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Treasury of Scripture Knowledge: 2 Kings 9

Chapter 9

And Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets, and said unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take this box of oil in thine hand, and go to Ramothgilead:

one

The Jews say that this was Jonah, the prophet, the son of Amittai.

the children

4:1 6:1-3 1 Kings 20:35

Gird up thy loins

As the upper garments of the Orientals were long and flowing, it was indispensably necessary to tuck up the skirts with a girdle about their loins, in order to use any expedition in their work or on a journey.

4:29 1 Kings 18:46 Jeremiah 1:17 Luke 12:35-37 1 Peter 1:13

box of oil

1 Samuel 10:1 16:1 1 Kings 1:39

Ramoth-gilead

8:28,29 Deuteronomy 4:1,3 1 Kings 22:4,20

And when thou comest thither, look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up from among his brethren, and carry him to an inner chamber;

Jehu

Jehoram having retired from the army, Jehu seems to have been left first in command, having been long employed by Ahab's family.

14 1 Kings 19:16,17

among his brethern

5,11

inner chamber

Heb. chamber in a chamber.

1 Kings 20:30 22:25 *margins

Then take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith the LORD, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Then open the door, and flee, and tarry not.

pour it

Exodus 29:7 Leviticus 8:12 1 Samuel 16:13 1 Kings 19:16

I have anointed

8:13 1 Samuel 9:16 15:1,17 16:12 Psalms 75:6,7 Proverbs 8:15,16 Jeremiah 27:5-7 Daniel 2:1 4:35 5:18 John 19:10,11

and flee

1 Samuel 16:2 Matthew 2:13 10:16

So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramothgilead.

the young man

Hann‰‚r hannavee, not as some would render, "the servant of the prophet," but, as correctly rendered by our venerable translators, "the young man, the prophet;" for [hn`r] hann‰‚r, "the young man," is not in regimine, but in appositione, with [hnby'] hannavee, "the prophet."

And when he came, behold, the captains of the host were sitting; and he said, I have an errand to thee, O captain. And Jehu said, Unto which of all us? And he said, To thee, O captain.

I have an errand

Judges 3:19

And he arose, and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of the LORD, even over Israel.

he arose

Acts 23:18,19

I have anointed

3 1 Kings 1:34 19:16 2 Chronicles 22:7 Psalms 2:6 *marg:; Psalms 75:6 Isaiah 45:1 Daniel 2:21 4:17,32 5:20,21

over the people

1 Kings 3:8 10:9 14:7 16:2

And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel.

I may avenge

Deuteronomy 32:35,43 Psalms 94:1-7 Matthew 23:35 Luke 18:7,8 Romans 12:19 13:4 Hebrews 10:30 Revelation 6:9,10 18:20 19:2

at the hand

32-37 1 Kings 18:4 21:15,21,25

For the whole house of Ahab shall perish: and I will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel:

I will cut off

1 Kings 14:10,11 21:21,22

him that pisseth

1 Samuel 25:22

him that is shut up

14:26 Deuteronomy 32:36

And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah:

like the house

1 Kings 14:10,11 15:29 21:22

and like the house

1 Kings 16:3-5,11,12

And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. And he opened the door, and fled.

the dogs

35,36 1 Kings 21:23 Jeremiah 22:19

he opened

3 Judges 3:26

Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord: and one said unto him, Is all well? wherefore came this mad fellow to thee? And he said unto them, Ye know the man, and his communication.

Is all well

17,19,22 4:26 5:21

this mad fellow

It is probable there was something peculiar in the young prophet's manner and address, similar to the vehement actions sometimes used by the prophets when under the Divine influence, which caused the bystanders to use this contemptuous language.

Isaiah 59:15 *marg:; Jeremiah 29:26 Hosea 9:7 Mark 3:21 John 10:20 Acts 17:18 26:24 1 Corinthians 4:10 2 Corinthians 5:13

And they said, It is false; tell us now. And he said, Thus and thus spake he to me, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I have anointed thee king over Israel.

Thus and thus

Verse 13

Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king.

and took every

The spreading of garments in the street, before persons to whom it was intended to shew particular honour, was an ancient and very general custom; the garments in these cases being used for carpets. In the Agamemnon of ∆schylus, the hypocritical Clytemnestra commands the maids to spread carpets before her returning husband, that on his descending from his chariot he may place his foot on "a purple-covered path." We also find this custom among the Romans. Plutarch relates, that when Cato of Utica left the Macedonian army, where he had become legionary tribune, the soldiers spread their clothes in the way.

Matthew 21:7,8 Mark 11:7,8

on the top

The ancient fortified cities were generally strengthened with a citadel, (Jud 9:46, 51,) commonly built on an eminence, to which they ascended by a flight of stairs, (Ne 3:15.) It is extremely probable, therefore, that Ramoth-gilead, being a frontier town of Israel and Syria, had a tower of this nature; and that Jehu was proclaimed king on the top of the stairs by which they ascended the hill on which the tower stood, i.e., in the area before the door of the tower, and consequently the most public place in the city.

blew with trumpets

2 Samuel 15:10 1 Kings 1:34,39 Psalms 47:5-7 98:6

is king

Heb. reigneth.

So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram had kept Ramothgilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria.

conspired

31 8:12-15 10:9 15:30 1 Kings 15:27 16:7,9,16

kept Ramoth-gilead

8:28 1 Kings 22:3

But king Joram was returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) And Jehu said, If it be your minds, then let none go forth nor escape out of the city to go to tell it in Jezreel.

Joram

Heb. Jehoram. returned.

8:29 2 Chronicles 22:6

had given

Heb. smote. none go forth. Heb. no escaper go forth.

1 Samuel 27:9-11

So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram.

And Ahaziah

8:28,29 2 Chronicles 22:6,7

And there stood a watchman on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take an horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace?

a watchman

2 Samuel 13:34 18:24 Isaiah 21:6-9,11,12 56:10 62:6 Ezekiel 33:2-9 Acts 20:26-31

Take an horseman

7:14

Is it peace

19 1 Samuel 16:4 17:22 1 Kings 2:15 Luke 10:5,6

So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he cometh not again.

What hast thou to do

19,22 Isaiah 48:22 59:8 Jeremiah 16:5 Romans 3:17

And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and cometh not again: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously.

driving

or, marching.

Habakkuk 1:6 3:12

for he driveth

10:16 Ecclesiastes 9:10 Isaiah 54:16 Daniel 11:44

furiously

Heb. in madness.

And Joram said, Make ready. And his chariot was made ready. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite.

Make ready

Heb. bind.

1 Kings 20:14 *marg:; Micah 1:13

Joram

2 Chronicles 22:7

met

Heb. found.

Numbers 20:14 *marg:

the portion of Naboth

25 1 Kings 21:1-7,15,18,19

And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?

Is it peace

What peace

18 Isaiah 57:19-21

the whoredoms

1 Kings 16:30-33 18:4 19:1,2 21:8-10,25 Nahum 3:4 Revelation 2:20-23 17:4,5 Revelation 18:3,23

And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah.

There is treachery

11:14 2 Chronicles 23:13

And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot.

drew a bow with his full strength

Heb. filled his hand with a bow. smote.

1 Kings 22:34 Job 20:23-25 Psalms 50:22 Proverbs 21:30 Ecclesiastes 8:12,13 1 Thessalonians 5:3

sunk

Heb. bowed.

Then said Jehu to Bidkar 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;

the Lord

1 Kings 21:19,24-29 Isaiah 13:1 Jeremiah 23:33-38 Nahum 1:1 Malachi 1:1 Matthew 11:30

Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the LORD; and I will requite thee in this plat, saith the LORD. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat of ground, according to the word of the LORD.

blood of Naboth

Heb. bloods of Naboth. of his sons.

Deuteronomy 24:16 2 Chronicles 24:25 25:4

I will requite

Exodus 20:5 Deuteronomy 5:9 Ezekiel 18:19

plat

or, portion.

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.

Ahaziah

8:29 Numbers 16:26 2 Chronicles 22:7-9 Proverbs 13:20 2 Corinthians 6:17

garden house

1 Kings 21:2

Ibleam

Joshua 17:11 Judges 1:27

Megiddo

"In the kingdom of Samaria."

23:29,30 Judges 1:27 5:19 1 Kings 4:12 2 Chronicles 22:9

And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David.

12:21 14:19,20 23:20 2 Chronicles 25:28 35:24

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

in the eleventh

8:16,24 2 Chronicles 21:18,19 22:1,2

began Ahaziah

"Then he began to reign as viceroy to his father in his sickness."

2 Chronicles 21:18,19 in:

And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window.

Jezebel

1 Kings 19:1,2

painted her face

Heb. put her eyes in painting.

Jeremiah 4:30 Ezekiel 23:40

tired

Isaiah 3:18-24 Ezekiel 24:17 1 Timothy 2:9,10 1 Peter 3:3

And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?

Zimri

1 Kings 16:9-20

peace

Verse 32

And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs.

Exodus 32:26 1 Chronicles 12:18 2 Chronicles 11:12 Psalms 118:6 124:1,2

eunuchs

or, chamberlains.

Esther 1:10 2:15,21 Acts 12:20

And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot.

Throw her down

1 Kings 21:11

and on the horses

This terrible mode of punishment appears to have been but rarely used, though we occasionally meet with it during this and subsequent periods. The same punishment, it is well known, obtained among the Romans, who used to throw certain malefactors from the Tarpeian rock. This practice obtains among the Moors at Constantia, a town of Barbary; and is also of frequent occurrence in Persia.

and he trode

26 7:20 Isaiah 25:10 Lamentations 1:15 Micah 7:10 Malachi 4:3 Matthew 5:13 Hebrews 10:29

And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a king's daughter.

he did eat

1 Kings 18:41 Esther 3:15 Amos 6:4

this cursed woman

1 Kings 21:25 Proverbs 10:7 Isaiah 65:15 Matthew 25:41

she is a king's

1 Kings 16:31

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

but they found

Job 31:3 Ecclesiastes 6:3 Isaiah 14:18-20 Jeremiah 22:19 36:30 Acts 12:23

Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel:

This is

1 Kings 21:23

by his

Heb. by the hand of his.

14:25 Leviticus 8:36 2 Samuel 12:25

And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.

the carcase

Psalms 83:10 Ecclesiastes 6:3 Isaiah 14:18-20 Jeremiah 8:2 16:4 22:19 36:20 Ezekiel 32:23-30