Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 18:4, 1 Kings 18:13], and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel.

8. For [And] the whole house of Ahab shall [I will cause to] perish and I will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel.

9. And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha [see 1 Kings 14:10, 1 Kings 16:3-4] the son of Ahijah:

10. And the dogs shall eat Jezebel [literally, and Jezebel the dogs shall eat (comp. Elisha's threat, 1 Kings 21:23)], in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. And he opened the door, and fled.

11. Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord: and one said unto him, Is all well? wherefore came this mad fellow [or this inspired one, in a tone of ridicule (comp. Hosea 9:7)] to thee? And he said unto them, Ye [emphasis on Ye] know the 1 Kings 21:16)] the Jezreelite.

22. And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace Jehu? [Is all well at the seat of war?] And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms [in a spiritual sense: idolatries] of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts [sorceries; the use of spells and charms common among Semitic idolatries (comp. the prohibitions in the Law: Exodus 22:18; Deuteronomy 18:10-11)] are so many?

23. And Joram turned his hands [turned his horses round (comp. 1 Kings 22:34)], and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery [literally, guile, or fraud], O Ahaziah.

24. And Jehu drew [filled his hand with] a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his [or, came out from his] heart, and he sunk [bowed: see Isaiah 46:1] down in his chariot.

25. Then said Jehu [And he said] to Bidkar ["son of stabbing"] his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the Lord laid this burden upon him;

26. Surely I have seen yesterday the blood [bloods: plural; implying death by violence: Genesis 4:10)] of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the Lord; and I will requite thee in this plat [or, portion], saith the Lord. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat [portion] of ground, according to the word of the Lord.

27. But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. And Jehu followed after him, and said, Smite him also in the chariot. And they did so at the going up to Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there.

28. And his servants carried him [literally, made him ride] in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his [own] sepulchre [which he had in his lifetime prepared, according to the custom of antiquity] with his fathers in the city of David.

29. And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.

30. And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it: and she painted her face 1 Kings 16:31].

35. And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her [the] hands.

36. "Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the Lord [see 1 Kings 21:23, where this oracle of Elijah is given] which he spake by Psalm 83:10] upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.