le of Israel. The circumstance that, in this
explanation, Jezreel occurs as a proper name, without any regard being
paid to its appellative signification[2]--an allusion to which occurs
only in the announcement of the salvation--shows that here too it must
be viewed in the same way. The correct view is this. Jezreel was the
place where the last great judgment of God upon the kingdom of Israel
had been executed. The apostasy from the Lord, and the innocent blood
of His servants, shed by Jezebel and the whole house of Ahab, had been
there avenged upon them by Jehu, the founder of the dynasty which was
reigning at the time of the prophet. At the command of God, Jehu is
anointed as king by one of the sons of the prophets sent by Elisha, 2
Kings ix. In vers. 6-9 the Lord says to him through the latter: "I
anoint thee king over the people of the Lord, over Israel. And thou
shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master; and _I avenge the blood of My
servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord at
the hand of Jezebel, and the whole house of Ahab shall perish._ And I
give the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and
like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah." The execution corresponded
with the command. When Jehu approached Jezreel, Joram the son of Ahab
went out against him, and met him in the portion of Naboth the
Jezreelite, ver. 21. Appealing to the declaration of the Lord, [Pg 204]
"Surely I have seen the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, and
I will requite thee in this portion of ground" (ver. 26), Jehu orders
the corpse of the slain king to be cast thither. At Jezreel, Jezebel
too found a disgraceful death. Thither, as to the central point of
vengeance, were sent the heads of the seventy royal princes, who had
been slain, x. 1-10, and there Jehu slew all that remained of the house
of Ahab, ver. 11.--The royal house, and, along with it, all Israel, are
now anew to become a Jezreel; _i.e._, the same divine punitive justice
which, at that time, was manifested at Jezreel, is to be exhibited
anew. The reason why this should be, is stated in the explanation. The
house of Jehu, and all Israel, shall become a Jezreel, in as far as
punishment is concerned, because they have become a Jezreel with
respect to guilt, and because, as in former times at Jezreel, so now
again, blood that has been shed cries to the Lord for vengeance. Where
a new carcase is, there the eagles must anew be g