a window (as perforated) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular 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
Jeremiah 4:30 And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, th…
Ezekiel 23:40 And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came: for whom thou didst wash th…
Ezekiel 24:17 Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy…
1 Kings 19:1-2 And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword.
Isaiah 3:18-24 In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like th…
1 Timothy 2:9-10 In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pea…
1 Peter 3:3 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 9:30–end
The greatest delinquent in the house of Ahab was Jezebel: it was she that introduced Baal, slew the Lord's prophets, contrived the murder of Naboth, stirred up her husband first, and then her sons, to do wickedly; a cursed woman she is here called (Kg2 9:34), a curse to the country, and whom all that wished well to their country had a curse for. Three reigns her reign had lasted, but now, at length, her day had come to fall. We read of a false prophetess in the church of Thyatira that is compared to Jezebel, and called by her name (Rev 2:20), her wickedness the same, seducing God's servants to idolatry, a long space given her to repent (Kg2 9:21) as to Jezebel, and a fearful ruin brought upo…
Jezebel painted her face--literally, "her eyes," according to a custom universal in the East among women, of staining the eyelids with a black powder made of pulverized antimony, or lead ore mixed with oil, and applied with a small brush on the border, so that by this dark ligament on the edge, the largeness as well as the luster of the eye itself was thought to be increased. Her object was, by her royal attire, not to captivate, but to overawe Jehu.
Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 9:30
She painted her face, and tired her head - She endeavored to improve the appearance of her complexion by paint, and the general effect of her countenance by a tiara or turban head-dress. Jonathan, the Chaldee Targumist, so often quoted, translates this וכחלת בצדידא עינהא vechachalath bitsdida eynaha: "She stained her eyes with stibium or antimony." This is a custom in Astatic countries to the present day. From a late traveler in Persia, I borrow the following account: -
"The Persians differ as much from us in their notions of beauty as they do in those of taste. A large soft, and languishing black eye, with them constitutes the perfection of beauty. It is chiefly on this account that the wo…
They thought that she would have wept over her dead son, but in the very hour in which she heard that the king had come, she painted her eyes, a raving old woman, adorned her head with a miter and looked from her window so that she might be looked at. She thought that maybe [Jehu] would be seduced by her look and would take her among his wives. Maybe she had heard of the story of Adonijah, who at the time of Solomon was aided by Abishag the Shunammite and demanded that she became his wife, so that, through the queen, he might be elevated to the throne of the kingdom. So she believed that Jehu too, in order to confirm and pacify his troubled and agitated new reign, would walk the path of Adonijah. These were the thoughts of Jezebel until she was still able to control herself.But after seeing Jehu, who was entering the gate, she remembered the horrible murder of her son and could not stand the sight of his murderer any longer nor could she restrain her fury but insulted him angrily and abused him before the crowd by saying, "Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of your master?" Indeed, nothing could break the violence of that insolent woman, neither the hope of marriage, nor the fear of an imminent death, nor the fear of her adversary who brandished his sword while threatening her. She, who tortured the others, was not able to save herself, but she provoked the king like a madwoman, addressing him with insulting words, so that she kindled his rage even more and greater resentment rose against her.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Eye — (Heb. ‘ain, meaning “flowing”), applied (1) to a fountain, frequently; (2) to colour (Num. 11:7; R.V., “appearance,” marg. “eye”); (3) the face (Ex. 10:5, 15; Num. 22:5, 11), in Num. 14:14, “face to…
Hair — (1.) The Egyptians let the hair of their head and beard grow only when they were in mourning, shaving it off at other times. “So particular were they on this point that to have neglected it was a…
House — Till their sojourn in Egypt the Hebrews dwelt in tents. They then for the first time inhabited cities (Gen. 47:3; Ex. 12:7; Heb. 11:9). From the earliest times the Assyrians and the Canaanites were…
Jehoram — Jehovah-exalted. (1.) Son of Toi, king of Hamath, sent by his father to congratulate David on the occasion of his victory over Hadadezer (2 Sam. 8:10). (2.) A Levite of the family of Gershom (1 Chr.…
Jezebel — Chaste, the daughter of Ethbaal, the king of the Zidonians, and the wife of Ahab, the king of Israel (1 Kings 16:31). This was the “first time that a king of Israel had allied himself by marriage…
Jezreel — God scatters. (1.) A town of Issachar (Josh. 19:18), where the kings of Israel often resided (1 Kings 18:45; 21:1; 2 Kings 9:30). Here Elijah met Ahab, Jehu, and Bidkar; and here Jehu executed his…
Paint — Jezebel “painted her face” (2 Kings 9:30); and the practice of painting the face and the eyes seems to have been common (Jer. 4:30; Ezek. 23:40). An allusion to this practice is found in the name of…
Tires — “To tire” the head is to adorn it (2 Kings 9:30). As a noun the word is derived from “tiara,” and is the rendering of the Heb. p’er, a “turban” or an ornament for the head (Ezek. 24:17; R.V.,…
Cosmetics · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Eye, The · The Jewish women often painted — The Jewish women often painted
on 2 Kings 9:30
And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it,.... And of what he had done to Joram:
and she painted her face; or put "stibium" on her eyes; a sort of paint, to make them look beautiful perhaps the same with powder of lead ore, the Moors now use to tinge their eyebrows with, and make them look black, which they reckon graceful; see Gill on Ezekiel 23:40, this custom now obtains among the white Indians, who, to heighten the lustre of their complexion, and render their eyes more languishing, put a little black about them (n):
and tired her head; dressed her head in the most elegant manner; not with a view to tempt Jehu, which she could not expect, being an aged woman; but for grande…
Death of Jezebel. - Kg2 9:30. When Jehu came to Jezreel and Jezebel heard of it, "she put her eyes into lead polish (i.e., painted them with it), and beautified her head and placed herself at the window." פּוּך is a very favourite eye-paint with Oriental women even to the present day. It is prepared from antimony ore (Arab. khl, Cohol or Stibium of the Arabs), which when pounded yields a black powder with a metallic brilliancy, which was laid upon the eyebrows and eyelashes either in a dry state as a black powder, or moistened generally with oil and made into an ointment, which is applied with a fine smooth eye-pencil of the thickness of an ordinary goose-quill, made either of wood, metal, o…
The narrator returns to events at Jezreel. Defiant Jezebel prepared for Jehu’s arrival and her impending death by adorning herself, remaining haughty to the end.
Rashi on 2 Kings 9:30
And made up her hair. [Targum Yonoson] (renders) וּתְקָנַת יַת רֵישָׁהּ [=she adorned her head], in order to have charm in Yeihu’s eyes and he would marry her.28Alternatively, she made herself look beautiful hoping that Yeihu would spare her life.—Metzudas Dovid
Houses · Street windows of, high and dangerous — Street windows of, high and dangerous
Jehu · .Religious zeal of, in killing idolaters — .Religious zeal of, in killing idolaters
Jezebel · General references — General references
Naboth · His mur — His mur
Painting · Around the eyes to enlarge their appearance — Around the eyes to enlarge their appearance
Usurpation · .By Jehu — .By Jehu
Wife · Jezebel — Jezebel
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).
