2 Kings 9:1-13, Jehu to the Rescue

The next couple of posts will deal with Jehu, a king of Israel whose dynasty reached to the fifth generation, lasting for over 100 years.  His great grandson, King Jeroboam II, reigned in a time of great prosperity.  Interestingly, Jehu was anointed by a prophet sent by Elisha.  Now that might surprise you.  After all, none of the kings of the NK were good kings.  But that is not the same as saying that none of those wicked kings served God’s purposes.  Jehu was obedient to many details of the word of the LORD.  Yet, he was disobedient in the big thing.  More about that in the next post.  In this post I would like to trace the steps of Jehu.  We have included a map that will come in handy.  As we trace the geography we’ll tell the story.

By the way, it might seem confusing so note the kings of each kingdom:

·       Judah: Jehoshaphat >> Jehoram/Joram >> Ahaziah.

·       Israel: Ahab >> Ahaziah >> Jehoram/Joram (Ahaziah had no sons so Joram was also a son of Ahab).

So the kings involved with Jehu are Ahaziah of Judah and Joram of Israel.  So now, the story.

·       9:1: The story begins at Ramoth Gilead, east of the Jordan River.  He is a military commander for King Joram, son of Ahab, and they are dealing with the Syrians under Hazael.  Elisha sends a prophet to anoint Jehu king of Israel, and then to run away as fast as he can before the excitement begins.

·       9:16:  Jehu is proclaimed king by the other military brass and goes to Jezreel, where King Joram is recovering from battle wounds.  King Ahaziah came up from Jerusalem for a visit. Jehu would have come up from Beit Shean and would be visible to the guard in the “tower of Jezreel” (v17-20).

·       9:21: King Joram goes out to meet Jehu at the property that had been Naboth’s vineyard who had been murdered by Jezebel and the property given to Ahab (Joram was the son of Ahab).  Jehu kills Joram as he tries to escape.

·       9:27: Then Jehu chases the fleeing Ahaziah on the road to Beth Haggab, at the Ascent of Gur. He is shot in his chariot, flees to Megiddo, and dies. Ahaziah is taken to Jerusalem for burial (v28).

·       9:30: Jehu returns to Jezreel where he finds Jezebel.  She is thrown from a window by servants sympathetic to Jehu.  Jehu goes inside and enjoys a meal, then suggests they should bury Jezebel, to find that she has been eaten by dogs, all but her skull, feet and the palms of her hands (v35).

·       10:1: Ahab had another 70 sons who were in Samaria, the capital city of Israel.  Under threat from Jehu, they were beheaded by their “school teachers” and their heads delivered to Jehu at Jezreel.

·       10:12: Meanwhile 42 “brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah” come to pay respects to the royalty of Israel.  Jehu, on his way to Samaria via “Beth Eked of the Shepherds,” kills all of these people.

·       10:21: As he departs from there he encounters a man named Jehonadab the son of Rechab, a Kenite man (1 Chr. 2:55) who is part of a righteous family (Jer. 35).  He picks up this man and they proceed to Samaria and the Temple of Baal.  There, they oversee the killing of all the priests of Baal.

Now that’s not all the story, but it’s the details.  We can say that Jehu was used of God to do a lot of “house cleaning” in Israel.  This brought an end to Baal worship in the NK and ended the evil dynasty of Omri/Ahab.  For this Jehu was rewarded with a long and prosperous dynasty.