Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 9:1
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 Ramoth-gilead:
Ch. 2Ki 9:1-10. Elisha sends one of the sons of the prophets to anoint Jehu, and give him his commission (Not in Chronicles)
And Elisha the prophet called one of the children [R.V. sons ] of the prophets ] ‘Children gives a wrong idea. The prophetic communities were formed of men who came together for worship, and were not necessarily connected in any family relationship, any more than Elisha was connected with Elijah. Elisha had an attendant who served him as he had served his master. Such a one he chooses for his messenger to Jehu.
Gird up thy loins ] The moment had come for executing God’s vengeance on the house of Ahab, and the work is to be done without delay. Joram’s conduct seems to have prepared the feelings of the army for a revolt.
take this box [R.V. vial ] of oil ] ‘Vial’ is the rendering of this word in A.V. of 1Sa 10:1 and is a more appropriate word when used for an oil vessel. It only occurs there and in this chapter. Jehu alone of all the kings of Israel was anointed.
to Ramoth-gilead ] Here Jehu and his fellow officers had apparently been left in charge, while Joram went away to Jezreel. But from Joram’s action, when he finds Jehu approaching Jezreel (verse 21), it is clear that his wound was not of a very serious character. It may be therefore that he had seized the first opportunity of withdrawing from the war to the capital. If so the soldiery would be inclined to favour the generals who remained through the campaign, and to hold the king in contempt. This would explain the ease with which Jehu’s attempt succeeded in Ramoth-gilead, and the readiness with which his fellow generals fell in with the movement.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Box – Rather, flask, or vial 1Sa 10:1. Oil and ointment were commonly kept in open-mouthed jars, vases, or bottles made of glass, alabaster, or earthen-ware. Many such vessels have been found both in Egypt and Assyria. The oil was the holy oil, compounded after the receipt given in Exodus Exo 30:23-25.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER IX
Elisha sends one of the disciples of the prophets to
Ramoth-gilead, to anoint Jehu king of Israel, 1-3.
He acts according to his orders, and informs Jehu that he is
to cut off the whole house of Ahab, 4-10.
Jehu’s captains proclaim him king, 11-14.
He goes again Jezreel; where he finds Joram and Ahaziah king
of Judah, who had come to visit him; he slays them both: the
former is thrown into the portion of Naboth; the latter,
having received a mortal wound, gives to Megiddo, and dies
there, and is carried to Jerusalem, and buried in the city
of David, 15-29.
He commands Jezebel to be thrown out of her window; and he
treads her under the feet of his horses; and the dogs eat
her, according to the word of the Lord, 30-37.
NOTES ON CHAP. IX
Verse 1. One of the children of the prophets] The Jews say that this was Jonah the prophet, the son of Amittai.
Gird up thy loins] What thou hast to do requires the utmost despatch.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Gird up thy loins; for haste, to take this opportunity when the kings of Israel and Judah were both absent, 2Ki 8:29, and Jehu, as it seems, was left in chief command. Partly that the work may not be hindered, and partly for the security of thy own person. See 2Ki 9:3.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. Ramoth-gileada city ofgreat importance to the Hebrew people, east of Jordan, as a fortressof defense against the Syrians. Jehoram had regained it (2Ki8:29). But the Israelitish army was still encamped there, underthe command of Jehu.
Elisha . . . called one ofthe children of the prophetsThis errand referred to the lastcommission given to Elijah in Horeb (1Ki19:16).
box of oil(See 1Sa10:1).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets,…. Who the Jews generally say k was Jonah the son of Amittai:
and said, gird up thy loins; his loose and long garments about his loins, for quicker dispatch in travelling:
and take this box of oil in thine hand; for an use after directed to:
and go to Ramothgilead; where Joram had left his army with his captains, to keep the city from the Syrians.
k Seder Olam Rabba, c. 18. p. 47.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Anointing of Jehu by Command of Elisha. – While the Israelitish army was at Ramoth, Elisha executed the last of the commissions which Elijah had received at Horeb (1Ki 19:16), by sending a pupil of the prophets into the camp to anoint Jehu the commander-in-chief of the army as king, and to announce to him, in the name of Jehovah, that he would be king over Israel; and to charge him to exterminate the house of Ahab.
2Ki 9:1-3 2Ki 9:1-3 contain the instructions which Elisha gave to the pupil of the prophets. as in 1Sa 10:1. , look round there for Jehu. , let him (bid him) rise up from the midst of his brethren, i.e., of his comrades in arms. : the true meaning is, “into the innermost chamber” (see at 1Ki 20:30). 2Ki 9:3 contains only the leading points of the commission to Jehu, the full particulars are communicated in the account of the fulfilment in 2Ki 9:6. “And flee, and thou shalt not wait.” Elisha gave him this command, not to protect him from danger on the part of the secret adherents of Ahab (Theodoret, Cler.), but to prevent all further discussions, or “that he might not mix himself up with other affairs” (Seb. Schmidt).
2Ki 9:4 “And the young man, the servant of the prophet, went.” The second has the article in the construct state, contrary to the rule (vid., Ges. 110, 2, b.).
2Ki 9:5-7 After the communication of the fact that he had a word to Jehu, the latter rose up and went with him into the house, i.e., into the interior of the house, in the court of which the captains were sitting together. There the pupil of the prophets poured oil upon Jehu’s head, and announced to him that Jehovah had anointed him king for Israel, and that he was to smite, i.e., exterminate, the house of Ahab, to avenge upon it the blood of the prophets (vid., 1Ki 18:4; 1Ki 19:10).
2Ki 9:8-10 2Ki 9:8-10 are simply a repetition of the threat in 1Ki 21:21-23. For , see at 1Ki 21:23.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Jehu Anointed King. | B. C. 884. |
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 Ramoth-gilead: 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 inner 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 Ramoth-gilead. 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.
We have here the anointing of Jehu to be king, who was, at this time, a commander (probably commander-in-chief) of the forces employed at Ramoth-Gilead, v. 14. There he was fighting for the king his master, but received orders from a higher king to fight against him. It does not appear that Jehu aimed at the government, or that he ever thought of it, but the commission given him was a perfect surprise to him. Some think that he had been anointed before by Elijah, whom God ordered to do it, but privately, and with an intimation that he must not act till further orders, as Samuel anointed David long before he was to come to the throne: but that it not at all probable, for then we must suppose Elijah had anointed Hazael too. No, when God bade him do these things he bade him anoint Elisha to be prophet in his room, to do them when he was gone, as God should direct him. Here is,
I. The commission sent.
1. Elisha did not go himself to anoint Jehu, because he was old and unfit for such a journey and so well known that he could not do it privately, could not go and come without observation; therefore he sends one of the sons of the prophets to do it, v. 1. They not only reverences him as their father (ch. ii. 15), but observed and obeyed him as their father. This service of anointing Jehu, (1.) Had danger in it (1 Sam. xvi. 2), and therefore it was not fit that Elisha should expose himself, but one of the sons of the prophets, whose life was of less value, and who could do it with less danger. (2.) It required labour and was therefore fitter for a young man in his full strength. Let youth work and age direct. (3.) Yet it was an honourable piece of service, to anoint a king, and he that did it might hope to be preferred for it afterwards, and therefore, for the encouragement of the young prophets, Elisha employed one of them: he would not engross all the honours to himself, nor grudge the young prophets a share in them.
2. When he sent him, (1.) He put the oil into his hand with which he must anoint Jehu: Take this box of oil Solomon was anointed with oil out of the tabernacle, 1 Kings i. 39. That could not now be had, but oil from a prophet’s hand was equivalent to oil out of God’s house. Probably it was not the constant practice to anoint kings, but upon the disturbance of the succession, as in the case of Solomon, or the interruption of it, as in the case of Joash (ch. xi. 12), or the translation of the government to a new family, as here and in the case of David; yet it might be used generally, though the scripture does not mention it. (2.) He put the words into his mouth which he must say (v. 3)– I have anointed thee king, and, no doubt, told him all the rest that he said, v. 7-10. Those whom God sends on his errands shall not go without full instructions. (3.) He also ordered him, [1.] To do it privately, to single out Jehu from the rest of the captains and anoint him in an inner chamber (v. 2), that Jehu’s confidence in his commission might be tried, when he had no witness to attest it. His being suddenly animated for the service would be proof sufficient of his being anointed to it. There needed no other proof. The thing signified was the best evidence of the sign. [2.] To do it expeditiously. When he went about it he must gird up his loins; when he had done it he must flee and not tarry for a fee, or a treat, or to see what Jehu would do. It becomes the sons of the prophets to be quick and lively at their work, to go about it and go through it as men that hate sauntering and trifling. They should be as angels that fly swiftly.
II. The commission delivered. The young prophet did his business with despatch, was at Ramoth-Gilead presently, v. 4. There he found the general officers sitting together, either at dinner or in a council of war, v. 5. With the assurance that became a messenger from God, notwithstanding the meanness of his appearance, he called Jehu out from the rest, not waiting his leisure, or begging his pardon for disturbing him, but as one having authority: I have an errand to thee, O captain. Perhaps Jehu had some intimation of his business; and therefore, that he might not seem too forward to catch at the honour, he asked, To which of all us? that it might not be said afterwards he got it by speaking first, but they might all be satisfied he was indeed the person designed. When the prophet had him alone he anointed him, v. 6. The anointing of the Spirit is a hidden thing, that new name which none knows but those that have it. Herewith,
1. He invests him with the royal dignity: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, whose messenger I am, in his name I have anointed thee king over the people of the Lord. He gives him an incontestable title, but reminds him that he was made king, (1.) By the God of Israel; from him he must see his power derived (for by him kings reign), for he must use it, and to him he must be accountable. Magistrates are the ministers of God, and must therefore act in dependence upon him and with an entire devotedness to him and to his glory. (2.) Over the Israel of God. Though the people of Israel were wretchedly corrupted, and had forfeited all the honour of relationship to God, yet they are here called the people of the Lord, for he had a right to them and had not yet given them a bill of divorce. Jehu must look upon the people he was made king of as the people of the Lord, not as his vassals, but God’s freemen, his sons, his first-born, not to be abused or tyrannized over, God’s people, and therefore to be ruled for him, and according to his laws.
2. He instructs him in his present service, which was to destroy all the house of Ahab (v. 7), not that he might clear his own way to the throne, and secure to himself the possession of it, but that he might execute the judgments of God upon that guilty and obnoxious family. He calls Ahab his master, that the relation might be no objection. “He was thy master, and to lift up thy hand against his son and successor would be not only base ingratitude, but treason, rebellion, and all that is bad, if thou hadst not an immediate command from God to do it. But thou art under higher obligations to thy Master in heaven than to thy master Ahab. He has determined that the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and by thy hand; fear not: has not he commanded thee? Fear not sin; his command will justify thee and bear thee out: fear not danger; his command will secure and prosper thee.” That he might intelligently, and in a right manner, do this great execution on the house of Ahab, he tells him, (1.) What was their crime, what the ground of the controversy, and wherefore God had quarrel with them, that he might have an eye to that which God had an eye to, and that was the blood of God’s servants, the prophets and others, faithful worshippers, which they had shed, and which must now be required at the hand of Jezebel. That they were idolaters was bad enough, and merited all that was brought upon them; yet that is not mentioned here, but the controversy God has with them is for their being persecutors, not so much their throwing down God’s altars as their slaying his prophets with the sword. Nothing fills the measure of the iniquity of any prince or people as this does nor brings a surer or a sorer ruin. This was the sin that brought on Jerusalem its first destruction (2 Chron. xxxvi. 16) and its final one, Mat 23:37; Mat 23:38. Jezebel’s whoredoms and witchcrafts were not so provoking as her persecuting the prophets, killing some and driving the rest into corners and caves, 1 Kings xviii. 4. (2.) What was their doom. They were sentenced to utter destruction; not to be corrected, but to be cut off and rooted out. This Jehu must know, that his eye might not spare for pity, favour, or affection. All that belonged to Ahab must be slain, v. 8. A pattern is given him of the destruction intended, in the destruction of the families of Jeroboam and Baasha (v. 9), and he is particularly directed to throw Jezebel to the dogs, v. 10. The whole stock of royal blood was little enough, and too little, to atone for the blood of the prophets, the saints and martyrs, which, in God’s account, is of great price.
The prophet, having done this errand, made the best of his way home again, and left Jehu alone to consider what he had to do and beg direction from God.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Commentary on Second Kings – Chapter 9 AND Second Chronicles – Chapter 22
Jehu Anointed – Commentary on 2Ki 9:1-10
The Lord gave El-iah command to anoint three persons when He spoke to him by the still small voice at Mount Horeb (1Ki 19:15-17). It has already been seen that the only account of his anointing any of these was the anointing of his own successor, Elisha. Jehu was the third of those who were to be anointed. It is possible that Elisha had this anointing of Jehu done on the authority granted to Elijah. He called one of the young prophets and gave him instructions, for carrying it out. He was to take the anointing oil, go to Ramoth-gilead where Jehu was commanding the host of Israel, take him into a private room and anoint him, with the Lord’s pronouncement.
The Jehoshaphat who was Jehu’s father was not, of course, the king of Judah of that name. Jehoshaphat seems to have been a fairly popular name for the times.
The young man on Elisha’s errand came to Ramoth-gilead and found the captains in a meeting of some kind. From the sequel it appears they may have been discussing rebellion against Joram. It also seems probable that minds were already settling on Jehu as the new king. He was already a famed and daring charioteer, and was the chief captain of the armed forces. When the young prophet addressed himself to the “captain” Jehu pretended that he did not know who was meant by the address. But when he inquired it was made clear that he was the one intended.
Jehu was taken inside the house where the oil was poured on his head. In the name of the Lord he announced to Jehu that he was being anointed king over the Lord’s people Israel. He was told that he was to smite the house of Ahab because of Jezebel’s bloodshed in slaughter of the Lord’s prophets and His faithful servants among the people. The whole house of Ahab, or all its male members, were to be put to death. For the third time in the history of the northern kingdom this dread curse was falling. It is the same fate suffered by the house of Jeroboam and the house of Baasha, the two preceding dynasties to occupy the throne. Baasha might have had some reason to think that the some thing would not happen to his family as happened to that of Jeroboam, but how could Ahab fail to take warning from the two before him? To ignore these known facts was to mock the judgment of God (Gal 6:7).
The long-predicted judgment of Jezebel, that she would be consumed of dogs at Jezreel, in the plot where Naboth was murdered, was finally to be fulfilled. When the pronouncement of these things was done the young prophet opened the door and fled away; as Elisha had instructed him. The die was cast, and Jehu would move to enact the charge.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
THE FALL OF THE OMRIAN DYNASTY
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.
2Ki. 9:1. Elisha called one of the children of the prophetsA prophet-disciple, occupying towards Elisha the same relation he himself once stood in towards Elijah. The rabbis suggest it was Jonah. This anointing of Jehu was a further heritage of duty bequeathed by Elijah to Elisha (comp. 1Ki. 19:17; see Notes on 2Ki. 8:7). Box of oilFlask or vial, from to trickle down. Ramoth-GileadA city of peculiar importance to Judah and Israel, as affording a strong defence, east of Jordan, against the Syrians.
2Ki. 9:2. JehuDoubtless Jorams ablest general, and entrusted, so Josephus states, with supreme command of the Israelitish army at Ramoth-Gilead by Joram on his being wounded (2Ki. 8:29). Make him rise up from among, &c.Do it privately, for sake of thine own safety, and that none may interrupt thine act of anointing him.
2Ki. 9:4. Even the young man the prophetOr, even the prophets young man; or, himself a prophet (see Note on 2Ki. 5:1, supra).
2Ki. 9:8. I will cut off, &c.Vide Critical Notes on 1Ki. 14:10. The phrase Shut up and left stands for those who are of age and those who are minors.
2Ki. 9:10. In the portion of JezreelIt was formerly Naboths vineyard (1Ki. 21:15 sq., and 1Ki. 21:23). The portionin its wider sense, refers to the strip of country outside the citys wall, hence a place for foul deposits, and thus suggests Jezebels degradation that upon it her body should be cast.
2Ki. 9:11. This mad fellowWild rhapsodist. Soldiers would regard the grotesque appearance and mysterious conduct of this young man as indicating that he was crazy. Prophets were not infrequently regarded as mad; the divine fervour in them, and their asceticism, being viewed as proof (Jer. 29:26; Act. 26:26). Ye know the man and his communicationJehu half suspects that they had plotted to hoax him by this mans action, in order to incite him to revolt, and intimates that they knew more than they appeared to know. Hence their reply, False! (2Ki. 5:14). They deny the insinuation.
2Ki. 9:13. Then they hasted Jehu is kingTheir prompt acquiescence in Jorams overthrow, and their proclamation of Jehu, proves that the army had no respect for Joram, who seems to have quitted the scenes of war on receiving wounds from the Syrians (2Ki. 8:29), but whose wounds were not so serious as to prevent his riding out (2Ki. 9:21), albeit it is said in 2Ki. 5:16, perhaps satirically, that Joram lay there. Yet, although able to ride out to meet Jehu, he was much too sick to go back to the scene of war! Such conduct of indulgence or indifference would make his captains contemptuous, which prepared them to welcome Jehu, who was evidently popular with the army, as king. Took every man his garment, and put it under himSpreading it on the floor for a carpet, as sign of homage (Mat. 21:7).
HOMILETICS OF 2Ki. 9:1-14
THE MINISTER OF DIVINE VENGEANCE
IT was a dark day for Israel when Omri became its king. He imposed idolatry upon the people by the strong hand of law. He was the author of those celebrated statutescelebrated for their infamywhich made Israel a desolation (Mic. 6:16). Ahab and Jezebel maintained and improved upon this idolatrous policy. Israel became utterly corrupt, and, as an evidence of the vigour and influence of the rule of Ahab, Judah was being infected with the same moral poison. Had this rule continued much longer, there was danger that the Jewish people would be lost in heathenism, and the grand purpose of their being chosen and trainedthe maintenance and spread of the religion of Jehovahwould have been frustrated. In furtherance of the Divine designs and in the interest of the world, the dynasty of Omri, after a career of more than forty years, must come to an end. All warnings were disregarded, and every attempt at reformation had failed. Judgment can be no longer delayed, and the minister of Divine vengeance is ready to enter upon his work. It is terrible, sanguinary work that has to be done, and the man who undertakes it must be above all effeminate qualms. He must be a man of iron, of iron will, of iron hand, of iron heart.
I. That the minister of Divine vengeance may be for years unconsciously preparing for his work. More than twenty years before, the Lord revealed to Elijah the agencies by which the wicked house of Ahab should be destroyed, and among them was Jehu the son of Nimshi (1Ki. 19:16-17). This man was familiar with the fearful prediction of Elijah against Ahab when he went to take possession of Naboths vineyard, and though fifteen years had rolled away since then, those terrible words of doom were vividly remembered (1Ki. 21:17-24; comp. with 2Ki. 9:25). Jehu little dreamed that he was to be the selected instrument of vengeance, and yet circumstances were preparing him for the office. His warlike training developed the qualities necessary for his stern and sanguinary work. In the court of Ahab was being prepared, all unconsciously to himself, the agent who was to destroy, with unrelenting pitilessness, the whole house of Ahab. Wrong cannot triumph for ever. It generates the power which by-and-bye works its destruction. The very means by which evil gains its ends are used for its punishment. Napoleon, the dictator of Europe, won his power by war, and by war he was defeated and humbled. In the neighbourhood of the bane there grows the antidote.
II. That the minister of Divine vengeance is elevated to a position of power and authority by which he may accomplish his mission.
1. Jehu is solemnly anointed king. It was not customary to anoint kings, except on the disturbance of the succession, as in the case of Solomon; or on the interruption of it, as in the case of Joash (chap. 2Ki. 11:12); or on the transfer of the government to another family, as in this case of Jehu. It seems singular that a man like Elisha should lend himself to conspiracy and rebellion; but the prophet was acting not from any factious spirit, but according to Divine direction. The time to act was come, and the man who had so much to doso much that ordinary men would shrink frommust be shown by the solemn and significant act of anointing that he is fully called and commissioned. The greater the work man is called to do, the more important is it he should be powerfully impressed he is empowered to do it.
2. His authority is speedily and publicly recognised by those who are ready to help him in his mission (2Ki. 9:13). The validity of Jehus appointment to the kinship is at once acknowledged by his companions in arms, and proclamation is made with trumpets and shouting. The army is with him; his authority is unquestioned; his power is supreme; he has the means of carrying out his terrible work of vergeance. The readiness with which the soldiery acquiesce in the new order of things indicates how feeble was their attachment to the house of Ahab, and the power that Jehu must have gained over them. Perhaps the impression was deepening on the popular mind that the doom of the house of Ahab was at hand, and could no longer be delayed. When God arises to judgment, He can make all the powers of heaven and earth contribute to the accomplishment of His vengeful purposes.
III. That the minister of Divine vengeance is clearly informed as to the character of the work he is called to do.
1. It is a work of complete and terrible vengeance (2Ki. 9:7-10). The whole house of Ahab is to be cut off; none are excepted. When wickedness is ripe in the field, God will not let it shed to grow again, but cutteth it up by a just and seasonable vengeance. A weak man would have quailed and trembled before such bloody work as now lay before Jehu. He could not complain of ambiguity; he clearly understood what was expected of him. He was braced up for the occasion. His impetuous and callous nature would lead him to do, without the least symptoms of compunction, what other men would have sickened even to contemplate. He was reminded by the reference to the fate of Jeroboam and Baasha (2Ki. 9:9) what would be his own fate if he failed to carry out the Divine commands.
2. The reason for the vengeance is also set forth: That I may avenge the blood of my servants of the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord (2Ki. 9:7). God does not forget the sufferings and wrongs of His people. Injury done to them is done to Himself, and His justice will render the recompence. Jezebel has hunted down and destroyed the worshippers of Jehovah, wherever found, until she thought they were extinct, and that the abominations of the Baal-worship were universally adopted. It was a savage disappointment to her that she could not crush Elijah and Elisha. But the day of reckoning has come; the cry of innocent blood is heard; the murdered prophets shall be avenged. It is an addition to the punishment of the punished when they clearly understand the reason of it. Long-forgotten sins are brought back vividly to the memory, and the suffering is increased by the consciousness of its justice. Yet it may be that neither executioner nor victim fully comprehend all the reasons for retribution.
LESSONS:
1. It is utterly futile to oppose God.
2. Though the patience of God delays the blow, iniquity shall not go unpunished.
3. The ministers of Divine vengeance are ever within call.
ELISHA AND JEHU (2Ki. 9:1-3)
The phrase, children of the prophets, in this passage, indicates men who were taught by a prophet or prophets, and who might hope in due time to fulfil the office themselves. The notion of a class of men under this kind of education is very puzzling to some modern readers. Was not the prophet, they ask emphatically, the inspired man? Were not his words false if they did not proceed directly from the mouth of the Lord? How could he be trained or disciplined to utter such words? The subject is a very important one. Elijah was, in a remarkable sense, the solitary man. I alone, he said, am the prophet of the Lord, while the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty. I alone am left, and they seek my life. On the contrary, his suceessor, Elisha, is nearly always surrounded by companions, disciples, or servants. Every passage of his history makes us understand how great the influence of the previous teacher had been; how true it was that there were numbers who had not bowed the knee to Baal during his stay upon earth; how soon, according to what seems the general law in such cases, they discovered themselves after he had left it. In the particular instance of which the text speaks, a young man out of the schools goes by the direct command of Elisha to execute an errand, which involved nothing else than the overthrow of a dynasty, and a revolution of two kingdoms.
I. If the main work of the prophet was to declare that such an event would, or would not, come to pass, or if he was a mere olian harp from which a chance breeze drew forth certain wild and irregular, however beautiful, notes, the idea of preparation involves an absurdity, or something worse than an absurdity. On that supposition it must mean, if it means anything, an initiation of the scholar into certain tricks by which his predecessors had been wont to impose upon the vulgar, or the communication to him of certain facts and principles known to them by which he might acquire a reputation for sudden insight and discovery. No doubt such an education as this was not unknown in the old world, as it is not unknown in the modern. It is the ordinary discipline of adepts and conjurors, of those who practise on mens fears or upon their curiosity, of those who appeal to their conscience by religious deceptions, or to their sense of mysterious powers in the natural world by philosophical deceptions. But the Jewish prophet was not primarily or characteristically a foreteller. The essence of his office did not lie in what he announced respecting the future. His sole power of declaring that which should be, arose from his knowledge of that which had been and which was. He meditated in the law of the Lord, and in that law did he exercise himself day and night. In this exercise he learnt what was in conformity with the law, what was contrary to it. In this exercise he learnt to believe in a Divine Teacher, and to commune with Him, to believe in Him as a permanent and continual Teacher, as the Guide of his own heart, to believe that all other mens hearts were right so long as they were under the same guidance, and wrong when they were breaking loose from it. The fruits of revolt, the inward monitor enabled him to foresee and predict. The prediction might take a general form and point to a distant issue, or a number of issues; it might speak of that which was definite and immediate. There would be the same proof in both cases that the word came from a hidden source, and from a moral being; a proof addressed to the conscience of the hearer, seeing that the prediction would always come forth with some warning respecting his actual conduct, some denunciation of an idolatrous or unrighteous act. Everything, then, that was sudden in these utterances, bore witness to previous trains of thought and habits of reflection. So far from wishing to deny the existence of these, as if they interfered with the genuineness of his inspiration, the prophet would be grieved if his hearer did not give him credit for them. The knowledge of passing events, too, would be sought for, not declined, by the true prophet. He had no need to bandage his eyes that the spectator might be sure he derived his insight from some other source than actual observation. All facts were to him signs of a Divine purpose, solemn indications of truths which they could not themselves make known, but which nevertheless lay in the heart of them, and which God could discover to the patient and faithful seeker. Nor can I suppose that the knowledge which the wise king is said to have possessed of trees and plants, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop upon the wall, so far as the means of obtaining it lay within their reach, would have been scorned or scouted by these men of God. They might not have had much of itprobably much less than the soothsayers and magicians of Egypt or Assyrialess, perhaps, of traditional information on such matters than the Phnician priests of Jezebels court. But what they had they would make use of, looking rather to the secret powers of things than to their outward mechanism; referring the former in all cases to the government of a Personal Being; believing that in many, perhaps in most, cases they were subject to man as His vicegerent.
II. Supposing the habitual belief and work of the prophet to have been of this kind, it does not seem very strange that he should have been an educator of others, or that one main object of his education should have been to fit them for the exercise of functions like his own.
It would have been the most glaring contradiction to all his professions if he had regarded the prophetical power as something bestowed for his honour, a gift to separate him from the rest of the people. In a prophet of Baal such an opinion would have been most natural; in a prophet of the Lord God of Israel it would have been most detestable. God had given His law to the whole nation; all were under it; therefore all might study it and delight themselves in it. It was a law which imported a government over the inner man. The conscience and heart and will of every man might be awakened to know the nature of this government, to receive light from the source of light. And since light is given that it may be communicated, since it shines into a mind that it may shine forth from that mind, there was no reason why any one of the Lords people should not be prophets. The training of the prophet would teach the king the ground of his authority, his relations to those whom he governed, his responsibility for the government of them. It would teach the elders of the city that they were not to obey the commands of an evil woman when she told them to charge an innocent man with blaspheming God and the king, that she might get possession of his inheritance. It would teach the priests that they were not to pollute the sacrifices of God, or offer them to devils and not to Him. It would teach the owners of the land that the land was held by them of Him who had committed it to them in trust for the good of his whole people. It would teach the seller the sin of having the false measure and the bag of deceitful weights. It would teach the master the sin of oppressing the hireling in his wages. It would teach all that they were the members of one commonwealth, over which a higher than Ahab or Jehoram was ruling, and would set aside their rule to assert his own.
III. The sons of the prophets, then, were a continual witness to the Israelites against certain errors into which they were apt to fall respecting the prophetical office. The man of God might have been looked upon as a mere separate being, cut off by the awfulness of his character and dignity from the rest of his countrymen, an object of distant admiration or dread, not an example of what they ought to be. These men, taken from among themselves and associated with him, declared that he was only withdrawn from their communion that he might the better claim privileges for them which they were in hazard of losing; that he was only chosen out by the Lord God of Israel that he might the more clearly understand their national calling. If he did any strange acts, or put forth any marvellous powers, the people would see that they were exercised not in his own name, but in the name of the Lord God; not for his sake, but for theirs, since some very humble person, scarcely distinguished by a name, known only as one of an order, could perform some of the most important and perilous tasks which were committed to his master. If the sons of the prophets were entrusted with messages like that which one of them bore to Jehu, a proof would be given that the prophet was merely declaring and carrying out a purpose which must be accomplished; he did not go himself to plot against an existing order, or to earn the favour of some particular chieftain. The repeated allusions to these sons of the prophets in the story of Elisha are specially worthy of note, because there are more passages in that story which favour the notion that the man of God is a worker of prodigies and portents, than in all the rest of the Bible. Not that there is any great number of those stories. Open at hazard the life of almost any comspicuous saint in the middle ages, and you will find five miracles attributed to him for one that is given to Elisha. The more strong ones apprehension is of the degradation of the Israelitish people at that time, of their low sensual idolatry, of their reverence for evil powers, the more one feels how acts of this kind must have been needed to counteract their materialism, to undermine their religion of fraud and hatred, to establish, as no words or arguments could, the proof of an actual and a gracious ruler.
IV. Retribution is the main subject of the Scripture narrative. Elijah had told Ahab that the blood of Naboth would be required of his house. His humiliation had delayed the sentence. His enemy, who had found him out, seems henceforth to have left him alone. Perhaps the great prophet passed the remainder of his own days in peace. But there were other prophets to torment Ahab, and a still greater number, freshly brought, perhaps, by Jezebel from her own land, to deceive him. The lying spirit in their mouths drove him to Ramoth-Gilead, and Israel was left, as Micah had foretold, without a shepherd. His son Joram finds Elisha almost as terrible as his master had been to Ahab. Yet their relations were different. Joram is less of a Baal worshipper than his father. He consults Elisha; is asked by him why he does not go to the prophets of his father and mother; still is promised deliverance and victory in a war which he has undertaken with the Moabites, and is saved not once or twice by the prophets knowledge from the Syrians. These enemies of Israel look upon the prophet with especial dread. Once he is surrounded by them; but his servant is permitted to see invisible hosts which are on his side. These visions, Elishas acts of power, his words of wisdom, the ruin which threatened the land from the Syrians, its unexpected rescue, are all signs that the God who had made a covenant with their fathers was with the king and the people then. Trust was then, as always, what the prophets demanded of them. They could not trust too boldly or unreservedly. To trust, would have been to repent of the calf worship, to rise out of the brutal habits which it had engendered, to begin a new life as men. But the custom of idolatry had destroyed trust in their hearts. They could only worship and tremble. The sin of the father descended upon the son with the weakness and cowardice, which were the fruits of it, increased tenfold. At the appointed day and hour the vengeance came, by just such an instrument as would seem likeliest to carry it out. Jehu the son of Nimshi had been declared to Elijah as the joint successor with Elisha in the work he had left unperformed. No two men in Israel could have been more unlike. One cried to have a double portion of his masters spirit, the other was known only as a man who drove furiously. Yet Jehu had the kind of faith which might be expected in a soldier, somewhat reckless, but with his sense of right not quenched by religious falsehood. He had heard the burden which Elijah had pronounced on Ahab as he sat with him on his chariot when they entered the plot of ground that had been Naboths. He felt that there was an everlasting truth in the sentence, and that it must come to pass. Who should execute it he did not know then. When the anointing oil of Elishas messenger had been poured on his head, and his comrades had cried, Jehu is king, all the savage impulses of the soldier became quickened and elevated by the feeling that he was commissioned to punish evildoers, and assert justice. Esteeming himself a scourge of God, and rejoicing in the office, he gives full play to all his bloody instincts.
V. It causes great scandal to many amiable and worthy people, that the Scripture does not stop to comment on the atrocities of Jehu, but appears to commend his zeal, and to rejoice that what he began he accomplished. A true portrait can never be a mischievous one, and this is essentially true. Nothing is said to gloss over the ferocity of Jehu; it is exhibited broadly, nakedly. You do not want words to tell you that you must hate it. Your impulseand it is a right oneis to do so; but there may be in the most ruffianly and brutal characters, not merely strength, not merely a clear distinct purpose, and a steadiness in following it out, but, along with these, an intense hatred of hypocrisy, a determination to put it down, not for selfish ends, but because it is hateful, which determination is good, and inspired by God. We do not meet with these characters in the worldcharacters with something devilish, going close beside something which is really divine; and, though the devilish is the obtrusive, and may become the pervading, part of the mans soul, you cannot help feeling that the other is in the very depth of it, and marks out what he is meant to be, and can be. Honour it; confess that it is not of earthly origin; that it does not spring from any dark root in the selfish nature. Say boldly, that honesty, that zeal, is from above; it has the sign of a celestial parentage; just so far as that governs him, he will be a servant of his kind; aftertimes will bless him. But it is also true that the grovelling elements of his character, if they are not destroyed by this nobler fire, will only glare the more fiercely for the light which it sheds upon them, and that soon, when the fire begins to burn low, you will see, instead of that glare, nothing but dull, smouldering ashes. Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord. It is in the quiet time that a man is tested; then we find out not only what he can do, but what he is; whether his zeal for righteousness means that he will obey it; whether his hatred for what is false implies an adherence to the true. The test in this case failed. Jehu destroyed Baal-worship, for that was foreign. He clave to the calf-worship, for that was the tradition of his fathers; and, therefore, the people went on in the downward course. They sought after evil powers. They could not trust God.
VI. Elisha, the son of Shaphat, and Jehu, the son of Nimshi, did then carry out together the words of the prophet. For these words depended upon no mortal agency. They were the expressions of an eternal law which, in some way or other, would fulfil itself. This is the great lesson which the Bible teaches in every page. The righteous Will moves on steadily and irresistibly towards its own end. The unrighteous will struggles with it, seems to prevail, is broken in pieces; but, seeing that it is Will, and not a blind necessity, which rules in the armies of Heaven and among the inhabitants of men, it is all-important whether those who execute its decrees work in cheerful submission to it, or, in blindness, with base and private designs. This was the great question for the ministers of Gods purpose, whether they were prophets or soldiers, to consider then. It is the great question for us now. Zeal is so precious a gift, is so much wanted for the service of mankind, it is so rare, that the evil spirit is certain to assault those who possess it; and, seeing that, there are a multitude of kindly, compromising men, who represent all energetic indignation against wrong as unnecessary, disturbing, unphilosophical, unchristian, and those who believe that no form of falsehood is to be tolerated, but to be abhorred, are stirred up by the indifference which others exhibit and boast of, to a kind of savageness and fury. They must, if they can, hasten on the purpose of God, and themselves execute part of His wrath. Alas! what are they striving for? It is the driving of Jehu, for he driveth furiously. This is the best memorial that will remain of him who has let his zeal become his master, when it was meant to be his servant, and who has counted it a pleasure, instead of a hard necessity, to destroy. O my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horses thereof! These are the words which a king of Israel, of Jehus house, spoke to Elisha as he lay sick and dying. He felt that a power was passing out of the world which was greater than his and than that of all the kings who had been before him, because it was a power that had, in the main, been consecrated to God, had been used in conformity with His mind, and, therefore, had spread health and peace around it. Was it better to kill the seventy sons of Ahab, or to bring up sons of the prophets? To be the executor of Gods vengeance on the land, or to show that He was the healer of its sicknesses? To make clear that death is the certain wages of sin, or to affirm by acts and words that there is one who raiseth the dead? Which mission was the nobler in the old time? Which must be nobler for those that believe that God gave His only begotten Son, not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved?Condensed from F. D. Maurice.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2Ki. 9:1-14. Years had rolled away since Jehus meeting with Elijah in the vineyard of Naboth. He was now high in the favour of Ahabs son, as captain of the host in the Syrian war. In that war of chariots and horses he had acquired an art little practised by the infantry of the ancient Israelites. He was known through the whole army and country for driving his horses like one out of his mind. The army which he commanded was at Ramoth-Gilead. That was still the point round which the interest of the Syrian war revolved. The king himself had been present at the siege, had been in personal danger, and had returned home to Jezreel to be cured of his wounds from the arrows of the Syrian archers. It was in his absence that a young mansaid by tradition to be the futurer pophet Jonah, son of the widow of Zarephatharrived at the camp with a small flask in his hand. His garments were girt round him as of one travelling in haste, and his appearance was wild and excited as of a madman. From the midst of the captains he singled out Jehu. Once more there was a consecrated king of Israel. The oil of inauguration had been poured on the head of Jehu. He was to go forth the anointed of the Lord to exterminate the house of Ahab. It was as if a spark had been set to a train long prepared. There was not a moments hesitation. The officers tore off their military cloaks and spread them under his feet where he stood on the top of the stairs leading down into the court. As he stood on this extempore throne, with no seat but the steps covered by the carpeting of the square pieces of cloth, they blew the well-known blast of the rams horn which always accompanied the inauguration of a king of Israel. From this moment the course of Jehu is fixed. The destiny long brooding over himthe design perhaps raised in his own mind from the day when he had first met Elijahis to be accomplished.Stanleys Jewish Church.
2Ki. 9:1-10. The service of God and the young. I. The service of God is the highest service to which youth can be consecrated. II. The service of God teaches the young to reverence and obey the aged good. III. The service of God familiarises the youthful mind with the procedures of Divine justice and equity. IV. The service of God employs youth in enterprises involving great risk and difficulty. V. The service of God teaches youth to act with discretion, rapidity, and decision.
2Ki. 9:1. Old Elisha hath neither cottage nor foot of land, yet, sitting in an obscure corner, he gives orders for kingdoms, not by way of authoritythis usurpation had been no less proud than unjustbut by way of message from the God of kings. Even a mean herald may go on a great errand. The prophets of the gospel have nothing to do but with spiritual kingdoms, to beat down the kingdoms of sin and Satan, to translate souls to the kingdom of heaven. He that renewed the life of the Shunammites son must stoop to age: that block lies in his way to Jehu. The aged prophet employs a speedier messenger, who must also gird up his loins for haste. No common pace will serve us when we go on Gods message; the loss of minutes may be unrecoverable. He is prodigal of his success that is slow in his execution.
2Ki. 9:3. How is it that of all the kings of the ten tribes none was ever anointed but Jehu? Is it that the God who would not countenance the erection of that usurped throne would countenance the alteration? Or is it that by this visible testimony of Divine ordination the courage of the Israelitish captains might be raised up to second the high and bold attempt of him whom they saw destined from heaven to rule?Bp. Hall.
2Ki. 9:4-10. The prophet disciple. I. His mission. He is one of the humblest in Samaria, a poor insignificant boy, and he carries a kingdom to Ramoth! How great the Lord appears in this incident, but also with what cutting irony He meets all the arrogance of the self-made gods of earth! II. His obedience. He raises no objections, though the task is hard for him. He is to go into a besieged city, to go before the generals of the army, to put his life and liberty at stake. Yet he goes with no sword at his side; without a companion he ventures into the army of the king to anoint another to be king. All human scruples and fears disappear before the duty of obedience. In obedience he does not fear, and lets not danger terrify him. III. His fidelity. He does no more and no less than he is demanded. He has a great commission entrusted to him, but he does not boast. He keeps the secret, and departs as he came. He does not care what may be thought of him, or what people may say, whether they think him a mad fellow or not. So the apostles also carried the secrets of God out into the wide world, and had no other interest than that they might be found true.Lange.
2Ki. 9:5. The Divine message of mercy. I. Is entrusted to the earnest and faithful, notwithstanding their youth. II. Is often delivered under circumstances of difficulty and peril. III. Is suited to all classes of society. IV. Is personal and direct in its application: To thee, O captain!
2Ki. 9:7-10. Oh, the sure, though the patient justice of the Almighty! Not only Ahab and Jezebel had been bloody and idolatrous, but Israel was drawn into the partnership of their crimes: all these shall share in the judgment. Elijahs complaint in the cave now receives this late answer. Hazeal shall plague Israel, Jehu shall plague the house of Ahab and Jezebel. Elishas servant thus seconds Elishas master. Ahabs drooping under the threat hath put off the judgment from his own days; now it comes and sweeps away his wife, his issue, and falls heavy upon his subjects. Please yourselves, O ye vain sinners! in the slow pace of vengeance; it will be neither less certain nor more easy for the delay; rather it were to pay for that leisure in the extremity.Bp. Hall.
The world of to-day will not hear that the Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, and declares that this is only an Old Testament notion, and that the Gospel knows only one God, who is a God of love. It is true that God does not seek revenge, but he is a holy, and therefore a just God. who requites men as they have deserved, and repays each according to his conduct (Job 34, 2; Rom. 2:6). A God without vengeance, who cannot and will not punish, is no God, but a divinity fashioned from ones thoughts. The same gospel that teaches that God is love, says also, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, and Our God is a consuming fire. The same law which says that God is an avenging God towards His enemies, also says that He is merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.
2Ki. 9:7. The Divine concern for the martyrs. I. Sustains them in times of trial and suffering. II. Elevates them to sublime examples of heroism and devotion. III. Punishes their tormentors with terrible retribution.
The blood of thy servants. Listen! He has indeed permitted them to lay violent hands upon His servants, but He has not overlooked or forgotten it. Nothing cleaves more irresistibly up through the clouds than the voice of the blood of persecuted saints. Nothing is better adapted to pour oil upon the flames of the Divine wrath against the godless than the sighs which their cruelty forces from a child of God. The blood of the saints has often cried from earth to heaven, and what judgments it has called down! Let the persecutors of all centuries appear and bear witness. Nebuchadnezzer, Belshazzar, Herod, Agrippa, Nero, Inquisitors of Spain, the Louises of France, Charles IX.bear witness all what a dangerous thing it is to lay hands upon the saints of the Most High! This is not the only instance where God has raised the destroying axe over a dynasty which was morally rotten. He often makes use of royal families which have fallen into moral decay for the discipline of nations, but the time never fails to come when He passes sentence of destruction upon them, and brings speedy ruin upon the condemned. A family tree does not stand firm in gilded parchments and registers: only when it is planted by the waters which flow from the sanctuary of God will it continue to flourish vigorously.Krumm.
2Ki. 9:10. Work for God.
1. Should be entered upon with due preparation.
2. Should be done expeditiously.
3. Should be left to work its own results.
2Ki. 9:11. Wherefore came this mad fellow to thee? Religious zeal. I. Obtains its purest inspirations from the love of God and of His service. II. Often leads the messenger of God to adopt methods which are misunderstood by the world. III. Is regarded by the unbelieving and unspiritual as a species of insanity.
So Gods prophets were ever counted and called by the mad world, always beside itself in point of salvation (Jer. 29:26; Hos. 9:7; Act. 26:24; 2Co. 5:13). These profane ruffians could not name such a one without a flout, because the prophets declaimed against their wickedness, and contemned the worlds vanities which they so much esteemed. But though their tongues thus spake after the wicked guise of it, miscalling the prophets innocency, yet their desire to know what he said and did, did abundantly show what credit they gave him secretly; and after, they made him king whom that fellow had anointed, to the hazard of their own lives. God giveth a secret authority to His despised servants, so as they which hate their persons, yet reverence their truth; even very scorners cannot but believe them.Trapp.
2Ki. 9:12. If the generals, when they heard that God had anointed Jehu to be king, hastened, spread out their garments, and shouted, Jehu is king, how much more should all shout Hosanna to Him whom God hath anointed with the Holy Ghost, and has seated Him at His right hand in heaven, who will rule until He has subdued all enemies under his feet.
2Ki. 9:13. Their readiness in throwing off their allegiance to Jehoram is something remarkable. But it was known that the house of Ahab was in the present generation doomed to extinction. This was a thing people were not likely to forget. It was known that Elisha, who had sent this man, was a commissioned prophet, authorised to declare the will of the Lord, who had reserved the right of appointing whom he saw fit to the kingdom. And it is probable that the military were dissatisfied with the rule of a house so completely under the influence of one bad woman, and the errors and crimes of which had first and last brought so much discredit upon the nation. Add to this, that in the absence of a fixed succession to a throne which so many aspiring adventurers have already won, loyalty sits but lightly upon the soldiery; and they are very prone to vote a popular commander into the throne when it becomes vacant, or even to make it vacant for him.Kitto.
2Ki. 9:14. There are few persons in the sacred history who have been so variously judged as Jehu. To some he is a stirrer up of rebellion and a bloody despot; others see in him a pure and unimpeachable servant of the Lord. Both equally err, for both depart alike from what the sacred record declares, and all depends, especially in the case of Jehu, on allowing ourselves to be led simply by the record. If we restrict ourselves to what is said in this chapter, this much is certain, that he did not make himself king. There is not a word to justify the suspicion that he plotted and conspired before he was anointed king; on the contrary, the story shows clearly that the prophetical calling to be king surprised and astonished him, and also that his fellow-commanders knew nothing of it. He ought not, therefore, to be put in the same category with Baasha, Zimri, Shallum, Menakem, Pekah, and Hoshea, who, instigated by ambition, without authority and in self-will, took the royal power into their hands. He was called to be king by the prophet, by the name of Jehovah. The explanation of the selection of just this man as the instrument for the destruction of the house of Ahab, and for the uprooting of idolatry, is found in the fact that at that time there was scarcely a man who united, as he did, all the necessary qualifications. In the first place, Jehu was a decided opponent of idolatry, and of the abuses which were connected with it (2Ki. 9:22). He was a man of the greatest energy. Pushing onward with boldness and enterprise, decided and pitiless, he shrank back before no difficulty (2Ki. 9:20; 2Ki. 9:24; 2Ki. 9:32). Moreover, he did not lack prudence or wisdom (2Ki. 9:11; 2Ki. 9:15; 2Ki. 9:18). Finally, he stood high in the popular esteem as a military leader. We see from the joy with which his fellow-commanders caught up his nomination and anointment, and from the readiness with which they obeyed his commands, that he enjoyed their fullest confidence (2Ki. 9:14-16). It is true that his subsequent conduct is fierce and soldier-like; that was the natural product of his character, calling, and education.Lange.
So much credit hath that mad fellow with these gallants of Israel, that upon his word they will presently adventure their lives and change the crown. God gives a secret authority to His despised servants, so as they which hate their person, yet reverence their truth; even very scorners cannot but believe them. If, when the prophets of the Gospel tell us of a spiritual kingdom, they be distrusted of those which profess to observe them, how shameful is the disproportionhow just shall their judgment be!Bp. Hall.
If we see here, and in the succeeding chapters, the horrors of revolution on the one hand, none the less do we see when and how revolution becomes a terrible necessity. All authority is a means, not an end. It is established, recognised, and obeyed because it serves those ends. Its rights and privileges are correlative with duties, obligations, and responsibilities, viz., to accomplish the objects for which it was created. Its claims to obedience stand and fall with its fidelity in fulfilling its trust. If it fails in this, if it goes farther, and in the pursuit of its selfish aims and the gratification of its own self-will, threatens to crush and ruin the very interests it was created to serve, the time comes when obedience ceases to be a virtue, and becomes complicity in a crime. In the absence of prophetical authority to fix the time and designate the leaders for renouncing allegiance, it is difficult to see who is to judge of these, save the nation whose interests are at stake.Editor of Lange.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
I. THE ANOINTING OF JEHU 9:113
Jehu, the commander of the garrison at Ramoth-gilead, was selected by God to execute the divine wrath against the Omri dynasty. Quite unexpectedly, Jehu was thrust into a position to challenge the reigning monarch by (1) the anointing by a prophet (2Ki. 9:1-10); and (2) the acclamation of his fellow officers (2Ki. 9:11-13).
A. THE ANOINTING BY A PROPHET 9:110
TRANSLATION
(1) And Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, Gird up your loins, and take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead. (2) When you come to that place, find Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi there, and go and make him rise from the midst of his brethren, and take him into an inner chamber. (3) Then take the flask of oil, and pour it out on his head, and say, Thus says the LORD: I have anointed you king over Israel; then open the door, and flee, and do not tarry. (4) So the young man, even the young man who was a prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. (5) And he came, and behold the captains of the army were sitting; and he said, I have a word for you, O captain. And Jehu said, Unto which of us? And he said, To you, O captain. (6) And he went into the house, and poured oil upon his head, and he said to him, Thus says the LORD God of Israel: I have anointed you for king over the people of the LORD, over Israel. (7) And you shall smite the house of Ahab your 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 all the house of Ahab shall be destroyed, and I will cut off to Ahab male descendants, him that is shut up and him that is 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.
COMMENTS
In the present paragraph Elisha carries out his commission to transfer the kingdom of Israel from the unworthy dynasty of Omri to that of a new dynasty. The prophet dispatched one of the prophetical students to Ramoth-gilead where general Jehu was commandant (2Ki. 9:1). He instructed his disciple to single out Jehu, take him behind closed doors (2Ki. 9:2), and anoint him to be king of Israel. Having done this the young prophet was to hastily depart (2Ki. 9:3). Secrecy was of extreme importance, lest the king should find out what was happening and prepare himself for resistance. Many years before Elijah had been commissioned to anoint this general as king, but, since the time was not ripe during his ministry, he had delegated this responsibility to his successor. Jehu had served as a soldier under Ahab, and under his two sons Ahaziah and Joram. He had worked his way up the ranks until he was chief captain of the host.
The young prophet carried out the instructions of Elisha and went to Ramoth-gilead (2Ki. 9:4). There he found the various officers sitting about informally chatting with one another. Looking at Jehu but addressing no one in particular, the prophet announced, I have a word for you, O captain. To clarify the recipient of the message, Jehu asked which of the officers he wished to address, and the prophet singled out Jehu (2Ki. 9:5). Jehu then left his seat and led the way from the courtyard where the officers had been sitting, into the house which adjoined the court.
In the privacy of that room the prophet took his flask of oil and anointed Jehu king over Israel in the name of the Lord. Along with the crown came a commission. Jehu was to smite, i.e., utterly destroy, the house of Ahab in order that God might avenge the deaths of his prophets and other worshipers at the hand of Jezebel (2Ki. 9:7). This general persecution of Yahweh worshipers had at one time reduced the number of the faithful in Israel to a mere seven thousand (1Ki. 19:18). Jezebel was at the bottom of the antagonism toward the people of God, at times taking matters into her own hands (e.g., 1Ki. 18:13; 1Ki. 21:8-14), and at times stirring up her husband (1Ki. 21:25) to do evil. For these crimes, all the posterity of Ahab must be cut off (2Ki. 9:8)[557] so that the house of Ahab would become like the house of Jeroboam (1Ki. 15:29) and the house of Baasha (1Ki. 16:11), both of which had been exterminated because of religious apostasy. As for Jezebel herself, her corpse would be eaten by dogs, and no one would be sufficiently interested in her fate to see that she received a decent burial. These details about the fate of Jezebel previously had been prophesied by Elijah (cf. 1Ki. 21:23). Having completed his mission of anointing and commissioning Jehu, the young prophet hastily departed (2Ki. 9:10).
[557] For an explanation of the phrases in 2Ki. 9:8, see comments on 1Ki. 14:10.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
IX.
JEHU ANOINTED BY ELISHAS MESSENGER AS KING OF ISRAEL. HE SLAYS JEHORAM. AHAZIAH AND JEZEBEL. (Comp. 2. Chron. 22:7-9.)
(1) And Elisha the prophet called.Rather, meanwhile Elisha had calledi.e., while Joram was lying ill of his wounds. The Hebrew construction again indicates not so much succession as contemporaneousness.
One of the children (sons) of the prophets.Rashi says it was Jonah, who is mentioned in 2Ki. 14:25.
Box.The same word occurs again only in 1Sa. 10:1. Render, phial.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
JEHU ANOINTED KING OF ISRAEL, 2Ki 9:1-13.
We come now to trace the fearful doom of Omri’s dynasty. First the chosen avenger is anointed king and proclaimed such in the army, (1-14.) Then follow, in rapid succession, the deaths of Joram (15-26) and of Ahaziah, (27-29,) and of Jezebel, (30-37;) the slaughter of Ahab’s seventy sons, (chap. 2Ki 10:1-11,) and of the brethren of Ahaziah, (12-14,) and of the priests and worshippers of Baal, (18-28.) Then follows (in chap. 11) the tragic tale of Athaliah’s fall.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1. Called one of the children of the prophets Elisha was now, perhaps, too old and infirm to go himself to Ramoth-gilead, or else he deemed it better for some reason to send another in his place.
Gird up thy loins So as to be expeditious in thy mission.
This box of oil Or, flask of oil. See on 1Sa 10:1.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 9:1-13 The Anointing of Jehu as King Over Israel – 2Ki 9:1-13 was a fulfilment of God’s command to Elijah on Mount Horeb (1Ki 19:16).
1Ki 19:16, “And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room.”
2Ki 9:30 And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window.
2Ki 9:30
2Ki 9:36-37 Comments The Purpose of Recording Elijah-Elisha Miracles – The purpose of the narrative material that describes the miracles of Elijah and Elisha is to serve as testimonies to the fulfilment of God’s Word in their ministries, thus, qualifying them as genuine prophets of the Lord God of Israel. For example, 1Ki 17:24 closes its narrative story with the widow of Zarephath testifying that Elijah was truly a prophet of God. In a similar manner, the Elijah-Elisha narrative material will close with a final declaration of the fulfilment of Elijah’s word (2Ki 9:36-37).
Comments Elijah’s Prophesy Against Jezebel – Elijah made this prophesy in 1Ki 21:23 after King Ahab kills Naboth and takes his vineyard. However, Jehu’s citation of Elijah’s prophecy is longer than the one given in 1Ki 21:23.
1Ki 21:23, “And of Jezebel also spake the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.”
It is important to note that the fulfilment of this prophecy ends the ministries of Elijah and Elisha, serving as a testimony that all of their prophetic words came to pass, verifying their divine callings.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Announcement of Jehu’s Elevation
v. 1. And Elisha, the prophet, called one of the children of the prophets, v. 2. and when thou comest thither, look out there, v. 3. Then take the box of oil and pour it on his head, v. 4. So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead.
v. 5. And when he came, behold, the captains of the host were sitting, v. 6. And he arose and went into the house, v. 7. And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab, thy master, v. 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, v. 9. and I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, v. 10. And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel; and there shall be none to bury her,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
2Ki 9:1-37
THE ANOINTING OF JEHU. His MURDER OF JEHORAM AND AHAZIAH. THE DEATH OF JEZEBEL.
2Ki 9:1-10
Elisha is still the primary figure in the historical drama; but at this point his personality merges in the general account of the kingdom of Israel, which it is one of the objects of the writer to trace from beginning to end. Elisha here performs his last public act, being commissioned, and carrying out his commission, to transfer the kingdom of Israel from the unworthy dynasty of Omri, which on account of its persistent idolatry has fallen under Divine condemnation, to a new dynasty, that of Jehu, which will, at any rate, check the worst excesses of the prevalent idolatrous system, and maintain the Jehovah-worship as the religion of the state. The position recalls that of Saul and David at the original institution of the monarchy, but has many special points which differentiate it from that conjuncture. The circumstances called on Jehu for prompt action; there was no such immediate call upon David. Jehu’s public proclamation as king laid him open to a charge of high treason; David’s secret anointing placed him in no such danger. History never repeats itself exactly, and its events have severally to be judged by a consideration of all their circumstances, without much reference to any former quasi-parallel historical passage.
2Ki 9:1-10
The anointing of Jehu.
2Ki 9:1
And Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets; i.e. one of the students in one of the prophetical schools which he superintended. There is no indication that the individual chosen for the mission stood to Elisha in any peculiar relation. A rabbinical fancy, scarcely to be called a tradition, makes him “Jonah, the son of Amittai.” And said unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take this box of oil; rather, this flask of oil. Oil and ointments were commonly kept in open-mouthed jars, vases, or bottles, made of stone, glass, or alabaster, as appears from the remains found in Egypt and Assyria. Many of the bottles are earlier than the time of Elisha. In thine hand, and go to Ramoth-Gilead. Ramoth-Gilead lay across the Jordan, in the proper territory of Gad. It had been seized and occupied by the Syrians in the reign of Ahab; and the possession had been maintained till recently. Joram, however, had recovered it (Josephus, ‘Ant. Jud.,’ 9.6. 1, ), and had left a strong garrison in the place when he retired to Jezreel.
2Ki 9:2
And when thou comest thither, look out Share Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi. Jehu had been in a high position under Ahab (2Ki 9:25), and had been pointed out to Elijah, by Divine revelation, as the future King of Israel (1Ki 19:16). Elijah had been bidden to anoint him king, but apparently had neglected to do so, or rather had devolved the task upon his successor. Meantime Jehu served as a soldier under Ahaziah and Jehoram, Ahab’s sons, and attained such distinction that he became one of the captains of the host (infra, 2Ki 9:5), according to Josephus (l.s.c.) the chief captain. Jehu was commonly known as “the son of Nimshi” (1Ki 19:16; 2Ki 9:20), either because, his father having died young, he was brought up by his grandfather, or perhaps simply “because Nimshi was a person of more importance than Jehoshaphat.” And go ini.e; seek his presence, go into his quarters, wherever they may be, have direct speech with himand make him arise up from among his brethren. Jehu’s “brethren” are his brother-officers, among whom Elisha knows that he will be found sitting. And carry him to an inner chamber. Persuade him, i.e; to quit the place where thou wilt find him sitting with the other generals, and to go with thee into a private apartment for secret conference. Secrecy was of extreme importance, lest Joram should get knowledge of what was happening, and prepare himself for resistance. Had he not been taken by surprise, the result might have been a long and bloody civil war.
2Ki 9:3
Then takerather, and takethe box of oilrather, the flask of oiland pour it on his head. Compare the consecration of Aaron to the high-priestly (Le 2Ki 8:12), and of Saul (1Sa 10:1) and David (1Sa 16:12) to the kingly office. The oil used was the holy anointing oil of the sanctuary (Exo 30:25) , as Josephus says. And say, Thus faith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over Israel. This is an abbreviated form of the actual message, which is given in its entirety in 2Ki 9:7-10. The writer of Kings avoids all needless repetitions. Then open the doorthe conference was to be with closed doors, that no one might either hear or see what took placeand flee, and tarry not. The Divine message delivered, all would have been done that needed to be done. There would be nothing to wait for. So the young man was to depart with the same haste with which he had come.
2Ki 9:4
So the young man, even the young man the prophetthe repetition of han-na’ar is doubtful, since it is not found either in the Syriac or in the Septuagintwent to Ramoth-Gilead.
2Ki 9:5
And when he came, behold, the captains of the host were sittingeither “sitting in council,” or, at any rate, collected together in one place, not engaged in any active work, but seatedand he said, I have an errandliterally, a wordto thee, O captain. Probably he knew Jehu by sight, and looked at him as he spoke; but, as he addressed no one by name, there might be a doubt who was intended. Jehu, therefore, causes the doubt to be resolved by his question. And Jehu said, Unto which of all us? And he saidi.e; the young man the prophet answeredTo thee, O captain. Jehu was thus singled out as the object of the messagethe person to whom alone it was addressed, and whose special attention was, consequently, required to it.
2Ki 9:6
And he (Jehu) arose, and went into the house. Jehu left his seat, rose up, and led the way, from the court, where he had probably been sitting with the other generals, into the house which adjoined the court. The messenger followed; and the two were together, alone. And hei.e. the messengerpoured the oil on his headas directed (2Ki 9:3)and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel; literally, Thus saith Jehovah, God of Israel. Jehovah’s name is emphatically put forward, in contrast with the name of Baal, as that of the true God of Israel; and appeal is made to Jehu, as to one whose God is Jehovah, and who will accept as authoritative a message emanating from him. I have anointed thee king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel; literally, over the people of Jehovah, over Israel. Practically, the people is, in the main, “the people of Baal” (2Ki 10:19-21), but theoretically and by covenant it is “the people of Jehovah”his “peculiar people” (Deu 14:2), chosen by him out of all the nations of the earth to be his own.
2Ki 9:7
And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master. This is plainly a command, not a prophecy. Jehu is expressly ordered by God to “smite,” i.e. destroy utterly, the whole house of Ahab. This command he carried out (2Ki 9:24, 2Ki 9:33; 2Ki 10:1-11); and his obedience to it obtained for him the temporal reward that his children to the fourth generation should sit on the throne of Israel (2Ki 10:30). Yet still his conduct in destroying the house of Ahab is spoken of by the Prophet Hosea as a sin, and God declares, by Hosea’s mouth, that he will “avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu” (Hos 1:4). It is naturally asked”How could Jehu’s shedding this blood, at God’s command and in fulfillment of his will, be a sin?” And it is rightly answered, “Because, if we do what is the will of God for any end of our own, for anything except God, we do in fact our own will, not God’s. It was not lawful for Jehu to depose and slay the king his master, except at the express command of God, who, as the supreme King, sets up and puts down earthly rulers as he wills. For any other end, and done otherwise than at God’s express command, such an act is sin. Jehu was rewarded for the measure in which he fulfilled God’s commands, as Ahab, ‘who had sold himself to work wickedness,’ had yet a temporal reward for humbling himself publicly, when rebuked by God for his sin, and so honoring God, amid an apostate people. But Jehu, by cleaving, against the will of God, to Jeroboam’s sin (2Ki 11:1-21 :29, 31), which served his own political ends, showed that, in the slaughter of his master, he acted, not as he pretended, out of zeal for the will of God (2Ki 10:16), but served his own will and his own ambition only. By his disobedience to the one command of God, he showed that he would have equally disobeyed the other, had it been contrary to his own will or interest. He had no principle of obedience. And so the blood which was shed according to the righteous judgment of God, became sin to him that shed it in order to fulfill, not the will of God, but his own”. That I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets. Comp. 1Ki 18:4 and 1Ki 19:14. Elijah believed all the prophets of Jehovah, except himself, to have been either slain or banished under Ahab, as we see from 1Ki 18:22 and 1Ki 19:10, 1Ki 19:14. And the blood of all the servants of the Lord. There had evidently been a general persecution of the followers of Jehovah, and not merely a persecution of the prophets. It was only after a number of martyrdoms that the followers of Jehovah in Israel were reduced (1Ki 19:18) to the scanty number of “seven thousand.” At the hand of Jezebel. Jezebel was at the bottom of all the persecutions. Sometimes she took matters into her own hands, gave her own orders, and saw them carried out (1Ki 18:13; 1Ki 21:8-14). At other times she was content to “stir her husband up” (1Ki 21:25) and incite him to evil courses.
2Ki 9:8
For the whole house of Ahab shall perish: and I will cut off from Ahab him that passeth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel (see the comment on 1Ki 14:10). While the exact force of the phrases used is doubtful, the general intention to embrace in the sentence all Ahab’s posterity cannot be doubted.
2Ki 9:9
And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. Jeroboam’s house had been “cut off,” smitten, destroyed, till not one of his posterity was left, about seventy years previously (1Ki 15:29), by Baasha, “because of his sins which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, by his provocation wherewith he provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger” (1Ki 15:30). The far greater sin of Ahab could not be visited with less severity. And like the house of Baasha the Son of Ahijah. As the whole house of Jeroboam had been cut off for its idolatries, so the house of Baasha, which succeeded to the throne, was removed even more speedily, Baasha himself and all his posterity being swept from the earth by. Zimri, who “smote him and killed him,” and succeeded him (1Ki 16:11). The house of Ahab had had a double warning of the fate in reserve for those who deserted the religion of Jehovah, but had disregarded both warnings alike, and had provoked God yet more than their predecessors, by introducing a novel and degraded form of idolatrous worship.
2Ki 9:10
And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel. This had been previously prophesied by Elijah (1Ki 21:23; 2Ki 9:26, 2Ki 9:27). To an Israelite, and even to a Phoenician, it was an awful threat; for both nations alike buried their dead carefully in deep-dug graves or rocky receptacles, and both regarded the desecration of a corpse as a grievous calamity. The dog was to the Hebrews, and to the Orientals generally, an unclean animal, and to be devoured by dogs would have been viewed as a fate which, for a queen, was almost inconceivable. And there shall be none to bury her. Jezebel had no one sufficiently interested in her fate to watch over her remains. Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, had kept watch over the bodies of the seven sons of Saul, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night (2Sa 21:10); and in Greece, if we may believe the poets, life had been risked, and actually forfeited, to save a near relative from similar ignominy. But “Jezebel had none to bury her.” When she was ejected from the palace window (2Ki 9:33) and fell to the ground, and was trodden under foot by Jehu’s chariot-horses, no one came forth from the palace to give the bruised and wounded corpse such tendance as was possible. There was entire neglect of the body for (probably) some hours; and, during these, the catastrophe occurred which Divine foresight had prophesied, but which human malice had not intended (see 2Ki 9:34-37). And he opened the door, and fled. The young man the prophet obeyed to the letter the injunctions which Elisha had given him (2Ki 9:3). The moment that he had executed his errand, he fled.
2Ki 9:11-22
Conspiracy of Jehu against Jehoram.
2Ki 9:11
Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord. After the young man the prophet had made his precipitate retreat, Jehu, too, quitted the inner chamber, and “came forth”returned to the place where he had been sitting with “the servants of his lord”the other captains of the host (2Ki 9:5)and rejoined their company. And one said unto him, Is all well? One of the other captains of the host took the word and asked, in the ordinary phraseology of the time, “Is it peace?”or, in other words, u Is all right?” “Is all well?” The sudden appearance and disappearance of the messenger had evidently created an impression that all was not well. Wherefore came this mad fellow to thee? He did not suppose the man to be actually mad. He calls him “this wild fellow””this scatterbrain,” on account of the haste and strangeness of his conduct; but he quite expects to hear that there was “method in the madness,” and that the communication had some serious import. And hei.e. Jehusaid unto them, Ye know the man, and his communication. Jehu suspected that the whole scene had been arranged beforehand; that Elisha and the young prophet and the captains of the host were in league, and had concerted a way of offering him the throne. He may have had reason to regard the captains as disaffected towards Jehoram, though this does not appear at all distinctly in the very brief narrative.
2Ki 9:12
And they said, It is false. There was no rudeness in the reply. It merely denied that Jehu’s supposition was correct. There had been no collusion between the spiritual and temporal authorities. The captains had no knowledge of the young prophet’s errand. Tell us now. “Tell us,” i.e; “what the young prophet said, since we are completely in the dark upon the subject.” And he said, Thus and thus spoke he to me, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Jehu declared to them without any reserve all that the young prophet had said to him. He accepted their declaration that they were not in league with him, and then gave them an exact account of all that had occurred. He left it for them to determine what, under the circumstances, they would do.
2Ki 9:13
Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs. Kings were honored by the spreading of garments in their way, that their feet might not touch the dusty ground (Mat 20:8). The captains of the host, without hesitation, acclaimed Jehu king on the strength of the prophetical announcement, made his cause their own, and joined in his rebellion. It is reasonably conjectured (Bahr) that “a deep dissatisfaction with Joram must have prevailed in the army,” though whether the dissatisfaction arose from the idolatry of the house of Ahab, or from Joram’s withdrawal from the war, may be doubted, Jehu, on the ether hand, was evidently highly esteemed. The captains threw themselves with ardor into his cause, and extemporized a sort of enthronement. As often in an Oriental house, an external staircase led from the court to the upper story or to the roof. This they carpeted with their begeds, or outer cloaks, and, seating him on the top stair, saluted him as actual king. The expression, el-gerem hamma’aloth, is not literally, “on the top of the stairs,” but rather “on the stairs themselves.” Naturally, however, the captains would emplace him upon the topmost stair. And blew with trumpets. This was a recognized part of the ceremonial of a coronation (see 2Sa 15:10; 1Ki 1:39; 2Ki 11:14). Saying, Jehu is king.
2Ki 9:14
So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi (see the comment on 2Ki 9:2) conspired against Joram. It is not meant that there was a secret conspiracy previous to the prophet’s coming, but that, by the open acts which followed on his coming, Jehu and the captains were guilty of a “conspiracy.” Now Joram had kept Ra-moth-Gilead; rather, now Joram was keeping Ramoth-Gilead. Joram, in his capacity of chief ruler, was keeping, i.e. defending, Ramoth-Gilead against the Syrians with the bulk of his forces. He and all Israel, because of Hazael King of Syria; since Hazael wished to win the city back, and would have done so, had it not been stoutly defended. The writer speaks of Joram as the defender, though he was absent, because the defense was made under his orders. Then, to lore-vent misunderstanding, he repeats what he had already said in 2Ki 8:29 with respect to Joram’s wounds, and his retirement to Jezreel to be healed of them.
2Ki 9:15
But King Joram was returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael King of Syria (see the comment on 2Ki 8:29). And Jehu said, If it be your minds. As soon as he is proclaimed king, Jehu addresses himself to the captains, and proposes a policy. He does not venture to assume a tone of authority, or of imperative command, since he is still but a pretender, and not “established in the kingdom.” “If it be your minds,” he says; i.e. “If you agree with me, and have nothing to urge against my proposal. Then let none go forth nor escape from the cityliterally, let no escaper go forth from the cityequivalent to let no one quit the cityto go to tell it in Jezreel. This is the important point. Secrecy was absolutely essential. If the revolt had got windand a single messenger might have carried the newsthe whole attempt might have failed, or only have succeeded after a long and bloody civil war. All John’s efforts were bent on keeping his revolt secret until he himself announced it to the astonished king (see verse 22).
2Ki 9:16
So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. We must understand that the captains came into Jehu’s views, acknowledged the necessity of secrecy, and took precautions against the departure of any one, openly or secretly, from the city. Jehu, with a moderate troop or company (), sets out, perhaps on the very day of his enthronement, and hastens with all speed to Jezreel, bent on arriving there before any suspicion has arisen of revolt or rebellion. His great object was to surprise Joram, and to kill or capture him before he could take any steps to organize a defense. Probably the force which accompanied him was wholly a chariot force. And Ahaziah King of Judah was come down to see Joram (see 2Ki 8:29, and the comment ad. loc). Ahaziah, it must be remembered, was Joram’s nephew, as well as his ally in the war against Syria. It was natural that he should visit his uncle when he was wounded, even if the wounds were not very serious.
2Ki 9:17
And there stood a watchman on the tower in Jezreel; literally, and the watchman stood on the tower in Jezreel. The watchtower on the southeast, towards Ramoth-Gilead, is intended. There were probably others in other directions; but the writer is not concerned with them. Each watchtower had its one watchman, who gave warning if anything unusual caught his attention. And he spied the company of Jehu as he came. Shiph’ah is generally “abundance,” “multitude” (Deu 33:19; Job 22:11; Isa 60:6), but seems here to designate a “baud ‘ or “company” of moderate size. It is a somewhat rare word. And said, I see a company. The watchman gave notice to those whose business it was to inform the king, that a band or company of men was approaching the city. And Joram said, Take an horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace? Joram apprehended no danger. If the “company” had been a band of Syrians, or other enemies, coming in hostile fashion, the watchman would have worded his warning differently. The king probably concluded that he was about to receive tidings from the seat of war, and meant to ask, “Is the news good or badpeaceful or the contrary?” No blame attaches to him for not taking alarm at once.
2Ki 9:18
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. Jehu chooses to accept the messenger’s words as if they were his own, and not those of the king. “What does it matter to such a one as thee, a mere common man, whether my tidings are peaceful or the contrary? I shall not tell thee my errand. Turn and follow in my train.” The messenger had no choice but to obey. An attempt at flight would have led to his being seized or slain. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he cometh not again. The watchman evidently thought his not returning suspicious, and reported it at once. Joram should now have taken alarm, but he did not. He appears to have had no notion that any danger could be approaching.
2Ki 9:19
Then he sent out a second on horseback. Persistency in a course shown by experience to be futile was characteristic of the sons of Ahab and Jezebel (compare the conduct of Ahaziah, as described in 2Ki 1:9, 2Ki 1:11, 2Ki 1:13). Which came to them, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? Exactly the same inquiry as before, and no doubt in the same sense (see the comment on 2Ki 9:17). Jehu, addressed with the same words thinks it sufficient to give the same answer. His object is to lose no time, but to reach the king as quickly as possible. And Jehu answered, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me.
2Ki 9:20
And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and cometh not again. A still stranger circumstance, and one still more suspicious. The second messenger could only have been sent out because the king disapproved the detention or the first. Whoever, therefore, had detained the second messenger must be consciously acting in opposition to the wishes of the king. And the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi. It is not meant that Jehu was driving his own chariot (which great men never did, 2Ki 22:1-20 :34), and drove in a furious manner, but that the “company” was being urged forward at an unusual pace, in a reckless and hot-headed way. The watchman conjectured, therefore, that Jehu must be leading them, since he had a character for impetuosity. For he driveth furiously; or, madly“ like a madman” (Keil)”praecipitanter” (Vatabl.). The LXX. translate which has, perhaps, the same meaning.
2Ki 9:21
And Joram said, Make readyrather, harness; literally, attachi.e. “attach the horses to the chariotand his chariot was made readyliterally, and one attached, or harnessed, his chariotand Joram King of Israel and Ahaziah King of Judah went out, each in his chariot. The uncle and the nephew went out together, still, as it would seem, unapprehensive of any danger, though the circumstances were certainly such as might well have amused suspicion. Joram was probably anxious to know the reasons which had induced the captain of his host to quit his post at Ramoth-Gilead. Ahaziah probably accompanied him out of politeness, though he too may have been curious to learn the news. If any disaster had overtaken the army of Israel, the safety of Judah might also be endangered. “Tun res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet.” And they went out against Jehurather, to meet Jehu (LXX.); see the Revised Versionand met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. Humanly speaking, this was accidental. The “portion of Naboth,” or his plot of ground, lay outside the southeastern gate of the city, at no great distance from the walls; and it happened that Joram and Jehu met within its limits. Had the king started a little sooner, or had Jehu made less haste, the meeting would have taken place further from the town, and outside the “portion of Naboth.” But Divine providence so ordered matters that vengeance for the sin of Ahab was exacted upon the very scene of his guilt, and a prophecy made, probably by Elisha, years previously, and treasured up in the memory of Jehu (2Ki 9:26), was fulfilled to the letter.
2Ki 9:22
And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? Still the same question is asked; but we cannot be sure that it is asked in exactly the same sense. Something in the aspect of Jehu, and in his furious haste, may by this time have alarmed the king. Or possibly he maybe merely repeating the question put through his messengers, and still unanswered, Is all well with the army or no? Has there been any disaster?” Jehu, at any rate, chooses to understand his vague phrase in the former sense, as if he had asked, “Is it peace between thee and me?” and answers in the negative. And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witch-crafts are so many? literally, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and those many witchcrafts of hers continue. By “whoredoms” are meant idolatries, as so frequently in Scripture (Le 2Ki 19:29; 2Ki 20:5; Jer 3:2, Jer 3:9; Jer 13:17; Eze 16:17; Eze 20:30; Eze 23:11, etc.; Hos 2:2; Hos 4:12; Hos 5:4; Nah 3:4, etc.); by “witchcrafts” all those magical practices which were so common at the time in Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia, and no doubt also in Phoenicia, and which were so strictly forbidden by the Mosaic Law (Exo 22:18; Deu 18:10). Besides the Baal-worship, Jezebel had introduced these unhallowed practices into the kingdom of Israel. Jehu reproaches Joram with allowing them, and declares that there can be no peace between him and his master under ouch circumstances. Having gained his object and got within bowshot of the unsuspecting monarch, he throws off the mask and declares uncompromising hostility. “No man could use such terms of the queen-mother who was willing any longer to be a subject.”
2Ki 9:23-26
Murder of Jehoram by Jehu.
2Ki 9:23
And Joram tamed his hands, and fled. Joram made his charioteer turn the chariot suddenly round, and fled by the way by which he had come. “Turning the hands” is turning the chariot round by means of the hands; and Joram is said to have done that which he caused to be done. And said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah. Mirmah is “deceit” or “fraud” of any kind, and here is not ill rendered by “treachery.” Jehu’s conduct was not justified by the mission given him (2Ki 9:6-10), which certainly did not authorize him to commit a treacherous murder.
2Ki 9:24
And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength. This meaning is scarcely contained in the Hebrew, which merely says that Jehu “filled his hand with his bow,” that is to say, took his bow into his hands for the purpose of using it. And smote Jehoram between his arms; i.e. directed an arrow against Jehoram with so true an aim, that it struck him in the middle of the back between his shoulders. And the arrow went out at his heart. This was quite possible, for the heart lies towards the center of the chest, not wholly on the left side. It is not necessary to suppose an oblique wound. And he sank down in his chariot. Jehoram fell into the “well,” or body, of the chariot, and there lay, the chariot being brought to a stand.
2Ki 9:25
Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain; literally, his thirdsman; Keil renders “his aide-de-camp,” probably one of those who was in his chariot with himTake up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. “Take up the body,” i.e. “and cast it into the plot of ground which once belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite, and was forfeited to the crown at his death (1Ki 21:15), and taken possession of by Ahab” (1Ki 21:16). The reason for the order follows. For remember how that, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the Lord laid this burden upon him. The LXX. have , “I remember;” but the Hebrew text is , not “Remember” (imperative mood) is the correct translation. Jehu recalls his captain’s recollection to an occurrence which was deeply impressed upon his own. “When thou and I rode together after Ahab” probably means “when we two stood behind Ahab in his chariot.” The Assyrian sculptures usually represent the monarch as attended by two body-guards, who ride in the same chariot with him, standing up behind him, and often interposing their shields to protect his person. In this near proximity Jehu and Bidkar would hear any speech which was addressed to Ahab. By a “burden” is meant a sentence of punishment (comp. Isa 13:1; Isa 15:1; Isa 17:1; etc.; Nah 1:1, etc.).
2Ki 9:26
Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth. Jehu, after the lapse of fourteen or fifteen years, naturally had forgotten the exact words used. And the blood of his sons. The execution of Naboth’s sons had not been mentioned previously; but, under the rude jurisprudence of the age (2Ki 14:6), sons were usually slain with their fathers. And, unless they had been removed, Ahab could not have inherited the vineyard. Saith the Lord; and I will requite thee in this plat, saith the Lord. This was the gist of the prophecy, which ran as follows: “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.” Now therefore take and cast him into the plat of ground, according to the word of the Lord. The evil prophesied against Ahab had been formally and expressly deferred to his son’s days on Ahab’s repentance (cf. 1Ki 21:29).
2Ki 9:27-29
Murder of Ahaziah.
2Ki 9:27
But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. As soon as Ahaziah saw Jehu shoot his arrow, he too took to flight; not, however, in the same direction as Joram, but southwards, towards his own land. If “garden house” is the right translation of , we can say no more than that it was probably one of the lodges of the royal demesne, which lay south-east and south of Jezreel, whereof nothing more is known. But it is quite possible that we ought to translate, with the LXX; “by the way of Beth-Gan” -. In this case “Beth-Gan” would be a village or town, probably identical with En-gannim, which lay at the foot of the hills bounding the Plain of Esdraelon, nearly due south of Jezreel (Zerin), and which is now known as Jenin (see the Map of Western Palestine, by Mr. Trelawney Saunders, compiled from the surveys of the Palestine Exploration Fund, where Ahaziah’s flight is well traced. And Jehu followed after him; and said, Smite him also in the chariot; rather, in his chariot, not in that of Jehoram, since the two kings rode respectively in their own chariots (2Ki 9:21). It was a bold step in a pretender not yet settled upon the throne to provoke the hostility of a neighboring country by murdering its monarch; but Jehu probably thought he had more to fear from Ahaziah himself, who had been on such close terms of friendship with Jehoram, than from any probable successors. He, therefore, finding him in his power, pursued after him and slew him. From a religious point of view he could justify the act; since the commission given to him (2Ki 9:7) was to smite all the house of Ahab, and Ahaziah was Ahab’s grandson. And they did so at the going up to Gur, which is by Ibleam. The “ascent of Gur,” , was probably the rising ground between the southern edge of the Plain of Esdraslon and the place known as” Ibleam,” or “Bileam” (1Ch 6:70), which is reasonably identified with the modern Bir-el-Belameh, two miles south of Jenin. Here the steep ascent necessarily delayed the chariot, and Ahaziah’s pursuers gained upon him, approached him, and wounded him. And he fled to Megiddo. Wounded at the ascent of Gur, and despairing of making his way through the rough mountainous country which lay between him and Jerusalem, Ahaziah suddenly changed his route, perhaps thereby baffling his pursuers, and, skirting the hills, had himself conveyed to Megiddo (Ledjun), where he died, either of his wounds, or through some fresh violence on the part of Jehu (see 2Ch 12:8, 2Ch 12:9). The reconciliation of 2Ch 12:8, 2Ch 12:9 with the present passage is difficult, but not wholly impossible. Perhaps the Chronicler means by “Samaria” the kingdom, not the town.
2Ki 9:28
And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem. No king of the house of David had as yet been buried elsewhere than in the rock-hewn sepulcher which David had constructed for himself and family at Jerusalem. As soon, therefore, as Ahaziah was dead, his attendants conveyed his dead body in a chariot to the Judaean capital. Jehu did not oppose, having no quarrel with the dead. And buried him in his sepulcher; i.e. in the particular excavation, or loculus, which he had prepared for himself. Jewish, like Egyptian, kings seem to have made it their business to see to the construction of their tomb as soon as they mounted the throne. Thus Ahaziah, though he had reigned but a year (2Ki 8:26), had already prepared, himself, a sepulcher. His “servants” buried him in it. With his fathers in the city of David.
2Ki 9:29
And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Israel. In 2Ki 8:25 the accession of Ahaziah is placed in Joram’s twelfth, instead of his eleventh, year. The slight discrepancy is sufficiently explained By the double reckoning of a king’s “first year,” familiar to chronologists, either
(1) from the date of the accession to the end of the current civil year; or
(2) from the date of the accession to the same day in the ensuing year. Verses 30–37.Death of Jezebel.
2Ki 9:30
And when Jehu was come to Jezreel. Some commentators suppose that Jehu did not engage personally in the pursuit of Ahaziah, but, leaving that to a portion of his retinue, pushed on with all haste to Jezreel, where Jezebel was, “the originator of all the mischief.” But it is certainly more natural to understand (with Keil and Josephus) that Jehu himself pursued. The pursuit to Ibleam, where Ahaziah was mortally wounded, and the return to Jezreel, need not have occupied more than about three hours. Jezebel heard of it. She would naturally be the first to hear. On the death of her son, which must have been plainly seen from the walls of Jezreel, she become practically the chief authority in the place, and indeed in the kingdom. Jehoram’s sons were probably minors. And she painted her face; literally, and she put her eyes in antimony; i.e. she adorned her eyes with the dark dye which has always been fashionable in the East, and which is still used at the present day. The dye is spread both on the upper and the lower eyelids. It at once increases the apparent size of the eye, and gives it unnatural brilliancy. The Oriental nations, Babylonians, Assyrians, Medes, Persians, were acquainted with the practice from very early times; and it is not surprising that it was known to Jezebel. What was her exact object in applying it is more doubtful. The older commentators, who are followed by Ewald, suppose that she intended to “summon up all her seductive fascinations in order to tempt and conquer Jehu;” but more recent writers (Bahr, Keil, and others) argue that her probable age renders this incredible, since she had already a grandson who was twenty-three years of age (2Ki 8:26), and must therefore have been herself at least fifty. But, if we remember that Cleopatra was forty when She held Antony as her slave and hoped to captivate Augustus, it would seem to be not altogether beyond the bounds of possibility that a Phoouician princess of fifty may have thought that, by the use of art, she might reader herself a captivating personage. There is, at any rate no evidence that “putting the eyes in antimony” was an ordinary or a fitting preparation for meeting death in a way worthy of a queen. Ewald’s view has, therefore much to commend it to our acceptance. Jezebel, trusting in the charms and the fascination which had been so potent over Ahab, may have imagined that she had still enough beauty left to capture Jehu, provided she increased her natural attractions by a careful use of all the resources of art. And tired her head. Phoenician statues of goddesses have their hair arranged in long pendent curls, and bear on their heads a small conical cap with a ribbon wreathed round the base. The artists probably had queens and princesses as their models. There is no evidence that false hair was worn in Phoenicia, either by men or women. And looked out at a window. Windows, sometimes open, sometimes latticed, were common in Oriental houses from the earliest times. They mostly looked into the court round which a house was commonly built; but some few were in the external wall of the building; and through these new arrivals might be reconnoitered. Jezebel “looked out,” partly to see, but perhaps still more to be seen.
2Ki 9:31
And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master? This is a possible meaning of Jezebel’s words, and it has among its advocatesLuther, De Wette, Maurer, and Dathe, besides our own translators. But so defiant an utterance is quite incompatible within intention to captivate and conciliate. Probably, therefore, we should understand the queen either as saying affirmatively, “Peace to thee, Zimri!” (or, “Hail, Zimri!”) “slayer of thy lord,” or else as asking, “Is it peace” (i.e. “Is it peace now between thee and me?”), Zimri, slayer of thy lord?” In either case, Zimri is an honorific appellation, recalling the fact of another Israelite general, who had revolted, slain his master, and reigned as king.
2Ki 9:32
And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? Whatever Jezebel’s intention, Jehu yielded not a jot; he was deaf to her flatteries, blind to her seductions. He had made up his mind for “war to the knife” before he embarked upon his enterprise, and the feeble attempts of a queen whose part was played out, whose age he knew, and whom he no doubt regarded as an old woman, had no power on him. Instead of responding to her blandishments, he took a stern and hard line. He would not see her privately. He summoned to his aid the menials of the palacethe eunuchs -those on whom beauty has least influence. “Who is on my side? who?” he exclaimed (literally, “Who is with me? who?”); thus calling on the court servants to desert their masters, the guards to turn their swords against their employers, the menials to consummate an intra-palatial revolution. We cannot deny to Jehu the credit of vigor, promptness, audacity, the talent to seize on the opportunity of the moment, and to make the most of it; but he must ever present himself to us as the rough soldier, with no courtesy, with no chivalry, bent on accomplishing his own ends, and shrinking from no deed of blood, no precedent pessimi exempli, if thereby his ends might be brought about. And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs. Eunuchs had become an integral part both of the Jewish and of the Israelite courts from the time of David (1Ch 28:1). They are an institution which almost necessarily accompanies polygamy; and they had long held high office in. Egypt, in Babylon, and in Assyria. A position outside nature, at variance with all men’s natural feelings and aspirations, of necessity depraves the character, weakens the moral principle, and ends by debasing the class. In Oriental history, the lowest, vilest part is always played by the eunuchs of the palace, who are ever ready to take part in any intrigues, in any conspiracies, and who seem to be almost wholly devoid of the ordinary feelings of humanity. The eunuchs who “looked out” to Jehu were probably the chief eunuchs of the palace, who had authority over the others, and indeed over the court officials generally.
2Ki 9:33
And he said, Throw her down. A splendid example of the wicked man’s prompt and bold and unscrupulous decision. A queen, a queen-mother, always more tenderly regarded than an ordinary queen-regnant, a princess in her own right (see 2Ki 9:34), daughter of a neighboring and powerful potentate, settled in her kingdom for over thirty years, the most powerful person the state during that entire period, backed up by the numerous and dominant party of her co-religionists, she is to Jehu nothing but a wicked woman who is in his way; she inspires him with no awe, she does not even touch him with any feeling of respect. “Throw her down.” History presents no parallel to such an indignity. Kings and queens had been, time after time, removed by violence; their lives had been taken; they had been transplanted to another sphere of being. But the open casting forth from a window of a crowned head by the menials of the court, at the command of a usurper, was a new thing, unprecedented, unparalleled. It must have been a shock to all established notions of propriety. In commanding it Jehu showed his superiority to existing prejudice, his utter fearlessness, and his willingness to create a new precedent, which might seriously shake the monarchical principle. So they threw her down. There appears to have been no hesitation. The boldness of Jehu communicated itself to those whom he addressed; and the eunuchs violently seized the person of the queen, and precipitated her from the window to the ground below. She fell on the road by which the palace was approached, and lay there bleeding and helpless. And some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall. As she fell, some portion of her body struck against the wall of the palace, and left splashes of blood upon it. There were probably some projections from the wall between the window and the ground. And on the horses. As her body struck the projections, a bloody shower spurted from it, which fell in part upon the horses that drew Jehu’s chariot. And he trode her underfoot. Like Tullia (Liv, 1.48), Jehu had his chariot driven over the prostrate corpse, so that the hoofs of his horses, and perhaps his own person, were sprinkled with the royal blood. Compare the passage of Livy, “Amens, agitantibus furiis, Tullia per patris corpus carpentum egisse fertur, partemque sanguinis ac caedis paternae cruento vehiculo, contaminata ipsa respersaque, tutisse ad penates suos virique sui.” It is not often that royal corpses, unless in the heat of battle, have received such treatment.
2Ki 9:34
And when he was come ini.e. when Jehu had established himself in the royal palacehe did eat and drink, and said. His first care was to refresh himselfto order a banquet to be served, and to satisfy his appetite with food and drink. Not till afterwards did he bethink himself of the bloody corpse of his late queen and mistress, lying on the cold ground uncared for and untended, exposed to scorn and ignominy. When the thought occurred to him, it brought about a certain amount of relenting. Go, see now this cursed woman. He calls Jezebel, “a cursed woman,” not inappropriately. She had brought a curse on her husband, on her sons, and on her grandsons; she had been the evil genius of two countries, Israel and Judah; she had been the prime mover in a bloody persecution of the worshippers of Jehovah; and was the true original source of the present revolution, which was to result in the deaths of so many others. And bury her: for she is a king’s daughter. As queen-mother, Jehu, it seems, would not have regarded Jezebel as entitled to burial; but as daughter of Eth-Baal, King of the Zidonians (1Ki 16:31), and so a princess born, he allowed her claim. Perhaps he feared lest further insult to the corpse might provoke the resentment of the Phoenician monarch, and draw down upon him that prince’s hostility.
2Ki 9:35
And they went to bury her: hut they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. “The harder parts of the human frame” (Stanley); perhaps also the less palatable, since cannibals say that the palm of the human hand is excessively bitter. Dogs in Oriental countries are ever prowling about, especially in the vicinity of towns, on the lookout for food, and will eat flesh or offal of any kind. They have been called “the scavengers of the East,” and the phrase well describes them. Dean Stanley saw “the wild dogs of Jezreel prowling about the mounds where the offal is cast outside the gates of the town by the inhabitants.”
2Ki 9:36
Wherefore they came again, and told him. The men whom he had sent to bury Jezebel returned, and told the king what they had found. The narrative woke another chord of memory which had hitherto slept. And he said, This is the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite. The prophecy referred to is doubtless that recorded in 1Ki 21:23. It is, however, here expanded, either because Jehu’s recollection was not exact, or because the record in 1 Kings is abbreviated. The great point of the prophecy is common to both records, viz. that the dogs should eat Jezebel at Jezreel, on the scene of her iniquities. Saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel. It is not quite clear what is meant by the portion () of Jezreel. Probably there is no allusion to the “portion” () of Naboth (verses 25, 26). Rather the same is meant as by in 1Ki 21:23, viz. the cultivated space or “portion” of land outside the wall of the town (see the comment on that passage).
2Ki 9:37
And the carcass of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field (comp. Psa 83:10; Zep 1:17; Jer 9:22; Jer 16:4, etc.). The expression was proverbial. In the portion of Jezreel (see the comment on the preceding verse); so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel. The fragments of the body were so scattered that there could be no collective tomb, no place whereat admirers could congregate and say, “Here lies the great queenhere lies Jezebel.” To rest in no tomb was viewed as a shame and a disgrace.
HOMILETICS
2Ki 9:1-10
The prophet and the prophet-disciple-the duties of direction and of obedience.
The time had come for a great changea “great revolution,” to use the words of Ewald. The first dynasty of Israel which had shown any indications of stability was to be swept away, and another still more stable dynasty was to be established. That the will of God might be seen and recognized in the matter, its initiation was entrusted to the regular expounders of the Divine willthe prophets. Elisha, we may be sure, received express directions how to act; and the directions included a delegation of certain most important duties to another. Thus two persons are concerned in the great initiative scene; and the conduct of each is worthy of attention, and, under given circumstances, of imitation. Consider
I. ELISHA AS DIRECTOR.
1. Elisha has made up his mind; there is no hesitation about him, no instability of purpose; he knows what he has to do, and is wholly bent on doing it.
2. His directions are clear, definite, unmistakable. There is no ambiguity in any of them. He prescribes a fixed and clearly defined line of conduct, which his subordinate is to carry out. He wastes no time on the consideration of accidents or contingencies. A certain work is to be done; and his subordinate is to do it in the simplest and most direct way.
II. THE PROPHET–DISCIPLE AS SUBORDINATE AGENT.
1. The prophet-disciple accepts the subordinate position readily, cheerfully, without reluctance. He is content to obliterate himself, and to play the part of a tool or instrument.
2. His obedience is exact, perfect. Whatever he has been ordered to do, he does; and he does no more. He is not officious, as so many zealous servants are; he does not seek to better his instructions.
3. His errand done, he disappears, sinks back into obscurity. We hear of his making no claim either on Elisha or on Jehu. The greatest political transaction of the day had proceeded from his initiative; but he asks no reward, he makes no boast. His work done, he vanishes, and we hear no more of him. God’s work has still to be carried on in the world by two sets of personsdirectors and executants. It will be well or badly done, according as the lines here marked out are kept to or departed from. That wonderful efficiency which none can fail of admiring in the working of so many institutions within the Roman communion is traceable in a great measure to the fact that both directors and executants act in the spirit that animated Elisha and the prophet-disciple.
2Ki 9:11-24
Political revolutions justifiable under certain circumstances.
In a general way, revolution, resistance to constituted authority, rebellions, risings against the civil power, seem to be condemned, or at any rate discountenanced, by the teaching of Scripture, whether in the Old Testament or the New. They arise, for the most part, from human ambitions, from lust of power, from greed, from unrestrained passions, from selfishness; they involve in their course untold sufferings to large numbers; they issue commonly in a condition of social and political life, not better, but worse, than that from which they sprang. “Let every soul be subject to the higher powers;” “Fear God: honor the king;” “Ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but for conscience’ sake,” are precepts of wide application and of great force, deriving additional weight from the fact that, when they were uttered, a Nero occupied the throne. Still, their force may be overstrained. Scripture does not require, under all circumstances, an absolute and entire submission to the civil rulers, but justifies resistance, and allows of the resistance being pushed, in extreme cases, to rebellion. Examples are:
1. The resistance offered by David, first to Saul, and then to Ishbosheth. According to human law, Ishbosheth was the legitimate ruler, against whom David rebelled (2Sa 2:1-10).
2. The rebellion of Jeroboam (1Ki 12:12-20).
3. The present instancethe rebellion of Jehu.
4. The rebellion of the Maceabee princes, related in the first and second Books of the Maccabees, which enlist our sympathy strongly in their behalf, and are set before her members by the Church “for example of life, and instruction in morals.” If we ask, “When is rebellion justifiable?” the answer would seem to be
I. IN THE LAST RESORT, WHEN THE NATION MUST OTHERWISE BE IRRETRIEVABLY INJURED. In Jehu’s case “a family was on the throne which had introduced a licentious worship, had fostered it, and had persecuted the older and purer religion, which, if it had not succeeded in taking so firm a hold upon the people as to bind them to purity and virtue, at any rate had not been itself a deeply corrupting influence. The mischief had spread so far that it was time to try the last and severest measures, or to give up the contest entirely. The indictment was made out against the ruling house of corrupting the national honor, and undermining the national existence, of depriving the nation of a religion whose spirit was pure and elevating, and giving it one whose spirit was corrupting and licentious” (Bahr). In the case of the Maccabees, a foreign power, dominant over the country by right of conquest, had formed the design of completely sweeping away the Jewish religion and substituting for it the Greek, or rather the Syrian, polytheism and idolatry. The crisis was even more terrible than that in Jehu’s time, the danger more pressing and greater. In both these cases the nation seems to have waited with the utmost patience, until there was no other remedy. Either a convulsion had to be faced, or the national religion, the national morality, and the national self-respect, would have been swept away. The nation in each case preferred revolution to submission; and the sympathies of the sacred writers evidently go with them in their choice.
II. WHEN THERE IS A FAIR PROSPECT OF SUCCESS IF A STAND IS MADE. Nemo tenetur ad impossibilia. If the force on the side of authority is overwhelming, if the national spirit opposed to it is weak and faint, if there is no reasonable hope that resistance may be effectual and save the nation from the evils suffered and apprehended, then, whatever their reluctance, though it be “pain and grief to them,” patriots are hound to restrain themselves and to remain quiescent. As Plato says, they must shelter themselves under a wall while the storm rages; they must be content to keep themselves pure, as the seven thousand, who had not bowed the knee to Baal, did in Ahab’s reign; they must wait for better days. If, however, there be a fair chance of success, if it be reasonable to hope that the yoke which is doing deadly hurt to the nation may be thrown off, then no considerations of their own convenience or ease, no fear of blame, no shrinking from disturbance, or even bloodshed, should deter patriotic souls from initiating the struggle by which alone their country can be saved. Desperate diseases require desperate remedies. If Elisha and Jehu had waited with folded hands for Joram and Jezebel to work out their wicked will, the Baal-worship would have been riveted upon the northern, perhaps even upon the southern, kingdom. If the Maccabee family had submitted to the agents of Antiochus Ephiphanes, and failed to raise the standard of revolt, Judaism would have been merged in heathenism, and have perished from the earth. It may be added that if, in our own country, no resistance had been offered to James II; but his commands had been submitted to and carried out, then Great Britain would have been recovered to the Roman obedience, and the witness to a purer Christianity than that of Rome, which has been held up to the world by the English Church during the last two centuries, would have been extinguished and crushed, with what loss to the nation, to Europe, and to the world generally, it is impossible to estimate.
2Ki 9:25-37
Retribution may be long in coming, but it comes at last.
Even a heathen could say, “Raro antecedentem scelestum deseruit pede poena claudo” (Horace, ‘Od.,’ 2Ki 3:2, lines 31, 32). Yet throughout all history evil-disposed men have persisted in wicked and cruel conduct, just as if it was not only possible, but probable, that retribution would be escaped. The lesson thus needs continually to be impressed on men, that, sooner or later, retribution must comethat there is no escape from it, Retribution must come
I. BECAUSE GOD RULES THE UNIVERSE, AND GOD IS JUST. Disbelief in retribution is essentially atheistic. It implies either that there is no God, or that God is without one or more of those attributes which make him God. A just God must have the will to punish; an omnipotent God must have the power to punish. If a so-called God did not punish sin, he must be either not just, or not omnipotent, or not either; but then he would not be God. As Bahr says, “A God without vengeance, i.e. who cannot and will not punish, is no God, but a divinity fashioned from one’s thoughts.”
II. BECAUSE GOD HAS DECLARED THAT IT SHALL COME, AND GOD IS TRUE. God has said to each man, through his conscience, that he will punish sin. Remorse and reset, the dissatisfaction of a guilty conscience, are such punishment begun. In his Word God has expressly declared that he “will reward every man according to his works” (Psa 62:12; Pro 24:12; Mat 16:7; Rom 2:6; 2Ti 4:14); that he “will by no means clear the guilty” (Exo 34:7); that “indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, shall be on every soul of man that doeth evil” (Rom 2:8, Rom 2:9). Nothing is more plainly taught in the whole of Scripture, from the beginning to the end, than requital, retribution, condign punishment. Ahab’s case is singular, not in the general principle, but only in the exact correspondence between the sin and its punishment. Such correspondence is rare and abnormal; but it does occur from time to time, and, when it occurs, there is something about it that is most impressive and striking. When the author of proscription, Marius, is himself proscribed; when the dethroner of kings, Napoleon L, is himself dethroned; when the inventor of conspiracies, Titus Oates, falls a victim to an invented conspiracy; when Robespierre and Danton, who have ruled by the guillotine, perish by the guillotine;”poetic justice” as it has been called, is satisfied, and the world at large is forced to recognize and acknowledge that requital has taken place in a signal way.
III. BECAUSE ANY NEGATIVE INSTANCE THAT CAN BE PRODUCED WILL ONLY SHOW A DELAY, NOT AN ABROGATION OF THE SENTENCE. Infinite time is at the disposal of the Almighty. Men are impatient, and, if retribution does not overtake the sinner speedily, are apt to conclude that it will never overtake him. But with the Almighty “one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” The important thing to be borne in mind is the end; and the end will not be reached till “the judgment is set, and the books are opened” (Dan 7:10), and men are “judged out of those things which are written in the books, according to their works” (Rev 20:12). Punishment may be long in comingthe ungodly may continue during their whole lifetime in prosperity. But there remains a future. Where the heathen felt and said, “Raro,” the Christian will say, “Nuquam antecedentem scelestum deseruit pede poena claudo.”
HOMILIES BY C.H. IRWIN
2Ki 9:1-37
The deaths of Jehoram and Jezebel; or, the Divine law of retribution.
King Jehoram was lying sick at Jezreel of the wounds he had received in battle from the Syrians. Ahaziah King of Judah had come down to visit him, and, as they conversed together, the watchman upon the city wall brought tidings of an armed company approaching. Jehu, at the head of them, was by-and-by recognized by his furious driving. He had already been proclaimed king in Ramoth-Gilead, but Jehoram knew nothing of this. He suspected some ill news, however, and he and Ahaziah drove out with their two chariots to meet Jehu. And where was it that they met? Jehu had good reason to know the place. So had Jehoram. About twenty years before, another memorable meeting had taken place there. Jehoram’s father, Ahab, had coveted Naboth’s vineyard. Jehoram’s mother, Jezebel, had brought about Naboth’s death by a process of false swearing against him. Naboth was dead, and Ahab, accompanied by his two captains, Jehu and Bidkar, rode out to take possession of that vineyard whose owner the queen had murdered. But his sin had found him out. Elijah, the messenger of God, met him there. And there, in that vineyard which he had procured through covetousness, envy, treachery, and bloodshed, Ahab was compelled to listen to his doom. Terrible words they were indeed for a king to hear. “Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even throe. And Jezebel, the instigator of the crime, was not forgotten. The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.” And now, in that very place, stained with the blood of Naboth, Jehu meets Jehoram, the son of Ahab the murderer and the king. The blood of Naboth cries to Heaven for vengeance. Jehoram was little better than his father. He too “cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.” He forsook the true God and served other gods. No doubt his conscience smote him and his spirit failed him, as he asked of Jehu, “Is it peace?” But there was not much time left him to prepare to die. Jehu’s words were few, and his actions quick as thought. With his full strength he drew his bow and sent his arrow straight to Jehoram’s heart. It was then that the words of Elijah, spoken twenty years before in that very place, flashed back upon his mind, and he caused the lifeless body of Jehoram to be cast into the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. But Jehu’s work of vengeance is not yet done. Jezebel’s long career of wickedness had hardened her heart and blinded her to her danger. As Jehu rode into the city, she sat at her window in her best attire, as if to defy him, and greeted him with the sneering question, “Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?’ But Jehu is not a man to be trifled with. He finds willing helpers in her own servants. At his command they threw her down into the street, and shethe adulteress and the murderess, the woman whose name has become proverbial as a symbol of everything that is badis trampled under the horses’ feet, and once more the doom of Heaven is fulfilled: “In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel.” We learn from this narrative some important lessons.
I. SIN, NOT REPENTED OF, MUST BE PUNISHED. This is a law of nature. It is a fact of history. It is the very essence of morality. It is the very essence of justice. It is at the basis of social order in a nation. It is at the basis of the moral government of the universe. Those who transgress the law of nations, those who transgress the laws of honesty or of morality, those who take away the life, or the property, or the character of others, must be made to suffer for it. This is necessary, that justice may be vindicated. It is necessary, in order that property and person and character may be safe. It is necessary, in order that other evil-doers may be deterred from crime. Even under our own national law, we feel that there is something wrong when an evil-doer escapes. We feel that it has a bad effect upon the community when crime goes unpunished. Now, what is sin in the Bible sense? Sin is the transgression of the Law. It is a transgression of a far higher law than the law of nations, of that law on which the well-being of all nations dependsthe eternal Law of God. The Law of God is at the foundation of all true well-being and happiness in every nation and in every age. “This do, and thou shalt live.” “The commandment is holy, and just, and good.” It is, therefore, in the interests of every nation, it is in the interests, not of one generation of men merely, but of those who shall come after them, that those who transgress the Divine Law should suffer for it. Every violation of a Divine law must be followed by its corresponding punishment. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Look at your own lives in the light of this great truth. Are there any sins in your lives unrepented of? Then be assured that the punishment, if it has not yet come, awaits you. Sins against God, against God’s Law, against God’s sabbath; sins against our fellow-mansins of unfair dealing, sins of evil-speaking, or other and grosser sins; every one of these, if not repented of, is sure to bring its corresponding punishment. “Be sure your sin will find you out.”
II. PUNISHMENT MAY BE DELAYED, BUT IT IS NONE THE LESS SURE. There is an old Irish proverb, “The vengeance of God is slow, but sure.” We have many illustrations of that in history. It was long after Jezebel’s great crime before her punishment overtook her. When the Israelites were journeying through the wilderness, the Amalekites treated them with great treachery and cruelty, falling upon them in the rear, and when they were faint and weary. It was not until four hundred years afterwards that the sentence against Amalek was executed but it was executed at last. We may kill our enemies, we may seek to destroy all traces of our crime, but we can never destroy the memory and the guilt of it by any acts of ours. Charles IX. of France was led, by the importunity of another Jezebel, Mary de Medicis, to kill Admiral Coligny, who was the great leader of the French Protestants. For a long time he refused, but at last he consented in the memorable words, “Assassinate Admiral Coligny, but leave not a Huguenot alive in France to reproach me.” That was the origin of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. Having killed Coligny, he did not want any of his friends to remain to bear witness against him. How anxious men are to destroy all traces of their crime! And yet how vain all such efforts are! There is One whose eye sees every act of human life. We may escape the judgment of men, but we cannot escape the judgment of God. If not here, then certainly hereafter, every sin, not repented of, will receive its due reward. “For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it he good or had.”
III. THERE IS OFTEN A RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN THE PLACE AND MANNER OF THE SIN AND THE PLACE AND MANNER OF THE PUNISHMENT.
1. It was at Naboth‘s vineyard that the great sin of Ahab’s house had been committed. There, too, at Naboth’s vineyard, Jehoram, Ahab’s son, was slain. It was outside the walls of Jezreel that the dogs licked the blood of Naboth. There, too, the dogs licked the blood and ate the flesh of Jezebel his murderess. It would seem as if this was part of the Divine Law of retribution. One reason for it would appear to be that it fixes unmistakably the connection between the sin and its punishment. Robe Spierre, the famous French revolutionist, literally choked the river Seine with the heads of those whom he sent to the guillotine. But the day came when the death-tumbrel containing himself was trundled along the streets of Paris to the selfsame fatal axe, amid the shouts and execrations of the multitude. Cardinal Beaten condemned to death George Wishart, one of the first of the Scottish Reformers, and watched him burning at the stake, while he himself reclined on rich cushions on the walls of his castle at St. Andrew’s. Three months afterwards the cardinal himself was put to death, and his dead body was hung by a sheet from the very battlements whence he had looked at the execution of Wishart. There is something more than accident in such things. There is the vivid impression intended to be made on people’s minds, that “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”
2. The same is true of the resemblance between the manner of the sin and the manner of the punishment. Jezebel’s murder of Naboth was treacherous and ignominious. She herself was put to death in a treacherous and ignominious way. “With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Jacob cruelly deceived his aged father Isaac when he was blind and feeble. What a pointed retribution it was when he was afterwards cruelly deceived by his own sons in their statements about Joseph! Haman was hanged on the gallows which he had made for Mordecai. One of the most terrible instances of this truth, that as we have treated others we shall be treated ourselves, is the case of Charles IX. of France, referred to above. He consented to the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. He caused the streets of Paris to run with the blood of the Huguenots. He died at the age of twenty-four: and what a death! French historians of the highest order say that he was in such agony of remorse that he literally sweated blood. The blood that oozed from his own body caused him to think of those whose blood he had so freely shed, and he cried out in his last hours about the massacre of the Huguenots. Horrible! Yes; but there is a deep and solemn truth underlying all this. It is a truth that should have practical result upon every life. “With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again” If your sin is public, most likely your punishment will be public. Men who commit commercial fraudsthat is, sins against public confidence and trustthey ought to suffer, and they do suffer, public exposure. If your sin is secret, your punishment will also most likely be secret. They who sin against the laws of health suffer in an impaired constitution. They who sin by speaking evil about others most likely will have many to speak evil about themselves. Standing there by Naboth’s vineyard, and thinking of the envy, covetousness, and murder, of which it reminds us, and their terrible consequences, let us hear the blood of Nabeth and the blood of Naboth’s house crying to us from the ground, “With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Such, then, is the Divine law of retribution. But God, who is just, is also merciful. He willeth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness, and live. We have looked at the way of his justice. Let us look also at the way of his mercy. It is the way of the cross. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you reject God‘s mercy, there is only the other alternative-God‘s retributive justice.C.H.I.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS
2Ki 9:1
2Ki 10:36.
The history of Jehu.
“Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord,” etc. Jehu was the son of Jehoshaphat and the grandson of Nimshi. He was one of the monsters of history. The leading facts of his revolting life will be found in this and the following chapter. His history furnishes
I. A REVOLTING EXHIBITION OF HUMAN DEPRAVITY. He was ruthlessly and craftily cruel. He shot Jehoram dead in his chariot. “And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms.” He commanded Jezebel, who was looking out of a window as he drove up, to be thrown down, and in her fall she was fatally injured, and her body was trodden down by the feet of horses, and afterwards consumed by dogs (2Ki 10:36). He then proceeded to exterminate the family of Ahab. He addressed letters to those who had the care of his sons (no less than seventy in number), and proposed to them to select the fittest of them, and place him on the throne of his father. This they declined to do (through fear of Jehu), but promised to do anything else that might be required. Accordingly Jehu directed them to bring the heads of Ahab’s sons the next day to Jezreel, and they were sent in two baskets. He directed them to be emptied out in two heaps at the gate of the city, and to remain there over night. The next morning he ordered a general slaughter of all Ahab’s family and adherents in the town of Jezreel. He then set out for Samaria, and, meeting on his way a party of forty-two persons, all of the family of Ahaziah, he seized and slew them (2Ki 10:1-13) Pursuing his malignant cruelty on his arrival at Samaria, he cuts off every branch of the house of Ahab that he can find (2Ki 10:17). To effect this, with an infernal craftiness, he ordered all the worshippers of Baal throughout the land to assemble, as if he desired to join them in united worship. All having assembled, without the absence of a single man, he caused every one to be put to death (2Ki 10:20-28). Here is a fiend in human form; and, alas! he is but a specimen of those monsters in bureau history who, in almost every age and land, have reveled in the blood and slaughter of their fellow-men. Such characters as these declare in thunder that men have fallen from their normal state. For who can believe that Infinite Purity and Benevolence would create characters of this class? All sin is an apostasy.
II. A DISTRESSING MYSTERY IN THE GOVERNMENT or GOD. That a just God should allow such men to become kings, and should even place them on a throne over the destinies of millions, is a mystery at which we stand aghast. That the merciful Father should permit men to be murderers one of another confounds us with amazement. Yet this has been going on everywhere through the millenniums of human history. Verily “clouds and darkness are round about him.” “His way is in the sea, and his path in the great waters,” etc.
III. A MIGHTY ARGUMENT FOR FUTURE RETRIBUTION. Were we to believe that this state of things is to continue forever, that there is no retributive period before us, when there will be a balancing of human accounts and a settling of human affairs, religion, which is supreme love to God, would be out of the question. He who could prove to me that there is no future state of retribution would destroy within me all the possibilities of religion. But the concurrent belief of mankind, the universal cries of conscience, and the declarations of the gospel assure us that there is a reckoning day to come. “We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ.” “I saw, and behold a great white throne,” etc.
IV. A PROOF OF THE SUPREME NEED OF A MORAL REGENERATOR. What can alter the character of such men as this Jehu, and put an end to all the cruelties, tyrannies, frauds, and violence, that turn the world into a Pandemonium? Philosophy, literature, civilization, legislative enactments, ceremonial religions? No; nothing short of a power which can change the moral heart. “Marvel not that I say unto you, Ye must be born again.” The gospel is this regenerating power. Thank God, One has come into this world who will “create a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”D.T.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR
2Ki 9:1-14
Jehu made king.
The word of the Lord to Elijah, that Jehu should be anointed king (1Ki 19:16), was now to be fulfilled. The delay in the fulfillment is perhaps to be attributed to Ahab’s repentance (1Ki 21:29). God bore long with this wicked house, and did not cut it off till the cup of its iniquity was full. The execution of God’s threatenings may be long postponed, but, like his promises, his threatenings never fail in the end to be fulfilled (2Pe 3:9).
I. THE MESSENGER DESPATCHED.
1. He was sent by Elisha. On Elisha had fallen the mantle of Elijah, and to him belonged the task of executing Elijah’s unfulfilled commissions. We must distinguish throughout this history between the motives which actuated Jehu in his conspiracy against Ahab, and the providential purpose which, as God’s instrument, he was raised up to fulfill. That is to be read from the standpoint of the prophet. Israel was a people called into existence for the purpose of being a witness for the true God amidst surrounding heathenism. It owed its existence and possession of the land of Canaan to Jehovah. From him it had received its polity; to him it was bound in solemn covenant; the fundamental laws of its constitution required undivided allegiance to him. The penalties which would follow from disobedience were but a counterpart of the blessings which would flow from obedience. The first great sin of the nation was in the setting up of the calves under Jeroboam. For adherence to this unlawful form of worship two dynasties had already perished (2Ki 9:9). But with the accession of the house of Omri a new development in evil took place (1Ki 16:31, 1Ki 16:32). The worship of the Phoenician Baal was introduced; God’s prophets were relentlessly persecuted, and, under the influence of Jezebel, the moving spirit of three reigns corruption had spread far and near throughout the realm, and had penetrated even to Judah. Jehoram at first showed a better spirit (2Ki 3:2), but he must afterwards have yielded to the superior influence of his mother, for Baal-worship was restored, and had the prestige of court example (2Ki 9:22; 2Ki 10:21). Under these circumstances, it was folly to hesitate, if Israel was to be saved. “Here the question of the justifiableness of rebellion against a legitimate dynasty, or of revolution in the ordinary sense of the word, cannot arise. The course of the house of Ahab was a rebellion against all law, human and Divine, in Israel” (Bahr). Even in ordinary earthly states, the right of revolution when religion, liberty, morality, and national honor can be saved by no other means, is universally conceded. But revolution here was not left to dubious human wisdom. The initiative was taken by Jehovah himself, acting through his prophet, and express Divine sanction was given to the overthrow of Ahab’s house.
2. His responsible commission. The person chosen by Elisha to convey God’s call to Jehu, and anoint him king, was one of the sons of the prophets. The anointing was to be in secret; hence the choice of a deputy. No value attaches to the tradition that the messenger was the future Prophet Jonah. Of his personality we know nothing more than is here told. He was an obscure individual, yet he set in motion a train of events of the most tragic significance. A child’s hand may suffice to explode a mine. This messenger Elisha ordered to take a flask of the holy oil, and go to Ramoth-Gilead, where Jehu was. When he found the son of Nimshi, he was to retire with him into the innermost apartment, and anoint him King of Israel in the name of Jehovah, then he was to “open the door, and flee, and tarry not.”
3. The spirit in which he was to execute it. It was a clear, unmistakable, but terribly serious and important message this prophetic disciple was entusted with; and it is instructive to notice the manner in which he was directed to perform his task. “Gird up thy loins,” etc; said Elisha. He was to prepare at once for action; he was to make no delay on his errand; he was faithfully to execute the commands given to him; when his work was done, he was directly to leave the spot. In God’s service there is to be no lingering, or looking back, or turning from side to side, or dallying on the field of duty. The powers of body and soul are to be braced up for the doing of the “one thing” given us to do. “Girding up the loins of your mind,” says an apostle (1Pe 1:13). Promptitude, speed, fidelity, stepping where the command of God stops,these are invaluable qualities for doing God’s work.
II. JEHU ANOINTED.
1. The messenger‘s arrival. Jehoram had returned to Jezreel to be healed of wounds received from the Syrians, and Jehu was at this time in command of the army at Ramoth-Gilead. The city itself had previously fallen into the hands of the Israelites. When the messenger arrived, he found the captains of the host sitting together in some house or court, and he at once addressed Jehu with the words, “I have an errand to thee, O captain.” Jehu put the question, “Unto which of all us?” and the answer was, “To thee, O captain.” The call of God may come to us at unexpected times and in surprising ways. It may come through others, or its voice may be heard in providence. There are general calls which God gives “to us all,” and there are special calls to the individual. In whatever way the call of God is made known to us, we do well to give attentive heed to it.
2. The act of anointing. Jehu’s anointing was to take place secretly. The messenger was to take him into an “inner chamber,” and there make known his errand. We are reminded that it is generally in silence and secrecy that God gives men their summons to their peculiar life work. No time was wasted. The young man, trembling, excited, no doubt, at the thought of the perilous deed he was performing, and at the awful nature of the message he had to deliver, had no sooner got Jehu in private than he poured the oil from his flask upon his head, and said, “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel.” There is involved in this brief announcement the truths:
(1) That royal authority is from God. He sets up kings and puts down kings (Dan 2:21). Those only who rule by his sanction and with his favor are legitimate rulers.
(2) Israel was a people of the Lord. Only God, therefore, had the right to appoint its rulers, and to determine the limits within which royal power should, be exercised. It was by their setting at naught of all the limits of a theocratic constitution that Ahab and his house had forfeited the throne.
(3) Jehu was made king by the direct act of God. God had taken the kingdom from Ahab’s house and given it to him. It followed however, that if he, in turn, departed from God’s commandments, he would incur the same fate.
3. The terrible charge. The prophet next declared to Jehu the terrible duty imposed upon him as the executor of God’s judgments. It was certainly work from which any man might shrink, though to Jehu it does not seem to have been repugnant, as paving his own way to the throne We notice:
(1) The ground of the judgment: “That I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets,” etc. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psa 116:15). Whoso touches them, touches him (Act 9:4). He will not allow the least injury done to them to pass unavenged (Mat 18:6).
(2) The range of the judgment: “The whole house of Ahab”king, queen-mother, the royal household, every one, great and small, having in him the accursed blood. It was a root-and-branch extermination that was decreed.
(3) The terribleness of the judgment. Dreadful as this execution was, it was in accordance with the ideas of the time. In some sense it was a necessary concomitant of such a revolution as Jehu was about to bring about. From the Divine side it was justified as an act of vengeance against a wicked house. Ahab’s house did not fall without warning, for it had already the doom of Jeroboam’s and Baasha’s dynasties to warn it from evil courses. Special signs of the Divine wrath were to attend the end of Jezebel, the prime instigator of Ahab’s wickedness. It was foretold that the dogs would eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there would be none to bury her. How fearful a thing it is, as shown by these examples, to fall into the hands of a living God (Heb 10:31)! Great persecutors have often met a terrible end.
III. JEHU PROCLAIMED.
1. Jehu and his captains. The whole circumstances of the prophet’s visit had been so strange, his appearance had been so wild, and his calling out of Jehu for a private interview so remarkable, that the captains who had witnessed the scene were naturally much astonished. Their first question, accordingly, when Jehu reappeared among them, himself somewhat agitated, and his hair streaming with the oil which had been poured upon it, was “Is it peace? Wherefore came this mad fellow to thee?” Men under any spiritual excitement seem “mad fellows” to profane minds (Hos 9:7; Act 26:24; 2Co 5:13); but there may have been something in this messenger’s disheveled appearancethe result of his hastehis eager, hasty manner, and the strange fire that burned in his eye, which gave them the impression of one not altogether accountable for his actions. His hasty flight at the end of the interview would add to their surprise. Jehu, in reply, sought to evade explanation. His words, “Ye know the man, and his communication,” mean either, “You have taken a right estimate of him as a madman, and therefore need not concern yourself with what he said;” or, “You are yourselves at the bottom of this trick, and know very well wherefore he came” The latter is, perhaps, the better sense, and may indicate that Jehu wished to sound his companions before going further. Their eager, “It is false; tell us now,” shows how greatly their curiosity was aroused. Jehu thereupon told them frankly what had happened.
2. Jehu proclaimed king. The response on the part of the captains was immediate. Jehu must already have been a general favorite, or the proposal to make him king would not have met with such easy acceptance. As with one accord, the captains threw off their upper garments, spread them on the stairs, made Jehu mount above them, and, blowing the trumpets, forthwith proclaimed him king. Would that when God comes declaring to men the anointing and exaltation of “another King, even Jesus,” his words found as ready a response!J.O.
2Ki 9:14-37
Jehu as avenger.
No sooner is Jehu proclaimed king than, with characteristic decision, he gives orders that no one be permitted to leave the city to carry news to Jehoram; then, mounting his chariot, he drives off furiously to Jezreel. Whatever Jehu did, he did “with all his might” (Ecc 9:10). It is this vigorous decision of character which made him so suitable an instrument in executing God’s vengeance on the house of Ahab,
I. JEHU‘S APPROACH TO JEZREEL.
1. The watchman‘s announcement. In the far distance the watchman on the tower of Jezreel beholds a company of horsemen rapidly approaching. What can it portend? The report is brought to the king, who unsuspiciously sends out a messenger on horseback to inquire. Towers and watchmen are for the protection of a city and its inhabitants. But “except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain” (Psa 127:1). And if the Lord decrees the destruction of a city, or of those in it, towers and watchmen will do little to protect them.
2. Successive messengers. These verses are chiefly interesting as illustrating the character of Jehu. The messenger sent by Jehoram soon reaches the company, and asks, “Is it peace?” The idea probably is, “What tidings from the field of battle?” Jehu does not even answer him civilly, but, with a rude “What hast thou to do with peace?” he orders him to turn behind him. A man this who will brook no delay, submit to no curb, endure no check, in his imperious course. He sweeps obstacles from his path, and bends them to his will. This messenger returns not, and a second, sent out from the king, meets a like reception, and is also compelled to ride behind.
3. Jehu recognized. At length the horsemen are near enough for the watchman to get a closer view, and he has no difficulty in recognizing the furious driving of the leading figure as the driving of Jehu. It is familiar to all that character imprints itself on manner. Physiognomy, walk, gesture, handwriting even, are windows through which, to an observant eye, the soul looks out. Hypocrisy may create a mask behind which the real character seeks to hide itself. But hypocrisy, too, has characteristic ways of betraying its presence, and the mask cannot always be kept on. If we wish habitually to appear true, we must be true.
II. JEHORAM AND AHAZIAH SLAIN.
1. The fateful meeting. On learning that Jehu was approaching, King Jehoram, now convalescent, prepared his chariot, and, accompanied by Ahaziah of Judah, went out to meet his captain.
(1) The two encountered at the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. Strange coincidence, only, as we shall see below, more than coincidence. As the chariots meet, the king puts the anxious question, “Is it peace, Jehu?” Alas! the day of peace is over; it is now the day of vengeance.
(2) Jehu throws no disguise over his intentions. With his usual vehement abruptness he at once bursts forth, “What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?” Jehu was right: there can be no peace in a state when the foundations of religion and morality are everywhere subverted. When fountains of immorality are opened at head-quarters, their poisonous influence speedily infects the whole nation (Hos 4:5). They who are responsible for the subversion of righteousness in a state, must bear the penalty.
(3) Jehoram needed to hear no more. He saw at a glance the situation, and with a shout, “Treachery, O Ahaziah!” he turned and fled. But there was no grain of pity in Jehu. With fierce promptitude he seizes his bow, fits one arrow to the string, and, taking sure aim, smites the flying king right through the heart. Jehoram fallsis dead.
2. Blood for blood. The tragedy thus transacted was in the immediate neighborhood of Naboth’s vineyard. On that very spot, or near it, Naboth’s own blood had been shed (1Ki 21:13), and, as this verse shows (2Ki 9:26), not his alone, but the blood of his sons. Thither, after the murder, Ahab went down to take possession of the vineyard, and there, when he arrived, he found Elijah standing, waiting to denounce upon him the doom of blood. This was not all, for among those who rode with Ahab that day were two of his captains, one of them Bidkar, the other this Jehu, who heard the prophetic announcements against Ahab and his family (1Ki 21:19-24). Ahab himself was subsequently spared, but the doom predicted against him had now fallen on his son: “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine” (1Ki 21:19). That prophecy, probably, had never altogether left the mind of Jehu, but now it came home to him with fresh force as he saw it actually fulfilled by his own hand. Bidkar, too, as it chanced, was there, and Jehu recalled to him the prophetic oracle. Then, to give it literal accomplishment, he bade Bidkar give orders that the corpse of Jehoram should be thrown into the plat of ground which formerly belonged to Naboth. Startling correspondences often thus occur between sin and its mode of punishment. When they occur in fiction, we speak of them as instances of “poetic justice.” But poetry, in this as in other cases, is “unconscious philosophy,” and is not opposed to truth. Its truth in such representations lies rather in seizing and bringing to light actual laws in the moral government of the world. There is a singular tendency in events in history to fold back on each othereven dates and places presenting a series of marvelous coincidences.
3. A partner in doom. The King of Judah had, the moment the alarm was given, sought his own safety. He fled “by the way of the garden house “was it the “garden of herbs,” into which Naboth’s vineyard had been converted (1Ki 21:2)? But in vain. The peremptory Jehu allows nothing to escape his vigilance, and immediately he is on Ahaziah’s track. His command was, “Smite him also in the chariot,” and this was done, “at the going up to Gur, which is by Ibleam.” Ahaziah continued his flight to Megiddo, where he died. A slightly different account of the manner of his death is given in 2Ch 22:9. Whatever the precise circumstances of the death, we cannot but see in it
(1) a righteous retribution for his own sins; and
(2) an example of the end of evil association.
Through his mother Athallah, daughter of Jezebel, he was brought into close and friendly relations with the court of Samaria, and, sharing in the crimes of Ahab’s house, shared also in their fate. It was his visit to King Jehoram which immediately brought down this doom upon him,
III. THE FATE OF JEZEBEL.
1. Her daring defiance. When Jehoram had been slain, the end of Jezebel, the prime mover and presiding spirit in all the wickedness that had been wrought in Israel, could not be far distant. Jezebel perfectly apprehended this herself, for, on hearing that Jehu had come to Jezreel, she prepared to give him a defiant reception. While one loathes the character of the woman, it is impossible not to admire the boldness and spirit with which she faces the inevitable. Her proud, imperious nature comes out in her last actions. She paints her eyelids with antimony, tires her head, and adorns her person, as if she was preparing for some festal celebration. Then she plants herself at the window, and, when Jehu appears, assails him with bitter taunting words. “Is it peace, thou Zimri, thy master’s murderer?” she mockingly asked. What a power for evil this woman had been in Israel! What a power, with her strong intellect and will, she might have been for good!
2. Her ghastly end. If Jezebel thought, by this show of imperious defiance, to produce any effect on Jehu, perhaps to disarm him by sheer admiration of her boldness, she had mistaken the man. Jehu’s impetuous nature was not to be thus shaken from its purpose. He quickly brought the scene to a conclusion. “Who is on my side? who?” he cried, lifting up his eyes to the windows. Two or three eunuchs, no friends of Jezebel, and anxious only to please the new ruler, gave the needful sign. “Throw her down,” was the pitiless order; and in another instant the painted Jezebel was hurled from the palace window, and, dashed on the ground, was being trodden by the hoofs of the horses. Pitiless herself, she now met with no compassion. One who had shed much blood, and rejoiced in it, her own blood was now bespattered on the wall and on the horses. Jehu had no compunctions, but, fresh from the dreadful spectacle, entered the palace, and sat down to eat and drink. But the climax was yet to come. As if even he felt that, vengeance being now sated, some respect was due to one who had so long held sway in Israel, he bade his servants “Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her: for,” he said, “she is a king’s daughter.” The servants went, but soon returned with a shocking tale. Attracted by the scent of blood, the prowling city dogs had found their way into the enclosure, and, short as the time had been, all that remained of haughty Jezebel was the skull, and feet, and palms of the hands, strewn about the court.
3. A prophecy fulfilled. Such was the dreadful end of this haughty, domineering, evil woman. Possibly even Jehu could not restrain a shudder when he heard of it. He had not thought of it before, but now he recalled the close of that awful prophecy of Elijah to Ahab, “The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel” (1Ki 21:23), the terms of which had been repeated to him by Elisha’s messenger, (2Ch 22:10). That word of God had been fulfilled with ghastly literalness. Would that men would lay to heart the lemon, and believe that all God’s threatenings will be as certainly fulfilled!J.O.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
2Ki 9:1. Elishacalled one of the children of the prophets Some of the Jewish doctors have been of opinion, that this messenger was the prophet Jonah, who, upon this supposition, must have been a very young man, because Jeroboam the second, in whose reign Jonah prophesied, did not ascend the throne till about fifty years after this appointment of Jehu to the kingdom of Israel. However this be, it is reasonable to think that Elisha did not go himself to perform this office, either because he was now grown old, and unfit for such a journey, or because he was a person too well known, and not so proper to be employed in an affair which required secrecy.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
B.Jehus Elevation to the Throne of Israel
2Ki 9:1-37. [2Ch 22:7-9.]
1And Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets [prophet-disciples], and said unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take this box [vial]1 of oil in thine hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead: 2And 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 [lead] him to an inner chamber; 3Then take the box [vial] of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed [I anoint] thee king over Israel. Then open the door, and flee, and tarry not.
4So the young man, even the young man [the servant of]2 the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. 5And 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. 6And 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 [I anoint] thee king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel. 7And 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 8the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel. For [omit 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 [both him that is of age and him that is not of age] in Israel: 9and 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: 10and the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion [purlieus]3 of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. And he opened the door, and fled.
11Then 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 [secret]. 12And 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 [I anoint] thee king over Israel. 13Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it under him [Jehu] on the top of the stairs 14[bare steps],4 and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king. So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram had kept [defended] Ramoth-gilead, he and all Israel, because of [against] Hazael king of Syria: 15but king Joram 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 [no fugitive] go forth nor escape [omit nor escape] out of the city to go to tell it in Jezreel. 16So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram. 17And 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.5 And Joram said, Take a horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace [Is all well]? 18So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace [Is all well]? And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace [well or ill]? turn thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he cometh not again. 19Then he sent out a second on horseback, which came to them, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace [Is all well]? And Jehu answered, What hast thou to do with peace [well or ill]? turn thee behind me. 20And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and cometh not again: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously. 21And Joram said, Make ready. 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 [to meet] Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. 22And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace [Is all well], Jehu? And he answered, What peace [is well], so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts [sorceries] are so many? 23And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, 24[Treachery!] O Ahaziah. And Jehu drew [took]6 a bow with his full strength [in his hand] and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at 25his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot. Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain [lieutenant], Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and thou7 rode together [two by two] after Ahab his father, the Lord laid this burden [passed this sentence] upon him; 26Surely I have seen yesterday the blood 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.
27But 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 [Him also! Smite him]8 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. 28And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David. 29And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.
30And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face [eyelids], and tired her head, and looked out at a window. 31And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master 32[Hail! thou Zimri, murderer of his master!]? 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. 33And 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. 34And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now [to] this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a kings daughter. 35And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. 36Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion [purlieus] of Jezreel shall 37dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel. And the carcass of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion [purlieus] of Jezreel; [so] [so] that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
2Ki 9:1. And Elisha called one of the prophet-disciples, &c. Elisha was undoubtedly at this time in Samaria, where his residence was. The prophet-disciple, to whom he gave this commission, may have stood to him in the same relation in which he once stood to Elijah. It is an unfounded supposition of several of the rabbis that it was the prophet Jonah, the son of Amittai [2Ki 14:25].To Ramoth: see 2Ki 8:28.It is not stated anywhere to what tribe Jehu belonged. It is very probable that he, as the most able of the generals, had received the supreme command on the departure of Joram, as Josephus states.
2Ki 9:2. And go in: i.e., into the house in which he dwells, as is clear from 2Ki 9:6 (), and from the words: to an inner chamber (see note on 1Ki 20:30). Jehu with his army was not, therefore, in camp before Ramoth besieging it, but in the city itself defending it (see note on 2Ki 8:28). [No mention is made anywhere of any hostilities between Israel and Syria, from the death of Ahab until this time, in which the city of Ramoth could have changed hands. It is clear that the representation throughout this chapter is, that the Israelites were in possession of the city. It may, therefore, be inferred with considerable certainty that they had succeeded in taking it in this war, either in the assault in which Joram was wounded, or in some previous one. If Joram had gained this important victory for them, it is not probable that the army would lave been in a disposition to see him deposed by my one else. The inference is that, in the battle, he had not conducted himself well, and that Jehus talents had shone by comparison. It would be quite consistent with the character of each as it appears to us elsewhere. Moreover, we see from 2Ki 9:21 that Joram was already so far recovered as to be able to go out in his chariot to meet Jehu. Yet he had not rejoined his army. This would seem to indicate that he had made much of a slight wound, and that he was shirking the hardships of the war. Putting all this together, we can understand that the feeling of the army towards the king was that of contempt, and towards Jehu that of admiration and respect, and the sudden and complete success of the revolution is not then difficult to understand.W. G. S.] The prophet-disciple entered the house, in the court of which the generals were sitting together, perhaps holding a council of war. Jehu was to be anointed privately, and the fact was for a time to be kept secret.
2Ki 9:3. And tarry not: that no questions might be asked and that he might not be involved in affairs with which he was not competent to deal (Von Gerlach); Josephus: . It was not, therefore, in order that he might escape the danger of being captured by the friends of Joram (Theodoret, Clericus).
2Ki 9:6. I have anointed thee; see above. Exeg. on 1Ki 19:16.On 2Ki 9:7-10 see notes on 1Ki 14:10; 1Ki 16:3-4; 1Ki 18:4; 1Ki 19:10; 1Ki 21:21 sq. On see note on 1Ki 21:23 [and note on this verse under Textual and Grammatical].
2Ki 9:11. Then Jehu came forth, &c. The question occurs, in this chapter, six times, and it is impossible that it should have a different sense in each case. As it evidently stands in opposition to strife or hostility in 2Ki 9:17-18; 2Ki 9:22; 2Ki 9:31, it must also be translated in its original meaning in 2Ki 9:11, Is it peace? and not: rectene sunt omnia? (Vulg.); or Stehet es wohl (is all well)? (Luther). Cf. 1Ki 2:13. [Nearly all the commentators agree with the opinion here advocated, and translate Is it peace? unquestionably meant, originally and etymologically, welfare, salus. It is often used generally, not in any special formula, for peace. As a formula of salutation, however, its etymological signification was entirely lost, as much as in our own good-bye, the etymological meaning of which we very seldom have in mind when we use it. As a question it is destitute of intrinsic meaning. It merely asks, What is the news you bring? In form only it asks, Is it good news? Is all well? Every language presents similar examples of current formul and words which have lost their etymological significance. Our own word well is a good instance, particularly in colloquial usage, where it often is almost meaningless, and where it often implies anything but approval of what has preceded. The inflection of the voice here carries all the significance. A similar instance occurs in this chapter. In 2Ki 9:26 Jehu quotes the sentence of God upon Ahab, beginning with the words . This is the formula for an oath, and an ellipsis is necessary to explain the form. This consists of an imprecation upon the speaker by himself. If I did not seethen may&c. As Thenius well remarks, we cannot believe that the origin of this formula could have been present to the mind of Jehu, or that he could have thought of the alternate, omitted, phrase, when he represented God as having spoken in these words. The alternative was utterly lost sight of, and meant simply verily, as a strong affirmation. therefore is simply a salutation which calls upon the person addressed to tell the news, or his message. So in 2Ki 9:11 it might be translated: Well? Wherefore came, &c. In 2Ki 9:17-18 it has the same meaning, but Jehu plays upon it by using it in its strict meaning in his reply (see the amended translation). In 2Ki 9:22 this is still more evident. In 2Ki 9:31 Jezebel uses it as the regular conventional salutation, with which to address her insulting and defiant words to Jehu. To make it mean in 2Ki 9:17-18; 2Ki 9:22, Is there peace? i.e., do you come with hostile or peaceful intent towards me? is to ascribe to the king a suspicion, first of the unknown party which is approaching, and afterwards of Jehu. If he had been suspicious that it was an enemy, he would not have sent out one man; if he had been suspicious of Jehu, he would not have gone down himself, and, as it seems, without guards, to meet him. Finally, 2Ki 9:23 shows that he did not suspect anything until he heard Jehus answer, which was a bold condemnation of Jezebel. Then he recognized treachery, and, as soon as he did, he endeavored to escape. To send out a man to meet the coming troop and say , was, therefore, simply to send him out to salute them and inquire what was the intelligence they brought. When Jehu was recognized, the same message was sent to him (cf. 2Ki 10:13). Finally, the king went to ask for himself. The only news which he expected was news about the war. When the commander-in-chief came riding in hot haste towards the capital, news, either of a great victory or an overwhelming defeat, was to be expected. As for hostility from the approaching party before it was recognized, or from Jehu after he was recognized, there was no thought of it, until Jehus answer, in 2Ki 9:23, revealed it all at once as openly declared.W. G. S.] The generals put this inquiry, not because they feared the madman might have done him some harm (Ewald), but because they inferred, from the haste with which the prophet-disciple departed, that he had brought important intelligence, perhaps bad news, about the war with Syria (Thenius). Their further question: Wherefore came this to thee? is generally understood as the mocking and contemptuous speech of rude soldiers about a prophet. The Hebrew word is then understood to mean a madman or rhapsodist. It is certain, however, that these soldiers, who were expecting important and perhaps discouraging intelligence in regard to the war, were not in a disposition to scoff at prophets. If they had taken the prophet for a madman, they would not, when Jehu made known to them (2Ki 9:12) the object for which he came, have taken the extraordinary step they did, without consideration or delay, and made Jehu king, on the word of a fanatic. In 2Ki 9:20 it is said of Jehu himself: He driveth , whereby it is not meant to be said that he was a crazy man, a lunatic, or a fanatic, but that he was a man of fierce and violent temper (Vatablus, following the Syriac, translates prcipitanter). In Arabic means to be bold, rash, wild (see Ges. Dict., s. v.). The generals meant to say, therefore, that the wild behavior of the man, who had come and gone without saying a word to any one, had struck them. They thought that his conduct indicated some extraordinary intelligence, and they wanted to know what it was. Jehu at first gives them an evasive answer: Ye know the man and his . This word does not mean his speech or words (Ges., De Wette, and Luther, who follows the Vulg.: et quid locutus sit); nor, his babble (Junius, Kster, and Philippson, who follows the Sept. ), for the word, does not occur anywhere in this sense. Neither does Jehu connect with his words the meaning: Ye yourselves have sent this prophet to me, in order to give me courage to carry out the plan which ye have formed (Dereser following Seb. Smith; J. D. Michaelis), nor this meaning: Ye know the man and what he said to me; ye yourselves are at the bottom of this jest, for ye it was who planned the farce (Krummacher). Jehu could not have meant this, for he knew that the plan or jest had not originated with the generals, and his answer would not then have been an evasive one. No less incorrect is the explanation of Cornelius a Lapide, whom Keil follows: Nostis, eum insanum esse ac proinde insana loquitur, ideoque non credenda, nec a me narranda, for is no synonym of . Finally, we cannot translate it with Bunsen and Thenius, his disposition: Ye should be accustomed to his disposition, since ye have often seen him before. The word is rather to be taken here in the same sense as in 1Ki 18:27, i.e., meditatio, absorption in thought; so that, in other places, it stands for every deep agitation of the soul: rancor, sorrow, or dissatisfaction (Psa 54:2; Psa 102:1; Psa 142:2; Job 7:13), and in 1Sa 1:16 it stands as synonym to . Jehu means to say: The conduct of this man ought not to astonish you; he was lost in thought, as prophets are wont to be; therefore he did not enter into conversation with any one, and departed as hastily as he came. [It must be apparent that the epithet , as it is correctly explained above, is not a proper epithet for a man who is lost in meditation. Wildness of behavior is in general inconsistent with meditation. Moreover, as above stated (note on 2Ki 9:11), it is an error to take to mean Is there peace? and then to suppose that these soldiers asked the question with reference to the war with Syria. How should they ask whether there was peace with Syria, when they were there on purpose to make war with that country? or how should they expect that this prophet could bring intelligence which was to decide that point? The prophet came from home, from Israel, and although his message might ultimately bear upon the continuance of the war with Syria, the natural expectation would be that he brought news from Israel, whence he came. They asked in general what the news was which he brought. The epithet which they applied need not be pressed so far as to make them guilty of any intentional disrespect to a prophet. He was wild in his behavior, and they called him carelessly a mad fellow. The tone and meaning could hardly be better given in English. Jehus reply is best understood as an attempt to sound them. He appears in chap. 10. distinctly in the character of a crafty man. So here; he is in doubt whether the prophet has been instigated by his fellow-commanders to do this thing, because they hesitated to make an outspoken proposition of rebellion to him. He charges them With having plotted this, as a means of inducing him to rebel. Ye know the man, and the errand he had. occurs very frequently in the sense of complaint, a deep-seated subject of anxiety. It is used here of the business or communication which the prophet brought deeply hidden in his heartthe deep plot which had been the result of long meditation. To this interpretation of 2Ki 9:11, , it is a lie, in 2Ki 9:12, answers well. They deny the charge.W. G. S.] The generals notice that Jehu is trying to evade them, and, as he is not able to conceal his agitation entirely, they are only the more urgent. They reply: , i.e., not: That is not true! (Luther, Keil), or: A lie! (De Wette), but, Deceit! (1Sa 25:21; Jer 3:23), Thenius: Nonsense! thou desirest to escape us. Thereupon Jehu cannot help himself any longer; he tells them plainly what has happened. Niemeyers interpretation: It is true that he (this man) does not always tell the truth, yet tell us what he said, is certainly false.
2Ki 9:13. Then they hasted and took every man his garment. The immediate and joyful homage to the general shows, on the one hand, that they were far from scoffing at the prophet, or regarding him as a crazy man or a mere fanatic, on the other hand, that a deep dissatisfaction with Joram and the house of Ahab prevailed in the army, while Jehu stood in high esteem. The words have been understood in many different ways. Generally is taken in the sense of its synonym , self, and the clause is translated: upon the stairs themselves, i.e., upon the bare steps (Kimchi, whom Keil follows); but the word scarcely has this signification except in connection with personal pronouns. Still less can we approve the translation of Grotius, Clericus, and others: in fastigio graduum, for never means the top or summit. Thenius believes that is written for , as the Vulg. shows: in similitudinem tribunalis. He translates: As a representation of (or make-shift for) the (necessary) scaffolding [by mounting upon which to show himself to the people and receive their homage, a king was inaugurated], Jehu stepped up upon the piled-up garments. But, to say nothing of other objections, there could be no mention of steps in connection with a pile of heaped-up garments. Evidently, we have rather to think of a spreading-out of the garments such as is recorded in Mat 21:8, and, as , which we must not interchange with , designates motion to or towards, we translate literally: towards, or, in the direction of, the stairs. In the building, in which the generals were assembled, there was, therefore, a staircase, an arrangement like that in the court of the temple for the king (2Ch 6:13), which had perhaps been prepared for the king, who formerly lived in Ramoth. The generals spread their garments over the ground from the place where Jehu stood to this place, which was ordinarily reserved for the king, and thus formed a path for him to this place, on which they saluted him with royal honors. [See note under Grammatical on this verse.]On the blowing of the trumpet, see note on 1Ki 1:34; cf., 2Ki 11:14.
2Ki 9:14 does not state the cause of the act in 2Ki 9:13, but the consequence of it, so that we must not understand that there was a conspiracy in the ordinary sense of the word, i.e., a secret bond, previous to the wounding of Joram (Kster). After they had chosen Jehu king by acclamation, he bound himself and them firmly and solemnly to hostility to Joram ( means to bind, to fetter). The word does not imply, in itself, that he made them take an oath of allegiance to himself.
2Ki 9:14. Joram had defended Ramoth, &c. shows again, what we saw in ver 6, that the city was not at that time besieged by Joram (Kster), but that he was in it and was defending it against the Syrians. In 2Ki 9:15-16 we have a repetition of 2Ki 8:28-29, but it is not a mere superfluous repetition, which proves that those verses and the chapter before us were not written by the same person (Thenius). In the former place the statement is purely historical, but here it is intended to explain the event narrated in 2Ki 9:1-14. 2Ki 9:21 shows that Joram was healed at the time that Jehu was anointed. Instead of returning, however, to share the labors and the dangers of the war, he remained in his summer palace in Jezreel, and appears to have been taking his pleasure with his guest, king Ahaziah of Judah. This must have had a bad effect on the army, which could see in it only indifference or cowardice, and it explains the enthusiasm with which they yielded allegiance to Jehu, as well as the haste with which the latter started for Jezreel, inasmuch as it was important for him to lay hands at once upon the trio, Joram, Ahaziah, and Jezebel. He therefore proposes to the generals that they shall keep the army at Ramoth, and not allow any one to leave the city, and he hastens with a small company ( 2Ki 9:17) to take possession of Jezreel. Peter Martyr: Silentium et celeritatem adhibet, ne Joramo spatium detur vel ad deliberandum vel ad se muniendum. Ewalds assertion: He mounted his chariot alone with his old companion in arms Bidkar, and drove, &c., contradicts the text.
2Ki 9:17. And there stood a watchman, &c. 2Ki 9:17 stands in close connection with the end of 2Ki 9:16. While the two kings were enjoying themselves in the summer palace, and thought of no danger, the watchman appeared before Joram, and reported: I see a company. That which is narrated in 2Ki 9:17-20 is as characteristic of Joram as of Jehu, and that is why it is narrated with so much detail. It shows, on the one hand, how careless Joram was, since it was not till after he had in vain sent out two horsemen, that he took a more earnest view of the matter, and, on the other hand, how decided and energetic Jehu was, since he did not allow himself to be detained, and kept the two horsemen in his own train, lest they should hurry on before him with intelligence of his coming. His question in 2Ki 9:18 has the meaning, What is it of thy business, whether I come in friendship or in hostility; thou hast nothing to do with that, it does not concern thee. [See note on 2Ki 9:11.] It is probable that the watchman had seen, while they were at a distance, that they were not Syrians. As they came nearer, he recognized more and more distinctly that they were Israelites, and he inferred, from their violent speed, that Jehu, the commander of the army, whose wild and fierce disposition was well known to him, was at their head. On see note on 2Ki 9:11.
2Ki 9:21. And Joram said; Make ready, &c. Now, at length, when he heard Jehus name, ho became anxious, and set out to meet hima thing which he could not have done, be it noticed, if he had been confined by his wound. [It must be clear that this anxiety could only have been as to what events of the war east of the Jordan could have been the cause that the chief commander came hurrying home in such haste. If he had suspected treachery, it is not conceivable that he would have gone to meet Jehu. See notes on 2Ki 9:11; 2Ki 9:22; 2Ki 9:30.W. G. S.] The portion of Naboth, where the two kings met Jehu, is the , vineyard, of Naboth, which now formed a part of the park of the royal palace (Keil). Jorams question, 2Ki 9:22, Is it peace? shows that he did not even yet suspect rebellion, but rather expected news of a victory from Ramoth, otherwise he certainly would not have gone out alone to meet him. [That is to say; the question had reference to the hostility between Syria and Israel, not to my suspected hostility of Jehu towards his king. This is just the distinction which must be kept in mind, and this question must be interpreted as asking news of the war. No other interpretation is possible. The rest of the chapter must therefore be interpreted consistently with this. The king did not here ask: Is there peace between me and thee? No more did he send a messenger to ask: Dost thou come for peace or war between me and thee? in 2Ki 9:17-18. If he knew that they were Israelites, he certainly did not ask the question in this sense; if he thought that they were Syrians, he would not send out one man to ask them the idle question whether they came for peace or war. See note below, on 2Ki 9:30.W. G. S.]In Jehus answer, has the same force as in Jdg 3:26 [so long as, or, while]. He gives as the reason for his hostile coming, the whoredoms and sorceries of Jezebel. [He gives the king to understand that he has not come to bring news from the war, but to overthrow him, by a reply in which he condemns the vices of the queen-mother, in terms which no man could use who was willing any longer to be a subject.W. G. S.] not to be taken literally, but is used, as it so often is, in referring to idolatry (Jer 3:2; Jer 3:9; Eze 23:27, &c.), with which, however, licentiousness was almost always connected. By we have not to understand mysteries (Thenius), but that general practice of sorcery, and use of incantations for producing various supernatural effects (Winer, R.-W.-B., II. s. 718), which was closely connected with idolatry. All these practices were forbidden, as well as idolatry, on pain of death, in the Mosaic law (Exo 22:18; Deu 18:10). Jehus words show that Jezebel was generally regarded as the foundress and patroness of idolatry. They also contain a rebuke for Joram, because he had submitted to be led by her, had helped her instead of opposing her, and had thereby made himself accessory to her crime., 2Ki 9:23, see 1Ki 22:34. The exclamation, , deceit, means, We are deceived, i.e., really, betrayed (Keil).
2Ki 9:24. Between his arms, i.e., from behind, since Joram, in his flight, had turned his back to Jehu. It means, therefore, really, between the shoulders (Vulg. inter scapulas), so that the arrow went obliquely through his heart.
2Ki 9:25. Then said Jehu to Bidkar, his lieutenant. is rendered by all the old versions, which are misled by , which follows, in the first person: For I remember how, &c. But it is evidently incorrect. Whether here signifies riding on horseback, or in a chariot, is of very little importance. The point is, that Jehu was in Ahabs retinue, was an ear-witness when the prophet pronounced upon the king the sentence of God, after the death of Naboth (1Ki 21:19 sq.). This had made an ineffaceable impression upon Jehu. means really: burden, i.e., something which must be borne. If God lays a burden upon any one, he passes a sentence of punishment upon him, which must be endured. Hence the word is often used by the prophets in the sense of a condemnation of, or judicial sentence upon, a man or a nation (Isa 13:1; Isa 14:28; Isa 15:1). , in an oath or affirmation: Verily (Num 14:28). Jehu quotes the sentence which was pronounced 1Ki 21:19-24 according to its substance, as it remained in his memory after sixteen years, and with such inaccuracies in the wording as were occasioned by his excitement in a moment of the most violent activity. The repetition of saith the Lord places emphasis on the oracle of God, as such. I have seen, saith the Lord: I will repay, saith the Lord. Jehu, however, mentions something which was not mentioned at all in the former place; viz., The blood of his sons, and that he should be requited in the field of Naboth. Thenius considers this an essential variation, and says that all attempts at reconciliation are vain. But the author must have been the most thoughtless man in the world, if he had not perceived that what he here recorded was contradictory to what he had written a few pages before. It may, therefore, nevertheless be permitted us to attempt a reconciliation which will make him talk sense. Although the blood of the sons of Naboth is not mentioned in 1 Kings 21, it may nevertheless be that they were also killed. It is impossible that Jehu should have talked to an eye and ear witness, as Bidkar was, about the blood of the sons of Naboth, if their blood had never actually been spilled. Thenius very justly remarks on 2Ki 9:7 (And the blood of all the servants of the Lord), that Jezebel must have vented her rage upon a still wider circle than that which is expressly mentioned. Perhaps Naboths sons were murdered because it was feared that they might lay claim to the property of which their father had been robbed, and might avenge his murder. Jehu mentions their blood also, as well as that of their father, because the divine punishment would thereby appear all the more just, and his own command, to throw Jorams corpse upon the field of Naboth, would be more completely justified. As the murder fell upon Naboth and his sons, so the penalty fell upon Ahab and his sons. The word yesterday must not be insisted upon too strongly in its strict signification. It implies simply, a while ago, as in Isa 30:33. The sentence of condemnation in 1 Kings 21. was certainly not pronounced on the day after Naboths murder. Secondly, as to the addition, In this plat, the emphasis is not upon this phrase, but upon the word requite: that is the main idea, about which all the rest is grouped, not the plat. The slaying of Joram, the son of a murderer (2Ki 6:32) is marked as a penalty for the murder of Naboth and his sons by this very circumstance, that his body is cast upon the field which that murder had been committed to win. Jehu very justly saw, in the fact that Joram must die just here, a dispensation of Providence, the ground for which he discovers in the oracle 1 Kings 21. [Jehu commands the corpse to be cast upon the field of Naboth, and proceeds to quote the oracle as a motive for the command, after which he repeats his order. (Throw him there, for God said that he would requite him there; therefore throw him there.) It is, therefore, evident that the emphasis is on the words, In this plat. For the rest, 1Ki 21:19 is strictly and literally fulfilled by this command of Jehu, although it is not literally quoted.W. G. S.]
2Ki 9:27. But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, &c. The garden-house, towards which Ahaziah fled, was certainly not the summer palace in Jezreel (Calmet), but, since he sought the open country, either a house which stood at one of the exits from the park (Thenius), or which did not belong at all to the royal domain, but stood at some distance from Jezreel (Keil).And Jehu followed after him, and said, &c. From his words it is clear that he did not himself pursue Jehu, but gave the command to do so, just as so often that which one commands to be done is ascribed to himself. His object was to reach Jezreel, where Isabel, the originator of all the mischief, was, and, as he was now close to the city, he hastened thither (2Ki 9:30), leaving the pursuit of Ahaziah to some of his followers. After the words: Smite him in the chariot, something must be supplied, viz., the fulfilment of the command, as also after the command in 2Ki 9:26 : Cast him into the plat of ground, &c. The Sept. have: . . Thenius, as usual, follows them, and desires to make the utterly unnecessary change from to . He then translates: Him also! (I must have him also!) And he smote (wounded) him on the chariot on the height of Gur. The rendering of the Vulg. is better: Etiam hunc percutite in curro suo! Et percusserunt eum in ascensu Gaver, except that in curru suo belongs with percusserunt. Ewald, Maurer, and Keil are satisfied with inserting after , and this is certainly the simplest course to pursue.The height or hill Gur is not mentioned anywhere else. [Thenius takes to mean a caravanserai (cf. , 2Ch 26:7, hospitium Baalis. Ges.), and thinks that the hill had its name from an inn which stood alone upon it. Ges., Thesaurus, gives the name under , catulus, a cub or whelp. So that it would mean ascensus catuli. The place was not important, and the name was a popular and ephemeral one.W. G. S.] Jibleam is mentioned Jos 17:11 and Jdg 1:27 in connection with Megiddo. On the latter place, see note on 1Ki 4:12. The location of Jibleam cannot be more definitely fixed either from the two places cited, or from 1Ch 6:55, where stands for it. As Megiddo lay, according to all the latest maps, directly west of Jezreel, and as Ahaziah died at Megiddo, Jibleam, whither he fled and where he was wounded, must have been likewise to the west of Jezreel, and between that place and Megiddo (Thenius). It is true that Keil objects that between Jezreel and Megiddo there is only the plain of Jezreel or Esdraelom, in which we cannot suppose that there was any height Gur. But Megiddo, and therefore Jibleam, which was near it, did not lie in the midst of the plain, but on the slope of Mt. Carmel, where there may well have been a height, such as is referred to. Least of all can we adopt Keils supposition that Jibleam was south of Jenin, for this place was in a direct line as far south of Jezreel as Megiddo was west. It is not clear how Ahaziah, when severely wounded, should have gone from there in a northwesterly direction, to Megiddo. He cannot have fled at the same time in a direct westerly and a direct southerly direction.The chronicler gives another story of Ahaziahs death (II., 2Ki 22:8 sq.): And it came to pass that when Jehu was executing judgment upon the house of Ahab he sought Ahaziah, and they caught him, for he was hid in Samaria, and brought him to Jehu; and when they had slain him they buried him. Keil thinks, in order to combine the two stories, that it is very possible that Ahaziah really escaped to Samaria, and that he was there captured by Jehus followers and brought back. Then that he was wounded at the hill Gur, near Jibleam, and, having fled again from there, that he breathed his last at Megiddo. This explanation is, in the first place, very forced and unnatural, but it falls to the ground when we know that Jibleam was on the road westward towards Megiddo, and not on the road from Jezreel to Samaria. A variation in the history is here clearly apparent, and cannot be denied. The main point, i.e., the slaying of Ahaziah by Jehu or his followers, is firmly established by both. A different tradition in regard to the where? and how? may have prevailed in the time of the Chronicler. The one which is followed by the record before us, which is certainly older, appears, especially on account of its geographical details, to be the more correct and reliable.The difference between 2Ki 9:29 and 2Ki 8:25, which amounts, after all, to only one year, is explained most simply on the supposition of a difference in reckoning the first year of the reign of Joram (Keil). See above, note on 2Ki 8:16.
2Ki 9:30. Jezebel heard of it. Women make use of paint for the eyes, in the Orient, until the present day. It consists of a mixture of antimony (stibium) and zinc, which is moistened with oil, and applied with a brush to the eye-brows and eye-lids. The eye itself is thrown into relief by the dark border, and appears larger (Pliny says of stibium in his Hist. Nat. 2Kings 33: in calliblepharis mulierum dilatat oculos). Large eyes were considered beautiful. Homer applies to Juno the epithet (cf. Rosenmller, Alt. und Neu. Morgenland, iv. 268, and Keil on this passage). [Boxes have been found in the tombs of Egypt containing portions of this mixture; also the small, smooth sticks of wood, or bone, or ivory, by means of which it was applied. There are specimens in the Abbot Collection in the rooms of the N. Y. Hist. Soc.W. G. S.] And tired her head hardly means that she put on a coiffure of false hair (Thenius). It refers rather to the ordinary decorations of the head, head-band, crown, &c. The old opinion, which is still held by Ewald and Eisenlohr, that she summoned up all her seductive fascinations, in order to tempt and conquer Jehu, is certainly incorrect, for Jezebel had, at this time, a grandson who was 23 years old (2Ki 8:26), so that she must have been advanced in years. Since, moreover, women fade earlier in the Orient, she cannot have intended to excite any carnal desire in Jehu. The haughty, imperious woman intended, rather, to go to meet the rebel in all the majesty of her position as queen-dowager, and to so far overawe him that he should desist from any further steps. She therefore takes her place at the lofty window of the palace, and shouts to him, as he enters the gate, the bold and haughty words in 2Ki 9:31 : Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of his master? Luther translates [like the E. V.]: Had Zimri peace, who slew his master? Maurer supports this rendering by suggesting that she could not have asked him if he came in peace, at the same time that she called him a murderer of the king. But cannot have any different meaning here from that in 2Ki 9:22 [where, as Bhr explains it, it means, Is there peace in the Syrian war? or, Dost thou bring news of a victory?]. Jezebel connects with the question this meaning: Wilt thou submit to me, the queen, and desist from the rebellion, or wilt thou persist in it? [The reader will see that this interpretation, which makes mean, Is there hostility between me and thee? is not consistent with the authors own exposition of 2Ki 9:22. Jezebel must have felt that the hostility of Jehu reached to herself, even if she had not heard that his declaration of war was aimed, in its terms, exclusively at her. She had heard of the fate of the king, as the last part of her speech shows. She could not, therefore, have intended to ask Jehu if he came, in general, on a peaceful errand. This is perhaps the clearest instance of all, to prove that this formula had lost its etymological significance, and it must be apparent that the attempt to give it this meaning here produces inconsistency and confusion. It was a standing formula, empty of all independent meaning, used as an interjection in beginning an address: Ho! or Hail!Just what she hoped to accomplish by her decorations, and by her address, it is difficult to see. Perhaps the safest conclusion is one founded upon her domineering and wilful character. These traits were developed in her to a tragical degree. She has scarcely a parallel either in history or poetry save Medea. Her last toilet was probably the consequence of a determination to die in full state, self-willed, arrogant, defiant to the last.W. G. S.] There is a threat also in her words. Zimri, who murdered king Elah (1Ki 16:10-18), reigned only seven days, and met with a frightful end. She means to terrify the violent rebel. Thou shalt fall as did Zimri. Thy rule shall not endure! Perhaps she had also taken measures of resistance, had collected about her those on whom she thought that she could rely, and was, therefore, all the more self-willed. Jehus reply, 2Ki 9:32, Who is on my side? Who? seems to sustain this opinion. He gives her no answer whatever, still less does he submit to the influence of her manner; he knew well that no one would heartily support the hated and tyrannical woman. The two eunuchs, who were her immediate attendants, gave Jehu a sign, probably from another window, that they would join him and serve his purposes. They obeyed his command. [The or between two and three in 2Ki 9:32 is not. in the text. It means either that two looked out first, and were immediately joined by another, or that two appeared at one window, and three at another (the latter is adopted by Stanley).W. G. S.], 2Ki 9:33, literally: And he trode her under foot, not, however, with his own feet (Ewald). He caused her to be trodden under foot, i.e., the horses of his chariot trode upon her. Hence the Sept. and Vulg. have the plural , conculcaverunt eam (cf., Hom., Il., x. 432; xi. 534).
2Ki 9:34. And when he was come in, &c. After Jezebel was slain, Jehu went into the palace, took possession of it, and refreshed himself, after the day of bloody labor, with food and drink. Then, not, according to Ksters fiction, at the banquet, but afterwards, he gave orders to see to the corpse of Jezebel and bury it. He calls her: this cursed woman, not abusing her in his wrath (Thenius), but as the originator of all the corruption which had now met with its fitting reward. Nevertheless, he does not wish to have her refused burial, for, he says, she is a kings daughter. Not, therefore, because she was the wife of Ahab, the mother of Joram, and the grandmother of Ahaziah, but because she was the daughter of the king of Tyre and Sidon, she was to be spared the last ignominy of lying unburied (see note on 1Ki 14:11). Polus: Forte sic fecit, ne invidiam et odium regum Zidoniorum in se inflammaret. When he was told that sepulture was no longer possible, he remembered also the remainder of the oracle which he had quoted in 2Ki 9:26 (1Ki 21:23). This shows that that was no prediction post eventum. He quotes the oracle freely, according to its sense, calling to mind particularly that portion of it which seemed to him the most important. This explains the use of instead of (see above, on 2Ki 9:10 [and the Grammatical note on that verse]). Jehu did not intentionally bring it about that Jezebel had no sepulchre, i.e., that there was no spot which perpetuated her memory. This was ordained by God. The memory of her was to be rooted out (Psa 34:16).
HISTORICAL AND ETHICAL
1. The fall of the house of Ahab is one of the most important events in the history of the Israelitish monarchy, and is marked as such by the detailed and vivid description which we have of it. In order to understand it correctly and estimate it justly we must look at it from the stand-point of the Old Testament theocracy. The house of Ahab was not only devoted to the cultus of the calf-images of Jeroboam, but it had also (a thing which no other dynasty had ever done) formally introduced idolatry, murdered the prophets, and persecuted the worshippers of Jehovah. All attempts to draw it away from these evil courses had proved vain. We see from 2Ki 10:18-28 how far the worship of Baal had taken possession of the kingdom of the ten tribes. As a result of intermarriage with the house of Ahab, the evil had spread to Judah also, and had been already fostered by two kings, Jehoram and Ahaziah. According to all appearances, therefore, the corruption, which had already eaten so deeply into Israel, and which, in spite of all the opposition which the prophets had exerted, threatened to gradually destroy all the good influences which remained, was about to strike root also in Judah, the last stronghold of the religion of Jehovah, and thereby to destroy the very foundation of the Mosaic theocracy (Eisenlohr, Das Volk Israel, ii. s. 192). The rule of the house of Ahab was, in very truth, the opposite of what the monarchy of Israel ought to have been. Instead of holding and maintaining (Deu 17:19-20) the laws and commandments of Jehovah, and, above all, the Mosaic law, the covenant upon which the existence of Israel, as the chosen people, rested, it destroyed, consciously and intentionally, the foundations of the Israelitish nationality, and was, therefore, a continual rebellion against Jehovah, the true and only king of Israel. The prolonged rule of this house would have drawn Israel down into heathenism, and would thereby have frustrated its destined influence on the history of the world. It would have been the end of Israel as the chosen people of God. The overthrow of this house had become a matter of life and death for the Old Testament theocracy as an institution, and a necessity, if Gods redemptive plan with Israel was ever to reach its consummation. It had been threatened many times with destruction, and, after it had shown itself during forty years incapable of reformation, the time was come at last when it was to meet the fate with which it had been threatened. It was so decreed in the counsels of Him who raises up and puts down kings, who has power over the kingdoms of men, and gives them to whomsoever He will (Dan 2:21; Dan 4:14; Dan 4:31). Here, therefore, the question of the justifiableness of rebellion against a legitimate dynasty, or of revolution in the ordinary sense of the word, cannot arise. The course of the house of Ahab was a rebellion against all law, divine and human, in Israel. It was, therefore, a revolution which was being brought about by those in authority. Therefore it resulted in a catastrophe which was not the overthrow of divine and human order, but rather its restoration. All the details of the occurrence must be weighed from this stand-point.
2. The long-threatened downfall of the house of Ahab is the work of the prophet Elisha, in so far that he gave the order to anoint Jehu king. His name therefore stands at the head of the narrative, and whereas, in other places, his name stands either alone or with the epithet, man of God, here we find him expressly called the prophet, in order to show that he did what is here recorded of him as a prophet, i.e., by virtue of his prophetical calling; as one, therefore, who, as he himself solemnly declares (1Ki 17:1), stands, like Elijah, before Jehovah, and, as an immediate servant of God, acts in His name and by His authority. Thereby we are pointed, from the outset, to the grand difference between the fall of the house of Ahab and that of the other earlier or later dynasties. While the latter were all over-thrown by military chiefs, whose only concern was to arrive at power, the fall of the house of Ahab was brought about by the prophet, and did not aim at the gratification of ambition, but at the uprooting of the idolatry which had been introduced and fostered by this family. The first and chief duty of the prophets, before all, of the great prophets Elijah and Elisha, consisted in bearing witness by word and deed against the radical evil, idolatry, in combating it by every means, and in plucking it up by the roots. Jehovah had appointed them watchmen over His people, and armed them by His Spirit for this work, in order that the great object of the choice of this one people out of all the nations of the earth (Exo 19:3-6), i.e., its destined influence in the history of the world, might not be frustrated (Hab 2:1; Eze 3:17; Eze 33:7; Jer 6:17; Jer 6:27). The words which Jeremiah heard, when he was called to be a prophet: See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant (Jer 1:10; cf. Jer 18:7; Eze 43:3; Eze 32:18), hold true of all true prophets. They appear, therefore, as Knobel (der Proph. der Hebr., i. s. 196 sq.) justly observes, not only as heralds of the acts of God, but also as executors of them, and things are often ascribed to them which in truth were done, and could be done, by God alone (see Exeg. on 1Ki 19:15-18, and, besides the places already quoted, Jer 5:14; Jer 25:15; Hos 6:5). It was therefore the right and duty of the prophet Elisha, when idolatry had been pushed to the utmost, and every attempt to bring the house of Ahab into other courses had failed, by virtue of his prophetical office and calling, to labor to bring about the fall of that dynasty and the foundation of another. Far from being a sinful and rebellious undertaking, what he did was, for all Israel, as Eisenlohr himself admits, an act of salvation.
3. The anointing of Jehu is generally regarded, as it is by Keil, as the fulfilment of the last of the commissions which Elijah received at Horeb (1Ki 19:16). But the correct interpretation of that passage (see notes thereon) makes this explanation unnecessary; and it is moreover to be noticed, that such an explanation presupposes that Elijah commissioned his successor to do something which he was commanded to do, and which he might have done, since Jehu was already, in the lifetime of Elisha, in the train of Ahab (2Ki 9:25), but which he nevertheless did not do. There is no hint in the text that this act of Elisha was a fulfilment of that command to Elijah, and it is not consistent with the universal and unconditional obedience of Elijah. [The discrepancy between this chapter and 1Ki 19:16 in this particular must be frankly admitted. Even a superficial examination will show that, between the two, this passage contains the historical account of the share of the prophets in Jehus revolt.W. G. S.] It is still more improbable that Elisha should not have executed a commission which had been given him, as is suggested, by Elijah, but should have commissioned another, a prophet-disciple, to do it. Von Gerlach thinks that the already aged Elisha did this, because he was bent with age; but Elisha did not die until Joash was on the throne (2Ki 13:14), so that he lived for at least forty-three years after Jehu was anointed. Accordingly, at the time of that event, he was not fifty years old. Neither can the reason which Krummacher assigns be maintained: Nothing could have been more distasteful to the loving and evangelical disposition of Elisha than the command, in his own person, to put the avenging sword into the hands of Jehu. So God, who, father-like, weighs with the most tender anxiety what He may demand of each one of His children, and what not, exonerated him from this duty, and allowed him to send one of the prophet-disciples in his place. The narrative itself shows us the reason clearly. The prophet-disciple was commanded to lead Jehu into an inner chamber, and, after anointing him, to depart immediately, without speaking a word to any one. The important transaction was, therefore, to be carried out in private, and to be kept as secret as possible. This was the reason why Elisha did not take it in hand himself, for if he, the well-known head of the prophet-guild, had gone to Ramoth and had had dealings with Jehu, it would have occasioned great observation, and the cause of his coming could not have been kept secret. The affair was to be kept quiet for a time, and only to be proclaimed when the right time should come according to the leadings of Providence, just as, at a former time, the communication of the prophet Ahijah to Jeroboam (1Ki 11:29 sq.) was not to be made public, and Jeroboam had to wait until the right moment for his elevation came (see Hist. 3 on 1Ki 11:14-43). Therefore also Jehu did not at once make known to his fellow-commanders what had been done, but gave them an evasive answer. When they pressed him, he broke silence and thought that the right time had come. Elisha limited his own action strictly to the announcement of the destiny which awaited Jehu. All the rest he left to the control of Providence, so we hear no more of him until his death (chap. 13.).As for the act of anointing, it was not performed with the sacred oil of anointing (Menzel), as in the case of the kings of Judah (1Ki 1:39; cf. 2Ki 11:12; 2Ki 23:30), for, in the kingdom of the ten tribes, where there was no sanctuary of Jehovah, and where the levitical priesthood did not exist, it appears that the kings were not anointed at all. It was not, therefore, a priestly act which Elisha in this case executed, but a prophetical one, i.e., a symbolical act, a physical sign and testimony of that which Jehovah has determined upon and will do. Hence it is accompanied by the words: Thus saith the Lord: I anoint thee, &c. (2Ki 9:3-6), just as in 2Ki 2:21, where the prophet throws the salt into the fountain with the words: Thus saith the Lord: I have healed these waters (see pp. 17, 25). For the significance of the act of anointing, when it is ascribed to Jehovah himself, see above, note on 1Ki 19:15-18.
4. What Schlier (Die Knige in Israel, s. 207) says of the newly-anointed king Jehu, holds true. There are few persons in the sacred history who have been so variously judged as he. To some he is a stirrer up of rebellion and a bloody despot; others see in him a pure and unimpeachable servant of the Lord. Both equally err, for both depart alike from what the sacred record declares, and all depends, especially in the case of Jehu, on allowing ourselves to be led simply by the record. If we restrict ourselves to what is said in chap. 9, this much is certain, that he did not make himself king. There is not a word to justify the suspicion that he plotted and conspired before he was anointed king; on the contrary, the story shows clearly that the prophetical calling to be king surprised and astonished him, and also that his fellow-commanders knew nothing of it. He ought not, therefore, to be put in the same category with Baasha, Zimri, Shallum, Menahem, Pekah, and Hoshea (1Ki 15:27; 1Ki 16:9; 1Ki 16:16; 2Ki 15:10-30), who, instigated by ambition, without authority and in self-will, took the royal power into their hands. He was called to be king by the prophet, in the name of Jehovah. The explanation of the selection of just this man, as the instrument for the destruction of the house of Ahab, and for the uprooting of idolatry, is found in the fact that at that time there was scarcely a man who united, as he did, all the necessary qualifications; so that Ewald also is forced to admit that Elisha certainly could not have fixed his eye upon a military chief who was better fitted for the purpose he had in view. In the first place, Jehu was a decided opponent of idolatry and of the abuses which were connected with it (2Ki 9:22). The opposition of the prophet Elijah to Ahab and Jezebel, after the murder of Naboth, had made an indelible impression upon him, so that he had not forgotten the words of the prophet sixteen years afterwards (2Ki 9:25; 2Ki 9:36). This was the first characteristic which was required. Jehu possessed the second also. He was a man of the greatest energy. Pushing onward with boldness and enterprise, decided and pitiless, he shrank back before no difficulty (2Ki 9:20; 2Ki 9:24; 2Ki 9:32 sq.). Moreover, he did not lack prudence or wisdom (2Ki 9:11; 2Ki 9:15; 2Ki 9:18). Finally, he stood high in the popular esteem as a military leader. After Joram left Ramoth he seems to have had supreme command of the army. We see from the joy with which his fellow-commanders caught up his nomination and anointment, and from the readiness with which they obeyed his commands, that he enjoyed their fullest confidence (2Ki 9:14-16). It is true that his subsequent conduct is fierce and soldier-like; that was the natural product of his character, calling, and education. To drive like Jehu has become a proverb. We ought not to overlook the fact, however, that nothing was to be accomplished here by mild and kind means. If the deep-rooted evil of idolatry, which threatened Israel with total ruin, was to be rooted out, it could not be done without violence. Moreover, we have to notice that Jehu, when Joram came to meet him, did not shoot him down at once, but, is answer to his question: Is it peace? declared that, so long as his mother, Jezebel, nourished shameful idolatry in Israel, there was no chance for peace and prosperity in the kingdom. Upon this absolutely true declaration of Jehu, Joram turned and cried Treason, and took to flight, so that he took sides with his idolatrous mother. Not until this point did Jehu send the death-arrow after the flying king (who sought to reach Jezreel, and to join her), and give orders to pursue Ahaziah, who came with Joram, and who likewise took Jezebels part. As Joram fell upon the very spot of ground which had been taken from the murdered Naboth, Jehu, who saw in this incident a dispensation of God, felt encouraged to proceed with his fierce task. So too, he did not slay Jezebel without further delay, but only when she put herself in opposition to him, and shouted down to him her impudent defiance, and insulted him as another Zimri, i.e., as a murderer and traitor, did he call out to throw her down.
[Jehu came to Jezreel on purpose to put to death the king and the queen-dowager. Of the particular circumstances in which he should meet them, or of the accident which was going to throw in his way the king of Judah, another member of the house of Ahab, he could know nothing beforehand. Ewald thinks that he had had half-formed plans in his mind ever since the time when he heard the prophets denunciation of Ahab, but Bhr is more correct, according to the text before us, when he supposes that the visit of the prophet and his business took Jehu by surprise. Whether this incident only came to ratify and bring to a definite determination half-formed plans which Jehu had long cherished, is a secret of his inner life which probably few or none, even of his contemporaries, ever learned. Whether it came at the very crisis of time when the commanders of the army were disgusted with the king, and excited with admiration of Jehu, to suggest to them an act which perhaps no one had yet proposed in words, is also uncertain, but it is a theory which is thoroughly consistent with the text. When Jehu had told them what the prophet had done, it was only a suggestion, something which might be neglected and allowed to fall and be forgotten. But the other generals caught at the idea enthusiastically, and proceeded to act upon it by proclaiming Jehu king with all the solemnity which the means at hand would allow. The affair had now entered a new phase. One of the prophets of Jehovah, who were, as a matter of course, hostile to the reigning house, might nominate a new king and anoint him, and the event might be passed by as only another declaration of hostility from a well-known and uncompromising enemy; but to proclaim the new king was an overt act of treason, and all who participated in it must know that there was no receding from it, and that the reigning monarch could never overlook or pardon it. Jehus cunning and caution had been shown in the reply to the generals in 2Ki 9:11, in which he tried, in the first place, to see if they were really the instigators of this proposition. Now that he was committed to an overt act, his promptness, decision, and energy showed themselves. If it be your minds, if you are determined to take this step, then we must go forward at once. Let no one go out of the city to take news to Joram of what we have done. He then set out himself for Jezreel. Between himself and the house of Ahab there was no possible compromise. He must gain the advantages of time and energy. He made no delay (this may be reckoned as a virtue on his part) in carrying out his purpose. He took circumstances as he found them, and carried out his intention as he best could. He unquestionably intended to destroy the whole house of Ahab when he returned to Jezreel. He could not tell what opportunities would offer, but it is clear that he meant to make opportunities if they did not come of themselves. He meant to get all the royal family into his hands and kill them. Bhrs idea that he waited until Joram had taken sides with Jezebel, and waited until Jezebel had insulted him, is suggested by a laudable desire to excuse him, but it is an invention. We can hardly repress some feeling of pity, even for Jezebel, in reading the bloody and tragical details, but pitilessness is a virtue in a man situated as Jehu was. He had a task to accomplish which led through blood, and he had to follow it. To waver from pity or from fear would have been equal treason to his calling. The sentimentality which forgets the crime in pity for the criminal is a modern and a civilized weakness. It is not a feeling which a man called to conduct great national or religious revolutions can allow to dim the clearness of his judgment, or to unnerve his determination.Jehu was, therefore, a cautious, crafty man, who was slow to commit himself to any irrevocable course of action, but energetic and unrelenting in prosecuting it when he had resolved upon it. He was a man of action, who did not hesitate or waver, and did not lose time in long plans, but struck quickly and surely where he had determined to strike. He did not shrink from difficulties, did not hesitate at harsh means of accomplishing his purposes, did not feel pity in striking down those who stood in his way, did not leave behind him anything which might, at a later time, rise up to mar or overthrow his work. This is not a lovely character. It does not present the amiable virtues, patience, pity, mercy, kindness. It is not a character to be imitated in modern, civilized, thoroughly regulated life, but neither ought it to be measured and judged by the standards of a society trained to peace and order, fearful of revolution, and encased in law. Its virtues must be sought in the use to which it put its strength, its energy, and its decision. It is a character, however, such as is needed to lead great movements; to give form, and purpose, and consistency of action, and perseverance, to a national effort, in times of discontent with existing institutions and tendencies, when all are convinced that the nation is going down, under depraved leadership, to ruin, but when no one seems able to step to the front and lead on the reformation. In the providence of God, such men are often raised up for great crises in Church and State. The man is swallowed up in the movement. It is impossible to tell whether the work has made him or been made by him. His personal virtues and faults are lost sight of in the stormy, tumultuous crisis in which he lived. We cannot, in justice, sit down in peace, when the storm is over, and lay the line of every-day standards to such a rugged character, and, from the stand-point of a time of order, peace, and quiet, condemn it in so far as it passed beyond the bounds of peaceful, domestic, citizen-like virtue. He was needed and was called; he responded, and accomplished his calling well. That is his place in the history, and that is the judgment on his career.W. G. S.]
5. The fall of the three heads of the house of Ahab on one day is narrated with so much minuteness because it not only has simple historical significance, but also proves the inevitableness of the threats of God, and the certainty of His requital (vengeance) (2Ki 9:7-10; 2Ki 9:26; 2Ki 9:36). The sentence against the house of Ahab, which accompanied the anointment of Jehu, is almost literally the same as that which Ahija pronounced against the house of Jeroboam (1Ki 14:10), Jehu against the house of Baesha (1Ki 16:3), and Elijah against the house of Ahab (1Ki 21:21). Its repetition shows that it was the established formula of condemnation against every royal house which sought to undermine the foundations of the Israelitish nationality, the covenant with Jehovah. Those whom God had set to be watchmen over His people, were to pronounce the same sentence for the same transgression, wherever it occurred. (On the peculiarly Old Testament form of the condemnation, see 1Ki 14:1-20, Hist. 1.) The day on which the three heads of the house of Ahab fell is, therefore, represented as a day of divine judgment. It has all the marks which belong to days of judgment in general, and to that one great general judgment at the last. It is a terrible day (Joe 2:29); it comes unawares, like a thief in the night, and overtakes those who are its just victims when they are careless and contented (Zep 1:14; Luk 17:28 sq.; 1Th 5:2 sq.); they cannot escape it either by flight or by resistance, they are brought to nought and come to a terrible end (Zep 1:18; Lam 2:22; Psa 73:19; Psa 83:17; Jer 2:26; Heb 10:27; Heb 10:31 &c.). It is to this day that the word of the apostle applies: Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come (1Co 10:11).
6. The story of the end of Jezebel is given with particular detail, because therein the prophets threat was fulfilled with especial frightfulness. As the sin of the house of Ahab was represented to the fullest extent in Jezebel, the originator and patroness of idolatry, so her terrible end forms the crisis of the divine punishment. Ahaziah is fatally wounded, and dies in a strange place. Although he was, as Josephus says: , yet he was buried by his subjects, because he was the son (grandson) of Jehoshaphat (2Ch 22:9). Joram falls dead, pierced through the heart, but is thrown upon the field of Naboth and not buried. Jezebel is thrown down from the window by her own attendants; as she lies weltering in her own blood she is trodden under foot by horses, and her corpse lies unburied like dung upon the fields (see note on 1Ki 11:14). She appears here in her last moments such as she had ever been, proud and impudent, arrogant and domineering, [defiant and insolent]. She places herself at the window, painted and grandly dressed, and presumes upon her assumed majesty. Instead of recognizing in the judgment, which is falling upon her house, the just recompense for her misdeeds, instead of sueing for grace, she, who had shed so much innocent blood, and had exalted herself against the God of Israel, insults the instrument of the divine vengeance as a murderer and a traitor, demands that he shall submit to her, and threatens him, relying upon her imagined power, with destruction, if he persists. Just here judgment overtakes her. Her nearest attendants forsake the hated queen and hurl her down from her position. She does not reach the rest of the grave, and remains, even in death, marked with infamy for all time, a proof of the truth of the words: It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb 10:31).
7. Modern historians represent the elevation of Jehu to the throne of Israel in a very different light from that in which it appears in the Scriptures. According to Winer (R. W. B., i. s. 37, 600): Elisha secretly anointed Jehu king of Israel (the prophets could not even yet forget the injuries they had received from Jezebel, the mother of this family!); in consequence of the unfortunate campaign of Joram against Hazael of Damascus a rebellion broke out in the Israelitish camp; Jehu killed his king, and, soon afterwards, Ahaziah also. According to Menzel (Staats und Relig. Gesch. von Isr., s. 205 sq.): The relation in which Elisha stood to Hazael was not without influence on the overthrow of the house of Ahab; he (Elisha) was in communication with Hazael; Joram gave the command of the army to Jehu when he returned wounded to Jezreel, without surmising that Jehu had already conspired with several of the other generals for his overthrow. The time for the accomplishment of the change of dynasty planned by Elisha has come; Elisha sends one of his servants to the camp with the holy oil of anointment, commands that it shall be poured upon Jehus head and that he shall be called upon to make himself king, and to root out the house of Ahab. According to Kster (Die Proph., s. 94): Hazaels accession to power is parallel with that of Jehu which immediately followed. Jehu had conspired even before Joram was wounded, and, when he killed him, he gave to Elishas prophecy against Ahab (1 Kings 21.) an extension which made it subserve his plans. Finally, according to Duncker (Gesch. des Alterthums, i. s. 413), it was the hostility of the prophets of Jehovah which brought such a sad fate upon Joram and his house. [There can be no question that it was. Duncker, however, seems to criticize the history of the period from the stand-point of Ahab in 1Ki 18:17; 1Ki 21:20 (Art thou he that troubleth Israel; Hast thou found me, O mine enemy!). It may be that he is led to it by a revulsion from the nave method of reading the Scriptures which insists on making some characters saints and others demons, but it is simple perversity, and uncritical self-will to take the contrary side. Some of the old expositors seem to have felt that in reviewing the acts of one who is called good in the record, they must excuse and explain away and account, on all kinds of imaginary hypotheses, for any acts of his which were not good according to our standards. Also that, when a character is marked as bad in the record, they must interpret any good acts of his in an unfavorable manner. The modern critics, many of them, revolt with disgust from a notion, which is so manifestly unjust and unsound, into the other extreme. Many of them proceed as if they had adopted some such canon as this: Every person, who is made a hero or a saint in the record, was in reality a coward and criminal, and, vice versa, all who are represented as wicked and base, were, in fact, noble and good; the writers, from some prejudice, or for some partisan reason, represented them as we find in the record, therefore, to get at the truth, we must take them all by contraries.W. G. S.] Elisha [Duncker goes on to say], was the favorite attendant of Elijah, and stood at the head of the prophets of Israel. After the siege of Samaria (2Ki 6:24 sq.) he resided for a time among the enemies of his country in Damascus. Here, at his instigation, Benhadad, the king, was murdered by Hazael, one of his servants, who now ascended the throne, and recommenced the war against Israel, not without encouragement from Elisha. Joram was wounded at a battle in Gilead, and left the army in order to be healed at his palace in Jezreel. This moment seemed to Elisha to be favorable for the overthrow of the king of Israel also. Samuel had once favored Davids rebellion against Saul, so also Elisha now succeeded in prevailing upon Jehu, one of the generals of the army, to rebel against Joram. It is not necessary, after the detailed explanations which have been given above, to refute at length this construction of the narrative. The biblical passage before us, which is the only authority we have for this history, contains no ground whatever for the suspicion that there was a connection between the murder of Benhadad by Hazael and the overthrow of the house of Ahab by Jehu. It is an assertion which is as false historically as it is revolting, that Elisha instigated Hazael to murder his master, then encouraged the attack of the national enemy upon his own country, and finally provoked Jehu to rebellion. What just reason is there for making such a vulgar intriguer, political agitator, instigator of rebellion and traitor, out of the man of God? The assertion that Jehu had formed a conspiracy with the other generals before Joram was wounded, and he was anointed, and that he brought about a rebellion in the army, is equally groundless and false. The text contradicts it distinctly. But the whole tenor of this conception of the history is to set aside the true reason for the overthrow of the house of Ahab, viz., the corrupting idolatry which had been introduced by this house, and which was destroying the character of the nation. Although this reason is perfectly clear, yet it is ignored, and instead of it, the true reason is said to lie in personal hostility, ambition, and other passions, so that finally the whole story appears only as a drama in which human interests are at stake and depraved forces are in play.Ewalds conception of the history is far better and more probable. He explains (Gesch., iii. s. 526; cf. also s. 382) [3d ed. 566 and 409 sq.] The Great Revolution by the conflict which had been maintained ever since the time of Solomon, between the two great independent powers, the monarchy and the prophetical office as a national institution in Israel [prophethood, if one may coin a word, after the analogy of priesthood, for the prophetical office as an institutionProphetenthum.] Heathenism, fostered by the monarchy, threatened to displace the old religion, in both kingdoms at the same time. But just at this point the old religion stood desperately on its defence once more against the new one; in the first place, it is true, only spasmodically (! ?), and through that instrument only which had hitherto been its living fountain, and its most powerful force, viz., the prophethood. This explanation is based upon that idea on which Ewalds method of presenting the history rests, and which has been referred to several times above (see 1Ki 11:14-43, Hist. 3), viz., that violence was a radical trait both of the monarchy and of the prophethood (Gesch., iii. 13), and that, therefore, they stood in opposition to each other as independent powers, and struggled for the supreme controla theory which we cannot by any means regard as correct. The prophethood does not anywhere appear as an independent power, parallel with the monarchy. The prophets never combated the monarchy as such, and never strove with it for the supremacy, as, for instance, the popes with the emperors. No prophet ever strove for royal authority, or endeavored to raise himself to the throne. The two great prophets, Elijah and Elisha, who had, most of all, to resist the kings who were their contemporaries, were farthest from all hierarchical tendencies and from all lust for power. They remained poor and humble, and had, from all their strifes, neither advantage nor enjoyment. The office and calling of the prophets consisted in taking care that the covenant of Jehovah, the fundamental constitution of Israel, should be maintained in its integrity. They were not to rule by the side of the kings, much less over them, but to be the standing corrective to the royal power, when this departed from the Mosaic constitution, according to which it was bound to rule (Deu 17:19-20). The prophets were not, therefore, in hostility to all the kings, but only to those who, in contradiction with their calling to be servants of Jehovah, despised, more or less, the covenant of the God of Israel. They must resist most earnestly of all those kings, who, like those of the house of Ahab, not only broke that covenant, but also introduced and fostered idolatry, or, at least, tolerated it. Nothing could be more perverse then, as Knobel himself has shown (Der Proph. der Hebr., i. s. 11 sq.), than to make an hierarchical party or caste out of the prophets, or to regard them as restless, innovating demagogues, who were continually plotting, striving to introduce arbitrary changes, and stirring up the people to rebellion against the government. [This, then, was the true hostility between the prophethood and the monarchy. A single reflection, however, will show how deep it was. The history of the foundation of the monarchy in 1 Sam. throws doubt upon the degree to which it was founded or approved by the prophetical authorities of the time. Under a king like David the prophethood, an institution which took its specific authority from direct and continual inspiration, and the monarchy, an institution founded it is true by God in the first instance, but deriving its continued authority from descent and tradition (in which sense they certainly were independent authorities, each claiming the right to direct and control), worked in sufficient harmony. In the case of another king, who departed from the standards of judgment which were maintained by the prophets, there would be opposition and hostility. The warnings of the prophets were resented, in such cases, as unwarrantable interference, by the kings. The actions of the kings were condemned and protested against by the prophets. Under a theocratic constitution, such as that of Israel always was in theory, where there was no possibility of a division of departments of activity into civil and religious, political and ecclesiastical, church and state, these collisions were inevitable, if the king departed from the prophetical standards. Thus these two authorities came into collision. They both sought to control the nation. It is very true that neither one ever sought to usurp the peculiar functions of the other, but that is little to the point. One sought to control by means of external authority (i.e., in the last resort, by force); the other sought to control by moral influence. As long as the prophets approved what the monarch did there was no jarring; as soon as they did not thus approve, antagonism arose. They rebuked the king, which seemed like insubordination, and they denounced him to the people, which seemed like inciting rebellion. There is certainly no case of factious or ambitious or hierarchical opposition to the monarchy on the part of any of the prophets, but, as a matter of history, there were so few of the kings who came up to the standards which the spiritual authority maintained, that there was hostility between the two great authorities of the state during almost the entire duration of the monarchy. As for Ewalds opinion, he certainly does not mean to say that there was any such conflict for worldly and physical supremacy as has marked modern history (popes and emperors).W. G. S.] The prophethood in Israel is a peculiar phenomenon, as the people of Israel is a peculiar phenomenon in the history of the world (Knobel, s. 1 sq., De Wette, Sittenlehre, i. 1, 32). It cannot, therefore, be judged from a general historical, that is, from a natural and human, stand-point. This is especially true in the case before us of the overthrow of the house of Ahab and the elevation of Jehu to the throne. If we abandon here the theocratic stand-point of the author of these books, which is above distinctly maintained, the prophethood becomes a mere caricature of what it really was, and of what it was intended by God that it should be.
[8. If we refuse to consider the bearing of this story upon the justifiableness of revolution, we turn away from one of its most prominent practical lessons. We have here two cases of regicide in close juxtapositionBenhadad by Hazael, and Joram by Jehu. Evidently we cannot measure them by two different standards of right. We have seen above that, so far as the history informs us, the former of these was one of those cases of palace-revolution which are almost the only articulating points in oriental history. Hazael slew his master in order to usurp his authority. Morally weighed, it was just as bad as the act of a highwayman who slays a man in order to take his purse. Of the state of the kingdom under Benhadad and of the comparative benefits or injuries which it received from Hazael, we know very little. As a military leader Hazael was the abler of the two. Beyond that we know nothing. Jehus case was in many respects different. A family was on the throne which had introduced a licentious worship, had fostered it, and had persecuted the older and purer religion, which, if it had not succeeded in taking so firm hold of the people as to hold them to purity and virtue, at least had not been itself a deep corrupting influence. The mischief had spread so far that it was time to try the last and severest measures or to give up the contest entirely. The indictment was made out against the ruling house, of corrupting the national honor and undermining the national existence, of depriving the nation of a religion whose spirit was pure and elevating, and giving it one whose spirit was corrupting and licentious. It was time for every man to make the choice which Elijah put before the people in 1Ki 18:21, and for those who were on the side of Jehovah to strike without pity, for their cause. Jehu was the chosen leader and representative of this party, and it was in its interest that he became a regicide. There is no ethical principle, therefore, which the chapter teaches more plainly than this, that a nation is not to let itself be robbed of its highest and best goods, its purest traditions, and its holiest inspirations, by any dynasty, however unimpeachable its legitimacy, for fear of revolution. How terrible these national convulsions are, modern history shows clearly enough, and we shall see it also in the development of this history. They are terrible remedies for terrible diseases, and the chapter before us gives a test of when and how they are justifiable. They are justifiable as the last resort in the utmost danger, when religion, and liberty, and morality, and national honor can be saved by no other means.Jehu was anointed by authority of a prophet of Jehovah, but we have to bear in mind that this authority was given also, if it was not executed, in the case of Hazael (1Ki 19:15). The one was just as much an instrument in the hands of God for carrying out his plans in history, according to the biblical representation, as the other. We may leave this important chapter with the following paragraph from Ewald (Gesch., iii. 573), in which he reviews this revolution and points forward to its consequences: The spirit of the ancient religion had, therefore, once more arisen in its might, in the kingdom of the ten tribes, against the intrusion of the foreign and heathen religion, and that was now accomplished which Elijah, in his labor and suffering, had never been able to accomplish. The nation was once more delivered, by means of a terrible and powerful revolution, from the mistakes and errors into which it had allowed itself to be plunged. It was once more forced back upon its own peculiar origin and foundation, so far, at least, as it is ever possible for an earthly kingdom to return to its own origin. He, whose warrior-hand was alone fit to be the instrument of such a revolution, Jehu, had shown himself to be, yet again, one of those unexpected and irresistible champions of the cause of Jehovah, such as the judges had once been, with this difference only, that he did not have to fight, as they did, against external, but against far more dangerous internal, foes of this cause. The horrors by which this revolution was marked were in truth scarcely to be avoided, partly on account of the character of the ancient national religion, partly on account of the deep roots which, at that time, heathenism and the authority of the house of Omri had struck in both kingdoms, but especially in Israel. Nothing can be more incorrect, therefore, than to say that, when Elisha caused Jehu to be anointed, he neither foresaw nor approved of these acts of violence and bloodshed. He could not have had such a dim vision of the future as not to foresee them, although he certainly did not designate the separate victims beforehand, after the fashion of a Roman proscriptor. Moreover, there is nothing which would render it probable that Elisha disapproved of those acts after they were committed. But the deeper and less apparent evils which lay in the horrible incidents of this, as they lie in the horrors of every, revolution, made themselves continually more and more apparent, and were continually more and more sharply felt, in the course of the history, as we shall see below.W. G. S.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
2Ki 9:1-37. Gods Judgment upon the House of Ahab: (a) The herald of the judgment, 2Ki 9:1-10; (b) the executor of it, 2Ki 9:11-20; (c) the victims of it, 2Ki 9:21-37.
2Ki 9:1-8. Krummacher: Jehu. The approaching vengeance; the commission of God to Elisha; the sending of the prophet-disciple; Jehus anointment and the object of it.
2Ki 9:1-3. Wrt. Summ.: The Lord God deposes kings and raises them up, Dan 2:21; Pro 8:15 sq. There is no established authority which is not from God. A calling to govern is the work of God, whether it comes through intermediate persons or not. Therefore, since rulers and governors are ordained and established of God, they ought to govern themselves according to Gods will, and every one ought to respect and honor them for Gods sake, and show them all due obedience, Rom 13:1 sq. When kings and governors sin and do evil, and nobody dare lisp a word, or still less punish them, then God comes and raises up other rulers, and uses them as his executioners to punish such wicked rulers. Even though a long time passes, wickedness is not forgotten by God. He rises up at last and sends against wicked men those who will fulfil his sentence without pity. Therefore let all rulers guard themselves from all wrong, and especially from all persecution of the servants of God and just men. Also let not any one, without Gods command, lay hand upon those in authority, lest he call down Gods judgment upon himself.What Elisha did, he did in the name and at the command of God, and he would have forsaken his duty if he had not done it. The prophets were not there to sleep and to lay their hands in their laps, when the ordinances of God were being trodden under foot, but God set them as watchmen over His people, that they might root up the weeds, and plant and cultivate what was good.Krummacher: None of the modern revolutions can appeal to any such revelations of the divine will; nay, the standard-bearers would smile if any one should demand of them to show any authority of this kind for raising a revolt. The modern revolutions have all sprung from another soil, either more or less apparently, and are condemned by Gods words: Whosoever resisteth authority, resisteth Gods ordinance. [This leaves the mutual relations and obligations of governors and governed very unclear. Governors must be good, governed must be obedient. For homiletical purposes a clearer definition of the limits and mutual interlacing of these duties is of prime importance. I have attempted a sharper analysis below, at the end of the Homiletical section.W. G. S.]
2Ki 9:4-10. The Prophet-disciple: (a) His mission. (Krummacher: He is one of the humblest in Samaria, a poor, insignificant boy, and he carries a kingdom to Ramoth! How great the Lord appears in this incident, but also with what cutting irony He meets all the arrogance of the self-made gods of earth!) Here also 1Co 1:28 applies. (b) His obedience. (He raises no objections, although the task is hard for him. He might have said: I am a child, &c., Jer 1:6. He is to go into a besieged city, to go before the generals of the army, to put his life and liberty at stake, yet he goes with no sword at his side; without a companion he ventures to go into the army of the king, to anoint another to be king. All human scruples and fears disappear before the duty of obedience. In obedience he does not fear, and lets no danger terrify him, for he knows and believes what is written in Psa 91:11-13 and Psa 27:1). (c) His fidelity. (He does no more and no less than he is commanded. He has a great commission entrusted to him, but he does not boast. He keeps the secret and departs as he came. He does not care what may be thought of him, or what people may say, whether they think him a mad fellow or not. So the Apostles also carried the secrets of God out into the wide world, and had no other interest than that they might be found true.)
2Ki 9:7-10. The world of to-day will not hear that: The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, etc. (Nah 1:2; cf. Deu 32:43), and declares that this is only an Old Testament potion, and that the Gospel knows only one God who is a God of love. It is true that God does not seek revenge, but he is an holy, and therefore also a just, God, who requites men as they have deserved, and repays each according to his conduct (Job 34:11; Rom 2:6). A God without vengeance, i.e., who cannot and will not punish, is no God, but a divinity fashioned from ones thoughts. The same gospel, which teaches that God is love, says also: It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, and: Our God is a consuming fire (Heb 10:31; Heb 12:29). The same law which says that God is an avenging God towards his enemies, says also that he is merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth (Exo 34:6).Krummacher: The blood of my servants: Listen! He has indeed permitted them to lay violent hands upon His servants, but He has not overlooked or forgotten it. Nothing cleaves more irresistibly up through the clouds than the voice of the blood of persecuted saints. Nothing is better adapted to pour oil upon the flames of the divine wrath against the godless than the sighs which their cruelty forces from a child of God. The blood of the saints has often cried from earth to heaven, and what judgments it has called down! Let the persecutors of all centuries appear and bear witness. (Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Herod, Agrippa, Nero, Inquisitors of Spain, the Louises of France, Charles IX.): bear witness all, what a dangerous thing it is to lay hands upon the saints of the Most High!This is not the only instance where God has raised the destroying axe over a dynasty which was morally rotten. He often makes use of royal families, which have fallen into moral decay, for the discipline of nations, but the time never fails to come when he passes sentence of destruction upon them, and brings speedy ruin upon the condemned. A family-tree does not stand firm in gilded parchments and registers; only when it is planted by the waters which flow from the sanctuary of God, will it continue to flourish vigorously.
2Ki 9:11-16. Jehu, the new King of Israel. He makes known to the generals his nomination to the crown; he is gladly hailed king by them; he enters vigorously and without delay upon his calling.
2Ki 9:11. Keep secret for a time that which occurs in thy chamber between thee and thy God. Do not proclaim it upon the housetops, but wait until Providence shows thee an occasion to make it known (Psa 37:34). Fools have their hearts in their mouths (Sir 21:28).Berleb. Bibel: It was, then, a common thing at that time to regard the prophets and servants of God as fools, enthusiasts, and fanatics, and to look upon them with contempt (Act 26:24; 1Co 4:10; Act 17:18).Do not judge according to the external appearance, and the first superficial impression, in regard to persons and things which thou dost not know or understand. That which thou callest folly and nonsense is often the deepest wisdom (1Co 1:23-25).
2Ki 9:12. If the generals, when they heard that God had anointed Jehu to be king, hastened, spread out their garments, and shouted: Jehu is king, how much more should all shout Hosanna to him whom God has anointed with the Holy Ghost (Act 10:38), and has seated at His right hand in heaven, who will rule until He has subdued all His enemies under His feet.
2Ki 9:15-37. The Day of Judgment. See above, the Histor. 5.
2Ki 9:17-20. The Watchman on the Tower. He sees the approaching danger and reports it, but the secure and blinded kings will not be disturbed until it is too late. It is the duty of those whom God has made watchmen over souls, to make them aware of all dangers which threaten them, and to repeat continually the exhortation to watch (1Co 16:13; Mar 13:37).
2Ki 9:20. Osiander: Dilatory and careless people do not accomplish anything. Only diligent and energetic persons succeed.Test thyself to see what spirit moves thee. The right motive-power is the Holy Spirit, which never guides to folly. One may conduct spiritual affairs and manage the concerns of the kingdom of God with folly, want of judgment, and heat (Rom 10:2). Those only are children of God who are moved by the Spirit of God (Rom 8:14); the fruits, however, which this Spirit causes to ripen in them, are love, joy, peace, &c. (Gal 5:22).
2Ki 9:21. Observe the wonderful dispensation of the divine justice. Joram himself gave the order to make ready, in order, without knowing or wishing it, to ride out to the place where Naboths blood was crying for vengeance, and where ruin was prepared for him.
2Ki 9:22 (18, 19). Is it peace? Berleb. Bibel: So it is to-day also. A false peace is demanded of those who are sent to make known the stern truth, in order that hoary evils may not be exposed. Those who have not true peace, generally want an external, shameful peace at any price (Eze 13:16). Ask thyself first of all: Is there peace in thy heart? and seek peace from Him who is our peace (Eph 2:14).There can be no lasting peace where there is apostasy from the living God and His word; licentiousness, injustice, and tyranny; there strife and war, with all their attendant miseries and horrors, must come. Though His sword rests for a time, yet it does not rest in its scabbard (Krummacher).
2Ki 9:23-29. The Death of the Kings of Israel and Judah. It was sudden, unforeseen, and fell upon them in their security and blindness. The proverb applies to Ahaziah: Mitgegangen, mitgefangen; hunt with the fox, and you will be hung with him. (Wrt. Summ.: Refrain from bad companions, if thou wouldst not be punished with them.) The one is thrown upon Naboths field, and left without a grave; the other is brought indeed to the sepulchre of his fathers, but what is the use of a royal sepulchre to him who has lost his soul? (Luk 16:22).
2Ki 9:25 sq. Wrt. Summ.: All parents should take warning by this and not collect unrighteous wealth either for themselves or their children, for treasures of wickedness profit nothing (Pro 10:2), and there is no blessing with them. They rather bring corruption to both parents and children (Jer 17:11).
2Ki 9:30-37. What does the frightful end of Jezebel teach us? (a) The transitoriness and nothingness of human might and glory. (Jezebel relies upon her might; before her the people tremble. She controlled and directed three kings; she raged against all who did not submit unconditionally to her will; now she lies, thrown down from her height, like dung upon the field, so that no one could say: That is the great and mighty queen Jezebel. Dan 4:34; Luk 1:51; 1Pe 1:24.) (b) The certainty of divine retribution. (Gal 6:7 sq. Jezebel was an enemy of the living God and of His word; she seduced old and young to apostasy; she persecuted all who still held firmly to Jehovah. Her terrible end proves that such a temper is certainly punished. Her end has no parallel in Israelitish history. It calls aloud to all unto this day: Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness (Jer 22:13), and it is a pledge of the truth of this assertion: Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked (Psa 91:8).
2Ki 9:30-31. How Jezebel meets her end. (a) Her last action (2Ki 9:30); (b) her last word (2Ki 9:31). She died as she had lived.
2Ki 9:30. How accurately this description fits many of her sex! The highest occupation they can conceive of is to adorn themselves, to show themselves, to conquer, and produce effects. Thou fool! If God demands thy soul of thee to-day, what shall all paint and powder upon the face avail before Him who tries the heart and the reins? Can velvet and silk cover thine inner stains? (Isa 3:16 sq.) There could be no sterner reproof of vanity, pride, and coquetry, and no more severe warning to take to heart the Apostles words 1Pe 3:3 sq. than the fate of Jezebel.
2Ki 9:31. What can be more perverse and pitiful than a man who boasts and puts on airs in the very face of death, and passes out of the world with abuse and insults against God, instead of begging for pity and crying: God be merciful to me a sinner!Jezebel, who murdered the prophets and Naboth, who revolted against the Lord of Heaven and Earth, calls Jehu a murderer and a rebel. The blind and stubborn human heart always finds in others just those sins of which it is itself guilty in a far higher degree.
2Ki 9:32-33. As the master is, so is the servant. Base men always cling to those who have power, and change their colors as the weathercock of fortune turns. He who is himself unfaithful cannot depend upon the fidelity of others. Psa 101:6 sq.
2Ki 9:37. Cf. Pro 10:7; Job 18:17; Job 20:4-7.
[The homiletical material of the chapter may be divided into two heads: the political; and the ethical or religious. The former here obtains especial significance, inasmuch as the record is primarily pure history, and not ethical or philosophical discussion. It has, therefore, the same utility which all history, sacred or profane, has for the instruction of succeeding generations. It shows certain institutions and certain human passions in play, and shows the consequences they produce. It is presented to us from a religious and moral stand-point, and its instruction is, therefore, great for the criticism of political institutions from the point of view of religion and morals. If we see here and in the succeeding chapters the horrors of revolution on the one hand, none the less do we see when and how revolution becomes a terrible necessity. All authority is a means, not an end. It is established, recognized, and obeyed, because it serves those ends. Its rights and privileges are correlative with duties, obligations, and responsibilities, viz., to accomplish the objects for which it was created. Its claims to obedience stand and fall with its fidelity in fulfilling its trust. If it fails in this, if it goes farther, and, in the pursuit of its selfish aims, and the gratification of its own self-will, threatens to crush and ruin the very interests it was created to serve, the time comes when obedience ceases to be a virtue and becomes complicity in a crime. In the absence of prophetical authority to fix the time and designate the leaders for renouncing allegiance, it is difficult to see who is to judge of these save the nation whose interests are at stake. This bears as complete application to republican institutions as to any other. Gods judgment upon the political sins, the recklessness, the self-will, and the selfishness of constitutional authorities is as sure as his punishment of royal transgressors. It is as possible for a representative assembly to sacrifice the highest interests of a nation as it is for a despot. Though, in the progress of civilization, constitutional restraints are so much developed that rulers are under a strict and unremitting responsibility, and other correctives are at hand than violence and blood-shed, yet the principles and their application remain. The highest national interests must be watched over, guarded, and maintained by vigilance, and by wise resistance to anything which would impair them.The ethical and moral lessons of the chapter lie in the character and the fate of the chief actors in the tragedy. Of Jehu we have spoken above. When his strength, his virtue, his calling, and his work are defined, their limitations are also pointed out.Ahaziah seems to have been one of those weak men who float on in the direction which their education and family traditions have given them. He followed the family traditions down to the family ruin. Jorams wound seems to bear witness to some military effort, but in general he appears in the light of an oriental monarch, indolent, careless, luxurious, fond of ease. The sudden and hasty approach of the general of the army alarmed him in regard to the fortunes of the war in Syria, and he went out, without personal anxiety, to meet his fate. His death fulfilled a malediction upon his father. The two kings, therefore, appear to be, to a great extent, the victims of the sins of their ancestors, and as Jezebel had controlled Ahab, we are led back to her as the origin of all this individual, family, and national calamity. She was one of those strong, bold, wicked women, who have played such important rles in history. She was of the Phnician blood, reared in the luxury and licentiousness of oriental custom, and of a bloody and sensuous idolatry. The Mosaic ritual and the Israelitish constitution had been framed to form a barrier to preserve the people of Israel from the infection of those vices which characterized the heathen nations. By Ahabs marriage with this woman the barrier was broken through, and the licentiousness of the worship of Baal and Astarte, the freedom of manners of the Phnician court, the luxury and sensuality of the heathen nations was imported into Israel. To a woman thus educated the religion, the traditions and customs, which prevailed even in the northern kingdom, must have appeared cold, austere, bigoted, narrow, and hateful. It became her aim, therefore, to override, and break down, and destroy all that was peculiar and national in Israel, but in so doing she was contravening all that belonged to and sustained Gods plan for Israel in human history. She braved the conflict and reasserted it in her last hour, and she and her descendants went down in the catastrophe.W. G. S.]
Footnotes:
[1]2Ki 9:1.[ , 1Sa 10:1, here, and in 2Ki 9:3.
[2]2Ki 9:4.[The article is used with the second in the stat. const. to give it definite reference back to the first one. Ew. 290, d. 3. Cf. 2Ki 7:13.
[3]2Ki 9:10.[On see 1Ki 21:23, where occurs nearly in the same meaning. is the moat or ditch just outside the wall, with the adjacent strip of country. has a wider application to the district on which the city is built, including the strip of country just outside the wall. In a walled city this latter place is always a place of deposit for rubbish and offal. Hence the degradation involved in the fate prophesied for her.
[4]2Ki 9:13.[The words are very obscure. No better meaning is suggested than this, that they spread their over-garments directly upon the stairs, and so formed something resembling the covered scaffolding on which the king presented himself to the people, and received their homage.
[5]2Ki 9:17.[The second is in the case absolute. Ew. 173 d. Cf. Psa 74:19.
[6]2Ki 9:24.[ , word for word, filled his hand with a bow, i.e., made ready an arrow.
[7]2Ki 9:25.[ and are accusatives after . Remember me and thee riding. The E. V. is a smooth and correct rendering of it. ; together would be a correct rendering of it, but the word suggests that they were together, one pair in a retinue which was formed two by two.
[8]2Ki 9:27.[This is a translation of the Hebrew as it stands. It seems necessary, however, to correct the text. (a) We may insert after = Smite him also! and they smote him in the chariot. This is Bhrs emendation, following Ewald and others (see Exeg. on the verse), (b) We may read for and translate: Him also! So they smote him in the chariot. This gives the same sense, but Him also! stands as a short exclamatory command. (c) Thenius takes these words in this way, but then (following the Sept.) he conjectures for = And he smote him. It is very tame to make Jehu utter this exclamation merely as such, not as a command, and then shoot the king himself. The second emendation is the best.W. G. S.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
This chapter contains the anointing of Jehu: his slaughter of Joram: the death of Jezebel, and the relation of her being eaten by dogs.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The only observation I would detain the Reader with on this passage, because it should seem to be of all others the most important, is the ceremony of anointing. When we behold how this service was uniformly appointed in the church from the beginning of its being formed in the wilderness, doth it not strike the Reader’s mind that the Holy Ghost evidently intended by it a matter of vast signification. The Lord Jesus himself was anointed with the Holy Ghost; and all his people are said to have an unction from the Holy One. 1Jn 2:20 . Oh! thou blessed Spirit! graciously condescend to anoint me with all thy precious influences in the knowledge and enjoyment of the Lord Jesus! Let the holy oil of thy grace soften all my heart, and make the savor of his dear name be as ointment poured forth!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Character of Jezebel
2Ki 9:30
Some there are who, having an imperfect knowledge of the true position of woman among the Hebrews, or, placing too much reliance on modern Oriental analogies, have represented her station as that of a low and degraded character. In doing this, they have committed an error, of which they could never have been guilty had they studied that beautiful description of a Hebrew woman given at the end of the book of Proverbs, where the value of a virtuous and prudent wife is said to be ‘far above rubies’. Yet, while there were many truly noble women in Hebrew society, there were also, just as in our own time, women who were perfect contrasts to such. Though socially high, they were morally low. To these belonged Jezebel, the consort of Ahab. She made him what he was, and likewise fashioned her own character and destiny.
I. Jezebel’s Life. Jezebel’s life was evil from the beginning. No sooner had Ahab taken her as his wife than she introduced the worship of Baal into the land of Israel. Her next act was the slaughter of the Lord’s prophets, that they might not have the opportunity of condemning her idolatrous practices and those of her husband. Then she planned the murder of Naboth, and, when he was dead, put her husband into the possession of the vineyard he coveted. Nor was this all: she led her sons into idolatry and other evils, just as she had led her husband. When Jehu called her ‘this cursed woman,’ his language, though awful, was correct, for she had brought a curse on her husband, on her family, on the throne and land of Israel, and was the wicked genius of her age. But retribution waited her. When Jehu arrived at Jezreel Jezebel heard of it, and hastily painted her face and tired her hair, and, seating herself at a large window of the palace, she looked out for his approach; and as he entered the gateway she cried, ‘Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?’ Why these preparations and this interrogation? Not, as some have said, to tempt and conquer Jehu as she had tempted and conquered Ahab; but to insult Jehu, and set him at defiance. Zimri was an Israelitish captain who had conspired against his royal sire, and killed him. But he had no Divine warrant for his acts, and therefore within seven days he himself perished. Jezebel charged Jehu with a similar rebellious act, which she insinuated would surely be followed with the reverse of peace; but Jehu knew that he was God’s instrument, carrying out God’s commands.
II. Jezebel’s End. It should be remembered that Jezebel’s end was tardy in its approach. Ahab, her husband, had been shot on the field of battle, and he left only the memory of evil behind him; but she was permitted to live on. What for? That she might have space for repentance. How wonderfully patient God is! One hundred and twenty years He waited for the repentance of the antediluvians, and forty days for the repentance of the Ninevites: the former did not repent, and therefore they were drowned; the latter did repent, and therefore they were spared. And had Jezebel repented, bad as she had been and was, she, too, would have been saved (Eze 33:11 ; 2Pe 3:9 ). A life of probation must necessarily have a termination; and at last, at the age of about fifty, death happened to this infamous woman, the dowager-queen of Israel. As Jehu stood in his chariot under the window of the palace, he cried with a loud voice to the court servants above, ‘Throw her down’; and if God’s commands would justify Jehu, Jehu’s commands would justify the eunuchs. So they threw her down, just as common malefactors were cast headlong from some rocky height; and as she had caused the stoning of Naboth, now stones cause her death. What an indignity a queen-mother, with her face painted to render her eyes surpassingly brilliant and her cheeks beauteous as the rose; a tiara of sparkling gems round her head, and a robe of untold costliness on her person thus to be cast from the window of her own royal house by her very menials, and thereby dashed to death upon the hard pavement below. But even this was not all: her corpse was frightfully broken and disfigured by the prancing horses and rolling chariots, and the hungry dogs completed the work. To rest in no sepulchre was the very climax of her dishonour and shame. What a fate! Jezebel had been a sinner above all sinners; hence her last end was truly dreadful. ‘The mills of God grind slowly,’ but, ‘they grind exceeding small’.
References. X. 15. T. De Witt Talmage, Sermons, p. 102. J. Beveridge, Give Me Thine Hand, p. 5. X. 16. H. P. Liddon, Sermons on Old Testament Subjects, p. 302. W. H. Oldfield, Mohammedan Missions in the Near East, S.P.C.K. Tracts 1897-1904. Blunt, Original Family Sermons, p. 185. Simeon, Works, vol. iii. p. 517. A. Roberts, Sermons, vol. ii. p. 171. Gisborne, Sermons, vol. ii. p. 152. X. 18-31. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture 2 Kings, etc., from chap. viii. p. 6.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
2Ki 9
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 [phial] of oil in thine hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead:
2. And when thou comest thither, look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in [ into Jehu’s house] and make him arise up from among his brethren, and carry him [literally, cause him to enter. The object was secresy] to an inner chamber [Heb., chamber in a chamber].
3. Then [And]: take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over [unto] Israel. Then [and] open the door, and flee, and tarry not.
4. So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead.
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 [Jehu] 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 [see 1Ki 18:4 , 1Ki 18:13 ], and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel.
8. For [And] the whole house of Ahab shall [I will cause to] 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 [see 1Ki 14:10 , 1Ki 16:3-4 ] the son of Ahijah:
10. And the dogs shall eat Jezebel [literally, and Jezebel the dogs shall eat (comp. Elisha’s threat, 1Ki 21:23 )], 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 [or this inspired one, in a tone of ridicule (comp. Hos 9:7 )] to thee? And he said unto them, Ye [emphasis on 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 [the quick action shows a strong feeling against Joram in the army, and enthusiasm for Jehu], 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.
14. So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram (Now Joram had kept Ramoth-gilead, he and all Israel, because of [against] Hazael king of Syria.
15. But king Joram 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 [Heb., let no escaper go] 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 Jay [was lying, his wounds were not yet quite healed] there. And Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram.
17. And there stood a watchman [literally, and the watchman was standing] 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 [What is the news]?
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 [literally, and he sent a second rider of a horse], 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 driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously [ i.e., the foremost charioteer so drives].
21. And Joram said, Make ready [bind the horses to the chariot]. And his chariot was made ready [literally, and one bound his chariot]. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against [to meet] Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth [Naboth’s vineyard, which now formed part of the pleasure ground of the palace (see 1Ki 21:16 )] the Jezreelite.
22. And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace Jehu? [Is all well at the seat of war?] And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms [in a spiritual sense: idolatries] of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts [sorceries; the use of spells and charms common among Semitic idolatries (comp. the prohibitions in the Law: Exo 22:18 ; Deu 18:10-11 )] are so many?
23. And Joram turned his hands [turned his horses round (comp. 1Ki 22:34 )], and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery [literally, guile, or fraud], O Ahaziah.
24. And Jehu drew [filled his hand with] a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his [or, came out from his] heart, and he sunk [bowed: see Isa 46:1 ] down in his chariot.
25. Then said Jehu [And he said] to Bidkar [“son of stabbing”] 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 blood [bloods: plural; implying death by violence: Gen 4:10 )] of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the Lord; and I will requite thee in this plat [or, portion], saith the Lord. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat [portion] 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 [literally, made him ride] in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his [own] sepulchre [which he had in his lifetime prepared, according to the custom of antiquity] 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 painted her face [Heb., put her eyes in painting], and tired [adorned] her head, and looked out at a [the] 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 [or chamberlains].
33. And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on [spirted on to] the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot [he drove over her fallen body].
34. And when he was come in, he did eat and drink [then he could remember that even Jezebel was of royal rank, and perhaps a touch of remorse may be discerned in the mandate for her burial], and said, Go, see now [look, I pray after] this cursed woman [Jehu was thinking of the curse pronounced on Jezebel of the prophet Elijah (see next verse)], and bury her: for she is a king’s daughter [comp. 1Ki 16:31 ].
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 [the] hands.
36. “Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the Lord [see 1Ki 21:23 , where this oracle of Elijah is given] which he spake by [Heb., by the hand of] his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall [the] dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel:
37. And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung [comp. Psa 83:10 ] upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
IX
ELISHA, THE SUCCESSOR OF ELIJAH
2Ki 2:13-13:21
For the sake of unity, this chapter, like the one on Elijah, will be confined to a single person, Elisha, who was the minister, the disciple, and the successor of the prophet Elijah. “Minister” means an attendant who serves another generally a younger man accompanying and helping an older man. A passage illustrating this service 2Ki 3:11 : “Elisha, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.” We may here recall a situation when no wash basin was convenient, and the water was poured on our hands for our morning ablutions. A corresponding New Testament passage is Act 13:5 : “Paul and Barnabas had John Mark to their minister,” that is, the young man, John Mark, attended the two older preachers, and rendered what service he could. Elisha was also a disciple of Elijah. A disciple is a student studying under a teacher. In the Latin we call the teacher magister. Elijah was Elisha’s teacher in holy things. Then Elisha was a successor to Elijah. Elijah held the great office of prophet to Israel, and in view of his speedy departure, God told him to anoint Elisha to be his successor, that is, successor as prophet to the ten tribes.
About four years before the death of Ahab, 800 B.C., Elijah, acting under a commission from God, found Elisha plowing, and the record says, “with twelve yoke of oxen.” I heard a cowman once say that it was sufficient evidence of a man’s fitness to preach when he could plow twelve yoke of oxen and not swear. But the text may mean that Elisha himself plowed with one yoke, and superintended eleven other plowmen. Anyhow, Elijah approached him and dropped his mantle around him. That was a symbolic action, signifying, “When I pass away you must take my mantle and be my successor.” Elisha asked permission to attend to a few household affairs. He called together all the family, and announced that God had called him to a work so life-filling he must give up the farm life and devote himself to the higher business. To symbolize the great change in vocation he killed his own yoke of oxen and roasted them with his implements of husbandry; and had a feast of the family to celebrate his going into the ministry. It is a great thing when the preacher knows how to burn the bridges behind him, and when the family of the preacher recognizes the fulness and completeness of the call to the service of God.
The lesson of this and other calls is that no man can anticipate whom God will call to be his preacher. He called this man from the plow handles. He called Amos from the gathering of sycomore fruit; he called Matthew from the receipt of custom; he called the fishermen from their nets; he called a doctor in the person of Luke. We cannot foretell; the whole matter must be left to God and to God alone, for he alone may put a man into the ministry. I heard Dr. Broadus preach a great sermon on that once: “I thank Christ Jesus, my Lord, for that he hath enabled me and counted me faithful, putting me into this ministry, who was before a blasphemer.”
Elijah served as a prophet fifty-five years. That is a long ministry. There were six kings of Israel before he passed away, as follows: Ahab, Ahaziah, Jehoram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, and Joash. There were five sovereigns of Judah, to wit: Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah (this one a woman) and Joash. Athaliah was queen by usurpation.
God said to Elijah, “Anoint Elisha to be thy successor; anoint Jehu to be king of Israel, and anoint Hazael to be king of Syria.” Now here were two men God-appointed to the position of king, as this man was to the position of prophet, and we distinguish them in this way: It does not follow that because the providence of God makes a man to be king, that the man is conscious of his divine call, like the one who is called to be a preacher. For instance, he says, “I called Cyrus to do what I wanted done: I know him, though he does not know me.” The lesson is that God’s rule is supreme over all offices. Even the most wicked are overruled to serve his general purposes in the government of the world.
The biblical material for a sketch of Elisha’s life 1Ki 19:16 to 2Ki 13:21 . Elisha means, “God the Saviour.” The Greek form is Elisaios; we find it in the Greek text of Luk 4:27 , where our Lord says, “There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elisaios. ” “Elijah” is Hebrew, and “Elias” is the corresponding Greek word; “Elisha” is Hebrew, and “Elisaios” is the corresponding Greek form.
We will now distinguish between the work of Elijah and Elisha, giving some likenesses and some unlikenesses. In the chapter on Elijah attention has already been called to the one great unlikeness, viz: that Elijah did not live in public sight; he appeared only occasionally for a very short time. Elisha’s whole life was in the sight of the public; he had a residence in the city of Samaria, and a residence at Gilgal; he was continually passing from one theological seminary to another; he was in the palaces of the kings, and they always knew where to find him. He had a great deal to do with the home life of the people, with the public life of the people and with the governmental life of the people. There were some points of likeness in their work, so obvious I need not now stop to enumerate them. Elijah’s life was more ascetic, and his ministry was mainly a ministry of judgment, while Elisha’s was one of mercy.
The New Testament likenesses of these two prophets are as follows: Elijah corresponds to John the Baptist, and Elisha’s ministry is very much like the ministry of Jesus in many respects.
There were many schools of the prophets in the days of Elijah and Elisha. Commencing with Jericho we have one; the next was at Bethel; the third at Gilgal not the Gilgal near Jericho but the one in the hill country of Ephraim and there was one at Mount Carmel. These stretched across the whole width of the country four theological seminaries. The history shows us that Elijah, just before his translation, visited every one of them in order, and that Elisha, as soon as Elijah was translated, visited the same ones in reverse order, and there is one passage in the text that tells us that he was continually doing this.
I think the greatest work of Elisha’s life was this instruction work; it was the most far-reaching; it provided a great number of men to take up the work after he passed away. Indeed the schools of the prophets were the great bulwarks of the kingdom of God for 500 years during the Hebrew monarchy. We cannot put the finger on a reformation, except one, in that five hundred years that the prophets did not start. One priest carried on a reformation we will come to it later. But the historians, the poets, the orators, the reformers, and the revivalists, all came from the prophets. Every book in the Bible is written by a man that had the prophetic spirit. Elisha was the voice of God to the conscience of the kings and the people, and when we study the details of his life we will see that as the government heard and obeyed Elisha it prospered, and as it went against his counsel it met disaster.
We have two beautiful stories that show his work in the homes. One of them is the greatest lesson on hospitality that I know of in the Bible. A wealthy family lived right on the path between the Gilgal seminary and the Mount Carmel seminary. The woman of the house called her husband’s attention to the fact that the man of God, Elisha, was continually passing to and fro by their house; that he was a good man, and that they should build a little chamber on the wall to be the prophet’s chamber. “We will put a little table in it, and a chair, and a bed, and we will say to him, Let this be your home when you are passing through.” Elisha was very much impressed with this woman’s thoughtfulness, and the reason for it. He asked her what he could do for her. But she lived among her own people, wanted no favor from the king nor the general of the army. Elisha’s servant suggested that she was childless, so he prophesied to her that within a year she would be the mother of a son. The son was born and grew up to be a bright boy, and, like other boys, followed his father to the field. One hot day when they were reaping and it was very hot in reaping time over there he had a sunstroke and said, “My head! My head!” The father told his servant to take him to his mother as usual, let a child get sick and the daddy is sure to say, “Take him to his mother.” I don’t know what would become of the children if the mothers did not take care of them when they are sick. But the boy died. The woman had a beast saddled and went to the seminary at Mount Carmel. She knew Elisha was there for he had not passed back. It was a very touching story. Anyhow, Elisha restored the boy to life, and to show how it lingered in his mind, years afterward he sent word to her that there would be a famine of seven years, and she had better migrate until the famine was over. She went away for seven years, and when she came back a land-grabber had captured her home and her inheritance. She appealed the case to Elisha, and Elisha appealed the case to the king, and then the kin said, “Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done.” When he had heard the full story of this man’s work he said, “Let this woman have her home back again, and interest for all the time it has been used by another.” This is a very sweet story of family life.
There is another story. One of the “theologs ” I do not know how young he was, for he had married and had children the famine pressed so debt was incurred, and they had a law then we find it in the Mosaic code that they might make a bondman of the one who would not pay his debts. The wife of this “theolog” came to Elisha and said, “My husband is one of the prophets; the famine has brought very hard times, and my boys are about to be enslaved because we cannot pay the debt.” Then he wrought the miracle that we will consider a little later, and provided for the payment of the debt of that wife of the prophet and for the sustenance of them until the famine passed away.
These two stories show how this man in going through the country affected the family life of the people; there may have been hundreds of others. I want to say that I have traveled around a good deal in my days, over every county in this state. It may be God’s particular providence, but I have never been anywhere that I did not find good people. In the retrospect of every trip of my life there is a precious memory of godly men that I met on the trip. I found one in the brush in Parker County, where it looked like a “razor-back” hog could not make a living, and they were very poor. I was on my way to an association, and must needs pass through this jungle, and stopped about noon at a small house in the brush, where I received the kindest hospitality in my life. They were God’s children. They fixed the best they had to eat, and it was good, too the best sausage I ever did eat. So this work of Elisha among the families pleases me. I have been over such ground, and I do know that the preacher who is unable to find good, homes and good people, and who is unable to leave a blessing behind him in the homes, is a very poor preacher. I have been entertained by the great governors of the state and the generals of armies, but I have never enjoyed any hospitality anywhere more precious than in that log cabin in the jungle.
The next great work of Elisha was the miracles wrought by him. There were two miracles of judgment. One was when he cursed the lads of Bethel that place of idolatry and turned two she-bears loose that tore up about forty of them. That is one judgment) and I will discuss that in the next chapter. Just now I am simply outlining the man’s whole life for the sake of unity.
The second miracle of judgment was the inflicting on Gehazi the leprosy of Naaman. The rest of his miracles were miracles of patriotism or of mercy. The following is a list (not of every one, for every time he prophesied it was a miracle): 2Ki 2:14 tells us that he divided the Jordan with the mantle of Elijah; 2Ki 2:19 , that he healed the bad springs of Jericho, the water that made the people sick and made the land barren, which was evidently a miracle of mercy. The third miracle recorded is in 2Ki 2:23 , his sending of the she-bears (referred to above) ; the fourth is recorded in 2Ki 3:16 , the miracle of the waters. Three armies led by three kings were in the mountains of Edom, on their way to attack Moab. There was no water, and they were about to perish, and they appealed to Elisha. He told them to go out to the dry torrent bed and dig trenches saying, “To-morrow all of those trenches will be full of water, and you won’t see a cloud nor hear it thunder.” It was a miracle in the sense that he foresaw how that water would come from rain in the mountains. I have seen that very thing happen. Away off in the mountains there may be rain one can’t see it nor hear it from where he is in the valley. The river bed is as dry as a powder horn, and it looks as if there never will be any rain. I was standing in a river bed in West Texas once, heard a roaring, looked up and saw a wave coming down that looked to me to be about ten feet high the first wave and it was carrying rocks before it that seemed as big as a house, and rolling them just as one would roll a marble.. So his miracle consisted in his knowledge of that storm which they could not see nor hear. If they had not dug the trenches they would have still had no water for a mountain torrent is very swift to fall. In that place where I was, in fifteen minutes there was a river, and in two or three hours it had all passed away. But the trenches of Elisha were filled from the passing flood.
The fifth miracle is recorded in 2Ki 4:2-7 , the multiplying of the widow’s oil, that prophet’s wife that I have already referred to. The sixth miracle is recorded in 2Ki 4:8-37 , first the giving and then the restoring to life of the son of the Shunamite. The seventh is given in 2Ki 4:38 , the healing of the poisonous porridge: “Ah, man of God! there is death in the pot,” or “theological seminaries and wild gourds.” The eighth miracle is found in 2Ki 5:1-4 , the multiplying of the twenty loaves so as to feed 100 men. The ninth, 2Ki 5:1-4 , the healing of Naaman’s leprosy, and the tenth, 2Ki 5:26-27 , the inflicting on Gehazi the leprosy of which Naaman was healed.
The eleventh miracle is found in 2Ki 6:1-7 , his making the ax to swim. One of the prophets borrowed an ax to increase the quarters; the seminary was growing and the place was too straight for them, and they had to enlarge it. They did not have axes enough, and one of them borrowed an ax. In going down to the stream to cut the wood, the head of the ax slipped off and fell into the water and there is a text: “Alas, my master, for it was borrowed.” The miracle in this case was his suspension of the law of gravity, and making that ax head to swim, so that the man who lost it could just reach out and get it.
Twelfth, 2Ki 6:8-12 , the revealing of the secret thought of the Syrian king, even the thoughts of his bedchamber. No matter what, at night, the Syrian king thought out for the next day, Elisha knew it by the time he thought it, and would safeguard the attack at that point.
Thirteenth, 2Ki 6:15 , his giving vision to his doubtful servant when the great host came to capture them. The servant was scared. Elisha said, “Open this young man’s eyes, and let him see that they who are for us are more than those who are against us.” What a text! His eyes were opened, and he saw that hilltop guarded with the chariots of God and his angels. We need these eye openers when we get scared.
Fourteenth, the blinding of that Syrian host that came to take him. He took them and prayed to the Lord to open their eyes again. An Irishman reported at the first battle of Manasseh, thus: “I surrounded six Yankees and captured them.” Well, Elisha surrounded a little army and led them into captivity.
Fifteenth, 2Ki 7:6 , a mighty host of Syrians was besieging Samaria, until the women were eating their own children, the famine was so great. Elisha took the case to God, and that night, right over the Syrian camp was heard the sound of bugles and shouting, and the racing of chariots, and it scared them nearly to death. They thought a great army had been brought up, and a panic seized them, as a stampede seizes a herd of cattle, and they fled. They left their tents and their baggage: their provisions, their jewels, and the further they went the more things they dropped, all the way to the Jordan River, until they left a trail behind them of the cast-off incumbrances. The word “panic” comes from the heathen god, “Pan,” and the conception is that these sudden demoralizations must come from deity. I once saw sixteen steers put an army of 4,000 to flight, and I was one of the men. We were in a lane with a high fence on one side and a bayou on the other side, and suddenly, up the lane we heard the most awful clatter, and saw the biggest cloud of dust, and one of the men shouted, “The cavalry is on us! The cavalry is on us!” and without thinking everybody got scared. A lot of the men were found standing in the bayou up to their necks, others had gone over the fence and clear across the field without stopping. I did not get that far, but I got over the fence.
Sixteenth, 2Ki 8:2-6 , the foreseeing and foretelling of the seven years of famine.
Seventeenth, 2Ki 8:11 , the revelation of the very heart of Hazael to himself. He did not believe himself to be so bad a man. Elisha just looked at him and commenced weeping. Hazael could not understand. Elisha says, “I see how you are going to sweep over my country with fire and sword; I see the children that you will slay; I see the bloody trail behind you.” Hazael says, “Am I a dog, that I should do these things?” But Elisha under inspiration read the real man) and saw what there was in the man. One of the best sermons that I ever heard was by a distinguished English clergyman on this subject.
Eighteenth, 2Ki 13:14 , his dying prophecy.
Nineteenth, the miracle from his bones after he was buried. We will discuss that more particularly later.
We have thus seen his great teaching work, his relation to the government, and his miracles.
Now, let us consider some of his miracles more particularly. The Romanists misuse the miracle of the bones of Elisha, and that passage in Act 19:11-12 , where Paul sent out handkerchiefs and aprons, and miracles were wrought by them. On these two passages they found all their teachings of the relics of the saints, attributing miraculous power to a bit of the cross, and they have splinters enough of that “true cross” now scattered about to make a forest of crosses. In New Orleans an’ auctioneer said, “Today I have sold to seventeen men the cannon ball that killed Sir Edward Packenham.” The greatest superstition and fraud of the ages is the Romanist theory of the miracle working power of the reputed relics of the saints. Some of Elisha’s miracles were like some of our Lord’s. The enlargement of the twenty loaves to suffice for 100 men reminds us of two miracles of our Lord, and his curing a case of leprosy reminds us of many miracles of our Lord like that. In the Bible, miracles are always numerous in the great religious crises, where credentials are needed for God’s people, such as the great series of miracles in Egypt by Moses, the series of miracles in the days of Elisha and the miracles in the days of our Lord.
The greatest of Elisha’s work is his teaching work, greater than his work in relation to the government, his work in the families, or his miracles. I think the more far-reaching power of his work was in his teaching. There were spoken similar words at the exodus of Elijah and Elisha. When Elijah went up, Elisha said, “My Father! My Father! The chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof!” The same words are used when Elisha died. What does it mean? It pays the greatest compliment to the departed: that they alone were worth more to Israel than all its chariots, and its cavalry; that they were the real defenders of the nation.
At one point his work touched the Southern Kingdom, viz: When Moab was invaded, and he wrought that miracle of the waters, filled the trenches and supplied the thirsty armies. Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah was along, and for his sake Elisha saved them.
There are many great pulpit themes in connection with Elisha’s history. I suggest merely a few: First, “Let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me” that was his prayer when Elijah was leaving him; second, “The chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof”; third, when he came to the Jordan he did not say, “Where is Elijah?” but he smote the Jordan and said, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” for it made no difference if Elijah was gone, God was there yet; fourth, “The oil stayed” not as long as the woman has a vessel to put it in; fifth, the little chamber on the wall; sixth, “Ah, man of God! There is death in the pot” or “theological seminaries and wild gourds” radical criticism, for instance there is death in the pot whenever preachers are fed on that sort of food; seventh, “Is it well with thy husband?” “Is it well?” and I will have frequently commenced a meeting with that text; eighth, Elisha’s staff in the hands of Gehazi, who was an unworthy man and the unworthy cannot wield the staff of the prophets; ninth, “Alas, my master, it was borrowed!”; tenth, the Growing Seminary “The place is too straight for us”; eleventh, “Make this valley full of trenches,” that is, the Lord will send the water, but there is something for us to do; let us have a place for it when it comes; twelfth, the secret thoughts of the bedchamber are known to God; thirteenth, “They that be with us are more than those that be against us”; fourteenth, “Tell me, I pray thee, all the great works done by Elisha.”
These are just a few in the great mine of Elijah or Elisha where we may dig down for sermons. The sermons ought to be full of meat; that is why we preach to feed the hungry. We should let our buckets down often into the well of salvation, for we cannot lower the well, and we may draw up a fresh sermon every Sunday. We should not keep on preaching the same sermon; it is first a dinner roast, then we give it cold for supper, then hash its fragments for breakfast, and make soup out of the bones for the next dinner, and next time we hold it over the pot and boil the shadow, and so the diet gets thinner and thinner. Let’s get a fresh one every time.
QUESTIONS
1. Who was Elisha?
2. What is the meaning of “minister to Elijah”? Illustrate and give corresponding passage in the New Testament.
3. What is the meaning of “Elisha, a disciple of Elijah”?
4. What is the meaning of “Elisha, a successor to Elijah”?
5. Give the date, author, manner, and nature of Elisha’s call, his response and how he celebrated the event.
6. What is the lesson of this and other calls? Illustrate.
7. How long his prophetic term of office and what kings of Israel and Judah were his contemporaries?
8. What secular calls accompanied his, how do you distinguish between his and the call of the others and what is the lesson therefrom?
9. What is the biblical material for a sketch of Elisha’s life?
10. What is the meaning of his name?
11. What is the Greek and Hebrew forms of his name? Give other examples.
12. What likenesses and unlikenesses of the work of Elijah and Elisha?
13. What New Testament likenesses of these two prophets?
14. How many schools of the prophets in the days of Elijah and Elisha, and where were they located?
15. What was Elisha’s great teaching work in the seminaries? Discuss.
16. What was Elisha’s part in governmental affairs?
17. What of his work in the families? Illustrate.
18. What two classes of his miracles and what miracles of each class?
19. What is the Romanist misuse of the miracle of Elisha’s bones and Act 19:11-12 ?
20. What miracles were like some of our Lord’s?
21. When and why were Bible miracles numerous?
22. Which of Elisha’s works was the greatest?
23. What words spoken at the exodus of Elijah and Elisha and what their meaning?
24. At what point did Elisha’s work touch the Southern Kingdom?
25. What New Testament lesson from the life of Elisha?
26. Give several pulpit themes from this section not given by the
27. What is the author’s exhortation relative to preaching growing out of this discussion of Elisha?
X
GATHERING UP THE FRAGMENTS THAT NOTHING BE LOST
The title of this chapter is a New Testament text for an Old Testament discussion. For the sake of unity the last two chapters were devoted exclusively to Elijah and Elisha. It is the purpose of this discussion to call attention to some matters worthy of note that could not very well be incorporated in those personal matters, and yet should not be omitted altogether.
It is true, however, that the heart of the history is in the lives of these two great prophets of the Northern Kingdom. In bringing up the record we will follow the chronological order of the scriptures calling for exposition.
Jehoshaphat’s Shipping Alliance with Ahaziah. We have two accounts of this: first, in 1Ki 22:47-49 , and second, in 2Ch 20:35-37 . I wish to explain, first of all, the locality of certain places named in these accounts. Tarshish, as a place, is in Spain. About that there can be no question. About Ophir, no man can be so confident. There was an Ophir in the southern part of Arabia; a man named Ophir settled there, but I do not think that to be the Ophir of this section. The Ophir referred to here is distinguished for the abundance and fine quality of its gold. Several books in the Bible refer to the excellency of “the gold of Ophir,” and to the abundance of it. Quite a number of distinguished scholars would locate it in the eastern part of Africa. Some others would locate it in India, and still others as the Arabian Ophir. My own opinion is, and I give it as more than probable, that the southeastern coast of Africa is the right place for Ophir. Many traditions put it there, the romance of Rider Haggard, “King Solomon’s Mines,” follows the traditions. The now well-known conditions of the Transvaal would meet the case in some respects.
Ezion-geber is a seaport at the head of the Gulf of Akaba, which is a projection of the Red Sea. What is here attempted by these men is to re-establish the famous commerce of Solomon. I cite the passages in the history of Solomon that tell about this commerce. In 1Ki 9:26 we have this record: “And King Solomon made a navy of ships in Eziongeber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. And Hiram (king of Tyre) sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to King Solomon.” Now, 1Ki 10:11 reads: “And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of Almug trees and precious stones.” This “almug-trees” is supposed to be the famous sweet-scented sandalwood. The precious stones would agree particularly with the diamond mines at Kimberly in the Transvaal.
Then1Ki_10:22 reads: “For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram: Once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.” The ivory and apes would fit very well with the African coast, but we would have to go to India to get the spices, which are mentioned elsewhere, and the peacocks. A three years’ voyage for this traffic seems to forbid the near-by Arabian Ophir, and does make it reasonable that the merchant fleet touched many points Arabia, Africa, and the East Indies. It is, therefore, not necessary to find one place notable for all these products gold, jewels, sandalwood, ivory, apes, spices, and peacocks. Solomon, then, established as his only seaport on the south Eziongeber, a navy, manned partly by experienced seamen of Tyre, and these ships would make a voyage every three years. That is a long voyage and they might well go to Africa and to India to get these varied products, some at one point and some at another.
Now Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah (king of Israel) made an alliance to re-establish that commerce. The first difficulty, however, is that the Chronicles account says that these ships were to go to Tarshish, and the Kings account says that they were ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir. My explanation of that difficulty is this: It is quite evident that no navy established at Eziongeber would try to reach Spain by circumnavigating Africa, when it would be so much easier to go from Joppa, Tyre, or Sidon over the Mediterranean Sea to Spain. “Tarshish ships” refers, not to the destination of the ships, but to the kind of ships, that is, the trade of the Mediterranean had given that name to a kind of merchant vessel, called “Ships of Tarshish.” And the ships built for the Tarshish trade, as the name “lndianman” was rather loosely applied to certain great English and Dutch merchant vessels. It is an error in the text of Chronicles that these ships were to go to Tarshish. They were Tarshish ships, that is, built after the model of Tarshish ships, but these ships were built at Eziongeber for trade with Ophir, Africa, and India.
1Ki 22:47 of the Kings account needs explanation: “And there was no king in Edom; a deputy was king.” The relevancy of that verse is very pointed. If Edom had been free and had its own king, inasmuch as Eziongeber was in Edom, Judah never could have gone there to build a navy. But Edom at this time was subject to Judah, and a Judean deputy ruled over it. That explains why they could come to Eziongeber.
One other matter needs explanation. The account in Kings says, “Then said Ahaziah the son of Ahab unto Jehoshaphat, Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships. But Jehoshaphat would not.” Ahaziah attributed the shipwreck of that fleet to the incompetency of the Judean seamen. He did not believe that there would have been a shipwreck if he had been allowed to furnish experienced mariners, as Hiram did. So Kings gives us what seems to be the human account of that shipwreck, viz: the incompetency of the mariners; but Chronicles gives us the divine account, thus: “Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath destroyed thy works. And the ships were broken.” How often do we see these two things: the human explanation of the thing, and the divine explanation of the same thing. Ahaziah had no true conception of God, and he would at once attribute that shipwreck to human incompetency, but Jehoshaphat knew better; he knew that shipwreck came because he had done wickedly in keeping up this alliance with the idolatrous kings of the ten tribes.
THE TRANSLATION OF ELIJAH Let us consider several important matters in connection with the translation of Elijah, 2Ki 2:1-18 . First, why the course followed by Elijah? Why does he go from Carmel to Gilgal and try to leave Elisha there, and from Gilgal to Bethel and try to leave Elisha there, and from Bethel to Jericho and try to leave Elisha there? The explanation is that the old prophet, having been warned of God that his ministry was ended and that the time of his exodus was at hand, wished to revisit in succession all of these seminaries. These were his stopping places, and he goes from one seminary to another. It must have been a very solemn thing for each of these schools of the prophets, when Elisha and Elijah came up to them, for by the inspiration of God as we see from the record, each school of the prophets knew what was going to happen. At two different places they say to Elisha, “Do you know that your master will be taken away to-day?” Now, the same Spirit of God that notified Elijah that his time of departure was at hand, also notified Elisha, also notified each school of the prophets; they knew.
But why keep saying to Elisha, “You stay here at Gilgal; the Lord hath sent me to Bethel,” and, “You stay here at Bethel; the Lord hath sent me to Jericho,” and “You stay here at Jericho; the Lord hath sent me to the Jordan”? It was a test of the faith of Elisha. Ruth said to Naomi, “Entreat me not to leave thee, nor to forsake thee; for where thou goest, I will go; and God do so to me, if thy God be my God, and thy people my people, and where thou diest there will I die also.” With such spirit as that, Elisha, as the minister to Elijah, and as the disciple of Elijah, and wishing to qualify himself to be the successor of Elijah, steadfastly replied: “As the Lord liveth and thy soul liveth, I will not forsake thee.” “I am going with you just as far as I can go; we may come to a point of separation, but I will go with you to that point.” All of us, when we leave this world, find a place where the departing soul must be without human companionship. Friends may attend us to that border line but they cannot pass over with us.
We have already discussed the miracle of the crossing of the Jordan. Elijah smote the Jordan with his mantle and it divided; that was doubtless his lesson to Elisha, and we will see that he learned the lesson. I heard a Methodist preacher once, taking that as a text, say, “We oftentimes complain that our cross is too heavy for us, and groan under it, and wish to be relieved from it.” “But,” says he, “brethren, when we come to the Jordan of death, with that cross that we groaned under we will smite that river, and we will pass over dry-shod, and leave the cross behind forever, and go home to a crown to wear.”
The next notable thing in this account is Elijah’s question to Elisha: “Have you anything to ask from me?” “Now, this is the last time; what do you want me to do for you?” And he says, “I pray thee leave a double portion of thy spirit on me.” We see that he is seeking qualification to be the successor. “Double” here does not mean twice as much as Elijah had, but the reference is probably to the first-born share of an inheritance. The first-born always gets a double share, and Elisha means by asking a double portion of his spirit that it may accredit him as successor. Or possibly “double” may be rendered “duplicate,” for the same purpose of attenuation. The other prophets would get one share, but Elisha asks for the first-born portion. Elijah suggests a difficulty, not in himself, but in Elisha ; he said, “You ask a hard thing of me, yet if you see me when I go away, you will get the double portion of my spirit,” that is, it was a matter depending on the faith of the petitioner, his power of personal perception. “When I go up, if your eyes are open enough to see my transit from this world to a higher, that will show that you are qualified to have this double portion of my spirit.” We have something similar in the life of our Lord. The father of the demoniac boy says to our Lord, “If thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus replied, “If thou canst! All things are possible to him that believeth.” It was not a question of Christ’s ability, but of the supplicant’s faith.
The next thing is the translation itself. What is meant by it? In the Old Testament history two men never died; they passed into the other world, soul and body without death: Enoch and Elijah. And at the second coming of Christ every Christian living at that time will do the same thing. “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, they shall be changed.” Now, what is that change of the body by virtue of which without death, it may ascend into heaven? It is a spiritualization of the body eliminating its mortality, equivalent to what takes place in the resurrection and glorification of the dead bodies. I preached a sermon once on “How Death [personified] Was Twice Startled.” In the account of Adam it is said, “And he died” and so of every other man, “and he died.” Methuselah lived 969 years, but he died. And death pursuing all the members of the race, strikes them down, whether king or pauper, whether prophet or priest. But when he comes to Enoch his dart missed the mark and he did not get him. And when he came to Elijah he missed again. Now the translations of Enoch and Elijah are an absolute demonstration of two things: First, the immortality of the soul, the continuance of life; that death makes no break in the continuity of being. Second, that God intended from the beginning to save the body. The tree of life was put in the garden of Eden, that by eating of it the mortality of the body might be eliminated. Sin separated man from that tree of life, but it is the purpose of God that the normal man, soul and body, shall be saved. The tradition of the Jews is very rich on the spiritual significance of the translation of Enoch and Elijah. In Enoch’s case it is said, “He was not found because God took him,” and in this case fifty of the sons of the prophets went out to see if when Elijah went to heaven his body was not left behind, and they looked all over the country to find his body. Elisha knew; he saw the body go up.
Now, in Revelation we have the Cherubim as the chariot of God. This chariot that met Elijah at the death station was the chariot of God, the Cherubim. Just as the angels met Lazarus and took his soul up to heaven, and it is to this wonderful passage that the Negro hymn belongs: “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.”
Elisha cried as the great prophet ascended, “My Father! My rather I The chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof,” the meaning of which is that thus had gone up to heaven he who in his life had been the defense of Israel, worth more than all of its chariots and all of its cavalry. Now these very words “were used when Elisha died. “My Father! My Father! The chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof,” signifying that he had been the bulwark of the nation as Elijah had been before him.
ELISHA’S MINISTRY, 2Ki 2:19-25 As Elijah went up something dropped not his body, but just his mantle his mantle fell, and it fell on Elisha, symbolic of the transfer of prophetic leadership from one to the other. Now, he wants to test it, a test that will accredit him; so he goes back to the same Jordan, folds that same mantle up just as Elijah had done, and smites the Jordan. But, mark you, he did not say, “Where is Elijah” the man, Elijah, was gone, but, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” and the waters divided and he came over. There he stood accredited with a repetition of the miracle just a little before performed by Elijah, which demonstrated that he was to be to the people what Elijah had been. And this was so evident that the sons of the prophets recognized it and remarked on it: “The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha.” It is a touching thing to me, this account of more than fifty of these prophets, as the president of their seminary is about to disappear, came down the last hill that overlooks the Jordan, watching to see what became of him. And they witness the passage of the Jordan they may have seen the illumination of the descent of the chariot of fire. They wanted to go and get the body the idea of his body going up they had not taken in, and they could not be content until Elisha, grieved at their persistence) finally let them go and find out for themselves that the body had gone to heaven.
I have just two things to say on the healing of the noxious waters at Jericho. The first is that neither the new cruse nor the salt put in it healed the water. It was a symbolic act to indicate that the healing would be by the power of God. Just as when Moses cast a branch into the bitter waters of Marah, as a symbolic act. The healing power comes from God. The other re-mark is on that expression, “unto this day,” which we so frequently meet in these books. Its frequent recurrence is positive proof that the compiler of Kings and the compiler of Chronicles are quoting from the original documents. “Unto this day” means the day of the original writer. It does not mean unto the day of Ezra wherever it appears in Chronicles, but it means unto the day of the writer of the part of history that he is quoting from. More than one great conservative scholar has called attention to this as proof that whoever compiled these histories is quoting the inspired documents of the prophets.
THE CHILDREN OF BETHEL AND THE SHE-BEARS Perhaps a thousand infidels have referred Elisha’s curse to vindictiveness and inhumanity. The word rendered “little children” is precisely the word Solomon uses in his prayer at Gibeon when he says, “I am a little child” he was then a grown man. Childhood with the Hebrews extended over a much greater period of time than it does with us. The word may signify “young men” in our modern use of the term. And notice the place was Bethel, the place of calf worship, where the spirit of the city was against the schools of the prophets, and these young fellows call them “street Arabs,” “toughs,” whom it suited to follow this man and mock him: “Go up, thou bald bead; go up, thou bald head.” Elisha did not resent an indignity against himself, but here is the point: these hostile idolaters at Bethel, through their children are challenging the act of God in making Elisha the head of the prophetic line. He turned and looked at them and he saw the spirit that animated them saw that it was an issue between Bethel calf worship and Bethel, the school of the prophets, and that the parents of these children doubtless sympathized in the mockery, and saw it to be necessary that they should learn that sacrilege and blasphemy against God should not go unpunished. So, in the name of the Lord he pronounces a curse on them had it been his curse, no result would have followed. One man asks, “What were these she-bears doing so close to Bethel?” The answer is that in several places in the history is noted the prevalence of wild animals in Israel. We have seen how the old prophet who went to this very Bethel to rebuke Jeroboam and turned back to visit the other prophet, was killed by a lion close to the city.
Another infidel question is, “How could God make a she bear obey him?” Well, let the infidel answer how God’s Spirit could influence a single pair of all the animals to go into the ark. Over and over again in the Bible the dominance of the Spirit of God over inanimate things and over the brute creation is repeatedly affirmed. The bears could not understand, but they would follow an impulse of their own anger without attempting to account for it.
THE INCREASE IN THE WIDOW’S OIL, 2Ki 4:1-7
We have already considered this miracle somewhat in the chapter on Elisha, and now note particularly:
1. It often happens that the widow of a man of God, whether prophet or preacher, is left in destitution. Sometimes the fault lies in the imprudence of the preacher or in the extravagance of his family, but more frequently, perhaps, in the inadequate provision for ministerial support. This destitution is greatly aggravated if there be debt. The influence of a preacher is handicapped to a painful degree, when, from any cause, he fails to meet his financial obligations promptly. In a commercial age this handicap becomes much more serious.
2. The Mosaic Law (Lev 25:39-41 ; see allusion, Mat 18:25 ) permitted a creditor to make bond-servant of a debtor and his children. For a long time the English law permitted imprisonment for debt. This widow of a prophet appeals to Elisha, the head of the prophetic school, for relief, affirming that her husband did fear God. In other words, he was faultless in the matter of debt. The enforcement of the law by the creditor under such circumstances indicates a merciless heart.
3. The one great lesson of the miracle is that the flow of the increased oil never stayed as long as there was a vessel to receive it. God wastes not his grace if we have no place to put it: according to our faith in preparation is his blessing. He will fill all the vessels we set before him.
DEATH IN THE POT, 2Ki 4:38-41 We recall this miracle to deepen a lesson barely alluded to in the chapter on Elisha. The seminaries at that time lived a much more simple life than the seminaries of the present time; it did not take such a large fund to keep them up. Elisha said, “Set on the great pot,” and one of the sons of the prophets went out to gather vegetables. He got some wild vegetables he knew nothing about here called wild gourd and shred them into the pot, not knowing they were poisonous. Hence the text: “O man of God, there is death in the pot.” I once took that as the text for a sermon on “Theological Seminaries and Wild Gourds,” showing that the power of seminaries depends much on the kind of food the teachers give them. If they teach them that the story of Adam and Eve is an allegory, then they might just as well make the second Adam an allegory, for his mission is dependent on the failure of the first. If they teach them the radical criticism; if they teach anything that takes away from inspiration and infallibility of the divine Word of God or from any of its great doctrines then, “O man of God, there is death in the pot” that will be a sick seminary.
In a conversation once with a radical critic I submitted for his criticism, without naming the author, the exact words of Tom Paine in his “Age of Reason,” denying that the story of Adam and Eve was history. He accepted it as eminently correct. Then I gave the author, and inquired if it would be well for preachers and commentators to revert to such authorities on biblical interpretation. He made no reply. We find Paine’s words not only in the first part of the “Age of Reason,” written in a French prison without a Bible before him, but repeated in the second part after he was free and had access to Bibles. I gave this man a practical illustration, saying, “You may take the three thousand published sermons of Spurgeon, two sets of them, and arrange them, one set according to the books from which the texts are taken Gen 1:2 , Gen 1:3 , etc., and make a commentary on the Bible. By arranging the other set of them in topical order, you have a body of systematic theology.” Now this man Spurgeon believed in the historical integrity and infallibility of the Bible, in its inspiration of God, and he preached that, just that. As the old saying goes, “The proof of the pudding is in the chewing of the bag.” He preached just that, and what was the result? Thousands and thousands of converts wherever he preached, no matter what part of the Bible he was preaching from; preachers felt called to enter the ministry, orphan homes rose up, almshouses for aged widows, colportage systems established, missionaries sent out, and all over the wide world his missionaries die in the cause. One man was found in the Alps, frozen to death, with a sermon of Spurgeon in his hand. One man was found shot through the heart by bush rangers of Australia, and the bullet passed through Spurgeon’s sermon on “The Blood of Jesus.” Now, I said to this man, “Get all your radical critics together, and let them preach three thousand sermons on your line of teaching. How many will be converted? How many backsliders will be reclaimed? How many almshouses and orphanages will be opened? How many colportage systems established? Ah! the proof of the pudding is in the chewing of the bag. If what you say is the best thing to teach about the Bible is true, then when you preach, it will have the best results. But does it?”
We have considered Elisha’s miracle for providing water for the allied armies of Israel, Judah, and Edom, when invading Moab (2Ki 3:10-19 ). We revert to it to note partakelarly this passage: “And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew sword, to break through unto the king of Edom: but they could not. Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there was great wrath against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land” (2Ki 3:26-27 ). On this passage I submit two observations:
1. Not long after this time the prophet Micah indignantly inquires, “Shall I give my firstborn for my transgressions, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” The context is a strong denunciation of the offering of human sacrifices to appease an angry deity. The Mosaic law strongly condemned the heathen custom of causing their children to pass through the fire of Molech. Both this book of Kings and Jeremiah denounce judgment on those guilty of this horrible practice. The Greek and Roman classics, and the histories of Egypt and Phoenicia, show how widespread was this awful custom.
2. But our chief difficulty is to expound the words, “There was great wrath against Israel.” But what was its connection with the impious sacrifice of the king of Moab? Whose the wrath? The questions are not easy to answer. It is probable that the armies of Edom and Judah were angry at Israel for pressing the king of Moab to such dire extremity, and so horrified at the sacrifice that they refused longer to co-operate in the campaign. This explanation, while not altogether satisfactory, is preferred to others more improbable. It cannot mean the wrath of God, nor the wrath of the Moabites against Israel. It must mean, therefore, the wrath of the men of Judah and Edom against Israel for pressing Mesha to such an extent that he would offer his own son as a sacrifice.
QUESTIONS
I. On the two accounts of Jehoshaphat’s shipping alliance with Ahaziah, 2Ki 22 ; 2Ch 20 , answer:
1. Where is Tarshish?
2. Where is Ophir?
3. Where is Ezion-geber?
4. What is the relevance of 1Ki 22:47 ?
5. Explain “ships of Tarshish” in Kings, and “to go to Tarshish” in Chronicles.
6. What commerce were they seeking to revive, and what passage from 1 Kings bearing thereon?
7. How does the book of Kings seem to account for the wreck of the fleet, and how does Chronicles give a better reason?
II. On the account of Elijah’s translation (2Ki 2:1-18 ) answer:
1. Why the course taken by Elijah by way of Gilgal, Bethel, and Jericho?
2. How did both Elisha and the schools of the prophets know about the impending event?
3. What was the object of Elijah in telling Elisha to tarry at each stopping place while he went on?
4. What was the meaning of Elisha’s request for “a double portion” of Elijah’s spirit and why was this a hard thing to ask, i.e., wherein the difficulty? Illustrate by a New Testament lesson.
5. What was the meaning of Elijah’s translation, and what other cases, past or prospective?
6. What was the meaning of Elisha’s expression, “My Father! My Father! The chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof,” and who and when applied the same language to Elisha?
7. How does Elisha seek a test of his succession to Elijah and how do others recognize the credentials?
III. How do you explain the seeming inhumanity of Elisha’s cursing the children of Bethel?
IV. On the widow’s oil (2Ki 4:1-7 ), answer:
1. What often happens to the widow of a prophet or preacher, and what circumstance greatly aggravates the trouble?
2. What is the Mosaic law relative to debtors and creditors?
3. What one great lesson of the miracle?
V. On “Death in the Pot” answer:
1. What the incident of the wild gourds?
2. What application does the author make of this?
3. What comparison does the author make between Spurgeon and the Radical Critics?
VI. On Elisha’s miracle, the water supply, answer:
1. What is the allusion in Micah’s words, “Shall I give my first-born,” etc.?
2. What the meaning of “There was great wrath against Israel”?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
XII
THE REIGNS OF AHAZIAH (OF JUDAH),
JEHORAM (OF ISRAEL) AND THE RISE OF THE HOUSE OF NIMSHI
2Ki 8:25-10:17
In the scriptures cited for this chapter there are some apparent discrepancies which first claim our attention. 2Ki 8:25 says, “In the twelfth year of Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel did Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah begin to reign,” while 2Ki 9:29 says, “And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.” There are two possible solutions of this difficulty: (1) it may be accounted for by their method of reckoning in which they counted the king’s “first year” twice; first, from the accession to the end of the civil year and second, from the accession to the same day of the next year; (2) he may have begun to reign with his father as viceroy in the eleventh year and as full king in the twelfth year. Either of these explanations relieves us from the difficulty of an apparent discrepancy.
A second apparent discrepancy occurs in 2Ki 8:26 and 2Ch 22:2 . The Kings passage says that Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, while the Chronicles passage says that he was forty-two. The latter statement is impossible because his father was only forty years old when he died. So the only explanation of this difference in statement is that it must be an error of the copyist. Twenty-two is more advanced than we would ordinarily expect but it is probable in view of the early marriages in the Orient and also that each prince had, besides his wife, several concubines. That Jehoram had several appears from 2Ch 21:17 .
The character of Ahaziah is set forth in the record with the author’s accustomed clearness showing some of the antecedent forces that operated in his life. The first thing mentioned is the fact that his mother’s name was Athaliah, the daughter (granddaughter) of Omri, who is here mentioned because of his prominence. She was a daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, passing on to this king the full benefit of the law of heredity. So we are not surprised that the record says that he walked in the ways of the house of Ahab. The Kings account says, “for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab,” i.e., he was related to the house of Ahab by marriage. An added reason for this course of Ahaziah is given by the Chronicles account: “for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly . . . for they [the house of Ahab] were his counsellors after the death of his father, to his destruction.” Our sympathy goes out to Ahaziah in view of these conditions. How could he, in view of these hereditary traits and special maternal instruction) have done otherwise than to walk in the “ways of the house of Ahab”? Only by the grace of God which is able to overcome all the forces of the past, whether they be hereditary or environmental.
On Elisha’s interview with Hazael we need to note: (1) this visit of the prophet to Damascus was perhaps for protection, but it is not definitely known as to why he went there; (2) that Elisha, whatever his reason for going, did not hide himself but was recognized upon his arrival; (3) that in his answer to Hazael he sarcastically told him to tell his master just what Hazael wanted to tell him and then gave him the true revelation of the case; (4) that Hazael did not tell his master all that Elisha said and thus falsified to him, but it was not the fault of the prophet; (5) that Elisha here showed his great heart of sympathy for his people in their sufferings, and (6) that God revealed the future of Benhadad, Hazael and Israel to Elisha, a clear proof of predictive prophecy.
The next topic for our discussion is the aid rendered Jehoram by Ahaziah in the defense of Ramothgilead; then follows the other events leading up to the anointing of Jehu as king over Israel. In the defense of Ramothgilead Ahaziah and Jehoram co-operate, uniting their forces against Hazael, king of Syria. Here Jehoram was wounded. Then the two kings withdrew Ahaziah to Jerusalem and Jehoram to Jezreel to be nursed. Soon after this Ahaziah visited Jehoram there and Just at this time Elisha appears upon the scene and commissions a son of the prophets to anoint Jehu. Thus the events pass in rapid succession leading to the destruction of the house of Ahab. We should note in this connection the striking fact that Jehu was not in the regular line of succession and was one of the two kings of Israel selected by Jehovah.
The circumstances and events of his anointing are graphically told by the author of Kings. The prophet who had been commissioned by Elisha went to Ramothgilead, found the captains sitting, called out Jehu, anointed him, gave him his commission, outlined his work and fled. According to this prophecy Jehu was to avenge the blood of the prophets against the house of Ahab by destroying every man child, as in the case of Jehoram and Baasha, and the dogs were to eat Jezebel in Jezreel. Immediately Jehu returned to the servants, his fellow captains, and made known unto them the prophet’s message and they arose at once and proclaimed him king. This involved the duty of preaching righteousness and executing God’s orders as sheriff, a very great responsibility and no small task. Later we see that Jehu was equal to the task thrust upon him, and God is abundantly vindicated in making this selection.
The chief characteristic of Jehu’s work is, that it is iconoclastic. He was an image smasher, a great revolutionist. Was he pious? Not very pious, i.e. in the sense of reverencing the traditions of the past. He was, perhaps, filial toward his parents; we don’t know, but he had full regard for his mission under God. If he was not pious he was religious in that he executed the program that God handed to him through the prophet. To be sure he was not a “sissy” but was a kind of “dare-devil” in spirit, a stern, John the Baptist sort of fellow. Such are the characteristics of the men who have led great revolutionary movements.
The first act of his reign was the slaying of Jehoram which is vividly presented in 2Ki 9:14-26 . The salient points in this story are: (1) Jehu’s journey to Jezreel and his approach recognized by the watchman in the tower; (2) Jehoram’s messengers to Jehu and his disposition of them; (3) Jehoram and Ahaziah’s advance to meet Jehu, Jehoram’s greeting and Jehu’s reply; (4) Jehu’s execution of Jehoram and Ahaziah’s escape, and (5) the disposition of the body of Jehoram and the fulfilment of prophecy. The second act of his reign was the slaying of Ahaziah. After the death of Jehoram Jehu pursued Ahaziah who had fled by the way of the “garden house” or perhaps a better translation would be, “Beth-Gan,” a town at the foot of the hills bounding the plain of Esdraelon, south of Jezreel, and on the road to Samaria. It is somewhat difficult, but not impossible, to harmonize the Kings account with the Chronicles account of this episode. Omitting the italics in 2Ki 9:27 and inserting 2Ch 22:9 a just after “and he fled to Megiddo,” we may conceive of this transaction as follows: Jehu ordered Ahaziah to be smitten at the ascent of Gur, but he fled to Megiddo where he was wounded, then carried to Samaria and concealed but was discovered by the emissaries of Jehu who carried him to Megiddo where Jehu was at this time; then and there Jehu put him to death. Such is a possible combination of the two accounts and removes the difficulty so far as a contradiction is concerned. 2Ch 22:7 explains Ahaziah’s death as the direct cause of his alliance with Jehoram and his untimely death was a judgment upon him for his idolatry. Murphy (Handbook on Chronicles) explains his hiding in Samaria thus, “And he was about to hide in Samaria,” but he was turned aside by his pursuers, was wounded and went to Megiddo where he died. There is one fault with this explanation: it does not provide for the expression, “they caught him and carried him to Jehu,” etc. So withal the method of combining, as given above, is more satisfactory.
Here may be raised the question of the morality of the action of Jehu in killing Jehoram and Ahaziah. The answer is simple and easy. It was clearly God’s execution, and was therefore nothing more than the stroke of the law. The Jehovah religion was very much endangered by the house of Ahab and these kings, one of Israel and the other of Judah, were branches of that house. If Jehu sinned, it was in the method or spirit in which he did the work, rather than in the taking of the life of these men. That was clearly his commission from Jehovah. He did not sin in this transaction any more than a sheriff does who executes a criminal under the penalty of the law. God had rendered the verdict and appointed Jehu the executioner. But if he used unnecessary cruelty in this execution, or did it in the spirit of vengeance, then we would admit that he sinned, because God has said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay” and no man, mob, or court of men has the right to execute a criminal in the spirit of vengeance. The cruel fate of Jezebel is horrifying and bloodcurdling. Her cunning attempt to thwart her predicted fate is repulsing and disgusting. Upon learning of Jehu’s approach, Cleopatra-like, she painted her eyes, attired her head, and from a window saluted her executioner with, “Is it peace?” From Jehu came the prompt and decisive response, “Who is on my side? Throw her down,” and down she came with a crash, spattering her blood upon the wall and upon the horses. Then Jehu drove right over her body trampling her underfoot. She was so mangled that the dogs found her body an easy prey and when they went to take her up to bury her there was nothing left except the skull, the palms of her hands and her feet. What a horrible picture, but it was the just recompense for sin. She was the greatest enemy of the Jehovah religion after the days of Pharaoh, and God made Pharaoh an example to the world; so did he make Jezebel, and in Revelation we find her followers given space to repent and then sternly threatened with eternal destruction. All this was according to the prophecy of Elijah, 1Ki 21:17 ff. How definitely and surely God forecasts the fate of the wicked. We should not be deceived. “God is not mocked, whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” When one walks the streets of a modern city and beholds the painted faces of our own American women, he is constrained to ask, “Have all our women become Jezebels, and what will the harvest of this generation be?”
Jehu did not stop with the execution of Jehoram, Ahaziah and Jezebel but pursued his destructive work in the judgment on the house of Ahab. The record says that Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria, meaning descendants, sons and grandsons, whom Jehu ordered the elders or rulers of Jezreel to slay. He first challenged them to select one for a king and “put up” their fight, but they declared their allegiance to Jehu. Then he wrote them to execute these sons at once and bring him their heads. This they did, upon which Jehu justified his course by citing a prophecy (1Ki 21:17 ff), and then extended his destructive course so as to include the rest of Ahab’s house at Jezreel: his great men, his familiar friends and his priests. What a sweep of destruction in human life! But he did not stop there. The princes of Judah were a menace to his reign and therefore he must dispose of them. This he did in wholesale massacre at the shearing house of the shepherds. These princes royal of Judah were on their way to see their relatives at Samaria when they met Jehu who took them in charge at once and put them to death. Pursuing his course, Jehu met Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him, and after an exchange of greetings he found in this man a suitable companion and associate in his “zeal for the Lord,” as Jehu called it.
With Jehonadab originated the Rechabites, taking the name from Rechab, Jehonadab’s father. They were descended from a family of the Kenites and were a very sturdy people, with some remarkable characteristics. They drank no wine, built no permanent dwelling houses, planted no vineyards, sowed no seed, but lived in tents and followed the most simple habits of life. In Jeremiah’s day they were still holding to the tenets of Jehonadab in teaching and practice and because of their faithfulness in obeying the commandments of Jehonadab, Jehovah promised that Jehonadab should never want a man to stand before him. This promise is being fulfilled to this day. In the vicinity of Medina are to be found today the descendants of the Rechabites with the same characteristics and habits. This is a remarkable fulfilment of promise, but it is just what may come to any people who will keep the commands of Jehovah. He will not suffer his faithfulness to fail, and consistent with his holy nature, “He never denies himself, but he abideth faithful.”
Jehonadab’s character is not hard to determine in the light of his affiliations. Two cannot walk together except they be agreed. Jehu was a “dare-devil” sort of character, and he found his match in Jehonadab. They were partners and coworkers from this time on and the work of Jehu was the work of Jehonadab.
Jehu’s last act of establishing himself on the throne of Israel is recorded in 2Ki 10:17 , and refers, perhaps, to the destruction of the female descendants of Ahab. Thus was finally completed the political revolution which transferred the throne from the house of Omri to that of Nimshi, the fifth of the royal families of Israel.
QUESTIONS
1. How do you harmonize the apparent discrepancies in 2Ki 8:25 and 2Ki 9:29 ; 2Ki 8:26 and 2Ch 22:2 ?
2. What was the character of Ahaziah and what were the examples of a mother’s influence here?
3. Describe the interview of Elisha with Hazael and explain the difficulty of this passage.
4. What were the events which led to the anointing of Jehu as king over Israel? . .
5. What striking fact with reference to Jehu’s anointing?
6. Recite the circumstances and events of his anointing.
7. According to this prophecy what was Jehu to do and what was to be the fate of Jezebel?
8. How was he made king and what involved in his call to be king?
9. What were the chief characteristics of his work, was he pious, what is the meaning of piety and what kind of character necessary to a resolution.
10. What was the first act of his reign and how was this accomplished?
11. What was the second act of his reign and how was this accomplished?
12. How does Chronicles explain Ahaziah’s death?
13. What question of ethics relative to Jehu’s slaying Jehoram and Ahaziah and what the explanation?
14. What was Jezebel’s fate and what prophecy was fulfilled in her death?
15. What was the judgment on the house of Ahab?
16. What prophecy was fulfilled in the judgment on the house of Ahab?
17. What was the judgment on the princes Royal of Judah?
18. Whom did Jehu attach to his support, and what is the origin of the Rechabites and what were their practices?
19. What was the character and work of Jehonadab?
20. What was Jehu’s last act in establishing himself on the throne of Israel?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
2Ki 9:1 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:
Ver. 1. And Elisha the prophet. ] Now the time was come for the utter extirpation of Ahab’s house by Jehu, God’s executioner. When wickedness is ripe in the field, God will not let it shed to grow again, but cutteth it up by a just and seasonable vengeance.
Called one of the children of the prophets.
a Sedar Olam.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
children = sons.
box of oil = oil flask.
oil. For its use in consecration see 1Sa 10:1; 1Sa 16:13.
Ramoth-gilead. Israelite army on guard here. Compare 2Ki 9:14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter nine.
Elisha is an extremely colorful character. And we are coming towards the end of the career of Elisha, a prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel. And Elisha commanded one of the young prophets to go to Jezreel and there to take a cruse of oil and call Jehu, who was a captain of the host of Israel, into another room secretly, and there anoint him with the oil to be king over Israel, and then get out of there as fast as you can. So this young man came to Jezreel where Jehu was sitting with a bunch of the officers and all. And he said, “I have a message for you, O Jehu.” And Jehu said…or he said, “I have a message for you.” And he said, “Which one of us?” And he said, “You.” And he said, “Come into the other room.” And so he went into the other room and he said, “Thus saith the Lord, He has anointed you to be king over Israel.” And of course, to replace the house of Ahab and Jehoahaz who was a descendant of Ahab. And so he poured this cruse of oil over Jehu and then he took off. When Jehu came out with the rest of the officers, they said, “What in the world was that guy all about? Man, he was wild looking. What did he tell you?” And Jehu said, “He anointed me with oil and told me that I was going to be the king over Israel.” And so the guys all took their coats out and they made this stairway. They had him stand at the top of the stairs and they put began to blow the trumpets and say, “Long live Jehu king,” you know.
And so he said, “Now look, you guys, really serious about this, don’t let anyone go and warn the king what’s happened.” And so Jehu and the men headed then for Joram, who was the descendant of Ahab, who was the son of Jehoshaphat. And Joram at the time was recovering from injuries that he had received in a battle against the Syrians, and he was at Ramothgilead. And so in those days they had, of course, walls around the city and they had the guard towers, and guys would sit up there in the guard towers and they could see people coming from a long distance. And so this guard called down and he said, “There’s chariots that are approaching the city. I can see the dust in the distance.” So they sent out a messenger.
The king Joram said, “Go out and ask them if they are coming in peace.” And so the messenger came to Jehu and he said, “Are you coming in peace?” He said, “What have you to do with peace? Get behind me.” So the messenger had to get behind him. So the guy up on the wall said, “The messenger came to him but he’s not returning.” He said, “Send out another messenger and ask him if he’s coming in peace.” And then the guy said unto him,
the driving is like the driving of Jehu, the son of Nimshi; for he driveth his chariot furiously ( 2Ki 9:20 ).
My wife wanted to get me a license plate with Jehu on it. I don’t think that’s very charitable of her.
But at any rate, the second messenger came to Jehu. And he said, “Are you coming peaceably?” And he said, “What have you to do with peace? Turn behind me.” And so Jehoram, Joram came out to meet him in his chariot with Ahaziah who was the king of Judah, who happened to be visiting him at Ramothgilead because he was sick. Ahaziah… and there was an affinity between Ahaziah… and actually there was a family relationship between the kings at this particular time.
And so king Joram came out and said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he said, What peace as long as the whoredoms of your mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many? And Joram turned and fled and he said to Ahaziah who was the other king from Judah visiting him, he said unto him, It’s treachery, O Ahaziah. And Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram in the back. The arrow came out through his heart. He sank down in his chariot and died ( 2Ki 9:22-24 ).
And then they pursued Ahaziah and they injured him and he went to the city of Megiddo, and he died in Megiddo. And some of the men from Judah came to Megiddo, carried him back to Jerusalem, and buried him there in the sepulcher of David or the fathers in the city of David.
Then Jehu came to Jezreel where Jezebel was still, she was still alive. This wicked wife of Ahab who had led the Israelites into Baal. She had introduced the Baal worship to Israel. And so Jezebel, knowing that Jehu was coming, said unto him, “Did Zimri have peace, who slew his master?” She was looking out the window. Actually she painted her face and tired her hair and fixed up, and she taunted him sort of, “Did Zimri have peace, who killed his master?” They lifted up his face to the window. He called up there and he said, “Are anybody up there for me?” And there were three eunuchs that stuck out their heads. They said, “We’re for you.” He said, “Then throw that woman out.” And so they threw Jezebel out and she came crashing down. Her blood spilled on the wall and upon the horse and he trampled her under the feet of his horse. And then he went on into the house and sat down and ate and drank. And he said, “A couple of you guys go out and bury her.”
And they went to bury her: but they found nothing but her skull, and the palms of her hands and the bottom of her feet ( 2Ki 9:35 ).
For the dogs had already eaten Jezebel there in the street. Now this is a fulfillment of the prophecy of Elijah against Jezebel declaring that the dogs would eat her in the streets of Jezreel. And so the end of the career of this extremely wicked woman.
It is interesting that women, it seem, have a capacity of deeper depths of depravity than do men. And I think the reason being is that a woman has a much finer tune emotional capacity. I believe that a woman is capable of higher heights than a man. I believe that she’s capable of greater experiences of joy and excitement. But her emotions move on a broader spectrum than as a man. A man is more coarse in his emotions. His emotions move in sort of a rather narrow spectrum, a coarse spectrum. He’s not as capable as of the great highs that a woman can have. And yet, a woman who turns to the opposite end and goes to the lows is able to go to the lowest. And it seems that the woman’s temperament, being finer, has greater highs, greater lows. The man is more in a middle of the spectrum, moving in a coarser. His emotions are of a coarser make-up than a woman, not nearly as fine as is a woman.
And Jezebel is a classic example of a woman who has gone to the lowest. And of course, I think if you study history, a woman who has gone bad is capable of some of the cruelest things. Things that you would never dream of as you look through history. When they turn to the lower end of the spectrum. Jezebel is interesting in that in the book of Revelation, the church of Thyatira, which introduced idolatry into their worship, the whole introduction of idolatry into worship within the church (that is, setting up idols within the church) this church system that brought in idols as a part of the worship, the woman Jezebel, the name is related to this church system. So the Lord said to the church of Thyatira that “thou hast this woman Jezebel who caused my servants to commit fornication and idolatry. And I’m going to cast her into a bed, and into the great tribulation, unless she repents from her deed” ( Rev 2:20-22 ). And those that commit fornication with her, being cast into the great tribulation.
Now, there are those who declare that the church is going to go through the great tribulation. Yes, a part of it is. The church that relates to that Jezebel system. So you know when people tell you the church is going through the great tribulation what part of the church they relate themselves to. I don’t wish to relate to that part of the church. I would rather relate to the Philadelphian church who has “kept the word of His patience, and therefore will be kept from that hour of temptation that is coming to try men who dwell upon the earth” ( Rev 3:10 ).
But the warning of the Lord, because “thou hast that woman Jezebel who causes my servants to commit fornication and eat things that are sacrificed unto idols. Therefore, I’m going to cast thee into the great tribulation or cast her into great tribulation. And those who commit fornication with her unless they repent of their deeds.”
So, this wicked woman of the Old Testament who introduced idol worship, the worship of Baal to God’s people Israel. The Lord makes the likeness of the introducing of idols in the worship of the church. I cannot understand how a person who reads the Word of God and really believes the Bible could establish idols within the church, even if they be idols of Jesus or the saints or whatever. Inasmuch as it is definitely prohibited under the law, and Jesus Himself declares His own feelings against it in His message to the church in Pergamos and Thyatira.
There has been in some areas of Mexico what I consider to be a genuine, true spiritual revival in the Catholic church. And I believe one of the evidences of the truth of the revival is that in this one area where this one bishop has really been born again and filled with the Spirit, he has had them removed all of the idols in all of the churches that are under his jurisdiction. And that thrills me, because I cannot, though I seek to be very accepting and broadminded, I cannot see the place of idols in a place of worship of God. Inasmuch as it has been so strictly forbidden, both Old and New Testament.
Jezebel, very wicked woman, her death, and being eaten by the dogs prophesied by Elijah the prophet and fulfilled at the hand of Jehu.
“
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
2Ki 9:1
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The hour had come to carry out the sentence of God on the house of Ahab. The prophet sent one of the sons of the prophets to anoint Jehu. This Jehu, as his history reveals, was a fitting instrument for swift and relentless judgment. He was a furious driver, which was symbolic of his character. He halted at nothing, but swept like a whirlwind from point to point until the things he desired were accomplished. This is startlingly manifest in this chapter.
On tde way, having been anointed directly to his work, he slew Joram with his own hands, and, quickly moving back, encompassed the death of Ahaziah, and then proceeded to where Jezebel was still living. Pronouncing upon her the very doom of God, he carried out in detail the sentence pronounced long ago.
It is indeed a terrible chapter in which the truth of the divine government is written no longer in the gentle words of patient mercy, but in flames of fire. At last the day of God’s patience had passed, and the devouring sword fell on the chief persons in the household of Ahab, who had done so much to encompass the ruin of His ancient people.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
the Avenger of Blood Anointed
2Ki 9:1-13
Youth is always being called upon to gird up its loins, and dare to fulfill its commissions without fear of man. We are not to tarry to hear what men say of us. The Kings business requires haste. Do your work and flee, before the world can scare you by its threats or cajole you by its blandishments. You have one Master, one errand: do it, and get back into His presence!
God has His appointed instruments to carry out His plans, 1Ki 19:17. The King will avenge His own elect, though He bear long with their oppressors. Sooner or later His sentence will be executed. His servants are often accounted mad, but whether we are beside ourselves, it is to God! 2Co 5:13. Naturally his fellow-officers were astonished that Jehu should have dealings with one whose garb and bearing indicated his religious character. It is not usual for Gods servants to penetrate a camp with such a message; and yet how striking would be the effect if only we could announce to the strong, swift-acting, vehement-hearted leaders of the age, that a higher vocation awaited them than they had ever conceived, and that Gods anointing was within their reach. I have anointed thee to be a king.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Ahaziah
(Sustained by Jehovah)
(Also Called, Jehoahaz, Or Azariah)
(2Ki 8:24; 9:29; 2Ch 22:1-9)
For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.-Psa 48:4
Ahaziah must have reigned as his fathers viceroy during the last year of the latters sickness. This is evident from a comparison of 2Ki 8:25 with 9:29. He was the youngest and only remaining son of Jehoram (2Ch 21:17). Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign. (Forty and two in 2Ch 22:2 is doubtless a transcribers error. His father was only forty at his death.) And he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mothers name was Athaliah, the daughter (or granddaughter) of Omri king of Israel. And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the Lord, as did the house of Ahab; for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab. His mother, in some way or other, escaped the fate of the rest of Jehorams wives (who were carried away captive at the time of the Philistine-Arabian invasion), and was his counsellor to do wickedly. 2Ch 22:4 seems to give a slight hint that his father Jehoram repented during his last sufferings, and had broken away somewhat from the house of Ahab; for they were his (Ahaziahs) counsellors after the death of his father, to his destruction. His fathers death removed the check, and he at once united himself with his mothers relatives in their sins and warfare. He walked also after their counsel, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead.
This friendship cost him his life. And the Syrians smote Joram (the king of Israel). And he returned to be healed in Jezreel because of the wounds which were given him in Ramah (or Ramoth), when he fought with Hazael king of Syria. And Azariah (Ahaziah) the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab at Jezreel, because he was sick. And the destruction of Ahaziah was of God by coming to Joram: for when he was come, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab. Ahaziah sees his uncle Jehoram slain in his chariot, and seeks in vain to make his escape from the hot-headed Jehu. 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. And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David. The account in Chronicles (we have been quoting from Kings) says, he was hid in Samaria. There is no discrepancy here, for when he fled to the garden-house(Bethzan), he escaped to Samaria, where were his brethren and the princes of Judah, Thence, followed by Jehu, he was pursued to the hill Gur, and slain. Or in Samaria may mean simply in the kingdom of Samaria. And when they had slain him, they buried him: Because, said they, he is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart. His being the grandson of Jehoshaphat was all that saved his body from being eaten by unclean dogs, like those of his great-aunt Jezebel and her son Jehoram.
So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom. And with these cheerless words the record of the reign of Ahaziah closes. He was the seventh from Solomon, and the first king of Judah to die a violent death. His name is the first of the royal line omitted in the genealogy of Matt. 1. The first of the three names given him, Jehoahaz,- whom Jehovah helps-is markedly at variance with his character. This may be the reason why he is called by that name only once in Scripture (2Ch 21:19). He died at the early age of twenty-three. It was no part of Jehus commission to slay the king of Judah; but he was found among those doomed to destruction, and consequently shared their fate. And Gods call to His own, in that system of iniquity where the spiritual Jezebel teaches and seduces His servants, is, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues (Rev 18:4). Oh that all His own might even now lay this call to heart, and separate themselves from that which is fast shaping itself for its ultimate apostasy and doom!
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
2Ki 9:1-3
I. The Jewish prophet was not primarily or characteristically a foreteller. The sole power which the prophet possessed of declaring that which should be arose from his knowledge of that which had been and which was. He meditated in the law of the Lord, and in that law did he exercise himself day and night. The fruits of revolt his inward monitor enabled him to foresee and to predict. Everything that was sudden in his utterances bore witness to previous trains of thought and habits of reflection.
II. Supposing the habitual belief and work of the prophet to have been of this kind, it does not seem very strange that he should have been an educator of others, or that one main object of his education should have been to fit them for functions like his own. God had given His law to the whole nation. All were under it; therefore all might study it and delight themselves in it; and since light is given that it may be communicated, there was no reason why any of the Lord’s people should not be prophets.
III. The sons of the prophets were a continual witness to the Israelites against certain errors into which they were apt to fall respecting the prophetical office. The man of God might have been looked upon as a mere separate being, cut off by the awfulness of his character and dignity from the rest of his countrymen, an object of distant admiration and dread, not an example of what they should be. These men, taken from among themselves and associated with him, declared that he was only withdrawn from their communion that he might the better claim privileges for them which they were in hazard of losing, that he was only chosen out by the Lord God of Israel that he might the more clearly understand and help them to understand their national calling.
IV. Jehu, the son of Nimshi, had been declared to Elijah as the joint successor with Elisha in the work that he had left unperformed. No two men in Israel could have been more unlike. Yet Jehu had the kind of faith which might be expected in a soldier, somewhat reckless, but with his sense of right not quenched by religious falsehood. Esteeming himself a scourge of God and rejoicing in the office, he gave full play to all his bloody instincts. We meet such characters in the world, characters with something devilish lying close beside something which is really Divine; and though the devilish is the obtrusive, and may become the pervading, part of the man’s soul, you cannot help feeling that the other is in the very depth of it, and marks out what he is meant to be and can be.
F. D. Maurice, Prophets and Kings of the Old Testament, p. 141.
References: 2Ki 9:1-37.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. v., p. 89. 2Ki 9:17.-F. O. Morris, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxviii., p. 403.
2Ki 9:18
I. The dispensation of judgment and the dispensation of love, so opposite in all points, did, in fact, proceed from one and the same Divine will. The sword of Jehu and the healing voice of Christ had, in fact, this common origin; they were both part of the Divine economy for the conquest over evil. One of them flashed forth in vengeance and retribution; the other breathed love even to the most unworthy. But both were alike in this point Divine, that they marked the enormity of sin in the sight of God, albeit the one consumed the sinner and his house, and the other lifted up the sinner and let him go free, because One who had done no sin was ready to suffer in his stead.
II. The new law of the Gospel, so full of love, so profound, so ennobling in its observance, may begin at once to do its work in the heart as soon as its Divine prescriptions are understood. But when we look round and find a world full of resistance to that law, we understand that the very fact that it is resisted limits us in our adoption of it as a rule. When the invader, in his cruel selfishness, breaks through the silken cords of the Gospel, and seems to know no law but that of selfishness, it seems that stern language would alone be understood. “What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me.”
III. War is a remnant of the old and harsher covenant, which must endure into the covenant of love, simply because of the evil tempers of mankind that are still unsubdued, and because the law of Christ cannot have its perfect operation except where it is leavening the whole mass. We are soldiers of Christ, and His war is ever being carried on. He will fight for us; He will ever find us service.
Archbishop Thomson, Life in the Light of God’s Word, p. 71.
References: 2Ki 9:18.-J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College, vol. ii., pp. 145, 155. 2Ki 9:20.-G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 267. 2Ki 9:36.-J. W. Burgon, Ninety-one Short Sermons, No. 73. 2Ki 9:37.-E. Monro, Practical Sermons on the Old Testament, vol. ii., p. 173. 2Ki 9-Parker, vol. viii., p. 203. 2Ki 10:10.-R. Heber, Parish Sermons, vol. ii., p. 148.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
8. The Anointing of Jehu
CHAPTER 9:1-10
1. The commission (2Ki 9:1-3)
2. Jehu anointed (2Ki 9:4-10)
The hour of judgment for the house of Ahab has come. The instrument for it, mentioned long ago to Elijah (1Ki 19:16-17), 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 Lords servants at the hand of Jezebel. The whole house of Ahab was to perish like Jeroboam (1Ki 14:10) and that of Baasha (1Ki 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 (Rev 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 (Rev 17:5-6; Rev 18:24).
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
1Ki 20:35
one: The Jews say that this was Jonah, the prophet, the son of Amittai.
the children: 2Ki 4:1, 2Ki 6:1-3
Gird up thy loins: As the upper garments of the Orientals were long and flowing, it was indispensably necessary to tuck up the skirts with a girdle about their loins, in order to use any expedition in their work or on a journey. 2Ki 4:29, 1Ki 18:46, Jer 1:17, Luk 12:35-37, 1Pe 1:13
box of oil: 1Sa 10:1, 1Sa 16:1, 1Ki 1:39
Ramothgilead: 2Ki 8:28, 2Ki 8:29, Deu 4:1, Deu 4:3, 1Ki 22:4, 1Ki 22:20
Reciprocal: 1Ki 4:13 – Ramothgilead 1Ki 19:16 – Jehu 2Ki 2:3 – And the sons 1Ch 6:80 – Ramoth 2Ch 18:2 – Ramothgilead 2Ch 22:7 – the Lord had
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE SONS OF THE PROPHETS
One of the children of the prophets.
2Ki 9:1
I. The Jewish prophet was not primarily or characteristically a foreteller.The sole power which the prophet possessed of declaring that which should be arose from his knowledge of that which had been and which was. He meditated in the law of the Lord, and in that law did he exercise himself day and night. The fruits of revolt his inward monitor enabled him to foresee and to predict. Everything that was sudden in his utterances bore witness to previous trains of thought and habits of reflection.
II. Supposing the habitual belief and work of the prophet to have been of this kind, it does not seem very strange that he should have been an educator of others, or that one main object of his education should have been to fit them for functions like his own. God had given His law to the whole nation. All were under it; therefore all might study it and delight themselves in it; and since light is given that it may be communicated, there was no reason why any of the Lords people should not be prophets.
III. The sons of the prophets were a continual witness to the Israelites against certain errors into which they were apt to fall respecting the prophetical office.The man of God might have been looked upon as a mere separate being, cut off by the awfulness of his character and dignity from the rest of his countrymen, an object of distant admiration and dread, not an example of what they should be. These men, taken from among themselves and associated with him, declared that he was only withdrawn from their communion that he might the better claim privileges for them which they were in hazard of losing, that he was only chosen out by the Lord God of Israel that he might the more clearly understand and help them to understand their national calling.
IV. Jehu, the son of Nimshi, had been declared to Elijah as the joint successor with Elisha in the work that he had left unperformed.No two men in Israel could have been more unlike. Yet Jehu had the kind of faith which might be expected in a soldier, somewhat reckless, but with his sense of right not quenched by religious falsehood. Esteeming himself a scourge of God and rejoicing in the office, he gave full play to all his bloody instincts. We meet such characters in the world, characters with something devilish lying close beside something which is really Divine; and though the devilish is the obtrusive, and may become the pervading, part of the mans soul, you cannot help feeling that the other is in the very depth of it, and marks out what he is meant to be and can be.
Rev. F. D. Maurice.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
2Ki 9:1. And Elisha the prophet called, &c. The Prophet Elijah was commanded to anoint Jehu about twelve years before this time; but, because of Ahabs humiliation, the execution of the judgment pronounced upon him and his family was deferred. The office of anointing Jehu therefore, it seems, was left to be performed by Elisha; who did not go himself, either because he was grown old and unfit for such a journey, or because he was a person too well known to be employed in an affair that required secrecy. Go to Ramoth-gilead The kings of Israel and Judah were both absent, and Jehu, it is probable, was left commander-in-chief of the kings army which lay there.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 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.
2Ki 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? Jehus openness and candour gained all the captains over to his cause; for God inspired them with his spirit.
2Ki 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.
2Ki 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 Jezebels daughter.
2Ki 9:34. Go see now this cursed woman. The dogs had already eaten her up, and fulfilled Elijahs prediction. Where shall we find an equal to Jezebel, except in her daughter Athaliah, or in Astarb, 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 minuti 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 Ahabs 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 Gods 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 Jehus 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 Ahabs 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 Davids 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 Naboths 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 Lords hands. Be instructed, oh my soul, to hate crimes, to love righteousness, and to abide in constant covenant with God.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 9:1 to 2Ki 10:31. The Revolution and Overthrow of the Baal Worship.This spirited narrative is probably derived from the same source as 1 Kings 20, 22; and, if we strike out the short Deuteronomic portion (2Ki 9:7-10), we cannot fail to notice the detachment of the writer, who neither condemns nor approves, but merely relates the tragedy. Hosea (Hos 1:4), a little more than a century later, evidently condemns the whole transaction, and traces the fall of Jehus house to the blood of Jezreel. This is in strong contrast with the Deuteronomic passage, 2Ki 10:28-31.
Hazael was evidently able to do very little against Israel as long as the house of Omri was on the throne. Ramoth-gilead, where Ahab was slain, had been recovered (cf. 1Ki 21:3 with 2Ki 9:14), but Jehoram had been wounded in some battle.
2Ki 9:1. Elisha is mentioned only here in connexion with Jehu, perhaps, because of 1Ki 19:16. The prophet took no part in the horrors which followed.
2Ki 9:6. Elishas messenger anointed Jehu privately, exactly as Samuel had anointed Saul (1Sa 10:1) and David (1Sa 16:13).
2Ki 9:11 f. The captains of the army spoke with a certain contempt of the wild prophet who had interrupted their conference, but would not be put off by Jehus evasive answer. Their words, It is false; tell us now, are very ambiguous. A slight change in the Heb. would alter false into conspiracy, the word used by Athaliah when she called Treason (2Ki 11:14).
2Ki 9:13. When Jehu told them that he had been anointed king, they took their garments and made an extemporary throne, and proclaimed him with a trumpet blast.
2Ki 9:15. Jehu asked his confederates if they were really on his side (LXX), closed the city gates, and started for Jezreel.
2Ki 9:16-28. Jehu Murders Jehoram and Ahaziah.Jehu is recognised by the messengers because he drove furiously (2Ki 9:20). The LXX renders the word parallage (? in a trance). Josephus and the Targum render it quietly. Jehu was driving at his leisure and in good order, says the latter. The Heb. may mean in meditation or in a spirit of madness, i.e. headlong. Jehu met Jehoram in the land which belonged to Naboth (2Ki 9:21), and taunted him with the idolatry (whoredom, cf. Hosea 1, 2) of Jezebel his mother. He commanded Bidkar to cast Jehorams body on the portion of Naboth, in accordance with the oracle (burthen) which Jehu himself had heard (2Ki 9:25 f.). The tradition is apparently not the same as 1 Kings 21. Naboths sons are omitted in 1 K.; Elijah is not mentioned here. Ahaziah, king of Judah, was pursued for some distance. He first escaped southwards towards his own kingdom, to Bethhaggan (the garden house), probably En-gannim (Jos 19:21). There he was overtaken and wounded, and his retreat to Judah cut off; so he escaped northward to Megiddo, where he died (2Ki 9:27). 2Ch 22:9 gives a different account: Ahaziah hid in Samaria, whence he was brought to Jehu. Samaria was a more likely place for him to flee to than Megiddo.
2Ki 9:30-37. The Death of Jezebel.Jezebel met her end with fortitude. She put antimony on her eyelids (Jer 4:30*), arrayed herself as a queen, and taunted her sons murderer, addressing him as Zimri (2Ki 9:31): Hail, Zimri, thy masters murderer (1Ki 16:9). Jehus horses passed over her corpse (read in 2Ki 9:33, they (the horses) trode her underfoot). In the whole narrative of Kings Ahab and Jezebel are represented as wicked, but never, save Ahab in the case of Naboth (1 Kings 21), as contemptible. Even Jehu recognises (2Ki 9:34) that Jezebel is a kings daughter (1Ki 16:31).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
JEHU ANOINTED KING OF ISRAEL
(vv.1-13)
Elijah had been told to anoint Jehu king of Israel (1Kings19:16), but had not done it. Now later Elisha commissions one of the sons of the prophets to anoint Jehu, telling him he would find him at Ramoth Gilead (v.1). Explicit directions were given him to anoint Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, taking him to an inner room to do this. Jehu was an officer in the army of Joram, son of Ahab.
What was the reason for a secret anointing rather than a public anointing? King Saul was anointed privately by Samuel (1Sa 9:27; 1Sa 10:1), and David was anointed in the privacy of his father’s house by Samuel (1Sa 16:3), but later publicly at Hebron he was anointed king over Judah (2Sa 2:4), and later still he was publicly anointed king over all Israel at Hebron (2Sa 5:3). The private anointing tells us of God’s working behind the scenes to indicate whom He desires to rule. At first only David’s father’s household were witnesses of this choice of God, just as today only the household of faith recognises that Jesus is God’s chosen King. At the end of the tribulation Judah will first be brought to recognise Him, then also the rest of Israel, and Christ will be publicly acclaimed.
But as regards the private anointing of Jehu, this reminds us that God always works behind the scenes to set up rulers among the nations, as we are told, “There is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God” (Rom 13:1). In David’s case God could publicly approve of him because he is a type of Christ. In Jehu’s case, though God gave him the place of king, God would not indicate His approval of the man personally. All human government is ordained by God, though God may not approve of the ruler personally.
Elisha told this son of a prophet to simply deliver his message and leave (v.3). The young man did as he was told. Coming to a place where the officers of the army were sitting, he told Jehu he had a message for him (v.5), calling him, “Commander.” Jehu went into another room with him and the young man immediately poured the oil on his head, giving him the word of the Lord that Jehu was appointed king over Israel. But he added the commission of the Lord to Jehu, that he was to strike down the house of Ahab, that God might in this way avenge the blood of God’s prophets shed by Jezebel, Ahab’s wife (v.7). “For,” he said, “the whole house of Ahab shall perish; and I will cut off from Ahab all the males in Israel, both bond and free” (v.8). More than this, “the dogs shall eat Jezebel on the plot of ground at Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her” (v.10). Certainly God knew well whom He was choosing for this solemn work, for Jehu was just the kind of man to do it.
After delivering his message to Jehu, the young man quickly left. Jehu returned to the company of officers, who questioned him about the message from the person they considered a “madman.” When he told them the man had spoken in the name of the Lord, declaring Jehu king, the officers immediately responded by surrendering their garments to Jehu and blowing trumpets in an elevated place, announcing, “Jehu is king.
JEHU KILLS HIS MASTER
(vv.14-26)
The wickedness of Ahab and Jezebel which was continued by their son Joram was reason enough for the people to welcome a leader who would destroy this evil authority Jehu, a determined, dominating character, knew how to take advantage of the situation. He had no idea of what humility means, no spirit of self-judgment at all, but full of bold willingness to judge others, and he proceeded immediately to do such work. We have seen in Chapter 8:29 what is repeated in Chapter 9:15 that King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from battle wounds.
Jehu did not simply give orders that news of his being king was not to be carried to Jezreel, but told his officers, “If you are so minded let no one leave or escape from the city to go and tell it in Jezreel.” He knew how to involve others in his plans, so that in the event of failure, he would not bear all the blame.
Having control of the army, Jehu drove in his chariot with his company to Jezreel. A watchman saw them coming and reported it to Joram, who told him to send a horseman to ask, “Is it peace?” Jehu answered him, “What have you to do with peace?” (v.19), and did not allow the horseman to return. A second horseman was sent out with the same result. When the watchman reported this, at the same time saying that the driving was like that of Jehu who drove furiously, the king ordered his chariot. Ahaziah also, who was visiting Joram, took his own chariot, going out to meet Jehu. They were not prepared for what they found. They met on the property that Ahab had stolen from Naboth when Naboth was murdered at Jezebel’s command. Calling out, “Is it peace, Jehu,” Joram received the chilling answer, “What peace, as long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?” (v.22).
Joram called this treachery, but it was actually rebellion of his own army officers, and it was the judgment of God against the house of Ahab. Turning to flee, Joram received from Jehu an arrow in his back that pierced his heart (v.24). Then Jehu gave orders that Joram’s body was to be thrown into the field that belonged to Naboth, for Jehu remembered that the Lord had told Ahab that he would repay him in that plot of land. Thus Jehu could carry out the word of the Lord in Judgment against others, though he knew nothing of the grace of God.
AHAZIAH ALSO KILLED
(vv.27-29)
Ahaziah was able to prolong the advent of his death for a short time by fleeing, but was shot in his chariot, escaped to Megiddo, where he died. Though he was not Ahab’s descendant, he had identified himself with Ahab’s son (in fact having married Ahab’s daughter), so that he suffered the same fate as Joram. He was the son of a godly king (Joram of Judah), but made the wrong friends. At least his body was brought to Jerusalem and was buried with his fathers. He had reigned only one year.
JEZEBEL’S DREADFUL END
(vv.30-37)
Jezebel was no longer a young woman, but just as full of vanity as ever. When she heard of Jehu having come to Jezreel she put paint on her eyes, adorned her head and looked through a window. Did she think she could impress Jehu this way? As Jehu came in the gate, she insolently called him Zimri, asking him if it was peace (v.31). Zimri had killed Elah the son of Baasha when he was drinking himself drunk (1Ki 16:8-9), and usurped the throne of Israel. He only reigned seven days and committed suicide (1Ki 16:15-18). Jezebel called Jehu “murderer of your master,” but she ignored the fact of her guilt in murdering many people.
Jehu called out, “Who is on my side?” (v.32). Moses had said, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” (Exo 32:26), a much more appropriate word than that of Jehu. Two or three eunuchs looked out a window, and he told them, “Throw her down” (v.33). When they did so, Jehu had his horse trample her underfoot.
Not many men would feel like eating after such work, but Jehu went inside to eat, and drink, leaving Jezebel’s body lying on the street. Only after satisfying his own appetite did Jehu think of burying Jezebel, which now he said should be done because she was a king’s daughter (v.34). But when his servants went to bury her, they found only her skull, her feet and the palms of her hands (v.35). Her body had been eaten by dogs, even her bones taken away! The skull would remind us of the imaginations of her head; the feet, that her feet had been swift to shed blood; the palms of her hands, that her works were wicked. Who would envy a remembrance of this kind? Her end was swift and terrible, just as the Lord had predicted through Elijah.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
9:1 And Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets, and said unto him, {a} Gird up thy loins, and take this box of oil in thine hand, and go to Ramothgilead:
(a) Prepare yourself to go diligently about your business for in those countries they used long garments which they tucked up when they went about earnest business.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
God’s preparation of Jehu 9:1-13
God had told Elijah that he would anoint Jehu (1Ki 19:16). [Note: For more information on anointing with oil (2Ki 9:3; 2Ki 9:6), see my note on 1 Samuel 16:13.] He did this through his successor Elisha who accomplished it by using one of his protégés (2Ki 9:1). Jehu would wipe out Omri’s dynasty in Israel (2Ki 9:7-10). Jehu’s father was a different Jehoshaphat from Judah’s king of the same name (2Ki 9:2). Elijah had prophesied the end of Ahab’s line (1Ki 21:21-22; 1Ki 21:29) and Jezebel’s death (1Ki 21:23). God had worked through prophets previously, especially Elijah and Elisha, and would continue to do so. However, Jehu was just as much an instrument in God’s hand as the prophets, though his methods were not always proper. This is the only place in Kings where the writer emphasized Yahweh as avenging (cf. Nah 1:2-3). Jehu was His instrument.
"At times the behavior of the prophet was unusual or abnormal, but a careful consideration of each of these instances will reveal some divine purpose or spiritual significance." [Note: Hobart E. Freeman, An Introduction to the Old Testament Prophets, p. 60.]
"Jehu is the only king of the Northern Kingdom (Israel) to have been anointed, perhaps to indicate that he should follow in the Davidic tradition, as Saul had been anointed by Samuel (1Sa 9:16; 1Sa 10:1); David by Samuel, to mark the Spirit of God endowing him for the task (1Sa 16:12-13); and Solomon by the high priest Zadok and Nathan the prophet (1Ki 1:45). Such anointing was symbolic and probably confined to Hebrew practice (see also on 1Ki 1:34)." [Note: Wiseman, pp. 218-19.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
THE REVOLT OF JEHU
2Ki 9:1-37
B.C. 842
“Te semper anteit saeva Necessitas, Clavos trabales et cuneos manu, Gestans ahena.”
– HORAT., “Od.,” I 35:17
A LONG period had elapsed since Elijah had received the triple commission which was to mark the close of his career. Two of those Divine behests had now been accomplished. He had anointed Elisha, son of Shaphat, of Abel-Meholah, to be prophet in his room; and Elisha had anointed Hazael to be king over Syria, {1Ki 19:15-16} the third and more dangerous commission, involving nothing less than the overthrow of the mighty dynasty of Omri, remained still unaccomplished.
If the name of Jehu (“Jehovah is He”): {2Ki 8:12-13} had been actually mentioned to Elijah, the dreadful secret must have remained buried in the breast of the prophet and in that of his successor for many years. Further, Jehu was yet a very young man, and to have marked him out as the founder of a dynasty would have been to doom him to certain destruction. An Eastern king, whose family has once securely seated itself on the throne, is hedged round with an awful divinity, and demands an unquestioning obedience. Elijah had been removed from earth before this task had been fulfilled, and Elisha had to wait for his opportunity. But the doom was passed, though the judgment was belated. The sons of Ahab were left a space to repent, or to fill to the brim the cup of their fathers iniquities.
“The sword of Heaven is not in haste to smite, Nor yet doth linger.”
Ahaziah, Ahabs eldest son, after a reign of one year, marked only by crimes and misfortunes, had ended in overwhelming disaster his deplorable career. His brother Jehoram had succeeded him, and had now been on the throne for at least twelve years, which had been chiefly signalized by that unsuccessful attempt to recover the territory of revolted Moab, to which we owe the celebrated Stone of Mesha. We have already narrated the result of the campaign which had so many vicissitudes. The combined armies of Israel, Judah, and Edom had been delivered by the interposition of Elisha from perishing of thirst beside the scorched-up bed of the Wady-el-Ahsy; and availing themselves of the rash assault of the Moabites, had swept everything before them. But Moab stood at bay at Kirharaseth (Kerak), his strongest fortress, six miles from Ar or Rabbah, and ten miles east of the southern end of the Dead Sea. It stood three thousand feet above the level of the sea, and is defended by a network of steep valleys. Nevertheless, Israel would have subdued it, but for the act of horrible despair to which the King of Moab resorted in his extremity, by offering up his eldest son as a burnt-offering to Chemosh upon the wall of the city. Horror-stricken by the catastrophe, and terrified with the dread that the vengeance of Chemosh could not but be aroused by so tremendous a sacrifice, the besieging host had retired. From that moment Moab had not only been free, but assumed the role of an aggressor, and sent her marauding bands to harry and carry the farms and homesteads of her former conqueror. {2Ki 13:20; 2Ki 24:2; Jer 48:1-47}
Then followed the aggressions of Benhadad which had been frustrated by the insight of Elisha, and which owed their temporary cessation to his generosity. {2Ki 6:8-23} The reappearance of the Syrians in the field had reduced Samaria to the lowest depths of ghastly famine. But the day of the guilty city had not yet come, and a sudden panic, caused among the invaders by a rumored assault of Hittites and Egyptians, had saved her from destruction. {2Ki 7:6} Taking advantage of the respite caused by the change of the Syrian dynasty, and pressing on his advantage, Jehoram, with the aid of his Judaean nephew, had once more got possession of Ramoth-Gilead before Hazael was secure on the throne which he had usurped.
This then was the situation:-The allied and kindred kings of Israel and Judah were idling in the pomp of hospitality at Jezreel; their armies were encamped about Ramoth-Gilead; and at the head of the host of Israel was the crafty and vehement grandson of Nimshi.
Elisha saw and seized his opportunity. The day of vengeance from the Lord had dawned. Things had not materially altered since the days of Ahab. If Jehovah was nominally worshipped, if the very names of the kings of Israel bore witness to His supremacy, Baal was worshipped too. The curse which Elijah had pronounced against Ahab and his house remained unfulfilled. The credit of prophecy was at stake. The blood of Naboth and his slaughtered sons cried to the Lord from the ground; and hitherto it seemed to have cried in vain. If the Nebiim (the prophetic class) were to have their due weight in Israel, the hour had come, and the man was ready.
The light which falls on Elisha is dim and intermittent. His name is surrounded by a halo of nebulous wonders, of which many are of a private and personal character. But he was a known enemy of Ahab and his house. He had, indeed, more than once interposed to snatch them from ruin, as in the expedition against Moab, and in the awful straits of the siege of Samaria by the Syrians. But his person had none the less been hateful to the sons of Jezebel, and his life had been endangered by their bursts of sudden fury. He could hardly again have a chance so favorable as that which now offered itself, when the armed host was at one place and the king at another. Perhaps, too, he may have been made aware that the soldiers were not well pleased to find at their head a king who was so far a faineant as to leave them exposed to a powerful enemy, and show no eagerness to return. His “urgent private affairs” were not so urgent as to entitle him to take his ease at luxurious Jezreel.
Where Elisha was at the time we do not know-perhaps at Dothan, perhaps at Samaria. Suddenly he called to him a youth-one of the Sons of the Prophets, on whose speed and courage he could rely-placed in his hands a vial of the consecrated anointing oil, told him to gird up his loins, and to speed across the Jordan to Ramoth-Gilead. When he arrived, he was to bid Jehu rise up from the company of his fellow-captains, to hurry him into “a chamber within a chamber,” to shut the door for secrecy, to pour the consecrating oil upon his head, to anoint him King of Israel in the name of Jehovah, and then to fly without a moments delay.
The messenger-the Rabbis guess that he was Jonah, the son of Amittai-knew well that his was a service of immense peril in which his life might easily pay the forfeit of his temerity. How was he to guess that at once, without striking a blow, the host of Israel would fling to the winds its sworn allegiance to the son of the warrior Ahab, the fourth monarch of the powerful dynasty of Omri? Might not any one of a thousand possible accidents thwart a conspiracy of which the success depended on the unflinching courage and promptitude of his single hand?
He was but a youth, but he was the trained pupil of a master who had, again and again, stood before kings, and not been afraid. He sprang from a community which inherited the splendid traditions of the Prophet of Flame.
He did not hesitate a moment. He tightened the camels hide round his naked limbs, flung back the long dark locks of the Nazarite, and sped upon his way. A true son of the schools of Jehovahs prophets has, and can have, no fear of man. The armies of Israel and Judah saw the wild, flying figure of a young man, with his hairy garment and streaming locks, rush through the camp. Whatever might be their surmisings, he brooked no questions. Availing himself of the awe with which the shadow of Elijah had covered the sacrosanct person of a prophetic messenger, he made his way straight to the war-council of the captains; and brushing aside every attempt to impede his progress with the plea that he was the bearer of Jehovahs message, he burst into the council of the astonished warriors, who were assembled in the private courtyard of a house in the fortress-town.
He knew the fame of Jehu, but did not know his person, and dared not waste time. “I have an errand to thee, O captain,” he said to the assembly generally. The message had been addressed to no one in particular, and Jehu naturally asked, “Unto which of all of us?” With the same swift intuition which has often enabled men in similar circumstances to recognize a leader-as Josephus recognized Vespasian, and St. Severinus recognized Odoacer, and Joan of Arc recognized Charles VI of France-he at once replied, “To thee, O captain.” Jehu did not hesitate a moment. Prophets had shown, many a time, that their messages might not be neglected or despised. He rose, and followed the youth, who led him into the most secret recess of the house, and there, emptying on his head the fragrant oil of consecration, said, “Thus saith Jehovah, God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of Jehovah, even over Israel.” He was to smite the house of his master Ahab in vengeance for the blood of Jehovahs prophets and servants whom Jezebel had murdered. Ahabs house, every male of it, young and old, bond and free, is doomed to perish, as the houses of Jeroboam and of Baasha had perished before them, by a bloody end. Further, the dogs should eat Jezebel by the rampart of Jezreel, and there should be none to bury her.
One moment sufficed for his daring deed, for his burning message; the next he had flung open the door and fled. The soldiers of the camp must have whispered still more anxiously together as they saw the same agitated youth rushing through their lines with the same impetuosity which had marked his entrance. In those dark days the sudden appearance of a prophet was usually the herald of some terrific storm.
Jehu was utterly taken by surprise; but according to the reading preserved by Ephraim Syrus in 2Ki 9:26, he had on the previous night seen in a dream the blood of Naboth and his sons. If the thought of revolt had ever passed for a moment through his mind, it had never assumed a definite shape. True, he had been a warrior from his youth. True, he had been one of Ahabs bodyguard, and had ridden before him in a chariot at least twenty years earlier, and had now risen by valor and capacity to the high station of captain of the host. True, also, that he had heard the great curse which Elijah had pronounced on Ahab at the door of Naboths vineyard; but he heard it while he was yet an obscure youth, and he had little dreamed that his was the hand which should carry it into execution. Who was he? And had not the house of Omri been, in some sense, sanctioned by Heaven? And were not the words of the prophet “wild and wandering cries,” of which the issues might be averted by such a repentance as that of Ahab?
And he felt another misgiving. Might not this scene be the plot of some secret enemy? Might it not at any rate be a reckless jest palmed upon him by his comrades? If any jealous member of the confederacy of captains betrayed the fact that Jehu had tampered with their allegiance, would his head be safe for a single hour? He would act warily. He came back to his fellow-captains and said nothing.
But they were burning with curiosity. Something must be impending. Prophets did not rush in thus tumultuously for no purpose. Must not the youths mantle of hair be some standard of war?
“Is all right?” they shouted. “Why did this frantic fellow come to thee?”
“You know all about it,” answered Jehu, with wary coolness. “You know more about it than I do. You know the man, and what his talk was.”
“Lies!” bluntly answered the rough soldiers. “Tell us now.”
Then Jehus eye took measure of them and their feelings. A judge of men and of mens countenances, he saw conspiracy flashing in their faces. He saw that they suspected the true state of things, and were on fire to carry it out. Perhaps they had caught sight of the vial of oil under the youths scant dress. Could any quickened observation at least fail to notice that the soldiers dark locks were shining and fragrant, as they had not been a moment ago, with consecrated oil?
Then Jehu frankly told them the perilous secret. Thus and thus had the young prophet spoken, and had said, “Thus saith Jehovah, I have anointed thee king over Israel.”
The message was met with a shout of answering approbation. That shout was the death-knell of the house of Omri. It showed that the reigning dynasty had utterly forfeited its popularity. No luck had followed the sons of Naboths murderer. Israel was weary of their mother Jezebel. Why was this king Jehoram, this king of evil auspices, who had been repudiated by Moab and harried by Syria-why, in the first gleam of possible prosperity, was he being detained at Jezreel by wounds which rumor said were already sufficiently healed to allow him to return to his post? Down with the seed of the murderer and the sorceress! Let brave Jehu be king, as Jehovah has said!
So the captains sprang to their feet, and then and there seized Jehu, and carried him in triumph to the top of the stairs which ran round the inside of the courtyard, and stripped off their mantles to extemporize for him the semblance of a cushioned throne. Then in the presence of such soldiers as they could trust they blew a sudden blast of the rams horn, and shouted, “Jehu is king!”
Jehu was not the man to let the grass grow under his feet. Nothing tries a mans vigor and nerve so surely as a sudden crisis. It is this swift resolution which has raised many a man to the throne, as it raised Otho, and Napoleon I, and Napoleon III. The history of Israel is specially full of coups detat, but no one of them is half so decisive or overwhelming as this. Jehu instantly accepted the office of Jehovahs avenger on the house of Ahab. Everything, as Jehu saw, depended on the suddenness and fury with which the blow was delivered. “If you want me to be your king,” he said, “keep the lines secure, and guard the fortress walls. I will be my own messenger to Jehoram. Let no deserter go forth to give him warning.”
It was agreed; and Jehu, only taking with him Bidkar, his fellow-officer, and a small hand of followers, set forth at full speed from Ramoth-Gilead.
The fortress of Ramoth, now the important town of Es-Salt, a place which must always have been the key of Gilead, was built on the summit of a rocky headland, fortified by nature as well as by art. It is south of the river Jabbok, and lies at the head of the only easy road which runs down westward to the Jordan and eastward to the rich plateau of the interior.
Crossing the fords of the Jordan, Jehu would soon be able to join the main road, which, passing Tirzah, Zaretan, and Bethshean, and sweeping eastward of Mount Gilboa, gives ready access to Jezreel.
The watchman on the lofty watchtower of the summer palace caught sight of a storm of dust careering along from the eastward up the valley towards the city. The times were wild and troublous. What could it be? He shouted his alarm, “I see a troop!” The tidings were startling, and the king was instantly informed that chariots and horsemen were approaching the royal city. “Send a horseman to meet them,” he said, “with the message, Is all well?”
Forth flew the rider, and cried to the rushing escort, “The king asks, Is all well? Is it peace?” For probably the anxious city hoped that there might have been some victory of the army against Hazael, which would fill them with joy.
“What hast thou to do with peace? Turn thee behind me,” answered Jehu; and perforce the horseman, whatever may have been his conjectures, had to follow in the rear.
“He reached them,” cried the sentry on the watch-tower, “but he does not return.”
The news was enigmatical and alarming; and the troubled king sent another horseman. Again the same colloquy occurred, and again the watchman gave the ominous message, adding to it the yet more perplexing news that, in the mad and headlong driving of the charioteer, he recognizes the driving of Jehu, the son of Nimshi.
What had happened to his army? Why should the captain of the host be driving thus furiously to Jezreel?
Matters were evidently very critical, whatever the swift approach of chariots and horsemen might portend. “Yoke my chariot,” said Jehoram; and his nephew Ahaziah, who had shared his campaign, and was no less consumed with anxiety to learn tidings which could not but be pressing, rode by him in another chariot to meet Jehu. They took with them no escort worth mentioning. The rebellion was not only sudden but wholly unexpected.
The two kings met Jehu in a spot of the darkest omen. It was the plot of ground which had once been the vineyard of Naboth, at the door of which Ahab had heard from Elijah the awful message of his doom. As the New Forest was ominous to our early Norman kings as the witness of their cruelties and encroachments, so was this spot to the house of Omri, though it was adjacent to their ivory palace, and had been transformed from a vineyard into a garden or pleasance.
“Is it peace, Jehu?” shouted the agitated king; by which probably he only meant to ask, “Is all going well in the army at Ramoth?”
The fierce answer which burst from the lips of his general fatally undeceived him. “What peace,” brutally answered the rebel, “so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?” She, after all, was the fons et origo mali to the house of Jehoram. Hers was the dark spirit of murder and idolatry which had walked in that house. She was the instigator and the executer of the crime against Naboth. She had been the foundress of Baal-and Asherah-worship; she was the murderess of the prophets; she had been specially marked out for vengeance in the doom pronounced both by Elijah and Elisha.
The answer was unmistakable. This was a revolt, a revolution. “Treachery, Ahaziah!” shouted the terrified king, and instantly wheeled round his chariot to flee. But not so swiftly as to escape the nemesis which had been stealing upon him with leaden feet, but now smote him irretrievably with iron hand. Without an instants hesitation, Jehu snatched his bow from his attendant charioteer, “filled his hands with it,” and from its full stretch and resonant string sped the arrow, which smote Jehoram in the back with fatal force, and passed through his heart. Without a word the unhappy king sank down upon his knees in his chariot, and fell face forward, dead.
“Take him up,” cried Jehu to Bidkar, “and fling him down where he is, -here in this portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. Here, years ago, you and I, as we rode behind Ahab, heard Elijah utter his oracle on this mans father, that vengeance should meet him here. Where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth and his sons, let dogs lick the blood of the son of Ahab.”
But Jehu was not the man to let the kings murder stay his chariot-wheels when more work had yet to be done. Ahaziah of Judah, too, belonged to Ahabs house, for he was Ahabs grandson, and Jehorams nephew and ally. Without stopping to mourn or avenge the tragedy of his uncles murder, Ahaziah fled towards Bethgan or Engannim, the fountain of gardens, south of Jezreel, on the road to Samaria and Jerusalem. Jehu gave the laconic order, “Smite him also”; but fright added wings to the speed of the hapless King of Judah. His chariot-steeds were royal steeds, and were fresh; those of Jehu were spent with the long, fierce drive from Ramoth. He got as far as the ascent of Gur before he was overtaken. There, not far from Ibleam, the rocky hill impeded his flight, and he was wounded by the pursuers. But he managed to struggle onwards to Megiddo, on the south of the plain of Jezreel, and there he hid himself. He was discovered, dragged out, and slain. Even Jehus fierce emissaries did not make war on dead bodies, any more than Hannibal did, or Charles V They left such meanness to Jehu himself, and to our Charles II. They did not interfere with the dead kings remains. His servants carried them to Jerusalem, and there he was buried with his fathers in the sepulcher of the kings, in the city of David. As there was nothing more to tell about him, the historian omits the usual formula about the rest of the acts of Ahaziah, and all that he did. His death illustrates the proverb mitgegangen mitgefannen: he was the comrade of evil men, and he perished with them.
Jehu speedily reached Jezreel, but the interposition of Jehoram and the orders for the pursuit of Ahaziah had caused a brief delay, and Jezebel had already been made aware that her doom was imminent.
Not even the sudden and dreadful death of her son, and the nearness of her own fate, daunted the steely heart of the Tyrian sorceress. If she was to die, she would meet death like a queen. As though for some court banquet, she painted her eyelashes and eyebrows with antimony, to make her eyes look large and lustrous, and put on her jeweled head-dress. Then she mounted the palace tower, and, looking down through the lattice above the city gate, watched the thundering advance of Jehus chariot, and hailed the triumphant usurper with the bitterest insult she could devise. She knew that Omri, her husbands father, had taken swift vengeance on the guilt of the usurper Zimri, who had been forced to burn himself in the harem at Tirzah after one months troubled reign. Her shrill voice was heard above the roar of the chariot-wheels in the ominous taunt, –
“Is it peace, thou Zimri, thou murderer of thy master?”
No!-She meant, “There is no peace for thee nor thine, any more than for me or mine! Thou mayest murder us; but thee too, thy doom awaiteth!”
Stung by the ill-omened words, Jehu looked up at her and shouted, –
“Who is on my side? Who?”
The palace was apparently rife with traitors. Ahab had been the first polygamist among the kings of Israel, and therefore the first also to introduce the odious atrocity of eunuchs. Those hapless wretches, the portents of Eastern seraglios, the disgrace of humanity, are almost always the retributive enemies of the societies of which they are the helpless victims. Fidelity or gratitude is rarely to be looked for from natures warped into malignity by the ruthless misdoing of men. Nor was the nature of Jezebel one to inspire affection. One or two eunuchs immediately thrust out of the windows their bloated and beardless faces. “Fling her down!” Jehu shouted. Down they flung the wretched queen (has any queen ever died a death so shamefully ignominious?), and her blood spurted upon the wall, and on the horses. Jehu, who had only stopped for an instant in his headlong rush, drove his horses over her corpse, and entered the gate of her capital with his wheels crimson with her blood. History records scarcely another instance of such a scene, except when Tullia, a century later, drove her chariot over the dead body of her father Servius Tullius in the Vicus Sceleratus of ancient Rome.
But what cared Jehu? Many a conqueror ere now has sat down to the dinner prepared for his enemy; and the obsequious household of the dead tyrants, ready to do the bidding of their new lord, ushered the hungry man to the banquet provided for the kings whom he had slain. No man dreamt of uttering a wail, no man thought of raising a finger for dead Jehoram or for dead Jezebel, though they had all been under her sway for at least five-and-thirty years. “The wicked perish, and no man regardeth.” “When the wicked perish, there is shouting.”
We may be startled at a revolution so sudden and so complete; yet it is true to history. A tyrant or a cabal may oppress a nation for long years. Their word may be thought absolute, their power irresistible. Tyranny seems to paralyze the courage of resistance, like the fabled head of Medusa. Remove its fascination of corruption, and men become men, and not machines, once more. Jehus daring woke Israel from the lethargy which had made her tolerate the murders and enchantments of this Baal-worshipping alien. In the same way in one week Robespierre seemed to be an invincible autocrat; the next week his power had crumbled into dust and ashes at a touch.
It was not until Jehu had sated his thirst and hunger after that wild drive, which had ended in the murder of two kings and a queen and in his sudden elevation to a throne, that it even occurred to this new tiger-king to ask what had become of Jezebel. But when he had eaten and drunk, he said, “Go, see now to this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a kings daughter.” That she had been first Princess, then Queen, then Gebirah in Israel for nearly a full lifetime was nothing: it was nothing to Jehu that she was a wife, and mother, and grandmother of kings and queens both of Israel and Judah; but she was also the daughter of Ethbaal, the priest-king of Tyre and Sidon, and therefore any shameful treatment of her remains might kindle trouble from the region of Phoenicia.
But no one had taken the trouble so much as to look after the corpse of Jezebel. The populace of Jezreel were occupied with their new king. Where Jezebel fell, there she had been suffered to lie and no one, apparently, cared even to despoil her of the royal robes, now saturated with blood. Flung from the palace-tower, her body had fallen in the open space just outside the walls-what is called “the mounds” of an Eastern city. In the strange carelessness of sanitation which describes as “fate” even the visitation of an avoidable pestilence, all sorts of offal are shot into this vacant space to fester in the tropic heat. I myself have seen the pariah dogs and the vultures feeding on a ghastly dead horse in a ruined space within the street of Beit-Dejun; and the dogs and the vultures-“those national undertakers”-had done their work unbidden on the corpse of the Tyrian queen. When men went to bury her, they only found a few dog-mumbled bones-the skull, and the feet, and the palms of the hands. {1Ki 21:23} They brought the news to Jehu as he rested after his feast. It did not by any means discompose him. He at once recognized that another levin-bolt had fallen from the thunder-crash of Elijahs prophecy, and he troubled himself about the matter no further. Her carcass, as the man of God had prophesied, had become as dung upon the face of the field, so that none could say, “This is Jezebel.”