2 Kings 10:11

So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his kinsfolks, and his priests, until he left him none remaining.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) So.—Rather, And. The verse relates further massacres.

In Jezreel.—The seat of the court.

His great men—i.e., high officials of his court; persons who owed their exaltation to him.

Kinsfolks.—Rather, his friends (literally, his known ones; “familiares ejus”).

Priests.—See Notes on 2Samuel 8:18; 1Kings 4:5; 1Chronicles 18:17.

None remaining.—No survivor.

Benson Commentary

2 Kings 10:11. So Jehu slew all his great men — Whom Ahab had advanced and made great in wealth, or honour and quality; who had been partners with him in his sins, and were likely to avenge Joram’s death. And his priests — Who had served him in his idolatrous worship, and confirmed him in it. Or, his chief officers of state, as the word rendered priests sometimes signifies, and is translated: see 2 Samuel 8:18; 1 Chronicles 18:17. Until he left him none remaining — To wit, in that place: but there were still some remaining in Samaria, (2 Kings 10:17,) whom he afterward destroyed, and some of the royal seed of Judah, descended from Ahab’s daughter.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:1-14 In the most awful events, though attended by the basest crimes of man, the truth and justice of God are to be noticed; and he never did nor can command any thing unjust or unreasonable. Jehu destroyed all that remained of the house of Ahab; all who had been partners in his wickedness. When we think upon the sufferings and miseries of mankind, when we look forward to the resurrection and last judgment, and think upon the vast number of the wicked waiting their awful sentence of everlasting fire; when the whole sum of death and misery has been considered, the solemn question occurs, Who slew all these? The answer is, SIN. Shall we then harbour sin in our bosoms, and seek for happiness from that which is the cause of all misery?

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

So Jehu slew - Rather, "And Jehu slew." The reference is to fresh executions (compare 2 Kings 10:17). He proceeded on his bloody course, not merely destroying the remainder of the kindred of Ahab, but further putting to death all the most powerful of Ahab's partisans.

His priests - Not the Baal priests generally, whose persecution came afterward 2 Kings 10:19, but only such of them as were attached to the court.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9-11. said to all the people, Ye be righteous, &c.—A great concourse was assembled to gaze on this novel and ghastly spectacle. The speech which Jehu addressed to the spectators was artfully framed to impress their minds with the idea that so wholesale a massacre was the result of the divine judgments denounced on the house of Ahab; and the effect of it was to prepare the public mind for hearing, without horror, of a similar revolting tragedy which was soon after perpetrated, namely, the extinction of all the influential friends and supporters of the dynasty of Ahab, including those of the royal house of Judah.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

All his great men; whom he had advanced and made great in wealth, for honour, and quality; who had been partners with him in his sins, and who were likely to be avenged of his death.

His priests; his domestic priests, which had waited upon Ahab and Jezebel in their idolatrous services, and were fed at the king’s table. Compare 1 Kings 18:19. Or, his chief officers of state, as that word is sometimes used; of which see 2 Samuel 8:18, compared with 1 Chronicles 18:17.

Object. These were included in

his great men mentioned before.

Answ. Yet may they well be mentioned apart, as a distinct and the most eminent sort of them.

He left him none remaining, to wit, in that place and kingdom; for he did leave some of the royal seed of Judah, 2 Kings 1:1,2.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel,.... Which to do, and to justify himself in so doing, was the design of what he said in the preceding verses:

and his great men; his ministers of state and counsellors, that advised him to, and abetted him in his idolatrous practices, and so justly suffered for the same; and perhaps some of them at least were those very men that cut off the heads of his sons in complaisance to Jehu:

and his kinsfolks: more distantly related to him or his acquaintance and familiars, his associates in sin and wickedness:

and his priests: who officiated for him and offered his sacrifices to Baal; the priests he kept in his palace, and ate at his table:

until he left him none remaining; either of his kindred or his priests, that is, that were at Jezreel; for there were others at Samaria, 2 Kings 10:17.

Geneva Study Bible

So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his kinsfolks, and his {e} priests, until he left him none remaining.

(e) Meaning, the idolatrous priests.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

11. and his kinsfolks] R.V. familiar friends. The word indicates those who were well known to him, [LXX. γνωστοὺς] and contains no notion of kinship. It is rendered, by A.V. ‘familiar friends’ in Job 19:14, and ‘acquaintance’ in Psalm 31:11 and in several other places. The final s in kinsfolks makes the form unusual in English.

and his priests] On this word, which is most frequently rendered ‘priests’, see note on 1 Kings 4:2, where it is pointed out that ‘chief ruler’ or ‘principal officer’ appears sometimes to be its meaning. That sense appears more appropriate here, where the family and the acquaintances of Ahab’s family are spoken of. The priests of Ahab, who would be the Baal-priests, would be included in the wholesale destruction of the Baal-worship described later on in this chapter.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 11. - So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his kinsfolks; rather, and Jehu slew. Encouraged by his past success, having killed Jehoram, Ahaziah, and Jezebel, having secured the adhesion of the chief men in Samaria, and effected the destruction of all those who might naturally have claimed the succession and involved him in civil war, Jehu proceeded to greater lengths. He "slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel" - the princesses probably, as well as the princes - and further put to death all the leading partisans of the dethroned dynasty, the "great men," perhaps even those who had worked his bloody will at Samaria, and the intimate friends and supporters of the house - the מְיֻדָּעִים, as they are here called - not relatives, but "intimate acquaintances." And his priests. This expression causes a difficulty, since the destruction of the Baal-priests is related subsequently (vers. 19-25). It has been suggested to understand by כֹּהֲניִם, not" priests," but "high state officers" (Bahr) - a meaning which the word is thought to have in 2 Samuel 8:18 and 1 Kings 4:5. But this signification of כֹּהֵן is scarcely an ascertained one. Perhaps the same persons are intended as in ver. 19, the present notice of their death being a mere summary, and the narrative of vers. 19-25 a full statement of the circumstances. Until he left him none remaining; i.e. until the entire Ahabite faction was blotted out. 2 Kings 10:11

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The effect of these words was, that the people looked quietly on when he proceeded to slay all the rest of the house of Ahab, i.e., all the more distant relatives in Jezreel, and "all his great men," i.e., the superior officers of the fallen dynasty, and "all his acquaintances," i.e., friends and adherents, and "all his priests," probably court priest, such as the heathen kings had; not secular counsellors or nearest servants (Thenius), a meaning which כּהנים never has, not even in 2 Samuel 8:18 and 1 Kings 4:5.