Friday, September 13, 2013

Jehu Takes The Throne

II Kings 9:16b-37

And Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram.  And there stood a watchman on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. 

And Joram said, Take an horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace? 

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. 

Then he sent out a second on horseback, which came to them, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? 

And Jehu answered, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. “ (II Kings 9:16b-19)

Jehoram had left the army fighting Hazael in Ramothgilead while he was getting Medical attention in Jezreel.  Ahaziah, king of Judah had gone to Jezreel to check on Jehoram.  They had posted watchers to look for any messengers from Ramothgilead to tell them how the battle was going.

When the watcher saw Jehu’s group coming, Jehoram assumed it was a messenger with news and sent a man on horseback to ask if Hazael had surrendered.  Jehu didn’t answer, just telling the rider to fall in with the group.  He did the same thing with the second messenger.

“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. 

And 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 Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite.” (II Kings 9:20-21)

Really concerned at the rate they were traveling and that the messengers hadn’t come back, Jehoram and Ahaziah went out to meet Jehu.  They met him on land that had belonged to Naboth whom Jezebel had ordered killed in Ahab’s name, back in I Kings 21.

“And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? 

And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many? 

And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah.” (II Kings 9:22-23)

When Jehoram got close he asked if there was peace, hoping that Syria had surrendered, but fearing Israel had been forced to.  Jehu asked how their could be peace as long as they continued to allow Jezebel to have her way.

Jehoram  recognized that the army had revolted and turned quickly toward his palace, warning Ahaziah as he went.

“And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot. 

Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the LORD laid this burden upon him; Surely 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.” (II Kings 9:24-26)

Jehoram was almost out of range when Jehu shot an arrow.  It struck him in th heart and killed him.  Jehu then had the body thrown out on the land Ahab had stolen by the murder of Naboth, in the same area where Ahab had been killed as God had told them.

“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.

And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David.  And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.” (II Kings 9:27-29)

Ahaziah was one of Ahab’s grandsons, and God had commanded Jehu to kill all his descendants.  Jehu followed him to Samaria, and later to Gur.  Ahaziah was wounded and fled to Megiddo where he died.  Jehu allowed his servants to take the body to Jerusalem where he was buried because he was also the grandson of Jehoshaphat, who served God, according to II Chronicles 22:9.  “And 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: Because, said they, he is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all his heart. So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom.”  In the process, Ahaziah’s hold on the kingdom of Judah was destroyed.

“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.  And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew 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.

 And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot.” (II Kings 9:30-33)

When Jehu returned to Jezreel, Jezebel had heard about the rebellion.  Fixing herself up in her robes, Jezebel called out from her second story window, reminding Jehu that Zimri had been killed by Omri just seven days after killing Baasha and taking over the kingdom.   He didn’t need to think she was defeated yet.

Like most selfish and domineering people, Jezebel had no concept how much people resented her treatment of them. When Jehu asked who was on his side, some of the slaves looked out.  He asked them to throw her out the window and they didn’t hesitate.  When she landed in the street, Jehu rode his chariot over her and drove off leaving her lying in the street, badly injured.  

“And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a king's daughter. 

And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands.  Wherefore they came again, and told him.” (II Kings 9:34-36a)

After eating a meal, Jehu remembered that jezebel was daughter to Ethbaal, Phoenician king of  Zidon.  To not bury her properly might well offend the Zidonians.  When they went to bury her, they found that the dogs had eaten or dragged away everything but the skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands.

 “And he said, This is the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel: And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.” (II Kings 9:36b-37)

When he was told what had happened, Jehu reminded them that it was what Elijah had prophesied over twenty years before, that the dogs would eat her so that no one could go back and make a shrine of her tomb.  It would be better she be completely forgotten.

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