2 Kings 10

Jehu begins the work of slaughter with his master’s family. First, he sends a taunting message to the great men of Samaria, and of J ezreel, advising them to set up a king, one of their ‘‘ master’s sons,’ of whom it appears there were no less than 70, and challenging them to meet him in the field of battle; but they, being men of weak minds, and terrified at the vigour and severity of his measures, cringe before him; and at his command actually murder all the sons of their late master, and send their heads in baskets. These he orders to be laid in two piles at the entrance of the city, and then reproaches them for their treachery and weakness. Doubtless “ye be righteous Y? said he; “ conspired against my master, and slew him: but who slew all these?”

Soon after this, he meets with another party, who call themselves the brothers of Ahaziah, but as his brothers seem to have been all slain before, these could have been his brothers only in the more general sense of relatives, or cousins. They pretend to be coming to make their submission to does not pacify him; him and his family. This, however. of the house of Ahab, having undertaken to avenge the Lord it; but “slew all his great he spares not a single member of i until he left him none remen, his kinsfolks, and his priests, maining.’. i and while he pretended Jehu, indeed, was a great hypocrite, was seeking the admiration of men. zeal for the God of Israel, When therefore he met with Jehonadab the Rechabite, a man of austere manners, and known to be a servant of Jehovah, he took him up into his chariot; “ Come with me, and see my while at the same time he doubtzeal for the Lord,”

said he, i less hoped to derive, from the sanction of his presence, no small credit with the people. - Another instance of hypocrisy and craft was displayed in his worship Baal, while at the same time he only pretending to First, he tempts meant to sacrifice his priests and devotees. them to idolatry, by pretending to unite in their worship. and yet, then murders them in the very act of worshipping: desires; with all this zeal for Jehovah, he retains the worship of Jeroboam’s calves. In this he was doubtless governed by political motives; he feared his subjects going to Jerusalem, lest they should revolt to Judah. Of all the characters held up to detestation in the Scriptures, there is none so execrable as that of a time-serving hypocrite, who, while he pretends great zeal in religion, is only seeking his private ends, whether it be in the gratification of his interests, or his lusts; but when cruelty is blended with hypocrisy, it renders the man equally hateful to his own species as to his Maker.

Notes on the verses

Chap. X. Ver. 1—36. Jehu slays all the family of Ahab, and the worship ers of Baal.—Jehu was certainly a monster of cruelty, and elighted in shedding blood. But it is a part of the plan of Provi Pe to employ wicked men in the punishment of each other. Like the contrary elements of fire and Ver. 31. Had Zimri peace, who slew his master 2—This is generally considered as a severe sarcasm upon Jehu, who had slain his master. Some render it, ‘Peace to Zimri! who slew his master;” meaning to call Jehu by that Ver. 33. Throw her down.—{This terrible mode of punishment appears to have deen but rarely used, though we occasionally meet with it during this and subsequent periods.—The same punishment, it is well known, obtained among the Romans, who used to throw certain malefactors from the Tarpeian rock This practice obtains among the Moors at Constantia, a town of Barbary, and is also of frequent occurrence in Persia, i See Sir R.

K. Porter’s Travels in Persia. |—Bagster.: Ver. 34. She is a king’s dawghter.—She was daughter to the king of Tyre; wife of Ahab; mother of Joram, king of Israel; motner-in-law of Jorain, ing of Judah; and grandmother to Ahaziah; but with all these honours, she was accursed of God. Chap. X. Ver. 1. Ahab had seventy sons.—[As he had several wives, this need not appear remarkable. i In Homer, (Il. vi. 244.; xxiv. 495.) king Priam Is represented as having 50 sons and 12 daughters. Artaxerxes Mnemon, king of Persia, had by his 360 concubines, not less than 115 sons, besides three hy ’s queen. Stervart, in his journey to Mequinez, says, Muley Abdallah, who was Emperor of Morocco in 1720, is said to have had, by his four wives, and the many thousand women he had in his seraglio, 700 sons able to mount horse, Ver.

6. Now theking’s sons…., - were with the great men of the city, who brought them up.— The rich hire a dedah, or wet nurse, for their children. Ifa boy, the father appoints a steady man, from the age of two years, to be his dalek, who, I conjecture, must stand in the same capacity as the bringers up of Ahab’s a A mentioned in the catastrophe of Ahab’s sons.” Ver. 8. Lay ye them in two heaps.—{Such barbarities are by no means uncommon in the Past. J—B. During this fight, says Morier’s second Journey through Persia, ten tomauns were given for every head of the enemy that was brought to the prince; and it has been known to occur, after the combat was over, that prisoners have been put to death in cold blood, in order that the heads, which are immediately despatched to the king, and deposited in heaps at the palace gate, might make a more considerable show.

Ver. 1b. Gave him his hand.—(Jehu asked for the hand of Jehonadab, not merely for the purpose of assisting him into the chariot, but that he might give him an assurance that he would assist him in the prosecution of his « for giving the hand is considered as a pledge of friendship and fidelity, or a Bruce relates that when form of entering into a contract, among all nations. ‘the great people, who were assem: he entreated the protection of a sheikh, t er, of about two bled, came, and after joining hands, repeated a kind of pra by which they declared themselves, and their children, acminutes Jong; €: in the ¢ell, (or field,) in the cursed, if ever they lifted their hands against me, that I, or mine, should fly to them for reor, In case desert, or on the river; [ n their lives, their families.

and fuge, if they did not protect us, at the risk of they emphatically expressed it, to the death of the last their fortunes, or, as Another striking instance occurs in Ockley’s Hismale child among them.”’ ( b in O tory of the Saracens: Telha, just before he died, asked one of Ali’s men if he belonged to the emperor of the faithful; and being informed that he did, “ Give said he, “ your hand, that may put mine in it, and by this action me, then,”; renew the oath of fidelity which Thave already made to Ali." ]—Bagster. ae <* * * Ver. 25. City of the house.—That is, the buildings belonging to his temple. Ver. 27. A draught house.—[This was an ancient mode of degradation, which still continues in the East; and we are informed, that Abbas the Great, king of Persia, having conquered Bagdad, treated the tomb of Hanifah, one of the fathers of the church among the Turks, in a similar manner.

|—Bagster. {n the year 1729, the Persians not only demolished the superb mausoleum of the Jate Afghan Sultan Maghmud, but to add a greater mark of contempt and abhorrence, in the very place on which the mausoleum had been erected, they built a public jakes.”"—Hanway’s Hist. of Nadir Shah. Chap. XL. Ver. 1. All the seed royal—i. e, all the remaining branches of the royal family. [A similar history is related by Bruce, as having occurred in Abyssinia. Judith ‘surprised the rock Damo, and slew the whole of the princes, to the number, it is said, of about 400;” while the infant king Del Naad was conveyed for safety toa loyal province, and afterwards restored. ]— Ver, 2. Bed-chamber.—[ Bachadar hammittoth, “in a chamber of beds;””

which Sir J. Chardin thinks does not mean a room to sleep in, but achamber used as a repository for beds; for, in the East, they sleep upon cotton mat: tresses, ‘‘ of which they have several in great houses, against they should have occasion, and a room on purpose for them.” See Harmer. |—Bagster. Ver. 5, 6. A third part.—The three parties (“companies,” or ‘ bands,’’) were to keep the three gates leading to the temple. There was no gate on the west. The king was proclaimed on the sabbath, on account of the concourse of people then assembling.: Ver. 10. King David’s spears.—[ Josephus states, that, for fear of creating suspicion, they came wnarmed, ‘and Jehoiada having opened the arsenal in 11 And the guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, round about the king, from the right !corner of the temple to the left corner of the temple, along by the altar and the temple.

12 And he brought forth the king’s son, and put the crown ™ upon him, and ® gave him the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed °him; and they clapped ? their hands, and said, 1God * save the king. 13 J And when Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she came to the people into the temple of the Lord. 14 And when she looked, behold, the king stood *bya pillar, as the manner was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king, and a_ the people of the land rejoiced, and blew t with trumpet: and Athaliah rent her clothes, and cried, Treason, Treason. 15 But Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of the hundreds, the officers of the host, and said unto them, Have her forth « without the ranges: and him that followeth her kill with the sword.

For the priest had said, Let her not be slain in the house * of the 16 And they laid hands on her; and she went by the way by the which the horses came into the king’s house: and there was she » slain. 17 J And Jehoiada made a covenant x between the Lorn and the king and the people, that they should be the ¥ Lord’s people; between the king also and the people. 18 And all the people of the land went into the house 7of Baal, and brake it down; his altars and his images * brake they in pieces thoroughly, and slew » Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed ° officers over the house of the Lord. 19 And he took the rulers over hundreds, and the captains, and the guard, and all the people of the land; and they brought down the king from the house of the Lord, and came by the way of the gate of the guard to the king’s house.

And he sat on the throne of the kings. 20 And all the people of the land ¢ rejoiced, and the city wasin quiet: and they slew Athajiah with the sword beside the king’s house. 21 Seven years old was Jehoash when he began to reign. Joash reigns well and repairs the Cuapr. XII. Ver. 1—21. Hazael threatens Jerusalem, but withdraws. Joash is slain by his own servants.—One of the first reforms of this new administration was the restoration Jehovah, in order to which the temple is repaired, which had been long neglected, and had the sons of Athaliah, as appears “broken up the house of God;” that ((2 Chronicles 24:7). had “broken u is, had committed great dilapidations, of which part of the income of the priests was devoted, with a i ipti After this kind of national subscription among the people.

was finished, new vessels of gold and silver were also made i been appropriated to for the temple service, the former having idol worship. the temple which David had prepared, he divided among the centunions, priests, and Levites, the spears. (arrows,) and quivers, pons which he found there.’’]—Bagster. Ver. 12. Gave him n 1 ) the testimony.—That is, witnessed his Pacers though many think “The Book of the Law,” sometimes so called, is (Deuteronomy 17:18-19).——Clapped their hands.—| Wyyakkoo kaph, tended. See “they clapped the hand,” which Harmer thinks was similar to the mode in which Oriental females express their respect for persons of high rank, by gently applying one of their hands to their mouth.

the leaders of the sacred caravan being received with the towns of Barbary, loud acclamations, “the very women get upon. the tops of the houses to view the parade, or fine show, where they keep striking their four fingers on their lips, as fast as they can, making a joyful noise all the while.” }—Bagster. a pillar.—Heb. “Ona pillar.” Being a child, he was per- Ver. 14. Stood by naps thus elevated to render him conspicuous. 1 Jehoash reigneth well all the days of Jehoiade. 4 He giveth order for the k 28a.8.7. the temple. 17 Hazael is diverted from Jerusalem by a present of the hallowed od sures, 19 Jehoash being slain by his servants, Amaziah succeedeth him. 1 shoulder. N «the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash began m P3.21.3.

to reign; and forty years reigned he in Jen De.17.18.. rusalem. And his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba. 0 2 Sa.2.4,7. 2 And Jehoash did that which was right in p Ps.47.1. the sight of the Lord all his days wherein Jeq Let the king live. hoiada the priest instructed him. A. M. 3126. 3 But » the high places were not taken away: B. C. 878, the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. 8 c.33.3. 4 4 And Jehoash said to the priests, All the money of the ¢ dedicated things that is brought t Nu. l0.1. into the house of the Lord, even the money 4of every one that passeth the account, the u Ex.21.14. v Eze.9.7. money ¢that every man is set at, and all] the w Ge.9.6. money ‘that cometh into any man’s heart x 280.5.3.

¢ to bring into the house of the Lord, 5 Let the priests take it to them, every man y 2Co.8.5. of his acquaintance: and let them repair z €.10.26,27. the breaches of the house, wheresoever any a De.12.3. breach shall be found. b Zee.13.2,3. 6 But it was so, that " in the three and twen- ¢ Offices. d Pr.11.10. tieth year of king Jehoash the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house. 7 Then i king Jehoash called for Jehoiada the A. M. priest, and the other priests, and said unto B. C. them, Why repair ye not the breaches of the 878. 839. house 2 now therefore receive no more money a 2Ch.24.1, of your acquaintance, but deliver it for the breaches of the house. 8 And the priests consented to receive no A.

M. 3148. more money of the people, neither to repair B. C. 856. the breaches of the house. or, holy 9 But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside d Ex.30.13. the altar, on the right side as one cometh into e of the the house of the Lord: and the priests that souls of his estikept the j door put therein all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord. f ascendeth 10 And it was so, when they saw that there upon the heart of man. was much money in the chest, that the king’s g Ex.35.5. k scribe and the high priest came up, and they h inthe 1 put up in bags, and told the money that was found in the house of the Lord. and third 11 And they gave the money, being told, into i 2 Ch.24.5, the hands of them that did the work, that had the oversight of the house of the Lord: and j threshold.

k or, secre they ™laid it out to the carpenters and builders, that wrought upon the house of the 1 bound up. m brought it forth. 12 And to masons, and hewers of stone, and Thus prosperous were the affairs of Judah during the life of which extended to the vast age of 130 Jehoiada the priest buried with great honour in the sepulchre years; and he was “he had done good in Israel.” 2Chron. of the kings, because of the public worship of After his death, however, things took an unfavoura- Xxiv. 16. There “came the princes of Judah, and made ble turn. i doubtless fallen into decay. For that is, they flattered him on his obeisance to the king FR by the parallel and his zeal; and he, unhappily listening to talents, his piety, drawn into their idolatries.

‘‘ They left the them, was thus, in order to the repairs and served groves and idols.” Upon Lord God of their fathers, them, to bring them this, “the Lord sent prophets among veear.’ Then “the Spirit of the back; but they would not: Lord came upon Zechariah, the priest, the son of Jehoiada,” “Why transgress ye who thus remonstrated with the people: + for Joash, for it is added, ‘‘ according to the manner,” i. e. the usual manner Some think there was a sort of pulpit, so was Josiah elevated, (2 Kings 23:3). and all other kinds of weawith a seat, or throne, on the top of this pedestal. Sce Taylor’s Fragments to Calmet, No. 242.: ‘