12 And he arose and departed, and came to Samaria. [And] as he [was] at the shearing house in the way,
13 Jehu met with the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah (put for near relatives. Cp. 2 Chron.22:8, where we have "sons of the brethren"), and said, “Who [are] you all?” And they answered, “We [are] the brethren of Ahaziah; and we go down to salute the sons of the Joram and the sons of the Jezebel (the queen-mother).
14 And he said, “Take them alive.” And they took them alive, and slew them at the pit of the shearing house, [even] two and forty men; neither left he any of them.
15 And when he was departed from that place, he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab (He was a Kenite = sons of Cain [1 Cron.2:55]. See Jer. 35) [coming] to meet him (typical of a Kenite, they try to work their way in with nicities and work on your ego and come in subtly): and he saluted him, and said to him, “Is your heart right, according as my heart [is] with your heart?” And Jehonadab answered, “It is.“ “If it be, give [me] your hand” (cp. the pledge [Ezra 10:19. Ezek.18:18). And he gave [him] his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot.
16 And he said, “Come with me, and be eewitness of my zeal for Yehovah” (not pure. See vv.29-31). So they made him ride in his chariot. (Make sure you know who yo have in your chariot. Don't be Bibliclly illiterate and let the enemy come in your camp. It is foolish planning on a general by not knowing who your enemies are!)
17 And when he came to Samaria, he slew all that remained to Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed him, according to the saying of Yehovah, which he spoke to Elijah.
F³ d 18,19. Jehu's purpose formed. e 20,21. Baal-worshippers. Assembled. f 22. Vestments brought out. g 23. Search made. f 24. Offerings brought in. e 25. Baal-worshippers slain. d 26-28. Jehu's purpose effected.
18 And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little; [but] Jehu shall serve him much.
19 Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests; let none be wanting: for I have a great sacrifice [to do] to Baal; whosoever shall be wanting, he shall not live.” But Jehu did [it] in subtilty, to the intent that he might destroy the servants of Baal.
20 And Jehu said, “Sanctify (Hallow, or Solomnise) a solemn assembly for Baal.” And they proclaimed [it].
21 And Jehu sent through all Israel: and all the servants of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that came not. And they came into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal was so full that they stood mouth to mouth (Ellipsis to be thus suplied).
22 And he said to him that [was] over the vestry, “Bring forth vestments for all the servants of Baal.” And he brought them forth vestments.
23 And Jehu went, and Jehonadab the son of Rechab, into the house of Baal, and said to the servants of Baal, “Search, and look that there be here with you none of the servants of Yehovah, but the servants of Baal only.”
24 And when they went in to prepare sacrifices and burnt offerings, Jehu appointed fourscore men outside, and said, “[If] any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escape, [he that lets him go], his soul [shall be] for the soul of him.”
25 And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of preparing the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, “Go in, [and] slay them; let none come forth.” And they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains cast [them] out, and went to the city of the house of Baal (= Heb. ‘îr, the innermost or most inaccessible part, whether of a city [=the citadel] or a house [as here]).
26 And they brought forth the images (or statues) out of the house of Baal, and burned each of them.
27 And they broke down the image of Baal, and broke down the house of Baal, and made it a dunghill (middens, latrinæ) to this day.
28 Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.
29 However [from] the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin (see 1 Kings 14:16), Jehu departed not from after them, [namely], the golden calves that [were] in Beth-el, and that [were] in Dan (see 1 Kings 19:29,30, and cp. Gen.49:17).
30 And Yehovah said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in executing [that which is] right in My eyes, [and] have done to the house of Ahab according to all that [was] in My heart, your sons of the fourth [generation] shall sit on the throne of Israel.” (See 15:12.These were Jehoahaz, Joash, Jeroboam II, and Zachariah. Jehu's dynasty was the longest in all Israel)
31 But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of Yehovah Elohim of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.
32 In those days Yehovah began to cut Israel short (or, to cutt off the outskirts, or make inroads to): and Hazael smote them in all the borders of Israel;
33 From Jordan to the sun-rising, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which [is] by the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan.
34 Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? (An Assyrian inscription [now in the British Museum] records that Jehu paid tribute to Shalmaneser II, who in 842 B.C. defeated Hazael, king of Syria. Jehu bought Shalmaneser II off by giving him, as tribute, bars of silver and gold; a golden ladle and golden goblets and pitchers were among his gifts)
35 And Jehu slept with his fathers (see Deut.31:16): and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead.
36 And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria [was] twenty and eight years.
F4 G¹ 11:1-16. Athaliah. G² 11:17-12:21. Joash.
G¹ h 1. The slaying of the seed-royal. i 2,3-. Joash. Rescue of. j -3. Athaliah. Reign. k 4-12. Manifestation of Joash. j 13,14. Athaliah. Alarm. i 15. Joash. Capture of the murderess. h 16. The slaying of the usurper.
2 But Jehosheba (= Yehovah's oath. She was the wife of Jehoiada, the high priest [2 Chron.22:11]; Jehoiada being brother-in-law to Ahaziah [2Chron.22:11], and therefore uncle to Joash), the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash (= to whom Yehovah hastens, i.e. to help) the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons [which were] slain (Expressive words, pointing to our Joash, raised from the dead and now hidden in the house of God on high; and we with Him [Col.3:1-3]); and they hid him, [even] him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah, so that he was not slain.
3 And he was with her hid in the house of Yehovah (This was the safest possible place: for it had been broken up and everything moved to the house of Baal [2 Chron.24:7]. The Temple courts were deserted. Hence Jehoiada and the priest were plotting for the restoration of the rightful heir. See note on Libnah, 8:22) six years (the number of man's defiance and disorder).
And Athaliah did reign over the land.
782 B.C.
4 And the seventh year (#7 = spiritual completeness) Jehoiada (= Yehovah knows. See Jehosheba, v.2) sent and fetched the rulers over hundreds (for their names see 2 Chron.23:1), with the captains and the guard, and brought them to him into the house of Yehovah, and made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of Yehovah, and showed them the king's son (cp. 2 Chron.23:3).
5 And he commanded them, saying, “This [is] the thing that you all shall do; A third part of you must come in on the sabbath and must be keepers of the watch of the king's house;
6 And a third part [must be] at the gate of Sur (= turned off, i.e. deteriorated. Only occ.); and a third part at the gate behind the guard: so shall you all keep the watch of the house, that it be not broken down.
7 And two parts of all you that go forth on the sabbath, even they shall keep the watch of the house of Yehovah about the king.
8 And you all shall compass the king round about, every man (Heb. ’îsh) with his weapons in his hand: and he that comes within the ranges, let him be slain: and be you all with the king as he goes out and as he comes in.”
9 And the captains over the hundreds did according to all [things] that Jehoiada the priest commanded: and they took every man (Heb. ’îsh) his men (Heb. ’enõsh) that were to come in on the sabbath, with them that should go out on the sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest.
10 And to the captains over hundreds did the priest give king David's spears and shields (all prepared by him against such a day as this [2 Sam.8:7]), that [were] in the temple of Yehovah.
11 And the guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, round about the king, from the right corner of the temple to the left corner of the temple, [along] by the altar and the temple.
12 And he brought forth the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and [gave him] the testimony (see Ex.17:14); and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, “God save the king.”
13 And when Athaliah heard the noise of the guard [and] of the People, she came to the People into the temple of Yehovah.
14 And when she looked, behold, the king stood by the pillar, as the manner [was], and the princes and the trumpeters by the king, and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets: and Athaliah tore her clothes, and cried, “Treason, Treason.”
15 But Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of the hundreds, the officers of the host, and said to them, “Have her forth outside the ranges: and him that follows her kill with the sword.” For the priest had said, “Let her not be slain in the house of Yehovah.”
16 And they made way for her; and she went by the way by the which the horses came into the king's house: and there was she slain.
G² m 11:17-21. Conspiracy of Athaliah. Defeated. n 12:1. Joash. Accession. o p¹ 12:2,3. Personal. Well-doing. p² 12:4-16. Ecclesiastical. Reform. p³ 12:17,18. Political. Invasion. n 12:19. Joash. Record. m 12:20,21. Conspiracy of servants. Successful.
17 And Jehoiada made a covenant between Yehovah and the king and the People, that they should be the Yehovah's People; between the king also and the People.
18 And all the People of the land went into the house of Baal (built by Jehoram and Athaliah [2 Chron.24:7), and broke it down; his altars and his images broke they in pieces thoroughly, and slew Mattan (= a gift) the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of Yehovah.
19 And he took the rulers over hundreds, and the captains, and the guard, and all the People of the land; and they brought down the king from the house of Yehovah, and came by the way of the gate of the guard to the king's house. And he sat on the throne of the kings.
20 And all the People of the land rejoiced, and the city was in quiet (When? When the usurper had been cast out, and slain. So shall it be when judgment shall be executed on the "prince" and "god" of this world [Rev.19:1,2,7]): and they slew Athaliah with the sword [in] the king's house.
21 Seven years old [was] Jehoash when he began to reign.
782-742 B.C.
12)
1 In the seventh year of Jehu Jehoash (= given by the Lord) began to reign; and forty years reigned he in Jerusalem (#40 = probation). And his mother's name [was] Zibiah (= roe) of Beer-sheba.
2 And Jehoash did [that which was] right in the sight of Yehovah all his days (ie. all the days of Jehoiada. Cp. 2 Chron.24:14-18) wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him (his uncle. See Jehosheba, 11:2).
3 But the high places were not taken away (they were first abolished by Hezikiah, and then [after their revival by Manasseh] by Josiah): the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.
p² q 4,5. Money. Command. r 6. Neglect. q 7-10. Money. Obedience. r 11-16. Attention.
4 And Jehoash said to the priests (see note on Libnah, 8:22), “All the money of the sacred things (see Ex.3:5) that is brought into the house of Yehovah, [even] the money of every one (Heb. ’îsh) that passes the account, the money that every man is set at (Heb. "of the souls [=persons. Heb. nephesh] of his [the priest's] valuation" [Lev.27:2-8), [and] all the money that comes into any man's (Heb. ’îsh) heart to bring into the house of Yehovah,
5 Let the priests take [it] to them, every man of his acquaintance: and let them repair the breaches of the house, wheresoever any breach shall be found.”
6 But it was [so, that] in the twenty-third year of king Jehoash the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house.
7 Then king Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and the [other] priests, and said to them, “Why repair you all not the breaches of the house? now therefore receive no [more] money of your acquaintance, but deliver it for the breaches of the house.”
8 And the priests aquiesced (Heb. ’õth, a rare word, occuring only here and Gen.34:15,22,23) to receive no [more] money of the people, neither to repair the breaches of the house.
9 But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it (there were two chest made on account of the slackness of the priests. The first by Jehoiada named here [in Kings], beside the altar of burnt-offering in the court. The other at the king's commandment without a hole bored [in 2 Cron.24:8,14], outside "at the gate". In the former there was not room enough for the vessel of houses; in the latter there was abundance for all), and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of Yehovah: and the priests that kept the door put therein all the money [that was] brought into the house of Yehovah.
10 And it was [so], when they saw that [there was] much money in the chest, that the king's scribe and the high priest came up, and they put up in bags, and counted the money that was found in the house of Yehovah.
11 And they gave the money, being weighed (or balanced), into the hands of them that did the work, that had the oversight of the house of Yehovah: and they laid it out to the carpenters and builders, that wrought upon the house of Yehovah,
12 And to masons, and hewers of stone, and to buy timber and hewed stone to repair the breaches of the house of Yehovah, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair [it].
13 However there were not made for the house of Yehovah bowls of silver, snuffers, basons, trumpets, any vessels of gold, or vessels of silver, of the money [that was] brought into the house of Yehovah:
14 But they gave that to the workmen, and repaired therewith the house of Yehovah.
15 Moreover they reckoned not with the men (Heb. ’enõsh), into whose hand they delivered the money to be bestowed on workmen: for they dealt faithfully.
16 The trespass money and sin money was not brought into the house of Yehovah: it was the priests'.
782 B.C.
17 Then Hazael king of Syria went up, and fought against Gath (one of the 5 Philistine cities, to reach Hazael must have passed through Israel. Probably connected with his attacks on Jehu and Jehoahaz [10:32; 13:3,4]), and took it: and Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem.
18 And Jehoash king of Judah took all the set apart things (see Ex.3:5) that Jehoshaphat, and Jehoram, and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own set apart things, and all the gold [that was] found in the treasuries of the house of Yehovah, and in the king's house, and sent [it] to Hazael king of Syria: and he went away from Jerusalem.
19 And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? (His punishment is recored in Kings; the causes of it are found in Chronicles. See note on "king" in intro to 1 & 2 Kings. See the esoteric causes in 2 Chron.24:25)
20 And his servants arose, and made a conspiracy, and slew Joash (see 8:26) in the house of Millo (= a rampart, mound. See 1 Kings 9:15. "The house" would be in connection with it), which goes down to Silla.
742 B.C.
21 For Jozachar (= whom Yehovah has remembered) the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad (= whom Yehovah gave) the son of Shomer, his servants, smote him, and he died; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Amaziah (= the strength of the Lord) his son reigned in his stead.
E5 H¹ 1-9. Jehoahaz. H² 10-25. Jehoash.
H¹ s 1. Introduction. t 2. Events. Personal. t 3-7. Events. Political. s 8,9. Conclusion.
759-742 B.C.
13)
1 In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah king of Judah Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria (see v.10), [and reigned] seventeen years.
2 And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of Yehovah, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin (see 1 Kings 14:16); he departed not therefrom.
3 And the anger of Yehovah was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael, all [his] days (cp. 22-25).
4 And Jehoahaz besought Yehovah, and Yehovah listened to him: for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them.
5 {And Yehovah gave Israel a saviour (some think an angel; some, Elisha; some, a general of Jehoahaz), so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians: and the sons of Israel dwelt in their tents, as beforetime.
6 Nevertheless they departed not from the sins of the house of (some codices omit this) Jeroboam, who made Israel sin, [but] walked (Heb. "he [Israel] walked") therein (Heb. in it: i.e. in Jeroboam's way; but some codices read "in them"): and there stood the grove (= the ’Asherah. See Deut.6:21) also in Samaria.}
7 Neither did he leave of the People to Jehoahaz but fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria had destroyed them, and had made them like the dust by threshing (a powerful emblem, true to Eastern life).
8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his might, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
9 And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers (see Deut.31:16); and they buried him in Samaria: and Joash (or Johoash) his son reigned in his stead (i.e. alone).
H² u 10. Introduction. v 11. Events. Personal. u 12,13. Conclusion. v 14-25. Events. Political.
745 to 729 B.C.
10 In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah began Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz to reign (Joash [of Israel] became king in the 37th year of Joash [of Judah]. Amaziah, son of Joash [of Judah], became king in the 2nd year of Joash [of Israel]. 14:1. Therefore Amaziah became associate king in the 39th year of Joash of Judah: i.e. one year before Joash died, for "he reigned forty years in Jerusalem" [2 Chron.24:1]. The cause of Amaziah's kingship in Joash's lifetime is not named in Kings, but we see it in the "deseases" of 2 Chron.24:25) over Israel in Samaria (i.e. in consort with his father. Cp. 14:1), [and reigned] sixteen years.
11 And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of Yehovah; he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin: [but] he walked therein.
12 And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might wherewith he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
13 And Joash slept with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat upon his throne: and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.
v w¹ 14-21. Domestic. w² 22-25. Foreign.
743 B.C.
14 Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died (Elsha's long minisry of 66 years was now drawing to a close, after 45 years' silene. We hear of no sickness o Elijah). And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, “O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel (a memory of 2:12, wondering whether his end would be lke Elijah's), and the horsemen thereof.”
15 And Elisha said to him, “Take bow and arrows.” And he took to him bow and arrows.
16 And he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand upon the bow.” And he put his hand [upon it]: and Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands.
17 And he said, “Open the window eastward.” And he opened [it]. Then Elisha said, “Shoot.” And he shot. And he said, “The arrow of Yehovah's deliverance (the arrow put for the deliverance Yehovah would give), and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for you shall smite the Syrians in Aphek, till you have consumed [them].”
18 And he said, “Take the arrows.” And he took [them]. And he said to the king of Israel, “Smite upon the ground.” And he smote thrice, and stayed.
19 And the man of Elohim was wroth with him, and said, “you should have smitten five or six times; then had you smitten Syria till you had consumed [it]: whereas now you shall smite Syria [but] thrice.”
20 And Elisha died (he was caled in the days of Ahab [1 Kings 19:19], and ministered 40 years), and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year (i.e. spring. Cp. 2 Sam.11:1).
21 And it came to pass, as they were burying a man (probably those who were evading the Moabite mirauders), that, behold, they spied a band [of men]; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he lived (the 16th miracle, see 2:15), and stood up on his feet.
22 But Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.
23 But Yehovah was gracious to them, and had compassion on them, and had respect to them, because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, neither cast he them from His presence as yet.
24 So Hazael king of Syria died; and Ben-hadad his son reigned in his stead (probably the third of that name. Cp. 1 Kings 15:18; 20:1).
25 And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities, which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father in the war. Three times did Joash beat him (according to v.18), and recovered the cities of Israel.