And Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, Gird up thy loins, and take this vial of oil in thy hand, and go to Ramoth-Gilead.
Israel's throne is about to change hands. The order comes not from a palace but from Elisha. He hands a flask of oil to an unnamed young man and sends him to an army camp. Three questions follow. Why now? Why send a messenger instead of going himself? And why Ramoth-gilead?
Elisha is not starting something new. He is passing on an order that has waited years.
Elijah had been told to anoint Jehu king of Israel (1 Kings 19:16), but had not done it. Now, later, Elisha sends one of the sons of the prophets to anoint Jehu. He tells him he will find Jehu at Ramoth-gilead (v.1). Elisha gives him clear instructions: anoint Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, taking him into an inner room to do it. Jehu was an officer in the army of Joram, son of Ahab.
So why the long delay?
Years before, God had told Elijah to anoint Jehu king of Israel. But when Ahab humbled himself before Him, God in His patience put off carrying out His judgment against Ahab. Now the time had come.
The young man is sent to an army at war. Even the names in the verse carry meaning.
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. ... Jehu means "Jehovah is He"; Jehoshaphat, "Jehovah judges"; Nimshi, "Jehovah reveals." Significant names!
Elisha does not go himself. One writer finds the reason in Elisha's own heart.
Instead of anointing Jehu himself, he entrusts this mission to one of the sons of the prophets. This young man must not remain for an instant with Jehu, but he must flee as soon as he has done the deed. Everything is done in secret and in haste, because when it is a matter of judgment, Elisha's soul neither rests nor stays there. Judgment must take place, for God has spoken, but God finds His delight in grace and approves His servant's manner of acting.
The order to run as soon as the oil is poured says the same thing.
The young man is to carry out his commission in a way that will clearly show Elisha has nothing in common with Jehu; for, having delivered his message, he is to "open the door, and flee, and tarry not."
Put this anointing beside David's, and the difference is sharp.
Here this son of the prophets must call Jehu up "from among his brothers," lead him far from every eye into "an inner room," and anoint him in haste and in secret, with no one watching. Samuel, by contrast, anoints David, the king of grace, "among his brothers"... Jehu is God's rod against Israel and Judah, and God cannot have communion with an instrument of judgment, however necessary it may be.
Not every king of Israel was anointed. So why Jehu?
The anointing of the king over Israel was not an established custom, or rule. It happened when the circumstances were unusual, or when someone might question the king's right to the crown... With Jehu, the kingdom of Israel passed out of the rightful line of Ahab's family into another family. That family had no legal right to the throne. It had only God's appointment. So Jehu had to be anointed, both to give him a title and to put him in actual possession of the kingdom (Burder).
The sons of the prophets usually appear as a group. This errand stands apart.
The sons of the prophets come up often in Elisha's history. But when they acted as a group, they did nothing (so far as the record goes) that showed God was leading them. Once we read of one of the sons of the prophets carrying a message from God. Elisha told him to take a flask of oil and anoint Jehu king over Israel, giving him a message from God at the same time. The son of the prophet did this alone (2 Kings 9:1-10). This was work done for God, for the young man acted by faith, without help from others.
- Delayed — God told Elijah to anoint Jehu years earlier. The gap was His patience, not forgetfulness.
- Delegated — Elisha hands the flask to another; his soul does not rest in judgment.
- Distanced — the order to flee at once keeps Elisha apart from the man he anoints. God uses an instrument of judgment without communion with him.
- Different — no public feast as at David's anointing; a closed door, an inner room, oil poured without witnesses.
- Dispatched alone — the young man goes by faith, without the group. That one errand is the only work of the sons of the prophets the record marks as done for God.
And when thou art come thither, look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him rise up from among his brethren, and bring him to an inner chamber;
Elisha sends a young man from the prophets' company to Ramoth-gilead, to call an army officer named Jehu away from his fellow captains and into a private room. Every detail carries meaning: the three names, the private room, the haste.
Elisha's work had been full of kindness. The nation answered it with more sin. God now appoints two men to end that patience: Hazael in Syria, and Jehu in Israel.
Elisha's ministry of grace was practically fruitless. Israel sinned more and more. The time had come therefore for the sword to be unsheathed. So we have the ministers of wrath appointed — Hazael, in 2 Kings 8:7-15; and Jehu, in 2 Kings 9:1-10.
The judgment was slow in coming, and one man's blood had waited a long time for it.
At last, after more than fifteen years' delay, the blood of Naboth, crying, like Abel's, for vengeance from the ground, was about to be repaid. God, when judging men, is never in haste.
Elisha keeps his distance from this errand.
Instead of anointing Jehu himself, he entrusts this mission to one of the sons of the prophets. This young man must not remain for an instant with Jehu, but he must flee as soon as his deed is done. All is done secretly and in haste. When it is a matter of judgment, Elisha's soul neither rests nor stays there. Judgment must take place, for God has spoken. But God finds His delight in grace, and He approves His servant's way of acting.
The contrast with the day Samuel anointed David is sharp. The writer's translation says "brothers" where the ESV says "fellows".
Here this son of the prophets must make Jehu rise up "from among his brothers." He must lead him far away from all eyes into "an inner chamber," and anoint him there without witnesses, in haste and in secret. Samuel, on the contrary, anoints David king of grace "in the midst of his brothers"… Jehu is God's rod against Israel and Judah. God cannot have communion with an instrument of judgment, however necessary it may be. Later He will approve (2 Kings 10:30) the way Jehu carried out his task, but without communion with him.
Another writer sees a second reason for a private anointing.
The private anointing tells us of God's working behind the scenes to show whom He desires to rule. At first only the household of David's father saw this choice of God. In the same way, today only the household of faith recognises that Jesus is God's chosen King. At the end of the tribulation Judah will be the first to recognise Him, then the rest of Israel, and Christ will be publicly acclaimed.
The oil marks a break in the royal line.
Twenty years before, Elijah had probably anointed Jehu already, just as Samuel anointed David long before the people did. The anointing of the king over Israel was not an established custom or rule. It was done when the circumstances were out of the ordinary, or when there might be some question about his title to the crown… "With Jehu, the kingdom of Israel would pass out of the direct line of Ahab's family into another family. That family had no legal right to the kingdom — only the appointment of God. His anointing was necessary. It gave him a title and put him in actual possession of the kingdom."
The verse identifies the man by his father and grandfather. Read together, the names spell out the errand.
God named the instrument of judgment on Ahab's house long ago to Elijah, and now he appears. The young man 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 wait, but to flee. Jehu means "Jehovah is He"; Jehoshaphat, "Jehovah judges"; Nimshi, "Jehovah reveals." Significant names!
- Grace first. Elisha's ministry was one of kindness. Israel answered it by sinning more and more, so the time came for the sword.
- Patience, not slowness. Naboth's blood waited more than fifteen years — God, when judging men, is never in haste.
- Distance kept. Jehu is called away from his fellows and anointed unseen. God uses His instrument of judgment, but has no communion with him.
- Title given. The oil was not routine — it moved the crown out of Ahab's line into a family whose only right was God's appointment.
- Hidden then acclaimed. A private anointing shows God settling His King behind the scenes. Only the household of faith knows Him now. One day Christ will be publicly acclaimed.
then take the vial of oil, and pour it on his head and say, Thus saith Jehovah I have anointed thee king over Israel; and open the door, and flee, and tarry not.
Elisha sends a young prophet with a flask of oil to crown Jehu, the man who will strike down the house of Ahab. The orders are odd — pour the oil, say one sentence from God, then run — and that oddness holds most of the meaning of this verse.
Why pour oil on Jehu's head at all?
The anointing of the king over Israel was not an established custom or rule. It was done when the circumstances were out of the ordinary, or when there might be some question about his title to the crown. With Jehu, the succession to the kingdom of Israel was to pass out of the rightful line of Ahab's family into another family. That family had no legal right to the kingdom — only the appointment of God. So his anointing was necessary both to give him a title and to put him in actual possession of the kingdom.
Elisha does not go himself. He supplies only the sentence that makes Jehu king.
If the prophet Elisha had wept before Hazael, what would he have done before Jehu? He also gives as brief a commission as possible: "Thus says the LORD, I anoint you king over Israel." He is a prophet himself, yet he does not dictate the words. He leaves to this son of the prophets the care of what he will have to add by the Spirit.
Set this anointing beside David's, and the contrast is sharp.
Here this son of the prophets must make Jehu rise up "from among his brothers." He must lead him far away from all eyes into "an inner chamber." He must anoint him without witnesses, in haste and in secret. Samuel, by contrast, anoints David king of grace "in the midst of his brothers." They do not sit down at the table until he arrives, and this family feast brings them together for a common meal. After that, Samuel gets up in peace and goes to Ramah (1 Sam. 16:11-13). These scenes of communion are an absolute contrast to the one unfolding here. Jehu is God's rod against Israel and Judah. God cannot have communion with an instrument of judgment, however necessary it may be.
Why must the messenger run the moment the oil is poured?
He told his messenger to pour the oil on Jehu's head, then open the door and flee at once. It was as though he were to have no communion with Jehu. He had business to do with Jehu, weighty business; but that was all. And in this Elisha shares the feelings of God Himself.
Refusing fellowship did not mean refusing the job.
There was to be no show of fellowship where it could not be real. Jehu was a vessel in which God could have no delight; nor could His servant. Yet God put Jehu under the responsibility of specific instructions, and gave him the power to carry them out. But power does not of itself set us in communion with God, or keep us in His presence.
The oil authorised Jehu's work. It said nothing about his heart.
God's employment of a man is by no means the seal of God's approval of his person. We see it in the case before us. Jehu was a man in whom God had no complacency, nor could He have. For there is one feature that belongs to the family of faith, without which there is no communion with God. It shows itself from the very beginning of life in the soul: repentance toward God. And Jehu had not this.
God's command and Jehu's ambition pointed the same way.
To reach the throne was entirely in accord with the ambitions of Jehu. To smite the house of Ahab would appear to Jehu a sound policy to establish himself as king. So he carries out the directions of the Lord with the greatest possible energy and zeal. However, God's motives were not Jehu's. God was dealing with evil, avenging the blood of His servants, and maintaining His own glory. Jehu was getting rid of all those who could oppose his ambitions.
- Word. One sentence, poured out with the oil, does the whole work. It gives Jehu a title his family had no right to, resting on nothing but God's appointment.
- Haste. The anointing happens behind a shut door and ends in flight. David's ended in a shared meal. Judgment is not celebrated.
- Distance. The order to flee blocks any show of fellowship that could not be real. There was weighty business with Jehu, and nothing more.
- Power. God gave Jehu instructions and the power to carry them out. But power is not communion. Jehu had the one without the other.
- Verdict. God using a man is not God approving him. Jehu obeyed with all his energy because obedience served his own ambition.
And the young man, the young prophet, went to Ramoth-Gilead.
Elisha does not anoint Jehu himself; he gives a young man a flask of oil and sends him to the army camp at Ramoth-gilead. This short verse is the hinge: the messenger takes the road, and judgment on Ahab's house begins to move.
Elisha had the word and the oil, but he sent another man to carry them.
Instead of anointing Jehu himself, he entrusts this mission to one of the sons of the prophets. The young man must not stay with Jehu for a moment; he must flee as soon as he has finished his task. Everything happens in secret and in haste. When it is a matter of judgment, Elisha's soul neither rests nor settles there. Judgment must take place, for God has spoken. But God finds His delight in grace, and He approves His servant's way of acting.
Kings in Israel were not always anointed. The flask in the young man's hand says something about Jehu's claim to the throne.
Twenty years before, Elijah had probably anointed Jehu already. The anointing of a king over Israel was not a fixed custom or rule. It happened when the circumstances were out of the ordinary, or when there might be some question about his right to the crown… "With Jehu, the kingdom of Israel was to pass out of the direct line of Ahab's family into another family. That family had no legal right to the kingdom; it had only God's appointment. So his anointing was necessary, both to give him a title and to put him in actual possession of the kingdom" (Burder).
The sons of the prophets appear often around Elisha, usually as a group. This errand stands out because one man went alone.
The sons of the prophets come up often in Elisha's history. But as a group they did nothing, so far as the record goes, that showed God was leading them. Only once do we read of one of the sons of the prophets carrying a message from God. Elisha told him to take a flask of oil and anoint Jehu to be king over Israel, giving him a message from God at the same time. The son of the prophet did so alone. This was work done for God, because the young man acted by faith, without help from others.
The words the young man would speak were not all handed to him.
Elisha is a prophet himself, yet he does not dictate the words. He leaves it to this son of the prophets to add what he must add by the Spirit.
Firm orders and personal discernment went together here.
The prophet does not act in person. He does not appear in the business, but he gives the young man strict orders about how to behave in the matter. It may be that in this there is a lesson for us. Spiritual discernment was the great thing in Elisha's ministry. It matters no less today, when the Spirit of Christ is here on earth and in the church. A mechanical service will not suit Him.
The address matters. Joram had been wounded and had withdrawn to Jezreel, leaving his officers holding the post — and the young man walks straight into that room.
We see here how God has the upper hand in all events and over all men when the moment to accomplish His decrees has arrived. Jehu had barely received the anointing oil when — with no advance arrangements, for they do not know what the prophet whom they call a fool had just done — all the captains acclaimed Jehu as king. Were they the wise men themselves, these men who without understanding, without reasoning it out, without any choice in the matter, sound the trumpet and say, "Jehu is king," while the one who despite his youth had just announced God's mind, fully aware of the reason for it, was called a fool by them?
The anointing happened in private. That privacy carries a warning: a throne is not a sign that God approves the man who sits on it.
The private anointing of Jehu reminds us that God always works behind the scenes to set up rulers among the nations. As we are told, "For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted 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 show His approval of the man personally.
- Sent — Elisha keeps the word but sends someone else to carry it, staying clear of the man he must anoint.
- Sealed — the oil is not a ceremony but a title deed. A family with no legal claim gets the kingdom by God's appointment alone.
- Spirit-led — Elisha dictates one line and leaves the rest to the messenger. God wants discernment in His errands, not mechanical service.
- Solitary — the son of the prophets who went alone is the one who acted by faith. As a group they achieved nothing.
- Secret — the anointing was private and the messenger fled at once. God gave a man the throne without approving the man, and He repaid Naboth's blood in His own time, never in haste.
And when he came, behold, the captains of the host were sitting. And he said, I have an errand to thee, captain. And Jehu said, To which of all of us? And he said, To thee, captain.
A young prophet walks into a room where Israel's army officers sit together, and says he has a word for one of them. Jehu asks which one, and the answer picks out him alone — raising the question of why God makes a king this way: briefly, privately, and in haste.
Kings of Israel were not anointed as a matter of course. The act came when a man's right to the throne needed proving.
The anointing of the king over Israel was not an established custom, or rule. It was done when the circumstances were out of the ordinary, or when there might be some question as to his title to the crown… "In the case of Jehu, the succession of the kingdom of Israel was to move out of the right line of Ahab's family into another family. That family had no legal right to the kingdom — it had only God's appointment. So his anointing was necessary, both to give him a title and to put him in actual possession of the kingdom" (Burder).
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The messenger does not anoint Jehu where the officers sit. He calls him out of the group and shuts the door. One writer compares this scene with the anointing of David.
Here this son of the prophets must make Jehu rise up "from among his brothers." He must lead him far away from all eyes into "an inner chamber," and anoint him without witnesses, in haste and secretly. Samuel, on the contrary, anoints David king of grace "in the midst of his brothers"… Jehu is God's rod against Israel and Judah. God cannot have communion with an instrument of judgment, however necessary it may be.
Elisha himself never enters the camp. He hands the flask of oil to a young man and tells him to deliver the message and leave at once. The distance is not coldness. It is honesty about a bond that could not be real.
Here the young man was to faithfully represent the one who had sent him. There were reasons, as we have seen, why Elisha could not go himself. There was to be no show of fellowship where it could not be real. Jehu was a vessel in which God could have no delight; nor could His servant. Yet Jehu was put under the responsibility of specific instructions, with power given for carrying them out. If God lays a responsibility on anyone, He does not withhold the power needed to carry it out. But that power must be looked to and counted on.
Why would God use a man like Jehu? One writer answers from the way God governs.
An evil time may be one when God is pleased in His government to use the rough instrument. This is one principle of God's ways in His government that we do well to consider. God's employment of a man is by no means the seal of God's approval of his person. We see it in the case before us. Jehu was a man in whom God had no delight, nor could He have. There is one feature that belongs to the family of faith, without which there is no communion with God… that is, repentance toward God. And Jehu had not this. Whatever his zeal, and whatever righteousness there was, to a certain extent, in his action according to the sovereign will of God, he had no brokenness of spirit. He had never measured himself in the presence of God.
Jehu's later record bears this out.
To reach the throne fitted Jehu's own ambitions exactly. Striking down the house of Ahab looked to him like sound policy for making himself king. So he carries out the Lord's directions with the greatest possible energy and zeal. However, God's motives were not Jehu's. God was dealing with evil, avenging the blood of His servants, and maintaining His own glory. Jehu was getting rid of all those who could oppose his ambitions. Jehu is very zealous in dealing with evil when it suits his own purpose. But he is quite indifferent to evil when he concludes it is wise policy to leave it alone… He destroys the worship of Baal; he preserves the golden calves.
- Title. The anointing was no mere ceremony. It gave Jehu a title his family had no legal claim to — only God's appointment.
- Set apart. The word came to one man, taken aside into an inner room. David was anointed among his brothers; Jehu was anointed in haste, behind a shut door.
- Sent, not joined. Elisha stayed away and told his messenger to flee. There was to be no show of fellowship where it could not be real.
- Used, not approved. God's use of a man is no proof of His approval. He can lift up a rough instrument without delighting in him. Jehu had zeal, but no repentance.
- Weighed. Jehu struck at evil when it served his ambition and spared it when it did not. He destroyed Baal's worship and kept the golden calves.
And he rose up and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head, and said to him, Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel I have anointed thee king over the people of Jehovah, over Israel.
Elisha's messenger finds Jehu among his fellow officers at Ramoth-gilead, calls him into a private room, and pours oil on his head with a word from God. In moments a serving officer becomes the Lord's appointed king over a nation deep in idolatry — and no one sees it, because the messenger must run.
Israel did not anoint every new king, and this may not even have been Jehu's first anointing. One writer explains when Israel used the ceremony, and why Jehu's case called for it:
Twenty years before, Elijah had probably anointed Jehu (1 Kings 19:16), just as Samuel anointed David long before the people anointed him (2 Sam. 2:4). The anointing of the king over Israel was not an established custom or rule. It was done when the circumstances were out of the ordinary, or when there might be some question about his title to the crown… "In Jehu's case, the kingdom of Israel was to be moved out of the direct line of the family of Ahab into another family. That family had no legal right to the kingdom. It had only the appointment of God. So his anointing was necessary, both to give him a title and to put him in actual possession of the kingdom" (Burder).
No crowd, no trumpet — only a young stranger, a flask, and a shut door. That privacy carries a lesson about how God hands out thrones:
The private anointing of Jehu 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 those that exist have been instituted 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.
Place this anointing beside the one Samuel performed on David:
Because it is a scene of judgment, how different it is from the anointing of David! Here this son of the prophets must make Jehu rise up "from among his brothers." He must lead him far from all eyes into "an inner chamber." He must anoint him without witnesses, in haste and in secret. Samuel, on the other hand, anoints David king of grace "in the midst of his brothers". They do not sit down at the table until he arrives, and this family feast brings them together for a shared meal… Jehu is God's rod against Israel and Judah. God cannot have communion with an instrument of judgment, however necessary it may be.
The errand was Elisha's, but the hand that poured was not:
The anointing of Jehu (2 Kings 9) fits more closely what we might expect from the command the Lord gave to Elijah. But Elisha declines to act himself, and has his mission carried out by one of the sons of the prophets. Is this not striking proof that the character of Elisha is one of grace and not of judgment? The word of God must be fulfilled, but not at the cost of the character of grace which the prophet bore.
The oil on Jehu's head came with a job and with the strength to do it. It did not come with nearness to God:
God put Jehu under the responsibility of specific instructions, and gave him power to carry them out. If God lays a responsibility on anyone, He does not withhold the power needed to carry it out — as long as that person looks to Him and counts on it. But power does not of itself set us in communion with God, or keep us in His presence. We see this in the history of Jehu, for did not power mark him right through? Yet the spirit in which he fulfilled his mission was most offensive to God.
God's commission and Jehu's own ambition ran along the same track for a while:
To reach the throne was entirely in line with the ambitions of Jehu… However, God's motives were not Jehu's. God was dealing with evil, avenging the blood of His servants, and maintaining His own glory. Jehu was getting rid of all those who could oppose his ambitions… Jehu is very zealous in dealing with evil when it suits his own purpose, but quite indifferent to evil when he decides it is wiser to leave it alone… He destroys the worship of Baal; he preserves the golden calves.
- Word first. Jehu had no legal claim to the crown; the appointment of God, spoken aloud, was his whole title.
- Oil next. The anointing both gave him the title and put him in actual possession of the kingdom.
- Door shut. The messenger draws him away from his brothers and anoints him without witnesses. God will not share fellowship with the instrument of His judgment.
- Grace withdraws. Elisha sends another man instead of pouring the oil himself. The word is fulfilled, and his character of grace stays intact.
- Heart untouched. God supplies the power for every responsibility He assigns. But power is not communion. Jehu tore down Baal and left the golden calves standing.
And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master; and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of Jehovah at the hand of Jezebel.
Elisha's years of miracles have not turned Israel back to God, so the prophet sends a young man to anoint Jehu king. With the throne comes a commission: strike the house of Ahab, so that God can settle an old account for the blood Jezebel shed.
The anointing of Jehu comes at the end of a long ministry of mercy that Israel refused.
The mighty miracles of Elisha — the witnesses of the grace of God to a guilty nation — have all been in vain. Israel refuses to turn from idols to the living God. The prophet may weep over the sorrows coming on the nation. He may foretell their miseries. God may use him to appoint the instruments that will carry out judgment. But though he lives to a great age, we hear of miracles no more.
Another writer describes the moment when mercy gives way to judgment:
The time had now come for God to judge the house of Ahab. Elisha's ministry was marked above all by grace. Yet he was the vessel God chose to approve those avenging forces in Syria and in Israel, and to put His own authority behind them. They were to sweep all before them... In the many mercies Israel and Syria had known, mercy was debating with judgment. Now judgment must have its way.
The message to Jehu came in two parts, and this verse is the second of them.
The young man had two announcements to make to Jehu; first, that the Lord had anointed him to be "king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel." Second, he was to smite the house of Ahab, and thus avenge the blood of the servants, and prophets, of the Lord, shed by the wicked Jezebel.
One writer connects this moment to Naboth, the man Ahab and Jezebel had murdered for his vineyard:
At last, after more than fifteen years' delay, the blood of Naboth was about to be repaid. Like Abel's blood, it had been crying out from the ground for vengeance. God, when judging men, is never in haste. He allowed Jezebel to outlive, not only her husband, but his two successors.
The principle reaches beyond Ahab's household.
This young man reveals to Jehu the unsparing judgment upon the house of Ahab. The motive for this judgment was the way in which this king, urged on by Jezebel, had treated the servants of the Lord and His prophets. In fact, the time always comes when the Lord remembers what was done earlier to "His brothers," whether in Israel or in the Christian assembly.
Elisha does not go himself. He sends a young man to represent him.
Here the young man was to faithfully represent the one who had sent him. There were reasons, as we have seen, why Elisha could not go himself. There was to be no show of fellowship where it could not be real. Jehu was a vessel in whom God could take no delight, and neither could His servant. Yet God still gave Jehu specific instructions, held him responsible for them, and gave him the power to carry them out.
The task God gave and the throne Jehu wanted pointed the same direction.
Reaching the throne matched Jehu's own ambitions exactly. Striking down the house of Ahab looked to him like a sound policy for making himself king... However, God's motives were not Jehu's. God was dealing with evil, avenging the blood of his servants, and maintaining His own glory. Jehu was getting rid of all those who could oppose his ambitions. Jehu is very zealous against evil when it suits his own purpose. He is completely indifferent to evil when he decides it is more convenient to leave it alone.
Being God's chosen instrument did not put Jehu beyond God's own reckoning.
God takes into account not only what men do, but why they do it. Jehu carried out the Lord's judgment on the house of Ahab and on all his guilty partners. He left none of them alive. God also used him to punish Jezebel's wickedness in Jezreel. But he carried out the Lord's just judgments with great severity, and he had selfish reasons of his own for being so harsh. That was far from acceptable. So He says through the prophet Hosea, "in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel" (Hos. 1:4).
- Mercy first. Years of grace through Elisha came before any sword. Judgment only "has its way" after Israel refuses to turn.
- Mercy spent. The prophet who once worked miracles now only names the instruments of judgment. After this, the miracles stop.
- Blood remembered. God strikes Ahab's house for the blood of His servants and prophets. The long delay was not forgetfulness, for He "is never in haste."
- Power given. Jehu received a crown, a commission, and the power to carry it out. He was given no real fellowship with the prophet who sent the message.
- Motive weighed. God counts not only what a man does, but why he does it. Jehu did the right work with a selfish heart, and Hosea says the same reckoning would fall on his own house.
And the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, and him that is shut up and left in Israel.
The message that reaches Jehu, an army commander at Ramoth-gilead, is not a promotion but a death sentence on a whole royal family, down to the last male, slave or free. Two questions follow: what was the crime, and why did God wait so long?
The sentence answers a murder. One writer sees the long gap between the crime and the punishment as deliberate:
At last, after more than fifteen years of delay, the blood of Naboth, crying like Abel's for vengeance from the ground, was about to be repaid. God, when He judges men, is never in a hurry. He allowed Jezebel to outlive not only her husband but his two successors. Clearly she had no power to keep up her old high-handed ways after Ahab's death. Part of her punishment was to live and watch his dynasty fall, and the wiping out of his house and hers begin.
Elijah had already delivered both the charge and the sentence, years earlier, in Naboth's vineyard:
Ahab wanted Naboth's vineyard. Naboth refused to give up the inheritance God had given his fathers, so Jezebel had him killed and told Ahab to take the vineyard. Elijah met him there and said that dogs would lick his blood where they had licked Naboth's blood. The dogs would also eat Jezebel, and Ahab's house would be cut off. Ahab humbled himself before God, and God delayed the full end of his house until his son's days... Later, in battle against Syria, an arrow shot at random struck Ahab between the joints of his armour, and he died. Elijah's prediction came true. Grace had lingered over this poor idolater, for he was an Israelite; but he died unrepentant, and his whole house was soon to perish.
The threat was not new. God had already ended two royal houses with the same words, and one writer follows the line forward:
The whole house of Ahab was to perish like Jeroboam's (1 Kings 14:10) and Baasha's (1 Kings 16:3)... And now the hour of execution had come. The day is coming when the Lord will judge this world. Then, above all, Jezebel (Rev. 2:20) will receive her judgment — Babylon the Great, the mother of prostitutes and abominations of the earth, drunk with the blood of the saints.
"The whole house" means the whole house. The phrase "bond or free" covers slave and free man alike. No one of any rank would be left. Jehu himself pointed to that completeness as proof of who was at work:
"Know now that nothing of the word of the Lord which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab shall fall to the earth; for the Lord has done what He spoke by His servant Elijah." So Jehu killed all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel. He killed all his great men, his close friends, and his priests, until he left him none remaining. So the word of the Lord came true to the last detail.
God's command and Jehu's ambition pointed the same way. That did not make them the same thing:
To reach the throne was entirely in line with Jehu's ambitions. Wiping out the house of Ahab looked to Jehu like a sound way to make himself king. So he carries out the Lord's directions with the greatest possible energy and zeal. However, God's motives were not Jehu's. God was dealing with evil, avenging the blood of His servants, and maintaining His own glory. Jehu was getting rid of everyone who could oppose his ambitions. He is very eager to deal with evil when it suits his own purpose. He is quite indifferent to evil when he decides it is wiser to leave it alone... He destroys the worship of Baal; he preserves the golden calves.
Being God's instrument gave Jehu no cover. God later judged the judge:
While God uses Jehu to carry out judgment on Jezreel, He still says through the prophet Hosea, "I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu; and will bring to an end the kingdom of the house of Israel" (Hosea 1:4).
- Blood. Naboth's murder was the charge, along with the blood of the Lord's servants. That blood cried from the ground like Abel's until God repaid it.
- Delay. God is never in a hurry. Ahab's humbling pushed the sentence into his son's day. Delay is not cancellation.
- Pattern. Ahab's house was to end like Jeroboam's and Baasha's. One writer sees the same judgment reaching on to Jezebel in Revelation.
- Fulfilment. Not one word God spoke through Elijah fell to the ground. Jehu left the house of Ahab with no one remaining.
- Instrument. Jehu did the right work with wrong motives. He destroyed the worship of Baal but kept the golden calves. Hosea says God later avenged Jezreel's blood on Jehu's own house.
And I will make the house of Ahab as the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and as the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah.
God tells Jehu that Ahab's family will end the way two earlier royal families ended: Jeroboam's and Baasha's. The comparison is the point — God had already carried out this sentence twice, and Israel's kings had not learned from it.
The two names in the verse point back to two families already wiped out.
This judgment had to end the dynasty of Omri, to fulfil the sentence pronounced on Ahab. For the same reason the Lord had already put an end to the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat (1 Kings 15:28-30), and to that of Baasha (1 Kings 16:1-4). Each time He repeated the dreadful word: "Anyone who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone who dies in the open country the birds of the heavens shall eat" (1 Kings 14:11; 1 Kings 16:4; 1 Kings 21:24).
For an Israelite, that comparison carried a weight we can miss today. It meant the end of the family line.
So the house of Baasha, like that of Jeroboam before him, became extinct — to Jewish minds the greatest disaster that could overtake a man.
Baasha is the sharpest warning in the verse. God used him to destroy Jeroboam's family. Then he received the same sentence he had carried out.
He sinned as Jeroboam did, though he had been the one who carried out God's judgment on the descendants of the wicked king. He had not heard the Lord's voice speaking in the events of the past... He followed the fate of Jeroboam and Rehoboam, and now the fate of his house would also be the fate of Baasha, who had executed the divine sentence. "I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat." Such is divine justice.
Ahab had heard this same sentence years earlier, from Elijah. Then nothing happened for a long time.
More than fifteen years had passed since the Lord, 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 a hurry to carry out His threatened judgments. The day is surely coming when the Lord will judge this world.
Jehu was the man God used to carry this out. He was thorough with Ahab's house and selective everywhere else.
God's motives were not Jehu's. God was dealing with evil, avenging the blood of His servants, and maintaining His own glory. Jehu was getting rid of everyone who could oppose his ambitions. He was full of zeal against evil when it suited his own purpose, and quite indifferent to evil when he decided it was better to leave it alone. So he ruthlessly avenges the sins of the house of Ahab, while leaving untouched the sins of the house of Jeroboam. He destroys the worship of Baal; he preserves the golden calves.
Being God's instrument did not shield Jehu any more than it had shielded Baasha.
If God has to deal in judgment, it is work that is strange to Him. If Jehu takes up dealing with evil, it is a task he enjoys. So God uses Jehu to carry out judgment at Jezreel. Yet He still says, through the prophet Hosea, "I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel" (Hosea 1:4).
In the end, Jehu himself pointed back to the word that had announced all of this.
"Know then that there shall fall to the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab; for the Lord has done what He said through His servant Elijah. So Jehu struck down all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel... until he left him none remaining." So the word of the Lord came true to the last detail.
- Word spoken. Elijah announced the sentence on Ahab's house years before Jehu was anointed to carry it out.
- Word patterned. Naming Jeroboam and Baasha shows God had already carried out this sentence twice. In Israel's eyes, the end of a man's line was the worst disaster of all.
- Word ignored. Baasha destroyed Jeroboam's house and then inherited Jeroboam's doom. He "had not heard the Lord's voice speaking in the events of the past."
- Word delayed. More than fifteen years of silence changed nothing. God "is never in a hurry to carry out His threatened judgments."
- Word fulfilled. Jehu's zeal served God's purpose and his own ambition, so God judged Jehu's house in turn. Still, nothing of God's word "concerning the house of Ahab" fell to the ground.
And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the plot of Jizreel, and none shall bury her. And he opened the door and fled.
The young prophet's message to Jehu ends not with a crown but with a corpse: the last words over the new king are about Ahab's queen. Why did God name the place of her death in advance, why did He wait so long to act, and why did He choose a man like Jehu to do it?
Jehu's anointing came with orders, and Jezebel's fate was the last item in them. One writer notes how fitting the chosen man was:
More than this, "the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall 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.
The verse ends with the messenger running out the door. That flight was part of his orders:
Elisha told this young prophet to deliver his message and leave (v.3). The young man did as he was told.
God gives the reason for this judgment in the same message. It reaches past one royal house:
The reason for this judgment was how this king, urged on by Jezebel, had treated the Lord's servants and His prophets. And the time always comes when the Lord calls to mind what was done earlier to "His brethren," whether in Israel or in the Christian assembly.
Modern readers hear a household pet. The first hearers thought of a street scavenger, and the word carried contempt:
Scripture constantly refers to the dog as an unclean and low animal... They were, and still are, the scavengers of Eastern cities. People throw all their rubbish into the streets and the dogs eat it. It was the dogs who ate the body of Jezebel, and licked up the blood of Naboth and of Ahab.
God does not just say she will die. He names the ground. One writer, quoting an older wording that reads "the portion of Jezreel" where the ESV has "the territory," reads that ground as part of the sentence:
"And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel" — the portion of sin, of covetousness and blood.
This sentence stood for a long time before anyone acted on it. The delay was not forgetfulness:
At last, after more than fifteen years' delay, the blood of Naboth, crying, like Abel's, for vengeance from the ground, was about to be requited. God, when judging men, is never in haste. He allowed Jezebel to outlive, not only her husband, but his two successors. After Ahab's death she clearly had no power left for her old high-handed ways. Part of her punishment was to live and see his royal line overthrown, and the wiping out of his house and hers begun.
Later, Jehu orders Jezebel buried out of respect for her royal birth. He cannot make it happen:
Jehu had heard that word only a short time before. He plainly meant to carry out his commission to the letter. But how little any man, good or bad, carries out the word of God. Now the old respect for one who was a queen — a king's daughter — seems to rise in his mind, and he says, "Bury her, for she is a king's daughter." But the word of God had already given its own command. And they went to bury her. Their purpose was to obey him. In vain. They found nothing of her but the skull, the feet, and the palms of her hands.
The name Jezebel comes back later in the Bible. One writer follows this sentence forward to the world's last judgment:
God will judge in the end, though He is never in haste to carry out the judgments He has threatened. The day is surely coming when the Lord will judge this world. Then above all Jezebel (Rev. 2:20) — Babylon the Great, the mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations, drunk with the blood of the saints — will receive her judgment.
- Crime. God's sentence answers what Ahab and Jezebel did to His prophets and servants. He still calls to mind what people do to His own.
- Place. God names Jezreel on purpose. Ground taken by covetousness and blood becomes the ground where He settles the account.
- Delay. More than fifteen years passed while Jezebel outlived her husband and the two kings after him. God is never in haste, and never in doubt.
- Instrument. Jehu was just the kind of man for this work, and God knew it when He chose him.
- Certainty. When Jehu ordered her buried, burial proved impossible. The word stood even against the will of the man appointed to carry it out.
And Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord. And one said to him, Is all well? why came this madman to thee? And he said to them, Ye know the man, and his mind.
A young prophet has just poured oil on Jehu's head and named him king. Jehu steps out, and his fellow officers sneer at the visitor as a madman. Their question, and Jehu's guarded reply, show how God's messenger looks to men of the world — and how fast those same men will use his message when it suits them.
The officers pick one word for the prophet: madman. One commentator stops on that word and traces the same scorn from this camp to the apostles.
Jehu then comes out. The captains ask in astonishment what he had to do with that "mad fellow" — a word we do well to think about. For that is how a prophet appeared! A true prophet of the LORD! This is how he looked to the eye of the men of the world: a mad fellow. The world in Israel was just the same as it was later in the days of the apostles. The apostle puts it with deep feeling: they were held up as the scum of all men.
The soldiers thought they were the sensible ones. Yet they crowned Jehu on the spot with no idea what had happened behind the door. The man they insulted knew God's mind and the reason for it.
As soon as Jehu had received the anointing oil, all the captains hailed him as king. Nothing was arranged beforehand, for they do not know what the prophet they call a fool had just done. Were they the wise men here? They had no understanding, no reasoning, no choice in the matter, yet they sound the trumpet and say: Jehu is king. And the one who had just proclaimed God's mind, young as he was, and knowing full well why, they called a fool or an imbecile.
Jehu answers that they know the man and his talk. They brush that aside and press him until he tells them everything. What they do next shows what men will do with a word from God when it serves them.
Jehu answers, "You know the fellow and his talk." The man and his message were well known on the outside; how little they were known within! They said, "That is not true; tell us now." He tells it out plainly. Jehu was not a man to keep a secret… The very men who despised the prophet were quite willing to act on the prophecy. Such is the spirit of man. The reason is clear. It suited their ambition. It also fitted what even they could not help feeling in conscience — for man has a conscience, whatever the wickedness of his life.
The word they had scorned still carried God's authority, and Jehu acted on it.
So then they at once proclaim Jehu king at the word of the very one they had just branded as "that mad fellow." And Jehu begins to act against his master: he now had God's authority for it. The God who had raised up the king had every right to cast him down… Jehu needed this extraordinary act of the prophet. It let him go forward. It gave confidence to him and to the people around him.
The same scorn still falls today on anyone who tells people plainly what God has said about what is coming.
In our own day we often see the same strange thing. The Christian knows the thoughts of God. He can announce them to people fully and in detail — the events that the world will be the stage for. Those who are wise call such Christians fools. One day their eyes will be opened — too late — and they will admit that what was announced to them was true.
The other option is to trim the message until the world approves of it. One writer notes that the apostle himself faced the same charge.
The great source of deception is the effort to stand well with the world by fitting Christianity to the wisdom of this world. The servant who will stand for the truth must be content to become a fool in the eyes of the world. Then, indeed, he will have the true wisdom according to God. It was so with the apostle. The worldly Festus could say to him, "You are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind."
- Mad — "Mad fellow" was the world's verdict on a genuine messenger of God, and the same label later fell on the apostles.
- Blind — The officers mocked the prophet's sanity, then crowned Jehu with no idea what had happened. Only the man they called a fool knew God's mind.
- Useful — They despised the messenger, yet they acted on his message. It suited their ambition and matched what their conscience already felt.
- Authorised — God's authority stood behind the word they scorned. The anointing gave Jehu and his men the confidence to move.
- Costly — To stand for the truth, you must accept the world's verdict of madness now. Softening the message to keep the world's approval is self-deception.
And they said, It is false! tell us now. And he said, Thus and thus spoke he to me saying, Thus saith Jehovah I have anointed thee king over Israel.
Jehu comes back out to the army officers who have just mocked the young prophet. They want to know what the man said. His answer will make him king within minutes.
Jehu's first answer tells them nothing. They call it a lie and press him, and out comes the whole message.
Jehu answers, "You know the fellow and his talk." They were well known outwardly; how little inwardly! They said, "That is not true; tell us now." He tells it plainly out. Jehu was not a man to keep a secret. "Then they hurried and each of them took his garment and put it under him on the bare steps, and they blew the trumpet and proclaimed, 'Jehu is king.'" The very men who despised the prophet were quite willing to act on the prophecy. Such is the spirit of man.
Minutes earlier these officers had written the prophet off. Rossier asks who the real fool was.
Jehu had only just received the anointing oil when all the captains hailed him as king. No one had arranged anything beforehand, for they do not know what the prophet they call a fool had just done. Were they wise men themselves? They sound the trumpet and say: Jehu is king — with no understanding, no reasoning it out, and no choice in the matter. Yet the young prophet had just announced God's mind and knew exactly why, and they called him a fool or an idiot.
Jehu's whole claim rests on what the prophet said. Kelly explains why that anointing made him more than a rebel.
So they at once proclaim Jehu king, at the word of the very man they had just branded "this mad fellow." And Jehu begins to act against his master. He now had God's authority for it. The God who had raised up the king had every right to bring him down. So Jehu was thoroughly right to act on the anointing of the prophet. One after another, many men overturned the kingdom in Israel. It is remarkable that Jehu is the only one of them who was anointed... Jehu needed this extraordinary act of the prophet. It enabled him to go forward and gave confidence to him and to the people around him. God was pleased to invest him in this way.
Kelly notes what stirred them. They cared nothing for God's glory, but "their spirit rose against the unrighteousness which was now enthroned."
Jehu had every reason to pass the message on. Hamilton Smith sets Jehu's motives beside God's.
Reaching the throne was entirely in line with the ambitions of Jehu. Striking down the house of Ahab would look to Jehu like sound policy for making himself secure as king. So he carries out the directions of the Lord with the greatest possible energy and zeal. But God's motives were not Jehu's. God was dealing with evil, avenging the blood of His servants, and maintaining His own glory. Jehu was getting rid of all who could oppose his ambitions. Jehu is very zealous in dealing with evil when it suits his own purpose, but quite indifferent to evil when he decides it is better policy to leave it alone.
Rossier puts it more sharply. Jehu's ambition "takes advantage of the word of Jehovah to assure himself of full power." He covers that self-interest "with a cloak which he calls 'zeal for Jehovah.'"
Rossier does not leave this scene in the past. He sees the same thing among us now.
In our own days we can often see the same strange thing. The Christian knows the thoughts of God and can announce them to people in full and in detail. These are the events for which the world will be the stage. Those who are wise call them fools. One day their eyes will open — but too late — and they will acknowledge the truth of what was announced to them.
- Word despised. The officers called the prophet a madman. Kelly warns that the world's scorn will always match how far we have entered into the mind of God.
- Word demanded. Their own scorn did not stop them pressing Jehu for the message — and he "tells it plainly out."
- Word authorised. No other man who seized Israel's throne had this: God's own warrant. The God who raised up the king had every right to bring him down.
- Word exploited. Jehu obeyed with full energy, but for his own ends. God's motives were never Jehu's.
- Word vindicated. The men who called the prophet a fool crowned his message minutes later. The same pattern runs today, until scornful eyes open — "but too late."
Then they hasted and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the very stairs, and blew with trumpets, and said, Jehu is king!
A prophet had just anointed Jehu in secret, and the officers outside had no idea what had happened. Minutes later they were spreading their cloaks under him and blowing trumpets — so why did they obey a messenger they had mocked, and what kind of man were they crowning?
The word behind "the bare steps" is an ordinary word for going up.
Exodus 20:26 uses the same word for the steps of an altar. 1 Kings 10:19 uses it of a throne, 2 Kings 9:13 of the stairs, and 2 Kings 20:9 of the degrees of a sundial. … The word it comes from means simply to go up — to ascend.
Spreading clothes under a man's feet was an old way of honouring a king. Scripture shows it again on the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem.
Every man took his garment and put it under him on the bare steps (an ancient custom, see Matthew 21:7).
The trumpet blast made the crowning public. Writers link this moment to the later crowning of Joash in Judah.
So too in 2 Kings 9:13 we have the officers recognising Jehu as king, and in 2 Kings 11:14 and 2 Chronicles 23:13 Joash proclaimed king.
There is no plotting and no council of war. The prophet pours the oil, and the shout goes up at once.
We see here how God has the upper hand in all events and over all men when the moment to carry out His decrees has come. Jehu had barely received the anointing oil when all the captains acclaimed him as king. There were no preparations of any kind. They did not even know what the prophet — the man they call a fool — had just done.
Moments earlier these officers had sneered at the messenger. Now they crown the man he anointed. Kelly finds two reasons.
The very men who despised the prophet were quite willing to act on the prophecy. Such is the spirit of man. The reason is obvious. It suited their ambition. It also matched what even they could not help feeling in conscience — for man has a conscience, whatever the wickedness of his life. And they knew well that what was going on, in Judah and in Israel alike, was completely contrary to God.
Israel's throne had changed hands by violence again and again. This time God appointed the man.
The God who had raised up the king was perfectly entitled to cast him down. Jehu, therefore, was entirely right to act on the prophet's anointing. And it is remarkable: many men overturned the kingdom in Israel, one after another, but Jehu alone was anointed. … Jehu needed this extraordinary act of the prophet. It enabled him to go forward, and it gave confidence both to him and to the men around him.
God's commission was real. The man carrying it out was not clean, and God said so plainly.
God, in His righteous judgment, used Jehu to deal with the wicked house of Ahab. But He was not blind to the mixed motives that drove Jehu. In carrying out the vengeance of the Lord, Jehu was simply indulging his own cruel heart for his own ends. If God has to deal in judgment, it is His strange work. If Jehu undertakes to deal with evil, it is a task he enjoys. So while God uses Jehu to execute judgment on Jezreel, He says through the prophet Hosea, "I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel" (Hosea 1:4).
Gaebelein hears in this shout an echo of a greater crowning still ahead.
Jehu revealed the secret anointing as King over Israel, and under the blare of the trumpets the army hails him as King. "Jehu is King!" Oh, for that day when our Lord Jesus will be hailed as King to begin His righteous judgment over the earth.
- Word. The officers called the messenger a fool. Minutes later they were acting on his word, and the kingdom changed hands.
- Oil. The anointing, not the army, gave Jehu his title. Many men seized Israel's throne, but only Jehu was anointed, and that gave him and his men the confidence to act.
- Shout. Garments underfoot and trumpets marked a crowning — the same honour the crowds later gave Jesus as He entered Jerusalem.
- Motive. Ambition and a guilty conscience can both push a man to obey God's word. God used Jehu's zeal, then judged the heart behind it.
- King. The cry "Jehu is king" is a faint echo of the day the earth will hail Christ as King and His righteous judgment begins.
And Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram kept Ramoth-Gilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria;
A prophet had just promised Jehu the throne, and now his plot against the reigning king breaks into the open. Behind it stands God's judgment on the house of Ahab — and a hard question: how can God use a man whose aims are not His own?
The verse leaves the army on guard at Ramoth-gilead against Hazael. One writer sets out where the king — Joram, also called Jehoram — was at that moment, and what the timing shows.
Jehoram of Israel was wounded in battle. He had just left Ramoth-Gilead, where Hazael had held him off, and had gone to Jezreel to be healed of his wounds. Meanwhile the captains of his army stayed at Ramoth and held on to this important post, which the kings of Israel rightly claimed. Here we see how God has the upper hand over all events and all men when the moment comes to carry out His decrees.
The same writer then presses the point with a string of questions that have only one answer.
And who has made all these circumstances work together to this result? Who made Jehoram leave Ramoth, and leave Jehu and his captains behind? Who led him to Jezreel, the scene of Ahab's sin? Who led him to Naboth's vineyard in his chariot? Who left him lying there outside the city in the very place where the blood of this righteous man had flowed? One cannot mistake it; it is the hand of the Lord.
Ramoth-gilead has a history of its own. It was a city of refuge, fought over again and again, and the meeting point of an alliance between Judah and Israel that God hated.
Jehoshaphat, Ahaziah's grandfather, had made an alliance with Ahab to retake Ramoth-Gilead, which had fallen to the king of Syria. In the same way Ahaziah of Judah made an alliance with Jehoram of Israel, Ahab's son, to make war on Hazael, king of Syria, at Ramoth-Gilead, a city of refuge (Deut. 4:43)… This alliance with the kings of Israel was detestable to the Lord. Jehoram of Israel met the same fate at Ramoth as Ahab, whom the Syrians had wounded at that same place (1 Kings 22:34)… After opposing Hazael, God's rod against Israel, Ahaziah lays himself open to the blows of Jehu, God's second rod, raised against his ally.
The order matters. Jehu is made king first, and the plot follows. What he does next shows the kind of man he is.
Note that Jehu does not conspire against Jehoram until he has been proclaimed king. He then acts at once to stop any news of what had happened from reaching the king in Jezreel (v. 15)… He cleverly ties his accomplices into a shared responsibility, so that if the plan fails, the blame cannot all fall on him… But here we can also see his lack of piety and of dependence on God. We see his ambition too, using the word of the Lord to secure full power for himself.
Jehu believed the message and acted on it. What he lacked was any reverence in the doing of it.
When the prophet of the Lord tells him that the throne will soon be his, he listens. He may well have been sincere in believing that the Lord was God, and he was quite ready to honour Him when his own interest agreed with his convictions… Still, his vengeance has no fear of the Lord in it; it comes from the flesh (see Hosea 1:4).
His zeal went only as far as his own advantage went.
Jehu is full of zeal against evil when it suits his own purpose. He is indifferent to evil when he decides it is smart policy to leave it alone. So he avenges the sins of the house of Ahab without mercy, while leaving the sins of the house of Jeroboam untouched. He destroys the worship of Baal; he keeps the golden calves.
Being used by God is not the same as being approved by God, and this chapter's executioner later stands where Ahab stood.
When God has to deal in judgment, it is His strange work. When Jehu deals with evil, the task suits him well. So, even while God uses Jehu to carry out judgment on Jezreel, He says through the prophet Hosea, "I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel" (Hosea 1:4).
- Word — a prophet promised Jehu the throne, and Jehu listened; the plot begins with a word from God, which Jehu then turns to his own advantage.
- Circumstance — a battle wound, a king away at Jezreel, an army left at its post. Behind this ordinary-looking history is the hand of the Lord.
- Conspiracy — Jehu plots only after he is proclaimed king, then spreads the risk among his officers. He is shrewd, but he does not lean on God.
- Motive — he honoured the Lord where it matched his own interest, yet his vengeance came from the flesh: he struck down Baal and spared the golden calves.
- Reckoning — the man God used at Jezreel is later judged for Jezreel. Being useful in God's hand is never the same as fearing Him.