Jezebe — Blog — KEN D. MILLER

1 Then Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, “Tie up your garments, and take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead. 2 And when you arrive, look there for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. And go in and have him rise from among his fellows, and lead him to an inner chamber. 3 Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, ‘Thus says the Lord, I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee; do not linger.”

4 So the young man, the servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. 5 And when he came, behold, the commanders of the army were in council. And he said, “I have a word for you, O commander.” And Jehu said, “To which of us all?” And he said, “To you, O commander.” 6 So he arose and went into the house. And the young man poured the oil on his head, saying to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I anoint you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel. 7 And you shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, so that I may avenge on Jezebel the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord. 8 For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel. 9 And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. 10 And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her.” Then he opened the door and fled.

11 When Jehu came out to the servants of his master, they said to him, “Is all well? Why did this mad fellow come to you?” And he said to them, “You know the fellow and his talk.” 12 And they said, “That is not true; tell us now.” And he said, “Thus and so he spoke to me, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, I anoint you king over Israel.’” 13 Then in haste every man of them took his garment and put it under him on the bare steps, and they blew the trumpet and proclaimed, “Jehu is king.” – 2 Kings 9:1-13 ESV

In 1 Kings 19:15-16, we have the record of God’s final commission to Elijah. He had given the prophet three tasks to accomplish. One of them was to anoint Hazael to be the next king of Syria. A second was to anoint Jehu to be the king of Israel. And the third was to anoint Elisha as his own successor.

It’s clear that Elijah followed God’s instructions regarding Elisha. At this point in the story, the new prophet has fully established himself as Elijah’s God-ordained replacement. It would also appear that Elijah kept God’s command concerning the anointing of Hazael. In 2 Kings 8, the author revealed the morbid details concerning Hazael’s ascension to the throne of Syria. While King Ben-hadad was weak and recovering from a recent illness, Hazael murdered him by suffocating him to death with a wet sheet. And the prophet Elisha had wept when he realized the deadly consequences for Israel that would accompany this man’s rise to power.

“Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel. You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women.” – 2 Kings 8:12 ESV

But as 2 Kings 9 opens up, it becomes apparent that there was one aspect of Elijah’s assignment he had neglected to complete. Either that, or he had chosen to pass on the responsibility to his successor. Jehu had not yet been anointed King of Israel. Jehoram, the son of Ahab and Jezebel, still occupied the throne and was continuing his parents’ legacy of apostasy and unfaithfulness. But the time had come for God’s prophecy concerning Ahab and his descendants to be fulfilled. He had warned Ahab that his stubborn determination to lead the people of Israel into idolatry would not go unpunished.

“So now the Lord says, ‘I will bring disaster on you and consume you. I will destroy every one of your male descendants, slave and free alike, anywhere in Israel! I am going to destroy your family as I did the family of Jeroboam son of Nebat and the family of Baasha son of Ahijah, for you have made me very angry and have led Israel into sin.’” – 1 Kings 21:21-22 NLT

God had used the prophet, Elijah, to deliver this message of pending destruction. He was not going to allow Ahab and Jezebel to go unpunished for their blatant disregard for His law or their arrogant dismissal of His sovereignty over Israel. God would do to them what He had done to Jeroboam and Baasha. He would completely wipe out their hopes for establishing a dynasty by destroying all their male descendants. When considering this curse that God leveled against Ahab, it is important to compare it with the promise God had made to King David.

“When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’” – 2 Samuel 7:12-16 ESV

While Ahab, Jeroboam, and Baasha would all see their dreams of establishing long-lasting dynasties come to an end, God had promised David that his house and throne would be established forever. And God was going to fulfill this promise through the southern kingdom of Judah. Despite the fact that most of the kings who eventually ruled over Judah proved to be just as godless and wicked as the northern kings, God would keep His promise to secure the Davidic dynasty. And He would do so through Jesus Christ, the descendant of David and the Messiah of Israel.

But God had something far less glorious in store for King Jehoram of Israel. As he sat in his summer palace in Jezreel, he had no idea that God was about to remove him from power and bring his father’s wicked legacy to an abrupt and permanent end.

Once again, it would appear that Elijah had never completed his assignment to anoint Jehu as the next king of Israel. So, Elisha was left with the responsibility of completing God’s three-part anointing plan. But even Elisha seems to have delegated this final job to an underling. He selected one of the prophets and gave him very specific instructions: “take this flask of olive oil with you. Go to Ramoth-gilead, and find Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. Call him into a private room away from his friends, and pour the oil over his head. Say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: I anoint you to be the king over Israel.’ Then open the door and run for your life!” (2 Kings 9:1-3 NLT). That last sentence could not have left the young prophet feeling confident and encouraged as he made his way to Ramoth-gilead.

But despite the fact that Elijah had passed the buck to Elisha and Elisha had reassigned the responsibility to someone else, God’s will was going to be done. This young prophet, flask in hand, was going to be used to anoint Jehu as the divine instrument of God’s wrath against Ahab and his descendants.

When the prophet arrived in Ramoth-gilead, he found Jehu in a meeting with his fellow generals. He summoned Jehu into a private room, where he poured the oil on his head and informed the surprised general of his new position and commission.

“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I anoint you king over the Lord’s people, Israel. You are to destroy the family of Ahab, your master. In this way, I will avenge the murder of my prophets and all the Lord’s servants who were killed by Jezebel. The entire family of Ahab must be wiped out. I will destroy every one of his male descendants, slave and free alike, anywhere in Israel.” – 2 Kings 9:6-8 NLT

All of this was unexpected news to Jehu. There is no indication that he had been plotting Jehoram’s death and his own ascension to the throne. But the shocking news of his kingship had to have been overshadowed by the clear conditions associated with it. He was to completely wipe out every last male descendant of Ahab. Not only that, he was to see to it that Jezebel met her end as well.

“Dogs will eat Ahab’s wife Jezebel at the plot of land in Jezreel, and no one will bury her.” – 2 Kings 9:10 NLT

God was commanding Jehu to launch an insurrection against the king and his family. And as Jehu sat with oil running down his head and the prophet’s words racing through his brain, the king’s generals waited with curiosity on the other side of the door. Having completed his assignment, the prophet fled for his life, leaving Jehu to rejoin his fellow generals and face their questions about what had just happened. He attempted to downplay his encounter with the prophet, but they sensed he was hiding something and pressed him for details.

Jehu wisely chose not to divulge all the specifics of his conversation with the prophet. He simply stated, “He said to me, ‘This is what the Lord says: I have anointed you to be king over Israel’” (2 Kings 9:12 NLT). And, must to his relief and surprise, the reaction he received from his peers was positive and encouraging.

Then they quickly spread out their cloaks on the bare steps and blew the ram’s horn, shouting, “Jehu is king!” – 2 Kings 9:13 NLT

His fellow generals declared their overwhelming support of his anointing as the next king of Israel. Of course, they weren’t aware of the second half of the prophet’s message concerning the complete annihilation of Ahab’s family. But at this point, they were fully on board with Jehoram’s removal and Jehu’s rise to power. Some of their enthusiasm could have been the result of the king’s recent defeat against the Syrians at Ramoth-gilead. Jehoram had been wounded in the battle and was recuperating at Jezreel. These generals could have lost confidence in Jehoram’s leadership ability and welcomed the idea of having a king with a military background. The Syrians remained a threat to the nation and Jehoram had proven himself to be a less-than-reliable commander-in-chief.

But, as always, this was the sovereign hand of God orchestrating every single detail of the storyline so that His divine will might be accomplished. He had pledged to destroy Ahab’s dynasty and now He was about to implement His plan to make it happen. And that plan was going to include Jehu, who found himself in the unexpected but highly important role of the Lord’s anointed.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.