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3 Kings xvi.
Notes & Commentary:
Ver. 1. Jehu
was different from one of the same name and parentage, who came to Josaphat; (2 Paralipomenon xix. 2.; Du Hamel; Tirinus)
though, if Baasa did not put him to death, as there is some reason to doubt, he might be the same, ver. 7. (Calmet) --- Hanani
had been sent to Asa, 2 Paralipomenon xvi. 7. (Abulensis, q. 3.)
Ver. 2. I
have. All power comes from God, though he frequently disapproves of the means by which people obtain it. (Haydock) ---
Baasa was a traitorous usurper. --- My people. Many had abandoned the Lord: (Haydock) yet he still regards Israel
as his people, sending prophets to reclaim them, and preserving many from bending the knee before Baal.
Ver. 3. Posterity,
(posteriora.; Haydock) children, and all that he shall leave behind. (Calmet) --- Baasa himself died a natural death,
ver. 6. (Salien)
Ver. 7. The
evil, to punish it. (Menochius) --- He, God, slew him, Baasa, (Calmet) or "because the latter slew" Nadab,
&c. (Grotius) --- God punished his usurpation and murders. (Calmet) --- That is, &c., is not found in Hebrew,
Chaldean, Septuagint, nor in some Latin copies. (Estius) --- Hence Jehu might survive to admonish Josaphat, ver. 1. (Calmet)
Ver. 8. Years,
in part, as he was slain in the 27th year of Asa, ver. 10.
Ver. 9. Horsemen.
Hebrew, "chariots." (Septuagint) (Calmet) --- But Josephus styles him, Hipparchon, "general of the horse." (Menochius)
--- Rebelled. Hebrew, "conspired." (Haydock) --- He acted privately at first. (Menochius) --- Governor. Hebrew,
"steward of his house." Chaldean and Arabic, "in the temple of the idol Arsa," the earth, whom the pagans worshipped
as the mother of gods and men; unless Arsa be put for Asera, or Astarte. (Calmet)
Ver. 11. Wall.
See 1 Kings xxv. 22. --- Friends, from whom he had any thing to fear. (Menochius)
Ver. 13. Vanities;
idols. (Haydock) --- They raised fresh altars; or, by their example, encouraged the people to persevere in their impiety.
(Menochius)
Ver. 16. All
Israel, that was in the army, while others took part with Zambri. (Worthington)
Ver. 18. Himself.
Hebrew may also signify, "he (Amri) burnt him." --- Zambri, his rival. But the other sense is more natural. (Calmet)
--- Thus Sardanapalus chose to destroy himself, with all his riches, (Justin i.; Atheneus xii. 7.) to prevent the dead body
from being insulted. It was for this reason that Sylla, the first of the Cornelian family, ordered his remains to be burnt.
(Cicero, Leg. i.) (Tirinus)
Ver. 19. To
sin. Zambri had sufficient time, in seven days, (Haydock) to manifest his evil dispositions, of which he had perhaps given
proof before. (Calmet)
Ver. 21. Parts.
Those who had chosen Amri, were mortified at the election made by the army, and therefore set up another king. (Calmet) ---
The contest seems to have lasted four years. (Houbigant)
Ver. 22. Died
in the battle, wherein Amri prevailed. (Menochius)
Ver. 23. In
the one and thirtieth year, &c. Amri began to reign in the seven and twentieth year of Asa; but had not the quiet
possession of the kingdom, till the death of his competitor Thebni, which was in the one and thirtieth year of Asa's reign.
(Challoner) --- Twelve years in all, (Worthington) comprehending the four of civil war; six at Thersa, and two
in Samaria. (Houbigant)
Ver. 24. Silver:
684l. 7s. 6d. sterling. (Arbuthnot) --- The place was sold so cheap, on condition that it should be called
after the original owner. (Salien) --- Somer dwelt there; and several houses had been already erected, (chap. xiii. 32.) and
even streets, by the king of Syria, for the convenience of his merchants, chap. xx. 34. (Haydock) --- Thersa had lately been
so much ruined by civil wars, that Amri thought proper to choose a new seat of government. Samaria was greatly adorned by
succeeding kings, chap. xxii. 39. It stood in a delightful and commanding situation, and gave its name to the adjacent territory,
and to the whole kingdom of Israel. Benadad besieged it twice; and Salmanasar took it. The kings of Egypt laid claim to it,
after the death of Alexander: but Antiochus, of Syria, took it from them. Hyrcanus levelled it with the ground. Herod the
Great rebuilt the city, and called it Sebaste, in honour of Augustus.
Ver. 25. Above.
He made a law, (Calmet) to force all to conform to the established irreligion, Micheas vi. 16. (Haycock)
Ver. 26. With
their vanities. That is, their idols, their golden calves, vain, false, deceitful things.
Ver. 31. Jezabel,
whose name is become proverbial, to designate a proud, lewd, cruel, and impious woman, Apocalypse ii. 20. Grotius compares
her with Tullia, Fulvia, and Eudoxia, the respective wives of Tarquin, Anthony, and Arcadius. She was the chief promoter of
all the evils of Achab's reign. He did not insist that she should embrace the true religion, when he married her; as it is
supposed former kings had done, when they espoused women who had been brought up in idolatry. (Calmet) --- He even introduced
her country's idols, and thus enhanced upon the wickedness of his predecessors. (Haycock) --- Ethbaal. Menander (following
Josephus, contra Apion i.) calls him Ithobaal, and remarks that his reign was memorable for a year's drought; probably that
of three years, under Achaz, chap. xvii. 1. Ethbaal was king of Tyre, and ruled over the Sidonians likewise, chap. v. 6.
Ver. 34. Hand.
Josue had committed this curse to writing. (Haydock) --- Hiel, an idolater, did not regard it, and Achab had not zeal to attempt
to hinder him. But divine Providence punished his audacity. (Calmet) --- All his sons perished, while the city was rebuilding.
(Worthington) --- See Josue vi. 26. (Calmet)
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Bible Text & Cross-references:
Jehu prophesieth against Baasa: his son Ela is slain, and
all his family destroyed by Zambri: of the reign of Amri, father of Achab.
1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu, the son of Hanani, against Baasa,
saying:
2 For as much as I have exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince
over my people Israel, and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to
anger with their sins:
3 Behold I will cut down the posterity of Baasa, and the posterity of his
house, and I will make thy house as the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat.
4 *Him that dieth of Baasa, in the city, the dogs shall eat: and him that
dieth of his in the country, the fowls of the air shall devour.
5 *But the rest of the acts of Baasa, and all that he did, and his battles,
are they not written in the Book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?
6 So Baasa slept with his fathers, and was buried in Thersa: and Ela, his
son, reigned in his stead.
7 And when the word of the Lord came in the hand of Jehu, the son of Hanani,
the prophet, against Baasa, and against his house, and against all the evil that he had done before the Lord, to provoke him
to anger by the works of his hands, to become as the house of Jeroboam: for this cause he slew him; that is to say, Jehu,
the son of Hanani, the prophet.
8 In the *six and twentieth year of Asa, king of Juda, Ela, the son of
Baasa, reigned over Israel, in Thersa, two years.
9 And his servant Zambri, who was captain of half the horsemen, rebelled
against him: now Ela was drinking in Thersa, and drunk in the house of Arsa, the governor of Thersa.
10 *And Zambri rushing in, struck him, and slew him, in the seven and twentieth
year of Asa, king of Juda; and he reigned in his stead.
11 And when he was king, and sat upon his throne, he slew all the house
of Baasa, and he left not one thereof to piss against a wall, and all his kinsfolks and friends.
12 And Zambri destroyed all the house of Baasa, according to the word of
the Lord, that he had spoken to Baasa, in the hand of Jehu, the prophet,
13 For all the sins of Baasa, and the sins of Ela, his son, who sinned,
and made Israel to sin, provoking the Lord, the God of Israel, with their vanities.
14 But the rest of the acts of Ela, and all that he did, are they not written
in the Book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?
15 In the seven and twentieth year *of Asa, king of Juda, Zambri reigned
seven days in Thersa: now the army was besieging Gebbethon, a city of the Philistines.
16 And when they heard that Zambri had rebelled, and slain the king, all
Israel made Amri their king, who was general over Israel in the camp that day.
17 And Amri went up, and all Israel with him, from Gebbethon, and they
besieged Thersa.
18 And Zambri, seeing that the city was about to be taken, went into the
palace, and burnt himself with the king's house: and he died
19 In his sins, which he had sinned, doing evil before the Lord, and walking
in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin, wherewith he made Israel to sin.
20 But the rest of the acts of Zambri, and of his conspiracy and tyranny,
are they not written in the Book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?
21 Then were the people of Israel divided into two parts: one half of the
people followed Thebni, the son of Gineth, to make him king: and one half followed Amri.
22 But the people that were with Amri, prevailed over the people that followed
Thebni, the son of Gineth: and Thebni died, and Amri reigned.
23 In the one and thirtieth year *of Asa, king of Juda, Amri reigned over
Israel twelve years: in Thersa he reigned six years.
24 And he bought the hill of Samaria of Semer, for two talents of silver:
and he built upon it, and he called the city which he built Samaria, after the name of Semer, the owner of the hill.
25 And Amri did evil in the sight of the Lord, and acted wickedly above
all that were before him.
26 And he walked in all the way of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, and in his
sins, wherewith he made Israel to sin: to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger with their vanities.
27 Now the rest of the acts of Amri, and the battles he fought, are they
not written in the Book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?
28 And *Amri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria, and Achab,
his son, reigned in his stead.
29 Now Achab, the son of Amri, reigned over Israel in the eight and thirtieth
year of Asa, king of Juda. And Achab, the son of Amri, reigned over Israel in Samaria two and twenty years.
30 And Achab, the son of Amri, did evil in the sight of the Lord above
all that were before him.
31 Nor was it enough for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of
Nabat: but he also took to wife Jezabel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians. And he went, and served Baal, and adored
him.
32 And he set up an altar for Baal, in the temple of Baal, which he had
built in Samaria;
33 And he planted a grove: and Achab did more to provoke the Lord, the
God of Israel, than all the kings of Israel that were before him.
34 In his days Hiel, of Bethel, built Jericho: in Abiram, his first-born,
he laid its foundations: and in his youngest son, Segub, he set up the gates thereof: according to the word of the
Lord, which he spoke in the hand of Josue, the son of* Nun.
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*
4: 3 Kings xiv. 11.
5: 2 Paralipomenon xvi. 1.
8: Year of the World 3074, Year before Christ 930.
10: 4 Kings ix. 31.
15: Year of the World 3075, Year before Christ 929.
23: Year of the World 3079, Year before Christ 925.
28: Year of the World 3086, Year before Christ 918.
34: Josue vi. 26.
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