He said, “Take them alive.” And they took them alive and slaughtered them at the pit of Beth-eked, forty-two persons, and he spared none of them.
We left Jehu in quiet possession of Jezreel, triumphing over Joram and Jezebel; and we must now attend his further motions. He knew the whole house of Ahab must be cut off, and therefore proceeded in this bloody work, and did not do it deceitfully, or by halves, Jer 48:10. I. He got the heads of all the sons of Ahab cut off by their own guardians at Samaria.
Commenting on 2 Kings 10:1-14
And he said, take them alive,.... Gave orders to his guards to seize them, and make them captives: and they took them alive, and slew them at the pit of the shearing house; where they washed the sheep when they sheered them: even forty and two men, neither left he any of them; they being, by their grandmother's side, of the house of Ahab, and...
And he said, Take them alive. And they took them alive, and slew them at the pit of the shearing house, [even] two and forty men; neither left he any of them. (f) Thus God's vengeance is on them who have any part or familiarity with the wicked.