Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

The shearing house - Probably the place where the shepherds met for the annual sheep shearing.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The shearing-house - literally, as in margin. Perhaps already a proper name, Beth-eked, identical with the Beth-akad of Jerome, which is described as between Jezreel and Samaria; but not yet identified.

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible

JEHU'S MURDER OF FORTY-TWO MEN WAS ASSOCIATED WITH AHAZIAH

"And he arose and departed, and went to Samaria. And as he was at the shearing-house of the shepherds in the way, Jehu met with the brethren of Ahaziah, king of Judah, and said, Who are ye? And they answered, We are the brethren of Ahaziah: and we go down to salute the children of the king and the children of the queen. 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."

"The brethren of Ahaziah" (2 Kings 10:13). Ahaziah had no brothers, in the usual sense of the word; so these were probably close kin, such as nephews and cousins (See 2 Chronicles 22:8). They were princes of Judah who ministered to Ahaziah.

"The children of the queen" (2 Kings 10:13). The RSV is preferable here which reads, `the queen-mother.' Since Ahaziah king of Judah had taken a daughter of Jezebel and Ahab as his wife, there is little wonder that this king of Judah was identified heart and soul with Ahab's god, of which Josephus flatly declared, "Ahab's god was Baal."[11]

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

To make a clear riddance there of all that belonged to Ahab, as at Jezreel, and abolish idolatry there:

and as he was at the shearing house in the way; or, "the house of the binding of the shepherds", who, in shearing their sheep, bind their legs together; the Targum is,"the house of the gathering of the shepherds;'where they used to meet and converse together; with some it is the proper name of a place, Betheked, a country village between Jezreel and Samaria. Jerom speaks^F17De loc. Heb. fol. 89. K. of a village of this name, situated in a large plain, about fifteen miles from a place called Legion, which village he takes to be this here.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

2 Kings 10:12 And he arose and departed, and came to Samaria. [And] as he [was] at the shearing house in the way,

Ver. 12. And as he was at the shearing house.] Or, Slaughter house. Heb., Bethhekedi of the shepherds; locus ligaminis.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Where they used to shear sheep, and then to feast, after their manner, 1 Samuel 25:36 2 Samuel 13:23. Or this may be the name of a place, Beth-hekel of the shepherds; or, Beth-heked-rohim.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Cabin. Hebrew Beth-heked, (Haydock) a term which the Septuagint do not translate. It means, "house of tying," as the sheep were tied to be shorn. (Menochius) --- Eusebius places it in the great plain, 15 miles from Legion. (Calmet) --- It was not a despicable hut, (Haydock) but like the houses where Nabal and Absalom shore their sheep, 1 Kings xxv., &c. (Tirinus)

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

And he arose and departed, and came to Samaria. And as he was at the shearing house in the way,

At the shearing house, [ Beeyt-`Eeqed (Hebrew #1044) haaro`iym (Hebrew #7462)] - house of shepherds binding (shearing) sheep; or it may be a proper name, Beth-heked-rohim.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) And he arose . . . and came.—So the Syriac, rightly. The common Hebrew text has, “And he arose and came and departed.”

And as he was at the shearing house in the way.—Rather, He was at Beth-eqed-haroim on the way. The Targum renders: “He was at the shepherds’ meeting-house on the way.” The place was probably a solitary building, which served as a rendezvous for the shepherds of the neighbourhood. (The root ‘aqad means “to bind,” or “knot together;” hence the common explanation of the name is “the shepherds’ binding house,” i.e., the place where they bound their sheep for the shearing. But the idea of binding is easily connected with that of meeting, gathering together: comp. our words band, knot.) The LXX. has: “He was at Baithakad (or Baithakath) of the shepherds.” Eusebius mentions a place called Beithakad, fifteen Roman miles from Legio (Lejjûn), identical with the present Beitkâd, six miles east of Jenîn, in the plain of Esdraelon; but this seems too far off the route from Jezreel to Samaria, which passes Jenîn.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

shearing house

Heb. house of shepherds binding sheep.