2 Kings 9:8

The whole house. The judgment upon the house of Ahab, in which the whole family was exterminated, may appear to be unusually severe, but only because of a failure to keep in mind certain facts in regard to God’s dealings with Israel. When God organized the theocratic state of Israel at Sinai, He instituted severe civil penalties. Strong discipline was necessary to effect a reasonable degree of moral rectitude. With the institution of the monarchy a new problem presented itself. Since the power of the king was absolute, there was no authority in the land to bring the crimes of the king to justice. In instances like these, God often became the executor of civil penalty. It was more dangerous to overlook the wrongdoing of the king than to pass by the evil deeds of one of the subjects. Because of the high position held by the king, the influence of his evil example was correspondingly great. Hence the penalty inflicted was frequently severe, as in the case of Ahab and his house, or in the case of David when 70,000 men died after David’s sin in numbering Israel (2 Samuel 24). But the severity of the judgment was dictated by the measures needed to check unbridled lawlessness.

I will cut off. The expression of this verse denotes completeness of inclusion. The words appear to have been in use among the Hebrews from the time of David (1 Samuel 25:22). When Jeroboam walked in the ways of evil, this was the expression that was used concerning his posterity, who would be cut off (1 Kings 14:10). When the house of Baasha perished, this again was the expression used (1 Kings 16:11). And when Naboth had been slain and his vineyard appropriated, Elijah employed this expression against the descendants of Ahab, who were doomed to utter destruction (1 Kings 21:21). Now the prophet again employs the same words to indicate that the house of Ahab was to meet a miserable fate.