2 Kings 10

Ver. 2. — Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram,] Not by Athaliah, but by another wife.

— in the bedchamber] It appears from the next verse, that this bedchamber was “in the house of the Lord,” that is, in the temple; the word being used in its larger sense to comprehend all the courts and buildings belonging to the temple. Jehosheba had the opportunity of doing this, as she was married to Jehoiada the high priest. Bp. Patrick.

2 Kings 10:5

5. — We are thy servants, &c.] How worthy were Ahab and Jezebel of such friends! They had ever been 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. On the first application from Jehu, these persons sell all the heads of Ahab’s posterity. Bp. Hall.

6. — A third part — that enter in &c.] The priest and Levites took their turns in their attendance at the temple, and their course was finished in the space of a week. In every week, one course went out and another came in. On this occasion those, who now entered on their week of attendance, which was on the eve of the sabbath, were divided by Jehoiada into three parts: one of them he here orders to guard the king’s house, or that part of the temple on the north, where he was edu-

hundreds, with the captains and the guard, and brought them to him into the house of the LORD, and made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of the LORD, and shewed them the king’s son.

2 Kings 10:6

6. — take ye the heads of the men] Besides the accomplishment of the Divine decree, Jehu had this further design in requesting this cruel service of the rulers and elders, and great men of the nation, namely, that thereby he might engage them in the same crime and conspiracy with himself. For by prevailing with them to murder Ahab’s kinsmen in this manner, he tied them to his interest so closely, that if any of the inferior people had wished to oppose his designs, they were by this means deprived of any man of figure and distinction to head them; and not only so, but by this expedient Jehu thought likewise that he might in a great measure justify, at least lessen, the odium of his own cruel and perfidious conduct. Calmet.

7. • that it be not broken down.] That none may enter by force, or for purposes of mischief. Bp. Wilson.

2 Kings 10:7

7. — and slew seventy persons.] In these rulers, and their putting to death the children of Ahab, whom they had under their charge, we cannot but see the hand of Divine retributive justice: these were the men who through fear of wicked Jezebel had condemned and stoned the innocent Naboth; these are now the executioners of God’s vengeance for that barbarous murder on the devoted family of Ahab. But in neither of these actions were they governed by conscience, or the fear of God: they were moved only by the fear of man. Wogon.

said to all the people, Ye be righteous: behold, I conspired against my master, and slew him: but who slew all these?

2 Kings 10:8

8. — Lay ye them in two heaps &c.] This he did to the end that, being so exposed to publick view, every one might know there was none of Ahab’s sons remaining to reign over them; and also to remind the people how completely God had hereby fulfilled what He had foretold. Dr. Wells.

9. • that cometh within the ranges.] That is, within the ranks of men set on the outside of the temple. Dr. Wells.

2 Kings 10:9

9. — Ye be righteous: &c.] His meaning is, You ought not to impute the destruction of Ahab’s family to me, as if it proceeded from my own private revenge or ambition, since you see the chief heads of the nation are unanimous in it along with me; and therefore you should esteem it the special work of Divine Providence, pursuant to the severe threats you have all heard to have been pronounced by the Prophet Elijah against that wicked house. Pyle.

2 Kings 10:10

10. — there shall fall unto the earth] That is, there shall remain unfulfilled. Bp. Wilson.

11. • king David’s spears and shields.] David had erected a kind of sacred armoury in one of the apartments of the temple, in which were deposited the weapons and other trophies which he and several other generals had gained from their enemies, and dedicated to the Lord, as monuments of their victory. It appears

Athaliah is slain. God’s worship restored. Before CHRIST 678. shoulder.

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.

2 Kings 10:12

12. — at the shearing house] In the Hebrew the words are, “in the house of the shepherds’ binding;” that is, in the place where the shepherds of Samaria were wont to bind their sheep when they sheared them. Bp. Patrick.

13. — and gave him the testimony:] Having put the crown on the head of Joash, “he gave him the testimony,” or put the book of the law into his hand, according to Deut. xvii. 18, 19, which is called the testimony, because God therein testified what was His will, and what the duties of men. There has existed a doubt, however, respecting the meaning of the Hebrew word translated “testimony:” some have supposed it to mean a royal ornament; perhaps a bracelet, which Jehoiada put on the young king, together with the crown. Bp. Patrick.

2 Kings 10:14

14. — neither left he any of them.] That the brethren of Ahaziah should, at so critical a juncture, fall in Jehu’s way, and be ignorant of the fate of Ahaziah, and of those they were going to salute, was another remarkable act of Divine Providence, which gathered, as it were, together all that bore any relation to Ahab; that they also might meet the doom pronounced against that whole family. These young princes were not strictly brethren, but kinsmen of Ahaziah, and related to the house of Ahab by that unhappy alliance made with his family, by the marriage of his sister Athaliah to the king of Judah, chap. viii. 26. So fatal is it to match into wicked and ungodly families. Ruin, destruction,

Before CHRIST 204. a 1 Kings 71. 29. hand of. acquaintances. of shepherds binding sheep. peace of, &c. Jehu taketh Jehonadab into his company. Before CHRIST 584. blessed.

14. — the king stood by a pillar,] Probably by one of the pillars mentioned at 1 Kings vii. 21. Stackhouse.

— and Athaliah rent her clothes,] She now rends her clothes, and cries, Treason, treason, as if that voice of hers could still command all hearts and hands, as if one breath of hers were powerful enough to blow away all these new designs. O Athaliah, to whom dost thou complain thyself? They are thy just executioners with whom thou art encompassed. The treason has been thine, the justice is theirs. The time of thy reckonings for all the royal blood of Judah, which thine ambition shed, is now come. Wonder rather at the patience of this long forbearance, than at the rigour of this execution. Bp. Hall.

2 Kings 10:15

15. — Jehonadab the son of Rechab] He was a most pious and prudent person, as appears by his precepts to his sons in Jer. xxxv. Hearing what Jehu had done, he came, it is probable, to congratulate him on his happiness in fulfilling the commands of God, and to encourage him in his proceedings for the destruction of idolatry. Bp. Patrick. Rechab was descended from Jethro the father-in-law of Moses; and being a person eminent for his piety and great strictness of life, gave name to the Rechabites, of whom the Prophet Jeremiah makes mention, chap. xxxv. His son Jehonadab, here spoken of, was he that prescribed that ascetic and severe life to his children and descendants, “to drink no wine, nor to build houses, &c.” The constant and strict observance of this their ancestor’s command, is highly commended of God by the Prophet, as a worthy pattern of filial duty and obedience. The respect wherewith Jehu treated Jehonadab, and the particular regard he paid to his approbation of the measures he was taking to extirpate idolatry, not only shews the established character of that good man, but sets before us an amiable view of the intrinsick excellence and real worth of true virtue, in attracting veneration and esteem, even from superiours. Wogan.

— If it be, give me thine hand.] To give the hand signifies “to promise.” Thus when Jehu asks Jehonadab to give him his hand, we are not to suppose that it was merely that he might assist him in getting into the chariot, but that Jehonadab might give him an assurance that he would assist him in the prosecution of his designs. Pilkington. This giving him the hand appears not to have been the expression of private friendship, but the solemn acknowledgment of him as king

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.

15. — him that followeth her] For the purpose of assisting or saving her.

2 Kings 10:16

16. — and there was she slain.] They took her out of the sacred ground of the temple before she was slain. Stackhouse. How like is Athaliah to her mother Jezebel! as in conditions and behaviour, so even in death; both violently killed, both killed under their own walls; both slain with treason in their mouths; both slain in a revolution of the government; one trodden on by the horses, the other slain in the horse-gate. Both paid with their own blood for the innocent blood of others. Bp. Hall. We learn from the history of the reign of Athaliah, who by her cruelties procured the crown, that God sometimes permits the enterprises of the wicked to succeed, and usurpers to take possession of states and kingdoms: but in the same history we remark, that He sets bounds to their wickedness, and delivers the oppressed. Ostervald.

2 Kings 10:17

17. — Jehoiada made a covenant &c.] Jehoiada made it his first business to cause the people to enter into a fresh and solemn engagement to stand by their ancient laws, and revive the true religion and worship: at the same time he fully covenanted with them, on the king’s behalf, that he should govern them with justice, equity, and law. Pyle.

Chap. XII. This chapter is to be compared with 2 Chron. xxiv.

2 Kings 10:19

19. — But Jehu did it in subtilty.] Jehu ought not to have taken this indirect course to fulfil the will of God: he made bold to use deep dissimulation for the service of God, in which he cannot be excused. God does not stand in need of any man’s sin to compass His ends. Bp. Patrick. The worshippers of Baal were judicially condemned to death by the Mosaick law, and comprehended within the commission with which Jehu, the minister of Divine vengeance, was invested. But how does he proceed to execute his purpose? Not in the plain track of sincerity, not by proclaiming his own detestation of idolatry, the sentence denounced against idolaters, and his special obligation to carry the sentence into effect; but by having recourse to the most ignominious deceit. “Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel,” ver. 28: he inflicted the merited punishment on these criminals, not by a fearless application of the law, or a pious discharge of the regal office, but by perfidious subtilty and idolatrous hypocrisy. Gisborne. We may commend the zeal of Jehu, we cannot commend his fraud. Men may come to good ends by too crooked ways. He who bade Jehu smite for Him, did not bid him lie for Him. Falsehood is never approved by the God of truth. If policy allows officious untruths, religion never does. Bp. Hall.

2 Kings 10:22

22. — Bring forth vestments] It was the custom of almost all idolaters to be extremely curious about the external pomp of their ceremonies, wherein indeed the chief part of their worship consisted. All the priests of

Before CHRIST 584. Sanctify. Or, so full, that they stood mouth to mouth. By subtility Jehu destroyeth all the worshippers of Baal.

pers of Baal, Search, and look that there be here with you none of the servants of the LORD, but the worshippers of Baal only.

2 Kings 10:29

29. Howbeit from the sins &c.] Nevertheless, that part of idolatry which consisted in the false worship of the true God, (brought in by Jeroboam in those golden calves of Dan and Beth-el,) Jehu did not at all oppose, but rather countenanced and practised it. Bp. Hall. Jehu had done well in cutting off the house and posterity of Ahab, and destroying the worship of Baal: yet he continued the same schism and idolatry which Jeroboam had set up, and for the same political reasons. Whence it plainly appears, that the zeal of which he boasted proceeded not from the love of God, but was the effect of his own private views and worldly interests. Wogan. Here the motives which influenced Jehu stand displayed. Though raised to the throne by the hand of God, he now looked for the security of it to his own policy. Destitute of faith in Him to whom he was indebted for all, he trusted not to the King of kings for the permanence of the gifts which He bestowed. Destitute of gratitude to His gracious Benefactor, he returned for unmerited kindness habitual and presumptuous disobedience. While regard to the commandments of God conducted him in the path of advancement, he was eager to obey: but now, to his worldly apprehension, obedience and interest ceased to coincide. He who had been exalted to sovereign power for the express purpose of annihilating idolaters, converted his authority and example into instruments of upholding and perpetuating idolatry among his subjects. Nor was his dereliction of God the crime of a moment, or the error of sudden surprise. During a reign of twenty-eight years, unmoved by the judicial calamities with which the Lord “cut Israel short,” this obdurate monarch bowed down, together with his people, before the images erected in violation of God’s commands, before altars reared in express opposition to His holy temple.

2 Kings 10:30

30. — thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne] So great is the bounty of God, that a partial obedience may be rewarded with a temporal blessing: as Jehu’s severity to Ahab will carry the crown to his seed for four generations. But we can never have any comfortable assurance of an eternal retribution, if our hearts and ways be not perfect with God. We shall everlastingly depart from Thee, O God, if we depart not from every sin. Thou hast purged our hearts from the Baal of our gross idolatries. O clear us from our other corruptions also; that Thou mayest take pleasure in our uprightness, and we may reap the sweet comforts of Thy glorious remuneration! Bp. Hall.

2 Kings 10:32

32. — to cut Israel short:] This expression is fully explained in the next verse, where it is said, that Hazael took from them all their country that was beyond Jordan.

about 202. Jehoash saved from Athaliah’s massacre. Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan.