2 Kings 9:36

Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(36) This is the word of the Lord.—See 1Kings 21:23, where this oracle of Elijah is given.

Portion—i.e., domain, territory (hēleq). In 1Kings 21:23, the word is “wall” (hēl), an error due to the loss of the final letter; not an original difference, as Keil assumes.

Dogs.—The dogs.

Benson Commentary

2 Kings 9:36-37. He said, This is the word of the Lord — He now calls to mind the words of the Prophet Elijah, which before he had forgot, or did not regard. And the carcass of Jezebel, &c. — These words are not extant in the place where this prophecy is first mentioned, 1 Kings 21:23; but are here added by Jehu, by way of explication and amplification. So that they shall not say, This is Jezebel — No memory of her, nothing whereby it might be known there had been such a woman as Jezebel, should remain of her, as a picture or effigies, to which men might point and say, This is Jezebel. No monument was made of her, and she had no sepulchre but in the belly of dogs.

Upon the whole, what is recorded in this chapter shows that the divine threatenings are never in vain: that the curse of God pursues princes and families where impiety reigns. Let it be observed, likewise, that Ahaziah king of Judah, because he imitated the kings of Israel in their idolatries and other sins, and was united with Jehoram king of Israel, perished with him. Those who become the companions and imitators of the wicked, are involved, sooner or later, in the same judgments with them.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

9:30-37 Instead of hiding herself, as one afraid of Divine vengeance, Jezebel mocked at fear. See how a heart, hardened against God, will brave it out to the last. There is not a surer presage of ruin, than an unhumbled heart under humbling providences. Let those look at Jezebel's conduct and fate, who use arts to seduce others to commit wickedness, and to draw them aside from the ways of truth and righteousness. Jehu called for aid against Jezebel. When reformation-work is on foot, it is time to ask, Who sides with it? Her attendants delivered her up. Thus she was put to death. See the end of pride and cruelty, and say, The Lord is righteous. When we pamper our bodies, let us think how vile they are; shortly they will be a feast for worms under ground, or beasts above ground. May we all flee from that wrath which is revealed from heaven, against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Leaving the mangled body on the bare earth, Jehu went to the banquet. It was, no doubt, important that he should at once show himself to the court as king. In calling Jezebel "this cursed one," Jehu means to remind his hearers that the curse of God had been pronounced upon her by Elijah 2 Kings 9:36, and so to justify his own conduct.

A king's daughter - Merely as the widow of Ahab and mother of Jehoram, Jehu would not have considered Jezebel entitled to buriah. But she was the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians (marginal reference), and so a princess born. This would entitle her to greater respect. Wilfully to have denied her burial would have been regarded as an unpardonable insult by the reigning Sidonian monarch.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ki 9:36, 37. Jezebel Eaten by Dogs.

36. This is the word of the Lord—(See 1Ki 21:23). Jehu's statement, however, was not a literal but a paraphrased quotation of Elijah's prophecy.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

This is the word of the Lord: this strange providence brings that to his mind which he had forgotten, or did not regard.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Wherefore they came again, and told him,.... How things were, and what only could be found of Jezebel:

and he said, this is the word of the Lord; or the fulfilment of it:

which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying; as in 1 Kings 21:23.

Geneva Study Bible

Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

36. This is the word of the Lord] In one point after another he finds the curse fulfilled. Now it is Joram’s death in Naboth’s vineyard, and now the dogs devouring Jezebel. For the word of the Lord concerning Jezebel, see 1 Kings 21:23.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 36. - Wherefore they came again, and told him. The men whom he had sent to bury Jezebel returned, and told the king what they had found. The narrative woke another chord of memory which had hitherto slept. And he said, This is the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite. The prophecy referred to is doubtless that recorded in 1 Kings 21:23. It is, however, here expanded, either because Jehu's recollection was not exact, or because the record in 1 Kings is abbreviated. The great point of the prophecy is common to both records, viz. that the dogs should eat Jezebel at Jezreel, on the scene of her iniquities. Saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel. It is not quite clear what is meant by the portion (חֵלָק) of Jezreel. Probably there is no allusion to the "portion" (חֶלְקָה) of Naboth (vers. 25, 26). Rather the same is meant as by חֵל in 1 Kings 21:23, viz. the cultivated space or "portion" of land outside the wall of the town (see the comment on that passage). 2 Kings 9:36

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

But when they went to bury her, they found nothing but her skull, the two feet, and the two hollow hands. The rest had been eaten by the dogs and dragged away. When this was reported to Jehu, he said: "This is the word of the Lord, which He spake by His servant Elijah," etc. (1 Kings 21:23), i.e., this has been done in fulfilment of the word of the Lord. 2 Kings 9:37 is also to be regarded as a continuation of the prophecy of Elijah quoted by Jehu (and not as a closing remark of the historian, as Luther supposes), although what Jehu says here does not occur verbatim in 1 Kings 21:23, but Jehu has simply expanded rather freely the meaning of that prophecy. והית (Chethb) is the older form of the 3rd pers. fem. Kal, which is only retained here and there (vid., Ewald, 194, a.). אשׁר is a conjunction (see Ewald, 337, a.): "that men may not be able to say, This is Jezebel," i.e., that they may no more be able to recognise Jezebel.