The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 149

e.nd looked nt him 11B he spoke; but, na he WRS rewarded for the nwnsure in which he e.ddreeeed no one by ne.me, there might be fulfillell God's comme.uds, a.a Ahab, 'who a doubt who wne intended. J ehu, therefore, had sold bimaelf to work wickedness,' ha.d ce.ueee the doubt to be resolved by hie yet a tempornl reward for humbling himself question. And Jehu ea.id, Unto which of all publicly, when rebuked by God for his sin, uel And he sa.id-i.e. the young me.n the and so honouring God, amid an apostate prophet e.newored-To thee, 0 oe.pte.in. Jehu people. But Jehu, by cleaving, against the wo.s thue singled out e.e the object of the will of God, to Jeroboam's sin (eh. xi. 29, message-the person to whom alone it WAB 31), which served his owu politice.l ends, addressed, a.ad whoso specie.I o.ltention we.s, showed that, in the slaughter of his me.ster, consequently, required to it. he acted, not aa he pretended, out of zeal Ver. 6.-Aud he (Jehu) a.rose, e.nd went for the will of God ( eh. x. 16), but served into the house. J ehu left his eee.t, roee up, his own will and hie own e.mbition only. e.nd led the we.y, from the court, where he By bis disobedience to the one command of had probo.bly been sitting with the other God, be showed that he would he.ve equally generals, into the house which adjoined disobeyed the other, had it been contrary the court. The messenger followed; and to his own will or interest. He had no the two were together, a.lone. Aud he-i.e, principle of obedience. And eo the blood the messenger-poured the oil on his bee.d- which we.s shed according to the righteous e.a directed (ver. 3)-and ea.id unto him, Thus jndgment of God, became sin to him that ae.ith the Lord God of Iare.el; literally, Tlw,a shed it in order to fulfil, not the will of ,aith Jehovah, God of Israel. Jehove.h'e God, but his own" (see Dr. Pusey's 'Minor ne.me ie emphe.tice.lly put forwe.rd, in con- Prophets, with a Commentary,' p. 9, col. 1). traet with the ne.me of Baal, as that of the That I may e.veuge the blood of my servants true God of Israel : e.nd e.ppea.l ia me.de to the prophets. Comp. 1 Kings xviii. 4 and Jehu, e.e to one whose God is Jehovah, and xi.x. 14. Elije.h believed all the prophete of who will a.crept a.a authorite.tive a. messe.ge Jehovah, except himself, to have been either emanating from him. I he.ve anointed thee ele.in or be.nished under Ahab, as we see king over the people of the Lord, even over from 1 Kings xviii. 22 e.nd xix. 10, H. Aud Israel; litere.lly, 0111l1' the people of Jehovah, the blood of all the aerve.nte of the Lord. over Israel. Pre.ctically, the people is, in There had evidently been a general perse- the me.in, "the people of Baal" (eh. x. 19- cution of the followers of J ehove.h, and not 21 ), but theoretically e.nd by covenant it is merely e. persecution of the prophets. It we.a "the people of Jehovah"-hia "peculiar only after e. number of martyrdoms that the people" (Dent. xiv. 2), chosen by him out followers of Jehovah in Israel were reduced of a.II the ne.tiona of the earth to be his own. (1 Kings xix. 18) to the scanty num her of Ver. 7.-Aud thou aha.It smite the house "seven thouae.nd." At the he.nd of Jezebel of Ahe.b thy master. This is pie.inly a com- Jezebel was e.t the bottom of e.11 the perse- mand, not o. prophecy. Jehu is expressly cutions. Sometimee she took matters into ordered by God to "smite," i.e. destroy her own hands, gave her own orders, e.nd utterly, the whole house of Ahab. This so.w them carried out (l Kings xviii. 13: command he carried out (vers. 24, 33; eh. x. xxi. 8-14). At other times she was content 1-11): e.nd his obedience to it obtained for to "stir her husband up" (1 Kings n:i. 25) him the temporal reward the.t his children e.ud incite him to evil courses. to the fourth generation should sit ou the Ver. 8.-For the whole house of Ahab throne of lame! ( eh. x. 30). Yet still his shall perish : e.nd I will out off from Ahab conduct in destroyiug the house of Aho.b is him the.t pisseth e.ge.inlit the wall, and him spoken of by the Prophet Hosea. e.s e. sin, that is shut up and left in Israel (see the and Goel declares, by Hosee.'s mouth, that he comment on 1 Kings xiv. 10). While the will "avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the exact force of the phrnses used is doubtful, house of Jehu" (Hos. i. 4). It ia naturally the general intention to embrace in the sen- ruiked-" How could Jehu'a ehedtling this tence all Ahab's posterity con not be doubted. blood, o.t God's command e.nd in fulfilment Ver. 9.-And I will me.ke the house ot llf his will, be e. sin?" And it is rightly Ah11b like the house of Jeroboe.m the son of answered, "Because, if we do what is the Nebe.t. Jeroboam's house hnd been" cut will of God for e.ny end of our owu, fur any- off," smitten, destroyed, till not one of his thing except God, we do in fa.et our own posterity was left, about seventy years pre- will, nob God's. It wne not lnwful for viously (1 Kings xv. 29), by Baushe., "be- Jehu to depose e.nd ele.y the king his master, causo of his sins wbioh he sinned, a.ud which exoept e.t the express commnnd of God, who, he mnde Israel sin, by his provoootion where- o.s the supreme King, sets up nnd puts down with he provoked the Lord God of Israel to eurthly rulers e.s he wills. l•'or nny other nnger" (1 Kings xv. 30). The fo.r greater end, e.ud done otherwise than e.t God's ex- sin of Ahab could not be visited with leaa press command, suoh o.n a.et is ein. Jahn severity. Aud like the house of Baasha the  190 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. [cu. Ilt. 1--37, -------------------------- --------- ■on of Ahijah. As the whole house of Jero- hia lord "-the othc1 captains ,Df the host boRm hRd been out off for its idolatries, so (ver. 5)-n.nd rejoined their compc111y. And the house of B,msho., whirh succeeded to one said unto him, Is all well 1 One of the the throne, WRS removed even more speedily, other captains of the host took the word, BAAsha him~elf and all his posterity being and asked, iu the ordinary phraseology of swept from the earth by Zimri, who "smote the time," Is it peace?" (comp. vers. 17, 18, him and killed him," e.nd succeeded him 19, 22)-or, in other words," Is all right?" (1 Kin~ xvi. 11). The house of Ahab had "Is e.11 well?" The sudden appearance and had n double warning of the fate in reserve disappearance of the messenger hnd evi• for those who deserted the religion of Je- dently created e.n impression that 1111 wae hovah, but hRd disregarded both warnings not well. Wherefore oame this mad fellow e.like, e.nd had provoked God yet more than to thee t He did not suppose the mau to their predecessors, by in trod uoing a novel be actually mad. He calls him "this wild and deg-railed form of idolatrous worship. fellow"-" this scatterbrain," on account of Ver. 10.-And the dogs shall eat J'ezebsl the hn.ste and strangeness of his conduct; in the portion of J'ezreel. This had been bnt he quite expects to hee.r the.t there was previously prophesied by Elijah (1 Kings "method in the madness," and the.t the xxi. 23; eh. ix. 26, 27). '£0 an Israelite, and communication had some serious import. even to a Phoonician, it was e.n awful threat; And he---i.e. Jehu-said unto them, Ye know for both nations a.like buried their dee.d care- the man, and his communication. J ehu sus- fully in deep-dug graves or rocky rooep- pected that the whole soeue h11d been e.r• t.acles, e.nd both regarded the desecration ranged beforehand; that Elisha. and the of a corp10 e.e a grievous calamity(' Records young prophet and the captains of the host ()f the Pe.et,' vol. ix. pp. 112, 114). The dog were in league, e.nd had conce1·ted a way of was to the Hebrews, and to the Orientals offering him the throne. He me.y he.ve had generally, an unclean e.nime.l, and to be reason to regard the captains as disaffected devoured by dogs would have been viewed towards Jehore.m, though this does not 11p- as a fate which, for a queen, was almost pear at all distinotly in the very brief nar• inconceivable. And there shall be none to re.tive. bury her. Jezebel had no one suftiC'iently Ver. 12.-And they said, It is false. There interested in her fate to watch over her was no rudeness in the reply. It merely remaine. Rizpnh, the danght.er of Aiah, denied that Jehu's supposition we.s correct. had kept watch over the bodies of tl10 seven There had been no collusion between the sons of Saul, and suffered neither the birJs spiritual and temporal authorities. The of the air to rest on them by de.y, nor the captains had no knowledge of the young beasts of the field by night (2 Sam. xxi. 10); prophet's errand. Tell us now. "Tell us," and in Greece, if we may believe the poets, i.e.," what the young prophet so.id, since we life had been risked, and actually forfeited, are completely in the dark upon the subject." to save a nffir relative from similar igno- And he said, Thus e.nd thus spa.ke he to me, miny (Soph., • Ant.,' lines 245-743). But saying, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed "Jezebel had none to bury her." When she thee king over Israel Jehu declared to we.e ejected from the palace window (ver. them without e.ny reservee.11 the.t the young 33) and fell to the g.round, and we.e trodden prophet had said to him. He accepted their under foot by Jehu's chariot-borses, no one declaration the.t they were not in league came forth from the palace t.o give the with him, and then ge.ve them e.n exact bruised e.nd wounded corpse such tende.nce account of all the.t had occuned. He left as we.s possible. There we.s entire neglect it for them to determine whe.t, under the of the body for (probe.bly) some hourd; e.nd, circumstances, they would do. during these, tbe catastrophe occurred which Ver. 13.-Then they hasted, e.nd took every Divine foresight had prophesied, but which man. his garment, e.n.d put it un.der him on human malice had not intended (see vers. the top of the stair&. Kings were honoured 34-37). And he opened the door, and 11.ed. by the spreading of garments in their we.y, The young man the prophet obeyed to the that their feet might not touch the dusty letter the injunctious which Elisha he.d ground (Me.tt. xx. 8). The captains of the given him (ver. 3). The moment the.t he host, without hesitation, acclaimed Jchu he.d executed his errand, he fkd. king on the strength of the prophetical Vers. 11-22.-Compiracy of Jehu against aun.ouncement, me.de his cause their awn, Jelwram. aud joined in his rebellion, It is reasonably Ver. 11.-Then 1ehu came forth to the conjectured (Bahr) that" a. deep disse.tisfa.c- aervante of his lord. After the young man tion with Jore.m must have prevailed in. the the prophet had me.de his precipitate retreat, army,'' though whether the <lisse.tisfaction Jehn, too, quitted the iuner chamber, and arose from the idolatry of the house of Ahab, "came forth "-returned to the ple.ce where or from Jora.m's withdrawal from the w11r, he had beeu sitting with "the eerva.nte of IDl!.Y be doubted. Jehu, on the other hand, on. 1x. l-37.J THE SECOND I:OOK OF THE KINGS. 191