2 Kings 9:37

And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(37) And the carcase of Jezebel.—This continuation of the prophecy is not given in 1Kings 21:23. It is probably original; not “a free expansion” by Jehu, as Keil asserts.

Shall be.—It is questionable whether the Hebrew text is to be read as a rare ancient form wehāyāth); or simply as an instance of defective writing (wehāyethā). We prefer the second view.

As dung.—Comp. Psalm 83:10.

So that they shall not say.—Comp. Genesis 11:7 for the construction. The sense is, So that men will no longer be able to recognise her mangled remains.

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

These words are not extant in the place where this prophecy is first mentioned, 1 Kings 21:23, but are here added, either by Jehu, by way of explication and amplification; or rather, because Elijah spoke them, though they be not there recorded, as being for the substance of them contained in the former words; it being usual to insert some passages in following writings which had been omitted in the former.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the carcass of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel,.... For upon this spot her carcass fell when thrown out of the window of the king's palace, and here it was left; for the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which was in the portion of Jezreel, was next to the palace, 1 Kings 21:1, there seems to be some allusion to her name Jezebel, which signifies "where is dung?"

so that they shall not say, this is Jezebel; there being nothing left of her to be seen or pointed to, nor any grave nor monument over it on which was such an inscription, here lies Jezebel; or that might lead posterity to say, this is Jezebel's grave. Now though the words of this verse are not recorded elsewhere, as the words of the Lord, by Elijah, yet as Jehu was present when they were spoken, and within the hearing of them, he now remembered them, and could repeat them, these circumstances bringing them fresh to his mind.

Geneva Study Bible

And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, {p} This is Jezebel.

(p) Thus God's judgments appear even in this world against those who suppress his word and persecute his servants.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 37. - And the carcass of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field (comp. Psalm 83:10; Zephaniah 1:17; Jeremiah 9:22; Jeremiah 16:4, etc.). The expression was proverbial. In the portion of Jezreel (see the comment on the preceding verse); so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel. The fragments of the body were so scattered that there could be no collective tomb, no place whereat admirers could congregate and say, "Here lies the great queen - here lies Jezebel." To rest in no tomb was viewed as a shame and a disgrace.



2 Kings 9:37

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.