2 Kings 9:1-10

8. The Anointing of Jehu

CHAPTER 9:1-10

1. The commission (2 Kings 9:1)

2. Jehu anointed (2 Kings 9:4)

The hour of judgment for the house of Ahab has come. The instrument for it, mentioned long ago to Elijah (1 Kings 19:16), appears now upon the scene. The army of Joram, King of Israel, besieged Ramoth-gilead and Jehu was the captain of the forces. Joram was recovering from his wounds in Jezreel. Then Elisha called one of the sons of the prophets. Handing him a box of oil he sent him to Ramoth-gilead. He was to look out for Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, and anoint him King over Israel. Then he was not to tarry, but to flee. Jehu means “Jehovah is He”; Jehoshaphat, “Jehovah judges”; Nimshi, “Jehovah reveals.” Significant names!)

The messenger carried out the commission and at the same time states the judgment work into which God had called him. He was to execute judgment on the house of Ahab, to avenge the blood of the prophets and the Lord's servants at the hand of Jezebel. The whole house of Ahab was to perish like Jeroboam (1 Kings 14:10) and that of Baasha (1 Kings 16:3). “And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her.” More than fifteen years had passed since Jehovah through Elijah had announced the doom of the house of Ahab and the doom of Jezebel. And now the hour of execution had come. God will judge in the end, though He is never in haste to execute His threatened judgments. The day is surely coming when the Lord will judge this world, when especially Jezebel (Revelation 2:20), Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth, drunken with the blood of the saints, the Romish apostate “church,” will receive her judgment. “And in her was found the blood of the prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain on the earth” (Revelation 17:5; Revelation 18:24).