The Second Book of the Kings, commonly called the Fourth Book of the Kings
2 Kings 9
Chapter IX · Vol. II, pp. 778–780
1 Elisha sendeth a young prophet with instructions to anoint Jehu at Ramoth-gilead. 4 The prophet having done his message fleeth. 11 Jehu, being made king by the officers, killeth Joram in the field of Naboth. 27 Ahaziah is slain at Gur, and buried at Jerusalem. 30 Proud Jezebel is thrown down out of a window, and eaten by dogs.
1 And Elisha the prophet called one of athe children of the prophets, and said unto him, bGird up thy loins, and take this cbox of oil in thine hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead:
2 And when thou comest thither, look out there dJehu 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.1
3 Then take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith the LORD, eI have anointed thee king over Israel: then open the door, and fflee, and tarry not.2
e 1 Ki.14.7; 16.2. Ps.75.7. Da.2.21; 4.35.
f Ju.3.26. Ps.112.5. Pr.22.3. Mat.10.16. He.11.7. ver.10.
2 The prophet orders his envoy to flee, as having no business with the secular part of the ceremony, but merely to announce the divine commission and inaugurate the king. Perhaps he also wished him to escape from any insults from the soldiery, a thing probable enough from their officers' estimate of the prophetic character.—C.
4 So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead.
5 And when he came, behold, the captains of the host were sitting; and he said, gI have an errand to thee, O captain. And Jehu said, Unto which of all us? And he said, To thee, O captain.
g Ju.3.19.
6 And he harose, 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.
h ver.2,3. 1 Ki.19.16.
7 And thou ishalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood3 of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel.
i 1 Ki.14.10; 15.29; 19.17; 21.10,21-24; 18.4; 21.5-15. Ps.116.15. Lu.18.7. Re.18.20,24; 19.2; 16.6; 13.10.
3 Infidels frequently assail such passages, but therein they but display their ignorance as well as their causeless enmity against the truth. There is a vengeance of passion which the Lord abhors, there is a vengeance of justice which he will assuredly enforce. Murderers must be punished that the innocent may be protected.—C.
8 For the whole house of Ahab shall perish: and kI will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is lshut up and left in Israel.4
k 1 Ki.14.10,11; 15.29; 16.2-4,11; 21.21-24.
l De.32.36, i.e. all the males however hidden or obscure.
4 From the dog without master or home—as eastern dogs usually are—to him that is most fortified and secure in his possessions and honours. Boothroyd translates it, 'shut up and secure.'—C.
9 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.
10 And mthe dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. And he nopened the door, and fled.
m 1 Ki.21.23. ver.35,36. Je.22.19. Mat.7.2. Ja.2.13.
n ver.3. Ju.3.26.
11 Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord: and one said unto him, Is all well? wherefore came this omad fellow to thee? And he said unto them, Ye know the man, and his communication.
12 And they said, It is false;5 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.
5 Not an uncommon example of human rashness and instability. They pronounce the prophet a liar before they knew what he said, and the moment they hear his message they implicitly follow it.—C.
13 Then they hasted, and took every man his garment,6 and put it punder him on the top of the stairs,7 and qblew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king.8
6 A token of honour amongst many nations, and as an emblem of respect highly expressive. Our Lord, though meek and lowly, did not condemn it, Mat. 21.8.—C.
p Mat.21.7,8.
7 Or, top of the tower in sight of the army and people.—C.
q 2 Sa.15.10. 1 Ki.1.39.
8 Heb. reigneth.
14 So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, rconspired against Joram: (now Joram had skept Ramoth-gilead,1 he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria:
A.M. 3120. B.C. 884.
r 1 Ki.15.27; 16.9. ch.15.10,25,30.
1 Had kept it strongly garrisoned as a frontier town, having recovered it from the Syrians. It lay in the tribe of Gad, and on the east of Jordan. It was notorious for its idolatry, on account of which the divine vengeance was threatened prophetically, and has been inflicted historically, Ho. 6. 8; 12. 11. C.——Ramoth-gilead was one of the chief strongholds east of the Jordan, and was appointed a city of refuge in the tribe of Gad. Its site has been identified in the modern town of Salt. The situation is strong and picturesque. It stands on a hill, which is separated by deep ravines from the loftier mountains that encompass it. On the summit is the castle or citadel, a rectangular building with massive walls and a deep moat. In the cliffs and ravines round it are great numbers of tombs and grottoes.—P.
15 But tking Joram2 was returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria:) and Jehu said, If it be your minds, then ulet none go forth nor escape out of the city, to go to tell it in Jezreel.
16 So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; (for Joram lay there:) and xAhaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram.
x 2 Ch.22.6,7. ch.8.29.
17 And there stood ya watchman on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take an horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace?3
y 2 Sa.13.34; 18.24. Is.21.5; 62.6.
3 That is, at Ramoth-gilead, where the army lay.—C.
18 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?4 turn thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he cometh not again.
4 Heb. What is it to thee and peace? 1 Ki.17.18. ver.19,22. Is.48.22; 59.8. Je.16.5. Ro.3.17.
19 Then he sent out a second on horseback, which came to them, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu answered, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me.
20 And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and cometh not again: and the driving5 is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he zdriveth 6furiously.7
5 Or, marching.
z ch.10.16. Ec.10.18; 9.10. Ro.12.11.
6 Heb. in madness.
7 The Targum reads 'quietly, slowly;' Josephus has it 'slowly, and in good order.' This sense we are disposed to adopt; for, if driving furiously, how could the dialogues recorded have passed, or the watchman have so distinctly reported? Besides, Jehu, as politic as determined, would wish to avoid giving alarm, and take Joram unawares. C.——The literal meaning is 'in madness,' 'madly.' Slow driving would scarcely be characteristic of any man. The position of Jezreel was such, on a projecting spur of Mount Gilboa, that the watchman could see far down the valley of Jezreel on the way to Gilead.—P.
21 And Joram said, Make ready.8 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 Jehu, and met9 him ain the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite.
22 And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, bIs it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the cwhoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts1 are so many?
b 2 Ch.22.7. ver.17.
c Na.3.4. 1 Ki.16.30-33; 18.4; 21.8-10,25. Re.17.1; 18.23.
1 Idolatries and deceptions.—C.
23 And Joram dturned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah.
d 1 Ki.22.34.
24 And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength,2 ande smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk3 down in his chariot.
25 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, fthe LORD laid this burden upon him;4
A.M. 3120. B.C. 884.
f 1 Ki.21.19,24,29. Is.13.1; 14.20-22. Na.1.1. Ex.20.5. Job 18.17,19; 20.27.
4 Judgment. Thus Cain said, 'My punishment is greater than I can bear,' Ge. 4.13. Is.13.1.—C.
26 Surely I have seen yesterday the 5blood of Naboth, and the blood of his gsons,6 saith the LORD; and I will requite thee in this 7plat, saith the LORD. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat of ground, according to the word of the LORD.
5 Heb. bloods.
g De.24.16. 1 Ki.21.13. 2 Ch.25.4.
6 When Naboth was accused his sons had been accused with him, as principals or accomplices; for, otherwise, they would have inherited his property, which, on their death, seems to have been considered as forfeited to the crown. Jezebel was contriver and agent, Ahab the consenting party, and Joram the recipient: therefore he underlies the guilt and punishment.—C.
7 Or, portion.
27 But when hAhaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden-house: and Jehu followed after him, and said, Smite him also in the chariot. And they did so at the going up to Gur, which is by iIbleam: and he kfled to Megiddo, and died there.
28 And his lservants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David.
l 2 Ch.22.9. ch.8.24.
29 And in the meleventh8 year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.
m Then he began to reign as viceroy to his father in his sickness, 2 Ch. 21. 18, 19; but in Joram's twelfth year he began to reign alone, ch.8.25.
8 In ch. 8. 25 it is called the twelfth. The two statements are reconciled by the two modes of calculating time, common to all countries, the inclusive and the exclusive. The one mode always counts one beyond the other.—C.
30 And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she npainted9 her face,1 and tired her head, and looked out at a window.
n Je.4.30. Eze.23.40. Re.2.20.
9 Heb. put her eyes in painting.
1 Not to attract Jehu's attention, else she had spoken with affected mildness and flattery; but to show her coolness, her confidence in the popular favour, which her flatterers had no doubt assured her of, and to express her proud contempt of Jehu's conspiracy and party.—C.
31 And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had oZimri peace, who slew his master?
o 1 Ki.16.9-19.
32 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.2
2 Or, chamberlains.
33 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 ptrode her under foot.
p ch.7.20; ver.26. Mal.4.3.
34 And when he was come in, he did eat and drink,3 and said, Go, see now this qcursed woman, and rbury her: for she is sa king's daughter.
35 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.
36 Wherefore they came again, and told him: and he said, This is the word of the LORD, which he spake by4 his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, tIn the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel:5
4 Heb. by the hand of.
t 1 Ki.21.23. Job 31.3. Ac.12.23.
5 The readiness of Jehu in repeating these prophecies, gives strong indication that he had been contemplating the revolution he had now completed.—C.
37 And the carcass of Jezebel shall be as udung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.6
6 Her body will be so much mutilated that no one will be able to recognize her. I have more than once seen the dogs tearing dead bodies in the ill-kept cemeteries of the East. During the terrible massacre of 1860 in Damascus, hundreds of corpses of victims were devoured by the street dogs.—P.
Notes
[Ver. 27. 'He fled by the way of Beth-haggan.' This is the literal translation, and so it is in the Septuagint. Beth-haggan, or without the article Beth-gan, is identical with En-gannim, a town of Issachar, seven miles south of Jezreel, on the direct road to Jerusalem. Ahaziah met Jehu in the valley of Jezreel, below the town on the north. When he saw the fate of Joram he turned and fled southward along the highroad to Jerusalem, which ran past En-gannim. Between the account of his death as given here, and as given in 2 Ch. 22. 8, 9, there is an apparent discrepancy. From the narrative given here it would seem as if he had been overtaken immediately after the death of Joram, wounded in his chariot, and that turning aside he had died at Megiddo; while from 2 Chron. it appears he was discovered in Samaria and slain by Jehu. The solution seems to be this: Only the leading facts are recorded in 2 Kings. The fuller details may be gathered from a comparison and combination of the two accounts. Ahaziah after the death of Joram fled southwards and reached Samaria. His hiding-place there was discovered; he fled again; Jehu saw him as he was driving rapidly off in his chariot; he gave orders to smite him, and he was shot with an arrow. His charioteer succeeded in driving him to Megiddo, where he died. Then he was taken up and buried in Jerusalem. P.]
Reflections.—God's ministers must communicate their labours and honours one with another; and must discharge their office in a faithful, prudent, active, and disinterested manner, let men account them mad or anything they please. To what terrible lengths professors of the true religion go before God entirely rejects them from being his people! But such as rule ought to consider God as the source of their power, and to use it humbly for his glory. To what fearful work God sometimes appoints magistrates! and there is need of great singleness and steadiness in executing it. To ask advice from our equals or inferiors is the most effectual method to procure their consent; and matters of importance ought to be transacted with proper secrecy and despatch. Tottering is the throne of wicked kings; and terrible destruction hangs over the sinner's head! But persecutors of God's people are reckoned by him the most heinous offenders; and they who persist in their impenitence shall be rooted out at last; and companions of fools shall be destroyed along with them. Solid peace can never consist with wilful sinning, let sinners wish and expect it as they will; and whoredoms, which are now men's pleasure, will shortly issue in everlasting pain. Providence strangely connects the circumstances of men's punishment with those of their crimes and his own threatenings; and all things work for their overthrow who give themselves up to wilful sin. Themselves are made to rush on their ruin: and God's infinite justice may be insulted, but will not be intimidated. Wickedness and wretchedness are really inseparable, and at last meet in fearful forms. Painting and pampering do but ripen for tremendous woe. And though for a time sinners may lift their heads high, they will shortly be brought low in death and still lower in hell: and not only their corpse, but their memory, shall rot and perish. And whether instruments intend it or not, the word of the Lord shall have its full accomplishment.