CHAPTER 9 Sep. 4 
Jehu Is Anointed
Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, Put your belt on your waist, take this vial of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead. 2When you come there, find Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up from among his brothers, and carry him to an inner room. 3Then take the vial of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, ‘Thus says Yahweh, I have anointed you king over Israel’. Then open the door, flee, and don’t wait. 4So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. 5When he came, behold, the captains of the army were sitting. Then he said, I have a message for you, captain. Jehu said, To which of us all here? He said, To you, O captain. 6He arose, and went into the house. Then he poured the oil on his head and said to him, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘I have anointed you king over the people of Yahweh, even over Israel. 7You shall strike the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of Yahweh, at the hand of Jezebel. 8For the whole house of Ahab shall perish. I will cut off from Ahab every male, both him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel. 9I 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. 10The dogs will eat Jezebel on the plot of ground of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her’. He opened the door, and fled. 11Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord; and one said to him, Is all well? Why did this mad fellow come to you? He said to them, You know the man and what his talk was. 12They said, That is a lie. Tell us now. He said, He told me, ‘Thus says Yahweh, I have anointed you king over Israel’. 13Then they hurried, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs and blew the trumpet, saying, Jehu is king. 
Jehu Kills Joram, Ahaziah and Jezebel
14So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram was keeping Ramoth Gilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria; 15but king Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria). Jehu said, If this is your thinking, then let no one escape and go out of the city to go to tell it in Jezreel. 16So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram. 17Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. Joram said, Take a horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’ 18So there went one on horseback to meet him and said, Thus says the king, ‘Is it peace?’ Jehu said, What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me! The watchman said, The messenger came to them, but he isn’t coming back. 19Then he sent out a second on horseback, who came to them, and said, Thus says the king, ‘Is it peace?’ Jehu answered, What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me! 20The watchman said, He came to them, and isn’t coming back. The driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he drives angrily. 21Joram said, Get ready! They got his chariot ready. Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out to meet Jehu, and found him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. 22It happened, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? He answered, What peace, so long as the prostitution of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft abound? 23Joram turned around to flee, and said to Ahaziah, There is treason, Ahaziah! 24Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and struck Joram between his arms; and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot. 25Then Jehu said to Bidkar his captain, Pick him up, and throw him in the plot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember how, when you and I rode together after Ahab his father, Yahweh laid this burden on him: 26‘Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons’, says Yahweh; ‘and I will repay you in this plot of ground’, says Yahweh. Now therefore take and cast him onto the plot of ground, according to the word of Yahweh. 27But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. Jehu followed after him, and said, Strike him also in the chariot! They struck him at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. He fled to Megiddo, and died there. 28His servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in the city of David. 29In the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah. 30When Jehu had come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her eyes, and attired her head, and looked out at the window. 31As Jehu entered in at the gate she said, Do you come in peace, Zimri, you murderer of your master? 32He lifted up his face to the window and said, Who is on my side? Who? Two or three eunuchs looked out at him. 33He said, Throw her down! So they threw her down; and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses. Then he trampled her under foot. 34When he had come in, he ate and drank; and he said, See now to this cursed woman, and bury her; for she is a king’s daughter. 35They went to bury her; but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. 36Therefore they came back, and told him. He said, This is the word of Yahweh which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite saying, ‘The dogs will eat the flesh of Jezebel on the plot of Jezreel, 37and the body of Jezebel shall be as dung on the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel, so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel’.

Commentary

9:2 Jehu arising from amongst his brethren and being anointed pointed forward to how Christ was anointed with oil above His brethren- for He was of our nature, one of us (Heb. 1:9). Jehu could have been a Messiah figure, but his pride in later life stopped him realizing his potential.
9:19 Fall in behind me- The emphasis seems to be on the word “me” (:18,32; 10:6). Jehu did God’s work at this time, and yet he was very self-centred in doing it, seeking a personal following and glory to himself rather than to God. Our involvement in God’s work doesn’t automatically make our attitudes correct in all ways. Jehu seems to have used his service of God as an outlet for his anger (:20). See on 10:11.
9:20 Truly our style of driving often reflects our inner state of mind.
9:27 Ahaziah failed to learn from Biblical history- that association with the wicked kings of Israel would be to his own hurt (see on 3:7; 7:18). The Bible is largely history, specially selected for us to learn from and discern the relevance to our own lives (Rom. 15:4).
9:36 This is the word of Yahweh- God’s word is put for its fulfilment- so certain is it of fulfilment.