2 Kings 9 "You know the type"

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
2 Kings 9:4 So the young prophet went to Ramoth Gilead. 5 When he arrived, he found the army officers sitting together. “I have a message for you, commander,” he said.

“For which of us?” asked Jehu.

“For you, commander,” he replied.

6 Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the prophet poured the oil on Jehu’s head and declared, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anoint you king over the Lord’s people Israel. 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.[a] 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.’” Then he opened the door and ran.

11 When Jehu went out to his fellow officers, one of them asked him, “Is everything all right? Why did this maniac come to you?”

“You know the man and the sort of things he says,” Jehu replied.

12 “That’s not true!” they said. “Tell us.”

Jehu said, “Here is what he told me: ‘This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.’”

13 They quickly took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, “Jehu is king!”​

a. 2 Kings 9:8 Or Israel—every ruler or leader

I went back to the easy English site this morning.

The young prophet was very careful to obey Elisha’s instructions. The young prophet took Jehu into a private room. The oil was part of the ancient ceremony to appoint a king. It was a sign to show that God’s Spirit came upon that person for a special task. The prophet did not speak his own words. Instead, he spoke a message from God. That message was the same as the message that Elijah gave to Ahab (1 Kings 21:21-24). Jehu had been present on that occasion. But he did not know then that he would be God’s agent to carry out that punishment against Ahab’s family. But at last the right time had arrived.

The young prophet told Jehu that he (Jehu) would be the king over Israel. Jehu must kill all Ahab’s family, and in particular he must kill Jezebel. That was because she had killed the Lord’s prophets.

Jehu did not want to tell the other officers what the prophet had said. Perhaps he preferred to carry out a secret plot against Ahab’s family. Or perhaps he wanted to be sure that they would support him. But they insisted that he should tell them. They probably realised that the visitor was a prophet. A prophet would only come if he had a message from God. They might laugh at the prophet, but they were desperate to know God’s message. Jehu was their leader. They could see that he considered the message important. They urged him to tell them.

So Jehu told them the message. And at once they all decided to be loyal to Jehu. They declared publicly that Jehu was the king. He was standing at the top of the stairs then. Because he was standing there, everybody could see him. And the other officers gave him honour

You know how, in Spanish, the letter "j" is different. Every time I read the new kings name.... Jeho becomes Yeyhoo... and I can't get serious about this guy. That's a real shame 'cause God's going to use him to knock off Jezebel's hold on Israel. I was wondering when I was going to get to that part.

Now I do have one other interesting tidbit from another commentary.

The King James Version translates this line from 2 Kings 9:8: And I will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall. Dilday says of this translation, “The graphic and explicit language used by the King James Version in verse 8 is the literal translation of the Hebrew word for ‘male.’ ”​

That same commentary reminds us that Jehu was anointed twice.

There were the captains of the army sitting: Jehu was a commander in the army of Israel, under King Ahab and his son, King Joram. Jehu was previously anointed as a future king of Israel, who would overthrow the dynasty of Omri and Ahab (1 Kings 19:16-18). Yet that was a long time previous to this, and now he was anointed again to show that the time of fulfillment of the previous prophecy was now at hand.


God controls time... and it's time for Jehu to destroy Jezebel.

:coffee:
 
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