seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 King 9:1 The prophet Elisha summoned a man from the company of the prophets and said to him, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take this flask of olive oil with you and go to Ramoth Gilead. 2 When you get there, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go to him, get him away from his companions and take him into an inner room. 3 Then take the flask and pour the oil on his head and declare, ‘This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and run; don’t delay!”
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. 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!”
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Here's a link to the commentary I read.Called one of the sons of the prophets: This was a young man from the association for training prophets in Israel. We might imagine that Elisha gave him this duty as a class assignment.
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.
And he poured the oil on his head: He was anointed, but was not to take the throne immediately. Both Saul and David were anointed as king over Israel before they actually possessed the throne.
The whole house of Ahab shall perish; and I will cut off from Ahab all the males in Israel… dogs shall eat Jezebel: Clearly, God intended to use Jehu as a tool of judgment against the royal house of Ahab.
Why did this madman come to you… You know the man and his babble: It was easy to dismiss this prophet as a crazed, babbling madman. It was easy for both Jehu and his associates to think of any God-honoring man as demented. Yet Jehu knew — and the others soon did also — that the man was a true prophet of God.
Jehu is king: A moment before, these men regarded the prophet as a madman; now they took his word seriously and proclaimed the reluctant Jehu as the king of Israel. This shows the sense of dissatisfaction they had with Joram.
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I skipped a couple of kings of Judah. They were just like Ahab. One of them married Ahab's daughter. They worshipped fake gods in Israel! Those two kings in the last part of 2 Kings 8 were no good either. One of them decided to attack the Edomites in southwestern Jordan and when the Edomites showed up for the battle, he got scared and ran. The other only ruled for one year and was wounded in a battle with Syria. But that's what was going on in Judah.
Meanwhile in Israel......
Jehu is anointed the new king of Israel in these verses. Jehu was the son of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah. When Ahab wanted Jehoshaphat to join with him and fight Syria, Jehoshaphat told Ahab he wanted to consult with God first. Jehoshaphat asked Ahab if there was still one of God's Prophets they could ask. This is when Ahab said [paraphrased] "yeah, but I hate that guy".
Jehu was a good man. In spite of being a commander in the Israeli army, Jehu kept himself God Centered. With Jehu sitting as Israel's king, Israel could come back to God.
These verses describe how Jehu was anointed. At first his buddies, the other commanders, thought the guy tagged to anoint Jehu was a madman. As soon as they heard Jehu had been anointed by the madman, they took off their cloaks and spread them out for the king.
The commentary discussed this too. Was the man who anointed Jehu to replace the king of Israel by a madman?
Did those men believe or were they just making fun of him?
Tomorrow we'll watch as Jehu confronts Joram, king of Israel, son of Jezebel and Ahab, as well as Ahaziah, king of Judah and grandson of Jehosaphat.
Jehu is going to bring about some of Elisha's Prophecy.
Anointed by a madman?
