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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
on the Whole Bible
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Matthew Henry |
S E C O N D K I N G S
CHAP. X.
We have in this chapter,
I. A further account of Jehu’s execution of his commission. He cut off,
1. All Ahab’s sons,
2. All Ahab’s kindred,
3. Ahab’s idolatry: his zeal against this he took Jonadab to be witness
to
(ver. 15, 16),
summoned all the worshippers of Baal to attend
and slew them all
(ver. 24, 25),
and then abolished that idolatry,
II. A short account of the administration of his government.
1. The old idolatry of Israel, the worship of the calves, was retained,
2. This brought God’s judgments upon them by Hazael, with which his
reign concludes,
| Death of Ahab’s Sons; the Death of Ahaziah’s Brethren. | B. C. 884. |
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1 And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters,
and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders,
and to them that brought up Ahab’s children, saying,
2 Now as soon as this letter cometh to you, seeing your
master’s sons are with you, and there are with you chariots
and horses, a fenced city also, and armour;
3 Look even out the best and meetest of your master’s sons, and
set him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s
house.
4 But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, Behold, two kings
stood not before him: how then shall we stand?
5 And he that was over the house, and he that was over the
city, the elders also, and the bringers up of the children,
sent to Jehu, saying, We are thy servants, and will do all that
thou shalt bid us; we will not make any king: do thou that which
is good in thine eyes.
6 Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If ye
be mine, and if ye will hearken unto my voice, take ye the
heads of the men your master’s sons, and come to me to Jezreel by
to morrow this time. Now the king’s sons, being seventy
persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought
them up.
7 And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they
took the king’s sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their
heads in baskets, and sent him them to Jezreel.
8 And there came a messenger, and told him, saying, They have
brought the heads of the king’s sons. And he said, Lay ye them in
two heaps at the entering in of the gate until the morning.
9 And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and
stood, and said to all the people, Ye be righteous: behold, I
conspired against my master, and slew him: but who slew all
these?
10 Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the
word of the LORD, which the LORD spake concerning the house of
Ahab: for the LORD hath done that which he spake by his servant
Elijah.
11 So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in
Jezreel, and all his great men, and his kinsfolks, and his
priests, until he left him none remaining.
12 And he arose and departed, and came to Samaria. And as he
was at the shearing house in the way,
13 Jehu met with the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah, and
said, Who are ye? And they answered, We are the brethren of
Ahaziah; and we go down to salute the children of the king and
the children of the queen.
14 And he said, Take them alive. And they took them alive, and
slew them at the pit of the shearing house, even two and forty
men; neither left he any of them.
We left Jehu in quiet possession of Jezreel, triumphing over Joram and
Jezebel; and we must now attend his further motions. He knew the whole
house of Ahab must be cut off, and therefore proceeded in this bloody
work, and did not do it deceitfully, or by halves,
I. He got the heads of all the sons of Ahab cut off by their own
guardians at Samaria. Seventy sons (or grandsons) Ahab had, Gideon’s
number,
In such a number that bore his name his family was likely to be
perpetuated, and yet it is extirpated all at once. Such a quiver full
of arrows could not protect his house from divine vengeance. Numerous
families, if vicious, must not expect to be long prosperous. These sons
of Ahab were now at Samaria, a strong city, perhaps brought thither
upon occasion of the war with Syria, as a place of safety, or upon
notice of Jehu’s insurrection; with them were the rulers of Jezreel,
that is, the great officers of the court, who went to Samaria to secure
themselves or to consult what was to be done. Those of them that were
yet under tuition had their tutors with them, who were entrusted with
their education in learning, agreeable to their birth and quality, but,
it is to be feared, brought them up in the idolatries of their father’s
house and made them all worshippers of Baal. Jehu did not think fit to
bring his forces to Samaria to destroy them, but, that the hand of God
might appear the more remarkably in it, made their guardians their
murderers.
1. He sent a challenge to their friends to stand by them,
“You that are hearty well-wishers to the house of Ahab, and entirely in
its interests, now is your time to appear for it. Samaria is a strong
city; you are in possession of it; you have forces at command; you may
choose out the likeliest person of all the royal family to head you;
you know you are not tied to the eldest, unless he be the best and
meetest of your master’s sons. If you have any spirit in you, show
it, and set one of them on his father’s throne, and stand by him with
your lives and fortunes.” Not that he desired they should do this, or
expected they would, but thus he upbraided them with their cowardice
and utter inability to contest with the divine counsels. “Do if you
dare, and see what will come of it.” Those that have forsaken their
religion have often, with it, lost both their sense and their courage,
and deserve to be upbraided with it.
2. Hereby he gained from them a submission. They prudently reasoned
with themselves: “Behold, two kings stood not before him, but
fell as sacrifices to his rage; how then shall we stand?”
v. 4.
Therefore they sent him a surrender of themselves: “We are thy
servants, thy subjects, and will do all that thou shalt bid
us, right or wrong, and will set up nobody in competition with
thee.” They saw it was to no purpose to contend with him, and therefore
it was their interest to submit to him. With much more reason may we
thus argue ourselves into a subjection to the great God. Many kings and
great men have fallen before his wrath, for their wickedness; and how
then shall we stand? Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we
stronger than he? No, we must either bend or break.
3. This was improved so far as to make them the executioners of those
whom they had the tuition of
(v. 6):
If you be mine, bring me the heads of your master’s sons by
to-morrow at this time. Though he knew it must be done, and was
loth to do it himself, one would think he could not expect they should
do it. Could they betray such a trust? Could they be cruel to their
master’s sons? It seems, so low did they stoop in their adoration to
the rising sun that they did it; they cut off the heads of those
seventy princes, and sent them in baskets a present to Jehu,
v. 7.
Learn hence not to trust in a friend nor to put confidence in a guide
not governed by conscience. One can scarcely expect that he who has
been false to his God should ever be faithful to his prince. But
observe God’s righteousness in their unrighteousness. These elders of
Jezreel had been wickedly obsequious to Jezebel’s order for the murder
of Naboth,
She gloried, it is likely, in the power she had over them; and now the
same base spirit makes them as pliable to Jehu and as ready to obey his
orders for the murder of Ahab’s sons. Let none aim at arbitrary power,
lest they be found rolling a stone which, some time or other, will
return upon them. Princes that make their people slaves take the
readiest way to make them rebels; and by forcing men’s consciences, as
Jezebel did, they lose their hold of them. When the separated heads
were presented to Jehu, he slyly upbraided those that were the
executioners of this vengeance. The heads were laid in two heaps at the
gate, the proper place of judgment. There he acquitted the people
before God and the world
(v. 9,
You are righteous), and, by what the rulers of Samaria had now
done, comparatively acquitted himself: “I slew but one; they have slain
all these: I did it by conspiracy and with design; they have done this
merely in compliance and with an implicit obedience. Let not the people
of Samaria, nor any of the friends of the house of Ahab, ever reproach
me for what I have done, when their own elders, and the very guardians
of the orphans, have done this.” It is common for those who have done
something base to attempt the mitigation of their own reproach by
drawing others in to do something worse. But,
(2.) He resolves all into the righteous judgment of God
(v. 10):
The Lord hath done that which he spoke by Elijah. God is not the
author of any man’s sin, but even by that which men do from bad
principles God serves his own purposes and glorifies his own name; and
he is righteous in that wherein men are unrighteous. When the Assyrian
is made the rod of God’s anger, and the instrument of his
justice, he meaneth not so, neither does his heart think so,
Isa. x. 7.
II. He proceeded to destroy all that remained of the house of Ahab, not
only those that descended from him, but those that were in any relation
to him, all the officers of his household, ministers of state, and
those in command under him, called here his great men
(v. 11),
all his kinsfolks and acquaintance, who had been partners with him in
his wickedness, and his priests, or domestic chaplains, whom he
employed in his idolatrous services and who strengthened his hand that
he should not turn from his evil way. Having done this in Jezreel, he
did the same in Samaria
(v. 17),
slew all that remained to Ahab in Samaria. This was bloody work,
and is not now, in any case, to be drawn into a precedent. Let the
guilty suffer, but not the guiltless for their sakes. Perhaps such
terrible destructions as these were intended as types of the final
destruction of all the ungodly. God has a sword, bathed in heaven,
which will come down upon the people of his curse, and be filled
with blood.
Isa. xxxiv. 5, 6.
Then his eye will not spare, neither will he pity.
III. Providence bringing the brethren of Ahaziah in his way, as he was
going on with this execution, he slew them likewise,
The brethren of Ahaziah were slain by the Arabians
but these were the sons of his brethren, as it is there explained
(v. 8),
and they are said to be princes of Judah, and to minister to Ahaziah.
Several things concurred to make them obnoxious to the vengeance Jehu
was now executing.
1. They were branches of Ahab’s house, being descended from Athaliah,
and therefore fell within his commission.
2. They were tainted with the wickedness of the house of Ahab.
3. They were now going to make their court to the princes of the house
of Ahab, to salute the children of the king and the queen, Joram
and Jezebel, which showed that they were linked to them in affection as
well as in affinity. These princes, forty-two in number, being
appointed as sheep for the sacrifice, were slain with solemnity, at
the pit of the shearing-house. The Lord is known by these judgments
which he executeth.
| Interview between Jehu and Jehonadab; the Worshippers of Baal Destroyed. | B. C. 884. |
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15 And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab the
son of Rechab coming to meet him: and he saluted him, and said
to him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?
And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thine hand.
And he gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the
chariot.
16 And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD. So
they made him ride in his chariot.
17 And when he came to Samaria, he slew all that remained unto
Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed him, according to the
saying of the LORD, which he spake to Elijah.
18 And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said unto
them, Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu shall serve him much.
19 Now therefore call unto me all the prophets of Baal, all his
servants, and all his priests; let none be wanting: for I have a
great sacrifice to do to Baal; whosoever shall be wanting, he
shall not live. But Jehu did it in subtilty, to the intent that
he might destroy the worshippers of Baal.
20 And Jehu said, Proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal. And they
proclaimed it.
21 And Jehu sent through all Israel: and all the worshippers of
Baal came, so that there was not a man left that came not. And
they came into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal was full
from one end to another.
22 And he said unto him that was over the vestry, Bring forth
vestments for all the worshippers of Baal. And he brought them
forth vestments.
23 And Jehu went, and Jehonadab the son of Rechab, into the
house of Baal, and said unto the worshippers of Baal, Search, and
look that there be here with you none of the servants of the
LORD, but the worshippers of Baal only.
24 And when they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt
offerings, Jehu appointed fourscore men without, and said, If
any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escape, he
that letteth him go, his life shall be for the life of him.
25 And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of
offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to
the captains, Go in, and slay them; let none come forth. And
they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the
captains cast them out, and went to the city of the house of
Baal.
26 And they brought forth the images out of the house of Baal,
and burned them.
27 And they brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the
house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day.
28 Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.
Jehu, pushing on his work, is here,
I. Courting the friendship of a good man, Jehonadab the son of
Rechab,
v. 15, 16.
This Jehonadab, though mortified to the world and meddling little with
the business of it (as appears by his charge to his posterity, which
they religiously observed 300 years after, not to drink wine nor dwell
in cities,
&c.), yet, upon this occasion, went to meet Jehu, that he might
encourage him in the work to which God had called him. The countenance
of good men is a thing which great men, if they be wise, will value,
and value themselves by. David prayed, Let those that fear thee turn
to me,
Ps. cxix. 79.
This Jehonadab, though no prophet, priest, or Levite, no prince or
ruler, was, we may suppose, very eminent for prudence and piety, and
generally respected for that life of self-denial and devotion which he
lived: Jehu, though a soldier, knew him and honoured him. He did not
indeed think of sending for him, but when he met him (though it is
likely he drove now as furiously as ever) he stopped to speak to him;
and we are here told what passed between them.
1. Jehu saluted him; he blessed him (so the word is), paid him
the respect and showed him the good-will that were due to so great an
example of serious godliness.
2. Jehonadab assured him that he was sincerely in his interest and a
hearty well-wisher to his cause. Jehu professed that his heart was
right with him, that he had a true affection for his person and a
veneration for the crown of his Nazariteship, and desired to know
whether he had the same affection for him and satisfaction in that
crown of royal dignity which God had put upon his head: Is thy heart
right? a question we should often put to ourselves. “I make a
plausible profession, have gained a reputation among men, but is my
heart right? Am I sincere and inward with God?” Jehonadab gave him
his word (It is), and gave him his hand as a pledge of his
heart, yielded to him (so giving the hand is rendered,
concurred and covenanted with him, and owned him in the work both of
revenge and of reformation he was now about.
3. Jehu took him up into his chariot and took him along with him to
Samaria. He put some honour upon him, by taking him into the chariot
with him (Jehonadab was not accustomed to ride in a chariot, much less
with a king); but he received more honour from him, and from the
countenance he gave to his present work. All sober people would think
the better of Jehu when they saw Jehonadab in the chariot with him.
This was not the only time in which the piety of some has been made to
serve the policy of others, and designing men have strengthened
themselves by drawing good men into their interests. Jehonadab is a
stranger to the arts of fleshly wisdom, and has his conversation in
simplicity and godly sincerity; and therefore, if Jehu be a servant
of God and an enemy to Ball, he will be his faithful friend. “Come
then” (says Jehu), “come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord;
and then thou wilt see reason to espouse my cause.” This is commonly
taken as not well said by Jehu, and as giving cause to suspect that his
heart was not right with God in what he did, and that the zeal he
pretended for the Lord was really zeal for himself and his own
advancement. For,
(1.) He boasted of it, and spoke as if God and man were mightily
indebted to him for it.
(2.) He desired it might be seen and taken notice of, like the
Pharisees, who did all to be seen of men. An upright heart approves
itself to God and covets no more than his acceptance. If we aim at the
applause of men, and make their praise our highest end, we are upon a
false bottom. Whether Jehu looked any further we cannot judge; however
Jehonadab went with him, and, it is likely, animated and assisted him
in the further execution of his commission
(v. 17),
destroying all Ahab’s friends in Samaria. A man may hate cruelty and
yet love justice, may be far from thirsting after blood and yet may
wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,
Ps. lviii. 10.
II. Contriving the destruction of all the worshippers of Baal. The
service of Baal was the crying sin of the house of Ahab: that root of
this idolatry was plucked up, but multitudes yet remained that were
infected with it, and would be in danger of infecting others. The law
of God was express, that they were to be put to death; but they were so
numerous, and so dispersed throughout all parts of the kingdom, and
perhaps so alarmed with Jehu’s beginnings, that it would be a hard
matter to find them all out and an endless task to prosecute and
execute them one by one. Jehu’s project therefore is to cut them all
off together.
1. By a wile, by a fraud, he brought them together to the temple of
Baal. He pretended he would worship Baal more than ever Ahab had done,
Perhaps he spoke this ironically, or to try the body of the people
whether they would oppose such a resolution as this, and would resent
his threatening to increase his predecessor’s exactions, and say, “If
it be so, we have no part in Jehu, nor inheritance in the son of
Nimshi.” But it rather seems to have been spoken purposely to deceive
the worshippers of Baal, and then it cannot be justified. The truth of
God needs not any man’s lie. He issued a proclamation, requiring the
attendance of all the worshippers of Baal to join with him in a
sacrifice to Baal
(v. 19, 20),
not only the prophets and priests, but all, throughout the kingdom, who
worshipped Baal, who were not nearly so many as they had been in
Elijah’s time. Jehu’s friends, we may suppose, were aware of what he
designed, and were not offended at it; but the bigoted besotted
Baalites began to think themselves very happy, and that now they should
see golden days again. Joram had put away the image of
Baal,
ch. iii. 2.
If Jehu will restore it, they have what they would have, and come up to
Samaria with joy from all parts to celebrate the solemnity; and they
are pleased to see the house of Baal crowded
(v. 21),
to see his priests in their vestments
(v. 22),
and themselves perhaps with some badges or other to notify their
relation to Baal, for there were vestments for all his worshippers.
2. He took care that none of the servants of the Lord should be among
them,
This they took as a provision to preserve the worship of Baal from
being profaned by strangers; but it was a wonder that they did not, by
this, see themselves brought into a snare and discern a design upon
them. No marvel if those that suffer themselves to be deceived by Baal
(as all idolaters were by their idols), are deceived by Jehu to their
destruction.
3. He gave order for the cutting of them all off, and Jehonadab joined
with him therein,
When a strict search was made lest any of the servants of God should,
either for company or curiosity, have got among them–lest any wheat
should be mixed with those tares, and when eighty men were set to stand
guard at all the avenues to Baal’s temple, that none might escape
(v. 24),
then the guards were sent in to put them all to the sword and to
mingle their blood with their sacrifices, in a way of just
revenge, as they themselves had sometimes done, when, in their blind
devotion, they cut themselves with knives and lancets till the blood
gushed out,
1 Kings xviii. 28.
This was accordingly done, and the doing of it, though seemingly
barbarous, was, considering the nature of their crime, really
righteous. The Lord, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God.
4. The idolaters being thus destroyed, the idolatry itself was utterly
abolished. The buildings about the house of Baal (which were so many
and so stately that they are here called a city), where Baal’s
priests and their families lived, were destroyed; all the little
images, statues, pictures, or shrines, which beautified Baal’s temple,
with the great image of Baal himself, were brought out and burnt
(v. 26, 27),
and the temple of Baal was broken down, and made a dunghill, the common
sink, or sewer, of the city, that the remembrance of it might be
blotted out or made infamous. Thus was the worship of Baal quite
destroyed, at least for the present, out of Israel, though it had once
prevailed so far that there were but 7000 of all the thousands of
Israel that had not bowed the knee to Baal, and those concealed. Thus
will God destroy all the gods of the heathen, and, sooner or later,
triumph over them all.
| Jehu’s Inconsistency. | B. C. 884. |
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29 Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who
made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit,
the golden calves that were in Beth-el, and that were in Dan.
30 And the LORD said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in
executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done
unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart,
thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne
of Israel.
31 But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD God of
Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of
Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.
32 In those days the LORD began to cut Israel short: and Hazael
smote them in all the coasts of Israel;
33 From Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites,
and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by
the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan.
34 Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and
all his might, are they not written in the book of the
chronicles of the kings of Israel?
35 And Jehu slept with his fathers: and they buried him in
Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead.
36 And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was
twenty and eight years.
Here is all the account of the reign of Jehu, though it continued
twenty-eight years. The progress of it answered not to the glory of its
beginning. We have here,
I. God’s approbation of what Jehu had done. Many, it is probable,
censured him as treacherous and barbarous–called him a rebel, a
usurper, a murderer, and prognosticated ill concerning him, that a
family thus raised would soon be ruined; but God said, Well done
(v. 30),
and then it signified little who said otherwise.
1. God pronounced that to be right which he had done. It is justly
questionable whether he did it from a good principle and whether he did
not take some false steps in the doing of it; and yet (says God),
Thou hast done well in executing that which is right in my eyes.
The extirpating of idolaters and idolatry was a thing right in God’s
eyes, for it is an iniquity he visits as surely and severely as any: it
was according to all that was in his heart, all he desired, all
he designed. Jehu went through with his work.
2. God promised him a reward, that his children of the fourth
generation from him should sit upon the throne of Israel. This
was more than what took place in any of the dignities or royal families
of that kingdom; of the house of Ahab there were indeed four kings,
Omri, Ahab, Ahaziah, and Joram, but the last two were brothers, so that
it reached but to the third generation, and that whole family continued
but about forty-five years in all, whereas Jehu’s continued in four,
besides himself, and in all about 120 years. Note, No services done for
God shall go unrewarded.
II. Jehu’s carelessness in what he was further to do. By this it
appeared that his heart was not right with God, that he was partial in
his reformation.
1. He did not put away all the evil. He departed from the sins of Ahab,
but not from the sins of Jeroboam–discarded Baal, but adhered to the
calves. The worship of Baal was indeed the greater evil, and more
heinous in the sight of God, but the worship of the calves was a great
evil, and true conversion is not only from gross sin, but from all
sin–not only from false gods, but from false worships. The worship of
Baal weakened and diminished Israel, and made them beholden to the
Sidonians, and therefore he could easily part with that; but the
worship of the calves was a politic idolatry, was begun and kept up for
reasons of state, to prevent the return of the ten tribes to the house
of David, and therefore Jehu clave to that. True conversion is not only
from wasteful sins, but from gainful sins–not only from those sins
that are destructive to the secular interest, but from those that
support and befriend it, in forsaking which is the great trial whether
we can deny ourselves and trust God.
2. He put away evil, but he did not mind that which was good
(v. 31):
He took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel. He
abolished the worship of Baal, but did not keep up the worship of God,
nor walk in his law. He had shown great care and zeal for the rooting
out of a false religion; but in the true religion,
(1.) He showed no care, took no heed, lived at large, was not at all
solicitous to please God and to do his duty, took no heed to the
scriptures, to the prophets, to his own conscience, but walked at all
adventures. Those that are heedless, it is to be feared, are graceless;
for, where there is a good principle in the heart, it will make men
cautious and circumspect, desirous to please God and jealous of doing
any thing to offend him.
(2.) He showed no zeal; what he did in religion he did not do with his
heart, with all his heart, but did it as if he did it not, without any
liveliness or concern. It seems, he was a man that had little religion
himself, and yet God made use of him as an instrument of reformation in
Israel. It is a pity but that those that do good to others should
always be good themselves.
III. The judgment that came upon Israel in his reign. We have reason to
fear that when Jehu took no heed himself to walk in God’s law the
people were generally as careless as he, both in their devotions and in
their conversations. There was a general decay of piety and increase of
profaneness; and therefore it is not strange that the next news we hear
is, In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short,
v. 32.
Their neighbours encroached upon them on every side; they were short in
their duty to God, and therefore God cut them short in their extent,
wealth, and power. Hazael king of Syria was, above any other, vexatious
and mischievous to them, smote them in all the coasts of Israel,
particularly the countries on the other side Jordan, which lay next
him, and most exposed; on these he made continual inroads, and laid
them waste. Now the Reubenites and Gadites smarted for the choice which
their ancestors made of an inheritance on that side Jordan, which Moses
reproved them for,
Now Hazael did what Elisha foresaw and foretold he would do. Yet, for
doing it, God had a quarrel with him and with his kingdom, as we may
find,
Because those of Damascus have threshed Gilead with threshing
instruments of iron, therefore (says God) I will send a fire
into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of
Benhadad.
Lastly, The conclusion of Jehu’s reign,
Notice is taken, in general, of his might; but, because he took no heed
to serve God, the memorials of his mighty enterprises and achievements
are justly buried in oblivion.
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