In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short ,.... To bring their dominions into a narrower compass; this was done in the days of Jehu, though he was so active and courageous, wherefore the hand of God was the more seen in it: and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel ; which bordered on his country, when he did what Elisha foretold he would, 2 Kings 8:12 . read more
The Lord began to cut Israel short - The marginal reading is best: The Lord cut off the ends; and this he did by permitting Hazael to seize on the coasts, to conquer and occupy the frontier towns. This was the commencement of those miserable ravages which Elisha predicted; see 2 Kings 8:12 . And we find from the next verse that he seized on all the land of Gilead, and that of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh; in a word, whatever Israel possessed on the east side... read more
THE REIGN OF JEHU OVER ISRAEL . read more
Half-heartedness punished by God as severely as actual apostasy from true religion. The temper of the Laodiceans is no uncommon one. Men may even think that they have a "zeal for the Lord" ( 2 Kings 10:16 ), and yet show by their acts that it is every half-hearted zeal—a zeal that goes a certain length, and then stops suddenly. There is no reason to doubt that Jehu honestly disliked, nay, perhaps detested, the religion of Baal. It was an effeminate, sensual, weakening, debasing system,... read more
The reign of Jehu. Under this head we note— I. JEHU 'S REWARD . 1. Four generations on the throne . Jehu had outwardly fulfilled the commission given him by God, and had wrought a great deliverance for Israel. This public service God acknowledged by the promise that his sons should sit upon the throne to the fourth generation. The service was outward, and the reward was outward. Approval of Jehu's deeds did not extend to approval of every detail in his conduct. The... read more
In those days the Lord began to out Israel short. It is certainly not stated in direct terms that the ill success of Jehu's foreign wars was a punishment on him for his continued maintenance of the calf-idolatry; but the juxtaposition of 2 Kings 10:31 and 2 Kings 10:32 naturally raises the idea, and constitutes a strong presumption that it was in the writer's mind. The "theocracy" under the kings was carried on mainly, as the writer of Chronicles clearly saw, by the bestowal of worldly... read more
Jehu's wars, length of reign, and successor. read more
To cut Israel short - literally, “to cut off in Israel,” i. e., to take away from Israel portions of its territory (see the marginal reference). read more
2 Kings 10:32. In those days In the time of Jehu’s life and reign, 2 Kings 10:34. The Lord began to cut Israel short Either to diminish the number of the people by cutting them off, or to straiten their borders. Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel In their borders, or the outermost part of their land, beyond Jordan, as it is explained 2 Kings 10:33; and at this time, probably, he executed the cruelties predicted by Elisha, 2 Kings 8:12. read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Kings 10:29-36
Here is all the account of the reign of Jehu, though it continued twenty-eight years. The progress of it answered not to the glory of its beginning. We have here, I. God's approbation of what Jehu had done. Many, it is probable, censured him as treacherous and barbarous?called him a rebel, a usurper, a murderer, and prognosticated ill concerning him, that a family thus raised would soon be ruined; but God said, Well done (2 Kgs. 10:30), and then it signified little who said otherwise. 1. God... read more