The Expositor's Bible: The Second Book of Kings

52

This seems to have struck Josephus (Antt., IX. iii. 1), who says that "he chanced to be in a tent (ἔτυχε κατεσκηνωκώς) outside the host."

53

Comp. 1 Sam. x. 5; 1 Chron. xxv. 1; Ezek. i. 3, xxxiii. 22. Menaggēn is one who plays on a stringed instrument, n'gînāh. The Pythagoreans used music in the same way (Cic., Tusc. Disp., iv. 2).

54

Deut. xx. 19, 20.

55

Lev. ii. 1. Comp. 1 Kings xviii. 36.

56

This dreadful result crippled the revolt of Vindex against Nero.

57

Jeroboam I., b. c. 937; Joram, 854.

58

Isa. xv. 1, Kir of Moab; Jer. xlviii. 31, Kir-heres. It is built on a steep calcareous rock, surrounded by a deep, narrow glen, which thence descends westward to the Dead Sea, under the name of the Wady Kerak. We know that the armies of Nineveh habitually practised these brutal modes of devastation in the districts which they conquered. See Layard, passim; Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies ii. 84.

59

1 Kings xviii. 27. Comp. Psalm xxxv. 23, xliv. 23, lxxxiii. 1, etc.

60

Comp. Micah vi. 7. This is an entirely different incident from that alluded to in Amos ii. 1.

61

Eusebius (Præp. Evang., iv. 16) quotes from Philo's Phœnician history a reference to human sacrifices (τοῖς τιμωροῖς δαίμοσιν) at moments of desperation.

62

The rendering is doubtful. LXX., καὶ ἐγένετο μετάμελος μέγας ἐπὶ Ἰσράηλ; Vulg., indignatio in Israel; Luther, Da ward Israel sehr zornig.

63

Amos ii. 1-3.

64

Hos. i. 4: "I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu."

65

Jos., Antt., IX. iv. 2. This perhaps is only suggested by the reminiscences of 1 Kings xviii. 2, 3, 12.

66

Lev. xxv. 39-41; Matt. xviii. 25.

67

2 Kings iv. 10. Not "a little chamber on the wall" (A.V.), but "an alîyah with walls" (margin, R.V.).

68

Frankl., Jews in the East.

69

John iv. 27: "Then came His disciples, and marvelled that He was talking (μετὰ γυναικὸς) with a woman."

70

2 Kings iv. 13: "Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care" (LXX., πᾶσαν τὴν ἔκστασιν ταύτην).

71

The Sheykh with whom I stayed at Bint es Jebeil could think of no return which I could offer for his hospitality so acceptable as if I would say a good word for him to the authorities at Beyrout.

72

Gehazi is usually called the na'ar or "lad" of Elisha – a term implying lower service than Elisha's "ministry" to Elijah.

73

2 Kings iv. 23. Hebrew "Peace"; A.V., "It shall be well."

74

Salutations occupy some time in the formally courteous East. Comp. Luke x. 4.

75

2 Kings viii. 1.

76

Not "lap," as in A. V. (Heb., beged); LXX. συνέλιξε πλῆρες τὸ ἱμάτιον αὐτοῦ; Vulg., implevit vestem suam (both correctly).

77

Heb., paquoth; LXX., τολύπην ἀγρίαν; Vulg; colocynthidas agri. Hence the name cucumis prophetarum.

78

Lord of the Chain and "Three lands." Three wadies meet at this spot, a little west of Bethel.

79

2 Kings iv. 42. Karmel, Lev. ii. 14. Perhaps a sort of frumenty.

80

The word for "wallet" (tsiqlon; Vulg., pera) occurs here only. Peshito, "garment." The Vatican LXX. omits it. The Greek version has ἐν κωρύκῳ αὐτοῦ.

81

See Lev. ii. 14, xxiii. 14.

82

2 Kings iv. 43. The word for "his servitor" (m'chartho) is used also of Joshua. It does not mean a mere ordinary attendant. LXX., λειτουργός; Vulg., minister.

83

It is curiously omitted by Josephus, though he mentions him (Ἄμανος) as the slayer of Ahab (Antt., VIII. xv. 5). The name is an old Hebrew name (Num. xxvi. 40).

84

The word l'boosh means a gala dress. Comp. v. 5; Gen. xlv. 22. χιτῶνες ἐπημοιβοί (Hom., Od., xiv. 514). Comp. viii. 249.

85

Elisha would not be likely to touch the place.

86

Now the Burâda ("cold") and the Nahr-el-Awâj.

87

Compare the answer of Abraham to the King of Sodom (Gen. xiv. 23).

88

The feeling which influenced Naaman is the same which led the Jews to build Nahardea in Persia of stones from Jerusalem. Altars were to be of earth (Exod. xx. 24), but no altar is mentioned in 2 Kings v. 17, and the LXX. does not even specify earth (γόμος ζεῦγος ἡμιόνων).

89

This is the only place in Scripture where Rimmon is mentioned, though we have the name Tab-Rimmon ("Rimmon is good"), 1 Kings xv. 18, and Hadad-Rimmon (Zech. xii. 11). He was the god of the thunder. The word means "pomegranate," and some have fancied that this was one of his symbols. But the resemblance may be accidental, and the name was properly Ramman.

90

See Deut. xxxii. 8, where the LXX. has κατὰ ἀριθμὸν ἀγγέλων.

91

The moral difficulty must have been early felt, for the Alexandrian LXX. reads καὶ προσκυνήσω ἄμα αὐτῷ ἐγὼ Κυρίῳ τῷ Θεῷ μου. But he would still be bowing in the House of Rimmon, though he might in his heart worship God. "Elisha, like Elijah" (says Dean Stanley), "made no effort to set right what had gone so wrong. Their mission was to make the best of what they found; not to bring back a rule of religion which had passed away, but to dwell on the Moral Law which could be fulfilled everywhere, not on the Ceremonial Law which circumstances seemed to have put out of their reach: 'not sending the Shunammite to Jerusalem' (says Cardinal Newman), 'not eager for a proselyte in Naaman, yet making the heathen fear the Name of God, and proving to them that there was a prophet in Israel'" (Stanley, Lectures, ii. 377; Newman, Sermons, viii. 415).

92

Prov. iv. 14, 15.

93

Prov. xvii. 14.

94

On Gehazi's lips it meant no more than the incessant Wallah, "by God," of Mohammedans.

95

2 Kings v. 19. Heb., kib'rath aretz, "a little way" – literally, "a space of country." (The Vatican LXX. follows another reading, εἰς Δεβραθὰ τῆς γῆς; Vulg., electo terræ tempore[?].)

96

LXX., κατεπήδησεν.

97

A talent of silver was worth about £400 – an enormous sum for two half-naked youths.

98

2 Kings v. 24. The LXX. (εἰς τὸ σκοτεινὸν) seems to have read אֹפֵל (ophel); "darkness," a treasury or secret place, for צַֹפֶל, and so the Vulgate jam vesperi.

99

2 Kings v. 26. The verse is so interpreted by some critics, especially Ewald, followed by Stanley. Margin, R.V.: "Mine heart went not from me, when" etc.

100

Exod. iv. 6; Num. xii. 10.

101

The later Rabbis thought that Elisha was too severe with Gehazi, and was punished with sickness because "he repelled him with both his hands" (Bava-Metsia, f. 87, 1, and Yalkut Jeremiah).

102

The Hebrew word for "cut off" (qatsab) is very rare. LXX., ἀπέκνισε ξύλον; Vulg., præcidit lignum.

103

It must be further borne in mind that "the iron did swim" (A.V.) is less accurate than "made the iron to swim" (R.V.). The LXX. has ἐπεπόλασε, "brought to the surface." Von Gerlach says, "He thrust the stick into the water, and raised the iron to the surface."

104

Gen. xxxvii. 17, Dothain, "two wells" (?).

105

Psalm xci. 4.

106

Psalm xxxiv. 7.

107

Psalm xci. 11.

108

Zech. ix. 8.

109

Isa. lxiii. 9.

110

Adopting the reading of the Syriac version: "And when they [Elisha and his servant] came down to them [the Syrians]." The ordinary reading is "to him," which makes the narrative less clear.

111

2 Kings vi. 19. מַנְוֵרִים, ἀορασία, only found in Gen. xix. 11.

112

Deut. xx. 13.

113

Num. xxxi. 7.

114

Vulg., Non percuties; neque enim cepisti eos … ut percutias.

115

Jos., Antt., IX. iv. 4, Κρύφα μὲν οὐκέτι … φανερῶς δέ.

116

Kittel, following Kuenen, surmises that this story has got misplaced; that it does not belong to the days of Jehoram ben-Ahab and Benhadad II., but to the days of Jehoahaz ben-Jehu and Benhadad III., the son of Hazael (Gesch. der Hebr., 249). In a very uncertain question I have followed the conclusion arrived at by the majority of scholars, ancient and modern.

117

So asafœtida is called "devil's dung" in Germany; and the Herba alcali, "sparrow's dung" by Arabs. The Q'ri, however, supports the literal meaning; and compare 2 Kings xviii. 27; Jos., B. J., V. xiii. 7. Analogies for these prices are quoted from classic authors. Plutarch (Artax., xxiv.) mentions a siege in which an ass's head could hardly be got for sixty drachmas (£2 10s.), though usually the whole animal only cost £1. Pliny (H. N., viii. 57) says that during Hannibal's siege of Casilinum a mouse sold for £6 5s.

118

So Clericus. Comp. Jos. ἐπηράσατο αὐτῇ.

119

Lev. xxvi. 29.

120

Deut. xxviii. 52-58.

121

Jer. xix. 9.

122

Lam. iv. 10: comp. ii. 20; Ezek. v. 10; Jos., B. J., VI. iii. 4.

123

1 Kings xxi. 27; Isa. xx. 2, 3.

124

Compare the wrath of Pashur the priest in consequence of the denunciation of Jeremiah (Jer. xx. 2).

125

1 Kings xix. 2.

126

In 2 Kings vi. 33 we should read melek (king) for maleak (messenger). Jehoram repented of his hasty order.

127

The Jews say Gehazi, and his three sons (Jarchi).

128

Lev. xiii. 46; Num. v. 2, 3.

129

The capitals of the ancient Hittites – a nation whose fame had been almost entirely obliterated till a few years ago – were Karchemish, Kadesh, Hamath, and Helbon (Aleppo).

130

Lectures, ii. 345.

131

Jer. xxv. 29; Ezek. xxxviii. 21.

132

See the cases of Samuel (1 Sam. ix. 7), of Ahijah (1 Kings xiv. 3), and of Elisha himself (2 Kings iv. 42).

133

As Jacob did in sending forward his present to Esau. Comp. Chardin, Voyages, iii. 217.

134

2 Kings x. 32, xiii. 3, 22.

135

Isa. xiii. 15, 16; Hos. x. 14, xiii. 16; Nah. iii. 10.

136

See Josh. vi. 17, 21; 1 Sam. xv. 3; Lev. xxvii. 28, 29.

137

Psalm cxxxvii. 9.

138

1 Sam. xxiv. 14; 2 Sam. ix. 8.

139

מַכְבֵּר. Jos., Antt., IX. iv. 6, δίκτυον διάβροχον. Aquila, Symmachus, τὸ στρῶμα. Michaelis supposed it to be the mosquito-net (κωνωπεῖον). Comp. 1 Sam. xix. 13. Ewald suggested "bath-mattress" (iii. 523). Sir G. Grove (s. v. "Elisha," Bibl. Dict., ii. 923) mentions that Abbas Pasha is said to have been murdered in the same manner. Some, however, think that the measure was taken by way of cure (Bruce, Travels, iii. 33. Klostermann, ad loc., alters the text at his pleasure).

140

2 Kings viii. 15; LXX., τὸ μαχβάρ; Vulg., stragulum; lit., "woven cloth."

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 already a grandson twenty-three years old (viii. 26).

187

A.V., "Tired her head." Comp. tiara. Lit., "made good"; LXX., ἠγάθυνε.

188

Josephus gives the sense very well: Καλὸς δοῦλος ὁ ἀποκτείνας τὸν δεσπότην (Antt., IX. vi. 4). The same question might have been addressed to Baasha, Shallum, Menahem, Pekah, and Hoshea; but at least Jehu might plead a prophet's call.

189

"Two or three." Lit., "two three," like the old English "two three" for "several."

190

Ver. 33. Heb., "He trod her underfoot." LXX., Συνεπάτησαν αὐτήν; Vulg., Conculcaverunt eam.

191

Liv., i. 46-48.

192

Prov. xi. 10. Compare the remark of Voltaire, who saw "le peuple ivré de vin et de joie de la mort de Louis XIV."

193

1 Kings xvi. 31. At this time Ethbaal was dead. He reigned probably from b. c. 940-908, and died at the age of sixty-eight (Jos., Antt., VIII. xiii. 1, IX. vi. 6; c. Ap., i. 18).

194

1 Kings xxi. 23.

195

Comp. Psalm lxxxiii. 10. Her name remained a by-word till the latest days (Rev. ii. 20), and the Spanish Jews called their persecutress Isabella the Catholic "Jezebel."

196

Omri, 12 years; Ahab, 22; Ahaziah, 18; Jehoram, 12.

197

The reading of 2 Kings x. 1, "Unto the rulers of Jezreel," is clearly wrong. The LXX. reads, "Unto the rulers of Samaria." Unless "Jezreel" be a clerical error for Israel, we must read, "He sent letters from Jezreel unto the rulers of Samaria."

198

Fig-baskets, Jer. xxiv. 2. The word dudim is rendered "pots" in 1 Sam. ii. 14. LXX., ἐν καρτάλλοις; Vulg., in cophinis. In Psalm lxxxi. 6 the LXX. has ἐν τῷ κοφίνῳ.

199

Jos., Antt., IX. vi. 5.

200

Heb., Tsibourîm; LXX., βουνούς.

201

Comp. 1 Sam. xvii. 54; 2 Macc. xv. 30.

202

2 Kings x. 12. The shepherds House of Meeting (Beth-equed-haroim). LXX., ἐν Βαιθακάθ; Vulg., ad cameram pastorum; Aquila, οἶκος κάμψεως. It has been conjectured by Klostermann that it belonged to the Rechabites, that they had been persecuted by Jezebel, and that they were glad to help in taking vengeance on her descendants.

203

The Chronicler (2 Chron. xxii. 8) says "sons of the brethren of Ahaziah."

204

LXX., ἡ δυναστεύουσα.

205

2 Kings x. 14, A.V., "at the pit." Lit., "in" or "into the cistern."

206

See Martin, Hist. de France, ix. 114.

207

Whittier.

208

Jer. xxxv. 1-19. Josephus (Antt., IX. vi. 6) calls him "a good man and a just, who had long been a friend of Jehu." "He was," says Ewald (Gesch., iii. 543), "of a society of those who despaired of being able to observe true religion undisturbedly in the midst of the nation with the stringency with which they understood it, and therefore withdrew into the desert."

209

Jer. xxxv. (written about b. c. 604). Communities of Nazarites seem to have sprung up at this epoch, perhaps as a protest against the prevailing luxury (Amos ii. 11).

210

In Josephus it is Jehonadab who blesses the king.

211

Heb., יֵש וָיֵשׁ.

212

Striking hands was a sign of good faith (Job xvii. 3; Prov. xxii. 26).

213

He did it "in subtilty" (בְצָקְבָה). This substantive occurs nowhere else, but is connected with the name Jacob. LXX., ἐν πτερνισμῷ, "in taking by the heel," with reference to the name Jacob, "supplanter."

214

Lit., "mouth to mouth." LXX., στόμα εἰς στόμα.

215

Ver. 22, מֶלְהָּהַה, Vestiarum, occurs here only. The LXX. omits it or puts it in Greek letters. Targum, κάμπτραι, "chests" Sil. Italicus (iii. 23) describes the robes of the priests of the Gaditanian Hercules, —

"Nec discolor ulli,Ante aras cultus; velantur corpora linoEt Pelusiaco præfulget stamine vertex."Keil, ad loc.

It was a mixture of "the rich dye of Tyre and the rich web of Nile."