2 Kings 9:1-37
1 And Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets, and said unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take this box of oil in thine hand, and go to Ramothgilead:
2 And when thou comest thither, look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up from among his brethren, and carry him to an innera chamber;
3 Then take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith the LORD, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Then open the door, and flee, and tarry not.
4 So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramothgilead.
5 And when he came, behold, the captains of the host were sitting; and he said, I have an errand to thee, O captain. And Jehu said, Unto which of all us? And he said, To thee, O captain.
6 And he arose, and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of the LORD, even over Israel.
7 And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel.
8 For the whole house of Ahab shall perish: and I will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel:
9 And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah:
10 And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. And he opened the door, and fled.
11 Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord: and one said unto him, Is all well? wherefore came this mad fellow to thee? And he said unto them, Ye know the man, and his communication.
12 And they said, It is false; tell us now. And he said, Thus and thus spake he to me, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I have anointed thee king over Israel.
13 Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king.b
14 So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram had kept Ramothgilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria.
15 But king Joramc was returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) And Jehu said, If it be your minds, then let none go forth nor escape out of the city to go to tell it in Jezreel.
16 So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram.
17 And there stood a watchman on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take an horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace?
18 So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he cometh not again.
19 Then he sent out a second on horseback, which came to them, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu answered, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me.
20 And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and cometh not again: and the drivingd is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously.
21 And Joram said, Make ready.e And his chariot was made ready. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite.
22 And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?
23 And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah.
24 And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot.
25 Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the LORD laid this burden upon him;
26 Surely I have seen yesterday the bloodf of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the LORD; and I will requite thee in this plat, saith the LORD. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat of ground, according to the word of the LORD.
27 But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. And Jehu followed after him, and said, Smite him also in the chariot. And they did so at the going up to Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there.
28 And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David.
29 And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.
30 And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she paintedg her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window.
31 And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?
32 And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs.h
33 And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot.
34 And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a king's daughter.
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.
36 Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the LORD, which he spake byi his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel:
37 And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.
2 Kings 9:1. One of the children of the prophets. A young man, fit for the mission, swift of foot: a bruised reed to overthrow a throne stained with the blood of countless martyrs.
2 Kings 9:7. Thou shalt smite the house of Ahab. Where can we find a charge equal to this in precision, in plenitude, in strength and sublimity? Jehu's openness and candour gained all the captains over to his cause; for God inspired them with his spirit.
2 Kings 9:13. Every man took his garment, and put it under him. This was an early homage paid to kings, that their feet might not touch the ground. In this manner the multitudes honoured Christ in riding into Jerusalem. The Taheitans still do the same, carrying their king and queen in palanquins.
2 Kings 9:27. When Ahaziah, king of Judah saw this, he fled. Thus he and all his guards perished in a bad cause, the result of that most imprudent and tragic marriage with Jezebel's daughter.
2 Kings 9:34. Go see now this cursed woman. The dogs had already eaten her up, and fulfilled Elijah's prediction. Where shall we find an equal to Jezebel, except in her daughter Athaliah, or in Astarbè, wife of Pygmalion king of Tyre, celebrated in the poets, and in the eighth book of Telemachus. The dogs ate her flesh in the hurry and confusion of the city, for prophecies are mostly fulfilled to the minutiæ of the letter; yea, by circumstances apparently fortuitous.
REFLECTIONS.
In this chapter we see the Almighty shine forth in all the terror and glory of justice. When once he has sentenced an individual or a family to die, and no repentance intervenes, the punishment is sure to come. It is now perhaps thirteen years since Elijah was commissioned in Horeb to take those steps against this house; but Ahab's temporary repentance obtained from the gracious God this long reprieve. Now the day was come, and no more time allowed for repentance; and mark now the harmony and ease with which heaven executes its plans. The young man found Jehu sitting with his staff of superior officers. He called him aside, poured the oil on his head, and gave him a particular charge to cut off the house of Ahab, because of the blood of the prophets, and of God's faithful servants; for precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. The curiosity of the captains not a little facilitated the design. They ridiculed the prophet as deranged, and yet perhaps trembled with suspense; they read the countenance of Jehu on his return, and saw nothing but pensive solemnity. They eagerly demanded to know the import of the mission; he affected to talk of something moral and unimportant. They replied, it is vague or false, and desired to know the whole secret. He then simply related it, and his words kindled as fire catching dry tow. Thus the Lord gave the spirit with the anointing, and the angry clouds gathered on all hands against the house of Ahab.
When warnings have long failed, the punishment comes on the wicked when they are not aware. Jehoram had so far recovered of his wounds as to be able to fight. Ahaziah, king of Judah, had come to comfort him, and he still remained at court. Every thing was in profound repose, when the watchman got a full view of Jehu's rapid approach. Sinner, hast thou been long warned, and warned in vain? Hast thou recovered from some recent sickness, or great family troubles? Art thou surrounded in thy house with every comfort, and promising thyself a permanent repose? Remember, God has a long account to settle with thy conscience; and he may enforce his demands by a sudden arrest. Beware of a guilty slumber, tremble at the lap of ease, and be assured that a happiness forced from the pursuits of life will suddenly fail as the summer streams.
Persons comparatively innocent, often suffer by unhallowed connections with the wicked. Jehoshaphat had very imprudently taken a wife for his son of Ahab's house; he had entered into a treaty offensive and defensive with this apostate king, saying, I am as thou art, and my people as thy people. By this connection with an idolatrous and bloody house he derived no advantage. The ten tribes were then too weak to injure or to defend him; but we shall presently see that David's whole posterity were by this step destroyed, with the exception of Joash, an infant. The shameful fall of Ahaziah was only the beginning of calamities to the house of David, and chiefly through this connection.
In the death of persons consummately wicked there is often something weak and preposterous. On the approach of Jehu, Jezebel, instead of weeping, for grace had long ago denied her the tears of repentance, painted her face, hoping notwithstanding her age, either to attract the desire or the admiration of the avenger of blood. She all at once turned moralist, and asked him, though the cases were totally dissimilar, whether Zimri had peace when he slew his master? She seemed not to have the most distant idea, that she herself was within a moment of eternity; and that her domestics, secretly hating her, stood ready to execute the commands of Jehu. When God rises up against his enemies, heaven and earth are at his command.
In the hour of long impending vengeance, not only the more distinguished catastrophes, but circumstances merely casual in appearance, most strikingly contribute to illustrate the characters of justice. Jehoram, infatuated to meet destruction, fell near the walls of Naboth's vineyard. Had Jezebel kept her chamber, she had been executed with decency and interred with honour: but impudently exposing her person, she was thrown into the very street where the dogs had licked the blood of Naboth and his sons, and now the dogs during the confusion feasted on her flesh. How confidently may injured innocence repose its cause in the Lord's hands. Be instructed, oh my soul, to hate crimes, to love righteousness, and to abide in constant covenant with God.