2 Kings 9:14–29

So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel--Full of ambitious designs, he immediately proceeded to cross the Jordan to execute his commission on the house of Ahab.

there stood a watchman on the tower of Jezreel--The Hebrew palaces, besides being situated on hills had usually towers attached to them, not only for the pleasure of a fine prospect, but as posts of useful observation. The ancient watchtower of Jezreel must have commanded a view of the whole region eastward, nearly down to the Jordan. Beth-shan stands on a rising ground about six or seven miles below it, in a narrow part of the plain; and when Jehu and his retinue reached that point between Gilboa and Beth-shan, they could be fully descried by the watchman on the tower. A report was made to Joram in his palace below. A messenger on horseback was quickly despatched down into the plain to meet the ambiguous host and to question the object of their approach. "Is it peace?" We may safely assume that this messenger would meet Jehu at the distance of three miles or more. On the report made of his being detained and turned into the rear of the still advancing troops, a second messenger was in like manner despatched, who would naturally meet Jehu at the distance of a mile or a mile and a half down on the plain. He also being turned into the rear, the watchman now distinctly perceived "the driving to be like the driving of Jehu, the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously." The alarmed monarch, awakened to a sense of his impending danger, quickly summoned his forces to meet the crisis. Accompanied by Ahaziah, king of Judah, the two sovereigns ascended their chariots to make a feeble resistance to the impetuous onset of Jehu, who quickly from the plain ascended the steep northern sides of the site on which Jezreel stood, and the conflicting parties met "in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite," where Joram was quickly despatched by an arrow from the strong arm of Jehu. We were impressed with the obvious accuracy of the sacred historian; the localities and distances being such as seem naturally to be required by the incidents related, affording just time for the transactions to have occurred in the order in which they are recorded [HOWE].

cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, &c.--according to the doom pronounced by divine authority on Ahab (Kg1 21:19), but which on his repentance was deferred to be executed on his son.

the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the Lord--Although their death is not expressly mentioned, it is plainly implied in the confiscation of his property (see Kg1 21:16).

AHAZIAH IS SLAIN. (Kg2 9:27-35) Ahaziah--was grandnephew to King Joram, and great-grandson to King Ahab. Ibleam--near Megiddo, in the tribe of Issachar (Jos 17:11; Jdg 1:27); and Gur was an adjoining hill.

So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram,.... He and the captains with him entered into a confederacy to depose Joram, and set him up as king: now Joram had kept Ramothgilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria; having taken it, he left his army in it, under the command of his captains, of which Jehu was the chief, to keep it from the king of Syria; which gave Jehu a fairer opportunity, having the army at his command, and at a distance from Joram, of forming a conspiracy against him.

But King Joram was returned to be healed in Jezreel,.... As is recorded, 2 Kings 8:29 and here repeated for the reason above given: and Jehu said, if it be your minds; to engage one and all, and heartily, in this conspiracy, and to make me king: then let none go forth nor escape out of the city, to go to tell it in Jezreel; that so Joram might be surprised unawares, and have no opportunity either of fleeing or of preparing for his defence.

So Jehu rode in a chariot,.... In great pomp and majesty as a king: and went to Jezreel: set forward on a march thither with his captains, and part of his army at least, from Ramothgilead; which, according to Bunting (n), was twenty four miles: for Jordan lay there; to be cured of his wounds, as before observed: and Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram; see 2 Kings 8:29. (n) Travels, &c. p. 166.

And there stood a watchman on the tower of Jezreel,.... Who could see afar off when an enemy was coming, and his business was to give notice of it; and especially he was now on his watch tower, because the king was there, and this was necessary for his safety: and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company; a troop of soldiers, though he did not know who they were, and to whom they belonged, whether they were Syrians or Israelites; which was reported to the king: and Joram said, take an horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, is it peace? he might fear some ill had befallen his army at Ramothgilead, and the Syrians had got the advantage of them; or they had made an irruption into his country, and were coming to attack him at Jezreel; or there was an insurrection among his own people.

So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, thus saith the king, is it peace?.... Are things well in the army, or any disturbance in the kingdom? are you come as friends or enemies? and Jehu said, what hast thou to do with peace? or to ask such a question: turn thee behind me; which he was obliged to do, Jehu having such a company of soldiers with him; and this he did, that he might carry no tidings to Joram, that he might not know as yet who he and his company were: and the watchman told, saying, the messenger came to them, but he cometh not again; of this he sent word to the king what he had observed.

Then he sent out a second on horseback, which came to them, and said,.... The same as the first messenger did, and had the same answer, and was bid to do the same as in the preceding verse.

And the watchman told, saying, he came even unto them, and cometh not again,.... Was detained, as the other was: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for, coming nearer, the watchman could discern the manner of his driving: for he driveth furiously; in great haste, making much speed, being a man of a very warm and active spirit; and now being eager to come up with Joram, and seize him unprepared, and ascend the throne; the Targum is the reverse, "for he driveth quietly or slowly,''being desirous of drawing Joram out of the city, and get him into his hands, and slay him, that he might not have the trouble of besieging the place, which was able to hold out some time against him; and besides, he remembered the prophecy of Elisha, that Naboth's blood would be requited in the field of Jezreel, 2 Kings 9:26, and therefore was desirous of drawing him out of the city, in order to slay him there.

And Joram said, make ready,.... The chariot, put to the horses; bind them, as the word signifies, to the chariot: and his chariot was made ready; by his servants immediately: and Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot; not both in the same chariot, but each in his own, for the sake of greater magnificence: and they went out against Jehu; not in an hostile manner, for they had no notion of him as an enemy; though it is much they had no suspicion of him by his detaining the messengers; but Joram perhaps thought he was desirous of delivering his message himself; and in honour to him, and also being eager to know what it was, went out to meet him: and met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite; which had been his, and where, or near it, he was stoned, and his blood shed; a very inauspicious place to meet him in.

And it came to pass, when Joram saw, Jehu, that he said, is it peace, Jehu?.... Have things gone well at Ramothgilead? art thou come in triumph from thence? or obliged to fly from the Syrians? or art thou come in a peaceable, or in an hostile manner to me? and he answered, what peace; canst thou expect at home or abroad, from me or others: so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many? which may be understood both literally of corporeal whoredom, and diabolical arts she was addicted to, and figuratively of idolatry, often called whoredom in Scripture, and of the wicked arts and methods she made use of to inveigle and entice persons into it; and both these very often went together; see Nahum 3:4 and of which Joram was guilty, at least in part; he connived at all in her, and did not attempt to restrain her, and therefore had no claim to peace, protection, and safety.

And Joram turned his hand, and fled,.... Taking hold of the horses' reins with it to turn them, or by the motion of it directing the charioteer to turn them back towards Jezreel, whither he fled: and said to Ahaziah, there is treachery, O Ahaziah; a conspiracy formed, and rebellion raised by the captains, at the head of which he supposed Jehu was.

And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength,.... To give the arrow all the force he could: and smote Jehoram between his arms; that is, between his shoulders, his back being turned to him, and the chariot an open one: and the arrow went out at his heart: quite through him: and he sunk down in his chariot; and died immediately.

Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain,.... Not Joram's, but Jehu's captain, though he had been the former's, and his father Ahab's also: take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; near to which they were: for remember how that, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father; either in the same chariot, or on horseback side by side, his guards or retinue following him two and two: the Lord laid this burden upon him; this heavy denunciation of vengeance by Elijah the prophet; and they being together, and pretty near, heard it, as he might remember, which follows.

Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth,.... These are the words of the Lord to Elijah the day after Naboth was put to death: and the blood of his sons, said the Lord; who were put to death with him, that there might be no heirs to the estate: and I will requite thee in this place: take vengeance here, as he now did on his son: now therefore take and cast him into the plat of ground, according to the word of the Lord; whereby it would be fulfilled, see 1 Kings 21:19, more is here recited than there, which Jehu well remembered.

But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this,.... That Joram was slain: he fled by the way of the garden house, which perhaps stood upon the spot where Naboth's vineyard was, turned into a garden by Ahab: and Jehu followed after him; as far as Samaria, where he was hid, 2 Chronicles 22:9, and said, smite him also in the chariot; this order he gave to his soldiers, to do to him as he had done to Joram: and they did so: at the going up to Gur, which is by Ibleam; a city in the tribe of Manasseh, Joshua 17:11, and he fled to Megiddo; after he was wounded; another city in the same tribe, Joshua 17:11, and died there; at Megiddo; though some think that from thence he was had by his servants to Samaria, and there hid, and, being found, was brought from thence to Jezreel, where he was slain, and died. Jehu was ordered to destroy the whole house of Ahab, and Ahaziah was of that house by his mother's side, and walked in the way of it, and was in conjunction with it, and perished therewith; this, though here recorded, was after the death of Jezebel, and of the seventy sons of Ahab, and of the brethren of Ahaziah.

And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem,.... With the leave of Jehu, because he was the grandson of Jehoshaphat, a sincere worshipper of God, 2 Chronicles 22:9, and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David; see 1 Kings 22:50.

And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah. In 2 Kings 8:25, it is said to be in the twelfth year of his reign; it was at the close of the eleventh, and the beginning of the twelfth; or he began to reign with his father in the eleventh as here, and in the twelfth as there, when his father was dead.

Jehu, after some pause, returned to his place at the board, taking no notice of what had passed, but, as it should seem, designing, for the present, to keep it to himself, if they had not urged him to disclose it. Let us therefore see what passed between him and the captains. I. With what contempt the captains speak of the young prophet (Kg2 9:11): "Wherefore came this mad fellow to thee? What business had he with thee? And why wouldst thou humour him so far as to retire for conversation with him? Are prophets company for captains?" They are called him a mad fellow, because he was one of those that would not run with them to an excess of riot (Pe1 4:4), but lived a life of self-denial, mortification, and contempt of the world, and spent their time in devotion; for these things they thought the prophets were fools and the spiritual men were mad, Hos 9:7. Note, Those that have no religion commonly speak with disdain of those that are religious, and look upon them as mad. They said of our Saviour, He is beside himself, of John Baptist, He has a devil (is a poor melancholy man), of St. Paul, Much learning has made him mad. The highest wisdom is thus represented as folly, and those that best understand themselves are looked upon as beside themselves. Perhaps Jehu intended it for a rebuke to his friends when he said, "You know the man to be a prophet, why then do you call him a mad fellow? You know the way of his communication to be not from madness, but inspiration." Or, "Being a prophet, you may guess what his business is, to tell me of my faults, and to teach me my duty; I need not inform you concerning it." Thus he thought to put them off, but they urged him to tell them. "It is false," say they, "we cannot conjecture what was his errand, and therefore tell us." Being thus pressed to it, he told them that the prophet had anointed him king, and it is probable showed them the oil upon his head, Kg2 9:12. He knew not but some of them either out of loyalty to Joram or envy of him, might oppose him, and go near to crush his interest in its infancy; but he relied on the divine appointment, and was not afraid to own it, knowing whom he had trusted: he that raised him would stand by him. II. With what respect they compliment the new king upon the first notice of his advancement, Kg2 9:13. How meanly soever they thought of the prophet that anointed him, and of his office, they expressed a grat veneration for the royal dignity of him that was anointed, and were very forward to proclaim him and sound of trumpet. In token of their subjection and allegiance to him, their affection to his person and government, and their desire to see him high and easy in it, they put their garments under him, that he might stand or sit upon them on the top of the stairs, in sight of the soldiers, who, upon the first intimation, came together to grace the solemnity. God put it into their hearts thus readily to own him, for he turns the hearts of people as well as kings, like the rivers of water, into what channel he pleases. Perhaps they were disquieted at Joram's government or had a particular affection for Jehu; or, however this might be, things it seems were ripe for the revolution, and they all came into Jehu's interest and conspired against Joram, Kg2 9:14. III. With what caution Jehu proceeded. He had advantages against Joram, and he knew how to improve them. He had the army with him. Joram had left it, and had gone home badly wounded. Jehu's good conduct appears in two things: - 1. That he complimented the captains, and would do nothing without their advice and consent ("If it be your minds, we will do so and so, else not"), thereby intimating the deference he paid to their judgment and the confidence he had in their fidelity, both which tended to please and fix them. It is the wisdom of those that would rise fast, and stand firm, to take their friends along with them. 2. That he contrived to surprise Joram; and, in order thereto, to come upon him with speed, and to prevent his having notice of what was now done: "Let none go forth to tell it in Jezereel, that, as a snare, the ruin may come on him and his house." The suddenness of an attack sometimes turns to as good an account as the force of it.