1 Kings 22:38

1Ki 22:38 And [one] washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood; and they washed his armour; according unto the word of the LORD which he spake.

Ver. 38. In the pool of Samaria.] So the pool in Jezreel might be called, for the reason above given, on 1Ki 21:19.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ki 22:38. The dogs licked up his blood — Together with the water wherewith it was mixed. This circumstance is noticed because it was the accomplishment of one part of Elijah’s prophecy concerning him. Now Naboth’s blood was avenged!

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1 Kings 31:19

Or, the harlots washed it.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 38. The dogs licked up his blood] Some of the rabbins think that this was in the very place where Naboth was stoned; see on 1Kg 21:19. The Septuagint translates this verse strangely: "And the swine and the dogs licked his blood, and the whores bathed themselves in his blood, according to the word of the Lord." It is certain that the Hebrew words, הזנות רחצו hazzonoth rachatsu, "washed his armour," might be translated as the Septuagint have done; "and the whores (or public women) washed," c. And so the rabbins seem to have understood the words but then they suppose that Jezebel had made him two images of prostitutes, which he had with him in the chariot. It is not worth inquiring into the use for which they say these images were made. See Kimchi and Jarchi.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(38) They washed his armour.—There seems little doubt that this is a mistranslation, and that the LXX. rendering (supported also by Josephus) is correct: “And the harlots bathed in it,” that is, in the bloodstained pool, the usual public bathing-place of their shamelessness. The dog and the harlot are the animal and human types of uncleanness.

According unto the word of the Lord.—The reference to the emphatic prophecy of Elijah is unmistakable, and the context fixes its fulfilment plainly as having taken place in Samaria. The difficulty is, of course, the notice in 2Ki_9:25, where the dead body of Jehoram is cast “in the portion of the field of Naboth,” evidently at Jezreel; with quotation of the “burden of the Lord laid upon him,” “I will requite thee in this plot, saith the Lord.” The reconcilement is, with our knowledge, difficult, if not impossible. But the reference in the text is so much clearer, that it must outweigh the other. Naboth, in any case, is likely to have had land in his native place, which would be forfeited to the king; and there would still be an appropriate judgment in making it also the scene of the dishonoured death of the last king of Ahab’s house. We may notice, moreover, that the quotation in 2 Kings 9 is not taken from Elijah’s words against Ahab, nor does it contain the characteristic notice of the “dogs licking the blood;” though it is noticed as a fulfilment of the subsequent prophecy of chapter 21:24 against Ahab’s house.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

38. And one [R.V. they] washed the chariot in [R.V. by] the pool of Samaria] The first change substitutes an English for a Hebrew idiom; the second renders more exactly the preposition of the original. It was necessary in the East to provide large reservoirs outside each town that the supplies of water in the rainy season might be kept for times of drought. Many such pools are mentioned in Scripture, and some, for example those at Bethlehem, remain to the present day. To the side of such a tank the royal equipage was brought to be washed. Thus Ahab’s blood came to be licked up by the dogs in the same sort of spot, outside the city walls, as that where Naboth’s blood was licked up near Jezreel.

and the dogs licked, &c.] Here as above in 1Ki_21:19 the LXX. adds ‘the swine’ to the dogs.

and they washed his armour] R.V. Now the harlots washed themselves there. This change, which is the rendering of the LXX., is no doubt correct. The Hebrew word זנות occurs often in the O. Test. and means nothing else but ‘harlots,’ while the verb in the sentence is not one applied to washing articles that need cleaning but to bathing the body. Cf. Exo_30:19; Exo_30:21; Exo_40:12; Exo_40:31; Lev_16:4; Lev_16:24; Lev_16:26; Lev_16:28, and in Num_19:19 another verb is used for ‘wash his clothes’ and the present verb rendered ‘bathe himself,’ and in the verse before us another verb is employed to describe the washing of the chariot.

The R.V. by placing this clause in a parenthesis seems to treat it as a subsidiary feature in the description. This was the place to which they usually came to bathe. Some have however suggested that the women alluded to were those attached (as such persons were) to the temples of Baal and Ashtoreth, and that thus a greater indignity still was offered to this fosterer of idolatrous worship. This interpretation however reads a good deal into the text which is not there. And surely it was indignity enough for the royal blood to be washed into the waters of the harlots’ bath. It should be mentioned that Josephus, and, among the Fathers, Theodoret, support the rendering of R.V. The A.V. is derived from the Chaldee and the Syriac versions.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father,.... Who was a good prince:

he turned not aside from doing that which was right in the eyes of the Lord; in his moral conversation, religious worship, and civil government:

nevertheless, the high places were not taken away, for the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places; he took away the high places and groves for idolatrous worship, Ch2 17:6, but not the high places in which sacrifices were offered to the Lord, which ought to have been, especially since the temple was built; and those in the tribes of Judah and Benjamin were altogether inexcusable, being near to the temple, and under no restraint, as those of the ten tribes were; but the people were fond of them, because of their antiquity, and it was difficult for religious princes to remove them, if inclined.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

They washed his armour - Rather, “the harlots bathed in it.” The “pool of Samaria,” which was stained with Ahab’s blood by the washing of his chariot in it, was, according to Josephus, the usual bathing-place of the Samaritan harlots. A large tank or reservoir, probably identical with this pool, still remains on the slope of the hill of Samaria, immediately outside the walls.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Of Samaria. Josephus says, of Jezara, (Jezrahel) conformably to the prediction. But God had relented in that particular, on Achab’s repentance; (Calmet; Chap. xxi. 24, 29.) unless it regarded his son Joram. (Haydock) (Salien) --- Reins. Hebrew zonoth, may also signify "arms," (Munster) and "harlots." (Septuagint) Some suspect that such were painted on the chariot. Josephus intimates, with the Septuagint, that "harlots bathed in the blood," (Antiquities viii. 15.) which would tend to the greater contempt of Achab. (Menochius) --- Spoken, respecting dogs licking up Achab’s blood. No mention had been made of the chariot. God was thus pleased to shew how easily he could have executed the sentence in all its rigour.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The dogs licked up his blood, together with the water wherewith it was mixed.

According unto the word of the Lord; of which See Poole "1Ki 21:19".

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

38. Dogs licked up his blood — The blood which all that day had been trickling through his armour and falling down upon the chariot. Thus was partially fulfilled the words of Elijah. 1Ki_21:19.

And they washed his armour — Rather, and harlots bathed; that is, harlots came and bathed in the water of the pool while it was yet stained with the blood of the fallen king. This fact is recorded to show the unconcern and contempt with which the death of Ahab was regarded even in his own metropolis.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And one washed the chariot in or at; Heb. l the pool of Samaria. Nearly all Eastern cities had their tanks or pools, often outside the city gate. Jerusalem has several of these, and we read of one at Hebron (2Sa_14:12) and Gibeon. (2Sa_2:13) Cf. Son_7:4. The Hebrew word hkreB is preserved in the modern Arabic Birkeh; and the dogs The LXX has the swine and the dogs. The mention of swine is hardly likely to have been omitted, had it formed part of the original text licked up his blood cf. 1Ki_21:19, note. According to Josephus, the chariot was washed "in the fountain of Jezreel." The alteration would appear to have been made to avoid the difficulty occasioned by the discrepancy between the statement of the text, and that of, (1Ki_21:19) and they washed his armour So the Chaldaic and the Syriac. But this translation is now abandoned,

(1) because it is contrary.to the usage of the language to make twOnOz the object; and

(2) because that word occurs in the Old Testament only in the sense of harlots (Bahr). The true meaning is that given by the LXX, kairnai ejlousanto. jr does not require any object such as chariot," or corpse," for it is found in the sense of bathe (intrans.) in Num_19:19; Ru 3 2Ki_5:10. Bahr reminds us that harlots are elsewhere associated with dogs (Deu_23:19; Rev_22:15) This fact is mentioned as a proof of the just judgment of God. Even if these harlots were not prostitutes devoted to the service of the Phoenician deities, whose cultus Ahab had sought to establish in Israel, still the result of his religious policy had been the spread of prostitution. It is a fine example of the lex tolionis. "He which is filthy, let him be filthy still"; according unto the word of the Lord which he spake the reference is to. (1Ki_21:19)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the dogs licked his blood. I say that Novos was killed there, for the prophet said, “In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Navos, etc.”

And they washed the weapons [there]. And they washed off blood from the weapons there, [Targum] Yonoson rendered it in this manner. But our Rabbis said, “Achov was a cold person, so Ezevel made for him the image of two prostitutes in his chariot.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.