II Kings 9:16

Slaying of the Two Kings, Joram of Israel and Ahaziah of Judah. - Kg2 9:16. Jehu drove without delay to Jezreel, where Joram was lying sick, and Ahaziah had come upon a visit to him. Kg2 9:17-21 As the horsemen, who were sent to meet him on the announcement of the watchman upon the tower at Jezreel that a troop was approaching, joined the followers of Jehu, and eventually the watchman, looking down from the tower, thought that he could discover the driving of Jehu in the approaching troop, Joram and Ahaziah mounted their chariots to drive and meet him, and came upon him by the portion of the ground of Naboth the Jezreelite. The second שׁפעת in Kg2 9:17 is a rarer form of the absolute state (see Ges. 80, 2, Anm. 2, and Ewald, 173, d.). - וּלשׁלום מה־לּך: "what hast thou to do with peace?" i.e., to trouble thyself about it. אל־אחרי סב: "turn behind me," sc. to follow me. כם המּנהג: "the driving is like the driving of Jehu; for he drives like a madman." בּשׁגּעון, in insania, i.e., in actual fact in praecipitatione (Vatabl.). "The portion of Naboth" is the vineyard of Naboth mentioned in 1 Kings 21, which formed only one portion of the gardens of the king's palace. Kg2 9:22 To Joram's inquiry, "Is it peace, Jehu?" the latter replied, "What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her many witchcrafts continue?" The notion of continuance is implied in עד (see Ewald, 217, e.); זנוּנים is spiritual whoredom, i.e., idolatry. כּשׁפים, incantationes magicae, then witchcrafts generally, which were usually associated with idolatry (cf. Deu 18:10.). Kg2 9:23 Joram detecting the conspiracy from this reply, turned round (ידיו יהפך as in Kg1 22:34) and fled, calling out to Ahaziah מרמה, "deceit," i.e., we are deceived, in actual fact betrayed. Kg2 9:24 But Jehu seized…

From Ramoth-Gilead to Jezreel was more than one day's march; about the mid-way between them the river Jordan must be crossed. We may suppose Jehu to have marched with all possible expedition, and to have taken the utmost precaution to prevent the tidings from getting to Jezreel before him; and, at length, we have him within sight first, and then within reach, of the devoted king. I. Joram's watchman discovers him first at a distance, him and his retinue, and gives notice to the king of the approach of a company, whether of friends or foes he cannot tell. But the king (impatient to know what is the matter, and perhaps jealous that the Syrians, who had wounded him, had traced him by the blood to his own palace, and were coming to seize him) sent first one messenger, and then another, to bring him intelligence, Kg2 9:17-19. He had scarcely recovered from the fright he was put into in the battle, and his guilty conscience put him into a continual terror. Each messenger asked the same question: "Is it peace? are you for us or for our adversaries? Do you bring good tidings or bad?" Each had the same answer: What hast thou to do with peace? Turn thee behind me, Kg2 9:18. 19. As if he had said, "It is not to thee, but to him that sent thee, that I will give answer; for thy part, if thou consult thy own safety, turn thee behind me, and enlist thyself among my followers." The watchman gave notice that the messengers were taken prisoners, and at length observed that the leader of this troop drove like Jehu, who it seems was noted for driving furiously, thereby discovering himself to be a man of a hot eager spirit, intent upon his business, and pushing forward with all his might. A man of such a violent temper was fittest for the service to which Jehu was designated. The wisdom of…

9:16 While Jehu was receiving the homage of his men as their king, Joram and Ahaziah were still at Jezreel (8:28-29; 9:14-15).