2 Kings 10:8

8 And a messenger came, and told him, saying: They have brought the heads of the king’s sons. And he said: Lay ye them in two heaps by the entering in of the gate until the morning.

2 Kings 10:8 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 10:8

And there came a messenger, and told him, saying, they have
brought the heads of the king's sons
Perhaps this messenger to Jehu came from the great men of Samaria themselves, to let him know that they had obeyed his orders:

and he said, lay ye them in two heaps at the entering in of the gate
until the morning;
very probably it was towards or at the evening they were brought; and he ordered them to be taken out of the baskets, and laid in two heaps at the entering of the gate of the city, that they might be taken notice of, and publicly viewed by the people that passed and repassed the gate; and where they met in great numbers, either on account of the market there, or court of judicature there held, especially in mornings; and here they were to remain till the morning, though not without a guard, that they might still be more exposed to view; Noldius ^F16 renders it, "without the door of the gate", for they were brought at night, when the gate was shut.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F16 Ebr. Conc. Part. p. 68. No. 340.

2 Kings 10:8 In-Context

6 And he wrote letters the second time to them, saying: If you be mine, and will obey me, take the heads of the sons of your master, and come to me to Jezrahel by tomorrow at this time. Now the king’s sons, being seventy men, were brought up with the chief men of the city.

7 And when the letters came to them, they took the king’s sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Jezrahel.

8 And a messenger came, and told him, saying: They have brought the heads of the king’s sons. And he said: Lay ye them in two heaps by the entering in of the gate until the morning.

9 And when it was light, he went out, and standing, said to all the people: You are just: if I conspired against my master, and slew him; who hath slain all these?

10 See therefore now that there hath not fallen to the ground any of the words of the Lord, which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Achab, and the Lord hath done that which he spoke in the hand of his servant Elias.