1And Elisha the prophet summoned one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, Gird up your loins, take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead. 2Now when you have come there, look for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, and go in and make him rise up from among his brothers. And when you have brought him to an inner room, 3take the flask of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus says Jehovah: I have anointed you king over Israel. And when you have opened the door and fled, do not delay. 4So the young man, the servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. 5And when he came in, behold, the commanders of the army were sitting. And he said, I have a message for you, commander. And Jehu said, For which one of us? And he said, For you, commander. 6And he arose and went into the house. And he poured the oil on his head, and said to him, Thus says Jehovah the God of Israel: I have anointed you king over the people of Jehovah, over Israel. 7And you shall strike down 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 Jehovah, at the hand of Jezebel. 8For the whole house of Ahab shall perish; and I shall cut off from Ahab all those who urinate against a wall in Israel, both bond and free. 9Thus I shall make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. 10The dogs shall eat Jezebel on the plot of ground at Jezreel, for there shall be no one to bury her. And he opened the door and fled. 11Then Jehu came out to the servants of his master, and one of them said to him, Is all well? Why did this madman come to you? And he said to them, You know the man and his talk. 12And they said, A lie! Tell us now. So he said, Thus and thus he has spoken to me, saying, Thus says Jehovah: I have anointed you king over Israel. 13Then each man hastened to take his garment and put it under him on the top of the steps; and they blew the shofar, saying, Jehu is king! 14So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram had been defending Ramoth Gilead, he and all Israel, against Hazael king of Syria. 15But King Joram had returned to Jezreel to be healed from the wounds with which the Syrians had struck him when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) And Jehu said, If you are so minded, let no one leave or escape from the city to go and report it in Jezreel. 16So Jehu rode and went to Jezreel, for Joram was lying there; and Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram. 17Now a watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a multitude. And Joram said, Get a horseman and send him to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace? 18So the horseman went to meet him, and said, Thus says the king: Is it peace? And Jehu said, What have you to do with peace? Turn around and follow me. So the watchman reported, saying, The messenger went to them, but has not returned. 19Then he sent out a second horseman who came to them, and said, Thus says the king: Is it peace? And Jehu answered, What have you to do with peace? Turn around and follow me. 20So the watchman reported, saying, He went up to them and has not returned; and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives madly! 21Then 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 to meet Jehu, and met him on the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. 22And it happened, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? So he answered, What peace, as long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft are so many? 23Then Joram turned his hands and fled, and said to Ahaziah, Treachery, O Ahaziah! 24And Jehu drew his bow with full strength and shot Jehoram between his arms; and the arrow came out at his heart, and he sank down in his chariot. 25Then Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, Pick him up, and throw him into the parcel of the land of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember, when you and I were riding together behind Ahab his father, that Jehovah had laid this burden upon him: 26Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, says Jehovah, and I will repay you in this plot, says Jehovah. Now therefore, take and throw him on the plot of ground, according to the Word of Jehovah. 27And when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. And Jehu pursued him, and said, Strike him also in the chariot, at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there. 28And his servants carried him in the chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in the City of David. 29In the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king over Judah. 30Now when Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she put black paint on her eyes and adorned her head, and looked down through a window. 31And as Jehu had entered at the gate, she said, Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of your master? 32And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? Who? And two or three officials looked down at him. 33And he said, Throw her down! So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses; and he trampled her. 34And when he came in, he ate and drank. Then he said, Go now, see to this accursed woman, and bury her, for she was a king's 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. 36Therefore they came back and reported to him. And he said, This is the Word of Jehovah, which He has spoken by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel; 37and the corpse of Jezebel shall be as dung on the face of the land, in the plot at Jezreel, so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 JEHU IS ANOINTED. (2Ki. 9:1-23)
Ramoth-gilead--a city of great importance to the Hebrew people, east of Jordan, as a fortress of defense against the Syrians. Jehoram had regained it (
2Kgs 8:29). But the Israelitish army was still encamped there, under the command of Jehu.
Elisha . . . called one of the children of the prophets--This errand referred to the last commission given to Elijah in Horeb (
1Kgs 19:16).
box of oil--(See
1Sam 10:1).
2 carry him to an inner chamber--both to ensure the safety of the messenger and to prevent all obstruction in the execution of the business.
3 I have anointed thee king over Israel--This was only a part of the message; the full announcement of which is given (
2Kgs 9:7-10).
flee, and tarry not--for fear of being surprised and overtaken by the spies or servants of the court.
4 So the young man . . . went to Ramoth-gilead--His ready undertaking of this delicate and hazardous mission was an eminent proof of his piety and obedience. The act of anointing being done through a commissioned prophet, was a divine intimation of his investiture with the sovereign power. But it was sometimes done long prior to the actual possession of the throne (
1Sam 16:13); and, in like manner, the commission had, in this instance, been given also a long time before to Elijah [
1Kgs 19:16], who, for good reasons, left it in charge to Elisha; and he awaited God's time and command for executing it [POOLE].
10 in the portion of Jezreel--that is, that had formerly been the vineyard of Naboth.
11 Is all well? &c.--Jehu's attendants knew that the stranger belonged to the order of the prophets by his garb, gestures, and form of address; and soldiers such as they very readily concluded such persons to be crackbrained, not only from the sordid negligence of their personal appearance and their open contempt of the world, but from the religious pursuits in which their whole lives were spent, and the grotesque actions which they frequently performed (compare
Jer 29:26).
13 they hasted, and took every man his garment--the upper cloak which they spread on the ground, as a token of their homage to their distinguished commander (
Matt 21:7).
top of the stairs--from the room where the prophet had privately anointed Jehu. That general returned to join his brother officers in the public apartment, who, immediately on learning his destined elevation, conducted him to the top of the stairs leading to the roof. This was the most conspicuous place of an Oriental structure that could be chosen, being at the very top of the gate building, and fully in view of the people and military in the open ground in front of the building [KITTO]. The popularity of Jehu with the army thus favored the designs of Providence in procuring his immediate and enthusiastic proclamation as king, and the top of the stairs was taken as a most convenient substitute for a throne.
14 Joram had kept Ramoth-gilead--rather, "was keeping," guarding, or besieging it, with the greater part of the military force of Israel. The king's wounds had compelled his retirement from the scene of action, and so the troops were left in command of Jehu.
16 So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel--Full of ambitious designs, he immediately proceeded to cross the Jordan to execute his commission on the house of Ahab.
17 there stood a watchman on the tower of Jezreel--The Hebrew palaces, besides being situated on hills had usually towers attached to them, not only for the pleasure of a fine prospect, but as posts of useful observation. The ancient watchtower of Jezreel must have commanded a view of the whole region eastward, nearly down to the Jordan. Beth-shan stands on a rising ground about six or seven miles below it, in a narrow part of the plain; and when Jehu and his retinue reached that point between Gilboa and Beth-shan, they could be fully descried by the watchman on the tower. A report was made to Joram in his palace below. A messenger on horseback was quickly despatched down into the plain to meet the ambiguous host and to question the object of their approach. "Is it peace?" We may safely assume that this messenger would meet Jehu at the distance of three miles or more. On the report made of his being detained and turned into the rear of the still advancing troops, a second messenger was in like manner despatched, who would naturally meet Jehu at the distance of a mile or a mile and a half down on the plain. He also being turned into the rear, the watchman now distinctly perceived "the driving to be like the driving of Jehu, the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously." The alarmed monarch, awakened to a sense of his impending danger, quickly summoned his forces to meet the crisis. Accompanied by Ahaziah, king of Judah, the two sovereigns ascended their chariots to make a feeble resistance to the impetuous onset of Jehu, who quickly from the plain ascended the steep northern sides of the site on which Jezreel stood, and the conflicting parties met "in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite," where Joram was quickly despatched by an arrow from the strong arm of Jehu. We were impressed with the obvious accuracy of the sacred historian; the localities and distances being such as seem naturally to be required by the incidents related, affording just time for the transactions to have occurred in the order in which they are recorded [HOWE].
25 cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, &c.--according to the doom pronounced by divine authority on Ahab (
1Kgs 21:19), but which on his repentance was deferred to be executed on his son.
26 the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the Lord--Although their death is not expressly mentioned, it is plainly implied in the confiscation of his property (see
1Kgs 21:16).
27 AHAZIAH IS SLAIN. (
2Kgs 9:27-35)
Ahaziah--was grandnephew to King Joram, and great-grandson to King Ahab.
Ibleam--near Megiddo, in the tribe of Issachar (
Josh 17:11;
Judg 1:27); and Gur was an adjoining hill.
30 Jezebel painted her face--literally, "her eyes," according to a custom universal in the East among women, of staining the eyelids with a black powder made of pulverized antimony, or lead ore mixed with oil, and applied with a small brush on the border, so that by this dark ligament on the edge, the largeness as well as the luster of the eye itself was thought to be increased. Her object was, by her royal attire, not to captivate, but to overawe Jehu.
35 found no more of her than the skull, and the palms of her hands, &c.--The dog has a rooted aversion to prey on the human hands and feet.
36 JEZEBEL EATEN BY DOGS. (
2Kgs 9:36-37)
This is the word of the Lord--(See
1Kgs 21:23). Jehu's statement, however, was not a literal but a paraphrased quotation of Elijah's prophecy.