2 Kings 10:6

2Ki 10:6 Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If ye [be] mine, and [if] ye will hearken unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men your master’s sons, and come to me to Jezreel by to morrow this time. Now the king’s sons, [being] seventy persons, [were] with the great men of the city, which brought them up.

Ver. 6. Then he wrote a letter the second time.] Not with black, but with blood; like that letter of Mithridates, king of Pontus, written to the ruin of fourscore thousand Romans trading in his dominions. But it was just in God, that as Ahab and Jezebel, by a letter sent to the elders of Jezreel, shed the blood of Naboth and his sons; so they should have the blood of all their sons shed by a letter sent from Jezreel to the elders of Samaria. God loveth to retaliate.

Take ye the heads of the men.] This was but policy to root out all Ahab’s seed, that there might be no avenger. The poet could say,

“Nηπιος ος κατερα κτεινας, παιδας υπολειπει.” - Arist., Rhet., lib. i. cap. 15.

i.e., He is a fool who killeth the father, and yet suffereth his children to survive.

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.

2Ki 10:6. He wrote a letter the second time — Thus Jezebel is requited for her letter, directed in like manner to the elders of Naboth’s city, whereby his life was wickedly taken away: and it is probable that some of these elders were concerned in that very business, which makes the judgment of God more remarkable. Take ye the heads of the men — This word, men, seems to imply that some of them, at least, were grown up, who doubtless trod in their parents’ steps: and those that were younger were justly cut off for their parents’ sins; of which see on Exo 20:5. “Besides the accomplishment of the divine decree,” says Dr. Dodd, “Jehu had a further design in requesting this cruel service of the rulers, and elders, and great men of the nation, namely, hereby to involve them in the same crime and conspiracy with himself; for, by prevailing with them to murder Ahab’s kinsmen in this manner, he bound them so closely to his interest, that if any of the inferior people had been inclined to oppose his designs, they were, by this means, deprived of any man of distinction to head them; and not only so, but, by this expedient, Jehu thought that he might in a great measure lessen, if not entirely remove the odium of his own cruel and perfidious conduct.”

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

10:6-7 Decapitation of enemies was a common practice in the ancient Near East (6:31-32; 1 Sam 17:46, 51; cp. Matt 14:11).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

God as a just judge punisheth the wicked children of wicked parents unto the third and fourth generation.

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

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.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 6. Come to me to Jezreel] Therefore the letters were not written to Jezreel, but from Jezreel to Samaria.

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

(6) The second time.—Some MSS., the LXX., and the Arabic read “a second letter.”

Take ye the heads.—Jehu knew his men. The cool cynicism of his savage order is worthy of a Sulla or a Marius.

The heads of the men your master’s sons.—Literally, the heads of the men of the sons of your master Some MSS., the Syriac, Arabic, and Vulg., as well as the MSS. mentioned by Origen, omit the word men. Thenius thinks that this word is used to indicate that only male descendants of Ahab were to be put to death (?). The Alexandrian LXX. omits sons; and four Hebrew MSS. read instead house. The Authorised Version, however, is a permissible interpretation of the Hebrew.

Come.—LXX., bring (them) which is a natural conjecture.

To Jezreel.—A journey of more than twenty miles.

By to morrow this time.—Jehu is urgent for despatch, because time is all-important. He wishes to convince the people of Jezreel as soon as possible that none of the royal princes were left to claim the crown, and that the nobles of Samaria have joined his cause.

Now the king’s sons . . . brought them up.—This is a correct translation. According to the Masoretic punctuation, and supposing that the particle ’eth (rendered “with”) might here be used merely to introduce the subject, we might render: “Now the king’s sons were seventy persons; the great men of the city were bringing them up.” But such a usage of ‘eth is very doubtful. (Comp. 2Ki_6:5.) The sentence, in any case, is only a parenthetic reminder of what was stated in 2Ki_10:1. The total seventy is, perhaps, not to be taken as exact, seventy being a favourite round number. (See Note on 1Ch_1:42.)

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

6. a letter the second time] Before he presents himself to them, he will let their alarm involve them more deeply than he is involved in the destruction of the royal family.

take ye the heads] So Nicanor’s head (1Ma_7:47; 2Ma_15:30) was struck off and brought to Jerusalem, and David smote off the head of Goliath (1Sa_17:54) and brought it with him from the battle-field.

come to me to Jezreel] From what follows we should not discover that they obeyed this part of the order. But no doubt they did, and were ready at the gate, when Jehu came forth on the morrow, to hear what he would say of their prompt obedience. The distance between Jezreel and Samaria was only a journey of a few hours. The heads seem to have been delivered to their new master on the evening of the day on which they were asked for.

Now the king’s sons, &c.] This parenthetic sentence is inserted to show how easy it was, when they were all of one mind, for the tutors to slay the whole family at a blow.

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.

Then he wrote a letter the second time to them,.... Having gained his point by the former:

saying, if ye be mine, acknowledge yourselves my subjects and servants:

and if ye will hearken to my voice; obey my commands:

take ye the heads of the men your master's sons; that is, take off their heads:

and come to me to Jezreel by tomorrow this time meaning with the heads along with them:

(now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought them up;) they were in their houses, and under their tuition, and so had an authority over them, and could dispose of them at pleasure; they were not ordinary persons to whose care they were committed, but the principal men of the city.

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

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.

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

Then he wrote a letter: thus Jezebel is requited for her letter directed in like manner to the elders of Naboth’s city, whereby his life was wickedly taken away, 1Ki 21:8. And it is probable that some of these elders were concerned in that very business, which makes the judgment of God more remarkable.

Take ye the heads of the men; which word seems to imply that some of them were grown up, who doubtless trod in their parents’ steps; and those that were younger were justly cut off for their parents’ sin; of which See Poole "Exo 20:5"; See Poole "Deu 5:9".

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

Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying; rather, a second time. The reply of the Samaritan authorities gave Jehu an opportunity, of which he was not slow to take advantage. They might have been contented with their negative response, "We will not make any man king;" but they had gone beyond it they had departed from the line of neutrality, and had placed themselves unreservedly on Jehu"s side. "We are thy servants," they had said, "and will do all that thou shalt bid us." It is always rash to promise absolute obedience to a human being. To volunteer such a promise, when it is not even asked, is the height of folly. If ye be mine as they had said they were, when they called themselves his "slavesand if ye will hearken unto my voicei.e. , obey me, do as I requiretake ye the heads of the men your master"s sons, and come to me to Jezreel. The Samaritan authorities were ordered to bring the heads with them, that they might be seen and counted. In the East generally, the heads of rebels and pretenders, by whatever death they may have died, are cut off, brought to the sovereign, and then exposed in some public place, in order that the public at large may be certified that the men are really dead. (comp. 1Sa_31:9) By tomorrow this time. As Jezreel was not more than about twenty miles from Samaria, the order could be executed by that time. It necessitated, however, very prompt measures, and gave the authorities but little time for consideration. Now the king"s sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought them up (comp. ver. 1).

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

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 Jdg 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."

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

wrote a letter the second time to them

Joram had written one letter. This was the next. AT: "again wrote a letter to them" or "wrote another letter to them" (See: Ordinal Numbers)

on my side

To "be on someone's side" means to be loyal to them and supportive of them. AT: "loyal to me" (See: Idiom)

listen

to hear and obey

to my voice

Here Jehu's "voice" refer to what he says. AT: "to what I say" (See: Metonymy)

you must take the heads ... and come to me

It is implied that they are to bring the heads of the Ahab's descendant and present them to Jehu. AT: "you must take the heads ... and bring them to me" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

you must take the heads of the men of your master's descendants

This refers to killing them and removing their heads. AT: "kill your master's descendants and cut off their heads" (See: Euphemism)

seventy in number ... seventy persons

"70 in number ... 70 persons" (See: Numbers)

who were bringing them up

This means that they were supervising them and teaching them. AT: "who were raising them" or "who were supervising them" (See: Idiom)

sent them to Jehu

This means that they sent people to deliver the baskets to Jehu. AT: "sent people to take them to Jehu" (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

voice

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

The sons of the king [number] seventy men, and the great men of the city, etc. All this was written in the letter, “And I know their count, seventy men, and they are with the elders of the city who are raising them.

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.