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.
and king Joram had returned to be healed in Jizreel of the wounds that the Syrians had given him, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria.) And Jehu said, If it be your will, let not a fugitive escape out of the city to go to tell [it] in Jizreel.
A wounded king lies recovering in Jezreel. Miles away at Ramoth-gilead, the army he left behind has just crowned another man. Jehu's first order as king is to seal the city so that no messenger reaches Jezreel. It raises the question that runs through the whole chapter: when God commissions a man, how much of what follows is God's plan, and how much is the man's own?
The first half of the verse says why Joram was away from his own army. He had gone back to Jezreel to heal from wounds taken fighting Hazael. One writer sees God's hand in the timing.
During this time the captains of his army were at Ramoth, still holding and guarding this important post, which the kings of Israel rightly claimed. We see here how God has the upper hand in all events and over all men when the time has come to carry out His decrees. Jehu had only just received the anointing oil when all the captains hailed him as king. No one had arranged anything beforehand, for they did not know what the prophet they call a fool had just done.
Jehu frames his order as a proposal, not a command. The ESV reads "if this is your decision"; older translations read "if this is your mind." One writer explains the sense of that word:
"Mind," in the sense of will or intention, not of the understanding: 1 Samuel 2:35, 2 Kings 9:15.
He asks for their will, not their opinion. One writer finds calculation in that request.
Note that Jehu does not conspire against Joram until after he has been proclaimed king. He then at once takes steps so that the king in Jezreel hears no news of what has happened. Jehu's character is worth studying closely: great impulsiveness joined with much caution, decisiveness, and an understanding of how people work… He draws his accomplices into shared responsibility with great skill, so that if the plan fails they cannot lay the whole blame on him.
Another writer reads the same words the same way, and links the habit to the man's whole temperament — bold to judge others, blind to himself.
He had no idea of what humility means, no spirit of self-judgment at all, but full of bold willingness to judge others, and he proceeded immediately to do such work.
Cutting the road to Jezreel is treason — unless the anointing at Ramoth-gilead counts for something. One writer says it does.
And Jehu begins to act then against his master: he had now God's authority for it. The God who had raised the king up had every right to cast him down. So Jehu was entirely right to act on the prophet's anointing. It is remarkable that many men, one after another, overturned the kingdom in Israel, and Jehu is the only one of them who was anointed… Jehu needed this extraordinary act of the prophet to move forward. It gave him confidence, and it gave confidence to the people around him.
Jehu seals the road to a city where an old debt of blood is still unpaid.
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. He allowed Jezebel to outlive not only her husband but his two successors.
God's commission and Jehu's ambition pointed the same way. That is what makes him hard to read.
Reaching the throne fitted Jehu's own ambitions exactly. Striking down the house of Ahab looked to him like a sound way to make himself secure as 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… He is very zealous in dealing with evil when it suits his own purpose, but quite indifferent to evil when he decides it is good policy to leave it alone. He destroys the worship of Baal; he preserves the golden calves.
One writer puts the warning bluntly: God using a man does not mean God approves him.
God's employment of a man is by no means the seal of God's approval of his person… Whatever his zeal, and however right his action was, up to a point, according to the sovereign will of God, he had no brokenness of spirit.
- Timing. Joram's wound took the king away from his own camp just as the oil was poured. God has the upper hand over all events when His moment arrives.
- Authority. Of all the men who seized Israel's throne, only Jehu received the anointing — and the God who raises a king up has the right to cast him down.
- Wording. The word behind "if this is your decision" means will or intention — Jehu asks for the officers' will, and so ties them to the risk with him.
- Patience. Naboth's blood had waited more than fifteen years for payment. God is never in haste when He judges.
- Warning. Energy in God's errand is not proof of God's approval — Jehu had zeal and no brokenness of spirit.