Chapter 6.
HOW JEHU WAS ANOINTED KING, AND SLEW BOTH JORAM AND AHAZIAH;
AS ALSO WHAT HE DID FOR THE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED.FJAJ 9.27
1. NOW Joram, the king of Israel, after the death of Benhadad, hoped
that he might now take Ramoth, a city of Gilead, from the Syrians
Accordingly
he made an expedition against it, with a great army; but as he was besieging
it, an arrow was shot at him by one of the Syrians, but the wound was not
mortal
So he returned to have his wound healed in Jezreel, but left his
whole army in Ramorb, and Jehu, the son of Nimshi, for their general; for
he had already taken the city by force; and he proposed, after he was healed,:
to make war with the Syrians; but Elisha the prophet sent one of his disciples
to Ramoth, and gave him holy oil to anoint Jehu, and to tell him that God
had chosen him to be their king
He also sent him to say other things to
him, and bid him to take his journey as if he fled, that when he came away
he might escape the knowledge of all men
So when he was come to the city,
he found Jehu sitting in the midst of the captains of the army, as Elisha
had foretold he should find him
So he came up to him, and said that he
desired to speak with him about certain matters; and when he was arisen,
and had followed him into an inward chamber, the young man took the oil,
and poured it on his head, and said that God ordained him to be king, in
order to his destroying the house of Ahab, and that he might revenge the
blood of the prophets that were unjustly slain by Jezebel, that so their
house might utterly perish, as those of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and
of Baasha, had perished for their wickedness, and no seed might remain
of Ahab's family
So when he had said this, he went away hastily out of
the chamber, and endeavored not to be seen by any of the army.FJAJ 9.28
2. But Jehu came out, and went to the place where he before sat with
the captains; and when they asked him, and desired him to tell them, wherefore
it was that this young man came to him, and added withal that he was mad,
he replied, � �You guess right, for the words he spake were the words of
a madman;" and when they were eager about the matter, and desired
he would tell them, he answered, that God had said he had chosen him to
be king over the multitude
When he had said this, every one of them put
off his garment, (15)
Spanheim here notes, that this putting off men's garments, and strewing
them under a king, was an Eastern custom, which he had elsewhere explained.
and strewed it under him, and blew with trumpets, and gave notice that
Jehu was king
So when he had gotten the army together, he was preparing
to set out immediately against Joram, at the city Jezreel, in which city,
as we said before, he was healing of the wound which he had received in
the siege of Ramoth
It happened also that Ahaziah, king of Jerusalem,
was now come to Joram, for he was his sister's son, as we have said already,
to see how he did after his wound, and this upon account of their kindred;
but as Jehu was desirous to fall upon Joram, and those with him, on the
sudden, he desired that none of the soldiers might run away and tell to
Joram what had happened, for that this would be an evident demonstration
of their kindness to him, and would show that their real inclinations were
to make him king.FJAJ 9.29
3. So they were pleased with what he did, and guarded the roads, lest
somebody should privately tell the thing to those that were at Jezreel.
Now Jehu took his choice horsemen, and sat upon his chariot, and went on
for Jezreel; and when he was come near, the watchman whom Joram had set
there to spy out such as came to the city, saw Jehu marching on, and told
Joram that he saw a troop of horsemen marching on
Upon which he immediately
gave orders, that one of his horsemen should be sent out to meet them,
and to know who it was that was coming
So when the horseman came up to
Jehu, he asked him in what condition the army was, for that the king wanted
to know it; but Jehu bid him not at all to meddle with such matters, but
to follow him
When the watchman saw this, he told Joram that the horseman
had mingled himself among the company, and came along with them
And when
the king had sent a second messenger, Jehu commanded him to do as the former
did; and as soon as the watchman told this also to Joram, he at last got
upon his chariot himself, together with Ahaziah, the king of Jerusalem;
for, as we said before, he was there to see how Joram did, after he had
been wounded, as being his relation
So he went out to meet Jehu, who marched
slowly, (16)
Our copies say that this "driving of the chariots was like the driving
of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously," 2 Kings 9:20;
whereas Josephus's copy, as he understood it, was this, that, on the contrary,
Jehu marched slowly, and in good order. Nor can it be denied, that since
there was interval enough for king Joram to send out two horsemen, one
after another, to Jehu, and at length to go out with king Ahaziah to meet
him, and all this after he was come within sight of the watchman, and before
he was come to Jezreel, the probability is greatly on the side of Josephus's
copy or interpretation.
and in good order; and when Joram met him in the field of Naboth, he asked
him if all things were well in the camp; but Jehu reproached him bitterly,
and ventured to call his mother a witch and a harlot
Upon this the king,
fearing what he intended, and suspecting he had no good meaning, turned
his chariot about as soon as he could, and said to Ahaziah, "We are
fought against by deceit and treachery." But Jehu drew his bow, and
smote him, the arrow going through his heart: so Joram fell down immediately
on his knee, and gave up the ghost
Jehu also gave orders to Bidkar, the
captain of the third part of his army, to cast the dead body of Joram into
the field of Naboth, putting him in mind of the prophecy which Elijah prophesied
to Ahab his father, when he had slain Naboth, that both he and his family
should perish in that place; for that as they sat behind Ahab's chariot,
they heard the prophet say so, and that it was now come to pass according
to his prophecy
Upon the fall of Joram, Ahaziah was afraid of his own
life, and turned his chariot into another road, supposing he should not
be seen by Jehu; but he followed after him, and overtook him at a certain
acclivity, and drew his bow, and wounded him; so he left his chariot, and
got upon his horse, and fled from Jehu to Megiddo; and though he was under
cure, in a little time he died of that wound, and was carried to Jerusalem,
and buried there, after he had reigned one year, and had proved a wicked
man, and worse than his father.FJAJ 9.30
4. Now when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel adorned herself and stood
upon a tower, and said, he was a fine servant that had killed his master!
And when he looked up to her, he asked who she was, and commanded her to
come down to him
At last he ordered the eunuchs to throw her down from
the tower; and being thrown down, she be-sprinkled the wall with her blood,
and was trodden upon by the horses, and so died
When this was done, Jehu
came to the palace with his friends, and took some refreshment after his
journey, both with other things, and by eating a meal
He also bid his
servants to take up Jezebel and bury her, because of the nobility of her
blood, for she was descended from kings; but those that were appointed
to bury her found nothing else remaining but the extreme parts of her body,
for all the rest were eaten by dogs
When Jehu heard this, he admired the
prophecy of Elijah, for he foretold that she should perish in this manner
at Jezreel.FJAJ 9.31
5. Now Ahab had seventy sons brought up in Samaria
So Jehu sent two
epistles, the one to them that brought up the children, the other to the
rulers of Samaria, which said, that they should set up the most valiant
of Ahab's sons for king, for that they had abundance of chariots, and horses,
and armor, and a great army, and fenced cities, and that by so doing they
might avenge the murder of Ahab
This he wrote to try the intentions of
those of Samaria
Now when the rulers, and those that had brought up the
children, had read the letter, they were afraid; and considering that they
were not at all able to oppose him, who had already subdued two very great
kings, they returned him this answer: That they owned him for their lord,
and would do whatsoever he bade them
So he wrote back to them such a reply
as enjoined them to obey what he gave order for, and to cut off the heads
of Ahab's sons, and send them to him
Accordingly the rulers sent for those
that brought up the sons of Ahab, and commanded them to slay them, to cut
off their heads, and send them to Jehu
So they did whatsoever they were
commanded, without omitting any thing at all, and put them up in wicker
baskets, and sent them to Jezreel
And when Jehu, as he was at supper with
his friends, was informed that the heads of Ahab's' sons were brought,
he ordered them to make two heaps of them, one before each of the gates;
and in the morning he went out to take a view of them, and when he saw
them, he began to say to the people that were present, that he did himself
make an expedition against his master [Joram], and slew him, but that it
was not he that slew all these; and he desired them to take notice, that
as to Ahab's family, all things had come to pass according to God's prophecy,
and his house was perished, according as Elijah had foretold
And when
he had further destroyed all the kindred of Ahab that were found in Jezreel,
he went to Samaria; and as he was upon the road, he met the relations of
Ahaziah king of Jerusalem, and asked them whither they were going? they
replied, that they came to salute Joram, and their own king Ahaziah, for
they knew not that he had slain them both
So Jehu gave orders that they
should catch these, and kill them, being in number forty-two persons.FJAJ 9.32
6. After these, there met him a good and a righteous man, whose name
was Jehonadab, and who had been his friend of old
He saluted Jehu, and
began to commend him, because he had done every thing according to the
will of God, in extirpating the house of Ahab
So Jehu desired him to come
up into his chariot, and make his entry with him into Samaria; and told
him that he would not spare one wicked man, but would punish the false
prophets, and false priests, and those that deceived the multitude, and
persuaded them to leave the worship of God Almighty, and to worship foreign
gods; and that it was a most excellent and most pleasing sight to a good
and a righteous man to see the wicked punished
So Jehonadab was persuaded
by these arguments, and came up into Jehu's chariot, and came to Samaria.
And Jehu sought out for all Ahab's kindred, and slew them
And being desirous
that none of the false prophets, nor the priests of Ahab's god, might escape
punishment, he caught them deceitfully by this wile; for he gathered all
the people together, and said that he would worship twice as many gods
as Ahab worshipped, and desired that his priests, and prophets, and servants
might be present, because he would offer costly and great sacrifices to
Ahab's god; and that if any of his priests were wanting, they should be
punished with death
Now Ahab's god was called Baal; and when he had appointed
a day on which he would offer those sacrifices, he sent messengers through
all the country of the Israelites, that they might bring the priests of
Baal to him
So Jehu commanded to give all the priests vestments; and when
they had received them, he went into the house [of Baal], with his friend
Jehonadab, and gave orders to make search whether there were not any foreigner
or stranger among them, for he would have no one of a different religion
to mix among their sacred offices
And when they said that there was no
stranger there, and they were beginning their sacrifices, he set fourscore
men without, they being such of his soldiers as he knew to be most faithful
to him, and bid them slay the prophets, and now vindicate the laws of their
country, which had been a long time in disesteem
He also threatened, that
if any one of them escaped, their own lives should go for them
So they
slew them all with the sword, and burnt the house of Baal, and by that
means purged Samaria of foreign customs [idolatrous worship]
Now this
Baal was the god of the Tyrians; and Ahab, in order to gratify his father-in-law,
Ethbaal, who was the king of Tyre and Sidon, built a temple for him in
Samaria, and appointed him prophets, and worshipped him with all sorts
of worship, although, when this god was demolished, Jehu permitted the
Israelites to worship the golden heifers
However, because he had done
thus, and taken care to punish the wicked, God foretold by his prophet
that his .sons should reign over Israel for four generations
And in this
condition was Jehu at this time.FJAJ 9.33