stood at the window of her palace. Jehu[1] seeing her at the window, ordered her servants to cast her down. They did so, and the walls were sprinkled with her blood, and the hoofs of the horses trod upon her, and the dogs came and ate her flesh, so that only her skull, feet and hands remained for burial.
COMMENTARY.
The Omniscience of God. God knew and revealed to Elias that Naboth was innocent, and that Achab had seized his vineyard by unjust means.
The Justice of God. Achab and his wicked wife were not able to enjoy for long their ill-gotten possession. The measure of their sins was full, and God punished them by a terrible and unexpected death. Jezabel’s body was trampled on by horses and devoured by dogs in Jezrahel, where she had murdered Naboth. Such was the terrible end of this imperious and arrogant woman l “Treasures of wickedness shall profit nothing” (Prov. 10, 2).
The Faithfulness of God. The punishment with which Almighty God threatened Achab and Jezabel came to pass. When Achab went out to fight against the Syrians, he disguised himself so that he might not be recognised as king and attacked. But “a certain man (of the Syrians) bent his bow, shooting at a venture, and chanced to strike the king of Israel between the lungs and the stomach. And the blood ran out of the wound in the midst of the chariot, and he died in the evening. And they washed his chariot in the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood” (3 Kings 22, 34 &c.). Now was it by chance that the arrow hit the disguised king? that his blood flowed into the chariot? and that the dogs licked it up? No, all this occurred under the Providence of the just and true God, who moulded circumstances so as to bring that to pass which He had threatened.
The eighth Commandment. The witnesses against Naboth sinned grievously; for they bore false witness in a court of justice, as to a serious matter that involved life and death. They were rightly called children of the devil, because it requires a devilish malice to commit such a sin.
The tenth Commandment. Achab sinned grievously against this Commandment by coveting the inheritance of Naboth.
The seventh Commandment. He also sinned grievously against this Commandment by taking for himself the property of the murdered man.
Sharing in the guilt of others. The prophet said to Achab: “Thou hast slain &c.” But how could Achab be Naboth’s murderer? He had
- ↑ Jehu. Jehu had all Achab's children and relatives put to death, so that the whole race of the impious king was destroyed.
