*H And Eliseus the prophet, called one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him: Gird up thy loins, and take this little bottle of oil in thy hand, and go to Ramoth Galaad.
Ver. 1. One. The Rabbins say Jonas; who at this rate, must have been very young, as he prophesied 50 years afterwards, under Jeroboam II. C. — Eliseus did not go himself, to avoid giving umbrage, and in obedience to God's order. M.
*H And when thou art come thither, thou shalt see Jehu the son of Josaphat the son of Namsi: and going in, thou shalt make him rise up from amongst his brethren, and carry him into an inner chamber.
Ver. 2. Brethren. The captains, v. 5.
* Footnote * 3_Kings 19 : 16
And thou shalt anoint Jehu, the son of Namsi, to be king over Israel: and Eliseus, the son of Saphat, of Abelmeula, thou shalt anoint to be prophet in thy room.*H Then taking the little bottle of oil, thou shalt pour it on his head, and shalt say: Thus saith the Lord: I have anointed thee king over Israel. And thou shalt open the door and flee, and shalt not stay there.
Ver. 3. Bottle. See 1 K. x. 1. Elias had received orders to anoint Jehu, 3 K. xix 16. C. — There. The utmost expedition was necessary, that Joram might be surprised, as well as Ochozias, and their devoted families. M.
*H And thou shalt cut off the house of Achab, thy master, and I will revenge the blood of my servants, the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezabel.
Ver. 7. Jezabel, who had persecuted the prophets unto death, 3 K. xviii. 4.
*H And I will destroy all the house of Achab, and I will cut off from Achab, him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up, and the meanest in Israel.
Ver. 8. Israel. See Deut. xxxii. 36. and 3 K. xiv. 10. for an explanation of these expressions. C.
* Footnote * 3_Kings 21 : 21
Behold I will bring evil upon thee, and I will cut down thy posterity, and I will kill of Achab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up, and the last in Israel.* Footnote * 3_Kings 15 : 29
And when he was king, he cut off all the house of Jeroboam: he left not so much as one soul of his seed, till he had utterly destroyed him, according to the word of the Lord, which he had spoken in the hand of Ahias, the Silonite:* Footnote ** 3_Kings 16 : 3
Behold I will cut down the posterity of Baasa, and the posterity of his house, and I will make thy house as the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat.*H And the dogs shall eat Jezabel, in the field of Jezrahel, and there shall be no one to bury her. And he opened the door and fled.
Ver. 10. Field, between the inner and the outer wall. Her body shall be left exposed to be eaten by the dogs.
*H Then Jehu went forth to the servants of his Lord: and they said to him: Are all things well? why came this madman to thee? And he said to them: You know the man, and what he said.
Ver. 11. Madman. The extravagant motions of the false prophets caused even the true ones to be treated with contempt. Warriors are but too apt to give way to sentiments of irreligion, (M.) and to despise men who lead a retired and penitential life. H. — How often were Ezechiel and Jeremias treated as fools, (Ezec. xxxiii. 30. Jer. xxix. 26. C.) as well as our divine Saviour? The pagans looked upon those who were inspired by Apollo in the same light. H. — Ut primum cessit furor & rabida ora quierunt, Virg. Æneid vi. "What authority has this fury, which you call divine, that the insane should behold what escapes the observation of the wise, and that he who has lost common (human) sense should possess divine?" ea videat insanus, & is qui humanos sensus amiserit, divinos assecutus sit? Cicero Divin. ii.
*H But they answered: It is false; but rather do thou tell us. And he said to them: Thus and thus did he speak to me: and he said: Thus saith the Lord: I have anointed thee king over Israel.
Ver. 12. False. We know not who he was, or what he said; though, from his conduct, we judge that he was one of the prophets. Hence they so readily acquiesced in saluting Jehu king. H.
*H Then they made haste, and taking every man his garment, laid it under his feet, after the manner of a judgment seat, and they sounded the trumpet, and said: Jehu is king.
Ver. 13. Garment, out of respect, as the multitude honoured Jesus Christ, Mat. xxi. 7. The pagans sometimes did the like when they carried their idols in procession. Plut. in Alcib. The king of Persia walked on carpets in the court of the guards, who were styled immortal. Athen. 12. — Trumpet, according to custom, 3 K. i. 40. C.
*H So Jehu, the son of Josaphat, the son of Namsi, conspired against Joram. Now Joram had besieged Ramoth Galaad, he, and all Israel, fighting with Hazael, king of Syria:
Ver. 14. Conspired, with the captains. M. — Besieged, as it is observed above. C. xxviii. 29. Heb. "had kept (H.) or observed;" watching the motions of Hazael, lest he should return, or succour the citadel.
*H The watchman therefore, that stood upon the tower of Jezrahel, saw the troop of Jehu coming, and said: I see a troop. And Joram said: Take a chariot, and send to meet them, and let him that goeth say: Is all well?
Ver. 17. Watchman. Such were very common, (2 K. xviii. 24. 1 Mac. xii. 26.) and as the army was at Ramoth, the attention of the people would be drawn that way. C. — Troop. Sept. "the dust of the," &c. M.
*H So there went one in a chariot to meet him, and said: Thus saith the king: Are all things peaceable? And Jehu said: What hast thou to do with peace? go behind and follow me. And the watchman told, saying: The messenger came to them, but he returneth not.
Ver. 18. Peace? As this expression sufficiently vindicated the designs of Jehu, he would not suffer the messenger to return before him. H.
*H And the watchman told, saying: He came even to them, but returneth not: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu, the son of Namsi; for he drives furiously.
Ver. 20. Furiously. The Chal. and Arab. say, "he marcheth slowly." But the whole conduct of Jehu was marked with eagerness and severity, like that of Cato of Utica, (Grotius) and the utmost expedition was requisite.
*H And when Joram saw Jehu, he said: Is there peace, Jehu? And he answered: What peace? so long as the fornications of Jezabel, thy mother, and her many sorceries, are in their vigour.
Ver. 22. Jehu? The king supposed that he had meet with some defeat, (C.) or that he wished to announce the good tidings in person. M. Salien, A.C. 902. — Vigour? How can Israel prosper? H.
*H And Joram turned his hand, and fleeing, said to Ochozias: There is treachery, Ochozias.
Ver. 23. Hand. Or ordered his charioteer to flee with all speed. M.
*H And Jehu said to Badacer, his captain: Take him, and cast him into the field of Naboth, the Jezrahelite: for I remember, when I and thou, sitting in a chariot, followed Achab, this man's father, that the Lord laid this burden upon him, saying:
Ver. 25. Sitting. Heb. "rode together after," as if they were two abreast. C. — Burden, or dreadful misfortune. M.
*H If I do not requite thee in this field, saith the Lord, for the blood of Naboth, and for the blood of his children, which I saw yesterday, saith the Lord. So now take him, and cast him into the field, according to the word of the Lord.
Ver. 26. Children. We do not read these words before, or that the children of Naboth were slain; but it is very usual to supply in one place what has been omitted in another, and Achab was not required to make restitution, (C.) as there were no heirs probably left. M. W.
* Footnote * 3_Kings 21 : 22
And I will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, and like the house of Baasa the son of Ahias: for what thou hast done to provoke me to anger, and for making Israel to sin.*H But Ochozias, king of Juda, seeing this, fled by the way of the garden house: and Jehu pursued him, and said: Strike him also in his chariot. And they struck him in the going up to Gaver, which is by Jeblaam: and he fled into Mageddo, and died there.
Ver. 27. House. Sept. retain "Baithgan," the original term, as if it were the name of that road. M. — Ochozias wanted to reach the palace by that garden, which was the source of the miseries of Achab's family. — There. Being brought back from Samaria, 2 Par. xxii. 9. (C.) or lurking in that kingdom, (M.) and slain by Jehu, as being the grandson of Jezabel. Great troubles took place in Juda, in consequence of his death. C.
*H In the eleventh year of Joram, the son of Achab, Ochozias reigned over Juda;
Ver. 29. Eleventh, or rather the twelfth, (C. viii. 25. Houbigant) unless he had been associated with his father on the throne a year before his death. C. D.
*H And Jehu came into Jezrahel. But Jezabel, hearing of his coming in, painted her face with stibic stone, and adorned her head, and looked out of a window.
Ver. 30. Stone, or antimony, to make the eyes look black and large. If (C.) Jezabel thought that she would thus command respect or love, (Abulensis) she was extremely imprudent and rash, in her present condition. Pride might suggest that she ought not to appear unadorned. C. T. — The women of the Eastern countries delight much in painting, (Pliny xi. 37. and xxxiii. 6.) and some men have not been ashamed to follow their example. S. Cyp. — Sardanapalus had his eyes and his eye-lids painted. Athen. xii. The Arabs, &c. think that this black colour protects the eyes against the sun-beams. Valle ii. Ep. 17. To express the affection of Jezabel, Heb. has, "she placed her eyes in antimony," (fuc, or puc, whence the Latin fucus is visibly derived) as if she plunged them in it. C.
*H At Jehu coming in at the gate, and said: Can there be peace for Zambri, that hath killed his master?
Ver. 31. Master. Being convinced that she could not gain the affections of Jehu, (H.) and thinking that he would not lay hands on a woman, (M.) she insolently, or in despair, (H.) upbraids him as a new Zambri, who might expect a similar fate, 3 K. xvi. C. — The name of Zambri was used proverbially to denote an ungrateful rebel; as with us Judas is used for a traitor. T.
* Footnote * 3_Kings 16 : 10
And Zambri rushing in, struck him, and slew him, in the seven and twentieth year of Asa, king of Juda and he reigned in his stead.*H And Jehu lifted up his face to the window, and said: Who is this? And two or three eunuchs bowed down to him.
Ver. 32. This. "Who dares address me with such provoking language?" Heb. "Who with me, who?" will punish the wretch? The eunuchs, who had hitherto waited upon Jezabel, immediately shewed their readiness to take part with her enemy: so little dependence can be placed on servants in the hour of adversity, when they have long been witnesses of their masters' crimes. — Hoofs. Heb. "and the horses, and he trod her under foot." H. — Jehu shewed the example. M.
*H And when he was come in to eat, and to drink, he said: Go, and see after that cursed woman, and bury her; because she is a king's daughter.
Ver. 34. Bury. He had forgotten the prediction of Elias, v. 36. Salien. — Daughter of Ethbaal, wife of Achab, mother of Joram king of Israel, and mother-in-law of Joram king of Juda, and grandmother of his son Ochozias. C. — Her great connexions seemed to entitle her to the rights of sepulture. H.
*H And when they went to bury her, they found nothing but the skull, and the feet, and the extremities of her hands.
Ver. 35. Hands. All the rest had been presently devoured, or carried off by dogs. H. — Her precious jewels had been plundered by the soldiers. M.
*H And coming back they told him. And Jehu said: It is the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Elias, the Thesbite, saying: In the field of Jezrahel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezabel.
Ver. 36. Field, or space between the walls, 3 K. xxi. 23. C.
* Footnote * 3_Kings 21 : 23
And of Jezabel also, the Lord spoke, saying: The dogs shall eat Jezabel in the field of Jezrahel.*H And the flesh of Jezabel shall be as dung upon the face of the earth in the field of Jezrahel; so that they who pass by shall say: Is this that same Jezabel?
Ver. 37. Jezabel? So fallen (M.) and degraded, though once possessed of so much power and beauty! sic transit gloria mundi. Heb. and Sept. "that they shall not say, This is Jezabel!" H. — No monument shall recall her to the remembrance of men. C. — Her body cannot be recognized. This will be the fate of the greatest mortal beauties, a few days after their departure. S. Francis Borgia durst not take an oath that the corpse which he had to attend, was that of the late beautiful empress Isabella: so much was it already disfigured. This sight was the beginning of his conversion, and of that eminent sanctity to which he attained, by despising all that the world can give or take away. H. — The Spanish interpreters call Achab's widow, Isabella: and she seems to have been the sister, or relation, of Dido, who founded Carthage about this time; (T.) Salien says in the 16th year of Jehu. A.C. 887. H.