2 Kings 10:7

And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent him them to Jezreel.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) And slew.—Rather, butchered, or slaughtered. The way in which the writer speaks of this massacre—“they took the king’s sons, and butchered seventy persons”—shows that he did not sympathise with Jehu’s deeds of blood. His interest rather centres in the fact that the predictions of Elijah were fulfilled by the wickedness of Jehu. (See 2Kings 10:10.)

In baskets.—Rather, in the baskets. The word (dûd) means a “pot” elsewhere (1Samuel 2:14). In Psalm 81:6, the LXX. renders κόφινος; here it gives καρτάλλοις (“pointed baskets”).

Benson Commentary

2 Kings 10:7. They took the king’s sons, and slew seventy persons — Having been wickedly obsequious to Jezebel’s order for the murder of Naboth, now, by the same base spirit, they are as pliable to Jehu, and as ready to obey his orders for the murder of Ahab’s sons. From this example, princes may learn two important lessons: 1st, Not to place any dependance on the attachment or fidelity of those who are not influenced by the fear of God, and the dictates of conscience: for who can reasonably expect him to be true to his prince who is false to his God? 2d, Not to aim at arbitrary power, lest they be found rolling a stone, which, some time or other, will return upon themselves. Princes that make their people slaves, take the readiest way to make them rebels; and by forcing men’s consciences, as Jezebel did, they lose their hold of them.

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

The heads of rivals, pretenders, and other obnoxious persons are commonly struck off in the East, and conveyed to the chief ruler, in order that he may be positively certified that his enemies have ceased to live. In the Assyrian sculptures we constantly see soldiers conveying heads from place to place, not, however, in baskets, but in their hands, holding the head by the hair.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6. 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.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Slew seventy persons: Jehu justly required this, because the sovereign and most righteous Lord of all men’s lives commanded it; but the Samaritans wickedly obeyed it, because they destroyed persons in a great measure innocent, merely out of slavish fear, and without any knowledge of or regard to God’s command.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And it came to pass, when the letter came to them,.... They did not in the least hesitate, but immediately complied with the contents of it:

that they took the king's sons, and slew seventy persons; which was the whole number of them:

and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jezreel; as a present to Jehu, just as they carried the firstfruits, as Abarbinel observes.

Geneva Study Bible

And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent him them to Jezreel.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. and slew seventy persons] R.V. and slew them, even seventy persons. Though the pronoun is not expressed in the original, it is needed for the sense. The A.V. might signify any seventy persons.

in baskets] The word is that which is used (Jeremiah 24:2) for the baskets in which the figs were gathered.

sent him them to Jezreel] R.V. sent them unto him. Before they come themselves, they take care that the price, by which they expect to purchase Jehu’s favour, shall be paid down. The change in R.V. from the English idiom to a more close representation of the Hebrew seems altogether unnecessary.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slew seventy persons. Having committed themselves by their answer to Jehu's first letter, the Samaritan great men seemed to themselves to have no choice, on receiving his second, but to allow themselves to become the tools and agents of his policy. They accordingly put the seventy princes to death without any hesitation, though they can scarcely have done so without reluctance. And put their heads in baskets. Thus concealing their bloody deed as long as they could. In the Assyrian sculptures, those who slay the king's enemies carry the heads openly in their hands, as though glorying in what they have done. And sent him them to Jezreel. Jehu had bidden them to bring the heads to him; but this was a degradation to which they did not feel bound to submit. They therefore sent the heads by trusty messengers. 2 Kings 10:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Jehu then wrote them a second letter, to say that if they would hearken to his voice, they were to send to him on the morrow at this time, to Jezreel, the heads of the sons of their lord; which they willingly did, slaying the seventy men, and sending him their heads in baskets. אד בּני אנשׁי ראשׁי, "the heads of the men of sons of your lord," i.e., of the male descendants of Ahab, in which אנשׁי may be explained from the fact that בּני־אדניכם has the meaning "royal princes" (see the similar case in Judges 19:22). In order to bring out still more clearly the magnitude of Jehu's demand, the number of the victims required is repeated in the circumstantial clause, "and there were seventy men of the king's sons with (את) the great men of the city, who had brought them up."