Jehu (2 Kings 9-10)

Take your Bibles with me and turn to 2 Kings 9. 2 Kings 9 tonight. As you're turning there I want to say thank you to Brother Daniel and Brother Adam for filling in for me this last weekend. I got the flu; wasn't fun. It just so happened that the worst of it was probably Saturday night going into Sunday morning. I was in no shape to preach on Sunday and you probably didn't want me around here anyways but we're all kind of over it now. We're all recovering and I appreciate your prayers. It's been a tough week for many in our church. Pray especially today for Brother Hedrick and Mrs. Hedrick. She's having surgery on her brain tomorrow to remove a tumor in Bloomington. Please be in prayer for them. Pray that this goes smoothly, that they're able to get it all out, that there are no complications from this surgery, and that the recovery goes well. Tonight we're going to carry on with our Bible study series and we're going to talk about Jehu. Jehu is a very interesting character. He is a northern king that God anoints. He is the only northern king that God anoints. All of the other kings in the whole history of the Northern Kingdom were upstarts but Jehu is particularly anointed by God to be the king there. And for the most part Jehu is faithful to what God wants him to do. He is against the idolatry of the northern kingdom. He executes what God calls him to do well. He does everything he does in the name of God. But the Bible comes short of calling him a good king. He is the tool that God used but he wasn't necessarily a good king and didn't necessarily walk with God himself. We're going to pick up tonight in Second Kings chapter 9 and we're going to break this chapter up into three sections. The first section will look at is 1. The anointing of Jehu. ========================= Let's read verses 1 to 10. > [1](#) And Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets, and said unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take this box of oil in thine hand, and go to Ramothgilead: > [2](#) And when thou comest thither, look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up from among his brethren, and carry him to an inner chamber; > [3](#) Then take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Then open the door, and flee, and tarry not. > [4](#) So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramothgilead. > [5](#) And when he came, behold, the captains of the host were sitting; and he said, I have an errand to thee, O captain. And Jehu said, Unto which of all us? And he said, To thee, O captain. > [6](#) And he arose, and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel. > [7](#) And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel. > [8](#) For the whole house of Ahab shall perish: and I will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel: > [9](#) And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah: > [10](#) And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. And he opened the door, and fled. > 2 Kings 9:1-10 (KJV) I want you to remember from a couple months ago when we were talking about Elijah the Prophet. Not Elisha the Prophet but Elijah the Prophet. Do you remember the story of Elijah running from Jezebel? He runs and he runs and he goes to the brook. God feeds him there in that time of weakness and depression and God gives him a job. God said, "I want you to go and anoint Haziel to be king of Syria. Then I want you to go anoint Jehu to be king of Israel. I want you to anoint Elisha to be the next prophet in your place." Well Elijah never got around to anointing Jehu or Hazel. Elisha is finishing those jobs. Elisha is now an older prophet and he is finishing the jobs of anointing these last two people. Last week we looked at the story of Elisha anointing Hazel, this wicked man, to be king of Syria. Today we're going to look at the story of Elisha via delegation anointing Jehu to be king of Israel. Elisha seems to be a person that, whenever possible, delegates tasks to other people to do. And that is actually a good thing. Not only does more work happen when you do that, but you involve other people in the blessing when you do that. So Elisha says to this unnamed younger prophet, "I've got a job for you. I want you to take this box of oil. I want you to go to the front lines and I want you to find Jehu. I want you to pour this on his head and I want you to tell him that God has made him the king of Israel." Now at this point Israel is in a battle with Syria and they were also in a battle, I think, with Edom, so they're in a multi-front war. Their king Joram has been injured so he's left the front to go back to Jezreel to heal from his wounds. You have all the generals that are still there fighting and this prophet is to go to speak to one of these generals, Jehu. The prophet goes and announces himself to where the generals are at there on the front. Jehu says, "Well which one do you want to talk to, which one you have a message for?" The prophet says, "It's you." They go into private and the prophet pours this oil on top of Jehu's head and says, "You're the king. God has made you the king. God wants you to enact judgment against the house of Ahab." He books it out of there; he gets out of there. The prophet, oh this is what Elisha told him to do; he just runs. Now why did he run? Well if you have a sitting king and you anoint another king, you are putting a target on your back. That is a bad spot to be in. That is not a good spot to be in as a prophet or anybody. They're involving themselves in a conspiracy here. So Jehu, the general, is in a spot where he has just found out that God wants him to be the next king. He's dripping with oil. What's he going to do? He's in a similar spot that Haziel was in our last story. Remember Elisha tells Haziel that he's going to be the next king. Kind of a roundabout says that he's going to be the next king. Haziel goes and murders his master. He puts a cloth on his master's face and murders his master and then starts terrorizing Israel. Here Jehu has been formally anointed to be the next king of Israel by this prophet. So what's he going to do? Let's look at the next section. I called the first section "The Anointing". Let's call the second section 2. The Conspiracy ----------------- And let's read verses 11 to 14 here. > [11](#) Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord: and one said unto him, Is all well? wherefore came this mad fellow to thee? And he said unto them, Ye know the man, and his communication. > [12](#) And they said, It is false; tell us now. And he said, Thus and thus spake he to me, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over Israel. > [13](#) Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king. > [14](#) So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram had kept Ramothgilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria. > 2 Kings 9:10-14 (KJV) So Jehu comes out of this room. The prophet runs away, right? Jehu comes out of this room, and his other generals and his servants are looking at him and they're like, "Is everything okay? Why did this crazy guy come and talk to you? What did he say?" And he says to them, "Well you know, he's crazy. You could guess what he said. You can guess the kind of person he is by the kind of thing he said." And they said, "No, you're lying. Tell us what he said." And so he says, "Well he told me I've been anointed to be king over Israel." Suddenly their attitude changes. They're not joking around anymore. They drop what they're doing; they throw their coats down on the stairs; they have someone blow a trumpet and they say, "Jehu is the king of Israel." This tells me two things about the State of Israel at this point: 1. The first is that the people did really not like King Joram. They were very dissatisfied with Joram and they knew that he was not a good or an effective king. 2. The second thing it tells me is that the people really looked up to and respected Jehu. They looked at him and said, "Of course that's the next king. Of course you're the new king of Israel." Let me tell you something: Jehu was a man that had some amazing qualities. He was somebody that just got after it. He did not waste any time. If he felt like there was something that he needed to do, he did it as fast as he possibly could. I've heard it said that good leaders have a bias for action and I think that's what this means here. He is somebody with a bias for action. He's not going to sit around and wait 10, 15, 20 years. He is going to get after this thing that God has called him to do. And so they do this right away. They mount up their horses and they go to get the king. Now the thing that strikes me about Jehu is that Jehu is an instrument of God's vengeance. God told Elijah that Jehu was going to be an instrument of God's vengeance. God told Elijah that Haziel was going to be God's primary instrument of vengeance on Israel. Jehu was going to clean up what Haziel didn't get and then Elisha was going to clean up the rest. Jehu was uniquely called to be an instrument of vengeance. Now church, it is not your job, nor is it my job, to seek vengeance. God is the judge. It is God's job to seek justice. But sometimes God anoints a person, God raises up a person to act out His vengeance, to act out His justice. The way that God normally works is through instruments of the law, instruments of the sword, like Romans 13 talks about. God is not going to make you or I, as a regular churchgoer, a regular citizen, an instrument of his vengeance. He is going to raise up somebody in government and use that as an instrument of his vengeance. That's exactly what he does here with King Jehu. So let's talk about the next thing here, the third thing, which is 3. The vengeance. ----------------- This is really what the rest of this chapter is about. There are three acts of vengeance that we're going to see from Jehu. The first act is on King Joram. This would be the son of Ahab. This would be the king of Israel, the northern kingdom. So let's read verses 15 to 26 to see that. > [15](#) But king Joram was returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) And Jehu said, If it be your minds, then let none go forth nor escape out of the city to go to tell it in Jezreel. > [16](#) So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram. > [17](#) And there stood a watchman on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take an horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace? > [18](#) So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he cometh not again. > [19](#) Then he sent out a second on horseback, which came to them, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu answered, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. > [20](#) And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and cometh not again: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously. > [21](#) And Joram said, Make ready. And his chariot was made ready. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. > [22](#) And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many? > [23](#) And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah. > [24](#) And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot. > [25](#) Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the Lord laid this burden upon him; > [26](#) Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the Lord; and I will requite thee in this plat, saith the Lord. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat of ground, according to the word of the Lord. > 2 Kings 9:15-26 (KJV) Can you see what's going on here? Jehu and his men leave the battlefield and they're rushing headlong towards where the king is, towards Jezreel. The king is in his palace and he looks out. His watchman looks out and he sees this group of people coming towards the palace. They're still thinking in terms of the battle and they're thinking, "Is there peace? Did they win? Are they coming back to tell us about the victory, right?" So they say, "We'll send out a messenger to ask them." So they send out a messenger on horseback to intercept them. The messenger says, "Are you here to talk about peace?" Jehu says, "What do you know about peace? Turn around and get behind me, get in, get in line." That person obeys him and so the messenger's like, "Oh that guy joined their group; we don't know, send out another one." So they sent out another messenger and the same thing happens. He says, "Is it peace?" Jehu says, "What do you know about peace? Turn around, join me, come on," and that person joins them as well. And then something interesting happens as they get closer. The messenger says, "That's Jehu. That has to be Jehu. That guy drives like Jehu. He drives furiously." I love this. There's this one guy in the Bible and he is known for having a lead foot. He is known for driving fast. That's Jehu. That was his calling card. He did not go slow. He was gonna pedal to the metal all the time and so they said, "That's Jehu." So Joram, king of Israel, and Ahaziah, who is the king of Judah, they say, "Well let's go meet him." They get in their chariot and they go out to meet Jehu and to figure out what's going on here. Now based on our knowledge of Israel and Judah up to this point, what's going on here? Joram is the son of Ahab. Ahaziah is the grandson of Jehoshaphat, which is the godly king of Judah. But in a moment of weakness Jehoshaphat married off his son Jeroham to Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. So Joram is Ahaziah’s uncle. They're together because of marriage. It's all one big family here. Ahab's wickedness and Jezebel's wickedness didn't just infect Israel, the northern kingdom; it also infected Judah, the southern kingdom. And let's just stop here and say this: It is a terrible thing to marry outside of the faith. You are playing with fire when you marry somebody who is not a believer, who is not walking with the Lord as a Christian. I heard somebody say that when you marry a child of the devil, your father-in-law is going to make sure that you're busy all the time. And so it's all Ahab. It's all a big mess here. Ahab's son and Ahab's son-in-law are going out to meet Jehu. And Joram, the king of Israel, says to Jehu, "Is there peace, Jehu?" And Jehu says, "How can there be peace when your mother is practicing her whoredoms and her witchcrafts?" And all of a sudden King Joram realizes what's going on. He realizes they're not coming to bring peace. They're coming to take over my job. They're coming to be vengeance. He flees. He runs away. Jehu pulls out his bow and pulls back that bow and shoots King Joram. The arrow goes right through his breast bones or right through his shoulder blades in the back of his back and in through his heart. He dies. And they kick him out of the chariot. It's very interesting where it says they kick him out of the chariot. Anybody want to look at that passage we just read and tell me where this happened? It happened in the land of Naboth. Does that name ring a bell? Remember the story of Ahab and Jezebel? Ahab wanted a vineyard that belonged to a godly man named Naboth. Jezebel was having a pity party about it and she wrote these letters and had people lie about Naboth and Naboth was stoned. Ahab came and took Naboth's vineyard. Well in God's eyes it is still Naboth's vineyard. God hasn't forgotten about what happened here. This might have been 10, 12, or 15 years after that but God has still remembered the treachery that Ahab did. God has already said it is going to happen: God is going to wipe out the family of Ahab and it starts here with his son Joram. It happens to start right in the place of Ahab's treachery. But Jehu doesn’t just go after Joram - the king of Israel. Ahaziah is still part of Ahab’s family - and Jehu is going after him. Look at verses 27-28: > [27](#) But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. And Jehu followed after him, and said, Smite him also in the chariot. And they did so at the going up to Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there. > [28](#) And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David. > 2 Kings 9:27-28 (KJV) Jehu chases down Ahaziah. They get him as he’s running away and he dies in Megiddo. They take his dead body back to Jerusalem and he is buried there. But believe it or not, even though Jehu has killed two kings - he hasn’t gotten to the big dog yet. Because Jezebel is still alive. Let’s keep reading verse 29-37. > [29](#) And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah. > [30](#) And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window. > [31](#) And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master? > [32](#) And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs. > [33](#) And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot. > [34](#) And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a king's daughter. > [35](#) And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. > [36](#) Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel: > [37](#) And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel. > 2 Kings 9:29-37 (KJV) This is a crazy part of the story. Jehu rides to the place where Jezebel is living. She’s in a tower. And she must have heard he’s coming. Now, say what you want about Jezebel, but she was no chicken. She’s a tough, old bird. She does her makeup and does her hair and sticks her head out to yell at Jehu and says, basically “How did it work out for Zimri?” Now, the first royal family in the Northern Kingdom was the family of Jereboam. But because of Jereboam’s sin, God sent judgment to that family and that judgment came in the form of Baasha. Baasha had the second dynasty, didn’t last very long because his son Elah was put on the throne and killed by his servant Zimri, who took the throne. Zimri only lasted seven days. Then Omri took over. And Ahab was the son of Omri. Basically, Jezebel is calling Jehu a traitor. And saying traitors don’t last long. But Jehu doesn’t care. He yells out to the tower and says “who is up there who is with me?” And two or three guys look out. So Jehu says “throw her down” and they push her out of the window. Now Jehu just leaves her there, and him and his men come in and just eat lunch. They are just enjoying their lunch, having a good time, with Jezebel’s dead body out there? And after awhile Jehu says “well, I guess she is a king’s daughter and someone should bury her.” But when they go out, the only thing that is left of her is her hands, her skull and her feet. Now, that brings me to the last little lesson from this story. You see, God had promised through Elijah that Ahab’s family would be wiped out. God had said that Jezebel would be eaten by dogs and not buried. God had said that Naboth would be avenged of his vineyard - and God ensured all of those things came true. Now, it took awhile. God’s time table isn’t the same as ours. Jezebel had about fifteen years where she thought she got away with it. Here's a draft: Now, it took awhile. God's timetable isn't the same as ours. Jezebel had about fifteen years where she thought she got away with it. Fifteen years where she's still living in the palace, still calling the shots, still getting her way. Ahab's family kept right on ruling. If you were living in Israel during those fifteen years, you might have looked around and thought, "The wicked are winning. Nobody's ever going to do anything about this." But God hadn't forgotten. Not for one day. He was moving pieces into place the whole time. He raised up Hazael in Syria. He called Elisha to carry on the work. He had His eye on a general named Jehu who drove his chariot like a maniac. And when the time was right, every single thing God said through Elijah came true. Joram died on Naboth's land. Ahab's family was wiped out. And Jezebel was eaten by dogs, just like God said she would be. Down to the last detail. Here's what I want you to take away from this tonight. The same God who kept His word against Jezebel keeps His word for you. If God's promises of judgment are that reliable — if not one detail fell to the ground — then how much more reliable are His promises of grace? How much more certain are His promises to provide for you, to be with you, to work all things together for your good? But let me also say this: don't mistake God's patience for God's absence. Jezebel made that mistake. She had fifteen years to repent and she spent them painting her face and mocking the man God sent. Just because consequences haven't come yet doesn't mean they aren't coming. God is patient because He's giving room for repentance — but His patience has a limit. God keeps His word. That ought to comfort you and it ought to sober you. Let's pray.

Jehu (2 Kings 9-10)

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Ryan Hayden