 10:18-28. The great Feast of Baal at Samaria: (a) The preparation of it; (b) its finale.A work which is in itself pure and holy loses its value when it is accomplished by falsehood and dissimulation. One cannot battle for the truth with the weapons of falsehood (Rom 3:8).Berleb. Bibel: What things one may do by outward acts, and yet be internally a hypocrite! Jehu dissimulated in order to circumvent the hypocrites and idolaters, and never recognized the hypocrite and idolater in himself.Jehu destroyed the worship of false gods by the sword, and by external violence. He had full justification for this in the Law, for, under the old covenant, idolatry was the worm at the root of the Israelitish nationality; it was high treason to the Israelitish state. Under the new covenant, it is not permitted to make use of fire and sword against heresy and superstition. No other weapon may here be used than that of the spirit, that is, the word of God. Christianity is not bound to any people; as it was not brought into the world by violence, so it cannot be extended and nourished by the sword.Even now every civil power has the right and the duty to proceed to extreme measures against a cultus like that of Baal, which is interwoven with, licentiousness and abominations.
2Ki 10:21. The house of Baal was full from wall to wall. The houses in which worship and sacrifice are rendered to the deities of this world, to the lusts of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, are full, also now-a-days, from wall to wall, while the churches, in which the word resounds: Repent and be converted that your sins may be forgiven, are empty.
2Ki 10:26 sq. J. Lange: The destruction and desecration of the temple of Baal was a genuine physical preaching of repentance through the entire country, by which many a one may have been awakened from the sleep of sin, and many a faithful soul may have been strengthened in goodness. As the German hymn says: Bring all false gods to shame! The Lord is God! Give to our God the praise!
2Ki 10:28-33. Jehu is a type of those who show great zeal in tearing down and destroying superstition and false worship, but do nothing to build up the faith, because they themselves have no living faith, and do not walk before God with all their hearts.Jehu did indeed destroy idolatry, but he did not touch the chief sin of Israel, because he considered it the chief support of his own authority. So many a one renounces gross, external sins, but will not think of denying himself, of sacrificing his own interests, and of turning his heart to the living God.He who remains standing half-way, goes backward in spite of himself. Jehu would not desist from the sins of Jeroboam, because he thought that it would cost him his crown, but on that very account he lost one province after another.
Footnotes:
[1]2Ki 10:1.[For read . See Exeg. ], Ahabs tutors. Since, however, they were not tutors of Ahab, but those whom he had appointed to instruct his sons, stands in a loose construction in the case absolute.
[2]2Ki 10:2.[After the formal greeting and address of the letter, which are not given here, its substance began with . Cf. 2Ki 5:6.]
[3]2Ki 10:3.[, for. Ewald, 217, i. .]
[4]2Ki 10:11.[ is an infinitive. See Text. and Gramm. on 2Ki 3:25.]
[5]2Ki 10:16.[All the versions but the Chaldee have the singular.]
[6]2Ki 10:24.[For read with Keil, Thenius, Bunsen, and others.W. G. S.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
In following up the commission Jehu had received from the Lord for the destruction of Ahab’s house, we are told in this chapter how he caused 70 of his sons to be beheaded. He destroyeth, the worshippers of Baal. But yet himself, the close of the chapter relates, departed not from the sins of Jeroboam.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Reader! do not fail to connect with this view of the slaughter of Ahab’s sons (or grandsons more likely) that solemn denunciation of God in the second commandment. Exo 20:5 . And recollect also, that as sin is the sad inheritance entailed upon our whole nature from the first wretched transgressor; so punishment is also connected with it. Rom 5:12 . Oh! sweet is it to behold our inheritance in another Adam from the opposite holiness of his nature. Precious Jesus! how much more hath the grace of God, and the gift by grace which is by thee, abounded unto many. Rom 5:15-17 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
A Full House
2Ki 10:21
Here is a record of a full house. So full it was that, in the original, it is described as a vessel filled to the brim. But what was its moral significance?
I. A Full Congregation but no True Worship. If you read the tragical story, you will find that you do it no injustice when you say that two principal motives had filled the house that fateful day: first, the desire to curry favour with the ruling powers, and secondly, the constraint of fashion.
II. Quantity but no Noble Quality.
1. Great lack of conviction characterized this full house. They were not there (most of them at least) because of real loyalty to Baal. It is depth and splendour of conviction which gives quality to an assembly for worship.
2. Very unintelligent was this houseful. They had not thought the claims of Baal out. Their presence in the house of Baal did not represent a process of deliberation. They were the fevered devotees of a popular crusade.
3. Fickle with contemptible fickleness was this Baalite constituency. At quite an alien shrine would they bow presently, did custom or authority look that way. Mere numbers are of little worth. Two or three with Jesus in the midst transcend with incalculable transcendency a house ‘full from one end to another’ of those whose hearts will not bear the piercing scrutiny of heaven.
III. The Popularity of Error The house of Baal was undeniably popular in Samaria. But it was the ‘house of Baal,’ and that is sufficient condemnation of the popularity. There is a popularity which is true, and there is a false popularity.
Error is always assured of a large popularity. False doctrine often draws a crowd, though that crowd does not long cohere.
IV. A Crowd Drawn by Unworthy Means. When a house of God is crowded by unworthy means it is a dishonour to God and to man alike.
V. A Crowd Composed of Evildoers. Often is a crowd assembled in an evil place. And too often an evil crowd may be in a holy place.
VI. A Concourse Unconscious of Approaching Doom. The fearful lot of the misguided worshippers who filled Baal’s house is but a faint representation of that which awaits the evildoers who reject a dying Saviour’s love.
VII. Truth Transcendent over Numbers. God’s truth must and will ultimately conquer. Baal may gather the crowd, but this shall not be so for ever. Numbers may seem an insuperable menace to Gospel truth; but that truth shall prevail, for the mighty Spirit of God is behind it, yea and in it.
Dinsdale T. Young, The Travels of the Heart, p. 133.
References. X. 31. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xii. No. 685. R. W. Hiley, A Year’s Sermons, vol. iii. p. 294. H. Goodwin, Parish Sermons, iii. 48. Reading, Sermons, ii. 443. Simeon, Works iii. 523. Wordsworth, Occasional Sermons, iv. 161. XI. 1-16. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture 2 Kings from chap. viii., etc., p. 13. XI. 10. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii. No. 972. XII. 4-15. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture 2 Kings from chap. viii. p. 19. XIII. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxix. No. 2303. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture 2 Kings from chap. viii. p. 24.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
2Ki 10
1. And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to [nourishers] them that brought up Ahab’s children, saying,
2. Now as soon as this letter cometh to you, seeing your master’s sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, a fenced city [fenced cities. There is a tone of mocking irony in Jehu’s challenge to the nobles of Samaria, who were probably as luxurious and cowardly as in the days of Amos a few years later (Amo 3:12 , Amo 6:3-6 )] also, and armour;
3. Look even out the best and meetest of your master’s sons, and set him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s house.
4. But they were exceedingly afraid [feared mightily (comp. Gen 7:19 )], and said, Behold, two kings stood not before him: how then shall we stand?
5. And he that was over the house [the major domo]; and he that was over the city [the prefect or governor], the elders also, and the bringers up of the children, sent to Jehu, saying, We are thy servants, and will do all that thou shalt bid us; we will not make any king: do thou that which is good in thine eyes.
6. Then he wrote a letter the second time [a second letter] to them, saying, If ye be mine, and if ye will hearken unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men your master’s sons, and come [bring] to me to Jezreel by tomorrow this time [Jehu is urgent: time is all-important]. Now the king’s sons, being seventy persons [not, perhaps, to be taken as exact: seventy being a favourite round number] were with the great men of the city, which brought them up.
7. And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king’s sons, and slew [butchered or slaughtered] seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent him them to Jezreel.
8. And there came a messenger [literally, and the messenger came in. Josephus says Jehu was giving a banquet] and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the king’s sons. And he said, Lay ye them in two heaps at the entering in of the gate until the morning.
9. And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and stood [took his place, i.e., sat as judge in the palace gateway], and said to all the people, Ye be righteous [” are ye righteous?” implying that Jehu wished to make the people guilty of the massacre of the princes, while owning his own murder of the king]: behold, I conspired against my master, and slew him: but who slew all these?
10. Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spake concerning the house of Ahab: for the Lord hath done that which he spake by his servant Elijah.
11. So [And] Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel [the seat of the court], and all his great men [high officials who owed their exaltation to him], and his kinsfolks [his friends: literally his known ones], and his priests, until he left him none remaining [no survivor].
12. And he arose and departed, and came to Samaria. And as he was at the shearing-house in the way,
13. Jehu met with the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah [ i.e., Ahaziah’s kinsmen. His brothers, in the strict sense of the word, were slain by a troop of Arabs in the lifetime of his father Jehoram ( 2Ch 21:17 , 2Ch 22:1 )] and said, Who are ye? And they answered, We are the brethren of Ahaziah; and we go [have come] down to salute the children of the king and the children of the queen.
14. And he said, Take them alive [perhaps they made some show of resistance]. And they took them alive, and slew them at the pit of the shearing-house, even two and forty men [perhaps a definite for an indefinite number, curiously parallel with 2Ki 2:24 ]; neither left he any of them.
15. And when he was departed thence, he lighted on [found] Jehonadab the son of Rechab [comp. Jer 35:6-11 and 1Ch 2:55 ] coming to meet him: and he saluted [blessed] him, and said to him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thine hand [a token of amity; a pledge of good faith. Striking hands sealed a compact]. And he gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot.
16. And he said, Come with me, and see [look on at] my zeal for the Lord. So they [he] made him ride in his chariot.
17. And when he came to Samaria, he slew all that remained unto Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed him, according to the saying of the Lord, which he spake to Elijah.
18. And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said unto them, Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu shall serve him much.
19. Now therefore call unto me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests; let none be wanting: for I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal; whosoever shall be wanting, he shall not live. But Jehu did it in subtilty [or, in guile, treacherously], to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal.
20. And Jehu said, Proclaim a solemn assembly [sanctify a solemn meeting ( Isa 1:13 )] for Baal. And they proclaimed it.
21. And Jehu sent through all Israel: and all the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that came not. And they came into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal was full [or so full that they stood mouth to mouth] from one end to another.
22. And he said unto him that was over the vestry [chests], Bring forth vestments for all the worshippers of Baal. And he brought them forth [the] vestments.
23. And Jehu went, and Jehonadab the son of Rechab, into the house of Baal, and said unto the worshippers of Baal, Search, and look that there be here with you none of the servants of the Lord [worshippers of Jehovah], but the worshippers of Baal only.
24. And when [omit “when”] they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt-offerings, Jehu appointed fourscore men without, and said, If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escape, he that letteth him go, his life shall be for the life of him.
25. And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of offering [for the massacre Jehu chose the moment when all the assembly was absorbed in worship] the burnt-offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in, and slay them; let none come forth. And they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains cast them out [threw the dead bodies out of the temple], and went to the city of the house of Baal.
26. And they brought forth the images [the pillars; which were of wood and had a sacred significance ( Hos 3:4 ). Idolatrous pillars were commanded to be destroyed ( Exo 23:24 ). Most critics think that pillars to Jehovah were allowable till the time of Hezekiah or Josiah ( Deu 16:21-22 )] out of the house of Baal, and burned them.
27. And they brake down the image of Baal [pillar], and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house [by way of utter desecration, (comp. Eze 6:11 ; Dan 2:5 )] unto this day.
28. Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.
29. Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam [comp. 1Ki 12:28 , seq. ; 1Ki 15:26 , 1Ki 15:30 , 1Ki 15:34 ], the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Beth-el, and that were in Dan.
30. And the Lord said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in execute ing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation [the fulfilment of this oracle is noticed in 1Ki 15:12 (comp. Exo 20:5 )] shall sit on the throne of Israel.
31. But Jehu took no heed [Now Jehu had not been careful] to walk in the law [the Mosaic law which forbids the use of images such as calves] of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart; for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.
32. In those days the Lord began [through Hazael and the Syrians (comp. Isa 7:17 , Isa 7:20 ; Isa 10:5-6 )] to cut Israel short; and Hazael smote them in all the coast of Israel.
33. From Jordan [Heb., toward the rising of the sun] eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan.
34. Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might [comp. 1Ki 20:20 ; 1Ki 15:23 . The LXX. adds “and the conspiracies which he conspired”], are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
35. And Jehu slept with his fathers: and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead.
36. And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty and eight years.
Jehu
Whilst Jehoram was lying ill of his wounds, Elisha had called one of the children of the prophets and sent him upon a special mission to Ramoth-gilead. It has been conjectured that this messenger was the Jonah who is mentioned in chapter 1Ki 14:25 . Jehu was left in supreme command of the forces at Jehoram’s departure. Nothing is known of Jehu’s origin. From the first, however, it is evident that he was called to special functions. He was one of the men who had been foreseen by Elijah the prophet under the divine inspiration. We have seen ( 1Ki 19:15 ) that Elijah was ordered to return to the wilderness of Damascus, and in the course of his progress he was to anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Israel. Whether any communication had been made to Jehu himself we know not, yet it is not improbable, as we may infer from the way in which he answered the appeal when it was addressed to him by the messenger of Elisha. All the circumstances of the communication are full of dramatic colour and impressiveness. The young man was to take a phial of oil and pour it upon Jehu’s head, and say, “Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over Israel,” and instantly he was to open the door and flee from the presence of the new monarch. A tremendous charge was delivered to Jehu by the young man:
“And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish:… and I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah: and the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her” ( 2Ki 9:7-10 ).
Having delivered this message, the young man “opened the door, and fled,” as if pursued by fire. We know not whether to pity Jehu under the delivery of this charge or not. The Lord must have many servants in his household, and some of them are entrusted with hard work. If we could choose our places in the divine economy, who would not elect to be a minister of sympathy, consolation, and tenderness to broken hearts? Who would be willing to go forth to fight the battle and endure the trail and hardship of military service? Above all, who would be willing to accept the ministry of shedding blood and cleansing the world of evil by putting to death all evil-doers. We must recognise the diversity of function in the Christian Church, and in every department of human life. Few men could do what Jehu did, but where the special qualification is given the special service is demanded. It is pitiful criticism that stands back and shudders at the career of Jehu; it is wanting in large-mindedness and in completeness of view: the Lord’s work is many-sided, and all kinds of men as to intellectual energy and moral daring and even physical capability are required to complete the ministry of God. To-day one man is gifted with the power of intercession, another with the talent of controversy, another with the genius of exposition, another with the supreme gift of consolation; one minister must tarry at home and work close to the fireside at which he was brought up; in another is the spirit of travel and adventure, and he must brave all the dangers of enterprise and hasten to the ends of the earth that he may tell others what he knows of the gospel of Christ. We must recognise this diversity, and the unity which it constitutes: otherwise we shall take but a partial view of the many-sided ministry which Jesus Christ came to establish, and to which he has promised his continual inspiration.
When Jehu came forth he was taunted by the servants of his Lord; they called the young man “mad.” From their manner Jehu began to wonder whether the whole affair had not been planned by themselves with a view to befooling him by the excitement of his ambition. He said to them in effect: Ye know the man, and his communication in this matter is one of your own arranging; you think to make a fool of me, and through the intoxication of my vanity to lead me to my ruin. But they denied the impeachment, and their tone so changed that Jehu reposed confidence in them, and told them what the man had said. Instantly on hearing the message they hasted, took every man his garment or coat, and put it under Jehu on the top of the stairs, which they constituted a kind of temporary throne, and then with loud blasts of the trumpet cried, “Jehu is king.” Thus Jehu was suddenly called to royalty, and all its responsibilities. Men should be prepared for the sudden calls of providence. “What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” If we had higher expectations of the divine coming, and were ourselves persuaded of the possession of capacities for the doing of a large work in the kingdom of God, those very expectations might to a large degree fulfil themselves. There is a noble and holy ambition. We shall know whether it is noble and holy by ascertaining whether we are prepared for danger, loss, suffering, as well as for any possible external honour. Merely to expect a throne for the sake of enjoying its luxuries is not the kind of expectation now referred to. We should be looking out for larger opportunities of usefulness, even creating occasions for self-sacrifice, and preparing ourselves by reading, thought, culture of every kind, and the continual exercise of all faculties, for the incoming of a large message and the appointment to an extended rulership. We must not cultivate mere expectation, but express our expectation by our industry, devotion, and invincible resoluteness in all holy aggression and progress. We cannot but be struck by the obedience of Jehu to the heavenly call. There was no hesitation. We show ourselves to be yet under bondage when we hesitate regarding the calls which God addresses to us. We linger, we wish to return and bid those farewell who are in our father’s house; we have sundry things to adjust and determine before we can go, we secretly hope that in the meantime occurrences may transpire which will change the line of our destiny; by all this we mar the simplicity and purity of obedience, and discover a spirit that is not fit to be trusted with great functions and responsibilities in the divine economy. Jehu was determined to make complete work of his mission. Not one was to escape or go forth out of the city to tell what he was about to do to those who were in Jezreel. Springing into his chariot, and calling for a detachment of cavalry, he set out upon his journey of some sixty or seventy miles: we see him almost flying down from Ramoth, which was about three thousand feet above the sea level; swiftly he crosses the Jordan; then turning to the north he fled over the spurs of Ephraim; then he darted up the Valley of Trembling, made famous in the day of Gideon; and finally he came to the plain of Esdraelon, where was Jezreel. Jehoram was unaware of the approach of Jehu. One messenger after another was sent out to make inquiry, but the messengers were ordered behind; and Jehu dashed forward until he and the king met at the vineyard of Naboth. The king asked what news was being brought, was it news of peace or of war; and Jehu cried, “What peace can there be so long as the idolatrous whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?” Jehu thus referred to fundamental wrongs: instead of trifling with details he went straight to the fountain-head, and by the delivery of a profoundly religious message he excited the alarm of those who heard him. Jehoram was weak and feeble and sought to flee, but Jehu drew a bow with his full strength and smote between his arms, and the arrow went out at the king’s heart, and he sank down in his chariot. Then Jehu ordered his captain, or squire, to take up and cast him into the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled. When Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this he himself attempted to flee, but Jehu followed Ahaziah, saying, “Smite him also in the chariot,” and after a hot pursuit he was struck at the declivity of Gur, where Ahaziah’s chariot would be forced to slacken its speed. Then came the most tragical of all the acts. No sooner was Jehu come to Jezreel than Jezebel, now old and withered, heard of it, and her blood tingled at the news. She was not one who was easily deterred. According to the custom of Oriental ladies she painted her eyebrows and lashes with a pigment composed of antimony and zinc The intention of the dark border was to throw the eye into relief and make it appear larger. She adorned her head with a tire, or a head-dress, and putting on her royal apparel she looked out at a window, designing to impress Jehu with her majestic appearance. As Jehu looked up to the window he exclaimed, “Who is on my side?” and he ordered the two or three eunuchs who looked out to throw down the painted woman. Jehu knew that the cruel queen was intensely hated by the palace officials. The two or three eunuchs who had been accustomed to crouch before her in servile dread now saw that Jehu was in the ascendant, and in obedience to the demand of the regicide they threw her out of the window. Such has ever been the policy of sycophants, the rats of court, who only linger there with a view of seeing how much they can appropriate or destroy. No sooner was Jezebel thrown down than some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses, and she was trodden under foot. Here again we see the end of wickedness. For a time there is escape, but in the long run there is ruin. It is hard for men to kick against the pricks. How long will men continue to band themselves against the Lord and against his Anointed? How long will foolish builders imagine that they can rear a tower which will reach unto heaven? “I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree: yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not; yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.” Look at Jezebel, and learn the fate of the wicked. No such fate in a merely physical sense may await iniquitous men now, but all these intermediate punishments simply point to the last great penalty, “The wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment.” We can pity Jezebel as her flesh was eaten by the dogs, and her carcase was made as dung on the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel: and we almost shudder with horror as we think that she was to be so torn to pieces that none should be able to say, This is Jezebel; but all this is wasted sentiment, unless we reason from it towards spiritual conclusions. We are so much the victims of our senses that we can pity with great compassion men who are smitten with bodily disease, or are torn limb from limb in consequence of some wicked deed; but it seems impossible for us to rise to the conception of the terrible penalty which is to fall upon the soul for violating God’s commandments and defying God’s power. We cannot too frequently say, Be the fate of the wicked what it may as to mere details, it must be a fate unspeakably awful: for “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Instead of being appeased by the fate of Jezebel, Jehu sends out a decree that the whole family of Ahab shall be massacred, that the kinsmen of Ahaziah and the Baal-worshippers shall be extirpated from the face of the earth. He takes a new point of departure when he challenges the sons of Ahab, saying, “Look even out the best and meetest of your master’s sons, and set him on his fathers throne, and fight for your master’s house” (x. 3). All this was a declaration of warlike intention on the part of Jehu. But Jehu’s character as a soldier was too well known to permit the rulers of Jezreel and the elders to entertain the thought of encountering him in open battle. So they returned for their reply: “We are thy servants, and will do all that thou shalt bid us; we will not make any king: do thou that which is good in thine eyes.” Then Jehu set up a test of their obedience. He did indeed impose upon them hard work. He said, “If ye be mine, and if ye will hearken unto my voice. take ye the heads of the men your master’s sons, and come to me to Jezreel by tomorrow this time.” The word was enough. The heads of seventy men were put into baskets, and sent to Jehu at Jezreel. Jehu pronounced the men who had beheaded the sons of Ahab guiltless in respect of their deaths, because what they had done had been done judicially under royal command. Some suppose that Jehu wished to make them guilty of the massacre of the princes, whilst he himself had but murdered one king. On the whole, however, it is better to consider that Jehu exculpates the men who had executed his command. The slaughter of the priests is perhaps one of the most dramatic incidents in all this portion of biblical history. Jehu proceeded by way of strategy. It is impossible to justify the spirit of the policy of Jehu in this matter. He said he would serve Baal “much.” It has been supposed that he was thinking of his intended holocaust of human victims, but, whatever his thoughts, it is impossible to deny that the impression he produced was that he himself was about to become a worshipper of Baal. This reading is imported into the narrative in these words, “But Jehu did it in subtilty, to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal” ( 2Ki 10:19 ).
Now a solemn assembly for Baal was proclaimed. From all Israel the devotees of Baal came, so that there was not left a man that came not. The house of Baal was full from one end to the other. And they were clothed with appropriate vestments. Jehu was particular that not one worshipper of Jehovah should be in the assembly, but those of Baal only. When the worshippers went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings Jehu appointed fourscore men without, and said, “If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escape, he that letteth him go, his life shall be for the life of him.” Then came the moment of massacre: “And they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains cast them out, and went to the city of the house of Baal.” Jehu’s guards having completed their bloody work in the court of the temple, hastened up the steps into the sanctuary itself, which, like the temple of Solomon, was made after the pattern of a fortress. The images of Baal were brought forth out of the house of Baal and burned; the image of Baal was broken down, and his house was broken down, and the whole scene was utterly dishonoured and desecrated. “Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel” ( 2Ki 10:28 ). But the way was wrong. Perhaps for the period within which the destruction took place it was the only ministry that was possible. The incident, however, must stand in historical isolation, being utterly useless as a lesson or guide for our imitation. We are called upon to destroy Baal out of Israel, but not with sword, or staff, or implement of war. “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds of Satan.” Jehu did his rough-and-ready work, a work, as we have said, adapted to the barbaric conditions under which he reigned, but there must be no Jehu in the Christian Church, except in point of energy, decision, obedience, and single-mindedness of purpose. A Christian persecution is a contradiction in terms. When Christians see evil, they are not to assail it with weapons of war; they are to preach against it, argue against it, pray about it, bring all possible moral force to bear upon it, but in no case is physical persecution to accompany the propagation of Christianity. Not only so: any destruction that is accomplished by physical means is a merely temporary destruction. There is in reality nothing in it. When progress of a Christian kind is reported it must not be tainted by the presence of physical severity. We cannot silence evil speakers by merely closing their mouths; so long as we can hold those mouths there may indeed be silence, but not until the spirit has been changed, not until the very heart has been converted and born again, can the evil-doer be silenced, and his mouth be dispossessed of wicked speeches and filled with words of honesty and pureness. Jehu himself was not a good man; “from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them.” For reasons of state policy Jehu maintained the worship of Bethel and Dan. “But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.” He had done homage to Jehovah by extirpating the foreign Baal-worship, but he patronised and actively supported the irregular mode of worshipping Jehovah established by Jeroboam as the state religion of the northern kingdom. He attempted to serve God and mammon. Religion was to him but a political instrument. He was willing to accommodate the sentiment of the people, to purchase peace at any price. He did the particular kind of work which was assigned to him, a work of destruction and blood; perhaps he alone of all the people of his time could have accomplished this task; but Jehu must stand in history as a warning rather than as an example.
Selected Note
Painting the eyes, or rather the eyelids, is more than once alluded to in Scripture, although this scarcely appears in the Authorised Version, as our translators, unaware of the custom, usually render “eye” by “face,” although “eye” is still preserved in the margin. So Jezebel “painted her eyes,” literally, “put her eyes in paint,” before she showed herself publicly ( 2Ki 9:30 ). This action is forcibly expressed by Jeremiah ( Jer 4:30 ) “though thou rentest thine eyes with painting.” Ezekiel ( Eze 23:40 ) also represents this as a part of high dress “For whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments.” The custom is also, very possibly, alluded to in Pro 6:25 “Lust not after her beauty in thine heart, neither let her take thee with her eyelids” It certainly is the general impression in Western Asia that this embellishment adds much to the languishing expression and seducement of the eyes, although Europeans find some difficulty in appreciating the beauty which the Orientals find in this adornment.
The process is thus described by Mr Lane in his work on the “Modern Egyptians:” The eyes, with very few exceptions, are black, large, and of a long almond form, with long and beautiful lashes and an exquisitely soft, bewitching expression; eyes more beautiful can hardly be conceived; their charming effect is much heightened by the concealment of the other features (however pleasing the latter may be), and is rendered still more striking by a practice universal among the females of the higher and middle classes, and very common among those of the lower orders, which is that of blackening the edge of the eyelids, both above and below the eyes, with a black powder called kohhl…. The kohhl is applied with a small probe, of wood, ivory, or silver, tapering towards the end, but blunt; this is moistened, sometimes with rose-water, then dipped in the powder, and drawn along the edges of the eyelids; it is called mir’wed; and the glass vessel in which the kohhl is kept, mookhhol’ah.
Prayer
Almighty God, our prayer is that we may live worthily before thee, serving thee day and night according to thy will, and showing forth out of a pure and noble life thy truth and thy grace as revealed in Jesus Christ. It is in the name so sweet, so dear, the one great good name we now come before thee. Our prayer is to be lifted up into thy likeness, to be set amongst thine angels for purity and strength, yet never to forget that we are men of the earth, the children of time, redeemed with the great price of the blood of Christ. We desire to set ourselves to thy service with our whole heart, and with both our hands; nothing would we do reluctantly or of compulsion, but everything with the ease of love, with the gladness of a true heart’s loyalty then shall we never be weary, in our soul there shall be no faintness. We bless thee for thy tender care. When other love has wasted, thy love has but begun: when other patience has been exhausted, then has thy long-suffering been multiplied toward us. This is thy gift in Christ, this is the grace of the very cross itself, this is the applied blood of atonement; we bless thee for it, we are made strong by it, and because of thy grace and thy strength our life shall be delivered from the enemy.
We humbly pray thee to meet us in thine house; when the burden is great thou canst lift the load, at least for a while, and if thou wilt not lessen the burden thou wilt increase the strength, for thine heart is set towards the children of men to do them good and not evil, all the days of their life. We put our cases into thine hands, thou knowest all that is special in them, and all that is urgent: how poor we are, how weak, how blind and stumbling and how ill-advised in our counsels, and how unsuccessful in our labour. All our life is laid out before thee in infinite plainness; according to its woe, and sin, and sore, and bitterness, do thou come to it and give us all to know the joy of divine redemption. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
IX
ELISHA, THE SUCCESSOR OF ELIJAH
2Ki 2:13-13:21
For the sake of unity, this chapter, like the one on Elijah, will be confined to a single person, Elisha, who was the minister, the disciple, and the successor of the prophet Elijah. “Minister” means an attendant who serves another generally a younger man accompanying and helping an older man. A passage illustrating this service 2Ki 3:11 : “Elisha, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.” We may here recall a situation when no wash basin was convenient, and the water was poured on our hands for our morning ablutions. A corresponding New Testament passage is Act 13:5 : “Paul and Barnabas had John Mark to their minister,” that is, the young man, John Mark, attended the two older preachers, and rendered what service he could. Elisha was also a disciple of Elijah. A disciple is a student studying under a teacher. In the Latin we call the teacher magister. Elijah was Elisha’s teacher in holy things. Then Elisha was a successor to Elijah. Elijah held the great office of prophet to Israel, and in view of his speedy departure, God told him to anoint Elisha to be his successor, that is, successor as prophet to the ten tribes.
About four years before the death of Ahab, 800 B.C., Elijah, acting under a commission from God, found Elisha plowing, and the record says, “with twelve yoke of oxen.” I heard a cowman once say that it was sufficient evidence of a man’s fitness to preach when he could plow twelve yoke of oxen and not swear. But the text may mean that Elisha himself plowed with one yoke, and superintended eleven other plowmen. Anyhow, Elijah approached him and dropped his mantle around him. That was a symbolic action, signifying, “When I pass away you must take my mantle and be my successor.” Elisha asked permission to attend to a few household affairs. He called together all the family, and announced that God had called him to a work so life-filling he must give up the farm life and devote himself to the higher business. To symbolize the great change in vocation he killed his own yoke of oxen and roasted them with his implements of husbandry; and had a feast of the family to celebrate his going into the ministry. It is a great thing when the preacher knows how to burn the bridges behind him, and when the family of the preacher recognizes the fulness and completeness of the call to the service of God.
The lesson of this and other calls is that no man can anticipate whom God will call to be his preacher. He called this man from the plow handles. He called Amos from the gathering of sycomore fruit; he called Matthew from the receipt of custom; he called the fishermen from their nets; he called a doctor in the person of Luke. We cannot foretell; the whole matter must be left to God and to God alone, for he alone may put a man into the ministry. I heard Dr. Broadus preach a great sermon on that once: “I thank Christ Jesus, my Lord, for that he hath enabled me and counted me faithful, putting me into this ministry, who was before a blasphemer.”
Elijah served as a prophet fifty-five years. That is a long ministry. There were six kings of Israel before he passed away, as follows: Ahab, Ahaziah, Jehoram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, and Joash. There were five sovereigns of Judah, to wit: Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah (this one a woman) and Joash. Athaliah was queen by usurpation.
God said to Elijah, “Anoint Elisha to be thy successor; anoint Jehu to be king of Israel, and anoint Hazael to be king of Syria.” Now here were two men God-appointed to the position of king, as this man was to the position of prophet, and we distinguish them in this way: It does not follow that because the providence of God makes a man to be king, that the man is conscious of his divine call, like the one who is called to be a preacher. For instance, he says, “I called Cyrus to do what I wanted done: I know him, though he does not know me.” The lesson is that God’s rule is supreme over all offices. Even the most wicked are overruled to serve his general purposes in the government of the world.
The biblical material for a sketch of Elisha’s life 1Ki 19:16 to 2Ki 13:21 . Elisha means, “God the Saviour.” The Greek form is Elisaios; we find it in the Greek text of Luk 4:27 , where our Lord says, “There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elisaios. ” “Elijah” is Hebrew, and “Elias” is the corresponding Greek word; “Elisha” is Hebrew, and “Elisaios” is the corresponding Greek form.
We will now distinguish between the work of Elijah and Elisha, giving some likenesses and some unlikenesses. In the chapter on Elijah attention has already been called to the one great unlikeness, viz: that Elijah did not live in public sight; he appeared only occasionally for a very short time. Elisha’s whole life was in the sight of the public; he had a residence in the city of Samaria, and a residence at Gilgal; he was continually passing from one theological seminary to another; he was in the palaces of the kings, and they always knew where to find him. He had a great deal to do with the home life of the people, with the public life of the people and with the governmental life of the people. There were some points of likeness in their work, so obvious I need not now stop to enumerate them. Elijah’s life was more ascetic, and his ministry was mainly a ministry of judgment, while Elisha’s was one of mercy.
The New Testament likenesses of these two prophets are as follows: Elijah corresponds to John the Baptist, and Elisha’s ministry is very much like the ministry of Jesus in many respects.
There were many schools of the prophets in the days of Elijah and Elisha. Commencing with Jericho we have one; the next was at Bethel; the third at Gilgal not the Gilgal near Jericho but the one in the hill country of Ephraim and there was one at Mount Carmel. These stretched across the whole width of the country four theological seminaries. The history shows us that Elijah, just before his translation, visited every one of them in order, and that Elisha, as soon as Elijah was translated, visited the same ones in reverse order, and there is one passage in the text that tells us that he was continually doing this.
I think the greatest work of Elisha’s life was this instruction work; it was the most far-reaching; it provided a great number of men to take up the work after he passed away. Indeed the schools of the prophets were the great bulwarks of the kingdom of God for 500 years during the Hebrew monarchy. We cannot put the finger on a reformation, except one, in that five hundred years that the prophets did not start. One priest carried on a reformation we will come to it later. But the historians, the poets, the orators, the reformers, and the revivalists, all came from the prophets. Every book in the Bible is written by a man that had the prophetic spirit. Elisha was the voice of God to the conscience of the kings and the people, and when we study the details of his life we will see that as the government heard and obeyed Elisha it prospered, and as it went against his counsel it met disaster.
We have two beautiful stories that show his work in the homes. One of them is the greatest lesson on hospitality that I know of in the Bible. A wealthy family lived right on the path between the Gilgal seminary and the Mount Carmel seminary. The woman of the house called her husband’s attention to the fact that the man of God, Elisha, was continually passing to and fro by their house; that he was a good man, and that they should build a little chamber on the wall to be the prophet’s chamber. “We will put a little table in it, and a chair, and a bed, and we will say to him, Let this be your home when you are passing through.” Elisha was very much impressed with this woman’s thoughtfulness, and the reason for it. He asked her what he could do for her. But she lived among her own people, wanted no favor from the king nor the general of the army. Elisha’s servant suggested that she was childless, so he prophesied to her that within a year she would be the mother of a son. The son was born and grew up to be a bright boy, and, like other boys, followed his father to the field. One hot day when they were reaping and it was very hot in reaping time over there he had a sunstroke and said, “My head! My head!” The father told his servant to take him to his mother as usual, let a child get sick and the daddy is sure to say, “Take him to his mother.” I don’t know what would become of the children if the mothers did not take care of them when they are sick. But the boy died. The woman had a beast saddled and went to the seminary at Mount Carmel. She knew Elisha was there for he had not passed back. It was a very touching story. Anyhow, Elisha restored the boy to life, and to show how it lingered in his mind, years afterward he sent word to her that there would be a famine of seven years, and she had better migrate until the famine was over. She went away for seven years, and when she came back a land-grabber had captured her home and her inheritance. She appealed the case to Elisha, and Elisha appealed the case to the king, and then the kin said, “Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done.” When he had heard the full story of this man’s work he said, “Let this woman have her home back again, and interest for all the time it has been used by another.” This is a very sweet story of family life.
There is another story. One of the “theologs ” I do not know how young he was, for he had married and had children the famine pressed so debt was incurred, and they had a law then we find it in the Mosaic code that they might make a bondman of the one who would not pay his debts. The wife of this “theolog” came to Elisha and said, “My husband is one of the prophets; the famine has brought very hard times, and my boys are about to be enslaved because we cannot pay the debt.” Then he wrought the miracle that we will consider a little later, and provided for the payment of the debt of that wife of the prophet and for the sustenance of them until the famine passed away.
These two stories show how this man in going through the country affected the family life of the people; there may have been hundreds of others. I want to say that I have traveled around a good deal in my days, over every county in this state. It may be God’s particular providence, but I have never been anywhere that I did not find good people. In the retrospect of every trip of my life there is a precious memory of godly men that I met on the trip. I found one in the brush in Parker County, where it looked like a “razor-back” hog could not make a living, and they were very poor. I was on my way to an association, and must needs pass through this jungle, and stopped about noon at a small house in the brush, where I received the kindest hospitality in my life. They were God’s children. They fixed the best they had to eat, and it was good, too the best sausage I ever did eat. So this work of Elisha among the families pleases me. I have been over such ground, and I do know that the preacher who is unable to find good, homes and good people, and who is unable to leave a blessing behind him in the homes, is a very poor preacher. I have been entertained by the great governors of the state and the generals of armies, but I have never enjoyed any hospitality anywhere more precious than in that log cabin in the jungle.
The next great work of Elisha was the miracles wrought by him. There were two miracles of judgment. One was when he cursed the lads of Bethel that place of idolatry and turned two she-bears loose that tore up about forty of them. That is one judgment) and I will discuss that in the next chapter. Just now I am simply outlining the man’s whole life for the sake of unity.
The second miracle of judgment was the inflicting on Gehazi the leprosy of Naaman. The rest of his miracles were miracles of patriotism or of mercy. The following is a list (not of every one, for every time he prophesied it was a miracle): 2Ki 2:14 tells us that he divided the Jordan with the mantle of Elijah; 2Ki 2:19 , that he healed the bad springs of Jericho, the water that made the people sick and made the land barren, which was evidently a miracle of mercy. The third miracle recorded is in 2Ki 2:23 , his sending of the she-bears (referred to above) ; the fourth is recorded in 2Ki 3:16 , the miracle of the waters. Three armies led by three kings were in the mountains of Edom, on their way to attack Moab. There was no water, and they were about to perish, and they appealed to Elisha. He told them to go out to the dry torrent bed and dig trenches saying, “To-morrow all of those trenches will be full of water, and you won’t see a cloud nor hear it thunder.” It was a miracle in the sense that he foresaw how that water would come from rain in the mountains. I have seen that very thing happen. Away off in the mountains there may be rain one can’t see it nor hear it from where he is in the valley. The river bed is as dry as a powder horn, and it looks as if there never will be any rain. I was standing in a river bed in West Texas once, heard a roaring, looked up and saw a wave coming down that looked to me to be about ten feet high the first wave and it was carrying rocks before it that seemed as big as a house, and rolling them just as one would roll a marble.. So his miracle consisted in his knowledge of that storm which they could not see nor hear. If they had not dug the trenches they would have still had no water for a mountain torrent is very swift to fall. In that place where I was, in fifteen minutes there was a river, and in two or three hours it had all passed away. But the trenches of Elisha were filled from the passing flood.
The fifth miracle is recorded in 2Ki 4:2-7 , the multiplying of the widow’s oil, that prophet’s wife that I have already referred to. The sixth miracle is recorded in 2Ki 4:8-37 , first the giving and then the restoring to life of the son of the Shunamite. The seventh is given in 2Ki 4:38 , the healing of the poisonous porridge: “Ah, man of God! there is death in the pot,” or “theological seminaries and wild gourds.” The eighth miracle is found in 2Ki 5:1-4 , the multiplying of the twenty loaves so as to feed 100 men. The ninth, 2Ki 5:1-4 , the healing of Naaman’s leprosy, and the tenth, 2Ki 5:26-27 , the inflicting on Gehazi the leprosy of which Naaman was healed.
The eleventh miracle is found in 2Ki 6:1-7 , his making the ax to swim. One of the prophets borrowed an ax to increase the quarters; the seminary was growing and the place was too straight for them, and they had to enlarge it. They did not have axes enough, and one of them borrowed an ax. In going down to the stream to cut the wood, the head of the ax slipped off and fell into the water and there is a text: “Alas, my master, for it was borrowed.” The miracle in this case was his suspension of the law of gravity, and making that ax head to swim, so that the man who lost it could just reach out and get it.
Twelfth, 2Ki 6:8-12 , the revealing of the secret thought of the Syrian king, even the thoughts of his bedchamber. No matter what, at night, the Syrian king thought out for the next day, Elisha knew it by the time he thought it, and would safeguard the attack at that point.
Thirteenth, 2Ki 6:15 , his giving vision to his doubtful servant when the great host came to capture them. The servant was scared. Elisha said, “Open this young man’s eyes, and let him see that they who are for us are more than those who are against us.” What a text! His eyes were opened, and he saw that hilltop guarded with the chariots of God and his angels. We need these eye openers when we get scared.
Fourteenth, the blinding of that Syrian host that came to take him. He took them and prayed to the Lord to open their eyes again. An Irishman reported at the first battle of Manasseh, thus: “I surrounded six Yankees and captured them.” Well, Elisha surrounded a little army and led them into captivity.
Fifteenth, 2Ki 7:6 , a mighty host of Syrians was besieging Samaria, until the women were eating their own children, the famine was so great. Elisha took the case to God, and that night, right over the Syrian camp was heard the sound of bugles and shouting, and the racing of chariots, and it scared them nearly to death. They thought a great army had been brought up, and a panic seized them, as a stampede seizes a herd of cattle, and they fled. They left their tents and their baggage: their provisions, their jewels, and the further they went the more things they dropped, all the way to the Jordan River, until they left a trail behind them of the cast-off incumbrances. The word “panic” comes from the heathen god, “Pan,” and the conception is that these sudden demoralizations must come from deity. I once saw sixteen steers put an army of 4,000 to flight, and I was one of the men. We were in a lane with a high fence on one side and a bayou on the other side, and suddenly, up the lane we heard the most awful clatter, and saw the biggest cloud of dust, and one of the men shouted, “The cavalry is on us! The cavalry is on us!” and without thinking everybody got scared. A lot of the men were found standing in the bayou up to their necks, others had gone over the fence and clear across the field without stopping. I did not get that far, but I got over the fence.
Sixteenth, 2Ki 8:2-6 , the foreseeing and foretelling of the seven years of famine.
Seventeenth, 2Ki 8:11 , the revelation of the very heart of Hazael to himself. He did not believe himself to be so bad a man. Elisha just looked at him and commenced weeping. Hazael could not understand. Elisha says, “I see how you are going to sweep over my country with fire and sword; I see the children that you will slay; I see the bloody trail behind you.” Hazael says, “Am I a dog, that I should do these things?” But Elisha under inspiration read the real man) and saw what there was in the man. One of the best sermons that I ever heard was by a distinguished English clergyman on this subject.
Eighteenth, 2Ki 13:14 , his dying prophecy.
Nineteenth, the miracle from his bones after he was buried. We will discuss that more particularly later.
We have thus seen his great teaching work, his relation to the government, and his miracles.
Now, let us consider some of his miracles more particularly. The Romanists misuse the miracle of the bones of Elisha, and that passage in Act 19:11-12 , where Paul sent out handkerchiefs and aprons, and miracles were wrought by them. On these two passages they found all their teachings of the relics of the saints, attributing miraculous power to a bit of the cross, and they have splinters enough of that “true cross” now scattered about to make a forest of crosses. In New Orleans an’ auctioneer said, “Today I have sold to seventeen men the cannon ball that killed Sir Edward Packenham.” The greatest superstition and fraud of the ages is the Romanist theory of the miracle working power of the reputed relics of the saints. Some of Elisha’s miracles were like some of our Lord’s. The enlargement of the twenty loaves to suffice for 100 men reminds us of two miracles of our Lord, and his curing a case of leprosy reminds us of many miracles of our Lord like that. In the Bible, miracles are always numerous in the great religious crises, where credentials are needed for God’s people, such as the great series of miracles in Egypt by Moses, the series of miracles in the days of Elisha and the miracles in the days of our Lord.
The greatest of Elisha’s work is his teaching work, greater than his work in relation to the government, his work in the families, or his miracles. I think the more far-reaching power of his work was in his teaching. There were spoken similar words at the exodus of Elijah and Elisha. When Elijah went up, Elisha said, “My Father! My Father! The chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof!” The same words are used when Elisha died. What does it mean? It pays the greatest compliment to the departed: that they alone were worth more to Israel than all its chariots, and its cavalry; that they were the real defenders of the nation.
At one point his work touched the Southern Kingdom, viz: When Moab was invaded, and he wrought that miracle of the waters, filled the trenches and supplied the thirsty armies. Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah was along, and for his sake Elisha saved them.
There are many great pulpit themes in connection with Elisha’s history. I suggest merely a few: First, “Let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me” that was his prayer when Elijah was leaving him; second, “The chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof”; third, when he came to the Jordan he did not say, “Where is Elijah?” but he smote the Jordan and said, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” for it made no difference if Elijah was gone, God was there yet; fourth, “The oil stayed” not as long as the woman has a vessel to put it in; fifth, the little chamber on the wall; sixth, “Ah, man of God! There is death in the pot” or “theological seminaries and wild gourds” radical criticism, for instance there is death in the pot whenever preachers are fed on that sort of food; seventh, “Is it well with thy husband?” “Is it well?” and I will have frequently commenced a meeting with that text; eighth, Elisha’s staff in the hands of Gehazi, who was an unworthy man and the unworthy cannot wield the staff of the prophets; ninth, “Alas, my master, it was borrowed!”; tenth, the Growing Seminary “The place is too straight for us”; eleventh, “Make this valley full of trenches,” that is, the Lord will send the water, but there is something for us to do; let us have a place for it when it comes; twelfth, the secret thoughts of the bedchamber are known to God; thirteenth, “They that be with us are more than those that be against us”; fourteenth, “Tell me, I pray thee, all the great works done by Elisha.”
These are just a few in the great mine of Elijah or Elisha where we may dig down for sermons. The sermons ought to be full of meat; that is why we preach to feed the hungry. We should let our buckets down often into the well of salvation, for we cannot lower the well, and we may draw up a fresh sermon every Sunday. We should not keep on preaching the same sermon; it is first a dinner roast, then we give it cold for supper, then hash its fragments for breakfast, and make soup out of the bones for the next dinner, and next time we hold it over the pot and boil the shadow, and so the diet gets thinner and thinner. Let’s get a fresh one every time.
QUESTIONS
1. Who was Elisha?
2. What is the meaning of “minister to Elijah”? Illustrate and give corresponding passage in the New Testament.
3. What is the meaning of “Elisha, a disciple of Elijah”?
4. What is the meaning of “Elisha, a successor to Elijah”?
5. Give the date, author, manner, and nature of Elisha’s call, his response and how he celebrated the event.
6. What is the lesson of this and other calls? Illustrate.
7. How long his prophetic term of office and what kings of Israel and Judah were his contemporaries?
8. What secular calls accompanied his, how do you distinguish between his and the call of the others and what is the lesson therefrom?
9. What is the biblical material for a sketch of Elisha’s life?
10. What is the meaning of his name?
11. What is the Greek and Hebrew forms of his name? Give other examples.
12. What likenesses and unlikenesses of the work of Elijah and Elisha?
13. What New Testament likenesses of these two prophets?
14. How many schools of the prophets in the days of Elijah and Elisha, and where were they located?
15. What was Elisha’s great teaching work in the seminaries? Discuss.
16. What was Elisha’s part in governmental affairs?
17. What of his work in the families? Illustrate.
18. What two classes of his miracles and what miracles of each class?
19. What is the Romanist misuse of the miracle of Elisha’s bones and Act 19:11-12 ?
20. What miracles were like some of our Lord’s?
21. When and why were Bible miracles numerous?
22. Which of Elisha’s works was the greatest?
23. What words spoken at the exodus of Elijah and Elisha and what their meaning?
24. At what point did Elisha’s work touch the Southern Kingdom?
25. What New Testament lesson from the life of Elisha?
26. Give several pulpit themes from this section not given by the
27. What is the author’s exhortation relative to preaching growing out of this discussion of Elisha?
X
GATHERING UP THE FRAGMENTS THAT NOTHING BE LOST
The title of this chapter is a New Testament text for an Old Testament discussion. For the sake of unity the last two chapters were devoted exclusively to Elijah and Elisha. It is the purpose of this discussion to call attention to some matters worthy of note that could not very well be incorporated in those personal matters, and yet should not be omitted altogether.
It is true, however, that the heart of the history is in the lives of these two great prophets of the Northern Kingdom. In bringing up the record we will follow the chronological order of the scriptures calling for exposition.
Jehoshaphat’s Shipping Alliance with Ahaziah. We have two accounts of this: first, in 1Ki 22:47-49 , and second, in 2Ch 20:35-37 . I wish to explain, first of all, the locality of certain places named in these accounts. Tarshish, as a place, is in Spain. About that there can be no question. About Ophir, no man can be so confident. There was an Ophir in the southern part of Arabia; a man named Ophir settled there, but I do not think that to be the Ophir of this section. The Ophir referred to here is distinguished for the abundance and fine quality of its gold. Several books in the Bible refer to the excellency of “the gold of Ophir,” and to the abundance of it. Quite a number of distinguished scholars would locate it in the eastern part of Africa. Some others would locate it in India, and still others as the Arabian Ophir. My own opinion is, and I give it as more than probable, that the southeastern coast of Africa is the right place for Ophir. Many traditions put it there, the romance of Rider Haggard, “King Solomon’s Mines,” follows the traditions. The now well-known conditions of the Transvaal would meet the case in some respects.
Ezion-geber is a seaport at the head of the Gulf of Akaba, which is a projection of the Red Sea. What is here attempted by these men is to re-establish the famous commerce of Solomon. I cite the passages in the history of Solomon that tell about this commerce. In 1Ki 9:26 we have this record: “And King Solomon made a navy of ships in Eziongeber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. And Hiram (king of Tyre) sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to King Solomon.” Now, 1Ki 10:11 reads: “And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of Almug trees and precious stones.” This “almug-trees” is supposed to be the famous sweet-scented sandalwood. The precious stones would agree particularly with the diamond mines at Kimberly in the Transvaal.
Then1Ki_10:22 reads: “For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram: Once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.” The ivory and apes would fit very well with the African coast, but we would have to go to India to get the spices, which are mentioned elsewhere, and the peacocks. A three years’ voyage for this traffic seems to forbid the near-by Arabian Ophir, and does make it reasonable that the merchant fleet touched many points Arabia, Africa, and the East Indies. It is, therefore, not necessary to find one place notable for all these products gold, jewels, sandalwood, ivory, apes, spices, and peacocks. Solomon, then, established as his only seaport on the south Eziongeber, a navy, manned partly by experienced seamen of Tyre, and these ships would make a voyage every three years. That is a long voyage and they might well go to Africa and to India to get these varied products, some at one point and some at another.
Now Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah (king of Israel) made an alliance to re-establish that commerce. The first difficulty, however, is that the Chronicles account says that these ships were to go to Tarshish, and the Kings account says that they were ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir. My explanation of that difficulty is this: It is quite evident that no navy established at Eziongeber would try to reach Spain by circumnavigating Africa, when it would be so much easier to go from Joppa, Tyre, or Sidon over the Mediterranean Sea to Spain. “Tarshish ships” refers, not to the destination of the ships, but to the kind of ships, that is, the trade of the Mediterranean had given that name to a kind of merchant vessel, called “Ships of Tarshish.” And the ships built for the Tarshish trade, as the name “lndianman” was rather loosely applied to certain great English and Dutch merchant vessels. It is an error in the text of Chronicles that these ships were to go to Tarshish. They were Tarshish ships, that is, built after the model of Tarshish ships, but these ships were built at Eziongeber for trade with Ophir, Africa, and India.
1Ki 22:47 of the Kings account needs explanation: “And there was no king in Edom; a deputy was king.” The relevancy of that verse is very pointed. If Edom had been free and had its own king, inasmuch as Eziongeber was in Edom, Judah never could have gone there to build a navy. But Edom at this time was subject to Judah, and a Judean deputy ruled over it. That explains why they could come to Eziongeber.
One other matter needs explanation. The account in Kings says, “Then said Ahaziah the son of Ahab unto Jehoshaphat, Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships. But Jehoshaphat would not.” Ahaziah attributed the shipwreck of that fleet to the incompetency of the Judean seamen. He did not believe that there would have been a shipwreck if he had been allowed to furnish experienced mariners, as Hiram did. So Kings gives us what seems to be the human account of that shipwreck, viz: the incompetency of the mariners; but Chronicles gives us the divine account, thus: “Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath destroyed thy works. And the ships were broken.” How often do we see these two things: the human explanation of the thing, and the divine explanation of the same thing. Ahaziah had no true conception of God, and he would at once attribute that shipwreck to human incompetency, but Jehoshaphat knew better; he knew that shipwreck came because he had done wickedly in keeping up this alliance with the idolatrous kings of the ten tribes.
THE TRANSLATION OF ELIJAH Let us consider several important matters in connection with the translation of Elijah, 2Ki 2:1-18 . First, why the course followed by Elijah? Why does he go from Carmel to Gilgal and try to leave Elisha there, and from Gilgal to Bethel and try to leave Elisha there, and from Bethel to Jericho and try to leave Elisha there? The explanation is that the old prophet, having been warned of God that his ministry was ended and that the time of his exodus was at hand, wished to revisit in succession all of these seminaries. These were his stopping places, and he goes from one seminary to another. It must have been a very solemn thing for each of these schools of the prophets, when Elisha and Elijah came up to them, for by the inspiration of God as we see from the record, each school of the prophets knew what was going to happen. At two different places they say to Elisha, “Do you know that your master will be taken away to-day?” Now, the same Spirit of God that notified Elijah that his time of departure was at hand, also notified Elisha, also notified each school of the prophets; they knew.
But why keep saying to Elisha, “You stay here at Gilgal; the Lord hath sent me to Bethel,” and, “You stay here at Bethel; the Lord hath sent me to Jericho,” and “You stay here at Jericho; the Lord hath sent me to the Jordan”? It was a test of the faith of Elisha. Ruth said to Naomi, “Entreat me not to leave thee, nor to forsake thee; for where thou goest, I will go; and God do so to me, if thy God be my God, and thy people my people, and where thou diest there will I die also.” With such spirit as that, Elisha, as the minister to Elijah, and as the disciple of Elijah, and wishing to qualify himself to be the successor of Elijah, steadfastly replied: “As the Lord liveth and thy soul liveth, I will not forsake thee.” “I am going with you just as far as I can go; we may come to a point of separation, but I will go with you to that point.” All of us, when we leave this world, find a place where the departing soul must be without human companionship. Friends may attend us to that border line but they cannot pass over with us.
We have already discussed the miracle of the crossing of the Jordan. Elijah smote the Jordan with his mantle and it divided; that was doubtless his lesson to Elisha, and we will see that he learned the lesson. I heard a Methodist preacher once, taking that as a text, say, “We oftentimes complain that our cross is too heavy for us, and groan under it, and wish to be relieved from it.” “But,” says he, “brethren, when we come to the Jordan of death, with that cross that we groaned under we will smite that river, and we will pass over dry-shod, and leave the cross behind forever, and go home to a crown to wear.”
The next notable thing in this account is Elijah’s question to Elisha: “Have you anything to ask from me?” “Now, this is the last time; what do you want me to do for you?” And he says, “I pray thee leave a double portion of thy spirit on me.” We see that he is seeking qualification to be the successor. “Double” here does not mean twice as much as Elijah had, but the reference is probably to the first-born share of an inheritance. The first-born always gets a double share, and Elisha means by asking a double portion of his spirit that it may accredit him as successor. Or possibly “double” may be rendered “duplicate,” for the same purpose of attenuation. The other prophets would get one share, but Elisha asks for the first-born portion. Elijah suggests a difficulty, not in himself, but in Elisha ; he said, “You ask a hard thing of me, yet if you see me when I go away, you will get the double portion of my spirit,” that is, it was a matter depending on the faith of the petitioner, his power of personal perception. “When I go up, if your eyes are open enough to see my transit from this world to a higher, that will show that you are qualified to have this double portion of my spirit.” We have something similar in the life of our Lord. The father of the demoniac boy says to our Lord, “If thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus replied, “If thou canst! All things are possible to him that believeth.” It was not a question of Christ’s ability, but of the supplicant’s faith.
The next thing is the translation itself. What is meant by it? In the Old Testament history two men never died; they passed into the other world, soul and body without death: Enoch and Elijah. And at the second coming of Christ every Christian living at that time will do the same thing. “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, they shall be changed.” Now, what is that change of the body by virtue of which without death, it may ascend into heaven? It is a spiritualization of the body eliminating its mortality, equivalent to what takes place in the resurrection and glorification of the dead bodies. I preached a sermon once on “How Death [personified] Was Twice Startled.” In the account of Adam it is said, “And he died” and so of every other man, “and he died.” Methuselah lived 969 years, but he died. And death pursuing all the members of the race, strikes them down, whether king or pauper, whether prophet or priest. But when he comes to Enoch his dart missed the mark and he did not get him. And when he came to Elijah he missed again. Now the translations of Enoch and Elijah are an absolute demonstration of two things: First, the immortality of the soul, the continuance of life; that death makes no break in the continuity of being. Second, that God intended from the beginning to save the body. The tree of life was put in the garden of Eden, that by eating of it the mortality of the body might be eliminated. Sin separated man from that tree of life, but it is the purpose of God that the normal man, soul and body, shall be saved. The tradition of the Jews is very rich on the spiritual significance of the translation of Enoch and Elijah. In Enoch’s case it is said, “He was not found because God took him,” and in this case fifty of the sons of the prophets went out to see if when Elijah went to heaven his body was not left behind, and they looked all over the country to find his body. Elisha knew; he saw the body go up.
Now, in Revelation we have the Cherubim as the chariot of God. This chariot that met Elijah at the death station was the chariot of God, the Cherubim. Just as the angels met Lazarus and took his soul up to heaven, and it is to this wonderful passage that the Negro hymn belongs: “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.”
Elisha cried as the great prophet ascended, “My Father! My rather I The chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof,” the meaning of which is that thus had gone up to heaven he who in his life had been the defense of Israel, worth more than all of its chariots and all of its cavalry. Now these very words “were used when Elisha died. “My Father! My Father! The chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof,” signifying that he had been the bulwark of the nation as Elijah had been before him.
ELISHA’S MINISTRY, 2Ki 2:19-25 As Elijah went up something dropped not his body, but just his mantle his mantle fell, and it fell on Elisha, symbolic of the transfer of prophetic leadership from one to the other. Now, he wants to test it, a test that will accredit him; so he goes back to the same Jordan, folds that same mantle up just as Elijah had done, and smites the Jordan. But, mark you, he did not say, “Where is Elijah” the man, Elijah, was gone, but, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” and the waters divided and he came over. There he stood accredited with a repetition of the miracle just a little before performed by Elijah, which demonstrated that he was to be to the people what Elijah had been. And this was so evident that the sons of the prophets recognized it and remarked on it: “The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha.” It is a touching thing to me, this account of more than fifty of these prophets, as the president of their seminary is about to disappear, came down the last hill that overlooks the Jordan, watching to see what became of him. And they witness the passage of the Jordan they may have seen the illumination of the descent of the chariot of fire. They wanted to go and get the body the idea of his body going up they had not taken in, and they could not be content until Elisha, grieved at their persistence) finally let them go and find out for themselves that the body had gone to heaven.
I have just two things to say on the healing of the noxious waters at Jericho. The first is that neither the new cruse nor the salt put in it healed the water. It was a symbolic act to indicate that the healing would be by the power of God. Just as when Moses cast a branch into the bitter waters of Marah, as a symbolic act. The healing power comes from God. The other re-mark is on that expression, “unto this day,” which we so frequently meet in these books. Its frequent recurrence is positive proof that the compiler of Kings and the compiler of Chronicles are quoting from the original documents. “Unto this day” means the day of the original writer. It does not mean unto the day of Ezra wherever it appears in Chronicles, but it means unto the day of the writer of the part of history that he is quoting from. More than one great conservative scholar has called attention to this as proof that whoever compiled these histories is quoting the inspired documents of the prophets.
THE CHILDREN OF BETHEL AND THE SHE-BEARS Perhaps a thousand infidels have referred Elisha’s curse to vindictiveness and inhumanity. The word rendered “little children” is precisely the word Solomon uses in his prayer at Gibeon when he says, “I am a little child” he was then a grown man. Childhood with the Hebrews extended over a much greater period of time than it does with us. The word may signify “young men” in our modern use of the term. And notice the place was Bethel, the place of calf worship, where the spirit of the city was against the schools of the prophets, and these young fellows call them “street Arabs,” “toughs,” whom it suited to follow this man and mock him: “Go up, thou bald bead; go up, thou bald head.” Elisha did not resent an indignity against himself, but here is the point: these hostile idolaters at Bethel, through their children are challenging the act of God in making Elisha the head of the prophetic line. He turned and looked at them and he saw the spirit that animated them saw that it was an issue between Bethel calf worship and Bethel, the school of the prophets, and that the parents of these children doubtless sympathized in the mockery, and saw it to be necessary that they should learn that sacrilege and blasphemy against God should not go unpunished. So, in the name of the Lord he pronounces a curse on them had it been his curse, no result would have followed. One man asks, “What were these she-bears doing so close to Bethel?” The answer is that in several places in the history is noted the prevalence of wild animals in Israel. We have seen how the old prophet who went to this very Bethel to rebuke Jeroboam and turned back to visit the other prophet, was killed by a lion close to the city.
Another infidel question is, “How could God make a she bear obey him?” Well, let the infidel answer how God’s Spirit could influence a single pair of all the animals to go into the ark. Over and over again in the Bible the dominance of the Spirit of God over inanimate things and over the brute creation is repeatedly affirmed. The bears could not understand, but they would follow an impulse of their own anger without attempting to account for it.
THE INCREASE IN THE WIDOW’S OIL, 2Ki 4:1-7
We have already considered this miracle somewhat in the chapter on Elisha, and now note particularly:
1. It often happens that the widow of a man of God, whether prophet or preacher, is left in destitution. Sometimes the fault lies in the imprudence of the preacher or in the extravagance of his family, but more frequently, perhaps, in the inadequate provision for ministerial support. This destitution is greatly aggravated if there be debt. The influence of a preacher is handicapped to a painful degree, when, from any cause, he fails to meet his financial obligations promptly. In a commercial age this handicap becomes much more serious.
2. The Mosaic Law (Lev 25:39-41 ; see allusion, Mat 18:25 ) permitted a creditor to make bond-servant of a debtor and his children. For a long time the English law permitted imprisonment for debt. This widow of a prophet appeals to Elisha, the head of the prophetic school, for relief, affirming that her husband did fear God. In other words, he was faultless in the matter of debt. The enforcement of the law by the creditor under such circumstances indicates a merciless heart.
3. The one great lesson of the miracle is that the flow of the increased oil never stayed as long as there was a vessel to receive it. God wastes not his grace if we have no place to put it: according to our faith in preparation is his blessing. He will fill all the vessels we set before him.
DEATH IN THE POT, 2Ki 4:38-41 We recall this miracle to deepen a lesson barely alluded to in the chapter on Elisha. The seminaries at that time lived a much more simple life than the seminaries of the present time; it did not take such a large fund to keep them up. Elisha said, “Set on the great pot,” and one of the sons of the prophets went out to gather vegetables. He got some wild vegetables he knew nothing about here called wild gourd and shred them into the pot, not knowing they were poisonous. Hence the text: “O man of God, there is death in the pot.” I once took that as the text for a sermon on “Theological Seminaries and Wild Gourds,” showing that the power of seminaries depends much on the kind of food the teachers give them. If they teach them that the story of Adam and Eve is an allegory, then they might just as well make the second Adam an allegory, for his mission is dependent on the failure of the first. If they teach them the radical criticism; if they teach anything that takes away from inspiration and infallibility of the divine Word of God or from any of its great doctrines then, “O man of God, there is death in the pot” that will be a sick seminary.
In a conversation once with a radical critic I submitted for his criticism, without naming the author, the exact words of Tom Paine in his “Age of Reason,” denying that the story of Adam and Eve was history. He accepted it as eminently correct. Then I gave the author, and inquired if it would be well for preachers and commentators to revert to such authorities on biblical interpretation. He made no reply. We find Paine’s words not only in the first part of the “Age of Reason,” written in a French prison without a Bible before him, but repeated in the second part after he was free and had access to Bibles. I gave this man a practical illustration, saying, “You may take the three thousand published sermons of Spurgeon, two sets of them, and arrange them, one set according to the books from which the texts are taken Gen 1:2 , Gen 1:3 , etc., and make a commentary on the Bible. By arranging the other set of them in topical order, you have a body of systematic theology.” Now this man Spurgeon believed in the historical integrity and infallibility of the Bible, in its inspiration of God, and he preached that, just that. As the old saying goes, “The proof of the pudding is in the chewing of the bag.” He preached just that, and what was the result? Thousands and thousands of converts wherever he preached, no matter what part of the Bible he was preaching from; preachers felt called to enter the ministry, orphan homes rose up, almshouses for aged widows, colportage systems established, missionaries sent out, and all over the wide world his missionaries die in the cause. One man was found in the Alps, frozen to death, with a sermon of Spurgeon in his hand. One man was found shot through the heart by bush rangers of Australia, and the bullet passed through Spurgeon’s sermon on “The Blood of Jesus.” Now, I said to this man, “Get all your radical critics together, and let them preach three thousand sermons on your line of teaching. How many will be converted? How many backsliders will be reclaimed? How many almshouses and orphanages will be opened? How many colportage systems established? Ah! the proof of the pudding is in the chewing of the bag. If what you say is the best thing to teach about the Bible is true, then when you preach, it will have the best results. But does it?”
We have considered Elisha’s miracle for providing water for the allied armies of Israel, Judah, and Edom, when invading Moab (2Ki 3:10-19 ). We revert to it to note partakelarly this passage: “And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew sword, to break through unto the king of Edom: but they could not. Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there was great wrath against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land” (2Ki 3:26-27 ). On this passage I submit two observations:
1. Not long after this time the prophet Micah indignantly inquires, “Shall I give my firstborn for my transgressions, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” The context is a strong denunciation of the offering of human sacrifices to appease an angry deity. The Mosaic law strongly condemned the heathen custom of causing their children to pass through the fire of Molech. Both this book of Kings and Jeremiah denounce judgment on those guilty of this horrible practice. The Greek and Roman classics, and the histories of Egypt and Phoenicia, show how widespread was this awful custom.
2. But our chief difficulty is to expound the words, “There was great wrath against Israel.” But what was its connection with the impious sacrifice of the king of Moab? Whose the wrath? The questions are not easy to answer. It is probable that the armies of Edom and Judah were angry at Israel for pressing the king of Moab to such dire extremity, and so horrified at the sacrifice that they refused longer to co-operate in the campaign. This explanation, while not altogether satisfactory, is preferred to others more improbable. It cannot mean the wrath of God, nor the wrath of the Moabites against Israel. It must mean, therefore, the wrath of the men of Judah and Edom against Israel for pressing Mesha to such an extent that he would offer his own son as a sacrifice.
QUESTIONS
I. On the two accounts of Jehoshaphat’s shipping alliance with Ahaziah, 2Ki 22 ; 2Ch 20 , answer:
1. Where is Tarshish?
2. Where is Ophir?
3. Where is Ezion-geber?
4. What is the relevance of 1Ki 22:47 ?
5. Explain “ships of Tarshish” in Kings, and “to go to Tarshish” in Chronicles.
6. What commerce were they seeking to revive, and what passage from 1 Kings bearing thereon?
7. How does the book of Kings seem to account for the wreck of the fleet, and how does Chronicles give a better reason?
II. On the account of Elijah’s translation (2Ki 2:1-18 ) answer:
1. Why the course taken by Elijah by way of Gilgal, Bethel, and Jericho?
2. How did both Elisha and the schools of the prophets know about the impending event?
3. What was the object of Elijah in telling Elisha to tarry at each stopping place while he went on?
4. What was the meaning of Elisha’s request for “a double portion” of Elijah’s spirit and why was this a hard thing to ask, i.e., wherein the difficulty? Illustrate by a New Testament lesson.
5. What was the meaning of Elijah’s translation, and what other cases, past or prospective?
6. What was the meaning of Elisha’s expression, “My Father! My Father! The chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof,” and who and when applied the same language to Elisha?
7. How does Elisha seek a test of his succession to Elijah and how do others recognize the credentials?
III. How do you explain the seeming inhumanity of Elisha’s cursing the children of Bethel?
IV. On the widow’s oil (2Ki 4:1-7 ), answer:
1. What often happens to the widow of a prophet or preacher, and what circumstance greatly aggravates the trouble?
2. What is the Mosaic law relative to debtors and creditors?
3. What one great lesson of the miracle?
V. On “Death in the Pot” answer:
1. What the incident of the wild gourds?
2. What application does the author make of this?
3. What comparison does the author make between Spurgeon and the Radical Critics?
VI. On Elisha’s miracle, the water supply, answer:
1. What is the allusion in Micah’s words, “Shall I give my first-born,” etc.?
2. What the meaning of “There was great wrath against Israel”?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
XII
THE REIGNS OF AHAZIAH (OF JUDAH),
JEHORAM (OF ISRAEL) AND THE RISE OF THE HOUSE OF NIMSHI
2Ki 8:25-10:17
In the scriptures cited for this chapter there are some apparent discrepancies which first claim our attention. 2Ki 8:25 says, “In the twelfth year of Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel did Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah begin to reign,” while 2Ki 9:29 says, “And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.” There are two possible solutions of this difficulty: (1) it may be accounted for by their method of reckoning in which they counted the king’s “first year” twice; first, from the accession to the end of the civil year and second, from the accession to the same day of the next year; (2) he may have begun to reign with his father as viceroy in the eleventh year and as full king in the twelfth year. Either of these explanations relieves us from the difficulty of an apparent discrepancy.
A second apparent discrepancy occurs in 2Ki 8:26 and 2Ch 22:2 . The Kings passage says that Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, while the Chronicles passage says that he was forty-two. The latter statement is impossible because his father was only forty years old when he died. So the only explanation of this difference in statement is that it must be an error of the copyist. Twenty-two is more advanced than we would ordinarily expect but it is probable in view of the early marriages in the Orient and also that each prince had, besides his wife, several concubines. That Jehoram had several appears from 2Ch 21:17 .
The character of Ahaziah is set forth in the record with the author’s accustomed clearness showing some of the antecedent forces that operated in his life. The first thing mentioned is the fact that his mother’s name was Athaliah, the daughter (granddaughter) of Omri, who is here mentioned because of his prominence. She was a daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, passing on to this king the full benefit of the law of heredity. So we are not surprised that the record says that he walked in the ways of the house of Ahab. The Kings account says, “for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab,” i.e., he was related to the house of Ahab by marriage. An added reason for this course of Ahaziah is given by the Chronicles account: “for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly . . . for they [the house of Ahab] were his counsellors after the death of his father, to his destruction.” Our sympathy goes out to Ahaziah in view of these conditions. How could he, in view of these hereditary traits and special maternal instruction) have done otherwise than to walk in the “ways of the house of Ahab”? Only by the grace of God which is able to overcome all the forces of the past, whether they be hereditary or environmental.
On Elisha’s interview with Hazael we need to note: (1) this visit of the prophet to Damascus was perhaps for protection, but it is not definitely known as to why he went there; (2) that Elisha, whatever his reason for going, did not hide himself but was recognized upon his arrival; (3) that in his answer to Hazael he sarcastically told him to tell his master just what Hazael wanted to tell him and then gave him the true revelation of the case; (4) that Hazael did not tell his master all that Elisha said and thus falsified to him, but it was not the fault of the prophet; (5) that Elisha here showed his great heart of sympathy for his people in their sufferings, and (6) that God revealed the future of Benhadad, Hazael and Israel to Elisha, a clear proof of predictive prophecy.
The next topic for our discussion is the aid rendered Jehoram by Ahaziah in the defense of Ramothgilead; then follows the other events leading up to the anointing of Jehu as king over Israel. In the defense of Ramothgilead Ahaziah and Jehoram co-operate, uniting their forces against Hazael, king of Syria. Here Jehoram was wounded. Then the two kings withdrew Ahaziah to Jerusalem and Jehoram to Jezreel to be nursed. Soon after this Ahaziah visited Jehoram there and Just at this time Elisha appears upon the scene and commissions a son of the prophets to anoint Jehu. Thus the events pass in rapid succession leading to the destruction of the house of Ahab. We should note in this connection the striking fact that Jehu was not in the regular line of succession and was one of the two kings of Israel selected by Jehovah.
The circumstances and events of his anointing are graphically told by the author of Kings. The prophet who had been commissioned by Elisha went to Ramothgilead, found the captains sitting, called out Jehu, anointed him, gave him his commission, outlined his work and fled. According to this prophecy Jehu was to avenge the blood of the prophets against the house of Ahab by destroying every man child, as in the case of Jehoram and Baasha, and the dogs were to eat Jezebel in Jezreel. Immediately Jehu returned to the servants, his fellow captains, and made known unto them the prophet’s message and they arose at once and proclaimed him king. This involved the duty of preaching righteousness and executing God’s orders as sheriff, a very great responsibility and no small task. Later we see that Jehu was equal to the task thrust upon him, and God is abundantly vindicated in making this selection.
The chief characteristic of Jehu’s work is, that it is iconoclastic. He was an image smasher, a great revolutionist. Was he pious? Not very pious, i.e. in the sense of reverencing the traditions of the past. He was, perhaps, filial toward his parents; we don’t know, but he had full regard for his mission under God. If he was not pious he was religious in that he executed the program that God handed to him through the prophet. To be sure he was not a “sissy” but was a kind of “dare-devil” in spirit, a stern, John the Baptist sort of fellow. Such are the characteristics of the men who have led great revolutionary movements.
The first act of his reign was the slaying of Jehoram which is vividly presented in 2Ki 9:14-26 . The salient points in this story are: (1) Jehu’s journey to Jezreel and his approach recognized by the watchman in the tower; (2) Jehoram’s messengers to Jehu and his disposition of them; (3) Jehoram and Ahaziah’s advance to meet Jehu, Jehoram’s greeting and Jehu’s reply; (4) Jehu’s execution of Jehoram and Ahaziah’s escape, and (5) the disposition of the body of Jehoram and the fulfilment of prophecy. The second act of his reign was the slaying of Ahaziah. After the death of Jehoram Jehu pursued Ahaziah who had fled by the way of the “garden house” or perhaps a better translation would be, “Beth-Gan,” a town at the foot of the hills bounding the plain of Esdraelon, south of Jezreel, and on the road to Samaria. It is somewhat difficult, but not impossible, to harmonize the Kings account with the Chronicles account of this episode. Omitting the italics in 2Ki 9:27 and inserting 2Ch 22:9 a just after “and he fled to Megiddo,” we may conceive of this transaction as follows: Jehu ordered Ahaziah to be smitten at the ascent of Gur, but he fled to Megiddo where he was wounded, then carried to Samaria and concealed but was discovered by the emissaries of Jehu who carried him to Megiddo where Jehu was at this time; then and there Jehu put him to death. Such is a possible combination of the two accounts and removes the difficulty so far as a contradiction is concerned. 2Ch 22:7 explains Ahaziah’s death as the direct cause of his alliance with Jehoram and his untimely death was a judgment upon him for his idolatry. Murphy (Handbook on Chronicles) explains his hiding in Samaria thus, “And he was about to hide in Samaria,” but he was turned aside by his pursuers, was wounded and went to Megiddo where he died. There is one fault with this explanation: it does not provide for the expression, “they caught him and carried him to Jehu,” etc. So withal the method of combining, as given above, is more satisfactory.
Here may be raised the question of the morality of the action of Jehu in killing Jehoram and Ahaziah. The answer is simple and easy. It was clearly God’s execution, and was therefore nothing more than the stroke of the law. The Jehovah religion was very much endangered by the house of Ahab and these kings, one of Israel and the other of Judah, were branches of that house. If Jehu sinned, it was in the method or spirit in which he did the work, rather than in the taking of the life of these men. That was clearly his commission from Jehovah. He did not sin in this transaction any more than a sheriff does who executes a criminal under the penalty of the law. God had rendered the verdict and appointed Jehu the executioner. But if he used unnecessary cruelty in this execution, or did it in the spirit of vengeance, then we would admit that he sinned, because God has said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay” and no man, mob, or court of men has the right to execute a criminal in the spirit of vengeance. The cruel fate of Jezebel is horrifying and bloodcurdling. Her cunning attempt to thwart her predicted fate is repulsing and disgusting. Upon learning of Jehu’s approach, Cleopatra-like, she painted her eyes, attired her head, and from a window saluted her executioner with, “Is it peace?” From Jehu came the prompt and decisive response, “Who is on my side? Throw her down,” and down she came with a crash, spattering her blood upon the wall and upon the horses. Then Jehu drove right over her body trampling her underfoot. She was so mangled that the dogs found her body an easy prey and when they went to take her up to bury her there was nothing left except the skull, the palms of her hands and her feet. What a horrible picture, but it was the just recompense for sin. She was the greatest enemy of the Jehovah religion after the days of Pharaoh, and God made Pharaoh an example to the world; so did he make Jezebel, and in Revelation we find her followers given space to repent and then sternly threatened with eternal destruction. All this was according to the prophecy of Elijah, 1Ki 21:17 ff. How definitely and surely God forecasts the fate of the wicked. We should not be deceived. “God is not mocked, whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” When one walks the streets of a modern city and beholds the painted faces of our own American women, he is constrained to ask, “Have all our women become Jezebels, and what will the harvest of this generation be?”
Jehu did not stop with the execution of Jehoram, Ahaziah and Jezebel but pursued his destructive work in the judgment on the house of Ahab. The record says that Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria, meaning descendants, sons and grandsons, whom Jehu ordered the elders or rulers of Jezreel to slay. He first challenged them to select one for a king and “put up” their fight, but they declared their allegiance to Jehu. Then he wrote them to execute these sons at once and bring him their heads. This they did, upon which Jehu justified his course by citing a prophecy (1Ki 21:17 ff), and then extended his destructive course so as to include the rest of Ahab’s house at Jezreel: his great men, his familiar friends and his priests. What a sweep of destruction in human life! But he did not stop there. The princes of Judah were a menace to his reign and therefore he must dispose of them. This he did in wholesale massacre at the shearing house of the shepherds. These princes royal of Judah were on their way to see their relatives at Samaria when they met Jehu who took them in charge at once and put them to death. Pursuing his course, Jehu met Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him, and after an exchange of greetings he found in this man a suitable companion and associate in his “zeal for the Lord,” as Jehu called it.
With Jehonadab originated the Rechabites, taking the name from Rechab, Jehonadab’s father. They were descended from a family of the Kenites and were a very sturdy people, with some remarkable characteristics. They drank no wine, built no permanent dwelling houses, planted no vineyards, sowed no seed, but lived in tents and followed the most simple habits of life. In Jeremiah’s day they were still holding to the tenets of Jehonadab in teaching and practice and because of their faithfulness in obeying the commandments of Jehonadab, Jehovah promised that Jehonadab should never want a man to stand before him. This promise is being fulfilled to this day. In the vicinity of Medina are to be found today the descendants of the Rechabites with the same characteristics and habits. This is a remarkable fulfilment of promise, but it is just what may come to any people who will keep the commands of Jehovah. He will not suffer his faithfulness to fail, and consistent with his holy nature, “He never denies himself, but he abideth faithful.”
Jehonadab’s character is not hard to determine in the light of his affiliations. Two cannot walk together except they be agreed. Jehu was a “dare-devil” sort of character, and he found his match in Jehonadab. They were partners and coworkers from this time on and the work of Jehu was the work of Jehonadab.
Jehu’s last act of establishing himself on the throne of Israel is recorded in 2Ki 10:17 , and refers, perhaps, to the destruction of the female descendants of Ahab. 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.
QUESTIONS
1. How do you harmonize the apparent discrepancies in 2Ki 8:25 and 2Ki 9:29 ; 2Ki 8:26 and 2Ch 22:2 ?
2. What was the character of Ahaziah and what were the examples of a mother’s influence here?
3. Describe the interview of Elisha with Hazael and explain the difficulty of this passage.
4. What were the events which led to the anointing of Jehu as king over Israel? . .
5. What striking fact with reference to Jehu’s anointing?
6. Recite the circumstances and events of his anointing.
7. According to this prophecy what was Jehu to do and what was to be the fate of Jezebel?
8. How was he made king and what involved in his call to be king?
9. What were the chief characteristics of his work, was he pious, what is the meaning of piety and what kind of character necessary to a resolution.
10. What was the first act of his reign and how was this accomplished?
11. What was the second act of his reign and how was this accomplished?
12. How does Chronicles explain Ahaziah’s death?
13. What question of ethics relative to Jehu’s slaying Jehoram and Ahaziah and what the explanation?
14. What was Jezebel’s fate and what prophecy was fulfilled in her death?
15. What was the judgment on the house of Ahab?
16. What prophecy was fulfilled in the judgment on the house of Ahab?
17. What was the judgment on the princes Royal of Judah?
18. Whom did Jehu attach to his support, and what is the origin of the Rechabites and what were their practices?
19. What was the character and work of Jehonadab?
20. What was Jehu’s last act in establishing himself on the throne of Israel?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
2Ki 10:1 And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to them that brought up Ahab’s [children], saying,
Ver. 1. And Ahab had seventy sons. ] By several wives. God had threatened to root out his house, yet he promised himself the establishment of his house; and thereupon so followed the work of generation that he left seventy sons behind him.
In Samaria.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
sons. Put by Figure of speech Synecdoche (of Part), for grandsons and greatgrandsons.
unto. Some codices, with Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read “and unto”.
rulers = elders.
of Jezreel. Doubtless they had fled to Samaria, being in great fear (2Ki 10:4) from what Jehu had done in Jezreel.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 10
Now Ahab who was the husband of this wicked woman Jezebel, who himself was extremely wicked, had seventy sons. Evidently Jezebel wasn’t his only wife. Now these sons had grown up in Samaria and in Jezreel. And they had been brought up by the tutors, and they were more or less leaders in these communities. And in his letter he said, “Now you have with you the sons of Jehu. So you anoint whichever one that you want, gather together your men of war, and anoint whichever one you want to be the ruler over you and come out and meet us in conflict.” Well, the men in the cities said, “Hey, this Jehu is tough. He’s already destroyed two kings, who are we to stand against him?” And so they sent letters back to Jehu and said, “Look, we’re willing to submit to you and acknowledge you as the king over Israel.” Then he said, “If you’re sincere in this, then tomorrow send me the heads of the sons of Ahab.”
So the next day, they delivered him a pile of seventy heads of the sons of Ahab. And thus again the word of the Lord was fulfilled in that God said He was going to cut off all of the descendants of Ahab. He was going to cut off that family line. And so God fulfilled that word.
Then Jehu met forty-two men who had come from Judah who evidently had not heard that Ahaziah their king was killed. And he said, “Who are you guys?” And they said, “We’re all brothers of Ahaziah.” And so he ordered that they all also be slain.
Then chapter ten, verse nineteen. Jehu said, “Alright, folks, call unto me all the prophets of Baal. For Ahab served Baal a little but Jehu will serve him much.” Now he was doing this subtlety, it says, because he was intending to eliminate Baal worship. So he gathered together all of the priests and all of the people that worship Baal. He said, “We’re going to have a great celebration offering our offerings unto Baal, and I want to lead you all in Baal worship.” And so they gathered all of the people from Israel who had worshipped Baal into the temple of Baal. And he says, “Now are you sure there are no servants of the Lord here? Nope. All servants of Baal? Then put on your vestments.” So they put on their vestments, their aprons and all, in their worship of Baal. And then he ordered eighty men. He said, “Alright, now go in and wipe them all out. And if you let any of them escape it will be your life for his.” And so they went in and utterly wiped out all of the worshippers of Baal. And so Baal worship was eliminated out of the kingdom of Israel. Totally obliterated.
However, Jehu did not destroy the two golden calves that Jeroboam had set up in Dan and in Bethel, and continued in the worship of the golden calves, and thus did not serve the Lord completely or fully. He did eliminate the Baal worship, but not the worship of those golden calves.
Now the LORD said to Jehu, Because you have been so good in executing my judgment against the house of Ahab, your children will serve on those thrones to the fourth generation. But [unfortunately] Jehu did not take heed to walk in the law of the LORD God of Israel with all of his heart ( 2Ki 10:30-31 ):
So at this point, the kingdom of Israel began to diminish in its strength. Hazael began smiting the borders of Israel. On the east side of the Jordan River, the area that belong to the tribe of Gad, and Manasseh and the Reubenites, and they began to fall to Syria.
Now, I think that there is an important lesson here. When, going back now, the book of Joshua, when the children of Israel were ready to come into the Promised Land, they have been staying for a while on the east side of Jordan, the Jordan River, up in the area they had settled. Many of them in the upper area of the Golan on the east side of the Jordan River, the area of Moab, Gilead. And they came to Joshua and they said, “Hey, we really don’t care to go over and live in that land that God promised. We’re quite content to stay right here. We’re cattle men and this is good grazing country, good cattle country and we’re just very content to stay here.”
Of course, Joshua got extremely upset. Or Moses. They first came to Moses. And Moses was extremely upset. He said, “Oh, you, I can’t believe it! Don’t you remember what happened to us at Kadish Barnea when the people failed to go into the land? How that we’ve been wandering for forty years because of it?” And they said, “No, no, you misunderstand us. We’ll send our men in to fight and to take the land, but then after the land is taken, we just as soon stay back here on this side of Jordan.” So they made a covenant that the men of Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh would send the men across with Joshua to conquer the land, and once the land had been conquered, then they could return to the cities that they had built on the other side of the Jordan River, and they would not dwell then in the land that had been promised from the Jordan westward.
Now, when you go into the spiritual typology of the thing, again Egypt represents the bondage of sin. Pharaoh representing Satan actually and the bondage in sin. The Red Sea is representative of baptism, coming into a new relationship with God, a new life. And journeying towards the land of promise, and coming to the land of promise, there remained the last barrier, the Jordan River. Now in typology, the Jordan River is a type of, not physical death, and this is where a lot of people make a mistake especially in the Hymnology, Swing low, sweet chariot, coming for to carry me home. I looked over Jordan, what did I see? Band of angels coming after me, coming for to carry me home. I won’t have to cross Jordan alone. Jesus died for my sins to atone. And Jordan in hymns has been likened unto our physical death. Roll, Jordan, roll. Roll, Jordan, roll. I want to go to heaven when I die. Roll, take your old Jordan roll. But that breaks down, because after they cross Jordan, they still had a lot of battles to fight. There’ll be no battles to fight in heaven. After they crossed Jordan, they even experienced defeat. There’ll be no defeat in heaven.
But Jordan in the spiritual analogy represents my reckoning of my old life and old nature to be dead. It’s that place of faith where I reckon my old life to be dead, and I enter into that life of the Spirit, the promised life of victory in Christ Jesus. So that there are many Christians who have come out of the world, but who have never entered into the full life of the Spirit possessing your full possessions that are ours in Christ Jesus. And their whole Christian walk is sort of a wilderness kind of an experience. And there are those who are content to stay on the other side of Jordan. They say, “Well, I’m happy. I’m satisfied you know with my Christian life. And I really don’t see the reason why I need to commit everything or why I need to deny myself these worldly things and all. I’m very content and happy living on this side of Jordan. Living after the flesh. I really don’t know that I need to walk after the Spirit or even desire to walk after the Spirit.” And they really have no strong spiritual desires for the fullness of God within their lives. They’re content in their nominal Christian state.
They are like the tribe of Reuben and Gad and Manasseh who said, “We’re content to stay over here. We don’t really care about going in.” Now unfortunately, there are a lot of Christians in this position. Really are not pressing into the fullness that God has for them in the life and in the walk of the Spirit. But this is the danger. Because Reuben and Gad and Manasseh were the first to fall to the enemy. They’re on the other side of Jordan, and they didn’t have the defenses of the land that God had promised. And so often we see those who fail to enter into the fullness. Those who fail to come to the reckoning of the old man to be dead, crucified with Christ, and enter into the walk and the life of the Spirit are often those that fall into the captivity of the enemy. And so the spiritual analogy is very important here.
So these three tribes were the first to fall to Hazael, the king of Syria.
Now the rest of the acts of Jehu are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel ( 2Ki 10:34 ).
Which books we do not have in our Bible. We do have the book, First and Second Chronicles, but those are the first and second chronicles of the kings of Judah. So as we move from Second Kings into First Chronicles, we will be more or less getting a repetition of this period of history. Only we will be getting it from only Judah’s slant. They will tell you of the kings of Israel, but they won’t give you much detail. They’ll be giving you more information on the kings of Judah because it is the chronicles or the official records of the kings of Judah that we have, First and Second Chronicles. There were also the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. These books are referred to many times, but we don’t have those books in our Bible. So another reference to the books of the chronicles of the kings of Israel, which we do not have.
So Jehu slept with his fathers: they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead. And Jehu had reigned for twenty-eight years over Israel ( 2Ki 10:35-36 ). “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
2Ki 10:1
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Here begins the second section of the Book, that which deals with the rapid and fearful corruption of the whole nation. The story alternates between Israel and Judah, and both sections of the nation sink deeper and ever deeper into sin and decay. Jehu is still to the front as a veritable scourge of God. First he was occupied in the work of sweeping out Ahab’s posterity, and it was done with terrific speed. He then turned himself against Baalism, and with a thoroughness that is nothing short of terrible he broke and destroyed it.
Yet the story of Jehu is one of personal failure. When proceeding against Baal worship, his words to Jehonadab, “Come with me, and see my zeal for Jehovah,” are in themselves a revelation of a proud spirit. While he was an instrument in the hand of God, nevertheless, strange as it may appear, he was in private life corrupt. “He departed not from the sins of Jeroboam”; he “took no heed to walk in the law of Jehovah.” How terrible a warning is the story of this man-that it is possible to be an instrument in the hand of God and yet never be in fellowship with Him.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
the Doom of the House of Ahab
2Ki 10:1-11
What an iconoclast was this Jehu! Before his strong hand the whole structure of Baal-worship received its death-blow. And as we meet Elijahs name in this chapter, connecting him with these events, we turn back to the story of Horeb, with its solemn words: And it shall come to pass that him that escapeth from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. God has many nets, and if the fish escape one set of meshes, they will be caught by another-none shall finally escape. Everyone shall give an account of himself to God. See 2Ki 10:10.
It is a searching thought! Because men escape one judgment, they count themselves immune; but it is not so. He that escapes Hazael shall meet Jehu. As if a man did flee from a lion and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him, Amo 5:19. There shall fall unto the earth nothing which the Lord spake, 2Ki 10:10. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, and trifle with such a God, whose love is as searching as His chastening wrath? Jer 16:16-17.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Jehu
(Jehovah is He)
2 Kings 9-10
Contemporary Prophet: Elisha.
The great God that formed all things both reward-eth the fool, and rewardeth transgressors.-Pro 26:10
And Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets, and said unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take this box of oil in thy hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead: and when thou comest thither, look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up from among his brethren, and carry him to an inner chamber; then take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Then open the door, and flee, and tarry not.
Twenty years before, he had (probably) been anointed by Elijah17 (1Ki 19:16), as David was anointed by Samuel long before his anointing by the people (2Sa 2:4).
The anointing of the king over Israel was not an established custom, or rule. It was done when the circumstances were out of the ordinary, or when there might be some question as to his title to the crown. Saul and David were both anointed by Samuel; the one as first king, the other as head of a new line (1Sa 9:16; 16:12). Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet jointly anointed Solomon, because of the faction under Adonijah (1Ki 1:34). The rebel son Absalom was also anointed (2Sa 19:10). So was the boy-king Joash (2Ki 11:12); so, too, was the wicked and ill-fated Jehoahaz (2Ki 23:30). See also Jdg 9:8, 15. In the case of Jehu, in whom the succession of the kingdom of Israel was to be translated out of the right line of the family of Ahab, into another family, which had no [legal] right to the kingdom, but merely the appointment of God, there was a necessity for his unction, both to convey to him a title, and to invest him in the actual possession of the kingdom (Burder).
Jorams army still lay siege to Ramoth-gilead, where his general Jehu commanded the forces. So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. And when he came, behold, the captains of the host were sitting; and he said, I have an errand unto thee, O captain. And Jehu said, Unto which of all us? And he said, To thee, O captain. And he arose, and went into-the house; and he poured the oil on his head, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel. And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish: and I will cut off from Ahab every male, and him that is shut up and left in Israel: and I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah: and the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. And he opened the door, and fled. At last, after more than fifteen years delay, the blood of Naboth, crying, like Abels, for vengeance from the ground, was about to be requited. God, when judging men, is never in haste. He allowed Jezebel to outlive, not only her husband, but his two successors. She was powerless, evidently, to continue her former high-handed practices after Ahabs death; and it was a part of her punishment to live to see his dynasty overthrown and the extinction of his and her house begun.
Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his Lord: and one said unto him, Is all well ? wherefore came this mad fellow to thee? And he said unto them, Ye know the man, and his communication.18 And they said, It is false: tell us now. And he said, Thus and thus spake he to me, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs (an ancient custom, see Mat 21:7), and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is kingAnd Jehu said, If it be your minds, then let none go forth nor escape out of the city to go to tell it in Jezreel.
Impatient to be in actual and acknowledged possession of the kingdom, and without a thought of waiting, even for the briefest season, upon God, Jehu is off with Bidkar his captain on his thirty-five mile journey to Jezreel. So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram. And there stood a watchman on the tower of Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take a horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace? So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he cometh not again. Another messenger is despatched to meet the advancing cavalcade. And with like result, only the watchman this time adds, in his report, The driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously. Eager to be at his work of extirpation, the newly-anointed executioner-king makes all speed, as if the solemn, fearful work of destruction to which he had been commissioned was to him an exciting pleasure, instead of a painful task of stern necessity, as it must have been had he been in true fellowship with God in his work of overthrow and retributive judgment upon the house of Ahab. God has no pleasure in the death of the sinner. The taking of human life, whether done by divine appointment or otherwise, should be, and is, one of the saddest and most solemn acts that it is possible for man to perform. Jehus ready willingness betrayed how little his soul really entered into the awful nature of his charge; and, what is more lamentable, the gravity of the guilt that had occasioned it.
And Joram said, Make ready! And his chariot was made ready. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against (to meet, N. Tr.) Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many? And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah. And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot. It was but the sudden beginning of a speedy end; for it is but a short work that God makes with men when He makes inquisition for apostasy and blood. Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take up and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the Lord laid this burden upon him; surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons (see Jos 7:24), saith the Lord; and I will requite thee in this plat, saith the Lord. Now there- fore take and cast him into the plat of ground, according to the word of the Lord. They slew Ahaziah king of Judah also (see Ahaziah), as he was seeking to escape. And Jehu followed after him, and said, Smite him also in the chariot.
Jezebels turn comes next: And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window. And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master? Her innate vanity manifested itself up till the last. She probably knew her end had come; but instead of preparing her soul, she adorned her body (soon to be eaten by dogs), darkening, according to Eastern custom, her brows and eyelashes with antimony, that she might appear queenly and beautiful even in death. Her daring spirit, even with her last breath, taunts her slayer by reminding him of Zimris end, who, like Jehu (as she would make it appear), slew his master.19 And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs. And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot. And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a kings daughter. And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the Lord, which He spake by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel: and the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel-i.e., there should be no tomb to mark the resting-place of her remains.
Thus miserably perished this wretched woman, a foreigner in Israel, who did her utmost to make her Tyrian Baal-worship the established religion of her husbands kingdom, and hesitated not to slay any who dared oppose her propaganda, or interfere with her desires or designs in any way. She is made (as we believe) a type of papal Rome in Rev. 3; and a more suitable character to represent that system of idolatry, corruption and murder, the history of the ages does not supply. And her tragic death is as the shadow cast before of that coming event foretold in Rev 17:17-Babylons end, the judgment of the great whore, whose idolatries and crimes have stained the earth.
And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to them that brought up Ahabs children, saying, Now as soon as this letter cometh to you, seeing your masters sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, a fenced (fortified) city also, and armor; look even out the best and meetest of your masters sons, and set him on his fathers throne, and fight for your masters house. It was seemingly a bold challenge, though in reality only his manner of frightening them into subjection. He knew well the character of those with whom he had to deal; besides, there does not appear to have been much love or loyalty to the reigning dynasty. So the fervid reformer knew he had little to fear from them. But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, Behold, the two kings stood not before him: how then shall we stand ? And he that was over the house, and he that was over the city, the elders also, and the bringers up of the children, sent to Jehu, saying, We are thy servants, and will do all that thou shalt bid us; we will not make any king: do thou that which is good in thine eyes. Thus these spiritless elders and rulers of Jezreel tamely surrender everything to Jehu. When Jezebel sent her imperious letter to them, commanding them to falsely accuse and then murder Naboth, they abjectly complied without the slightest show of resistance or conscience, putting to death their righteous fellow-townsman. A cringing obedience might well have been expected by Jehu from such men.
Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If ye be mine, and if ye will harken unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men your masters sons, and come to me to Jezreel by to-morrow this time. Now the kings sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought them up. And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the kings sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent him them in Jezreel. And there came a messenger, and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the kings sons. And he said, Lay ye them in two heaps at the entering in of the gate until the morning. And it come to pass in the morning, that he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, Ye be righteous: behold, I conspired against my master, and slew him: but who slew all these? It was a crafty stroke of policy on Jehus part to have the principal men of the capital slay the residue of Ahabs posterity. Their act, he shrewdly divined, would create a breach between themselves and any sympathizers with the extinct dynasty, or their royal relatives across the border; thus effectually destroying the last remaining opposition to his course, and settlement upon the throne. True, though his motives were purely political, he gives his wholesale executions a religious coloring, making capital of Gods word and principle of retribution in regard to Ahab and his house: Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spake concerning the house of Ahab: for the Lord hath done that which He spake by His servant Elijah. 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.
The sword of judgment, so far as the expressed purpose of Jehovah was concerned, should have been confined to the house of Ahab. But a reckless and ambitious hand was wielding it, and it devoured beyond the allotted limits:
And he arose and departed, and came to Samaria. And as he was at the shearing house (shepherds meeting-place, N. Tr.) in the way, Jehu met with the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, Who are ye? And they answered, We are the brethren of Aha- ziah; and we go down to salute the children of the king and the children of the queen. And he said, Take them alive. And they took them alive, and slew them at the pit (well, N. Tr.) of the shearing house, even two and forty men; neither left he any of them. It was not any part of Jehovahs commission to Jehu to slay these, or any of the descendants of king Jehoshaphat. God had not required this at his hands; and in his unwarranted slaughter of these brethren of Ahaziah he all but exterminated the house of David, leaving the rule of the kingdom to the infamous Athaliah. Jehu probably cared little for this. His thought, probably, was to prevent any uprising against himself from the royal family of Judah. The possible consequences of his ruthless act in reference to the continuance of Davids line (until Messiah) gave him no concern. As to the butchered princes, they reaped the melancholy consequences of their intimacy with a family doomed by God to destruction for their apostasy and wickedness. Let Christians take warning, and obey the call of God to His own, so unmistakably imperative and plain, Come out from among them, and be ye separate(2Co 6:17).
Jehus self-complacency is manifested on his meeting with Jehonadab the son of Rechab. He patronizingly took him into his chariot, giving him his hand (signifying a pledge, in the East; see Ezr 10:19), and saying, Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord. His ostentatious display of his reforming zeal revealed how little he had Gods glory in mind in the midst of all his feverish activity and abolition-in sad contrast to Him who always hid Himself and sought His Fathers glory only. He too had a zeal; but, oh, of what a different character from that of Jehu! The zeal of Thy house consumes Me, He could say. But Jehus zeal, on the contrary, consumed and destroyed everybody and everything that stood in the way of his own advantage or aggrandizement, but never touched himself. He appears to have been a total stranger to real exercise of soul. God ordained him as His executioner, and, as has been aptly said, Never was a more fitted instrument for the work whereunto he was appointed than Jehu. And he had his reward. It was for this world alone; and the fourth generation of his children saw its end.
And when he was come to Samaria, he slew all that remained unto Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed him, according to the saying of the Lord, which He spake by Elijah. He then turned his attention to the priests of Baal. A monk, at the dawn of the Reformation, remarked, We must root printing out, or it will root us out. Jehu felt the same toward the Baal-worship in his newly-acquired kingdom; hence it must be rooted out. Baal had formed a powerful link between Ahabs family and his worshipers, and might be a menace to his tenure of the throne; his priests must therefore share the fate of that family under whose powerful patronage they had flourished in established security the past thirty-six years. And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said unto them, Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu shall serve him much. He then gathers, by subtilty, all the priests and followers of Baal into their place of worship. There is a measure of righteousness in his do- ings, however, for he takes pains to have none of the servants of Jehovah mixed up with the devoted worshipers of Baal. And it came to pass, as soon as he (they, N. Tr.) had made an end of offering the burnt-offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in, and slay them; let none come forth. And they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains cast them out, and went to the city (some read buildings, or citadel) of the house of Baal. And they brought forth the images out of the house of Baal, and burned them. And they brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day.
Thus Jehu extirpated Baal out of Israel. Only, the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, from them Jehu departed not, [from] the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan. And Jehovah said to Jehu, Because thou hast executed well that which is right in My sight, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in My heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel. But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of Jehovah the God of Israel with all his heart; he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin (2Ki 10:28-31, N. Tr.).
While he is Gods faithful, and, as we have seen, overzealous instrument, there is nothing lovely, and little that is commendable, in the character of Jehu. He served Gods purpose as an executioner, but with that he stopped. He could slay with all his heart, but took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord with earnestness. He could break down the gross and vile worship of Baal, yet go on in the calf-worship of Jeroboam. It is easier to serve God in outward things than to acquire the character which He loves, enthroning Him in the heart, and giving the spiritual intelligence of His mind. How different was David from Jehu! He too was Gods instrument for judgment, but how different was his way of carrying it out! God did not, nor did He let Israel, forget his heartless slaughter, saying to the prophet Hosea, a hundred years later, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu (Hos 1:4).
The great lesson to be drawn from this remarkable mans life is that of being constantly on our guard, as servants of God, lest we be found doing His work- whether it be in the exercise of discipline, or the accomplishment of reformation-in a spirit of unbroken-ness and without due exercise of heart and conscience before Him who is a God of judgment, and by whom actions are weighed.
Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Jehu slept with his fathers: and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead. And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty and eight years.20
17 Both the announcement to Hazael that be would be king over Syria, and the anointing of Jehu to Israels kingdom, seem rather to have been left by Elijah to his successor Elisha, to be done at Gods appointed time. In both Hazael and Jehu Elishas appointment take immediates effect, as Elijahs mantle thrown upon Elisha had also taken immediate effect. See 1Ki 19:19-21; 2Ki 8:10-15; 9:1-3 and 11-14. – [Ed.
18 Translated babbling in Pro 23:29.
19 The New Translation makes her say, Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of his master?
20 For further and excellent reflections on the character of Jehu, see a pamphlet called The Zeal of Jehu, published by E. T. Grant, Los Angeles, Cal.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
2Ki 10:15
There is all the difference in the world between the ways in which the answer to this question is spoken; and there is only one way, only one meaning, in which it can be spoken honestly, as before God, from the ground of the heart.
I. There is, for instance, the careless, indifferent, frivolous answer, the answer of those who have hitherto resisted the grace of God, and who, finding that they can sin as yet with but little sorrow, neither know nor really care what religion means. “Is my heart right? Yes, I suppose so. If I am not particularly good, I am not particularly bad,” and so on. Such an answer means nothing, or worse than nothing. In your “Yes” God reads “No.” In your “My heart is right” He reads that it is “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.”
II. Take another answer, not, like the last, wholly hollow and insincere, but too impulsive, too confident. “Is thine heart right?” “Yes,” another will say. “I do sincerely dislike what is bad, and I despise myself for the weakness with which I yielded to it. And I mean to be quite different now.” This answer involves, not merely a weak wish, but a strong desire; not only a strong desire, but a resolute effort; not only even a resolute effort, but an intense and absorbing passion. A weak resolve, a half-resolve, a mere verbal resolve, a resolve made in your own strength-of what use is it? There is a deep-sighted proverb which says, “Hell is paved with good intentions.”
III. “Is thine heart right?” Take one more answer. Some may answer carelessly, some presumptuously, but will not many answer in a deeper, humbler, sincerer, more serious spirit? “Though my life has not been always right,” you will say, “yet I hope, I trust, that my heart is right. It is not hard. My own strength is weakness, my own righteousness is utter sin, but I lift up mine eyes unto the hills, whence cometh my help.” “Make me to do the thing that pleaseth Thee, for Thou art my God. Let Thy loving Spirit lead me into the land of uprightness.”
F. W. Farrar, In the Days of thy Youth, p. 179.
References: 2Ki 10:15.-S. Baring-Gould, One Hundred Sermon Sketches, p. 161. 2Ki 10:15, 2Ki 10:16.-A. Edersheim, Elisha the Prophet, p. 298.
2Ki 10:16
Jehu, the founder of the fifth dynasty of the kings of Israel, interests us partly by his career and achievements, but much more by the problem of his character. His first achievement was the destruction of the entire family of Ahab; his second was the destruction of the worship of Baal, which had been imported from Phoenicia.
Let us endeavour to form a religious estimate of the worth of Jehu’s zeal.
I. What is zeal? It is conviction in a practical and working form. It is the business side of love, whether of God or of man. It is shown in desire to promote the love of God, the worship of God, the praise of God, wherever this is possible. Zeal has also an eye to everything that runs counter to God’s will and to His glory. It rebukes vice and combats error.
II. If zeal is not especially a Jewish virtue, the form which it took in Jehu’s case was eminently Jewish. It expressed itself in a fearful destruction of human life. Jehu’s zeal may have been a zeal for the Lord, notwithstanding the slaughter to which it led. We must in justice distinguish between the absolute standard of right and that relative standard which was present to the mind of Jehu; and if we do this, we may well venture to think that this act in itself was not for a man in his age and circumstances incompatible with a true zeal for the Lord.
III. But there are features in Jehu’s zeal-two especially-which seem to show that it cannot have been so genuine and healthy as we could wish. It was spoiled (1) by ostentation. Jehu desired Jehonadab to come and see what he could do for the Lord. His zeal for the Lord was dashed by a zeal for his own credit and reputation. (2) By inconsistency, not the inconsistency of weakness, but the inconsistency of want of principle. “He departed not from the sins of Jeroboam” (that is, from the established calf-worship), “which made Israel to sin.”
IV. The lessons which Jehu’s career teaches us are: (1) Great results are constantly achieved by God through the means of very imperfect instruments. (2) Jehu teaches us the risk of attempting to carry out public works of a religious or moral character without some previous discipline of the heart and life.
H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 1123.
References: 2Ki 10:16.-C. J. Vaughan, Lessons of Life and Godliness, p. 222; T. Chamberlain, Sermons for Sundays, Festivals, and Fasts, 2nd series, vol. iii., p. 134; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. ix., p. 87; J. Edmunds, Sixty Sermons, p. 343; T. Kelly, Pulpit Trees, p. 328; E. Monro, Practical Sermons on the Old Testament, vol. ii., pp. 235, 251.
2Ki 10:16, 2Ki 10:31
Jehu is not in any sense an interesting person. He was an energetic and bold man, prompt in action, determined and thorough-going, unfeeling and unscrupulous, well fitted for his particular work-a work of judgment upon those who had sinned beyond mercy. His fault was that, while he had a real zeal, he had no true obedience. He is handed down to us, not as an example, but rather as a warning, while upon his tomb we read the condemning inscription, “Zeal without consistency; zeal without obedience; zeal without love.”
I. Zeal is the same word as fervour. In its forcible original meaning, it is the bubbling up of the boiling spirit; the opposite of an impassive, cold-hearted indifference; the outburst of the generous indignation which cannot bear to see right trampled under foot by might; the overflowing of gratitude, devotion, and love to God. The zeal of Jehu was of a lower order than this. Yet even Jehu may reprove. We show our zeal chiefly by the infliction of arbitrary punishments upon offenders, not against the moral law of God, but against the moral law of the world. Such zeal is commonly divorced and dissevered from obedience.
II. We may apply to ourselves, in the way of counsel, a warning from the unfavourable part of the character before us. Jehu had a zeal for God, but Jehu nevertheless took no heed to walk in God’s law with all his heart. (1) “Took no heed.” To the heedlessness of human nature most of our sins may be traced up. (2) “With all his heart.” The fault in our service is that the heart is not right with God. Christian zeal, like Christian faith, worketh by love.
C. J. Vaughan, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 171.
Reference: 2Ki 10:18, 2Ki 10:19.-E. Thring, Uppingham Sermons, vol. i., p. 413.
2Ki 10:31
Was Jehu then a hypocrite? Was all his zeal for the Lord false and affected? Any one who said so would quite miss the point of Jehu’s character and the moral of his history. It is because there is so great a mixture of good and evil in his deeds, because there is so much in his character that deserves to be imitated while there is also, at the same time, a deadly flaw in it, which mars its beauty, that his history is worthy of particular study.
I. Notice, first, that in the double mission which Jehu was called to perform-the destruction of the house of Ahab and of the worship of Baal-there was no self-denial necessary on his part. The duty to which he was called was not one which violently crossed any propensity, or stood in the way of any selfish feeling. His words to Jehonadab, “Come and see my zeal for the Lord,” are a key to the state of Jehu’s mind when he set himself to reform the religion; his zeal was to be the prominent object to be looked at; the awful spectacle of God’s people revolted from the worship of Jerusalem, the painful duty of slaughtering thousands of the followers of Baal, was to be as nothing compared with the spectacle exhibited to Jehonadab by Jehu’s zeal.
II. Jehu’s zeal burnt brightly, and scorched up everything before it, as long as it was fanned by the excitement of self-interest and a naturally stormy temperament; but the whole heart was not in it; it was “zeal for God when it answers my purpose,” not “zeal for God, cost me what it may.” He was a man who would serve God as long as by so doing he could serve himself. The truth which Jehu did not see, and which we ought to see, is that God, if He be served at all, should be served with all our heart, and soul, and strength; that our service must be complete and free, as from those who feel that all they can do must fall infinitely short of a perfect worship of the infinite God.
Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons, 3rd series, p. 48.
References: 2Ki 10:31.-E. C. Wickham, Wellington College Sermons, p. 174; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xii., No. 685. 2Ki 10-Parker, Fountain, April 26th, 1877. 2Ki 11:10.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii., No. 972. 2Ki 11-Parker, vol. viii., p. 217. 2Ki 12:2.-D. Moore, Penny Pulpit, No. 3101. 2Ki 13:14.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. vi., p. 113. 2Ki 13:14-19.-A. Edersheim, Elisha the Prophet, p. 309. 2Ki 13:14-21.-J. R. Macduff, Sunsets on the Hebrew Mountains, p. 163, and Good Words, 1861, p. 527. 2Ki 13:14-22.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. i., p. 164.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
2. Jehus Judgments, Baal-worship Destroyed, and His Death
CHAPTER 10
1. The judgment upon the house of Ahab (2Ki 10:1-11)
2. The relations of Ahaziah slain (2Ki 10:12-14; 2Ch 22:8)
3. Jehonadab spared (2Ki 10:15-17)
4. The Baal worship destroyed (2Ki 10:18-28)
5. Jehus record (2Ki 10:29-31)
6. Israel cut short (2Ki 10:32-33)
7. Jehus death (2Ki 10:34-36)
And now Jehu, the instrument, chosen for judgment, continued his judgment work without showing mercy. The long threatened national judgment upon Israel had begun.
The hint which Jezebel had given him concerning Zimri and the possibility of a rebellion may have influenced Jehu to put away the descendants of Ahab. There were seventy sons, which, according to Hebrew phraseology, means his grandsons and their offspring. He concocts a clever scheme by which the elders of Samaria and the guardians of the grandsons of Ahab were forced to kill the seventy. This was done probably to head off a rebellion against him. Then, according to the custom of those days, the ghastly evidence of the deed was piled in two heaps at the entering in of the gate. Then he addressed the people, showing that while he had slain his master, they were also guilty in slaying these seventy persons, and finally he added the justification of the deeds. Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the Word of the LORD, which the LORD spake concerning the house of Ahab, for the LORD hath done that which He spake by His servant Elijah. 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.
Then forty-two princes and the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah (2Ch 22:8) were slain. They were on the way to Jezreel, which showed their guilty affiliation with the wickedness of Jezebel. They were taken alive and then were slain at the pit of the shearing house, probably a cistern called Beth Eged.
Next he met Jehonadab, the son of Rechab. The Rechabites belonged to the Kenites (1Ch 2:55). They are first mentioned in Gen 15:19. A part of this tribe had followed Israel (Num 10:29-32) and settled in the south of Judah (Jdg 1:16), where they became attached to the Amalekites (1Sa 15:6). Jethro, Moses father-in-law, was a Kenite (Jdg 1:16) and so was Jael, who slew Sisera (Jdg 4:17). See the record of Jehonadab and his work for the tribe in Jer 35:1-16. Jehu recognized him as a friend and took him into his chariot. He may have been acquainted with Elijah; and the great work he did, as made known by Jeremiah, in separating them unto the Lord may have been brought about by the threatened judgment by Elijah and its execution through Jehu, of which Jehonadab knew and part of which he witnessed.
Then in great subtility Jehu destroyed the worshippers of Baal who appeared at his summons in their festive vestments. Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel. But the summary of Jehus reign gives a mournful picture. Like Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, Jehu did not depart from the golden calves at Beth-el and at Dan. Nor did he take heed to walk in the law of the LORD God of Israel with all his heart. He is a sad illustration of a man who may be used of God and yet is disobedient in his own life; executing Gods plans, yet knowing nothing of real communion. But the LORD did not forget even this imperfect service (verse 30).
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
seventy sons: Jdg 8:30, Jdg 10:4, Jdg 12:14
in Samaria: 2Ki 5:3, 1Ki 13:32, 1Ki 16:28, 2Ch 22:9
the rulers: Deu 16:18, 1Ki 21:8-14
them: Heb. nourishers
Reciprocal: 1Ki 21:21 – Behold 1Ki 21:29 – in his son’s days Ecc 6:3 – a man Jer 29:25 – Because Gal 4:1 – That
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ki 10:1. Ahab had seventy sons Grandsons are probably comprehended here under the name of sons, as is usual in the Scriptures: though, by several wives, he might have as many sons as Gideon had. These sons or grandsons were now in Samaria, either because they had been bred up there, that being the chief city of the kingdom; or because they had fled thither, upon receiving tidings of the slaughter of Joram; or had been conveyed thither, from different parts, by their friends, as to the strongest place. Here, as appears probable from Jehus message, they intended to defend themselves and Ahabs children, and to set up one as king in Jorams stead. Jehu wrote letters unto the rulers of Jezreel Hebrew, the princes of Jezreel, that is, the great persons and officers of the court, which then was, and for some time had been, at Jezreel. These, it seems, had either fled to Samaria upon the news of Jehus actions and successes, or had been sent thither by Joram with his sons, to take care of them there. To the elders Termed such from their age, or rather from their office, being the magistrates or senators of Samaria. And to them that brought up Ahabs children That had a more particular care of the several children under the inspection of the princes and elders here mentioned.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 10:1. Seventy sons, whose end was destruction, like the sons of Gideon, of Saul, and of David. The sure way to build up a house is equity, not polygamy.Jehu wrote letters. God gave him a high martial spirit to avenge the blood of his saints. Elevation to a great mind inspires dignity of sentiment, and majesty of style.
2Ki 10:9. Who slew all these? He was careful to associate the citizens, as well as the soldiers, in the total excision of Ahabs house. It is rarely wise for kings to interfere with religion.
2Ki 10:13. We are the brethren of Ahaziah, brothers, cousins, and kinsmen of the king, going to the grand fte on the recovery of king Jehoram. What an inquisition for innocent blood! Where can we find a parallel, except in the blood of the nobles and clergy of France, for the blood of the protestants visited on the third and fourth generation during the revolution of 1789.
2Ki 10:15. Jehonadab, prince of his pastoral tribe, a faithful man to the religion of his ancient fathers, now rejoicing that the wicked were put down. Jehu honoured him as a prince, by taking him into his chariot. All men spontaneously hailed Jehu as the spark which ignites the powder.
2Ki 10:22. Vestments. This last stroke fell on the priests; they were known by their robes.
2Ki 10:23. Look that there be none of the servants of the Lord. There was a great enmity between the worshippers of Baal, and the servants of the Lord. Besides, Baal had no doubt his mysteries, as well as his worshippers, which might readily be distinguished by the favours they wore at festivals in honour of their gods.
2Ki 10:27. A draught-house, a desecrated ruin, yet the grove stood.
2Ki 10:32. The Lord began to cut Israel short; for Hazael conquered the north of Galilee, and all the coasts east of Jordan to the Ammonites. Hazael raised the kingdom of Damascus to greater power than it had ever known before.
REFLECTIONS.
This chapter opens with the God of vengeance riding gloriously in his car. Jehu, emboldened by the fall of two kings, and of Jezebel, whose judgment long slumbered; Jehu finding Jezreel the grand arsenal in his power, next summoned Samaria, the capital, and the strongest place in the kingdom, to surrender, and with an irony more intimidating than the appearance of arms. This place having unconditionally surrendered also, all the other cities submitted without delay. So with a slight carnage rather than a fight, he found the sceptre of Israel invested in his hands.
In the test of homage required of the elders of Samaria, we have a terrible trait of the characters of divine justice: it was to bring the heads of Ahabs seventy sons, which they piled in two heaps before the throne of justice in the gate of Jezreel; for the eastern nations have always made a vast parade of the heads of persons who may have fallen either by popular fury, or by the hand of justice. Probably when he first gave that order in haste, he had not the immediate recollection of Naboth and his sons being falsely accused at the bar, and instantly stoned in that city. But when he saw the heads, all came to remembrance, and the whole city could not avoid acknowledging the hand of God. In passing the gates that morning, and making his remarks on the fall of Ahabs sons, scarcely had he reached the pool where they washed, and the house where the sheep had been shorn, before he saw forty gentlemen approach in splendid dresses, little suspecting that they were coming as sheep to the slaughter. On interrogation, they pleaded privilege from dignity of birth. We are the brethren, said they, of Ahaziah, late king of Israel, and we are going to congratulate his brother Jehoram on his recovery from his wound. They were then told of the revolution, of the fall of their family, and of the mortal wound of Ahaziah king of Judah. Scarcely had their ears time to tingle, before they heard their own sentence, and saw the glittering weapons uplifted to begin the carnage. Thus more than a hundred persons of Ahabs house that day lay bleeding in Jezreel; and all the rest were exterminated perhaps in the course of the day. Surely God set a net for the feet of this family; not one of them escaped. How then can the wicked enjoy their sins, and secretly say the punishment shall never come.
Jehu having now purged the throne, next purged the altar. On arriving at Samaria he resolved to execute the letter of the law on all the prophets and priests of Baal; and as his religious sentiments were not yet known, he judged it the easiest way to bring them forward by proclamation for a great sacrifice, to make them fall in the very place where they had violated the Lords covenant, and where they had perpetrated crimes which cannot be named. And though the artifice employed was an abuse of zeal; yet it ought to be recollected, that the people who so fell had most deeply participated in all the innocent blood which had been shed by Jezebel. Poor deluded multitude, little did they dream of the vengeance about to burst. The altar began to smoke, the temple was crowded, and all the multitude were about to enjoy the frantic dances and pleasures of the feast. But ah, that day the sword alone was doomed to feast; they themselves were to be the victims; and their temple, long the sanctuary of guilt, was to be their funeral pile. The cloud of smoke went up to heaven; the hill on which this house stood was converted into a burning beacon, to warn the whole land no more to apostatize from the God of their fathers. Oh that the multitude of giddy and forgetful people who forsake God, and riot in pleasure, would recollect that one day the supper of the great God shall come, and perhaps when as little expected as this crowd, shut up within the doors of their idol temple, expected the sword to violate their sanctuary.
While Jehu was proceeding with the army from Jezreel to Samaria, he was met with congratulation by Jehonadab. This early token of homage to the Lords king was a prudent measure for the safety of his tribe and family. Jehu, on being assured of his loyalty, took him by the hand, and invited him to a seat in his chariot, that he might see his zeal for the Lord. Let us learn of this man to pay an early homage to the Lord Christ; let us approach him with a heart humble and contrite, that he may make it right by his grace. No mans heart is right in his sight, till it be filled with love, animated with holy zeal, and emulous to offer him the earliest homage of praise.
Jehu invited this man to see his zeal, and surely Elijah did not excel him in prompt and terrible measures for the extermination of idolatry. But Elijahs zeal was distinguished by devotion and justice: Jehus by dissimulation and carnage. Elijah acted solely for God, and that his country might enjoy every covenant mercy. Jehu acted both for God and himself; and as soon as he saw the house of Ahab all dead, he neither removed the calves nor cherished the pure worship of the Lord. Learn, christian, to cleanse thy heart of every idol. Thy bosom sins, thy pleasing and profitable sins are to thee, what the calves were to Israel; and thy soul can never prosper while iniquity is indulged. Political considerations protected the calves. Thus the vain fear, lest the Israelites should become attached to the house of Judah by worshipping at Jerusalem, caused the whole nation ultimately to be lost.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 10:1-31. Destruction of the House of Ahab and of the Baal Worshippers.The same source is continued, but 2Ki 10:28-31 are from a Deuteronomist. The whole story is one of the most terrible in the OT, Ahab had a large family in Samaria. Jehu with a sort of rude chivalry invited the elders of the city to choose one of them as king, and to fight for the throne. But the cowardly rulers promised submission, and at Jehus command sent the heads of the seventy sons to Jezreel in baskets (2Ki 10:7). A further massacre of all Ahabs adherents at Jezreel followed, and of forty-two of the family of Ahaziah, king of Judah (2Ki 10:13).
Jehu next (2Ki 10:15 f.) formed an alliance with Jehonadab, the son of Rechab. From Jeremiah we learn (Jeremiah 35*) that this man was the founder of an ascetic community which repudiated the whole civilisation that Israel learnt in Canaan. They dwelt in tents, refused to practise agriculture or to live in houses, and rigorously abstained from wine (p. 85). The rise of such a movement, says Skinner (Cent.B), at this juncture in the history is a sign of the profound and far-reaching issues involved in the conflict between Yahweh and Baal The sect of Jehonadab continued till the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, and the priestly or prophetic office was promised to them for ever, as they were to stand before Yahweh (Jer 35:18).
The treacherous massacre of the Baal worshippers in Samaria (2Ki 10:17-27) has several points of interest. It is not easy to see how Jehu could have posed, as he undoubtedly did, as a devotee of Baal, especially as (2Ki 10:23) the professors of the two cults were distinct; there was no syncretism of Yahweh and Baal worship, as in the case of the old Canaanitish idolatry. The description of the service is noteworthy, especially the use of sacred vestments which were lent to the worshippers (Gen 35:2*). The expression the city of the house of Baal (2Ki 10:25) is very difficult, and is found in all the VSS. It has been suggested that the Heb. letters slightly altered would make it the oracle (1Ki 6:22), i.e. the most sacred adytum in the Baal temple, answering to the holy of holies. The promise to Jehu that his sons to the fourth generation should inherit his throne was fulfilled in Jehoahaz, Joash, and Jeroboam II. Israels power was evidently shattered by the destruction of Ahabs family, and the house of Jehu could not hold the territory E. of the Jordan (2Ki 10:32 f.). In the words of the writer, Yahweh began to cut Israel short.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
AHAB’S SONS KILLED
(vv.1-11)
Ahab had 70 sons in Samaria and Jehu was purposed to put them to death also. He chose the method of demanding by letter that the rulers and elders of Israel should choose one of Ahab’s son as king to fight against Jehu (vv.1-3). The rulers were terrified by this proposal, for they knew Jehu would easily defeat them. They decided therefore to be the servants of Jehu and sent word to him that they would not make anyone king, but would submit to his authority (vv.4-5). Jehu took full advantage of this situation and wrote to them again, telling them to bring the heads of the sons of Ahab to him the next day. Thus Jehu was spared the work of killing them himself, for the rulers cut off the heads of these 70 sons and brought them in baskets to Jehu (vv.6-7).
Jehu gave orders to lay the heads in two heaps until morning (v.8), at the entrance of the gate. This was the most public place in the city, where all who entered or left the city would see them. Jehu did not shrink from causing such a display. One would think at least that the heads should have been buried, but Jehu went out in the morning and said to the people, “You are righteous. Indeed I conspired against my master and killed him; but who killed all these?” (v.9).
The answer was that they were killed because of Jehu’s word, but Jehu implicated the people in this slaughter in order to unite them all under his authority. But he added what was certainly true, that nothing would fail of all that the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab, for He had already done what He had spoken by Elijah.
Not only Ahab’s relatives were included in the purge of Jehu, but the great men in Ahab’s government and other close associates and idolatrous priests (v.11).
AHAZIAH’S BROTHERS KILLED
(vv.12-14)
Jehu then, going to Samaria, met 42 men whom he asked who they were. They were the brothers of Ahaziah, the king of Judah, who had recently been killed, and they were coming to greet others of their family (v.13). Though they were not the direct descendants of Ahab, yet since Ahaziah was the grandson of Ahab, Jehu considered all of these identified with Ahab’s sin and commanded that all 42 of these be taken and killed.
THE REST OF AHAB’S FAMILY KILLED
(vv.15-17)
Jehu intended to be altogether thorough in his judging the house of Ahab. On the way to Samaria he met Jehonadab the son of Rechab who was coming to meet Jehu. Jehonadab is spoken of in Jer 35:6 as commanding his sons not to drink wine, not to build houses, not to sow seed or plant a vineyard, but to dwell in tents. The reason for this is evident. He recognised that the condition of Israel under Ahab was obnoxious to God and he wanted to separate himself and his family from such a condition. His sons honoured him, though this record in Jeremiah is some years later, when Nebuchadnezzar invaded Israel (Jer 35:11).
Jehu questioned Jehonadab, who responded favourably to him, evidently because he knew that Jehu was carrying out the Word of the Lord against the evil of Israel. Jehu invited him into his chariot, telling him, “Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord” (v.15). Jehu was not exactly a humble man! – and actually his zeal was not altogether for the Lord, for it had a great deal of self mixed with it.
At Samaria Jehu finished the work of destroying all the family of Ahab (v.17). The number this involved was very large indeed, but it did not include Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, who was as wicked as her mother Jezebel. We may wonder why Jehu did not seek her out to kill her after he had killed her son and her mother. Of course she was at Jerusalem, not Samaria.
BAAL WORSHIPERS KILLED
(vv.18-28)
However, Jehu was not yet finished his work of destruction. He called the people together and told them, “Ahab served Baal a little, Jehu will serve him much” (v.18). Therefore he ordered that all the prophets, servants and priests of Baal should come to a solemn assembly that promised a great sacrifice for Baal. The people had no idea that Jehu was acting deceptively so as to have all Baal worshipers gathered together in order to destroy them (v.19).
When the notice was sent out, the worshipers of Baal came from every direction to fill the temple of Baal (v.21). To be sure there were only Baal worshipers there, Jehu ordered them to wear vestments (v.22). Then he and Jehonadab went in to tell these people to search among them to be sure there were no servants of the Lord there, but only worshipers of Baal (v.23). These worshipers began to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings, but were interrupted by an invasion of 80 of Jehu’s guards and captains, who slaughtered them with their swords. Also, they destroyed the idolatrous pillars by fire, then tore down the temple of Baal. Not only the people, but every detail of their idol worship must be destroyed. Thus Jehu destroyed the worship of Baal from Israel. His zeal was certainly unquestioned!
JEHU’S HALF-WAY OBEDIENCE
(vv.29-36)
Jehu’s zeal for the Lord stopped short of abolishing the idolatrous worship of the golden calves in Bethel and Dan which had been introduced by Jereboam the son of Nebat (v.29). Yet the Lord did commend Jehu for having destroyed the worship and the worshipers of Baal and the house of Ahab. Because of this the Lord promised that the sons of Jehu would reign over Israel for the fourth generation (v.30). We might have expected that Jehu would be so thankful for God’s grace toward him that he would have sought from that time to diligently obey God’s Word. But he paid no attention to the law of God.
We hear no more of Jehu’s exploits, but rather that the Lord began to cut off parts of Israel through the attacks of Hazael, king of Syria (v.32). Jehu was a determined warrior, but he evidently could not stand up to Hazael. Why not? Because his protection of idolatry in Israel rendered him weak before the onslaughts of the outside enemy. Thus Hazael conquered all Israel’s land from Jordan eastward (v.33).
Verse 34 tells us that the rest of the acts of Jehu are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. This is not the scripture Book of Chronicles, which deals more with Judah than with Israel, and in this very little is said about Jehu. But at the death of Jehu he was buried in Samaria, and Jehoahaz his son took the throne. Jehu had reigned for 28 years, plenty of time for him to repent and bow to the Word of God, but he was not so inclined.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
10:1 And Ahab had seventy {a} sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to them that brought up Ahab’s [children], saying,
(a) The Scripture calls them sons who are either children or nephews.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jehu’s purges of the royal families 10:1-17
Jehu challenged the nobles of Samaria and Jezreel who were rearing Ahab’s 70 male descendants to select an heir and to battle Jehu. This would decide whether Ahab’s house or Jehu’s would rule Israel. Rather than fight a battle they were sure they would lose, they submitted to Jehu and slew Ahab’s sons. In the ancient Near East conquering kings sometimes piled the heads of their defeated foes at the city gate to show their power and to discourage future rebellion. [Note: Luckenbill, 1:213; Gray, p. 500.] Jehu then proceeded to execute the nobles who had killed Ahab’s sons. However, in this purge Jehu demonstrated too much zeal. God judged Jehu’s own dynasty later for these unlawful assassinations (cf. Hos 1:4). Jehu was wise and obedient to kill Ahab’s sons (cf. 2Sa 1:14-15), but he overstepped his authority by killing the nobles.
"Jehu’s killings exceed reform and become atrocities, . . . a fact Hos 1:4-5 makes clear. Eventually, Jehu becomes very much like those he replaces, which makes him more of a political opportunist than a catalyst for change." [Note: House, p. 287.]
Jehu also wiped out the members of Ahab’s family who were still alive in the Southern Kingdom, whom God evidently brought together to make Jehu’s job easier (2Ki 10:12-14). [Note: See J. M. Miller, "The Fall of the House of Ahab," Vetus Testamentum 17 (1967):307-24.]
Jonadab also rejoiced in the destruction of Ahab’s line, though he may not have approved of all Jehu’s killing (2Ki 10:15-17). Other Scripture describes Jonadab as a faithful follower of Yahweh who observed the Mosaic Law strictly (cf. Jer 35:6-7).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
JEHU ESTABLISHED ON THE THRONE
2Ki 10:1-17
B.C. 842-814
“The devil can quote Scripture for his purpose.”
– SHAKESPEARE.
BUT the work of Jehu was not yet over. He was established at Jezreel: he was lord of the palace and seraglio of his master: the army of Israel was with him. But who could be sure that no civil war would arise, as between the partisans of Zimri and Omri, as between Omri and Tibni? Ahab, first of the kings of Israel, had left many sons. There were no less than seventy of these princes at Samaria. Might there not be among them some youth of greater courage and capacity than the murdered Jehoram? And could it be anticipated that the late dynasty was so utterly unfortunate and execrated as to have none left to do them reverence, or to strike one blow on their behalf, after nearly half a century of undisputed sway? Jehus coup de main had been brilliantly successful. In one day he had leapt into the throne. But Samaria was strong upon its watchtower hill. It was full of Ahabs sons, and had not yet declared on Jehus side. It might be expected to feel some gratitude to the dynasty which Jehu had supplanted, seeing that it owed to the grandfather of the king whom he had just slain its very existence as the capital of Israel.
He would put a bold face on his usurpation, and strike while the iron was hot. He would not rouse opposition by seeming to assume that Samaria would accept his rebellion. He therefore wrote a letter to the rulers of Samaria-which was but a journey of nine hours distance from Jezreel-and to the guardians of the young princes, reminding them that they were masters in a strong city, protected with its own contingent of chariots and horses, and well supplied with armor. He suggested that they should select the most promising of Ahabs sons, make him king, and begin a civil war on his behalf.
The event showed how prudent was this line of conduct. As yet Jehu had not transferred the army from Ramoth-Gilead. He had doubtless taken good care to prevent intelligence of his plans from reaching the adherents of Jehoram in Samaria. To them the unknown was the terrible. All they knew was that “Behold, two kings stood not before him!” The army must have sanctioned his revolt: what chance had they? As for loyalty and affection, if ever they had existed towards this hapless dynasty, they had vanished like a dream. The people of Samaria and Jezreel had once been obedient as sheep to the iron dominance of Jezebel. They had tolerated her idol-abominations, and the insolence of her army of dark-browed priests. They had not risen to defend the prophets of Jehovah, and had suffered even Elijah, twice over, to be forced to flee for his life. They had borne, hitherto without a murmur, the tragedies, the sieges, the famines, the humiliations, with which during these reigns they had been familiar. And was not Jehovah against the waning fortunes of the Beni-Omri? Elijah had undoubtedly cursed them, and now the curse was falling. Jehu must doubtless have let it be known that he was only carrying out the behest of their own citizen the great Elisha, who had sent to him the anointing oil. They could find abundant excuses to justify their defection from the old house, and they sent to the terrible man a message of almost abject submission: – Let him do as he would; they would make no king: they were his servants, and would do his bidding.
Jehu was not likely to be content with verbal or even written promises. He determined, with cynical subtlety, to make them put a very bloody sign-manual to their treaty, by implicating them irrevocably in his rebellion. He wrote them a second mandate.
“If,” he said, “ye accept my rule, prove it by your obedience. Cut off the heads of your masters sons, and see that they are brought to me here tomorrow by yourselves before the evening.”
The ruthless order was fulfilled to the letter by the terrified traitors. The kings sons were with their tutors, the lords of the city. On the very morning that Jehus second missive arrived, every one of these poor guiltless youths was unceremoniously beheaded. The hideous, bleeding trophies were packed in fig-baskets and sent to Jezreel.
When Jehu was informed of this revolting present it was evening, and he was sitting at a meal with his friends. He did not trouble himself to rise from his feast or to look at “death made proud by pure and princely beauty.” He knew that those seventy heads could only be the heads of the royal youths. He issued a cool and brutal order that they should be piled in two heaps until the morning on either side the entrance of the city gates. Were they watched? or were the dogs and vultures and hyenas again left to do their work upon them? We do not know. In any case it was a scene of brutal barbarism such as might have been witnessed in living memory in Khiva or Bokhara; nor must we forget that even in the last century the heads of the brave and the noble rotted on Westminster Hall and Temple Bar, and over the Gate of York, and over the Tolbooth at Edinburgh, and on Wexford Bridge. The day dawned, and all the people were gathered at the gate, which was the scene of justice. With the calmest air imaginable the warrior came out to them, and stood between the mangled heads of those who but yesterday had been the pampered minions of fortune and luxury. His speech was short and politic in its brutality. “Be yourselves the judges,” he said. “Ye are righteous. Jezebel called me a Zimri. Yes! I conspired against my master and slew him: but”-and here he casually pointed to the horrible, bleeding heaps-“who smote all these?” The people of Jezreel and the lords of Samaria were not only passive witnesses of his rebellion; they were active sharers in it. They had dabbled their hands in the same blood. Now they could not choose but accept his dynasty: for who was there besides himself? And then, changing his tone, he does not offer “the tyrants devilish plea, necessity,” to cloak his atrocities, but-like a Romish inquisitor of Seville or Granada-claims Divine sanction for his sanguinary violence. This was not his doing. He was but an instrument in the hands of fate. Jehovah is alone responsible. He is doing what He spake by His servant Elijah. Yes! and there was yet more to do; for no word of Jehovahs shall fall to the ground.
With the same cynical ruthlessness, and cold indifference to smearing his robes in the blood of the slain, he carried out to the bitter end his task of policy which he gilded with the name of Divine justice. Not content with slaying Ahabs sons, he set himself to extirpate his race, and slew all who remained to him in Jezreel, not only his kith and kin, but every lord and every Baal priest who favored his house, until he left him none remaining. But what a frightful picture do these scenes furnish us of the state of religion and even of civilization in Jezreel! There was this man-eating tiger of a king wallowing in the blood of princes, and enacting scenes which remind us of Dahomey and Ashantee, or of some Tartary khanate where human hands are told out in the market-place after some avenging raid. And amid all this savagery, squalor, and Turkish atrocity, the man pleads the sanction of Jehovah, and claims, unrebuked, that he is only carrying out the behests of Jehovahs prophets! It is not until long afterwards that the voice of a prophet is heard repudiating his plea and denouncing his bloodthirstiness. {Hos 1:4}
“An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek-
A goodly apple rotten at the core.”