I. JEHU. The Prophet Jehu, the son of Hanani, was sent by God about the year 3073 or 3074, before Jesus Christ 927 or 928, before the Vulgar Æra 931 or 932, to Baasha King of Israel, with directions 1 Kings xvi. 1.to say, Forasmuch as I exalted
9 H thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel, and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins: Behold I will take away the posterity of Baasha, and the posterity of his house, and will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. Him that dieth of Baasha in the city, shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth of his in the fields, shall the fowls of the air eat. The Text of the Vulgate adds, that Baasha incensed at the liberty taken by Jehu, the son of Hanani, put him to death: but in the Hebrew Text it is said only, Jehu having declared to Baasha what the Lord had pronounced against him, and that the Lord would treat his house as he had treated the house of Jeroboam; for this he slew him. It is not expressly mention’d
whether Baasha slew Jehu, or the Lord Baasha. That which makes the latter more credible, is, that in the year of the World 3107, about thirty years after the death of Baasha, we see Jehu again, the son of Hanani, who is sent by God with reproaches from him to Jehoshaphat King of 2 Chron. xix. 1, 2, &c.Judah. Shouldst thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? therefore is wrath upon thee before the Lord. Nevertheless, because good things are found in thee, the Lord hath spared thee. Certainly if Jehu had been put to death by Baasha, he could not have appeared so long afterwards before Jehoshaphat. Some will have it, that there were two Jehu’s, the sons of Hanani: but I should chuse to say, that in the first passage which we have proposed, the death of Baasha, not that of Jehu, is intimated, rather than multiply persons without necessity. Lastly, we know nothing more of Jehu’s life1. Hanani his father was likewise a Prophet, and is spoken of by us under his proper title.
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Footnotes
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Translators’ note. It is said in 2 Chron. xx. 34 Now the rest of the Acts of Jehoshaphat first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Jehu the son of Hanani, who is mentioned in the book of the Kings of Israel. From whence it appears, that the Prophets employ’d themselves in recording the transactions of their times, and that what Jehu had written of this kind, was thought worthy to be inserted in the Memoirs, wherein the several events were registred, which daily happen’d in every Prince’s reign. See Theodor. Præfat. in 1 Reg. ↩