2 Kings 9:6

And he arose, and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of the LORD, even over Israel.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) And he arose—i.e., Jehu arose.

Into the house.—The council of war was sitting in the court.

I have anointed thee.—The commission to Elijah (1Kings 19:16) was thus fulfilled by his successor.

Over the people of the Lord.—Israel being Jehovah’s people, Jehovah was Israel’s true king, and therefore it was within His sovereign right to appoint whom He would as His earthly representative. Reuss asserts that this account of the anointing of Jehu, like that of the anointing of Hazael (2Kings 8:13), is substituted in the present narration for what another document related of Elijah. This is pure conjecture. It is easier to suppose that Elijah had instructed his successor to carry out the commission intrusted to himself, although the narrative nowhere says so. He goes on to remark that there is no need to try to clear Elisha of the charge of being a revolutionary and a regicide, for that the new dynasty would make use of his name by way of legitimising itself, exactly as the houses of Kish and of Jesse made use of that of the prophet Samuel. This is being considerably wiser than our only authorities.

Benson Commentary

2 Kings 9:6. He arose and went into the house — That is, into an inner chamber in the house. And he poured the oil on his head — Thereby giving him, in God’s name both a right to the kingdom and the actual possession of it. The Israelites, it must be observed, were still by right and profession the people of God, though they worshipped other gods with him. And it belonged to him to appoint what ruler he pleased over them; which he now did by his prophet. Without this authority, if Jehu had taken the government upon him, he had been a usurper.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

9:1-10 In these and the like events, we must acknowledge the secret working of God, disposing men to fulfil his purposes respecting them. Jehu was anointed king over Israel, by the Lord's special choice. The Lord still had a remnant of his people, and would yet preserve his worship among them. Of this Jehu was reminded. He was commanded to destroy the house of Ahab, and, as far as he acted in obedience to God, and upon right principles, he needed not to regard reproach or opposition. The murder of God's prophets is strongly noticed. Jezebel persisted in idolatry and enmity to Jehovah and his servants, and her iniquity was now full.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The chief officers - the generals - were assembled together in Jehu's quarters, perhaps holding a council of war. The place of assembly seems to have been the great court. Hence, Jehu "went into the house" 2 Kings 9:6 entered, that is, one of the rooms opening into the court.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4-6. So the young man … went to Ramoth-gilead—His ready undertaking of this delicate and hazardous mission was an eminent proof of his piety and obedience. The act of anointing being done through a commissioned prophet, was a divine intimation of his investiture with the sovereign power. But it was sometimes done long prior to the actual possession of the throne (1Sa 16:13); and, in like manner, the commission had, in this instance, been given also a long time before to Elijah [1Ki 19:16], who, for good reasons, left it in charge to Elisha; and he awaited God's time and command for executing it [Poole].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Into the house, i.e. into an inner chamber in the house, 2 Kings 9:2.

He poured the oil on his head; thereby in God’s name letting him into the actual possession of the kingdom. For if Elijah did before this time anoint him, as some think, from 1 Kings 19:16, that unction did only confer a remote right to the kingdom, as Samuel’s unction did to David, 1 Samuel 16:13. Though others think Elijah did perform that command by Elisha, to whom he left it in charge, and Elisha waited God’s time and command for the actual execution of it, which he received at this time.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he arose, and went into the house,.... Into the inner chamber in it:

and he poured the oil on his head, and said unto him, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel; for though they were fallen into idolatry, and from the pure worship of God, yet the Lord had still a right unto them, and as yet he had not wrote a "Loammi" Hosea 1:9 upon them; and there were many among them which had not bowed the knee to Baal.

Geneva Study Bible

And he arose, and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I have {b} anointed thee king over the people of the LORD, even over Israel.

(b) This anointing was for kings, priests and prophets which were all figures of Messiah, in whom these three offices were accomplished.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. went into the house] The council was sitting in the courtyard, a place which in Eastern houses can be kept somewhat private.

over the people of the Lord, even over Israel] Though the northern kingdom had cast aside the true worship of Jehovah, and followed readily in the ways of Jeroboam, yet the abundance of prophetic labour which was expended in Israel exceeds, as far as we learn from the Bible, that which was bestowed on the more faithful Judah. Israel is still the people of the Lord.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - And he (Jehu) arose, and went into the house. Jehu left his seat, rose up, and led the way, from the court, where he had probably been sitting with the other generals, into the house which adjoined the court. The messenger followed; and the two were together, alone. And he - i.e. the messenger - poured the oil on his head - as directed (ver. 3) - and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel; literally, Thus saith Jehovah, God of Israel. Jehovah's name is emphatically put forward, in contrast with the name of Baal, as that of the true God of Israel; and appeal is made to Jehu, as to one whose God is Jehovah, and who will accept as authoritative a message emanating from him. I have anointed thee king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel; literally, over the people of Jehovah, over Israel. Practically, the people is, in the main, "the people of Baal" (2 Kings 10:19-21), but theoretically and by covenant it is "the people of Jehovah" - his "peculiar people" (Deuteronomy 14:2), chosen by him out of all the nations of the earth to be his own. 2 Kings 9:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

After the communication of the fact that he had a word to Jehu, the latter rose up and went with him into the house, i.e., into the interior of the house, in the court of which the captains were sitting together. There the pupil of the prophets poured oil upon Jehu's head, and announced to him that Jehovah had anointed him king for Israel, and that he was to smite, i.e., exterminate, the house of Ahab, to avenge upon it the blood of the prophets (vid., 1 Kings 18:4; 1 Kings 19:10).