a little or few (often adverbial or compar.) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Jehu
יֵה֖וּאye.Hu'
H3058
Jehu · proper noun, a man's name
serve
יַעַבְדֶ֥נּוּya.'av.De.nu
H5647
to work (in any sense) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
much
הַרְבֵּֽהhar.Beh
H7235
to increase (in whatever respect) · verb, hiphil infinitive absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Kings 16:31-32 And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel…
1 Kings 18:19 Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the…
1 Kings 18:22 Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.
1 Kings 18:40 And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the br…
2 Kings 3:2 And he wrought evil in the sight of the LORD; but not like his father, and like his mother: for he put away the image of Baal that his fathe…
Job 13:7 Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?
Romans 3:8 And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is jus…
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoe…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 10:15-28
Jehu, pushing on his work, is here,
I. Courting the friendship of a good man, Jehonadab the son of Rechab, Kg2 10:15, Kg2 10:16. This Jehonadab, though mortified to the world and meddling little with the business of it (as appears by his charge to his posterity, which they religiously observed 300 years after, not to drink wine nor dwell in cities, Jer 35:6, etc.), yet, upon this occasion, went to meet Jehu, that he might encourage him in the work to which God had called him. The countenance of good men is a thing which great men, if they be wise, will value, and value themselves by. David prayed, Let those that fear thee turn to me, Psa 119:79. This Jehonadab, though no prophet, priest, or…
Jehonadab the son of Rechab--(See Ch1 2:55). A person who, from his piety and simple primitive manner of life (Jer. 35:1-19), was highly esteemed, and possessed great influence in the country. Jehu saw in a moment the advantage that his cause would gain from the friendship and countenance of this venerable man in the eyes of the people, and accordingly paid him the distinguished attention of inviting him to a seat in his chariot.
give me thine hand--not simply to aid him in getting up, but for a far more significant and important purpose--the giving, or rather joining hands, being the recognized mode of striking a league or covenant, as well as of testifying fealty to a new sovereign; acco…
Ahab served Baal a little - Jehu had determined to have no worship in Israel but that of the golden calves at Dan and Bethel; therefore he purposes to destroy all the worshippers of Baal: and that he may do it without suspicion, he proclaims a great sacrifice; and that he may do it the more easily, he gathers them all together into one place.
John Gill on 2 Kings 10:18
And Jehu gathered all the people together,.... The people of Samaria, at least the principal of them:
and said unto them, Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu shall serve him much; which some understand as spoken ironically; but the words seem to be spoken with a design to deceive the idolatrous inhabitants of Samaria, making them to believe that he was hearty in the worship of Baal, and should show a greater respect to it, and more constantly attend it, than Ahab had done; and this he said with a view to draw them to the temple of Baal, and there destroy them, as the sequel shows; and in which he is not to be justified, however good his intention was; for evil is not to be done that good ma…
The Church Fathers
"Then Jehu assembled all the people and said to them, 'Ahab offered Baal small service; but Jehu will offer much more.' " We need to examine the purpose of words and actions. And this must be done here too. In fact, since he did not want anyone to escape his revenge, Jehu used these words, so that all the priests of Baal might come confidently. In addition, in order that no priest of God might share with them the same punishment, he ordered that they be driven away as though they were not worthy of that celebration, and so he killed only [the idolatrous priests]. He also burned the statue of Baal, cut down its sacred groves and freed the whole land of Israel from other idols. However, he continued to worship the two golden calves and gave the name of Baalim to the sanctuary of Baal.
This opinion dishonors the holy martyrs; no, altogether removes the possibility of holy martyrdom. For, according to the Priscillianists, the martyrs would act more justly and wisely if they did not confess to their persecutors that they were Christians and by their confession make homicides of their persecutors, but rather, if by lying and by denying what they were, they preserved the advantage of the flesh and the intention of the heart and did not allow their persecutors to perform the wicked deed they had in mind. For these persecutors were enemies of the truth itself, not neighbors of theirs in the Christian faith to whom they were obliged to speak the truth with their tongue that they spoke in their heart. For if Jehu (whom as an example of lying they look on with greater show of prudence than on the others) falsely declared that he was a servant of Baal in order to kill the servants of Baal, how much more justly, according to the perversity of the Priscillianists, would the servants of Christ in time of persecution declare falsely that they are servants of demons in order that the servants of demons not kill the servant of Christ! And if Jehu sacrificed to Baal in order to kill people, how much more justly would they sacrifice to idols in order that people not be killed! Why, according to the remarkable doctrine of these liars, should it be prejudicial to them to profess falsely the worship of the devil in the open, provided they preserved the worship of God in their heart? But not in this manner have the true martyrs, the holy martyrs, understood the apostle. They have seen and kept what has been said, "With the heart a person believes unto justice, and with the mouth profession of faith is made unto salvation," and, "In their mouth was found no lie." So, they have departed irreprehensibly where they will no longer have to be on guard against being tempted by liars, because they will have no more liars, whether strangers or neighbors, in their celestial gatherings. As for Jehu, who by an impious lie and a sacrilegious sacrifice sought to kill the impious and the sacrilegious—him they would not imitate, not even if the same Scripture had said nothing about what kind of man he was. But, since it has been written that he did not have a righteous heart in the sight of God, what did it profit him to receive some transitory reward of temporal rule for…
Dictionary and topics
Jehonadab — Jehovah is liberal; or, whom Jehovah impels. (1.) A son of Shimeah, and nephew of David. It was he who gave the fatal wicked advice to Amnon, the heir to the throne (2 Sam. 13:3-6). He was very…
Baal · .All worshipers of, — .All worshipers of,
Confidence · .The worshipers of Baal, by Jehu — .The worshipers of Baal, by Jehu
Enthusiasm · .Jehu — .Jehu
Inconsistency · .Jehu — .Jehu
Intolerance, Religious · .Jehu — .Jehu
Jehu · .Religious zeal of, in killing idolaters — .Religious zeal of, in killing idolaters
Jonadab · .A Rechabite and companion of Jehu — .A Rechabite and companion of Jehu
Massacre · .Worshipers of Baal — .Worshipers of Baal
Samaria · .Temple of, — .Temple of,
Treachery · Of Jehu — Of Jehu
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Extermination of the Prophets and Priests of Baal and of the Baal-Worship. - Kg2 10:28. Under the pretence of wishing to serve Baal even more than Ahab had done, Jehu appointed a great sacrificial festival for this idol, and had all the worshippers of Baal throughout all the land summoned to attend it; he then placed eighty of his guards around the temple of Baal in which they were assembled, and after the sacrifice was offered, had the priests and worshippers of Baal cut down by them with the sword. Objectively considered, the slaying of the worshippers of Baal was in accordance with the law, and, according to the theocratical principle, was perfectly right; but the subjective motives which…
By executing the priests of Baal, Jehu intended to wipe out religious worship associated with the house of Ahab, thereby destroying any sentimental attachment people had with the former dynasty.
10:18-19 Jehu deceptively played to the populace, promising to continue and promote the worship of Baal.
Rashi on 2 Kings 10:15
And said to him. [I.e.,] Yeihu [said to him].
“Is your heart upright.” Wholehearted in what I am doing, as I am wholeheartedly with your heart?
And Yehonodov said, “It sure is, give me your hand.” And hold it and take me up to you, to the chariot.7I.e., to Yeihu’s chariot. Alternatively, “Give me your hand” was spoken by Yeihu who then pulled Yehonodov up into his chariot.—Radak Or, he asked for a handshake as a gesture to confirm their amicable relationship.—Metzudas Dovid
