motives by which Jehu had been actuated. For it is obvious that it had not sprung from pure zeal for the honour of the Lord, from the limitation added in 2Ki 10:31 : “but Jehu did not take heed to walk in the law of Jehovah with all his heart, and did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam.”
Verses 32-33
Therefore (this link of connection follows from the actual fact, though it is not distinctly mentioned in the text) Hazael had now to inflict chastisement upon faithless Israel. In Jehu’s days Jehovah began “to cut off in Israel,” i.e., to rend away certain portions from the kingdom. “Hazael smote them (the Israelites) on the whole of the border of Israel,” i.e., of the kingdom, “from Jordan to the sun-rising (i.e., on the eastern side of the Jordan), the whole of the land of Gilead (כּל־ארץ את is dependent upon יכּה which must be supplied from יכּם), namely, the territory of the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and Half-Manasseh, from Aroer on the brook Arnon (now Araayr, a ruin on the northern border of the Mojeb (Arnon) valley; see at Num 32:34), the southern border of the Israelitish land to the east of the Jordan (Deu 2:36; Deu 3:12), both Gilead and Bashan,” the two countries into which Gilead in the broader sense was divided (see at Deu 3:8-17). - These conquests took place during the twenty-eight years’ reign of Jehu, since Hazael began to reign before Jehu, viz., while Joram was king, and had already fought successfully against the Israelites at Ramoth in Joram’s reign (2Ki 8:28-29), but not in the later part of Jehu’s reign, as Thenius supposes.
Verses 34-36
Conclusion of the history of Jehu’s reign. The length of his reign is not given till the end in this instance (2Ki 10:36), contrary to the usual custom in our books, because his ascent of the throne is not expressly mentioned in what precedes; but the general character of his reign is given in immediate connection with the account of his anointing and of the extermination of Ahab’s dynasty.
Chap. 11
Verses 1-3
The Government of Athaliah (cf. 2Ch 22:10-12). After the death of Ahaziah of Judah, his mother Athaliah, a daughter of Ahab and Jezebel (see at 2Ki 8:18 and 2Ki 8:26), seized upon the government, by putting to death all the king’s descendants with the exception of Joash, a son of Ahaziah of only a year old, who had been secretly carried off
