Let’s turn to II Kings, chapter eight, this evening, and let’s continue our journey through the book. II Kings, chapter eight. When Elisha first began his ministry, there was a woman who recognized he was a man of God. So she provided hospitality, in fact, even had her husband build him a little room, so that whenever he passed by that way, he could stop and refresh himself, and could sleep there, and she just provided for him.
In time, he wanted to return the favor to her, and he asked what he could do for her, and he said, “Shall I talk to the king?”, she says, “No, I’m satisfied, I dwell peaceably”. His servant Gehazi said, “She doesn’t have any child”, and so he called her in, and he said, “Next year, about this time, you’ll be nursing a baby”. She said, “Oh don’t put me on”, and he said, “No, you’ll have a child.”
So, she did have a son. Her husband was an older man, they had not been able to have children, but God gave to her a son. One day, the little boy was out in the field with his father, and he evidently had a heat stroke. He said, “My head! My head!” So, the father had the servants rush him back to his mother, where he laid on her lap, and died.
So she laid him in the prophet’s chamber. She ordered the servant to saddle the donkey. She said, “Don’t slow down unless I tell you. So she came riding furiously to mount Carmel, where the prophet Elisha was staying at that time. When he saw her coming he realized the haste and all, by which she was coming, something was evidently wrong. He sent Gehazi, his servant out to ask her is everything was okay, and she said, “Everything is okay”, but, she continued driving on, and as she came to Elisha, she grabbed hold of his feet. Gehazi said, “Shall I cast her away?”, and he said, “No, there’s something troubling her, and the Lord hasn’t shown me.” So she said, “Why didn’t I tell you don’t deceive me, when you said that I was going to have a child!”
Elisha said to Gehazi, “Take my staff and put it upon the child. Hurry!”, and she said, “You’re going with me.” So she took Elisha back, and he laid down upon the child, and God restored her son to life. An outstanding miracle! But, this relationship had developed between Elisha, and the family of this Shunammite woman. So that when the Lord showed Elisha, that the land was going to experience…
He came to this woman [chapter eight] whose son he had restored to life, and he said, Arise, and with your household, go and sojourn wherever you can: for the Lord hath called for a famine; and it’s gonna be on the land for seven years. [So, “Don’t stay in the land of Israel. God is gonna bring judgement, by reason, or by way of a famine that’s going to last for seven years.”] And so it came to pass at the end of the seven years, that the woman came back from the land of the Philistines: where she had gone to dwell during the time of the famine (8:1-2).
Someone had taken over her house and her property. So she came to the king for the restoration of her house, and of her land. Now, Gehazi, who was the servant of Elisha, was talking with the king. For the king had asked him to, Tell me about this man of God. Gehazi had, of course you remember gotten in trouble when Naaman, the Syrian captain had come to Elisha to be healed of his leprosy. And, Elisha sent Gehazi out to him, with a message. “Go down to the Jordan river, dip yourself in the water seven times, and you’ll be recovered from your leprosy” And he headed back to Syria angry as could be. Angry at the prophet of God, for not even having the courtesy to come out and tell him himself, sent the servant out. “We’ve got better rivers in Damascus you know!”, and he was determined that he wasn’t going to follow the advice of the prophet, but his servant said to him, “Look, if he had asked you to do some terribly difficult thing, you would’ve been glad to do it. How much more than that he just says a simple thing, ‘Dip yourself’, why don’t you and see what would happen”.
So he dipped himself in the Jordan river seven times. When he came up, his flesh was like that of a little child. He was cured completely of the leprosy. Well, he came back to Elisha and wanted to reward him. Wanted to lay a lot of loot on him, actually. Gold, and silver, and changes of apparel. And Elisha unlike the modern evangelists today, said, “No you keep it”. “I don’t need anything from your hand. You know, you keep it. I don’t want it”. So the servant
Gehazi, this servant Gehazi, as Naaman went away, he thought, “Man, if I just had a part of that loot, I could buy vineyards, I could buy olive orchards, I could hire servants. Man! I could be set up” So he slipped away! And he went chasing down the road after Naaman. So they saw him coming, and they stopped, and they said, “Is everything okay?”, he said, “Oh yes, everything is okay, except that just after you left my master had a couple of young prophets come in, who needed help. So if you could just give a couple of the bars of gold, and a couple of changes of raiment, you know it would help them out. And my master would appreciate it.” And, Naaman said, “Oh, here take four!”, and he loaded the gifts on Gehazi, who came back and hid them, and came in to Elisha, and Elisha said, “Where have you been?”. “I haven’t been anywhere!”, he said, “Oh, as you went, did not my spirit go with you? Is this a time to receive rewards? Is this a time to buy vineyards, and orchards, and to hire servants?” He began to read the intentions of Gehazi, what he intended to do with this money. He said, “The leprosy that was upon Naaman will cling to you”, and he turned a leper, and went out from the presence of Elisha.
No longer a servant of Elisha, he now is talking with the king. He’s become sort of an entertainer for the king, of sorts. No longer is he able to actually participate in the work of God, but now he is rehearsing what God did.
It’s always a sign of a sad state of spiritual affairs, when you have to talk about the word of, work of God, in the past tense. When there isn’t that present work of God within your life, that you’re excited about. Things that God is doing. “This day, or this past week, The Lord has been so good.” But when you have to say, “Well I can remember, you know back in the days of the tent. Oh those were exciting days!” you know. Or, when you have to go back to find excitement in the work of the Lord. It should be something that is fresh day by day, the discovery of God’s grace unto us. So Gehazi is now entertaining the king with the stories. “Tell me, what this guy Elisha did. Tell me some of the stories!” So he’s become an entertainer, as he relates to the king the stories of the past. Well, it just so happened in one of those coincidental things, if you believe in coincidences, that…
As he was telling the king how Elisha had raised this boy, and brought the dead body back to life, [That just as he was telling the story,] here came in the woman with her son. [Because she is wanting to get a judgement from the king that will cause the people who appropriated her property, to give it back. So she came in at that very time he’s telling the story. This marvelous story of the raising of the son. She comes in,] And Gehazi says, [“Hey”] there’s the woman right there, and there’s her boy, that’s the one I’m telling you about. So the king asked her concerning the story. [So she related to him the same story of how God had brought her son back to life.] So the king appointed an officer, to see that she got back all of her property, and all of the fruit of her property, during the seven years, that she was gone (8:5-6).
Now in a typology, for those that are interested in typology, and it is an interesting subject. This woman, becomes the type of the nation of Israel, that will be restored by God. When restored by God, will receive all of the fruit that it was deprived of, during the years that others had appropriated her property. But Israel, even as the woman, will receive this grace and benefit, because of the resurrection of the dead son. So the son of course, being raised from the dead, becomes a type of Jesus Christ, and Israel’s blessings that will come to her, as a result of the resurrection of the dead son. So, you have an interesting type from the old testament.
Now Elisha [Meanwhile, we come back to Elisha now.] has gone up to the capital of Syria, Damascus; and Benhadad [who was] the king of Syria [was told, he] was sick; and he was told that the man of God [That is, Elisha.] has come here (8:7).
He was very familiar with Elisha. He was the one who sent his captain Naaman down for the curing of his leprosy. Elisha had been revealing all of his plans of attack, against Samaria, to the king of Samaria. He thought that one of his generals was a spy, and he found out that there was a man of God in Israel, who knew everything he said. So he sent his army to capture Elisha. But, instead Elisha captured his army, and delivered his army to the king of Samaria. So he was familiar with Elisha, and they said, “Hey that man of God is here!”.
And, so he sent Hazael to take a present in his hand, and to go, and to meet the man of God, and inquire of Jehovah by him, saying, Shall I recover of this disease (8:8)?
“Is it, is this fatal?” You know it’s an interesting thing, whenever we’ve been sick for awhile, we somehow think you know, that it’s, it’s, this is it! You know, “The rest of my life I’m gonna bear this infirmary, I’m gonna have this particular pain or something you know, from now on”. It’s crazy the way our minds work, a week of sickness, and we think we’re dead, you know. So he was wondering, “Am I going to recover from this disease?”
So Hazael went to meet him, and he took the present with him, of all of the good things of Damascus, [Actually] forty camels were loaded down, [With presents for the prophet.] and he said, Your son Benhadad the king of Syria has sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recover of this disease? And Elisha said unto him, Go, and say to him, You may certainly recover: howbeit the Lord has shown me that he shall surely die (8:9-10).
A interesting answer. It leaves a little confusion, until you read the rest of the story.
And so he settled [Elisha settled] his countenance steadfastly, [That is, he began to stare intently at Hazael. And as he began to stare intently at him, until actually it was sort of embarrassing.] he then began to weep. And Hazael said, Why are you weeping? And Elisha said, Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel: their strong holds you’re gonna set on fire, their young men you will slay with a sword, their children you will dash in the streets, and you will rip up the pregnant girls. And Hazael said, But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do these horrible things? And Elisha answered, The Lord has shown me that you shall be the king over Syria (8:11-13).
Now if you remember back a few chapters, actually back in I Kings, one of the duties that God appointed Elijah, remember when Elijah had fled to mount Horeb, from the wrath of Jezebel. While he was there in mount Horeb, the Lord came to him as he was standing in the cave, the mouth of the cave, He said, “What are you doing here Elijah?”, and he said, “Oh I’ve been jealous for God, they’ve slain all your prophets, I’m the only one left, and they’re trying to kill me.”, and, and so the Lord finally said, “Look, go on up to Syria, and anoint Hazael to be the king over Syria”. God commissioned him on two or three little tasks, that he was to perform. We don’t know, the scripture doesn’t say that he ever got to Syria to anoint Hazael, but this is the same Hazael. Now Elisha is saying to him, “The Lord has shown me that you are going to be the king over Syria”. But the interesting part of this story is that, he did not know the evil that was in his own heart.
It is difficult for us to know the evil that is in our own hearts. Given the right circumstances, given the right situation, the evil things that we are capable of doing. Though we might sware, “I would never do that!”, and if someone would tell us the things that we are capable of doing, we would be insulted, we would be as Hazael, who said, “Am I a dog that I would do such things? Who do you think I am man!”. He did not know the potential for evil that was in his own heart. We do not realize the potential for evil, that is in the unregenerate heart of man! Jesus said that, “Out of the heart precedes the murders, the adulteries, the fornications, the thefts, and all of these things”. It is possible for a person to find himself involved in situations that he at one time in his life, considered abhorrent. Things that you’ve condemned others for doing, and yet you find yourself guilty of doing those very same things, it was in your heart also.
So much of what is done, is done for the impression of others. Because, we want people to like us, we want people to respect and admire us. So much of what we do is done just for the sake of impressing others, but the sad thing about that is that we impress ourselves. We begin to think more highly of ourselves than we ought, though the scripture warns us not to. “Therefore let no man think more highly of himself than he ought, but rather think soberly, and diligently, realizing that whatever you have that’s of good or worth, has been given to you. If it was given to you, then why should you boast, as though it wasn’t given to you? If you have any talent, capacity, or ability, it’s because God has given it to you. Any goodness that is there, it’s come to you as a gift of God. Then if it is a gift of God, why should you boast about what you’ve done, if it was something that God has done?” So, in deceiving others, we deceive ourselves, and we develop this self-image of, the wonderful me. The sweet, and the kind, and the generous me. I’m really sort of the perfect man. Ha, ha! Whenever I do anything that is contrary to that image of myself, then I have a good reason for having done it. I begin to excuse my bad temper, my bad actions, it was, “I really didn’t mean to do that. That just slipped you know. It was this horrible pressure, I just wasn’t myself. You know, I plead insanity. Temporary insanity.” Works in the court, so you…, “But that wasn’t the real me, that was, that was some ugly…”.
It’s interesting, with our, with our uh little granddaughter, who is the sweetest, most perfect little girl in the world, but every once in awhile, she doesn’t come to visit us. But, Prunella comes to visit us, and Prunella is a mean little girl, and she does nasty things! She sticks out her tongue, and she sasses, and all of this kind of stuff. Our perfect little granddaughter wouldn’t do that kind of thing. Thus it’s Prunella, who’s disguised herself as our granddaughter, who does those things.
There’s two of all of us, isn’t there? We’ve all got the Prunella side! We don’t like it, we don’t want to recognize it, we don’t want to admit to it. But, the scripture is true, and the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. The only hope I have, is the surrendering of my heart, and life to be controlled by the Spirit.
If a person, a prophet of God, could stare in our eyes, and tell us the things that we are capable of doing in the flesh, we would respond to them, “Am I a dog, that I would do such things?”. We would be shocked, we would be abhorred, and insulted! We would be repulsed, as was Hazael! He was repulsed at these suggestions! “I would dash a baby in the street! I would rip up a pregnant woman? Am I a dog? Who do you think I am man!” And yet, these very things Hazael was guilty of, it was there, and the prophet could see it.
And, he here, becomes a type of Jesus, who weeps over Jerusalem, because He can see the devastation that is going to come. He saw the children being dashed in the streets. He saw the temple on fire, He could hear the screams of the people being cremated within it, and as He looked at Jerusalem, He wept. Because He could see. He said, “If you only knew the things that belong to thy peace, but they are hid from your eyes. And now, your children are gonna be dashed in your streets.” And He went on to tell of the horrible carnage that would take place.
So Elisha the prophet, being able to see what was gonna happen to the people of God, through this man, through this instrument, through Hazael. Seeing what he was gonna do, he wept over the fate of Israel, in the hands of Hazael.
So he departed from Elisha, and he came to his master; [Benhadad the king.] who said to him, What did Elisha say? And he answered, He told me that you would surely recover. But it came to pass on the next day, that he took a thick cloth, and dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died: [He suffocated him.] and Hazael reigned in his stead (8:14-15).
So already, the man who was shocked the day before, when the prophet suggested that he was capable of doing evil things. “Am I a dog, I would do these things?” And, the very next day he is guilty of murder! Murders the king.
Now we turn from there, to the genealogies of the kings again, and here it becomes a little sticky. So, I’ll do my best to explain it, and you do your best to follow. We are dealing with the northern kingdom of Israel, and the southern kingdom of Judah. The sticky part comes, is that for a time here, both of them are gonna be ruled over kings by the same name, Jehoram. Or Joram. The names are the same, but they are both called Jehoram, and they are both called Joram.
The interesting thing is, is that there is a relationship between Jehoram, and Joram in that they are brothers-in-law. The sister of Joram, who was the king of Israel, his sister, was married to Joram who became the king of Judah. She was one wicked gal, and we’ll be looking at her in the next few chapters, in the next two weeks or so. We’ll be looking at this woman, Athaliah, who was the daughter of Jezebel, and king Ahab. Thus the sister of Joram, who was the king of Israel.
So in the fifth year of Joram, who was reigning in Israel, Jehoshaphat being the king over Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat began to reign in Judah (8:16).
So his step-brother had been reigning for five years in the northern kingdom of Israel. Now, Jehoshaphat who was the king of Judah, was a fairly good king. However, he seemed to somehow be attracted to Ahab, who was an extremely wicked king. There should have really been no place of fellowship before these two guys. “What fellowship hath light with darkness? What concourse hath Christ with Belial?” But Jehoshaphat seemed to have some strange fascination for this horribly wicked king Ahab. He had come up to visit Ahab, and in fact you remember, it was last week or so, that Ahab said, “How would you like to go to battle with me. You know, we’re gonna go over and try and take Ramothgilead, back from the Syrians”, and he said, “You know, I am as you, my men like your men, and you know, let’s go for it”.
So Jehoshaphat went to battle, and that was the battle in which Ahab was killed, and Jehoshaphat fled for his life. Well now in this getting involved with this wicked king, they no doubt, in the friendship that had developed between them, made this marriage arrangement. For, marriage was by arrangement in those days. “Hey, look I have a fine young son, you have a pretty young daughter, why don’t we marry the two, and then we’ll be related.” So there came this relationship of the kingdoms during this period of history. When Jehoshaphat the king of Israel, married off his son, Jehoram unto Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, and Jezebel.
So it was a ungodly alliance that brought havoc on both kingdoms. The northern kingdom was already in a mess, but now it introduces this same kind of corruption into the southern kingdom, through Athaliah. So it’s a, it’s a very sad thing that many times though a parent may be able to escape from getting into total corruption by his acquaintances, the kids are the ones that get hurt. So Jehoshaphat was able to keep himself sort of clear from that stuff, his son Jehoram was a mess. And, and, and went right into the evil practices, no doubt through the influence of his wife Athaliah. And, her influence unfortunately went on for awhile, and affected her son, who began to reign, and it went on awhile. And, we’ll, as I say, we’ll be following her, coming back to her from time to time. So um, we read that…
Jehoram the king of Judah was thirty two years old when he began to reign; but he only reigned for eight years. [That means that he died when he was forty years old.] But [And here’s the sad commentary. Verse eighteen.] he walked in the way of the kings of Israel who were corrupt, as did the house of Ahab: [Which was the most corrupt of all the kings of Israel.] for the daughter of Ahab [That is Athaliah.] was his wife: and he did evil in the sight of Jehovah. And yet the Lord would not destroy Judah for David his servant’s sake, as he promised to give him always a light, and to his children (8:17-19).
So God was merciful for David’s sake, and did not destroy the family of Jehoram completely. There was a wife out, and we’ll get that.
Now in the days that Jehoram was the king over Judah, Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and they made their own king. So Joram [Who is also Jehoram, and this is the contraction of his name.] went over unto Zair, and all of the chariots with him: and he rose by night, and smote the Edomites which had encircled him, and the captains of the chariots: and the people [The Edomites.] fled into their tents. And yet Edom continued rebelling from under the hand of Judah unto the present day. [That is unto the time that this was written.] Then Libnah revolted at the same time. And the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the chronicles of the kings of Judah (8:20-23)?
So when we’re through with II Kings, we get to I and II Chronicles, so we haven’t left this guy completely yet. For when we get to the Chronicles, we will come across Jehoram once again.
And Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead (8:24).
Now he only reigned for eight years, he was uh, forty years old when he died, and thus his son was pretty young when he began to reign.
So in the twelfth year [His brother-in-law is still reigning up in Israel. “In the twelfth year“,] of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel did Ahaziah the son of Jehoram the king of Judah begin to reign. He was twenty two years old; [So that means he was eighteen years old, uh or his father was eighteen years old when he was born. And, “He was twenty two years old”,] when he began to reign; and he reigned only for one year [Wicked kid, and God wasn’t gonna allow him to continue long in his wickedness.] his mother’s name was Athaliah, who was the granddaughter of Omri the king of Israel. [She was the daughter of Ahab.] And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as did the house of Ahab: for he was the son in law of the house of Ahab. [Son-in-law to king Ahab.] And he went with Joram [That is, it would be his um, uh, mother, it would be his uncle. “He went with Joram”,] to the war against Hazael the king of Syria in Ramothgilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram. And so the king Joram went back to Jezreel to be healed of the wounds which were inflicted by the Syrians there at the battle of Ramah, when he had fought against Hazael the king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram the king of Judah, [Went up to visit his uncle.] to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick (8:25-29).
As the result of his battle wounds. Twenty two year old, or twenty three year old kid at this time.

Chapter 9
So Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets, unto him, and he said, Gird up your loins, [Now we told you that this is a, they wore the long robes, and when you need to hurry on a mission, you pull your robe up, and tie a rope around, so you’d have a short skirt, so you could run. So the gird up your loins, is always preparing yourself to move fast, to run. You can’t, you ever try and run with a robe? Of course not. You don’t wear robes, but you can imagine how restricting it would be if the football players wore robes, instead of the tight pants, and the pads, and so forth. You know, I mean it would be a slower game to be sure. So that you gird up your loins when you want to really move.] and he said, take this box of oil in your hand, and go to Ramothgilead: And when you come there look for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat [who is] the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up from among his brethren, and take him in to the inner chamber. And then take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith Jehovah, I have anointed you the king over Israel. Then open the door, and [Split as fast as you can.] don’t tarry. So the young man went, even as the prophet, Elisha told him, and he came to Ramothgilead. And when he came there, behold, the captains of the host [The captains of the armies, of, of, uh, Israel were sitting there, you know, just um, fellowshipping together.] and he said, I have an errand unto thee, O captain. And Jehu said, To which one of us? And he said, To you, O captain. And so Jehu arose, and went into the house; and the young man poured the oil on his head, and said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel, I have anointed thee to be king over the people of Jehovah, even over Israel (9:1- 6).
Now this to me is an interesting verse, in that he is speaking in the name of the Lord, and as he anoints him to be the king over Israel, he said, “I anoint you to be the king over the people of Jehovah.” Now Israel had long ago forsaken Jehovah, under the influence of Ahab, and all, they were worshiping Baal. You remember Elijah said, “You know they have killed your servants and your prophets, and I, only I am left, and they’re trying to kill me”. The Lord did say, “I have seven thousand that I have reserved”, but for the most part, the nation had forsaken God.
But the fascinating thing to me, is that God had not yet forsaken the nation. You know that speaks to me volumes. The faithfulness of God to His people. There are those that maybe have forsaken the Lord sometime back, but the Lord has not yet forsaken them. God hangs on. The Spirit of God continues to call back into fellowship, to call to repentance, God doesn’t let go easily. The Lord hangs on, even long after we’ve been guilty of forsaking Him, the Lord doesn’t forsake His people. What a beautiful thing it is to me, that God still said, “They’re my people. They are the people of Jehovah.” Though they had forsaken Jehovah, God still acknowledged them as His people.
And he said, You shalt smite 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 Jehovah, at the hand of Jezebel. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish: and I will cut off from Ahab every male, and him that is shut up and left in Israel (9:7-8):
Now, “You’re to go and you’re to wipe out this house of Ahab, the descendants, all of them. You’ll be my instrument of judgement. Now God had, through Elijah pronounced judgement that was gonna come upon the house of Ahab. There, I think it’s in the latter portion, of the Kings, where Elisha pronounces upon him, after this thing of the Naboth appropriating, having Naboth murdered, and then appropriating his property. the Lord said that uh, verse twenty one, of chapter twenty one. “Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, I will take away your posterity, I will cut off from Ahab every male.” So it’s actually he’s quoting a portion of the prophecy here that Elijah gave unto Ahab. So this prophecy of God against Ahab was known by the people. For this young prophet quotes it to Jehu.
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: [Those were the two dynasties, that preceded the Omri dynasty, that were totally wiped out. Now God is going to bring the end of this dynasty, and Jehu will begin a new dynasty that will go for four generations.] 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 (9:9-10).
Now this is the prophecy of Elijah. He told Jezebel, he said that dogs are gonna eat Jezebel in the field of Naboth that you know, “The guy that you have murdered, and there will be none to bury you”, and this was the prophecy of Elijah. So this young kid gave him the prophecy, and then he opened the door and ran. So Jehu came back out to these guys where he’d been eating with them, and all.
And one said to him, Is everything okay? why did this fellow come to you? And he said to them, You know the man, and his communication. And they said, Is it false; tell us now. And he said, This is what he said to me, Thus and thus he said to me saying, Thus saith Jehovah, I have anointed thee king over Israel. So they hurried, and took every man his garment, put it under him at the top of the stairs, and they blew the trumpets, and the announced Jehu his king (9:11-13).
So he was uh coronated there by the men, on the spot.
So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram had kept Ramothgilead, he and all of Israel, because of Hazael the king of Syria. But king Joram had returned to be healed there in Jezreel [Which was one of the palaces. And he,] from the wounds that he had as a result of the battle against Hazael.) And Jehu said to the fellows that were there, Now if it’s in your mind to make me the king, then don’t let any one escape from here, and go and warn, Joram and tell it to them in Jezreel. [what’s, what we’re doing.] So Jehu rode in a chariot, and he came to Jezreel; for Joram was lying there. And Ahaziah the king of Judah had come to visit his uncle (9:14-16).
You remember we got that at the end of the last chapter. Ahaziah had come up to visit his uncle.
And there stood a watchman on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied [He’s this guy watchman, and of course in those days they had the towers, they didn’t have radio communications. Guys would sit there in the tower and watch for movement and action, and here he sees this, these chariots coming, and the dust flying, the guy looks you know. “So there stood a watchman at this tower, and he spied”,] the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take a horsemen, and send them to meet them, and say, Is it peace? So there went out one of the horsemans, [One of the guys on horseback.] to meet him, and he said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What have you to do with peace? turn behind me. And so the watchman told them saying, The messenger came to them, but he’s not coming back again. SO he sent out the second on horseback, and when he came to them, he said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu answered, What have you to do with peace? turn behind me. And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and he doesn’t come back again: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously (9:17-20).
In my younger days, my wife used to call me Jehu. Because I drove my chariot furiously.
So Joram said, Make ready. And his chariot was made ready. And Ahaziah the king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and they met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. [They came out to meet, and it just so happened, that in that field that Jezebel had taken from Naboth, is where they met.] 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 your mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many (9:21-22)?
“How can there be peace with all of the wickedness that your mother has introduced to the land?” Jehu had the proper concept that as long as you’ve got all of this corruption going on in the land, there can’t be peace. As long as we have so much satanic worship, and witchcraft, these things that are going on, there cannot be peace. There can’t be peace in our land, there can’t be peace in the world.
Joram turned his hands, and he fled, and he said to Ahaziah, There’s treachery, O Ahaziah. And so Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and he shot Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot. 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 you were riding together after Ahab his father, the Lord laid this burden on him; saying, Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith Jehovah; and I will requite thee in this plat of ground, saith the Lord. Now therefore take and cast him into that plat of the ground, according to the word of the Lord (9:23-26).
So, “Take his body, and toss it there in that field that once belonged to Naboth, that he might die there”.
So when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, [This young kid, just twenty three years old,] he fled by way of the garden house. And Jehu followed after him, and said, [To the fellows.] Smite him in his chariot. And they did so at the going up to Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to the fortress city of Megiddo, and there he died. And his servants carried him in a chariot back to Jerusalem, and buried him in a sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David. And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah. Now when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel [This wicked, wicked woman, who had introduced the idolatry, the worship of Baal, who had killed the prophets of God, who had gone out in vengeance against the servants of the Lord to destroy them out of the land. This wicked woman, Jezebel,] heard that Jehu was coming; and so she [Put on her makeup, and fixed her hair.] painted her face, and tired her head, and she looked out the window. And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master (9:27-31)?
Referring to a historic event that we’ve already covered. Zimri who had killed his master.
So he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? And two or three eunuchs looked out at him. 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. [That is, he just allowed his horse to stomp her to death.] And when he was come into the house, he was eating and drinking, and he said, Go and see now this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is the king’s daughter (9:32-34).
Her father was the king of Sidon, and Ephbaal was his name. So she was a king’s daughter, and so he said, you know, “At least give her the honor of a burial in as much as her dad’s a king.”
And so they went out to bury her: but they did not find any more of her than just the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. [Interesting thing, when wild dogs, even to the present day, devour a carcass, they don’t eat the soles of the feet, or the palms of the hands, for some strange reason. Thus it was then I guess, because that’s all they found. The palms of her hands, the soles of her feet, and her skull. Nothing left really to bury.] And so wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of Jehovah, which he has spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel: [Now this is a fulfillment of a prophecy of Elijah years earlier.] And the carcass 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 (9:35-37).
You won’t be able to recognize her. The dogs will eat her. So the prophecy that was made by Elijah the prophet was fulfilled, literally, Jezebel being eaten there, of the dogs.
Now as we move on next week. We see this fellow Jehu, some interesting traits, and characteristics, but also some weaknesses, that led to uh, his, not, he could’ve been perhaps, a great king. He wasn’t because of his weaknesses. But, we do see some interesting and excellent traits, in this fellow Jehu. So, next week, we’ll continue with chapters ten, and eleven, read on. Interesting reading as we continue through this sort of historic account of what was going on, at this particular time.
Father, thank You again, for the privilege of studying the word. And, Lord help us that we might learn from the mistakes of the past. From the events that we have studied. May we realize Lord, the importance of committing our ways unto you. Serving you completely. Following after you. Keeping ourselves and our lives from the defilement of idolatry, turning aside from You, and becoming enamored of the things of the world, the material things. Lord, keep our minds, our hearts steadfast upon thee, that we might walk, Lord after the Spirit, and the things of the Spirit. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
God bless you, keep His hand upon your life, watch over you through the week. May you be strengthened by that hand of the Lord, may you be led by the Spirit, may God open up doors of opportunity for you to share your love for Jesus with someone else. May your life become a real witness of God’s grace, as you share with others, the work of His Spirit within your own life. God bless you, and keep you in His name.