The Expositor's Bible: The Second Book of Kings. Farrar Frederic William

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141

The following genealogy may help to elucidate the troublesome identity of names: —

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. "The oil" (LXX., τὸν φακὸν τοῦ ἐλαίου).

157

"His habit fit for speed succinct" (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 were inside the 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 the portion of Jezreel." See 1 Kings xxi. 23. Heb., חֵלֶק. The חֵיל of an Eastern town is the ditch and empty space – a sort of external pomœrium around 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 driveth furiously" (בְשִׁנָּצון).

167

Ver. 12, a lie! (שֶׁקֶר).

168

What is meant by the gerem of 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 it in similitudinem tribunalis, as though gerem meant tselem. 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 Jehu conspired against 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" is beshigga'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 to attract Jehu (as Ephraem Syrus thinks), for Jezebel had