OMRI____|____| | JEHOSHAPHATAhab = Jezebel |_______|__________________ || | | |Ahaziah Jehoram Athaliah = Jehoram(of Israel). (of Israel). | (of Judah).|Ahaziah(of Judah).[142]Jotham ben-Uzziah was not the colleague of his father, but his public representative.[143]The only other king of Judah whose mother's name is not mentioned (perhaps because his father Jotham had but one wife) is Ahaz.[144]2 Kings xi. 18; 2 Chron. xxi. 11, xxiv. 7.[145]Vulg.,Seira; Arab.,Sa'ir(but the historian never uses the name Mount Seir); LXX., Σιώρ. There is perhaps some corruption in the text, and the reading of the Chronicler "with his princes" shows that it may have once been צַמ־שָׂרָיו.[146]2 Kings viii. 21. "The people" (i.e., the army of Judah) "fled to their tents." Apparently this means that they slunk away home. The word "tents" is a reminiscence of their nomad days, like the treasonable cry, "To your tents, O Israel."[147]Josh. x. 29-39.[148]Jos.,Antt., IX. vi. 1.[149]1 Kings xix. 15, 16.[150]2 Kings viii. 12, 13.[151]The name was not uncommon, 1 Chron. ii. 38, iv. 35, xii. 3.[152]2 Kings xiii. 20, xxiv. 2; Jer. xlviii.[153]2 Kings vi. 8-23.[154]2 Kings vii. 6.[155]Jehoram = Jehovah is exalted. Ahaziah = Jehovah holds.[156]Vial (pak) only here and in 1 Sam. x. 1. "Theoil" (LXX., τὸν φακὸν τοῦ ἐλαίου).[157]"His habit fit for speedsuccinct" (Milton).[158]Inner chamber, 1 Kings xx. 30.[159]Perhaps, if Elisha had gone in person, suspicion might have been aroused. He was not more than fifty at this time, and lived forty-three years more.[160]Seder Olam, c. 18.[161]It seems as though they wereinsidethe town to defend it, not a beleaguring host outside.[162]The expression is remarkable, as showing how completely the prerogative of the Chosen People was supposed to rest with the Ten Tribes, as the most important representatives of the seed of Abraham.[163]"Him that is shut up, and him that is left at large in Israel" (2 Kings ix. 8; 1 Kings xiv. 10, xvi. 3, 4).[164]The A.V. has, less accurately, "in theportionof Jezreel." See 1 Kings xxi. 23. Heb., חֵלֶק. The חֵיל of an Eastern town is the ditch and empty space—a sort of externalpomœriumaround it. It is the place of offal, and the haunt of vultures and pariah dogs.[165]1 Sam. xvi. 4: "Comest thou peaceably?"[166]2 Kings ix. 11, הַמְּשֻׁנָּצ LXX., ὁ ἑπίληπτος. Comp. ver. 20, "he drivethfuriously" (בְשִׁנָּצון).[167]Ver. 12, a lie! (שֶׁקֶר).[168]What is meant by thegeremof the staircase is uncertain. The word means "a bone" (Aquila, ὀστῶδες), and is, in this connection, an ἅπαξ λεγόμενον. The Targum explains it as the top vane of a stair-dial. The margin of the R.V. renders it "on the bare steps." The Vulgate renders itin similitudinem tribunalis, as thoughgeremmeanttselem. The LXX. conceal their perplexity by simply translating the word ἐπὶ τὸ γαρέμ. Grotius and Clericus,in fastigio graduum. Symmachus, ἐπὶ μίαν τῶν ἀναβαθμίδων.[169]2 Kings ix. 14: "So Jehuconspiredagainst Joram." The same word is used in 2 Chron. xxiv. 25, 26.[170]2 Kings ix. 15, R.V.: "If this be your mind."[171]So far as we know, he never returned to Ramoth-Gilead, of which indeed we hear no more.[172]Tristram,Land of Moab.[173]Heb.,Shiph'hath, "a dust-storm" (LXX., κονιορτόν, αἰ. ὄχλον; Vulg.,globum), not as in A.V. and R.V., "a company." Comp. Isa. lx. 6; Ezek. xxvi. 10.[174]Clearly the rendering "he driveth furiously" is right. The word "furiously" isbeshigga'ôn(Vulg.,præceps), and is connected with "mad," ver. 11. LXX., ἐν παραλλαγῇ. Arab. Chald., "quietly." Josephus, "leisurely, and in good order." Such an approach would not, however, have been at all in accordance with the perilous urgency of his intent.[175]Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, is named from his grandfather Nimshi, who seems to have been the founder of the greatness of his house.[176]2 Kings ix. 23: "Turned his hands." Comp. 1 Kings xxii. 34.[177]Ver. 24. Vulg.,inter scapulas.[178]LXX., reading צַל בּרְכָּיו.[179]Bidkar, perhaps Bar-dekar, "Son of stabbing." Comp. 1 Kings iv. 9.[180]Heb.,ts'madim, "in pairs"; LXX., ἐπιβεβηκότες ἐπὶ ζεύγη. It is uncertain whether Jehu and Bidkar were in the same chariot as Ahab, as Josephus says (καθεζομένους ὄπισθεν τοῦ ἅρματος), or in a separate chariot.[181]2 Kings ix. 26: "Saith the Lord." Ephraem Syrus omits these words. He says that the night before Jehu had seen the blood of Naboth and his sons in a dream. Comp. Hom.,Od., iii. 258: Τῷ κε οἱ οὐδὲ θανόντι χυτὴν ἐπὶ γαῖαν ἔχευαν 'Αλλ' ἄρα τονγε κύνες τε καὶ οἰωνοὶ κατέδαψαν Κείμενον ἐν πεδίῳ.[182]A.V., "By the way of the garden-house." LXX., Βαιθγάν.[183]The text is a little uncertain.[184]Thenius supposes "Gur" to mean "a caravanserai." Comp. 2 Chron. xxvi. 7,Gur-Baal; Vulg.,Hospitium Baalis.[185]The account of the Chronicler (2 Chron. xxii. 9) differs from that of the earlier historian. It may, however, be (uncertainly) reconciled with it as in the text, if we suppose the words "he was hid in Samaria" to mean in Megiddo, in the territory of Samaria. Obviously, however, the traditions varied. There are difficulties about the story, for Ibleam is on the west towards Megiddo, and not between Jezreel and Samaria.[186]פּוּךְ, "Lead-glance." A mixture of pulverised antimony (stibium) and zinc is still used by women in the East for this purpose.In calliblepharis dilatat oculos(Plin.,H. N., xxxiii.). Keren-Happuk, the name given by Job to one of his daughters, means "horn of stibium." The object could hardly have been toattractJehu (as Ephraem Syrus thinks), for Jezebel had already agrandsontwenty-three years old (viii. 26).[187]A.V., "Tiredher head." Comp.tiara. Lit., "made good"; LXX., ἠγάθυνε.[188]Josephus gives the sense very well: Καλὸς δοῦλος ὁ ἀποκτείνας τὸν δεσπότην (Antt., IX. vi. 4). The same question might have been addressed to Baasha, Shallum, Menahem, Pekah, and Hoshea; but at least Jehu might plead a prophet's call.[189]"Two or three." Lit., "two three," like the old English "two three" for "several."[190]Ver. 33. Heb., "He trod her underfoot." LXX., Συνεπάτησαν αὐτήν; Vulg.,Conculcaverunt eam.[191]Liv., i. 46-48.[192]Prov. xi. 10. Compare the remark of Voltaire, who saw "le peuple ivré de vin et de joie de la mort de Louis XIV."[193]1 Kings xvi. 31. At this time Ethbaal was dead. He reigned probably fromb.c.940-908, and died at the age of sixty-eight (Jos.,Antt., VIII. xiii. 1, IX. vi. 6;c. Ap., i. 18).[194]1 Kings xxi. 23.[195]Comp. Psalm lxxxiii. 10. Her name remained a by-word till the latest days (Rev. ii. 20), and the Spanish Jews called their persecutress Isabella the Catholic "Jezebel."[196]Omri, 12 years; Ahab, 22; Ahaziah, 18; Jehoram, 12.[197]The reading of 2 Kings x. 1, "Unto the rulers ofJezreel," is clearly wrong. The LXX. reads, "Unto the rulers of Samaria." Unless "Jezreel" be a clerical error for Israel, we must read, "He sent letters from Jezreel unto the rulers of Samaria."[198]Fig-baskets, Jer. xxiv. 2. The worddudimis rendered "pots" in 1 Sam. ii. 14. LXX., ἐν καρτάλλοις; Vulg.,in cophinis. In Psalm lxxxi. 6 the LXX. has ἐν τῷ κοφίνῳ.[199]Jos.,Antt., IX. vi. 5.[200]Heb.,Tsibourîm; LXX., βουνούς.[201]Comp. 1 Sam. xvii. 54; 2 Macc. xv. 30.[203]2 Kings x. 12. The shepherds House of Meeting (Beth-equed-haroim). LXX., ἐν Βαιθακάθ; Vulg.,ad cameram pastorum; Aquila, οἶκος κάμψεως. It has been conjectured by Klostermann that it belonged to the Rechabites, that they had been persecuted by Jezebel, and that they were glad to help in taking vengeance on her descendants.[204]The Chronicler (2 Chron. xxii. 8) says "sonsof the brethren of Ahaziah."[205]LXX., ἡ δυναστεύουσα.[206]2 Kings x. 14, A.V., "at the pit." Lit., "in" or "into the cistern."[207]See Martin,Hist. de France, ix. 114.[208]Whittier.[209]Jer. xxxv. 1-19. Josephus (Antt., IX. vi. 6) calls him "a good man and a just, who had long been a friend of Jehu." "He was," says Ewald (Gesch., iii. 543), "of a society of those who despaired of being able to observe true religion undisturbedly in the midst of the nation with the stringency with which they understood it, and therefore withdrew into the desert."[210]Jer. xxxv. (written aboutb.c.604). Communities of Nazarites seem to have sprung up at this epoch, perhaps as a protest against the prevailing luxury (Amos ii. 11).[211]In Josephus it is Jehonadab who blesses the king.[212]Heb., יֵש וָיֵשׁ.[213]Striking hands was a sign of good faith (Job xvii. 3; Prov. xxii. 26).[214]He did it "in subtilty" (בְצָקְבָה). This substantive occurs nowhere else, but is connected with the name Jacob. LXX., ἐν πτερνισμῷ, "in taking by the heel," with reference to the name Jacob, "supplanter."[215]Lit., "mouth to mouth." LXX., στόμα εἰς στόμα.[216]Ver. 22, מֶלְהָּהַה,Vestiarum, occurs here only. The LXX. omits it or puts it in Greek letters. Targum, κάμπτραι, "chests" Sil. Italicus (iii. 23) describes the robes of the priests of the Gaditanian Hercules,—"Nec discolor ulli,Ante aras cultus; velantur corpora linoEt Pelusiaco præfulget stamine vertex."Keil,ad loc.It was a mixture of "the rich dye of Tyre and the rich web of Nile."[217]The phrase may be impersonal, "when one [i.e., they] had finished the sacrifice"; but the narrative seems to imply that Jehu offered it himself (LXX., ὡς συνετέλεσαν ποιοῦντες τὴν ὁλοκαύτωσιν Vulg.,cum completum esset holocaustum).[218]A.V., images; R.V., pillars.[219]Comp. Ezra vi. 11; Dan. ii. 5.[220]Amos i. 11.[221]Amos ii. 1.[222]Hos. i. 4.[223]Psalm lxxvi. 10.[224]Jehu 842-814.Jehoahaz 814-797.Joash 797-781.Jeroboam II. 781-740.Zechariah 740.[225]2 Kings viii. 12.[226]Isa. xiii. 11-16; Hos. x. 14, xiii. 16; Nah. iii. 10.[227]Amos i. 3, 4.[228]Amos i. 6-15.[229]SeeAppendix I., Schrader,Keilinschriften u. das Alte Test., 208 ff.; Sayce,Records of the Past, v. 41; Layard,Nineveh, p. 613; Rawlinson,Herodotus, i. 469. He is twice mentioned in inscriptions of Shalmaneser II. (861-825). He is called Ja-hu-a, son of Omri. The name of Omri was familiar in Nineveh; for Ahab had fought as a vassal of Assyria at the battle of Karkar, and Samaria was called Beth-Khumri. Shalmaneser would not trouble himself with the fact that Jehu had extirpated the old dynasty. His black stêlè was found by Layard, and is figured inMonuments of Nineveh, i., pl. 53. The name of Jehu was first deciphered by Dr. Hincks in 1851.[230]Schrader (E. T.), ii. 199.[231]Mic. vi. 16.[232]2 Kings xiii. 6.[233]2 Chron. xxi. 2-4.[234]2 Chron. xxi. 17.[235]ὁμοπάτριος ἀδελφή (Jos.).[236]2 Chron. xxii. 11. There are undoubted difficulties about the statement (seeinfra). There is no other instance of the marriage of a princess with a priest.[237]Jos.,Antt., IX. vii. 1: τὸ ταμιεῖον τῶν κλινῶν. The chamber of beds was a sort of unoccupied wardrobe-room.[238]2 Kings xi. 4: "The centurions of the Carians and of the runners."[239]This is the second time that the word "Sabbath" occurs, or that the institution is alluded to, in the history of either monarchy.[240]Nothing is known of סוּר, Sur, or יְסוֹדy'sôd, the Foundation (2 Chron. xxiii. 5). They are not mentioned elsewhere. LXX., εν τῇ πύλῃ τῶν ὁδῶν, and (in Chronicles) ἐν τῇ πύλῃ τῇ μέσῃ.[241]Not as in A.V., "that it be not broken down."[242]In reading side by side the narratives in the Books of Kings and Chronicles (2 Chron. xxiii.), it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the main anxiety of the Chronicler is to leave the impression that the work in the Temple was chiefly done by the Levites, and that the sacred precincts were not polluted by the presence of alien troops. He evidently stumbled at the notion, conveyed by the older narrative, that Carians and suchlike semi-heathen mercenaries should have stood by the altar at a high priest's command; so he substitutes Levites for guardsmen, and the profane laymen are relegated outside. In details the two accounts are only reconcilable by a special pleading which would reconcileanydiscrepancy.[243]1 Kings vii. 21. Comp., however, 2 Kings xxiii. 3.[244]See Exod. xxv. 16, 21, xvi. 34. הָצֵדוּת (see 2 Chron. xxiii. 11). Kimchi takes it to mean "a royal robe," and other Rabbis a phylactery on the coronet (Deut. vi. 8). In the Targum to Chronicles it is explained to mean the costly jewel (2 Sam. xii. 30), of which none but a descendant of David could bear the weight. Forha'edôthKlostermann therefore suggestshats'adôth, "the royal bracelets."[245]So says Josephus (μετὰ τῆς ἰδίας στρατίας), and it is certain that she would hardly go unattended.[246]Jos.,Antt., IX. vii. 3: Τὸυς δὲ ἑπομένους ὁπλίτας εἶρξαν εἰσελθεῖν.[247]The meaning ofal-ha'amôdis uncertain (A.V., "by a pillar"; Vulg., "on the tribunal"). Comp. 2 Kings xxiii. 3; 2 Chron. xxiii. 13; 1 Kings viii. 22; 2 Chron. vi. 13.[248]2 Kings xi. 15. Not as in A.V., "without the ranges." Heb.,lash'dêrôth; LXX., ἔσωθεν τῶν σαδηρώθ.[249]A.V., "And they laid hands on her"; LXX., ἐπέβαλον αὐτῃ χεῖρας; Vulg.,imposuerunt ci manus. But R.V. as in the text, following the Targum, and the Jewish commentators, "They made for her two sides."[250]This is usually understood to be the "horse gate" of the city (Neh. iii. 28), and so Josephus seems to have taken it, for he says that Athaliah was killed in "the Kedron Valley." Canon Rawlinson says that it was more probably in the Tyropœon Valley. But there could have been no object in dragging the wretched queen all this way. Jehoiada was only anxious that she should not stain the Temple with her blood, and "the way by which the horses came into the king's house" seems to be some private palace-gate. We are expressly told (ver. 16) that Athaliah was slain "at the king's house," probably in "the king's garden" (2 Kings xxv. 4).[251]Wellhausen,Isr. and Jud., p. 96.[252]2 Chron. xv. 9-15.[253]2 Chron. xxix. 10.[254]2 Chron. xxxiv. 31.[255]The name is perhaps an abbreviation from Mattan-Baal, "gift of Baal." Comp. "Methumballes" (Plaut.). The names of Tyrian kings, Mitinna, Mattun, occur in inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser II. See Herod., vii. 98 (Bahr,ad loc.). "Methumbaal of Arvad" is mentioned on a monument of Tiglath-Pileser II. (Schrader, ii. 249).[256]2 Kings xii. 10; Jer. xxix. 26; 2 Chron. xxiv. 6. Stanley,Lectures, ii. 399.[257]2 Kings xii. 2. After "all his days," the R.V. and A.V. add "whereinJehoiada instructed him." This, however, is not accurate. There is a stop at days, and "wherein" should be "because." There seems, however, from the LXX., to be some variation in the text, and according to the Chronicler Joash became an apostate. LXX., Πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας ἅς ἐφώτιζεν αὐτὸν ὁ ἱερεύς; Vulg.,Cunctis diebus quibus docuit eum Jojadas sacerdos.[258]The Chronicler (2 Chron. xxiv. 1, 2)more suocopies 2 Kings xii. 1, 2, but omits 3, because he dislikes the fact that not even his hero Jehoiada had anything to say against thebamoth. But it appears from 2 Kings xxiii. 9 that thebamothhad regular priests of their own, who "eat the priestly portions" (according to an old MS.) among their brethren.[259]2 Chron. xxiv. 7.[260]2 Kings xii. 4: "The money that every man is set at." Lit., "Each the money of the souls of his valuation." Comp. Numb. xviii. 16; Lev. xxvii. 2.[261]The Chronicler says "at the gate."[262]2 Chron. xxiv. 11.[263]Lev. v. 1-6, xiv. 13. "Trespass-money" is here first mentioned.[264]2 Chron. xxiv. 8-10. There is a difference between the historian and the Chronicler respecting the vessels of the house.[265]2 Chron. xxiv. 15, 16. The statement of the Chronicler is (as so often) surrounded by difficulties and improbabilities. If Jehoiada was one hundred and thirty years old when he died, he must have been ninety when Ahaziah was murdered, at the age of twenty-three. But as Ahaziah was (apparently) born when his father Jehoram was eighteen, Jehosheba must have been under eighteen, and must have been married to a man seventy years older than herself! See Lord Arthur Hervey,On the Genealogies, p. 113.[266]2 Chron. xxiv. 27.[267]Stanley charitably thinks that Joash may have only burst into hasty words like those of Henry II. against Becket.[268]The Chronicler says that "thesonsof Jehoiada" had helped to crown him, and that he put "thesonsof Jehoiada" to death (2 Chron. xxiii. 11, xxiv. 25).[269]Gittin, f. 57, 2; Sanhedrin, f. 96, 2; Hershon,Treasures of the Talmud, p. 276; Lightfoot on Matt. xxiii. 35. There can be little doubt that the reading "Berechiah" is a later correction of some one who remembered the murder narrated in Jos.,B. J., IV. v. 4, and that the true reading is "son of Jehoiada." This is the last murder of a prophet mentioned in the Old Testament, and we learn from the Gospel the fact that he was slain "between the Temple and the altar."[270]Isa. xxiv. 2; Jer. v. 31, xxiii. 11; Ezek. vii. 26, xxii. 26; Hos. iv. 9; Mic. iii. 11, etc.[271]Jer. xxix. 24-32.[272]2 Kings ix. 11.[273]But from the Book of Kings we should not infer that there had been any fighting at all. The Syrian commander had been bribed to retire.[274]We cannot understand the addition "on the way that goeth down to Silla." Silla is nowhere else referred to.[275]LXX., 2 Chron. xxiv. 27, καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ πάντες.[276]Νήπιος ὃς πατέρα κτείνας υἱοὺς καταλείπει. Comp. Q. Curtius, vi. 11: "Lege cautum erat ut propinqui eorum qui regi insidiati cum ipsis necarentur." Cic.,Ad Brut., 15.[277]2 Kings viii. 20-22.[278]Amos i. 11.[279]The Valley (Gê) of Salt is "the plain of the Sabkah," about two miles broad, between the southern end of the Dead Sea and the hills which separate the Ghôr from the Arabah (Seetzen,Reisen, ii. 356; Robinson,Researches, ii. 450, 488). David had won a great victory there (2 Sam. viii. 13; Psalm lx.,title).[280]Selah, "a rock" (Πέτρα). Eusebius calls it Rekem.[281]It is the name also of a city of Judah (Josh. xv. 38).[282]2 Chron. xxviii. 17; Jos.,Antt., XII. viii. 6.[283]2 Chron. xxv. 5-10, 13.[284]Κατακρημνισμός. This mode of execution prevailed till quite recent times in the little republic of Andorra.[285]2 Kings xiv. 17. The phrase that "helivedfifteen years" is unusual, and seems to imply that the historian saw,—
OMRI____|____| | JEHOSHAPHATAhab = Jezebel |_______|__________________ || | | |Ahaziah Jehoram Athaliah = Jehoram(of Israel). (of Israel). | (of Judah).|Ahaziah(of Judah).
[142]Jotham ben-Uzziah was not the colleague of his father, but his public representative.
[143]The only other king of Judah whose mother's name is not mentioned (perhaps because his father Jotham had but one wife) is Ahaz.
[144]2 Kings xi. 18; 2 Chron. xxi. 11, xxiv. 7.
[145]Vulg.,Seira; Arab.,Sa'ir(but the historian never uses the name Mount Seir); LXX., Σιώρ. There is perhaps some corruption in the text, and the reading of the Chronicler "with his princes" shows that it may have once been צַמ־שָׂרָיו.
[146]2 Kings viii. 21. "The people" (i.e., the army of Judah) "fled to their tents." Apparently this means that they slunk away home. The word "tents" is a reminiscence of their nomad days, like the treasonable cry, "To your tents, O Israel."
[147]Josh. x. 29-39.
[148]Jos.,Antt., IX. vi. 1.
[149]1 Kings xix. 15, 16.
[150]2 Kings viii. 12, 13.
[151]The name was not uncommon, 1 Chron. ii. 38, iv. 35, xii. 3.
[152]2 Kings xiii. 20, xxiv. 2; Jer. xlviii.
[153]2 Kings vi. 8-23.
[154]2 Kings vii. 6.
[155]Jehoram = Jehovah is exalted. Ahaziah = Jehovah holds.
[156]Vial (pak) only here and in 1 Sam. x. 1. "Theoil" (LXX., τὸν φακὸν τοῦ ἐλαίου).
[157]"His habit fit for speedsuccinct" (Milton).
[158]Inner chamber, 1 Kings xx. 30.
[159]Perhaps, if Elisha had gone in person, suspicion might have been aroused. He was not more than fifty at this time, and lived forty-three years more.
[160]Seder Olam, c. 18.
[161]It seems as though they wereinsidethe town to defend it, not a beleaguring host outside.
[162]The expression is remarkable, as showing how completely the prerogative of the Chosen People was supposed to rest with the Ten Tribes, as the most important representatives of the seed of Abraham.
[163]"Him that is shut up, and him that is left at large in Israel" (2 Kings ix. 8; 1 Kings xiv. 10, xvi. 3, 4).
[164]The A.V. has, less accurately, "in theportionof Jezreel." See 1 Kings xxi. 23. Heb., חֵלֶק. The חֵיל of an Eastern town is the ditch and empty space—a sort of externalpomœriumaround it. It is the place of offal, and the haunt of vultures and pariah dogs.
[165]1 Sam. xvi. 4: "Comest thou peaceably?"
[166]2 Kings ix. 11, הַמְּשֻׁנָּצ LXX., ὁ ἑπίληπτος. Comp. ver. 20, "he drivethfuriously" (בְשִׁנָּצון).
[167]Ver. 12, a lie! (שֶׁקֶר).
[168]What is meant by thegeremof the staircase is uncertain. The word means "a bone" (Aquila, ὀστῶδες), and is, in this connection, an ἅπαξ λεγόμενον. The Targum explains it as the top vane of a stair-dial. The margin of the R.V. renders it "on the bare steps." The Vulgate renders itin similitudinem tribunalis, as thoughgeremmeanttselem. The LXX. conceal their perplexity by simply translating the word ἐπὶ τὸ γαρέμ. Grotius and Clericus,in fastigio graduum. Symmachus, ἐπὶ μίαν τῶν ἀναβαθμίδων.
[169]2 Kings ix. 14: "So Jehuconspiredagainst Joram." The same word is used in 2 Chron. xxiv. 25, 26.
[170]2 Kings ix. 15, R.V.: "If this be your mind."
[171]So far as we know, he never returned to Ramoth-Gilead, of which indeed we hear no more.
[172]Tristram,Land of Moab.
[173]Heb.,Shiph'hath, "a dust-storm" (LXX., κονιορτόν, αἰ. ὄχλον; Vulg.,globum), not as in A.V. and R.V., "a company." Comp. Isa. lx. 6; Ezek. xxvi. 10.
[174]Clearly the rendering "he driveth furiously" is right. The word "furiously" isbeshigga'ôn(Vulg.,præceps), and is connected with "mad," ver. 11. LXX., ἐν παραλλαγῇ. Arab. Chald., "quietly." Josephus, "leisurely, and in good order." Such an approach would not, however, have been at all in accordance with the perilous urgency of his intent.
[175]Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, is named from his grandfather Nimshi, who seems to have been the founder of the greatness of his house.
[176]2 Kings ix. 23: "Turned his hands." Comp. 1 Kings xxii. 34.
[177]Ver. 24. Vulg.,inter scapulas.
[178]LXX., reading צַל בּרְכָּיו.
[179]Bidkar, perhaps Bar-dekar, "Son of stabbing." Comp. 1 Kings iv. 9.
[180]Heb.,ts'madim, "in pairs"; LXX., ἐπιβεβηκότες ἐπὶ ζεύγη. It is uncertain whether Jehu and Bidkar were in the same chariot as Ahab, as Josephus says (καθεζομένους ὄπισθεν τοῦ ἅρματος), or in a separate chariot.
[181]2 Kings ix. 26: "Saith the Lord." Ephraem Syrus omits these words. He says that the night before Jehu had seen the blood of Naboth and his sons in a dream. Comp. Hom.,Od., iii. 258: Τῷ κε οἱ οὐδὲ θανόντι χυτὴν ἐπὶ γαῖαν ἔχευαν 'Αλλ' ἄρα τονγε κύνες τε καὶ οἰωνοὶ κατέδαψαν Κείμενον ἐν πεδίῳ.
[182]A.V., "By the way of the garden-house." LXX., Βαιθγάν.
[183]The text is a little uncertain.
[184]Thenius supposes "Gur" to mean "a caravanserai." Comp. 2 Chron. xxvi. 7,Gur-Baal; Vulg.,Hospitium Baalis.
[185]The account of the Chronicler (2 Chron. xxii. 9) differs from that of the earlier historian. It may, however, be (uncertainly) reconciled with it as in the text, if we suppose the words "he was hid in Samaria" to mean in Megiddo, in the territory of Samaria. Obviously, however, the traditions varied. There are difficulties about the story, for Ibleam is on the west towards Megiddo, and not between Jezreel and Samaria.
[186]פּוּךְ, "Lead-glance." A mixture of pulverised antimony (stibium) and zinc is still used by women in the East for this purpose.In calliblepharis dilatat oculos(Plin.,H. N., xxxiii.). Keren-Happuk, the name given by Job to one of his daughters, means "horn of stibium." The object could hardly have been toattractJehu (as Ephraem Syrus thinks), for Jezebel had already agrandsontwenty-three years old (viii. 26).
[187]A.V., "Tiredher head." Comp.tiara. Lit., "made good"; LXX., ἠγάθυνε.
[188]Josephus gives the sense very well: Καλὸς δοῦλος ὁ ἀποκτείνας τὸν δεσπότην (Antt., IX. vi. 4). The same question might have been addressed to Baasha, Shallum, Menahem, Pekah, and Hoshea; but at least Jehu might plead a prophet's call.
[189]"Two or three." Lit., "two three," like the old English "two three" for "several."
[190]Ver. 33. Heb., "He trod her underfoot." LXX., Συνεπάτησαν αὐτήν; Vulg.,Conculcaverunt eam.
[191]Liv., i. 46-48.
[192]Prov. xi. 10. Compare the remark of Voltaire, who saw "le peuple ivré de vin et de joie de la mort de Louis XIV."
[193]1 Kings xvi. 31. At this time Ethbaal was dead. He reigned probably fromb.c.940-908, and died at the age of sixty-eight (Jos.,Antt., VIII. xiii. 1, IX. vi. 6;c. Ap., i. 18).
[194]1 Kings xxi. 23.
[195]Comp. Psalm lxxxiii. 10. Her name remained a by-word till the latest days (Rev. ii. 20), and the Spanish Jews called their persecutress Isabella the Catholic "Jezebel."
[196]Omri, 12 years; Ahab, 22; Ahaziah, 18; Jehoram, 12.
[197]The reading of 2 Kings x. 1, "Unto the rulers ofJezreel," is clearly wrong. The LXX. reads, "Unto the rulers of Samaria." Unless "Jezreel" be a clerical error for Israel, we must read, "He sent letters from Jezreel unto the rulers of Samaria."
[198]Fig-baskets, Jer. xxiv. 2. The worddudimis rendered "pots" in 1 Sam. ii. 14. LXX., ἐν καρτάλλοις; Vulg.,in cophinis. In Psalm lxxxi. 6 the LXX. has ἐν τῷ κοφίνῳ.
[199]Jos.,Antt., IX. vi. 5.
[200]Heb.,Tsibourîm; LXX., βουνούς.
[201]Comp. 1 Sam. xvii. 54; 2 Macc. xv. 30.
[203]2 Kings x. 12. The shepherds House of Meeting (Beth-equed-haroim). LXX., ἐν Βαιθακάθ; Vulg.,ad cameram pastorum; Aquila, οἶκος κάμψεως. It has been conjectured by Klostermann that it belonged to the Rechabites, that they had been persecuted by Jezebel, and that they were glad to help in taking vengeance on her descendants.
[204]The Chronicler (2 Chron. xxii. 8) says "sonsof the brethren of Ahaziah."
[205]LXX., ἡ δυναστεύουσα.
[206]2 Kings x. 14, A.V., "at the pit." Lit., "in" or "into the cistern."
[207]See Martin,Hist. de France, ix. 114.
[208]Whittier.
[209]Jer. xxxv. 1-19. Josephus (Antt., IX. vi. 6) calls him "a good man and a just, who had long been a friend of Jehu." "He was," says Ewald (Gesch., iii. 543), "of a society of those who despaired of being able to observe true religion undisturbedly in the midst of the nation with the stringency with which they understood it, and therefore withdrew into the desert."
[210]Jer. xxxv. (written aboutb.c.604). Communities of Nazarites seem to have sprung up at this epoch, perhaps as a protest against the prevailing luxury (Amos ii. 11).
[211]In Josephus it is Jehonadab who blesses the king.
[212]Heb., יֵש וָיֵשׁ.
[213]Striking hands was a sign of good faith (Job xvii. 3; Prov. xxii. 26).
[214]He did it "in subtilty" (בְצָקְבָה). This substantive occurs nowhere else, but is connected with the name Jacob. LXX., ἐν πτερνισμῷ, "in taking by the heel," with reference to the name Jacob, "supplanter."
[215]Lit., "mouth to mouth." LXX., στόμα εἰς στόμα.
[216]Ver. 22, מֶלְהָּהַה,Vestiarum, occurs here only. The LXX. omits it or puts it in Greek letters. Targum, κάμπτραι, "chests" Sil. Italicus (iii. 23) describes the robes of the priests of the Gaditanian Hercules,—
"Nec discolor ulli,Ante aras cultus; velantur corpora linoEt Pelusiaco præfulget stamine vertex."Keil,ad loc.
"Nec discolor ulli,Ante aras cultus; velantur corpora linoEt Pelusiaco præfulget stamine vertex."Keil,ad loc.
It was a mixture of "the rich dye of Tyre and the rich web of Nile."
[217]The phrase may be impersonal, "when one [i.e., they] had finished the sacrifice"; but the narrative seems to imply that Jehu offered it himself (LXX., ὡς συνετέλεσαν ποιοῦντες τὴν ὁλοκαύτωσιν Vulg.,cum completum esset holocaustum).
[218]A.V., images; R.V., pillars.
[219]Comp. Ezra vi. 11; Dan. ii. 5.
[220]Amos i. 11.
[221]Amos ii. 1.
[222]Hos. i. 4.
[223]Psalm lxxvi. 10.
[224]
Jehu 842-814.Jehoahaz 814-797.Joash 797-781.Jeroboam II. 781-740.Zechariah 740.
[225]2 Kings viii. 12.
[226]Isa. xiii. 11-16; Hos. x. 14, xiii. 16; Nah. iii. 10.
[227]Amos i. 3, 4.
[228]Amos i. 6-15.
[229]SeeAppendix I., Schrader,Keilinschriften u. das Alte Test., 208 ff.; Sayce,Records of the Past, v. 41; Layard,Nineveh, p. 613; Rawlinson,Herodotus, i. 469. He is twice mentioned in inscriptions of Shalmaneser II. (861-825). He is called Ja-hu-a, son of Omri. The name of Omri was familiar in Nineveh; for Ahab had fought as a vassal of Assyria at the battle of Karkar, and Samaria was called Beth-Khumri. Shalmaneser would not trouble himself with the fact that Jehu had extirpated the old dynasty. His black stêlè was found by Layard, and is figured inMonuments of Nineveh, i., pl. 53. The name of Jehu was first deciphered by Dr. Hincks in 1851.
[230]Schrader (E. T.), ii. 199.
[231]Mic. vi. 16.
[232]2 Kings xiii. 6.
[233]2 Chron. xxi. 2-4.
[234]2 Chron. xxi. 17.
[235]ὁμοπάτριος ἀδελφή (Jos.).
[236]2 Chron. xxii. 11. There are undoubted difficulties about the statement (seeinfra). There is no other instance of the marriage of a princess with a priest.
[237]Jos.,Antt., IX. vii. 1: τὸ ταμιεῖον τῶν κλινῶν. The chamber of beds was a sort of unoccupied wardrobe-room.
[238]2 Kings xi. 4: "The centurions of the Carians and of the runners."
[239]This is the second time that the word "Sabbath" occurs, or that the institution is alluded to, in the history of either monarchy.
[240]Nothing is known of סוּר, Sur, or יְסוֹדy'sôd, the Foundation (2 Chron. xxiii. 5). They are not mentioned elsewhere. LXX., εν τῇ πύλῃ τῶν ὁδῶν, and (in Chronicles) ἐν τῇ πύλῃ τῇ μέσῃ.
[241]Not as in A.V., "that it be not broken down."
[242]In reading side by side the narratives in the Books of Kings and Chronicles (2 Chron. xxiii.), it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the main anxiety of the Chronicler is to leave the impression that the work in the Temple was chiefly done by the Levites, and that the sacred precincts were not polluted by the presence of alien troops. He evidently stumbled at the notion, conveyed by the older narrative, that Carians and suchlike semi-heathen mercenaries should have stood by the altar at a high priest's command; so he substitutes Levites for guardsmen, and the profane laymen are relegated outside. In details the two accounts are only reconcilable by a special pleading which would reconcileanydiscrepancy.
[243]1 Kings vii. 21. Comp., however, 2 Kings xxiii. 3.
[244]See Exod. xxv. 16, 21, xvi. 34. הָצֵדוּת (see 2 Chron. xxiii. 11). Kimchi takes it to mean "a royal robe," and other Rabbis a phylactery on the coronet (Deut. vi. 8). In the Targum to Chronicles it is explained to mean the costly jewel (2 Sam. xii. 30), of which none but a descendant of David could bear the weight. Forha'edôthKlostermann therefore suggestshats'adôth, "the royal bracelets."
[245]So says Josephus (μετὰ τῆς ἰδίας στρατίας), and it is certain that she would hardly go unattended.
[246]Jos.,Antt., IX. vii. 3: Τὸυς δὲ ἑπομένους ὁπλίτας εἶρξαν εἰσελθεῖν.
[247]The meaning ofal-ha'amôdis uncertain (A.V., "by a pillar"; Vulg., "on the tribunal"). Comp. 2 Kings xxiii. 3; 2 Chron. xxiii. 13; 1 Kings viii. 22; 2 Chron. vi. 13.
[248]2 Kings xi. 15. Not as in A.V., "without the ranges." Heb.,lash'dêrôth; LXX., ἔσωθεν τῶν σαδηρώθ.
[249]A.V., "And they laid hands on her"; LXX., ἐπέβαλον αὐτῃ χεῖρας; Vulg.,imposuerunt ci manus. But R.V. as in the text, following the Targum, and the Jewish commentators, "They made for her two sides."
[250]This is usually understood to be the "horse gate" of the city (Neh. iii. 28), and so Josephus seems to have taken it, for he says that Athaliah was killed in "the Kedron Valley." Canon Rawlinson says that it was more probably in the Tyropœon Valley. But there could have been no object in dragging the wretched queen all this way. Jehoiada was only anxious that she should not stain the Temple with her blood, and "the way by which the horses came into the king's house" seems to be some private palace-gate. We are expressly told (ver. 16) that Athaliah was slain "at the king's house," probably in "the king's garden" (2 Kings xxv. 4).
[251]Wellhausen,Isr. and Jud., p. 96.
[252]2 Chron. xv. 9-15.
[253]2 Chron. xxix. 10.
[254]2 Chron. xxxiv. 31.
[255]The name is perhaps an abbreviation from Mattan-Baal, "gift of Baal." Comp. "Methumballes" (Plaut.). The names of Tyrian kings, Mitinna, Mattun, occur in inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser II. See Herod., vii. 98 (Bahr,ad loc.). "Methumbaal of Arvad" is mentioned on a monument of Tiglath-Pileser II. (Schrader, ii. 249).
[256]2 Kings xii. 10; Jer. xxix. 26; 2 Chron. xxiv. 6. Stanley,Lectures, ii. 399.
[257]2 Kings xii. 2. After "all his days," the R.V. and A.V. add "whereinJehoiada instructed him." This, however, is not accurate. There is a stop at days, and "wherein" should be "because." There seems, however, from the LXX., to be some variation in the text, and according to the Chronicler Joash became an apostate. LXX., Πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας ἅς ἐφώτιζεν αὐτὸν ὁ ἱερεύς; Vulg.,Cunctis diebus quibus docuit eum Jojadas sacerdos.
[258]The Chronicler (2 Chron. xxiv. 1, 2)more suocopies 2 Kings xii. 1, 2, but omits 3, because he dislikes the fact that not even his hero Jehoiada had anything to say against thebamoth. But it appears from 2 Kings xxiii. 9 that thebamothhad regular priests of their own, who "eat the priestly portions" (according to an old MS.) among their brethren.
[259]2 Chron. xxiv. 7.
[260]2 Kings xii. 4: "The money that every man is set at." Lit., "Each the money of the souls of his valuation." Comp. Numb. xviii. 16; Lev. xxvii. 2.
[261]The Chronicler says "at the gate."
[262]2 Chron. xxiv. 11.
[263]Lev. v. 1-6, xiv. 13. "Trespass-money" is here first mentioned.
[264]2 Chron. xxiv. 8-10. There is a difference between the historian and the Chronicler respecting the vessels of the house.
[265]2 Chron. xxiv. 15, 16. The statement of the Chronicler is (as so often) surrounded by difficulties and improbabilities. If Jehoiada was one hundred and thirty years old when he died, he must have been ninety when Ahaziah was murdered, at the age of twenty-three. But as Ahaziah was (apparently) born when his father Jehoram was eighteen, Jehosheba must have been under eighteen, and must have been married to a man seventy years older than herself! See Lord Arthur Hervey,On the Genealogies, p. 113.
[266]2 Chron. xxiv. 27.
[267]Stanley charitably thinks that Joash may have only burst into hasty words like those of Henry II. against Becket.
[268]The Chronicler says that "thesonsof Jehoiada" had helped to crown him, and that he put "thesonsof Jehoiada" to death (2 Chron. xxiii. 11, xxiv. 25).
[269]Gittin, f. 57, 2; Sanhedrin, f. 96, 2; Hershon,Treasures of the Talmud, p. 276; Lightfoot on Matt. xxiii. 35. There can be little doubt that the reading "Berechiah" is a later correction of some one who remembered the murder narrated in Jos.,B. J., IV. v. 4, and that the true reading is "son of Jehoiada." This is the last murder of a prophet mentioned in the Old Testament, and we learn from the Gospel the fact that he was slain "between the Temple and the altar."
[270]Isa. xxiv. 2; Jer. v. 31, xxiii. 11; Ezek. vii. 26, xxii. 26; Hos. iv. 9; Mic. iii. 11, etc.
[271]Jer. xxix. 24-32.
[272]2 Kings ix. 11.
[273]But from the Book of Kings we should not infer that there had been any fighting at all. The Syrian commander had been bribed to retire.
[274]We cannot understand the addition "on the way that goeth down to Silla." Silla is nowhere else referred to.
[275]LXX., 2 Chron. xxiv. 27, καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ πάντες.
[276]Νήπιος ὃς πατέρα κτείνας υἱοὺς καταλείπει. Comp. Q. Curtius, vi. 11: "Lege cautum erat ut propinqui eorum qui regi insidiati cum ipsis necarentur." Cic.,Ad Brut., 15.
[277]2 Kings viii. 20-22.
[278]Amos i. 11.
[279]The Valley (Gê) of Salt is "the plain of the Sabkah," about two miles broad, between the southern end of the Dead Sea and the hills which separate the Ghôr from the Arabah (Seetzen,Reisen, ii. 356; Robinson,Researches, ii. 450, 488). David had won a great victory there (2 Sam. viii. 13; Psalm lx.,title).
[280]Selah, "a rock" (Πέτρα). Eusebius calls it Rekem.
[281]It is the name also of a city of Judah (Josh. xv. 38).
[282]2 Chron. xxviii. 17; Jos.,Antt., XII. viii. 6.
[283]2 Chron. xxv. 5-10, 13.
[284]Κατακρημνισμός. This mode of execution prevailed till quite recent times in the little republic of Andorra.
[285]2 Kings xiv. 17. The phrase that "helivedfifteen years" is unusual, and seems to imply that the historian saw,—