2 Kings 10 is the tenth chapter of the second part of the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible or the Second Book of Kings in the Old Testament of the ChristianBible. The book is a compilation of various annals recording the acts of the kings of Israel and Judah by a Deuteronomic compiler in the seventh century BCE, with a supplement added in the sixth century BCE. This chapter records Jehu's massacres of the sons of Ahab, the kinsmen of Ahaziah the king of Judah and the Baal worshippers linked to Jezebel. The narrative is a part of a major section 2 Kings 9:1–15:12 covering the period of Jehu's dynasty.
This chapter and the previous one contain the narrative of Jehu's overthrow of the Omride dynasty and destruction of the Baal worship in Israel, reopening the battle against apostasy which was started by Elijah. Following his anointing, Jehu executed a total revolution in Israel and Judah, by killing the reigning kings of both kingdoms. The narrative may be divided into two parallel sections, the first one about the assassination of the leaders and the second about the killing of their kinsmen, ending with a summary of Jehu's reign and the consequences of his action in relation to his faithfulness to YHWH. The structure can be as follows:
Jehu massacres the house of Ahab (10:1–11)
The eradication of the entire ruling house after a coup was common in the ancient Near East, because it minimized the threat of blood-revenge and claims to the throne. As the royal house of Omri is in Samaria, Jehu wrote to the Samarians to 'choose between loyalty to the previous dynasty and defection to him, the murderer of their king'. The Samarians, like the Jezreelites, chose to follow Jehu and they brought the heads of the decapitated 70 Omrides to Jezreel. Jehu took responsibility for murdering the king, but not for the slaughter of the royal family. It seems that Jehu was God's instrument to fulfill the prophecy spoken through the prophet Elijah, but the way he executed the coup was blameworthy, because about 100 years later the prophet Hosea states that God 'will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel'.
The correspondence regarding the fate of the Ahab's sons recalls Ahab and Jezebel's correspondence with the nobles of Jezreel regarding Naboth's fate.
Verse 10
"By his servant Elijah": lit. in Hebrew "by the hand of his servant Elijah."
Jehu massacres the kinsmen of King Ahaziah (10:12–14)
Forty-two male members of the Judean royal family, who were closely tied and related to the Israelite royal house near Betheked and ignorantly announced 'their allegiance to the Omrides, and thereby condemned themselves to death'.
Jehu massacres worshipers of Baal and destroys house of Baal (9:15–28)
In their common 'zeal for the LORD', Jehu formed an alliance with Jehonadab ben Rechab, presumably the leader of a nomadic YHWH-worshipping religious clan which had strictly detached itself from the culture and religion of the country. The news that many Omrides have been killed is related to the full execution of the announcement made in. Jehu then targets the house of Baal in Samaria, established since the time of Ahab. As the Baal worshippers were closely linked to Ahab's royal family, the attack on them is clearly in line with Jehu's revolution. Jehu gathers all the prophets and priests in the temple using lures and threats. Jehu's announcement, 'I have a great sacrifice to offer to Baal' is 'cruelly ambiguous, as he initially performs the sacrificial rites as a devout king would do, only to order the ensuing human sacrifice'. According to verse 21, all servants of Baal throughout Israel should be eradicated, but individual YHWH-worshippers must first be separated from the mass, recalling the same problem in Genesis 18:17–33. Jehu's soldiers executed the order thoroughly, destroying the cella and the matzbas within it, then transforming the holy site into a latrine, to remain so 'unto this day'. Jehu's victory led to a decisive turn in the political and religious history of Israel.
Verse 27
"Latrine": from the written Hebrew word מַחֲרָאוֹת, meaning "places to defecate" or "dung houses" /חֲרִי, which is only used here in the Hebrew Bible. The marginal note has the reading מוֹצָאוֹת, “outhouses”, perhaps a euphemistic gloss.
The reign of Jehu (10:29–36)
The final passage of this chapter contains annal notes of Jehu's reign. Jehu eradicated Baal worship in Israel, but the idol worship sites still stood in Bethel and Dan, so he received bad rating, although his dynasty lasted four generations: no more than the Omrides, but longer in years in the same period, it was written that the Arameans had comprehensive victories over Israel and Judah, explicitly stating the killing of "Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel and Ahaziah son of Jehoram of the king of the house of David" with a probable reading of Jehu appointed to rule Israel. This could mean that Jehu was Hazael's accomplice. Soon the Assyrians came to defeat the Arameans, so Jehu might have to pay tribute to Shalmaneser III the Assyrian king, as depicted in the Black Obelisk.
Verse 36
"Twenty and eight years": According to Thiele's chronology, following "non-accession year method", Jehu was the king of Israel starting between April and September 841 BCE until his death between September 814 BCE and April 813 BCE, which is from 90th year to 118th year after the separation of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
