The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 152

H11ving gnined his object nnd got within s~me chariot with him, standing up behind bowshot of the unsuspecting monarch, he him, and often interposing their shields to throws off the m11ek and cleclo.ree uncom- protect his person. In this near proximity promising hostility. "No mo,n coulcl nee Jehu and Bidkar would hear any speech such terms of the queen-mother who wae which was addressed to Ahab. By a willing any longer to be II subject." " burden" is meant a sentence of punish- 'Ver. 23-26. -Murder of Jehoram by Jehu. ment ( comp. Isa. xiii. l ; xv. 1 ; xvii 1 ; Ver. 23.-And Joram tUl'Iled his hands, etc.; Nah. i. 1, etc.). and fled, Joram made hie charioteer turn Ver. 26.-Surely I have seen yesterday the chariot suddenly round, and fled by the the blood of Ne.both (comp. 1 Kings xxi.19, way by which he hnd come. '' Turning the where the same idea of retribution is ex- hands" is turning the chariot round by preseecl, though in different words). Jehu, means of the hands; and Joram is said to after the lapse of fourteen or fifteen years, have clone that which he caused to be done. naturally had forgotten the exact worc!s used. And said to AhBZiah, There is treachery, 0 And the blood of his sons. The execution Ahaziah. Mirmah is " deceit " or "fraud " of Naboth's sons !,ad not been mentioned of nny kind, and here is not ill rendered by previonely; bnt, nnder the rude jurisprn- "treachery." Jehu'e conduct was not justi- clence of the age (eh. xiv. 6), sons were fied by the mission given him (vere. 6-10), usually slain with their fathers. And, which certainly did not authorize him to nnless they had been removed, Ahab could commit a treacherous mnrder, not ha. ve inherited the vineyard. Saith the Ver. 24.-And Jehu drew a bow with his Lord ; and I will requite thee in this plat, full strength. This meaning is scarcely saith the Lord. This wa.e the gist of the contained in the Hebrew, which merely prophecy, which ran as follows: "In !he eBye that Jehu "filled his hand with his place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth bow," that is to eo.y, took hie bow into his shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine." Now hands for the purpose of using it. And therefore take e.nd cast him into the plat of smote Jehoram between his arms; i.e. di- ground, according to the word of the Lord. rected an arrow against Jehoram with so The evil prophesied against Ahab had been true an aim, that it struck him in the formally and expressly deferred to his son's middle of the back between his shoulders. da.ye on Ahab's repentance (cf. 1 Kings And the arrow went out at his heart. This xxi. 29). was quite possible, for the heart lies towards Vere. 27-29.-Murder of .Ahaziah. the centre of the chest, not wholly on the Ver. 27.-But when A.ha.zia.h the king of left side. It is not necessary to suppose an J'udah saw this, he :fled by the way of the oblique wonnd. And he sank down in his garden honse. As eoon a.a Ahaziah saw J eh u chariot. J ehoram fell into the "well," or shoot his arrow, he too took to flight; not, body, of the chariot, and there lay, the however, in the same direction as Jora.m, but chariot being brought to a etBnd. southwar<ls, towards his own laud. If Ver. 25.-Then said Jehu to Bidkar his "garden house " is the right translation of captain j literally, his thirdsman; Keil J~;::i n•?., we can say no more than that it was renders "his aide-de-camp," probably one of probably one of the lodges of the royal those who was in his chariot with him- demesue, whioh lay south-east and south of Take up, and cast him in the portion of the Jezreel, whereof nothing more iii known. :11.eld of Naboth the Jezreelite. "Tako up But it is quite possible that we ought to the body," i.e. "and cast it into the plot of transfats, with the LXX., "by the way of ground which once belonged to Naboth the Beth-Gan "--(q,iryev do/iv Ba,B--yclv. In this Jezreelite, aud was forfeited to the crown at case " Beth-Gan" would be e. villago or his death ( 1 Kings xxi. 15), and taken pos- town, probably identical with En-gauuim, session of by Ahab " (1 Kings xxi. 16). 'fbe which lay 11t the foot of tlie hills bounding renson for the order follows. For remember the Plain of Esdraelon, nearly due south of how tha.t,'when I and thou rode together after Jezreel (Zerin), and which is now known as Ahab his fa.ther 1 the Lord laid this bnrden Jenin (see the Map of Western P(llestiue, upon him. The LXX. have µ.v11µ.ovd,w, "I by Mr. Trel(lwney Saunders, compil~J from remember;" but the Hebrew text is i:ll, not the surveys of the Palestine Exploration i:l!N "Remember" (imperative mood) is Fund, where Ahaziah's flight is well trnced. the correct translation. Jehu recalls his And Jehu followed after him, and said, Smite oaptilin's recollection to an occurrence which him also in the ohariot ; rather, in hi8 wns <leeply impressed upon his own. "When chariot, not in that of J ehomm, siuce the two thou and I rode together after Ahab" prob- kings rode respeoti vely in their own ohariota ably means "when we two stood behind (ver. 21). It was a bold step in a. pretender Ahab in his chariot." The Assyril\n sculp- not yet settled upon the throne to provoke tures usually represent the monnrch ne nt- the hostility of n neighbouring country by tended by two body-gu11l'ds, who ride in the murdering its monarch; but Jehu probably 11. KINGS. ('I 194 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. [en. 1x. 1-37,