2 Kings 10:27

And they brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(27) The image of Baal.—Again the word is pillar, which in this case is the conical pillar of stone representing the Baal himself. The wooden pillars of 2Kings 10:26 probably symbolised companion deities (παρέδρυι συμβώμοι) of the principal idol.

Made it a draught house.—By way of utter desecration. (Comp. Ezekiel 6:11; Daniel 2:5.)

Unto this day.—On the bearing of this phrase, see the Introduction to the Books of Kings.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:15-28 Is thine heart right? This is a question we should often put to ourselves. I make a fair profession, have gained a reputation among men, but, is my heart right? Am I sincere with God? Jehonadab owned Jehu in the work, both of revenge and of reformation. An upright heart approves itself to God, and seeks no more than his acceptance; but if we aim at the applause of men, we are upon a false foundation. Whether Jehu looked any further we cannot judge. The law of God was express, that idolaters were to be put to death. Thus idolatry was abolished for the present out of Israel. May we desire that it be rooted out of our hearts.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And they brake down the image of Baal - The other images, it appears, were not images of Baal, but of inferior deities. The image of Baal, which was "broken down," and not burned, would seem to have been of stone, perhaps erected in front of the temple.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

22. Bring forth vestments for all the worshippers of Baal—The priests of Baal were clad, probably, in robes of white byssus while they were engaged in the functions of their office, and these were kept under the care of an officer in a particular wardrobe of Baal's temple. This treacherous massacre, and the means taken to accomplish it, are paralleled by the slaughter of the Janissaries and other terrible tragedies in the modern history of the East.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The image of Baal; the chief image, which they worshipped more than the rest.

Brake down the house of Baal; and the like they did with the rest of the houses of Baal in Israel; as may be gathered both from the nature and reason of the thing, and from 2 Kings 10:28.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And they broke down the temple of Baal,.... Which some take to be Belus, others Saturn, others the sun, which seems most probable:

and broke down the house of Baal; his temple, demolished it:

and made it a draught house until this day; a common sewer, a jakes; a fit place for dunghill gods to be thrown into, and an idol temple to be turned into.

Geneva Study Bible

And they brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

27. they brake down the image of Baal] As the verb is the same as that used immediately afterwards for the breaking down of the house, we may be almost certain that this chief object of worship was of stone. The verb is constantly employed of pulling down buildings. The LXX. omits the next clause, ‘And brake down the house of Baal’.

a draught house] The word ‘draught’ is found again in Matthew 15:17; Mark 12:19. Cf. also Burton, Anatomy, p. 165, ‘Muck hills, draughts, sinks, where any carcasses or carrion lies’. For the idea cf. Ezra 6:11; Daniel 2:5; Daniel 3:29, ‘their houses shall be made a dunghill’.

unto this day] See above on 2 Kings 8:22. For the commands in the law to destroy the objects of heathen worship cf. Deuteronomy 7:5; Deuteronomy 7:25; Deuteronomy 12:2-3, where a destruction like that described here is enjoined.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 27. - And they brake down the image of Baal; rather, they brake in pieces the pillar of Baal. The representation of Baal, the main stele of the temple, being of stone or metal, could not be destroyed by fire, and was therefore broken to pieces (comp. 2 Kings 23:14). And brake down the house of Baal - i.e. partially ruined it, but still left portions of it standing, as a memorial of the sin and of its punishment - a solemn warning, one would have thought, to the people of the capital - and made it a draught-house unto this day; made it, i.e., "a depository for all the filth of the town" (Stanley); comp. Ezra 6:11; Daniel 2:5; Daniel 3:29; and for the word "draught" in this sense, see Matthew 15:17. Such a use was the greatest possible desecration. 2 Kings 10:27

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Lastly, they destroyed the temple itself and made it למחראות, privies, for which the Masoretes have substituted the euphemistic מוצאות, sinks, as a mark of the greatest insult, many examples of which are to be met with among Oriental tribes (vid., Ezra 6:11; Daniel 2:5, and Haevernick in loc.). - Thus Jehu exterminated Baal from Israel. This remark in 2 Kings 10:28 forms the introduction to the history of Jehu's reign, with which the last epoch in the history of the ten tribes begins.