2 Kings · chapter 9 of 25
Updated on
2 Kings 9 tells how a young prophet sent by Elisha anoints Jehu as king of Israel at Ramoth-gilead and charges him to destroy the house of Ahab. Jehu rides to Jezreel, kills Joram with an arrow, wounds Ahaziah of Judah, who dies at Megiddo, and has Jezebel thrown from a window. The dogs devour her, and the word the Lord spoke through Elijah is fulfilled.
For years the house of Ahab had led Israel to worship Baal, and Elijah had announced its end. 2 Kings 9 is the fulfillment of that judgment: an army officer is anointed and acts with speed and violence. The chapter shows that God's justice, though slow, arrives, and it recalls the injustice done to Naboth, which had gone unavenged for years.
Elisha calls one of the sons of the prophets and sends him to Ramoth-gilead with a flask of oil to anoint Jehu, son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, and to run away without delay. The young man finds Jehu among the army commanders, takes him into an inner room, pours the oil on his head and says that the Lord anoints him king over Israel. He charges him to strike down the house of Ahab, to avenge the blood of the prophets and of the Lord's servants, and announces that the dogs will eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel. Then he flees.
The other officers ask Jehu whether all is well and why that madman came. Jehu tells them what happened, and they spread their cloaks under him on the bare steps, blow the trumpet and proclaim that Jehu is king. Jehu conspires and heads for Jezreel, where King Joram is recovering from his wounds and Ahaziah of Judah is visiting him.
The watchman sees Jehu coming and says he drives like a madman. Joram goes out to meet him with Ahaziah, each in his chariot, and they meet in the plot of Naboth. Joram asks whether it is peace, and Jehu answers what peace can there be while the whoredoms and sorceries of Jezebel are so many. Joram cries treachery and flees, but Jehu shoots an arrow between his shoulders and he falls dead. Jehu has the body thrown into Naboth's plot, according to the word of the Lord. Ahaziah flees but is wounded and dies at Megiddo.
Jehu comes to Jezreel. Jezebel, her eyes painted and her head adorned, looks out of the window. He orders the eunuchs to throw her down, and they do. Jehu eats and drinks and then orders her buried because she was a king's daughter, but they find only the skull, the feet and the palms of her hands. Jehu recalls the word of Elijah.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The young prophet pours the oil on Jehu's head and declares that the Lord anoints him king over his people Israel. The oil is the sign that Jehu acts on God's commission, not merely from political ambition.
The Lord charges Jehu to strike the house of Ahab to avenge the blood of the prophets and of all the Lord's servants shed by Jezebel. The judgment comes for a clear reason: the violence and idolatry of Ahab's house.
Jehu recalls that the Lord had told Ahab he would pay for the blood of Naboth and his sons in the same plot. God does not forget injustice against the innocent, even when he is slow to act.
Jehu acknowledges that the dogs ate Jezebel according to the word the Lord spoke through Elijah the Tishbite. The Lord's word is fulfilled with precision, even in details that seemed unlikely.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: It was Elisha who sent him. — 2 Kings 9:1
Answer: Destroy the house of Ahab and avenge the blood of the prophets and servants of the Lord. — 2 Kings 9:6-7
Answer: They spread their cloaks under him, blew the trumpet and proclaimed him king. — 2 Kings 9:13
Answer: In the plot of Naboth at Jezreel, with an arrow between his shoulders. — 2 Kings 9:21-24
Answer: At Megiddo, after being wounded as he fled. — 2 Kings 9:27
Answer: Only the skull, the feet and the palms of her hands. — 2 Kings 9:35
The chapter reminds us that God sees injustice and does not leave it unanswered. Those who have suffered abuse or abandonment can find comfort in the fact that the Lord remembers Naboth. But the harshness of the scenes also calls for humility: God's judgment is serious, and it must not be used as a pretext to justify personal revenge.
In a small group you can talk about how hope is sustained when evil seems to triumph for years. Jehu acts with zeal, but the next chapter will show that his obedience was partial; true zeal for God does not only tear down what is evil but follows the Lord with all the heart.
2 Kings 9 ends with the house of Ahab without its king and its queen, and with Jehu seated in power. In chapter 10 he will complete the cleansing of Ahab's house and of the worshipers of Baal, but he will not follow the Lord with all his heart.
Because his visit was abrupt and strange, and he ran away after anointing Jehu. God's message is sometimes received with contempt, yet Jehu confirms the truth of what the prophet said. The text does not suggest the young man was ill.
It was the vineyard of a man of Jezreel that Ahab and Jezebel seized after having him killed on false charges, according to 1 Kings 21. Elijah announced judgment then, and Jehu recalls it when he kills Joram at that place.
The text says she painted her eyes and adorned her head. It has been read as a gesture of pride and defiance to the end, or as an attempt to appear before Jehu as a queen. Her question to Jehu compares him to Zimri, a man who killed his master.