And Jehu came to Jizreel; and Jezebel heard of it, and she put paint to her eyes, and decked her head, and looked out at the window.
A prophet had already said that dogs would eat Jezebel in Jezreel, and now Jehu is at the gate of that city. Her answer is paint, styled hair, and a window — a gesture commentators read in more than one way.
The verse says more than that she made up her face. A dictionary of Bible words explains what she used:
Jezebel "painted her eyes," as 2 Kings 9:30 should read. Israel is compared to an immoral woman who painted her eyes (Ezekiel 23:40)... The eyelids and eyebrows were painted with antimony or some other pigment. This made the eyes look larger. Small bottles and the short sticks used to apply the moistened powder have been found in the tombs of Egypt.
She had time to prepare for what was coming, and she spent it on the wrong thing:
Her innate vanity showed itself right up to the last. She probably knew her end had come. But instead of preparing her soul, she adorned her body — soon to be eaten by dogs. She darkened her brows and eyelashes with antimony, as was the Eastern custom, so that she might look queenly and beautiful even in death.
Commentators differ on her motive. One reads the paint as an attempt at influence over the man riding into the city:
When she heard that Jehu had come to Jezreel she put paint on her eyes, adorned her head and looked through a window. Did she think she could impress Jehu this way?
Another rules that out on grounds of her age, and reads the paint as a gesture of rank:
She painted her face to make herself look beautiful. Did she try to attract Jehu? Hardly that, for she was an old woman, having a grandson twenty-two years old (2 Kings 8:26). It was a proud defiance — she would meet death like a queen.
The paint and the window belong with the words she throws down in the next verse. She acts as though she still holds power:
Jezebel hears of it and paints her face and decks her head in savage confidence of triumph. She wants to show him that she does not fear him or his company, for she still has authority and power. From high up in the window she flings these mocking words down at him: "Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of his master?" Is it peace for you? You are worth no more than Zimri, Baasha's assassin. He managed to reign for seven days after his conspiracy; then he perished.
After she is dead, Jehu softens and orders a burial. What happens next shows whose sentence was actually standing:
Jehu, now at the height of his power, relents a little toward this wicked woman Jezebel... But what had God said? The prophet had said, "The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her." Jehu had heard that word only a short time before... Now the old respect for a queen — a king's daughter — seems to rise in his mind. 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.
Her name and her look reappear in the New Testament:
This New Testament Jezebel matches the woman of 2 Kings 9:30 with the painted face and styled hair, who mixed heathenism with Israel's pure religion. And in her the depths of Satan were to be found!
- Paint. The verse should read that she painted her eyes: lids and brows darkened with antimony to make the eyes look larger.
- Pride. She probably knew her end had come, and she used that time to decorate a body about to be eaten by dogs. She left her soul unprepared.
- Posture. Commentators differ on her motive. Did she hope to impress Jehu, or to die looking like a queen? Either way, the window and the Zimri taunt show defiance, not repentance.
- Powerless. Her old tricks could not save her, and even Jehu's order to bury her came to nothing.
- Pattern. The painted face returns in the New Testament, on a Jezebel who mixed heathenism with pure religion — and in her the depths of Satan were found.
And when Jehu came in at the gate, she said, Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of his master?
Jehu rides into Jezreel to finish the judgment on Ahab's house. The last of that house waits for him at an upstairs window, and she meets her killer not with a plea but with a jeer — a jeer that names an earlier assassin whose reign lasted a week.
News of Jehu's arrival reached her, and she spent the time on her appearance. One writer sets what she could have done beside what she chose:
Her natural vanity showed itself right up to the end. She probably knew her end had come; but instead of preparing her soul, she adorned her body — soon to be eaten by dogs — darkening her brows and eyelashes with antimony, as was the Eastern custom, so that she might look queenly and beautiful even in death.
Commentators differ on what she hoped to gain by it. One reads it as plain vanity. Another reads it as defiance — a queen refusing to look afraid.
Her words are not a greeting. "Zimri" was a name every Israelite knew, and she chose it with care:
As Jehu came in the gate, she insolently called him Zimri, asking him if it was peace. Zimri had killed Elah the son of Baasha while Elah was drinking himself drunk. He seized the throne of Israel. He reigned only seven days and killed himself. Jezebel called Jehu "murderer of your master," but she ignored her own guilt in murdering many people.
So the taunt carries a threat inside the insult. She is not only calling Jehu a traitor; she is reminding him how short a traitor's success lasted last time.
"Is it peace?" sounds like an enquiry. In her mouth it is the opposite. It is sarcasm thrown down from a window:
Jezebel hears of it and paints her face and decks her head in fierce confidence of triumph. She wants to show him that she does not fear him or his company, for she still has authority and power. From high up in the window she flings these mocking words down at him: "Is it peace, you Zimri, murderer of your master?" Is it peace for you? You are worth no more than Zimri, who assassinated Baasha's son. All this contempt echoes in these few words.
Jezebel is the last person with a right to speak about murder. But the man she taunts was serving himself as well as God:
To reach the throne fitted Jehu's own ambitions exactly. To strike the house of Ahab would look to Jehu like sound policy for securing himself as king. So he carries out the Lord's instructions 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 everyone who could oppose his ambitions.
The same writer notes that Jehu destroyed Baal worship but left the golden calves standing. He fought evil when it suited him, and ignored it when it did not.
Her jeer did not shake him. Later, with Jezebel dead, Jehu softened and ordered a royal burial — and could not have it:
Jehu would not be frightened or turned aside from the dreadful commission God had given him... Now the old respect for a queen — a king's daughter — seems to rise in his mind. He says, "Bury her, for she is a king's daughter." But the word of God had already given its own command... They went to bury her. They meant to obey him. It was no use. They found nothing left of her but the skull, the feet and the palms of her hands.
One writer links her with a woman who bears her name in the New Testament:
This New Testament Jezebel is the counterpart of the woman with the painted face and adorned head of 2 Kings 9:30, who mixed heathen religion with Israel's pure religion. In her the depths of Satan were to be found! This need not surprise us. At the end she changes her character somewhat. In Revelation 17 and 18 she comes forth as the woman with Babylon on her forehead, and the enormous evils in her come to the surface.
- Paint — With death at the gate, she dressed her body and left her soul untouched.
- Pride — She chose to meet judgment looking like a queen instead of preparing her soul. That was defiance, not fear.
- Projection — She calls Jehu the murderer of his master and says nothing of the many she murdered herself.
- Precedent — "Zimri" was a threat as much as an insult: seven days on a stolen throne, then ruin.
- Prophecy — God overruled both the taunting queen and the ambitious general. Even Jehu's order to bury her could not undo what God had spoken.
And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? And two or three chamberlains looked out to him.
Jehu has just killed two kings and is riding into Jezreel, and Jezebel is watching him come from an upper window. He does not answer her. He shouts past her, to whoever is standing behind her in the palace. The words he picks reveal the man.
The face Jehu lifts his eyes toward belongs to a queen who has dressed for the occasion. One writer reads her paint and her hair as the last act of a life spent on the wrong things:
Her deep-seated vanity showed itself right to the end. She probably knew her end had come. But instead of preparing her soul, she adorned her body — soon to be eaten by dogs. She darkened her brows and eyelashes with antimony, as was the eastern custom, so that she might appear queenly and beautiful even in death. Her daring spirit, even with her last breath, taunts her killer by reminding him of Zimri's end.
Zimri had murdered his master and then held the throne for only seven days. The taunt is meant to tell Jehu that his own reign will be as short.
Jehu's words have an obvious echo in Scripture, and the echo is not flattering. Moses once called the people to choose a side — and the side he named was not his own:
Jehu called out, "Who is on my side?" (v. 32). Moses had said, "Who is on the Lord's side?" (Ex. 32:26), a much more fitting word than Jehu's. Two or three eunuchs looked out of a window, and he told them, "Throw her down" (v. 33).
He changed one word, and that word changes everything. The men who answer are Jezebel's own attendants. Her household gives her up the moment a stronger man calls.
Jehu was not acting on impulse. He was carrying out a sentence God had already passed. One writer points out what is missing from his shout:
Here we see how much Jehu is a stranger in his thoughts to the honour and the glory of the Lord. All the while he knows the divine decree, and he knows that he is the one carrying it out. One might have expected the words "Who is for the Lord?" to come out of his mouth. But God had little place in the thoughts of this violent and ambitious man.
A man can do the right thing, at the right moment, with the right authority behind him. He can still have himself at the centre of it.
Jehu was no idolater. One writer ties his clear sight about idols to where his own interest lay:
He saw the folly of idolatry: energetic and ambitious, his interest lay on the other side. When the prophet of the Lord announces to him the near possession of the throne, he listens to him. He was perhaps sincere in the conviction that the Lord was God. He was quite ready to honour Him when his interest agreed with his convictions. Ahab's religion had no charm for him.
Here, obedience cost him nothing.
There is a test hidden in this scene. It falls on the man in the chariot, not on the woman at the window. One writer shows that God weighed the motive behind the obedience — and later judged Jehu's own house for this blood:
God, in His righteous judgment, uses Jehu to deal with the wicked house of Ahab. Yet He does not overlook 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 carry out judgment on Jezreel, 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).
- The question. Jehu shouted "Who is on my side?" Moses had shouted "Who is on the Lord's side?" One word changed, and that word exposed a whole heart.
- The knowledge. He knew the decree and knew he was its executor, yet God had almost no place in his thoughts while he carried it out.
- The interest. He was glad to honour the Lord here, because honouring the Lord and gaining a throne pointed the same way.
- The pleasure. Judgment is God's strange work. Jehu enjoyed it — and God later judged his house for this blood.
- The warning. Zeal against evil proves nothing on its own. The test is whose side you name when you call for help.
And he said, Throw her down! And they threw her down; and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses; and he trampled on her.
Queen Jezebel leans from an upper window as Jehu rides into Jezreel. Three words end her life: "Throw her down." Her own servants obey. The verse raises two hard questions. Why did God wait so long? And why does the man carrying out His sentence never once mention Him?
Jehu looks up to the window and calls for anyone on his side. The servants beside Jezebel answer by throwing her down. One writer notices what Jehu did not say, and what he does with the prophecy later:
Here we see how far Jehu's thoughts are from the honour and the glory of the Lord. He knows the divine decree, and he knows that he is the one carrying it out. You might have expected the words "Who is for the Lord?" to come out of his mouth, but God had little place in the thoughts of this violent and ambitious man. Even what Elijah had prophesied about Jezebel — a scene he had been present at — does not come back to his memory. Later his men return, having found nothing but some wretched dog-eaten remains. Then he recalls the prophecy — but only when it agrees with his passions. If it is a matter of governing his conduct by the prophecy, he pays it no attention.
The sentence carried out here was not new. Elijah had announced it years earlier, and nothing had seemed to come of it.
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 the judgments He has threatened.
Once Jezebel is dead, Jehu sends servants to bury her — she was, after all, a king's daughter. But God had already spoken about her burial, and the servants fail.
The will of man has very little to do with the accomplishing of the word of God. Jehu, now at the height of his power, softens a little toward this wicked woman Jezebel. But what had God said? The prophet had said, "The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her." Jehu had heard that word only a short time before, and he showed that he meant to carry out his commission exactly. But how little any man, good or bad, carries out the word of God! Now, it seems, the old feeling of respect for a queen rises in his mind. He says, "Bury her, for she is a king's daughter." But the word of God had already given its own command... They went to bury her. Their intention was to obey him. It was useless.
God had truly commissioned Jehu. That did not make his motives clean. One writer weighs the man as well as the work.
God used Jehu to deal with the wicked house of Ahab. But in His righteous judgment He was not unaware of the mixed motives that drove Jehu. In carrying out the Lord's vengeance, 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 God uses Jehu to execute judgment on 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."
One writer sees Jezebel's evils reproduced in a later religious power, and follows that power to its end.
Revelation shows us "Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations," riding on a scarlet beast. This woman is the final development of Jezebel... She rides on the beast, and this suggests that the religious power will gain considerable influence over the governments at the time of the end. But the harlot's supremacy will be short-lived. The infuriated kings will, when the moment is right, turn on her... Ahab's Jezebel had a gruesome end. That which has reproduced her enormous evils, and practised them in the name of "the holy one, the true one," will have a terrible end also.
- Sentence. Elijah had spoken this verdict more than fifteen years earlier. God is never in a hurry to carry out what He has threatened, but He does carry it out.
- Standing word. Jehu later ordered her buried; God had said none would bury her. Man's intention failed; the word held.
- Servant. Being God's instrument did not clear Jehu's motives. God still judged Jehu's own house for the blood of Jezreel.
- Shadow. Jezebel's evils live on in a later religious power, and her end is a preview of its end.
And he came in, and ate and drank; and he said, Go, look, I pray you, after this cursed [woman], and bury her; for she is a king's daughter.
Jezebel's body lies in the street outside, and Jehu walks inside to eat. Only after the meal does he think of burial. His reason is that she was a king's daughter. Can a man honour the dead while ignoring the God who sentenced them?
The order of Jehu's actions matters as much as the actions themselves.
Not many men would feel like eating after such work. But Jehu went inside to eat and drink, leaving Jezebel's body lying on the street. Only after satisfying his own appetite did Jehu think of burying Jezebel. His reason now was that she was a king's daughter (v. 34).
In one breath Jehu calls her cursed and orders a royal burial. Old deference to rank stirs in him, and it runs straight against the sentence already spoken over her.
The will of man has very little to do with the carrying out of the word of God. Jehu is now at the height of his power, and he softens a little towards this wicked woman Jezebel. He does say, "See now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king's daughter." But what had God said? The prophet had said, "The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her." Jehu had heard that word only a short time before... Now, it seems, the old respect for one who was a queen — a king's daughter — rises in his mind. So 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. It was useless.
Jehu knew the decree. He had stood there when Elijah spoke it. Yet as he carries it out, the Lord's name never reaches his lips.
Here we see how far Jehu's thoughts are from the honour and glory of the Lord. He knows the divine decree. He knows that he is the one carrying it out. One might have expected the words "Who is for the Lord?" to come from his mouth, but God had little place in the thoughts of this violent and ambitious man. Even what Elijah had prophesied about Jezebel — a scene at which he had been present — does not come back to his memory. He does recall the prophecy afterwards — but only when it agrees with his passions. If it comes to governing his conduct by it, he pays it no heed.
The same stroke can serve two purposes at once. What Jehu did matched the command; why he did it did not.
To reach the throne was entirely in line with Jehu's ambitions. To strike down the house of Ahab would look to Jehu like sound policy for establishing himself 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 everyone who could oppose his ambitions. He is very zealous against 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 looks past Jezebel's own death to what it pictures.
So this wretched woman came to a miserable end. She was a foreigner in Israel. She did everything she could to make her Tyrian Baal worship the established religion of her husband's kingdom. She did not hesitate to kill anyone who dared oppose her campaign, or who got in the way of her desires and designs in any way... Her tragic death is like a shadow thrown ahead of a coming event foretold in Rev. 17:17. That event is Babylon's end, "the judgment of the great whore," whose idolatries and crimes have stained the earth.
- Appetite first. Jehu ate and drank while the body lay in the street. Only afterwards did he think about burial. Self came before the task.
- Rank second. His stated reason for burial was Jezebel's royal birth. Human deference, not the fear of God, moved him at that moment.
- God's word above both. The sentence had already said there would be none to bury her. The servants set out to obey Jehu and could not. Man's will adds nothing to the word of God and takes nothing from it.
- Energy is not obedience. Jehu carried out the command with full force. But God's motives were not his. God was dealing with evil and guarding His own glory. Jehu was clearing rivals from his path.
- Shadow ahead. Her end points past itself. One writer reads it as the shadow of Babylon's judgment foretold in Rev. 17:17.
And they went to bury her; but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of the hands.
Jehu ordered a proper burial for Jezebel because she was a king's daughter. His men went out to bury her and found almost nothing left — which answers the question this chapter keeps raising: whose word decides what happens in Israel?
Jehu gave an order, and his servants set out to obey it. But God had spoken first, and His word had already settled the matter.
The will of man has little to do with the accomplishment of the word of God. Jehu, now at the height of his power, softens a little towards this wicked woman Jezebel. He says, "Go, see now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king's daughter." But what had God said? ... But the word of God had already spoken its own command. And they went to bury her. Their purpose was to obey him. In vain. They found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands.
Only three parts of her were left. One writer reads them as a summary of the life that ended there.
Her body had been eaten by dogs, even her bones taken away! The skull would remind us of the imaginations of her head. The feet would remind us that her feet had been swift to shed blood. The palms of her hands would remind us that her works were wicked. Who would envy a remembrance of this kind? Her end was swift and terrible, just as the Lord had predicted through Elijah.
Long years passed between the sentence and this scene. One writer counts the delay and traces it back to the blood of Naboth.
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.
The delay was never forgetfulness. Another writer draws the same lesson from Jehu's own words over the remains:
Jehu entered the royal palace to feast and afterwards gave command to bury the cursed woman. But little was left of her. And Jehu said, "This is the word of the LORD, which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite." ... God's judgments are often slow, but they are sure.
Jehu knew the decree and was the man carrying it out. That is not the same as caring what God cares about.
Here we see how far Jehu's thoughts are from the honour and the glory of the Lord. All the while he knows the divine decree, and knows that he is the one carrying it out. ... Even what Elijah had prophesied about Jezebel, a scene at which he had been present, does not come back to his memory. He says, "Go, see now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king's daughter." When the men return, having found nothing more than some wretched dog-eaten remains, he recalls the prophecy — but only when it agrees with his passions. If it is a matter of governing his conduct by the prophecy, he pays it no attention.
Being God's instrument did not make Jehu clean. God saw the motives behind the sword.
In His righteous judgment God uses Jehu to deal with the wicked house of Ahab. But He is not unmindful of 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 carry out judgment on Jezreel, 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).
Jezebel's story does not end in this street. One writer sees in her the pattern of something still to come.
She is made, as we believe, a type of papal Rome. History does not supply a more suitable character to represent that system of idolatry, corruption and murder. Her tragic death casts a shadow forward to a coming event foretold in Revelation 17:17. That event is Babylon's end — "the judgment of the great prostitute," whose idolatries and crimes have stained the earth.
- Word spoken. Elijah announced Jezebel's sentence years earlier. This verse is that word arriving.
- Word delayed. She outlived her husband and two kings after him. "God, when judging men, is never in haste" — yet Naboth's blood was still counted.
- Word performed. Jehu ordered a royal burial; the servants found nothing left to bury. Their intention could not change one word of what God had said.
- Word forgotten. Jehu heard the prophecy in person, yet only remembered it when the report came back. God used him, and later judged his own house.
- Word extended. One writer sees her end as a shadow cast forward to Babylon's judgment in Revelation.
And they came back and told him. And he said, This is the word of Jehovah, which he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite saying, In the plot of Jizreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel;
Jehu is in Jezreel, and the report reaches him. The servants sent to bury the queen found almost nothing left of her. He does not comment on the horror. He quotes. He names what God had spoken through Elijah, and points to the ground as the proof.
The judgment quoted here was not invented on the spot. It had hung over Jezebel for years. One writer counts the years between the threat and the day it landed.
More than fifteen years had passed since the LORD spoke through Elijah. He 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 haste to carry out the judgments He has threatened.
The charge behind the sentence was blood. The messenger who anointed Jehu came with a commission: strike the house of Ahab and "avenge the blood of the servants and prophets of the Lord, shed by the wicked Jezebel" (Hamilton Smith).
Jehu had ordered a burial. His own order ran against the word of God, and it failed.
The will of man has very little to do with the carrying out of the word of God. Jehu is now at the height of his power. He softens a little towards this wicked woman Jezebel. He says: "Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her, for she is a king's daughter." But the word of God had spoken its own command first. And they went to bury her. They meant to obey him. It was useless. They found no more of her than the skull, the feet and the palms of her hands. So they came back and told him. He was now convinced how mighty the word of the Lord was, and he said, "This is the word of the LORD, which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite."
Jehu quotes the prophecy word for word. The writers here do not treat that accuracy as faith. One notes that God weighed the executioner even while He used him.
If God has to deal in judgment, it is His strange work. If Jehu takes on the job of dealing with evil, the task suits him. So while God uses Jehu to carry out judgment on Jezreel, 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."
Another writer points to what Jehu did not say when he called for allies: "One might have expected the words 'Who is for the LORD?' to come from his mouth. But God had little place in the thoughts of this violent and ambitious man" (H. L. Rossier).
The servants brought back an inventory instead of a body. One writer reads the three surviving parts as a record of the life they belonged to.
When his servants went to bury her, they found only her skull, her feet and the palms of her hands. Dogs had eaten her body, and even her bones were gone. The skull would remind us of the thoughts of her head. The feet would remind us that her feet were swift to shed blood. The palms of her hands would remind us that her works were wicked. Who would want to be remembered like that? Her end was swift and terrible, exactly as the Lord had said through Elijah.
The prophecy named a place. Blood had already stained that ground.
So God carried it out, and the LORD avenged the blood of Naboth most sternly. The field was bought at a heavy price, and it was taken from the family. Had Naboth been killed? Had his sons failed to inherit? In every part sin meets its punishment.
One writer sums up the life that ended here, and what it points to.
There would be no tomb to mark the place where her remains lay. So this wretched woman died a miserable death. She was a foreigner in Israel. She did all she could to make the Baal-worship she brought from Tyre the official religion of her husband's kingdom. And she did not hesitate to kill anyone who dared oppose her campaign or get in the way of her plans. Her tragic death throws a shadow ahead of a coming event foretold in Revelation 17:17 — Babylon's end.
- Word spoken. God spoke this sentence through Elijah. The charge behind it was the blood of God's servants and prophets.
- Word delayed. More than fifteen years passed between the threat and the day it came. God is never in a hurry, and the delay changed nothing.
- Word unstoppable. Jehu ordered a royal burial and his men set out to obey — and could not. Human will cannot cancel the word of God, and God does not need it to carry that word out.
- Word exact. Skull, feet, palms — dogs took the rest, and her end came just as the Lord had said through Elijah.
- Word ahead. The same word reaches on to Babylon's fall in Revelation. And judgment fell on Jehu's own house too, because the work suited his own ambition.
and the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the open field in the plot of Jizreel, so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.
This verse closes the story of Jezebel. Her body lies on open ground with no grave to carry her name, and that raises two questions: why God waited so long, and why this field.
Jehu had heard Elijah's sentence, and still he ordered a burial. One writer notes how little that order counted.
What is remarkable is this. The will of man has very little to do with the carrying out of the word of God. Jehu, now at the height of his power, relents a little toward this wicked woman Jezebel. He says, "See now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king's daughter" — but what had God said? But the word of God had already given its own command. And they went to bury her. Their purpose was to obey him. It was in vain.
Years passed between the sentence and the execution. Nothing seemed to happen.
More than fifteen years had passed. Through Elijah, the Lord 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 the judgments He has threatened.
The field was not a random patch of ground. It had belonged to a man named Naboth.
In those days Naboth of Jezreel stood as the righteous one in the land. Even to please the king he would not turn aside from the law of the Lord and sell his inheritance. But for his righteousness' sake he is called to suffer. Jezebel schemed, certain worthless men shed his blood in Jezreel, and Ahab seized his inheritance, the inheritance of his fathers. For this deed the Lord, through His prophet, pronounces judgment on Ahab and his house. Blow upon blow, He makes a full end of them. Blood flows in the portion of Jezreel — the blood of Ahab, the blood of Joram his son, and the blood of Jezebel.
The servants went to bury her and came back with a report instead of a body.
But when his servants went to bury her, they found only her skull, her feet and the palms of her hands. Dogs had eaten her body, and even her bones were taken away. The skull reminds us of the thoughts of her head. The feet remind us that her feet were quick to shed blood. The palms of her hands remind us that her works were wicked. Who would want to be remembered like that?
Knapp notes what she chose to get ready in her last hour:
She probably knew her end had come; but instead of preparing her soul, she adorned her body.
The last words of the verse point to something missing from the ground itself.
There should be no tomb to mark the resting place of her remains.
A comment on Proverbs sets the two possible legacies side by side.
"The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot." So Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, Daniel, Paul, Peter, John and many others are still honoured through the ages in the hearts of multitudes. Meanwhile the names of many godless opponents of the truth of God are forgotten like rotted refuse. Or if people do remember some names, such as Ahab, Jezebel, Athaliah, those names only stir up disgust and horror.
Jehu carried out the sentence, but God still weighed his motives.
In His righteous judgment God uses Jehu to deal with the wicked house of Ahab. But He does not overlook the mixed motives that drove Jehu. In carrying out the Lord's vengeance, Jehu was 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 God uses Jehu to execute judgment on Jezreel. Yet He also 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).
Her end previews a judgment still to come.
Her tragic death is like a shadow thrown ahead of the coming event foretold in Revelation 17:17. That event is Babylon's end, "the judgment of the great prostitute," whose idolatries and crimes have stained the earth.
- Word — The sentence stood as Elijah spoke it. Jehu's late order to bury her changed nothing. Human will has very little to do with carrying out what God has said.
- Waiting — More than fifteen years lay between the threat and the execution. God is never in a hurry, and delay is not escape.
- Where — The field was Naboth's. God repaid murder in Jezreel with blood in the same field; the place itself is the verdict.
- Whitewash — She knew her end had come, yet she adorned her body instead of preparing her soul. All that remained told her story: head, feet, hands — and no tomb to carry her name.
- Wider — God judged even the executioner for the blood of Jezreel. Her end throws a shadow forward to the judgment of Babylon.