portion of Naboth” is the vineyard of Naboth mentioned in 1 Kings 21, which formed only one portion of the gardens of the king’s palace.
Verse 22
To Joram’s inquiry, “Is it peace, Jehu?” the latter replied, “What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her many witchcrafts continue?” The notion of continuance is implied in עד (see Ewald, §217, e.); זנוּנים is spiritual whoredom, i.e., idolatry. כּשׁפים, incantationes magicae, then witchcrafts generally, which were usually associated with idolatry (cf. Deu 18:10.).
Verse 23
Joram detecting the conspiracy from this reply, turned round (ידיו יהפך as in 1Ki 22:34) and fled, calling out to Ahaziah מרמה, “deceit,” i.e., we are deceived, in actual fact betrayed.
Verse 24
But Jehu seized the bow (בּקּשׁת ידו מלּא, lit., filled his hand with the bow), and shot Joram “between his arms,” i.e., in his back between the shoulders in an oblique direction, so that the arrow came out at his heart, and Joram sank down in his chariot.
Verses 25-26
Jehu then commanded his aide-de-camp (שׁלישׁ, see at 2Sa 23:8) Bidkar to cast the slain man into the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, and said, “For remember how we, I and thou, both rode (or drove) behind his father Ahab, and Jehovah pronounced this threat upon him.” ואתּה אני are accusatives, written with a looser connection for ואותך אתי, as the apposition רכבים shows: literally, think of me and thee, the riders. The olden translators were misled by אני, and therefore transposed זכר into the first person, and Thenius naturally follows them. צמדים רכבים, riding in pairs. This is the rendering adopted by most of the commentators, although it might be taken, as it is by Kimchi and Bochart, as signifying the two persons who are carried in the same chariot. משּׂא, a burden, then a prophetic utterance of a threatening nature (see the Comm. on Nah 1:1). For the connection of the clauses וגו ויהוה, see Ewald, §338, a. In 2Ki 9:26 Jehu quotes the word of God concerning Ahab in 1Ki 21:19 so far as the substance is concerned, to show that he is merely the agent employed in executing it. “Truly (אם־לא, a particle used in an oath) the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons have I seen yesterday, saith the Lord, and upon this field will I requite him.” The slaying of the sons of Naboth is not expressly mentioned in 1Ki 21:13, “because it was so usual a thing, that the historian might leave it out as a matter of course” (J. D. Mich., Ewald). It necessarily followed, however, from the fact that Naboth’s field was confiscated (see at 1Ki 21:14).
