2 Kings 9:13

13 Quickly, each man took his garment and put it under Jehu on the bare steps. Then they blew the ram’s horn and proclaimed, “Jehu is king!”

2 Kings 9:13 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 9:13

Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it
under him on the top of the stairs
That is, under Jehu, that he might be raised higher, and put on an eminence above them, agreeably to the high rank and dignity he was raised unto, and which they hereby acknowledged; and that he might be conspicuous to others: and this was done upon the top of the stairs, the first and highest of them, which led up either to an upper room, or to a scaffold erected for this purpose; the Targum is, on the degree of hours, a sun dial, a stone on which were engraven the twelve hours of the day, and which, by the sun's shadow on it, it might be known what hour it was; and at, or upon this stone, they laid their clothes, for Jehu to sit upon; not their wearing apparel, but carpets, or pieces of tapestry, or such like things: and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king;
and they might come the more easily into such an acknowledgment of him as such, though he was anointed by one whom they had just called a mad fellow; being not so well affected to Ahab's family, and having a great respect for Jehu, the chief commander of the army, and especially being under a particular influence of the divine Providence, which moved them to take such a step.

2 Kings 9:13 In-Context

11 When Jehu went out to the servants of his master, they asked, “Is everything all right? Why did this madman come to you?” “You know his kind and their babble,” he replied.

12 “That is a lie!” they said. “Tell us now!” So Jehu answered, “He talked to me about this and that, saying, ‘This is what the LORD says: I anoint you king over Israel.’”

13 Quickly, each man took his garment and put it under Jehu on the bare steps. Then they blew the ram’s horn and proclaimed, “Jehu is king!”

14 Thus Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram and all Israel had been defending Ramoth-gilead against Hazael king of Aram,

15 but King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he had suffered at the hands of the Arameans in the battle against Hazael their king.) So Jehu said, “If you commanders wish to make me king, then do not let anyone escape from the city to go and tell it in Jezreel.”