Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 10:1-14
We left Jehu in quiet possession of Jezreel, triumphing over Joram and Jezebel; and we must now attend his further motions. He knew the whole house of Ahab must be cut off, and therefore proceeded in this bloody work, and did not do it deceitfully, or by halves, Jer 48:10.
I. He got the heads of all the sons of Ahab cut off by their own guardians at Samaria. Seventy sons (or grandsons) Ahab had, Gideon's number, Jdg 8:30. In such a number that bore his name his family was likely to be perpetuated, and yet it is extirpated all at once. Such a quiver full of arrows could not protect his house from divine vengeance. Numerous families, if vicious, must not expect to be long prosperous. These son…
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take ye the heads of the men, your master's sons--The barbarous practice of a successful usurper slaughtering all who may have claims to the throne, has been frequently exemplified in the ancient and modern histories of the East.
Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 10:6
Come to me to Jezreel - Therefore the letters were not written to Jezreel, but from Jezreel to Samaria.
John Gill on 2 Kings 10:6
Then he wrote a letter the second time to them,.... Having gained his point by the former:
saying, if ye be mine, acknowledge yourselves my subjects and servants:
and if ye will hearken to my voice; obey my commands:
take ye the heads of the men your master's sons; that is, take off their heads:
and come to me to Jezreel by tomorrow this time meaning with the heads along with them:
(now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought them up;) they were in their houses, and under their tuition, and so had an authority over them, and could dispose of them at pleasure; they were not ordinary persons to whose care they were committed, but the prin…
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