2 Kings 9-10
Key
verses 9: 17 When Jehu came to Samaria, he killed all who were left there of
Ahab’s family; he destroyed them, according to the word of the LORD spoken to
Elijah.
10: 28 So Jehu destroyed Baal worship in Israel. 29 However, he did not turn
away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to
commit—the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.
Ch 9-10 concludes the
Omri dynasty’s final days. The story started in 1 King 12 and end in 2 Kings
17. If we count only those chapters that recorded on the history of Northern
Kingdom Israel, the volume of the record of the total 9 dynasties is as shown
The first three
dynasties (44 years)--2 chapters;
Omri dynasty (4th :
40 years))—15 chapters
Jehu dynasty (5th:
89 years) –3 chapters
6th to 9th dynasty
(30 years –1 chapter.
Omri dynasty was not the longest one but Jehu’s
was. First three dynasties and last four dynasties lasted very short years,
total of 44 years and 30 years respectively. Through this finding, we can
roughly divide the message from the history of Israel into four parts; the
message or teachings from the first history of the first three dynasties; the
message and teaching from the Omri dynasty; those of Jehu dynasty; and those of
the last four dynasties. Out of these four sections, the history of Omri
dynasty bears an enormous weight for God’s message for the kingdom/king
Simply there was a very heavy emphasis of what
the Lord did for and with the Omri dynasty.
1. [9:1-13] When, what, and why
did Elisha tell one of the prophets to do (8:28-29; 1-3; Ref. 1 Kings 19:16; 2
King 2:13-14)? What word did the prophet convey to Jehu as he was anointing him
(6b-10)? When the will of the Lord became known, what did his followers do
(11-13)? What do these things reveal about Jehu and his men?
Elijah fought fiercely
against Baal worship if Israel. But even after the successful fight against
Baal worship at the Mt Camel, the root of Baalism, Jezebel, was still strong
and threatened Elijah’s life. Elijah’s sought an answer from the Lord when and
how the evil and pagan religion could be totally removed from the nation. In an
answer to his quest, the Lord told him to do three things; Anoint Hazael as
king of Aram, Jehu as king of Israel, and Elisha as a prophet to carry his
baton. (1 Kgs 19:15-17)
Soon after this, Elijah
called Elisha into the service as a prophet and then was translated into
heaven. Elisha took over the duty and power of Elijah, as he took the mantle
left by Elijah, and anointed Hazael as king of Aram (2 Kgs 8).
Hazael fought against
Israel, Joram, and his alliance, Ahaziah, king of Judah. In this war, Israel
was defeated and Joram came back injured and went to Jezreel to get some rest.
Also, Ahaziah was with him.
At this time, when both
Joram and Ahaziah was vulnerable, Elisha told a young prophet among
the school of Prophets to anoint Jehu at Ramoth-Gilead, the defense line for
Israel against Aram’s hostility.
The prophet met Jehu at
his camp and anointed Jehu secretly with this message:
7 You are to
destroy the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of my
servants the prophets and the blood of all the LORD’s servants shed by Jezebel.
8 The whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab every last
male in Israel—slave or free. 9 I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of
Baasha son of Ahijah. 10 As for Jezebel,
dogs will devour her on the plot of ground at Jezreel, and no one will bury her.’ ”(7-10)
Since Jehu’s men did not
know who he was and what he came for Jehu hesitated to disclose the message he
received to his men. As his men insisted to know the message, he told them the
truth; ‘This is what the LORD says: I anoint you king over Israel.’ Immediately
his men expressed their full support to him as their king. The Lord had an eye
on him for quite a time because he had a zeal for the Lord. His followers
recognized this and honored him as soon as they heard the message of the Lord.
God uses those whose
hearts are set for the Lord even under such ungodly kings as Ahab and Joram.
When the right time comes, the Lord uses such a man to turn the nation and to
fulfill God’s purpose. Many have the desire to make history. This happens when
one conforms his will to the fill of the Lord. While waiting to be used, we are
to build our character, quality, and ability to do godly works so that God may
use us at His will and at His time. Dr. Hong mentioned that we are used as much
as we are ready and capable of. The life of Jehu seems to speak for this
truth.
2. [14-26] What was the
situation of Joram (14-15a, 16)? What did he (Jehu) tell his
followers (15b)? What was Joram eager to know (17-20)? When he did not get an
answer, what did he do (21a)? Where did Joram and Ahaziah meet Jehu (21b)? What
was Jehu’s answer to Joram’s question (22b)?
While Joram was resting
at Jezreel, to recover from
the wounds the Arameans had
inflicted on him in the battle with Hazael king of Aram, Jehu got into his
chariot and rode to Jezreel. As Joram heard Jehu’s approach, he sent two
messengers to find out if Jehu was coming to
him in peace. But they did not
return. In anxiousness, he himself got up to meet to find out if Jehu was
coming peace.
Strangely They met
him at the plot of ground that had belonged to
Naboth the Jezreelite. –the
place, Jezebel shed the blood of Naboth (1 Kings 21:1,13) Joram
asked Jehu, “Have you come in peace, Jehu?” Joram answered
“How can there be peace,”
Jehu replied, “as long as all the idolatry
and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?”(22b)
His father Ahab and his
mother Jezebel killed many servants of God and innocent people for their own
good. This reminds us a few passages:
Genesis
4:10 The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood
cries out to me from the ground. (Gen 4:10 NIV)
Genesis
9:6 "Whoever
sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.
Isaiah
26:21 See, the
LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their
sins. The earth will disclose
the bloodshed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer.
Romans
2:9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil:
first for the Jew, then for the Gentile;
There will be no peace
as long as idolatry persists: innocent bloodshed never brings peace for any men
or any kingdom. For the Lord, himself will impose His covenant curses. There
will be always troubles as long as the world resist the Lord and His requirement:
impose the Law of Covenant.
3. [23-37] How did Joram die
and was his body disposed of (23-26)? How did Ahaziah die and was his body
disposed of (27-28)? How did Jezebel die and was her body disposed of (29-37)?
Ahab died in the war and his blood stained his chariot was washed
at a pool of Samara and dogs licked his blood. Joram was shot by an arrow and
it pierced his heart. His body was “picked up and thrown on the field that
belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. This was to fulfill the word of the
Lord (1 King 21:28). This points to the fact that Ahab his father sheds the
blood of Naboth on this field and there his son Joram must pay for his life to
vindicate Naboth’s life.
King Ahaziah was wounded and escaped to Megiddo and died there. Unlike
his associate Joram, his body was taken to Jerusalem and was buried with his
ancestors in his tomb in the City of David.
Jezebel was thrown down by her eunuchs and died and some of her
blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot. When they
looked for her body, they found only her skull, her feet, and her
hands. In this way, the word of the Lord, “on the plot of ground
at Jezreel dogs will devour Jezebel’s flesh. 37 Jezebel’s body will be like
dung on the ground in the plot at Jezreel, so that no one will be able to say,
‘This is Jezebel.’ ” was fulfilled.
4. [10:1-29] How were the sons
of the house of Ahab killed (1-8)? Who else did Jehu kill (11, 12-14, 17) and
why (9-10; Cf. 1 kgs 14:4-11; 16:1-3; 21:17-24)? How did Jehu kill all the
servants of Baal and destroy Baal’s temple and its objects
(18-27)? Nevertheless, what was left unresolved (28-29)?
In fear of Jehu, the
guardians of the king slaughtered all
seventy of Ahab’s sons. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu
in Jezreel. Then Jehu questioned them, saying, “I, Jehu, was carrying
out the Lord’s punishment but why you shed the blood” (9): he implicitly
suggested that they must have resisted evils by their lives. By doing so, they
must not have partaken in the evils of Ahab. He rebuked them for selling themselves to do evil. So
Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who
remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his chief men, his close
friends and his priests, leaving him no survivor (11).
Jehu on his way toward
Samaria met some relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah. They took them alive and
slaughtered them by the well of Beth Eked—forty-two of them.
When Jehu came to
Samaria, he killed all who were left there
of Ahab’s family; he destroyed them, according to the word of the LORD spoken
to Elijah.
When he got to Samaria,
under a pretense of worshipping Baal, he gathered all Baal servants and killed
them all. Also, the sacred stone was taken
out of the temple of Baal, and burned and demolished the sacred stone of Baal
and tore down the temple of Baal and people have used it for a latrine(toilet) to this day.
By doing these things,
Jehu finished all that the Lord commanded: Baal and all associated people were
totally exterminated from the nation Israel. No one who served Baal and nothing
that belonged to Baal was left behind.
When Jehu did this, he
did not have any hesitation or second thought: because he believed
that the Lord was right and just and his heart fully concurred with Him for he
alone was right and just, and Baal and all associated worship was detestable to
the glory and honor of the LORD almighty.
Nevertheless, his faith
was not commendable as much as he had shown his anger against Baalism.
28 So Jehu destroyed
Baal worship in Israel. 29 However, he
did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused
Israel to commit—the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.
He knew that Baal
worship was wrong and destroyed it thoroughly. But he did not
understand fully the heart of the Lord (the law of Covenant). To
discern what is wrong begets a sense of righteousness. Full understanding of
what is right never brings one to ‘righteousness’ in the eyes of the Lord for
we are all sinners and even if we know so well, we invariably fall into sin,
the desires of our hearts.
So Solomon did evil in
the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely,
as David his father had done. (1Ki 11:6 NIV)
In addition, the nation
Israel as a whole was cut off from the worship at Jerusalem: the founder of the
nation, Jeroboam, concocted a totally new belief system with a clear purpose to
make the nation independent of what God had set through the Law of Moses(the
center of which was Jerusalem). Though they worshiped the Lord and carried
almost all ideas of the genuine one, they were of ‘human’ making and greatly
tainted by the human mind. We find similarity with the golden calf made by
Aaron while the Law being received by Moses at the top of Mt. Horeb.
Simply, even receiving
the guidance of the Lord, Jehu could not overcome ‘the predicament’ of the
nation Israel.
I would say that the kingdoms of the world are operating under a similar set up
as the kingdom of Northern Israel. It is like Esau’s and Ishmael’s predicament,
devoid of the promise given to Jacob and Isaac.
The mainstay of the
operative tool is ’righteous’ judgment on others while remaining in oblivion to
the grace and mercy that the Lord impregnated in and through the Law of Moses
or the grace and mercy provided through the Law remain as an unformed
hope. In this way, the Lord forces all nations of the world to seek
the grace and mercy provided in and through the Law.
5. [30-36] Having done all
these what word of the Lord came to him (30)? Why (28-29, 31)? What
did the Lord do to Israel (32-33)?
Having done all that the
Lord commanded him, he said to Jehu:
30 The LORD said to
Jehu, “Because you have done
well in accomplishing what is
right in my eyes and have done to the house of Ahab all I had in mind to do,
your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.”
He commended for the job
he did in exterminating all Baalism in Israel. Ahab lacked such a sharp
distinction between the will of God and his human ‘righteousness’ when he
released Ben-Hadad, Aramean king. But Jehu did follow through the will of the
Lord for he understood how Baalism was detestable to the Lord.
He said to the
king, "This is what the LORD says: 'You have set free a man I
had determined should die. Therefore it is your life for his life, your people
for his people.'" (1Ki 20:42 NIV)
He could have some
leniency to those who was associated with the king, thinking that they were
just trying to make living for actually he was one of them before. God’s utmost
will must be recognized and accepted and we are to obey fully beyond our human
reasoning or affections.
For what he did, the
Lord allowed his dynasty to last four generations. As we see in the chart, the
Jehu dynasty lasted for 89 years. This was the longest dynasty(
four generations and five kings) of Northern Israel.
Nevertheless, it is one
generation longer than Omri’s (3 generations and four kings); And yet it was
within the Law.
5 You shall
not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous
God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third
and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to
a thousand generations of those who love me and (Exo 20)
Apart from the Davidic
dynasty, Jeroboam opened his dynasty. So was true to Jehu’s dynasty. Without
exception, all dynasty, except David’s, shall fade away. The Lord began this;
32 In those days the
LORD began to reduce the size of Israel.
Hazael overpowered the Israelites throughout their territory 33 east of the
Jordan in all the land of Gilead (the region of Gad, Reuben and Manasseh), from
Aroer by the Arnon Gorge through Gilead to Bashan.
Syncretic belief, I
would call the faith in the Northern kingdom Israel, no matter how good
looking, does not please the Lord and shall fall short of God’s blessing. Even
now, syncretism is common. It is flourishing in forms of cultic systems in our
society or in forms of various golden calf even in the believing
community.
6. Discuss what the sins of
Jeroboam were and why it was not removed. Discuss why the Lord eradicated the
family of Ahab and Baal followers in respect to God’s justice and love (answer
this by reviewing the history of Ahab’s family and God’s work for them).
a. Omri, Ahab, Ahaziah, Joram
(40 years)
First, God fulfilled what He promised to Elijah in his time and
according to His plan.
Elijah’s complaints:
Elijah wished that God would destroy Ahab and his family for there were enough
evil and atrocity rampant for His judgment.
14 He replied, “I
have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected
your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the
sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
God answered him:
15 The LORD said to him,
“Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get
there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king
over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you
as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and
Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. (1 Kings 19)
When the time came and
having shown his grace, and yet not seeing the repentance and belief that He
looked for, the Lord utterly decimated everyone who was involved, either as the
primary cause or as a simple association. God is patient and His patience is
far greater than ours. But God in his due time will surely judge the evil. No
one should make a false assumption on God’s patience.
2 Peter 3:15 Bear in
mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul
also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. (2Pe 3:15 NIV)
Second, why did the Lord delay His punishment of Ahab and his
associates
Though his sin surmounts
to an immediate judgment, the Lord delayed His judgment to his son Joram. In
between this time to the time of God’s judging hand of Jehu, God did show His
grace mercy, by demonstrating His care for the king and the kingdom Israel. it
is amazing that for Joram the Lord did show His authority, His power, and His
grace more than what He did to Ahab as shown in the chart. In
these five events, the Lord showed him an incontestable proof of His love and
care for the nation and His power and authority as the Lord of heaven and
earth. Notwithstanding, Joram failed to turn from the way of his mother and
father and suffered the utter judgment of the Lord.
Third what were the causes of the failure of Ahab and his children. It
is compared to his predecessors.
Jeroboam:
1 Kgs 14: 9 You have
done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for
yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have aroused my anger and
turned your back on me
Baasha
1 King 16:2 “I lifted
you up from the dust and appointed you ruler over my people Israel, but you
followed the ways of Jeroboam and caused my people Israel to sin
and to arouse my anger by their sins.
Ahab:
1 Kgs 21:20 Ahab said to
Elijah, “So you have found me, my enemy!” “I have found you,” he answered, “because
you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD. 21 He says,
‘I am going to bring disaster on you. I will wipe out your descendants and cut
off from Ahab every last male in Israel—slave or free.
Jehu:
29 However, he
did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he
had caused Israel to commit—the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.
We are to examine
ourselves if what we do and think has one of these weaknesses.
|
Omri
Dynasty |
880-841 BC |
|
|
Ahab |
1. Drought for
three years and stopping of drought (1 Kings 17:1-18:46) 2. Jezebel’s
threat to kill Elijah ( 19:1-18) |
|
|
|
3. God delivers
Ben-Hadad to Ahab and he did not kill Ben-Hadad ; God’s prophecy
against Ahab |
1
Kings 20:42 He said to the king, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You have set
free a man I had determined should die. Therefore it is your life for his
life, your people for his people.’ ” 43 Sullen and angry, the king of Israel
went to his palace in Samaria. |
|
|
4. Jezebel kills
Naboth’s vineyard (1 Kings 21:20-22) |
21:20
“because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD. 21 He
says, ‘I am going to bring disaster on you. I will wipe out your descendants
and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel—slave or free. q 22 I will
make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of
Ahijah, because you have aroused my anger and have caused Israel to sin. 21:
28 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite: 29 “Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before
me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his
day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.” |
|
|
5. Ahab was
warned of the war against Ramoth Gilead by Micaiah but he did not
listen. In the war, he was killed. |
|
|
Ahaziah |
6. Ahaziah
in sickness and showed his arrogance against the Lord and Elijah (2 Kings 1) |
1:
6 He told the king, “This is what the LORD says: Is it because there is
no God in Israel for you to consult that you
have sent messengers to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?
Because you have done this, you will never leave the bed you are lying on.
You will certainly die!” |
|
Joram |
7. Moab
revolted and Joram attacked Moab with Jehoshaphat; Elisha’s
advice for the sake of Jehoshaphat. (2 King 3) |
|
|
|
8. Naaman
was healed of his leprosy; Joram got angry with the letter from the king of Aram :
a witness of the power of God in the life of the general of Aram (2 Kings 5) |
|
|
|
9. Aram’s attack
was thwarted because Elisha unveiled their secrete plan to Israel
and Israel capture an army of Aram. (2 Kings 6) |
6:18 As
the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, “Strike this army
with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked. |
|
|
10. Ben-Hadad made a
siege on Samaria and Samaria was
dying by hunger. The Lord caused large sound of chariots and horses to
Aramean and they ran away |
7:1
Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About
this time tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two
seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.” |
|
|
11. Shunammite’s
witness of life, death, and resurrection by the power of the Lord
through Elisha to King Joram (2 Kgs 8:5b-6) |
5b
Gehazi said, “This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom
Elisha restored to life.” 6 The king asked the woman about it, and she
told him. Then
he assigned an official to her case and said to him, “Give back everything
that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she
left the country until now.” |
|
Kings of Israel |
Year |
|
|
|
|
1 |
Jeroboam I (930–909) Dyn I |
930 |
First three Dynasty 44 yrs |
12:1-14:20 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
Nadab
(909–908) |
|
15:25-31 |
|
|
3 |
Baasha (908–885) Dyn II |
|
|
|
|
4 |
Elah
(885–884) |
|
(2 + chapters) |
|
|
5 |
Zimri (884) Dynasty III |
|
|
|
|
6 |
Tibni
(884–880) |
|
|
|
|
|
Civil Unrest (884–880) |
880 |
6 yrs |
|
|
7 |
Omri (880–874) Dyn IV |
880 |
40
yrs |
15:32-16:28 |
|
8 |
Ahab
(874–853)** |
|
1 Kings 16:29- |
|
|
9 |
Ahaziah
(853–852) |
|
|
|
|
10 |
Joram
(852–841) |
841 |
2 Kings 9:13 (15 chapters) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
11 |
Jehu (841–814) Dyn V |
841 |
89 yrs |
2kings 9:14-10:36 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
12 |
Jehoahaz
(814–798) |
|
2 King 13:1-25 (3 chapters) |
|
|
13 |
Jehoash
(798–782) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Coregency (793–782) |
|
|
|
|
14 |
Jeroboam
II (782–753) |
|
14:23-29 |
|
|
15 |
Zechariah
(753–752) |
752 |
15:1-7 |
|
|
16 |
Shallum (752) Dyn VI |
752 |
Last three 30 yrs |
17:1-41 (one chapter) |
|
17 |
Menahem (752–742) Dyn VII |
|
||
|
18 |
Pekahiah
(742–740) |
|
||
|
19 |
Pekah (740–732) Dyn VIII |
|
||
|
20 |
Hoshea (732–722) Dyn IX |
722 |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
The entire history of Israel can be divided into 4 divisions (my
observation):
1. First three dynasties fight
for the power of the kingdom: total of 44 yrs
a. 2 + chapters
b. Everyone fought to get hold
of the power of the nation
c. At best, a dynasty
lasted a maximum of two generations
2. Omri dynasty rise up to the
top and last 40 years
a. Pagan belief flourished—God
fought against it through his prophets
b. This took the major portion
of the entire Kings (15 chapters)
3. Jehu dynasty: according to
God’s word, purged Omri dynasty
a. This lasted 89 years—the
longest dynasty of Israel
b. 3 chapters—the second most
chapters in Israel history
4. The first three dynasties had lasted
for only two generations; total of 44 years. It is similar to and contrasts
with the last four dynasties that lasted a very short time, a total of 30
years. –no power to fight against foreign invasion
a. Each dynasty fought to get
hold of the power
They were deposed by the foreign powers.
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