There came a messenger. — Literally, and the messenger came in. Josephus says Jehu was giving a banquet.
Heaps. — The noun (çibbûr) occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament. In the Talmud it means “congregation,” as we say colloquially “a heap of persons.” The verb (çâbar) means “to heap up.” (See Exodus 8:10.)
At the entering in of the gate. — The place of public business, where all the citizens would see them. (Comp. 2 Kings 7:3; 1 Kings 22:10.) But perhaps not the city gate, but the gate of the palace is to be understood. Parallels to this deed of Jehu are not wanting in the history of modern Persia. (Comp. 1 Samuel 17:54; 2Ma. 15:30; and the comparatively recent custom in our own country of fixing up the heads of traitors on London Bridge.)