[151] The name was not uncommon, 1 Chron. ii. 38, iv. 35, xii. 3. [152] 2 Kings xiii. 20, xxiv. 2; Jer. xlviii. [153] 2 Kings vi. 8-23. [154] 2 Kings vii. 6. [155] Jehoram = Jehovah is exalted. Ahaziah = Jehovah holds. [156] Vial (_pak_) only here and in 1 Sam. x. 1. "_The_ oil" (LXX., τὸν φακὸν τοῦ ἐλαίου). [157] "His habit fit for speed _succinct_" (Milton). [158] Inner chamber, 1 Kings xx. 30. [159] Perhaps, if Elisha had gone in person, suspicion might have been aroused. He was not more than fifty at this time, and lived forty-three years more. [160] _Seder Olam_, c. 18. [161] It seems as though they were _inside_ the town to defend it, not a beleaguring host outside. [162] The expression is remarkable, as showing how completely the prerogative of the Chosen People was supposed to rest with the Ten Tribes, as the most important representatives of the seed of Abraham. [163] "Him that is shut up, and him that is left at large in Israel" (2 Kings ix. 8; 1 Kings xiv. 10, xvi. 3, 4). [164] The A.V. has, less accurately, "in the _portion_ of Jezreel." See 1 Kings xxi. 23. Heb., חֵלֶק. The חֵיל of an Eastern town is the ditch and empty space--a sort of external _pomœrium_ around it. It is the place of offal, and the haunt of vultures and pariah dogs. [165] 1 Sam. xvi. 4: "Comest thou peaceably?" [166] 2 Kings ix. 11, הַמְּשֻׁנָּצ LXX., ὁ ἑπίληπτος. Comp. ver. 20, "he driveth _furiously_" (בְשִׁנָּצון). [167] Ver. 12, a lie! (שֶׁקֶר). [168] What is meant by the _gerem_ of the staircase is uncertain. The word means "a bone" (Aquila, ὀστῶδες), and is, in this connection, an ἅπαξ λεγόμενον. The Targum explains it as the top vane of a stair-dial. The margin of the R.V. renders it "on the bare steps." The Vulgate renders it _in similitudinem tribunalis_, as though _gerem_ meant _tselem_. The LXX. conceal their perplexity by simply translating the word ἐπὶ τὸ γαρέμ. Grotius and Clericus, _in fastigio graduum_. Symmachus, ἐπὶ μίαν τῶν ἀναβαθμίδων. [169] 2 Kings ix. 14: "So Jehu _conspired_ against Joram." The same word is used in 2 Chron. xxiv. 25, 26. [170] 2 Kings ix. 15, R.V.: "If this be your mind." [171] So far as we know, he never returned to Ramoth-Gilead, of which indeed we hear no more. [172] Tristram, _Land of Moab_. [173] Heb., _Shiph'hath_, "a dust-storm" (LXX., κονιορτόν, αἰ. ὄχλον; Vulg., _globum_), not as in A.V. and R.V., "a company." Comp. Isa. lx. 6; Ezek. xxvi. 10. [174] Clearly the rendering "he driveth furiously" is right. The word "furiously" is _beshigga'ôn_ (Vulg., _præceps_), and is connected with "mad," ver. 11. LXX., ἐν παραλλαγῇ. Arab. Chald., "quietly." Josephus, "leisurely, and in good order." Such an approach would not, however, have been at all in accordance with the perilous urgency of his intent. [175] Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, is named from his grandfather Nimshi, who seems to have been the founder of the greatness of his house.