[176] 2 Kings ix. 23: "Turned his hands." Comp. 1 Kings xxii. 34. [177] Ver. 24. Vulg., _inter scapulas_. [178] LXX., reading בּרְכָּיו צַל. [179] Bidkar, perhaps Bar-dekar, "Son of stabbing." Comp. 1 Kings iv. 9. [180] Heb., _ts'madim_, "in pairs"; LXX., ἐπιβεβηκότες ἐπὶ ζεύγη. It is uncertain whether Jehu and Bidkar were in the same chariot as Ahab, as Josephus says (καθεζομένους ὄπισθεν τοῦ ἅρματος), or in a separate chariot. [181] 2 Kings ix. 26: "Saith the Lord." Ephraem Syrus omits these words. He says that the night before Jehu had seen the blood of Naboth and his sons in a dream. Comp. Hom., _Od._, iii. 258: Τῷ κε οἱ οὐδὲ θανόντι χυτὴν ἐπὶ γαῖαν ἔχευαν 'Αλλ' ἄρα τονγε κύνες τε καὶ οἰωνοὶ κατέδαψαν Κείμενον ἐν πεδίῳ. [182] A.V., "By the way of the garden-house." LXX., Βαιθγάν. [183] The text is a little uncertain. [184] Thenius supposes "Gur" to mean "a caravanserai." Comp. 2 Chron. xxvi. 7, _Gur-Baal_; Vulg., _Hospitium Baalis_. [185] The account of the Chronicler (2 Chron. xxii. 9) differs from that of the earlier historian. It may, however, be (uncertainly) reconciled with it as in the text, if we suppose the words "he was hid in Samaria" to mean in Megiddo, in the territory of Samaria. Obviously, however, the traditions varied. There are difficulties about the story, for Ibleam is on the west towards Megiddo, and not between Jezreel and Samaria. [186] פּוּךְ, "Lead-glance." A mixture of pulverised antimony (_stibium_) and zinc is still used by women in the East for this purpose. _In calliblepharis dilatat oculos_ (Plin., _H. N._, xxxiii.). Keren-Happuk, the name given by Job to one of his daughters, means "horn of stibium." The object could hardly have been to _attract_ Jehu (as Ephraem Syrus thinks), for Jezebel had already a _grandson_ twenty-three years old (viii. 26). [187] A.V., "_Tired_ her head." Comp. _tiara_. Lit., "made good"; LXX., ἠγάθυνε. [188] Josephus gives the sense very well: Καλὸς δοῦλος ὁ ἀποκτείνας τὸν δεσπότην (_Antt._, IX. vi. 4). The same question might have been addressed to Baasha, Shallum, Menahem, Pekah, and Hoshea; but at least Jehu might plead a prophet's call. [189] "Two or three." Lit., "two three," like the old English "two three" for "several." [190] Ver. 33. Heb., "He trod her underfoot." LXX., Συνεπάτησαν αὐτήν; Vulg., _Conculcaverunt eam_. [191] Liv., i. 46-48. [192] Prov. xi. 10. Compare the remark of Voltaire, who saw "le peuple ivré de vin et de joie de la mort de Louis XIV." [193] 1 Kings xvi. 31. At this time Ethbaal was dead. He reigned probably from B.C. 940-908, and died at the age of sixty-eight (Jos., _Antt._, VIII. xiii. 1, IX. vi. 6; _c. Ap._, i. 18). [194] 1 Kings xxi. 23. [195] Comp. Psalm lxxxiii. 10. Her name remained a by-word till the latest days (Rev. ii. 20), and the Spanish Jews called their persecutress Isabella the Catholic "Jezebel." CHAPTER XII _JEHU ESTABLISHED ON THE THRONE_