2 Kingschapter 10

A.Two heaps of heads at the gate of Jezreelvv. 1-11

1 Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria to the officials of Jezreel, to the elders, and to the guardians of the sons of Ahab, saying: 2 “When this letter arrives, since your master’s sons are with you and you have chariots and horses, a fortified city and weaponry, 3 select the best and most worthy son of your master, set him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s house.” 4 But they were terrified and reasoned, “If two kings could not stand against him, how can we?” 5 So the palace administrator, the overseer of the city, the elders, and the guardians sent a message to Jehu: “We are your servants, and we will do whatever you say. We will not make anyone king. Do whatever is good in your sight.” 6 Then Jehu wrote them a second letter and said: “If you are on my side, and if you will obey me, then bring the heads of your master’s sons to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow.” Now the sons of the king, seventy in all, were being brought up by the leading men of the city. 7 And when the letter arrived, they took the sons of the king and slaughtered all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel. 8 When the messenger arrived, he told Jehu, “They have brought the heads of the sons of the king.” And Jehu ordered, “Pile them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until morning.” 9 The next morning, Jehu went out and stood before all the people and said, “You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him. But who killed all these? 10 Know, then, that not a word the LORD has spoken against the house of Ahab will fail, for the LORD has done what He promised through His servant Elijah.” 11 So Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his great men and close friends and priests, leaving him without a single survivor.

B.Come with me, and see my zeal for Jehovahvv. 12-17

12 Then Jehu set out toward Samaria. At Beth-eked of the Shepherds, 13 Jehu met some relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah and asked, “Who are you?” “We are relatives of Ahaziah,” they answered, “and we have come down to greet the sons of the king and of the queen mother.” 14 Then Jehu ordered, “Take them alive.” So his men took them alive, then slaughtered them at the well of Beth-eked—forty-two men. He spared none of them. 15 When he left there, he found Jehonadab son of Rechab, who was coming to meet him. Jehu greeted him and asked, “Is your heart as true to mine as my heart is to yours?” “It is!” Jehonadab replied. “If it is,” said Jehu, “give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand, and Jehu helped him into his chariot, 16 saying, “Come with me and see my zeal for the LORD!” So he had him ride in his chariot. 17 When Jehu came to Samaria, he struck down everyone belonging to Ahab who remained there, until he had destroyed them, according to the word that the LORD had spoken to Elijah.

C.Ahab served Baal a little — a trap inside the house of Baalvv. 18-28

18 Then Jehu brought all the people together and said, “Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him a lot. 19 Now, therefore, summon to me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests. See that no one is missing, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal. Whoever is missing will not live.” But Jehu was acting deceptively in order to destroy the servants of Baal. 20 And Jehu commanded, “Proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal.” So they announced it. 21 Then Jehu sent word throughout Israel, and all the servants of Baal came; there was not a man who failed to show. They entered the temple of Baal, and it was filled from end to end. 22 And Jehu said to the keeper of the wardrobe, “Bring out garments for all the servants of Baal.” So he brought out garments for them. 23 Next, Jehu and Jehonadab son of Rechab entered the temple of Baal, and Jehu said to the servants of Baal, “Look around to see that there are no servants of the LORD here among you—only servants of Baal.” 24 And they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed eighty men outside and warned them, “If anyone allows one of the men I am delivering into your hands to escape, he will forfeit his life for theirs.” 25 When he had finished making the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guards and officers, “Go in and kill them. Do not let anyone out.” So the guards and officers put them to the sword, threw the bodies out, and went into the inner room of the temple of Baal. 26 They brought out the sacred pillar of the temple of Baal and burned it. 27 They also demolished the sacred pillar of Baal. Then they tore down the temple of Baal and made it into a latrine, which it is to this day. 28 Thus Jehu eradicated Baal from Israel,

D.Jehu departed not from the calves of Jeroboamvv. 29-36

29 but he did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit—the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan. 30 Nevertheless, the LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in My sight and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel.” 31 Yet Jehu was not careful to follow the instruction of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit. 32 In those days the LORD began to reduce the size of Israel. Hazael defeated the Israelites throughout their territory 33 from the Jordan eastward through all the land of Gilead (the region of Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh), and from Aroer by the Arnon Valley through Gilead to Bashan. 34 As for the rest of the acts of Jehu, along with all his accomplishments and all his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 35 And Jehu rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria, and his son Jehoahaz reigned in his place. 36 So the duration of Jehu’s reign over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.

Commentary on this chapter: read the Exposition

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Chapter summary

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Jehu writes to the guardians of Ahab's seventy sons in Samaria and dares them to fight; instead they send seventy heads in baskets, and he lays them in two heaps at the gate of Jezreel and preaches over them that not one word of Jehovah shall fall to the earth. He cuts down Ahaziah's kinsmen at the shearing-house, takes Jehonadab son of Rechab into his chariot to see his zeal, then springs the trap: a great assembly proclaimed for Baal, the house filled end to end, vestments handed out, and eighty men waiting outside. Baal's house is broken down and made a draught-house. But Jehu does not depart from the golden calves; four generations are promised him.

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary and John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament.

Context

History · Jeremiah — 2 Kings overview

A. 1–11 Two heaps of heads at the gate of Jezreel
B. 12–17 Come with me, and see my zeal for Jehovah
C. 18–28 Ahab served Baal a little — a trap inside the house of Baal
D. 29–36 Jehu departed not from the calves of Jeroboam

Top cross-references8 chapters ▾

1 Kings 215 verses
- 1 Kings 21:14Then they sent word to Jezebel: “Naboth has been stoned to death.”
- 1 Kings 21:19Tell him that this is what the LORD says: ‘Have you not murdered a man and seized his land?’ Then tell him that this is also what the LORD says: ‘In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, there also the dogs will lick up your blood—yes, yours!’”
- 1 Kings 21:21This is what the LORD says: ‘I will bring calamity on you and consume your descendants; I will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both slave and free.
- 1 Kings 21:22I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked My anger and caused Israel to sin.’
- 1 Kings 21:29“Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the calamity during his days, but I will bring it upon his house in the days of his son.”
- Read 1 Kings 21 →
2 Kings 95 verses
- 2 Kings 9:7And you are to strike down the house of your master Ahab, so that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of the LORD shed by the hand of Jezebel.
- 2 Kings 9:8The whole house of Ahab will perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, both slave and free, in Israel.
- 2 Kings 9:14Thus Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram and all Israel had been defending Ramoth-gilead against Hazael king of Aram,
- 2 Kings 9:24Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot.
- 2 Kings 9:27When King Ahaziah of Judah saw this, he fled up the road toward Beth-haggan. And Jehu pursued him, shouting, “Shoot him too!” So they shot Ahaziah in his chariot on the Ascent of Gur, near Ibleam, and he fled to Megiddo and died there.
- Read 2 Kings 9 →
1 Kings 204 verses
- 1 Kings 20:4And the king of Israel replied, “Just as you say, my lord the king: I am yours, along with all that I have.”
- 1 Kings 20:18“If they have marched out in peace,” he said, “take them alive. Even if they have marched out for war, take them alive.”
- 1 Kings 20:30The rest of them fled into the city of Aphek, where the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the remaining men. Ben-hadad also fled to the city and hid in an inner room.
- 1 Kings 20:32So with sackcloth around their waists and ropes around their heads, they went to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘Please spare my life.’” And the king answered, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”
- Read 1 Kings 20 →
2 Kings 84 verses
- 2 Kings 8:12“Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the evil you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha replied. “You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little ones to pieces, and rip open their pregnant women.”
- 2 Kings 8:18And Jehoram walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done. For he married a daughter of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the LORD.
- 2 Kings 8:24And Jehoram rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. And his son Ahaziah reigned in his place.
- 2 Kings 8:29So King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to visit Joram son of Ahab, because Joram had been wounded.
- Read 2 Kings 8 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

2 Kings 134 verses
- 2 Kings 13:1In the twenty-third year of the reign of Joash son of Ahaziah over Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria seventeen years.
- 2 Kings 13:7Jehoahaz had no army left, except fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers, because the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing.
- 2 Kings 13:8As for the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, along with all his accomplishments and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
- 2 Kings 13:25Then Jehoash son of Jehoahaz took back from Ben-hadad son of Hazael the cities that Hazael had taken in battle from his father Jehoahaz. Jehoash defeated Ben-hadad three times, and so recovered the cities of Israel.
- Read 2 Kings 13 →
1 Kings 163 verses
- 1 Kings 16:28And Omri rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria, and his son Ahab reigned in his place.
- 1 Kings 16:31And as if it were not enough for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, he even married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and he then proceeded to serve and worship Baal.
- 1 Kings 16:32First, Ahab set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he had built in Samaria.
- Read 1 Kings 16 →
2 Kings 103 verses
- 2 Kings 10:29but he did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit—the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.
- 2 Kings 10:31Yet Jehu was not careful to follow the instruction of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit.
- 2 Kings 10:35And Jehu rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria, and his son Jehoahaz reigned in his place.
- Read 2 Kings 10 →
1 Kings 143 verses
- 1 Kings 14:16So He will give Israel over on account of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit.”
- 1 Kings 14:23They also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.
- 1 Kings 14:31And Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David; his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And his son Abijam reigned in his place.
- Read 1 Kings 14 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.