Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

The skull - the feet, and the palms of her hands - The dogs did not eat those parts, say Jarchi and Kimchi, because in her festal dances she danced like a dog, on her hands and feet, wantonly moving her head. What other meaning these rabbins had, I do not inquire. She was, no doubt, guilty of the foulest actions, and was almost too bad to be belied.

How literally was the prediction delivered in the preceding book, ( 1 Kings 21:23, The dogs shall eat Jezebel, by the wall of Jezreel), fulfilled! And how dearly did she and her husband Ahab pay for the murder of innocent Naboth!

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And they went to bury her,.... The servants of Jehu, according to his orders and instructions:

but they found no more of her than the scull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands; the flesh, and even all the rest of her bones, being devoured by dogs, so that there was scarce anything of her to be buried, as in 2 Kings 9:10, something similar to this happened to Ascletarion, a mathematician, as related by Suetonius^F15In Vita Domitian. c. 15. .

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

found no more of her than the skull, and the palms of her hands, etc. — The dog has a rooted aversion to prey on the human hands and feet.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

2 Kings 9:35 And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of [her] hands.

Ver. 35. Than the skull, and the feet.] All her flesh was devoured by dogs. And the like befell those Donatists that cast the sacramental bread to dogs, as is before noted. Let all dogged persecutors look to it: Qualis vita, finis ita; those that fall foul upon the saints, shall come to an ill end, as were easy to exemplify.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

35.Skull’ feet’ hands — An eastern traveller, describing the remains of some human bodies that had been devoured by dogs, says: “The only portion of the several corpses I noticed that remained entire and untouched, were the bottoms of the feet, and the insides of the hands — a proof of the rooted antipathy the dog has to prey upon the human hands and feet.” Dr. Thomson supposes that the dogs under Jezebel’s palace “may have been taught to devour the wretched victims of her cruelty, in which case the retribution would be remarkably striking.”

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Hands. All the rest had been presently devoured, or carried off by dogs. (Haydock) --- Her precious jewels had been plundered by the soldiers. (Menochius)

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands.

Found no more of her than the skull ... The dog has a rooted aversion to prey on the human hands and feet. On Jehu's assumption of the royal authority, he commanded the palace attendants of Jezebel to throw her out of the open lattice from which she was observing the entrance of the regicide. Having spent some time in taking refreshments, he began to talk over the events of the day, particularly the tragic end of Jezebel, and apprehending that he had treated her with an indignity unbecoming her royal rank, he gave orders that her remains should receive a burial suitable to the station of one who had been the daughter, wife, and mother of a king. But his servants, on approaching the scene of the fatal catastrophe, "found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palm of her hands." It is evident from the history that Jehu had no design to cooperate in the confirmation of prophecy. For until he received this information, he had no recollection of the sentence pronounced against her. Then, indeed, it occurred to his mind.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(35) Her hands.—Heb., the hands.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

but they found

Job 31:3; Ecclesiastes 6:3; Isaiah 14:18-20; Jeremiah 22:19; 36:30; Acts 12:23