The second time. — Some MSS., the LXX., and the Arabic read “a second letter.”
Take ye the heads. — Jehu knew his men. The cool cynicism of his savage order is worthy of a Sulla or a Marius.
The heads of the men your master’s sons. — Literally, the heads of the men of the sons of your master Some MSS., the Syriac, Arabic, and Vulg., as well as the MSS. mentioned by Origen, omit the word men. Thenius thinks that this word is used to indicate that only male descendants of Ahab were to be put to death (?). The Alexandrian LXX. omits sons; and four Hebrew MSS. read instead house. The Authorised Version, however, is a permissible interpretation of the Hebrew.
Come. — LXX., bring (them) which is a natural conjecture.
To Jezreel. — A journey of more than twenty miles.
By to morrow this time. — Jehu is urgent for despatch, because time is all-important. He wishes to convince the people of Jezreel as soon as possible that none of the royal princes were left to claim the crown, and that the nobles of Samaria have joined his cause.
Now the king’s sons... brought them up. — This is a correct translation. According to the Masoretic punctuation, and supposing that the particle ’eth (rendered “with”) might here be used merely to introduce the subject, we might render: “Now the king’s sons were seventy persons; the great men of the city were bringing them up.” But such a usage of ‘eth is very doubtful. (Comp. 2 Kings 6:5.) The sentence, in any case, is only a parenthetic reminder of what was stated in 2 Kings 10:1. The total seventy is, perhaps, not to be taken as exact, seventy being a favourite round number. (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1:42.)