2 Kings 10:33

From Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(33) From Jordan eastward.—This verse defines the border land which Hazael ravaged, and, in fact, occupied. It was the land east of the Jordan, that is to say, all the land of Gilead, which was the territory of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh.

From Aroer.—Aroer, now ‘Arâ‘îr, on the Arnon, was the southern limit of Gilead, which extended northward to Mount Hermon, and included Bashan. “Even (both) Gilead and Bashan,” is added to make it clear that the whole of the land east of the Jordan, and not merely Gilead in the narrower sense, was conquered by Hazael. These conquests of Hazael were characterised by great barbarity. (Comp. Amos 1:3-5, and Elisha’s prediction of the same, 2Kings 8:12, supra.) Ewald thinks Hazael took advantage of the internal troubles at the outset of the reign to effect his conquests. But a man of Jehu’s energy must soon have established domestic tranquillity.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:29-36 It is justly questionable whether Jehu acted from a good principle, and whether he did not take some false steps in doing it; yet no services done for God shall go unrewarded. But true conversion is not only from gross sin, but from all sin; not only from false gods, but from false worships. True conversion is not only from wasteful sins, but from gainful sins; not only from sins which hurt our worldly interests, but from those that support and befriend them; in forsaking which is the great trial whether we can deny ourselves and trust God. Jehu showed great care and zeal for rooting out a false religion, but in the true religion he cared not, took no heed to please God and do his duty. Those that are heedless, it is to be feared, are graceless. The people were also careless, therefore it is not strange that in those days the Lord began to cut Israel short. They were short in their duty to God, therefore God cut them short in their extent, wealth, and power.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The loss of the entire trans-Jordanic territory seems to be intended, or at any rate its complete ruin and devastation (compare marginal reference "y"). This was the home of the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and of the half tribe of Manasseh Joshua 22:1-9. It was more accessible from Damascus than the region west of the river.

Aroer - There were several places of this name. The one here mentioned is the most famous (compare Deuteronomy 2:36 note).

Even Gilead and Bashan - The writer had previously called the whole territory "Gilead;" now he distinguishes it, more accurately, into Gilead, the southern, and Bashan, the northern region 1 Kings 4:13, 1 Kings 4:19.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

29. Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam … Jehu departed not from after them—Jehu had no intention of carrying his zeal for the Lord beyond a certain point, and as he considered it impolitic to encourage his subjects to travel to Jerusalem, he re-established the symbolic worship of the calves.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

From Jordan eastward, to wit, from the land of Canaan.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

From Jordan eastward,.... This was principally the coast on which Hazael smote them, to the east of the land of Canaan:

all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Moabites; the country on the other side Jordan, given to these tribes by Moses, at their request, which were before the kingdoms of Sihon and of Og:

from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan: countries which the Israelites first conquered, and were the first they lost.

Geneva Study Bible

From Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

33. Gilead] This country lay between Bashan on the north, and Moab and Ammon on the south. It was of a mountainous character, and was chosen by the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh because it was so well adapted for the pasturage of their numerous flocks. These tribes were all included at this time in Hazael’s conquest, and so the phrase ‘cut Israel short’ was fully borne out, for one quarter of the whole ten tribes was thus taken from her.

Aroer] This city was on the south boundary of the tribe of Reuben, which was the southernmost of the three trans-Jordanic tribes. Thus it marks the extreme limit in that direction of the conquests here mentioned, while Bashan marks that on the north. Nothing was left to Israel, east of the Jordan, for Bashan was the northern part of the land assigned to the half tribe of Manasseh.

Arnon] This torrent bed, full of water in the rainy season, but dry in summer, after the character of all the clefts in the east of Jordan, is wrongly described by ‘river’ of A.V. In R.V. it is rendered valley of Arnon. It formed the border between Israel and Moab.

Bashan] This district, which like Gilead was mountainous, lay between Gilead and Mt Hermon. It was well wooded also. ‘The oaks of Bashan’ are frequently mentioned, and so are the cattle, the ‘fat bulls of Bashan’. The loss of such a district must have been very fatal to Israel. After this notice Bashan, which in the early days is often spoken of in connexion with Og, the king whom the Israelites vanquished on entering the land, disappears from the Bible history. Hazael’s conquest was never recovered.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 33. - From Jordan eastward. The territory west of the Jordan was not attacked at this time. Hazael's expeditious were directed against the trans-Jordanic region, the seats of the three tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. This tract was far easier of access than the other, and was more tempting, being the richest part of Palestine. The region comprised all the land of Gilead - i.e. the more southern region, reaching from the borders of Moab on the south to the Hieromax or Sheriat-el-Mandhur upon the north, the proper land of the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and [a portion of] the Manassites - together with Bashan, the more northern region, which belonged wholly to Manasseh - from Aroer (now Arair), which is by the river Arnon - the Wady-el-Mojeb, which was the boundary between Israel and Moab (Numbers 21:13, 24), both in the earlier and (Isaiah 16:2) in the later times - even Gilead and Bashan. There is other evidence, besides this, that Hazael was one of the most warlike of the Syrian kings. We find him, on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser II., mentioned as a stubborn adversary of the Assyrian arms. In the seventeenth campaign of Shalmaneser, a great battle was fought between the two monarchs. Hazael brought into the field more than twelve hundred chariots, but was defeated, and obliged to retreat, his camp falling into the hands of the enemy ('Records of the Past,' vol. 5. p. 84). Four years later Shalmaneser invaded Hazael's territory, and took, according to his own account (ibid., p. 35), four cities or fortresses belonging to him. He does not claim, however, to have made him a tributary; and By his later annals it is evident that he avoided further contest, preferring to turn his arms in other directions. (On Hazael's campaign in Philistia, and designs against Jerusalem, see the comment upon 2 Kings 12:17, 18,) 2 Kings 10:33

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Therefore (this link of connection follows from the actual fact, though it is not distinctly mentioned in the text) Hazael had now to inflict chastisement upon faithless Israel. In Jehu's days Jehovah began "to cut off in Israel," i.e., to rend away certain portions from the kingdom. "Hazael smote them (the Israelites) on the whole of the border of Israel," i.e., of the kingdom, "from Jordan to the sun-rising (i.e., on the eastern side of the Jordan), the whole of the land of Gilead (כּל־ארץ את is dependent upon יכּה which must be supplied from יכּם), namely, the territory of the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and Half-Manasseh, from Aroer on the brook Arnon (now Araayr, a ruin on the northern border of the Mojeb (Arnon) valley; see at Numbers 32:34), the southern border of the Israelitish land to the east of the Jordan (Deuteronomy 2:36; Deuteronomy 3:12), both Gilead and Bashan," the two countries into which Gilead in the broader sense was divided (see at Deuteronomy 3:8-17). - These conquests took place during the twenty-eight years' reign of Jehu, since Hazael began to reign before Jehu, viz., while Joram was king, and had already fought successfully against the Israelites at Ramoth in Joram's reign (2 Kings 8:28-29), but not in the later part of Jehu's reign, as Thenius supposes.