A famine and a significant political shift (2
Kings 8)
Elisha saw or evoked
another great famine and warned of a seven year dearth.
At the outset he told
the woman, whose son he had healed, to get away.
She went and dwelt in
Phillistia for 7 years and then came back. But as she reached home, the King asked
Gehazi about all that Elisha did. He told her about the woman too.
Then suddenly there
she was, with her son: a compelling witness to Elisha’s power. The king was
moved enough to restore all her estate.
In another place, Benhadad of
Syria suddenly fell ill and sent Hazael, the man Elijah had previously anointed
to be the future king of Syria, to inquire of Elisha.
Elisha confirmed that
Behadad would die, but he wept because he knew that God was raising of up
Hazael to uproot all the wickedness of Ahab and to punish Israel.
The next day Benhadad
died and Hazael ascended his terrible throne.
At the same time
Jehoram of Israel and Ahaziah of Judah colluded in battle against the Syrians.
It left Jehoram wounded and both kings took refuge in Jezreel.
It was all a necessary
prelude to the changing of the guard that Elijah foresaw.
Elisha confirmed Jehu as king of Judah (2
Kings 9 and 2 Chronicles 22)
He sent one of the prophets
to the anointing dais in Ramothgilead, to anoint Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat,
as the king of Israel. It was a significant event to call a Judean to assume the
throne of Israel. Maybe Jehoshaphat prophetically foresaw it in his desire to
unify the two kingdoms.
However, it was a
fearful moment and the prophet who anointed him was instructed to do the deed
and get out of there as quickly as possible.
A storm was coming and Jehu was anointed by God to prosecute the house of Ahab. Judgment was coming
and as it came it did so suddenly and with great fury.
The prophet did,
however, repeat Elijah’s prophecy concerning all who aligned with Ahab and the
final fall of Jezebel, who would lie with the dogs. The witch was about to
fall.
Jehu rode furiously.
The spirit of God drove him to the gates of Jezreel. Jehoram
tried to mitigate what was coming but as soon as he saw Jehu he knew that it
was over.
He tried to flee, but
Jehu shot an arrow through his back. It pierced his heart and he died. Shortly
thereafter Ahaziah, while trying to flee, also fell.
Meanwhile Jezebel painted her face and tied up her hair, but loyalties shifted very
quickly and three eunuchs threw her out of the window.
However, by the time
they were ready to bury her the dogs had done their bit, just as Elijah had
said and Elisha later confirmed. The house of Ahab was fallen.
What a fearful moment
of judgment. Heaven help those who stand in the way of an angry God.
Jehu fully prosecuted the house of Ahab (2
Kings 10)
Jehu sent a letter to
the King’s house in Samaria, the chosen capital city of the northern kingdom.
The seventy sons of Ahab, like seeds of wickedness, were all there under royal
care, but the people had seen how Jehu had dealt with two kings and were in no mood for rebellion.
He then instructed the city
elders to behead every son of Ahab and they sent their heads to him in Jezreel. It was done.
But he wasn’t. He then rode to Samaria and decimated what remained of Ahab.
Then he stood and
said, “Ahab followed Baal a little, I will follow him much”.
It was a deception. He
used it to draw all the priests and worshipers of Baal together for a solemn
feast in Samaria.
Once they were all
there, he carefully ensured that no one who served the Lord was among them and
then let his 80 dogs loose. Not one remained.
A terrible
purge ensued and God saluted Jehu’s zeal. He chose the man well for the task at hand
and promised to secure his throne to the 4th generation.
Yet Jehu did not walk
in the ways of the Lord or uproot all the high places.
That’s where Hazael came in.
In verse 32 we see
that God had finally had it with Israel and from then on he began to cut them
off, which is what he had prepared Hazael to do. A time of terrible conflict
was coming.
This didn’t all happen
overnight. Jehu reigned for 28 years, but the fury of God against Israel, while
measured, was very sure. The beginning of the end had come.
Meanwhile in Judah (2 Chronicles 23)
While all these things
were happening and Jehu was on his pillage, the mother of Ahaziah vented her
rage against Jehu, son of Jehoshaphat, for killing her son.
She then had all the remaining
seed of Jehoshaphat killed. However, Ahaziah’s daughter took the youngest heir,
Joash to the high priest, Jehoida, who protected him for the next six years.
Then Athaliah reigned
over Judah. As a daughter of Ahab she had married Jehoram to seal a
union between the kingdoms, but her son morally bankrupted Judah.
God’s separation of
the two kingdoms was validated. Nothing good would come out of Israel any more.
They were like the little leaven that leavens the whole and Judah was being
beguiled by their dark relatives.
Indeed Athaliah, the
only ever queen of Judah, soon restored the Baal traditions of her father Ahab
and mother Jezebel. She really was Jezebel's shadow. However, she was
tolerated only until Joash was old enough to be anointed as king, at the tender age
of 6.
He then cemented
the independence of Judah as a theocratic state and was an outstanding leader.
Yet, he is not mentioned in the lineage of Jesus, because he was descended from
both David and Omri, through Queen Athaliah.
The line was finally
drawn. The kingdom of Ephraim would never be reconciled to Judah.
(c) Peter Missing @ bethelstone.com
