Who is Jehu in this passage and why is he anointed king?

Jehu is a military commander in Israel serving under King Joram. In this passage, a young prophet, sent by Elisha, secretly anoints Jehu with oil and tells him that the Lord has made him king over Israel. This is not about Jehu trying to take power for himself. God chooses him to bring judgment on Ahab’s family for killing God’s prophets and leading Israel into idol worship. Jehu’s new role shows that God is still in charge of Israel, even when its rulers are unfaithful.

Why did God judge the house of Ahab through Jehu?

God judged Ahab’s family because of their long pattern of evil, especially their violence against His servants and their idol worship. The passage mentions “the blood of my servants the prophets” and the servants of the Lord who were killed under Ahab and Jezebel. God had already spoken words of judgment about Ahab and Jezebel, and now He uses Jehu to carry them out. Jehu’s task is to end this corrupt line so that their sin and influence will not continue to spread in Israel.

What is the significance of Jezebel’s death and the dogs eating her body?

Jezebel’s death is described in a very stark way to show that God’s earlier words about her are coming true. She mocks Jehu from the window, but at his command, the eunuchs throw her down. Later, when they try to bury her, only her skull, feet, and hands are left because dogs have eaten her body in the area of Jezreel. This matches what God had said would happen to her. The shameful end of such a powerful queen shows that no one is beyond God’s judgment when they oppose Him and harm His people.

Why did the captains call the young prophet a “mad fellow”?

When the young prophet came to anoint Jehu, the other captains called him a “mad fellow.” This shows how lightly they took someone who spoke for God. People who do not care about God’s ways often look down on those who bring God’s message. They may think serious faith is strange or foolish. Yet the words of this so-called “mad fellow” turn out to be very real and powerful, because God backs them up. It is a quiet warning not to dismiss God’s messengers just because they seem odd or unpopular.

Why does Jehu kill both Joram of Israel and Ahaziah of Judah?

Jehu kills Joram because God has made him king in Joram’s place and commanded him to judge Ahab’s house. Joram is Ahab’s son and continues in the same sins. Ahaziah, king of Judah, is visiting Joram in Jezreel and is closely tied to Ahab’s family. When Ahaziah tries to flee after seeing Joram killed, Jehu orders his men to strike him too. The passage shows that judgment reaches not only the direct line of Ahab but also those deeply joined with that wicked house and its ways.

What does this passage teach about God’s justice and control over history?

This passage shows that God’s justice may seem delayed but it is not forgotten. Ahab, Jezebel, and their family had done great harm for years, killing God’s servants and turning Israel to idols. Yet God had already spoken about what would happen to them. In this chapter, those earlier words come to pass through Jehu’s rise and actions. Even though it looks like human plotting and war, the story shows God directing events. Kings come and go, but God remains in charge and will deal with evil in His own time.

How should readers today think about the violence in Jehu’s actions?

This passage can feel hard to read because it is very violent. It helps to remember that Jehu is not acting on personal revenge or random cruelty. He is carrying out a specific command from God to judge a particular family for very deep and long-lasting evil. This is part of God’s unique way of working with Israel’s history, not a pattern for private revenge today. For readers now, the point is to see how seriously God treats sin and injustice, and to trust His right to judge, rather than copying Jehu’s methods.

2Kgs.9.1

2 Kings 9:1

Q: What does Jehu mean when he says, “What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?”

When Joram asks Jehu, “Is it peace?” Jehu answers that there can be no peace while Jezebel’s “whoredoms” and “witchcrafts” continue. Here “whoredoms” refers to spiritual unfaithfulness, especially the idol worship and false religion Jezebel brought into Israel. Her “witchcrafts” point to wicked spiritual practices linked with that idolatry. Jehu is saying that true peace cannot exist while the nation is wrapped up in such evil. It shows that peace with God matters more than outward calm or political stability.

KJV

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 Ramoth-gilead:

Jehu Anointed King of Israel

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 Ramoth-gilead:

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 Ramoth-gilead.

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.

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.

Jehu Kills Joram and Ahaziah

14 So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram had kept Ramoth-gilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria.

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.

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.

29 And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.

Jezebel’s Violent Death

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.

Cross References

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