2 Kings 9:22 - Exposition

And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? Still the same question is asked; but we cannot be sure that it is asked in exactly the same sense. Something in the aspect of Jehu, and in his furious haste, may by this time have alarmed the king. Or possibly he maybe merely repeating the question put through his messengers, and still unanswered, Is all well with the army or no? Has there been any disaster?" Jehu, at any rate, chooses to understand his vague phrase in the former sense, as if he had asked, "Is it peace between thee and me?" and answers in the negative. And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witch-crafts are so many? literally, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and those many witchcrafts of hers continue . By "whoredoms" are meant idolatries, as so frequently in Scripture (Le 2 Kings 19:29 ; 2 Kings 20:5 ; Jeremiah 3:2 , Jeremiah 3:9 ; Jeremiah 13:17 ; Ezekiel 16:17 ; Ezekiel 20:30 ; Ezekiel 23:11 , etc.; Hosea 2:2 ; Hosea 4:12 ; Hosea 5:4 ; Nahum 3:4 , etc.); by "witchcrafts" all those magical practices which were so common at the time in Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia, and no doubt also in Phoenicia, and which were so strictly forbidden by the Mosaic Law ( Exodus 22:18 ; Deuteronomy 18:10 ). Besides the Baal-worship, Jezebel had introduced these unhallowed practices into the kingdom of Israel. Jehu reproaches Joram with allowing them, and declares that there can be no peace between him and his master under ouch circumstances. Having gained his object and got within bowshot of the unsuspecting monarch, he throws off the mask and declares uncompromising hostility. "No man could use such terms of the queen-mother who was willing any longer to be a subject."