Jehu Destroys Ahab’s House

After the death of Ben-hadad, Joram king of Israel hoped that he might now take Ramoth, a city of Gilead, from the Syrians. So he marched against it with a great army; but while he was besieging it, one of the Syrians shot an arrow at him, though the wound was not mortal. So he went back to Jezreel to have his wound healed, but left his whole army in Ramoth, with Jehu son of Nimshi as their general; for he had already taken the city by storm, and he meant to make war on the Syrians once he was healed. But Elisha the prophet sent one of his disciples to Ramoth, and gave him holy oil to anoint Jehu and tell him that God had chosen him to be their king. He also sent him to say other things to him, and told him to make his journey as if he were fleeing, so that when he came away he might escape everyone’s notice. When he came to the city, he found Jehu sitting among the captains of the army, as Elisha had foretold he would. He went up to him and said he wanted to speak with him about certain matters. Jehu got up and followed him into an inner room, and the young man took the oil, poured it on his head, and said that God appointed him king so that he might destroy the house of Ahab and avenge the blood of the prophets unjustly killed by Jezebel, that their house might utterly perish, as the houses of Jeroboam son of Nebat and of Baasha had perished for their wickedness, and that no descendant of Ahab’s family might remain. When he had said this, he hurried out of the room, and took care not to be seen by anyone in the army. [a]

Jehu came out and went to the place where he had been sitting with the captains. They asked him, and pressed him to tell them, why the young man had come to him, adding that he was mad. He replied, “You guess right, for the words he spoke were the words of a madman.” When they were eager to know and begged him to tell them, he answered that God had said he had chosen him to be king over the people. When he said this, every one of them took off his garment and spread it under him, and they blew trumpets and proclaimed that Jehu was king.

When he had gathered the army, he was preparing to set out at once against Joram at the city of Jezreel, where, as we said before, Joram was being healed of the wound he had received in the siege of Ramoth. It happened also that Ahaziah king of Jerusalem had now come to Joram — for he was his sister’s son, as we have already said — to see how he was after his wound, and this because they were kin. But as Jehu wanted to fall on Joram and those with him suddenly, he asked that none of the soldiers should run off and tell Joram what had happened; for this would be clear proof of their loyalty to him and would show that their real wish was to make him king.

They were pleased with what he did, and guarded the roads so that no one could secretly tell the news to those at Jezreel. Jehu took his picked horsemen, mounted his chariot, and set out for Jezreel. When he came near, the watchman whom Joram had posted there to look out for anyone coming to the city saw Jehu advancing, and told Joram that he saw a troop of horsemen coming. At once Joram ordered one of his horsemen to be sent out to meet them and find out who was coming. When the horseman came up to Jehu, he asked him how things were with the army, for the king wanted to know; but Jehu told him not to meddle in such matters at all, but to follow him. When the watchman saw this, he told Joram that the horseman had joined the company and was coming along with them. When the king had sent a second messenger, Jehu ordered him to do as the first had done. As soon as the watchman told Joram this too, he at last mounted his own chariot, together with Ahaziah king of Jerusalem — for, as we said before, Ahaziah was there to see how Joram was after his wound, being his relative — and went out to meet Jehu, who was advancing slowly and in good order. [b]

When Joram met him in the field of Naboth, he asked whether all was well in the camp. But Jehu reproached him bitterly, and went so far as to call his mother a sorceress. At this the king, fearing what he intended and suspecting that he meant no good, turned his chariot around as fast as he could and fled, saying to Ahaziah, “We are being attacked by deceit and treachery!” But Jehu drew his bow and struck him, the arrow going through his heart; so Joram fell at once on his knees and breathed his last. Jehu also ordered Bidkar, the captain of the third part of his army, to throw Joram’s body into the field of Naboth. He reminded him of the prophecy Elijah had spoken to Ahab, Joram’s father, when Ahab had killed Naboth, that both he and his family would perish in that place; for he had heard the prophet say so as he sat behind Ahab’s chariot, and now it had come to pass according to his prophecy.

When Joram fell, Ahaziah was afraid for his own life and turned his chariot onto another road, supposing he would not be seen by Jehu. But Jehu followed him, overtook him on a certain slope, drew his bow, and wounded him. Ahaziah left his chariot, got on his horse, and fled from Jehu to Megiddo; and though he was being treated, he died of that wound a little later, and was carried to Jerusalem and buried there. He had reigned one year, and had proved a wicked man, worse than his father.

When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel adorned herself, stood on a tower, and said, “A fine servant, who has killed his master!” He looked up at her, asked who she was, and ordered her to come down to him. At last he ordered the eunuchs to throw her down from the tower. As she was thrown down, she spattered the wall with her blood, was trampled by the horses, and so died. After this Jehu came to the palace with his friends and refreshed himself after his journey, with a meal among other things. He also told his servants to take up Jezebel and bury her, because of the nobility of her blood, for she was descended from kings. But those who were sent to bury her found nothing left but the extremities of her body; all the rest had been eaten by dogs. When Jehu heard this, he marveled at Elijah’s prophecy, for Elijah had foretold that she would perish in this way at Jezreel.

Ahab had seventy sons, brought up in Samaria. Jehu sent two letters, one to those who were bringing up the children and the other to the rulers of Samaria. They said that they should set up the bravest of Ahab’s sons as king, since they had plenty of chariots and horses and armor, a great army and fortified cities, and by doing so they might exact punishment on behalf of their master. He wrote this to test the intentions of the people of Samaria. When the rulers and those who had brought up the children read the letter, they were afraid; and considering that they were not at all able to oppose a man who had already overcome two very great kings, they sent him this answer: they acknowledged him as their lord and would do whatever he told them. So he wrote back a reply ordering them to obey his commands, cut off the heads of Ahab’s sons, and send them to him. The rulers sent for those who were bringing up Ahab’s sons and commanded them to kill them, cut off their heads, and send them to Jehu. They did everything they were commanded without leaving out anything at all, put the heads in wicker baskets, and sent them to Jezreel. When Jehu, at supper with his friends, was told that the heads of Ahab’s sons had been brought, he ordered them to be made into two heaps before the gate, one on each side. In the morning he went out to look at them, and when he saw them, he began to tell the people present that he himself had marched against his master and killed him, but that it was not he who had killed all these. He asked them to note that as for Ahab’s family, everything had come to pass according to God’s prophecy, and his house had perished, as Elijah had foretold. When he had also destroyed all of Ahab’s kindred who were found in Jezreel, he went to Samaria. On the road he met the relatives of Ahaziah king of Jerusalem and asked them where they were going. They replied that they had come to greet Joram and their own king Ahaziah, for they did not know that he had killed them both. So Jehu ordered them to be seized and killed; they numbered forty-two. [e]

After these, a good and righteous man named Jonadab, who had been his friend of old, met him. He greeted Jehu and began to praise him for having done everything according to the will of God in rooting out the house of Ahab. Jehu asked him to come up into his chariot and make his entry into Samaria with him. He told him that he would not spare a single wicked man, but would punish the false prophets and false priests, and those who had deceived the people and persuaded them to abandon the worship of the supreme God and worship foreign gods; and that it was a most excellent and pleasing sight for a good and righteous man to see the wicked punished. Jonadab was persuaded by these arguments, got up into Jehu’s chariot, and came to Samaria. There Jehu searched out all of Ahab’s kindred and killed them. [g]

Wanting none of the false prophets or the priests of Ahab’s gods to escape punishment, he caught them by a trick. He gathered all the people together and said that he would worship twice as many gods as Ahab had brought in, and wanted their priests and prophets and servants to be present, because he would offer costly and great sacrifices to Ahab’s gods; and if any of his priests were missing, they would be punished with death. Ahab’s god was called Baal. When Jehu had set a day on which he would offer those sacrifices, he sent messengers through the whole country of the Israelites to bring the priests of Baal to him. Then Jehu ordered the priest to give vestments to them all; and when they had received them, he went into the house of Baal with his friend Jonadab and gave orders to search whether there was any foreigner or stranger among them, for he would have no one of a different religion mixing in their sacred rites. When they said there was no stranger there, and they were beginning their sacrifices, he posted eighty men outside, those of his soldiers whom he knew to be most loyal to him, and told them to kill the false prophets and now vindicate the laws of their country, which had long been held in contempt. He also threatened that if any one of them escaped, their own lives would pay for it. So they killed them all with the sword, burned the house of Baal, and in this way purged Samaria of foreign customs.

This Baal was the god of the Tyrians. Ahab, to please his father-in-law Ethbaal, king of Tyre and Sidon, had built a temple for him in Samaria, appointed prophets for him, and worshiped him with every kind of worship. Yet when this god was demolished, Jehu allowed the Israelites to worship the golden heifers. However, because he had done this and taken care to punish the wicked, God foretold by his prophet that his sons would reign over Israel for four generations. And this was how things stood with Jehu at this time.