789-788 B.C.

2 Kings 9)

1 And Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, “Gird up thy loins, and take this oil flask in your hand (for its use in consecration see 1 Sam.10:11; 16:13), and go to Ramoth-gilead (Israelite army on guard here. Cp. v.14):
2 And when you come to that place, look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi (Jehu = the living. In the Assyrian inscriptions he is called the son of Omri), and go in, and make him arise up from among his brethren, and carry him to an inner chamber;
3 Then take the oil flask, and pour [it] on his head, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord, “I have anointed you to be king to 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 you, O captain.” And Jehu said, “To which of all us?” And he said, “To you, O captain.”
6 And he arose (i.e. Jehu arose), and went into the house; and he poured (i.e. the prophet poured) the oil on his head, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘I have anointed you to be king over the People of the Lord, [even] 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 the whole house of Ahab shall perish: and I will cut off from Ahab him that pisses against the wall (i.e. every male), 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 (both these houses had been exterminated [1 Kings 15:29; 16:11]):
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.
11 Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord: and [they] said to him, “[Is] all well? (Heb. Is it peace) wherefore came this mad [fellow] to you?” And he said to them, “Ye all know the man, and his communication” (= "Why, you all are in secret, or you all know all about the man).
12 And they said, “[It is] false; tell us now.” And he said, “Thus and thus spoke he to me, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, ‘I have anointed thee king over Israel.’ ’ ”
13 Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put [it] under him on the top of the steps (see Acts 21:35,40), and blew with trumpets, saying, “Jehu reigns.”
14 So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram.

{Now Joram had been keeping Ramoth-gilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria.
15 But king Joram was returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him (cp. 8:29), when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.}

And Jehu said, “If it be your minds (= souls. Heb. nehesh. The parenthesis in vv.14,15 is so placed by the Structure [see above]), [then] let none go forth [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 lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram.
17 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 (or charioteer), and send to meet them, and let him say, [Is it] peace?”
18 So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, “Thus says the king, ‘[Is it] peace?’ ” And Jehu said, “What have you to do with peace? turn you behind me.” And the watchman told, saying, “The messenger came to them, but he comes not again.”
19 Then he sent out a second on horseback, which came to them, and said, “Thus says the king, ‘[Is it] peace?’ ” And Jehu answered, “What have you to do with peace? turn you behind me.”
20 And the watchman told, saying, “He came even to them, and comes not again: and the driving [is] like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he drives furiously.”
21 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.
22 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 (= idolatry) of your mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts (= spiritism. Both joined together. Cp. Num. 24:1; 25:1; 31:16) [are so] many?”
23 And Joram turned his hands (i.e. to wheel his chariot around), and fled, and said to Ahaziah, “[There is] treachery, O Ahaziah.”
24 And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms (i.e. between his shoulders), and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot.
25 Then said [Jehu] to Bidkar (= son of stabbing, i.e. one who stabs) his captain, “Take up, [and] cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and you rode together after Ahab his father, the Lord laid this burden upon him (cp. 1 Kings 21:29. Burden = a prophetic pronouncement of doom. Cp. Isa. 13:1; 15:1; 17:1. Nah. 1:1. Hab. 1:1);
26 ‘Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons(additional information here given to that of 1 Kings 21:13), says the Lord (=is Yahaveh's oracle); ‘and I will requite you in this portion,’ (cp. v.21) says the Lord. Now therefore take [and] cast him into the 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, and they smote him] at the going up to Gur (= abode), which [is] by Ibleam (= devouring the people). And he fled to Megiddo (= place of crowds), and died there.
28 And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem (the Sept. reads "and brought hi to Jerusalem"), and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David.

789 B.C.

29 And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.

9:30 – 10:36. Jehu.

E4  D  9:30-10:28. Events. Public.
     C  10:29-31. Personal character.
    D  10:32,33. Events. Political.
     C  10:34-36. Personal.

9:30 – 10:28. Events. Public.

D  F¹  9:30-37. End of Jezebel.
   F²  10:1-11. End of Ahab's house.
   F³  10:12-14. End of Ahaziah's brethren.
   F4  10:15-17. End of Ahab's seed in Samaria.
   F5  10:18-28. End of Baal-worship.

9:30-37. End of Jezebel.

F¹  b  30-32. Exclamation of Jezebel.
     c  33. Jezebel's death.
     c  34,35. Jezebel's carcase.
    b  36,37. Exclamation of Jehu.

788 B.C.

30 And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard [of it] (i.e. of the murder of her grandson); and she painted her eyebrows and eyelids, and adorned her head, and looked out at the lattice.
31 And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, “[Had] Zimri peace, who slew his lord?” (see 1 Kings 16:9-20. Suggesting the widom of coming to terms with her)
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.

33 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 trod her under foot.

34 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(a daughter of Eth-baal [= with Baal],king of Zidon [1 Kings 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] hands.

36 Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, “This [is] the word of the Lord, which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite (cp. 1 Kings 21:23), saying, ‘In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel:
37 And the carcass of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field (some codices read "ground") in the portion of Jezreel; [so] that they shall not say (= [something] of which they shall not say, &c.), This [is] Jezebel.’ ”

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