The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 172

when they 11acl gone ln: I.e. when the whole like a lofty fortress-,•)) originally meant multitude of Bo.nl-worshippers, priests and "fortress "-where Baal was enthroned, sur- people, ho.d entered within tho precincts of rounded by the images of his fellow-gods " the temple-to o:tl'er saorillcee and burnt (' History of Israel,' l. e. c.). It is to be re- o:tl'eringe. The priests officiate, but the membered that the assembled multitude offerings o.re regl\fded o.s conjointly made occupied the court or courts of the temple, by priest and people. Jehu 11ppointed four within which, in a commanding posilion, 1oore men without. Josephus says (' Ant. was the" house" or "sanctuary "-perhaps Jud.,' ix. 6. § 6) that they were the most reserved for the priests only. trusty men of his body-guard, which is Ver. 26.-And they brought fortb the lilcely euou~h. They were no doubt also images out of the house of Baal ; rather, the known to Jchu as attached to the worship pillars (see the comment on 1 Kings xiv. of Jehovah. And said, If any of the men 23). It was a special feature of the Phcani- whom I have brought into your hands escape, cian worship to r2present the gods by ,nijAa, he that letteth him go, his life shall be for the or ,,/ovu, which appear to have been conical life of him (comp. I Kings xx. 39). Gaolers stones, or obelisks, destitute of any shaping were commonly put to death if a prisoner into the semblance of humanity (see Taci- oommitted to their charge escaped them tus, 'Hist.,' ii. 3; Damasc. ap. Phot., 'Bib- (see Acts xii. 19; xvi. 27). liothcc.,' p. 10G3; Max. Tyr.,' Diss.,' xxxviii. Ver. 25.-And it oame to pass, as soon as p. 384). The Phronicians acknowledged he had made an end of offering the burnt several deities besides Baal, as Ashtoreth, offe1·ing. It has been concluded from this Melkarth, Dagon, Adonis or Tammuz, El, that Jehu "offered the sacrifices with his own Sadyk, Esmun, and the Kabiri. The hand, as though he were tho most zealous of "pillars" brought forth may have repre- Baal's adorers" (Ewald, ' History of Israel,' sented some of these deities, who might all vol. iv. p. 100); but the c0nclusion does not of them be" contemplar" deities with Baal; follow necessarily from the expression used. or they may have been "Bualim." i.e. forms The suffix \ in ini;.:;,:;, may be used indefi- and llilpects of Baal, each the object of some nitely," when one finished," or "when they special cult (see Movers, • Phonizier,' § 674 ). finished;" or Jehu may be so.id to have And burned them. The " pillurs" in this made the offerings, because he furnished the instance were probably, not of stone, but of victims, not because he immolated them with wood. Lis own hand. Throughout heathendom, Ver. 27.-And they brake down the i.mag'i wl,erever there were priests, it was the duty of Baal; rather, they brake in pieces the of the priests to slay the victims offered. pillar of Baal. The representation of Baal, That Jehu said to the guard-literally, to the the main atellf of the temple, being of stone runners (see the comment on I Kings i. 38) or metal, could not be destroyed by fire, and -and to the oaptains-i.e. the officers in was therefore broken to pieces ( comp. oh. command of the guard-Go in, and slay :xxiii. 14). And brake down the house of them; let none oomo forth. We muet sup- Baal-i.e. partially ruined it, but still left pose that some guarded the doors, while portions of it standing, as a memorial of the others advo.nced into the crowd and struck sin and of its punishment-a solemn warn- right and left. The unarmed multitude ing, one would have thought, to the people seems to have made no resistance. And they of the capital-and made it a draught-house emote them with the edge of the sword- llllto this day; made it, i.e., "a depository i.e. cut them down unsparingly, smote and for all the filth of the town" (Stanley); slew till none were left olive-and the guard comp. Ezra vi. 11; Dan. ii. 5; iii. 29; and and the oaptains oaet them out. '1'1,is is for the word " duugh t" in this sense, see generally understood to mean that all the M,ltt. xv. 17. Such a use wus the greatest bodies were thrown by the guards out of the possible desecration. temple. Dean Stanley says, "The temple Ver. 28.-Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out was strewn with corpoes, which, as fost o.s of Isra~l. The measures ta.ken were effec- they fell, the guard and lhe officers threw tual; the worship of Baal was put down, out with their own hands" (' Jewish Church,' and is not said to have been revived in the vol. ii. p. 188). But it is not apparent why kingdom of the ten tribes. Moloch-worship they should have taken this trouble. Per- seems to have taken its place (see ch.xvii.17). haps Bii.hr is right in suggesting that no Vers. 2()-31.-Jehu's shortcomings. more is meant than that the guard and the Ver. 29.-Howbeit from the Bins of Jero- ofticerij thrust the bodies out of their wo.y, as boam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to they pressed forward to enter the sunotual'y sin, Jehu departed not from after them. It which contained the sacred imuges: And was a crucial test of Jehu's foithfulness to went to the oity of the house of Baal " They Jehovah; would he muinto.iu tbo calf-worship made their way," as Ewald says, "into the of Jeroboam or not? With whatever intent Inner snnctunry, the enclosure of which rose , the wo1·,,hip had been set Ul) by its author• 214 THE SECOND BOOlt OF 'l'RE KINGS. [en. x. 1-M.