“And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.”
King James Version (KJV)
16:31 A light thing - The Hebrew runs, was it a light thing, &c,that is, was this but a small sin, that therefore he needed to add moreabominations? Where the question, as is usual among the Hebrews,implies a strong denial; and intimates, that this was no small sin, buta great crime; and might have satisfied his wicked mind, without anyadditions. Jezebel - A woman infamous for her idolatry, and cruelty, andsorcery, and filthiness. Eth - baal - Called Ithbalus, or Itobalusin heathen writers. So she was of an heathenish and idolatrous race. Suchas the kings and people of Israel were expressly forbidden to marry.Baal - The idol which the Sidonians worshipped, which is thought to beHercules. And this idolatry was much worse than that of the calves;because in the calves they worshipped the true God; but in these, false godsor devils.
16:34 In his days - This is added, as an instance of the certainty of divine predictions, this being fulfilled eight hundred years after it was threatened; and withal, as a warning to the Israelites, not to think themselves innocent or safe, because the judgment threatened against them by Ahijah, chap.#14:15|, was not yet executed. Or, as an evidence of the horrible corruption of his times, and of that high contempt of God which then reigned.The Bethelite - Who lived in Bethel, the seat and sink of idolatry,wherewith he was throughly leavened. He laid, &c. - That is, in thebeginning of his building, God took away his first - born, and otherssuccessively in the progress of the work, and the youngest when he finishedit. And so he found by his own sad experience, the truth of God's word.