2 Kings 9 "The Death of the House of Omri" At the end of chapter 8 we heard that Ahaziah of Judah went to war with Joram the son of Ahab. Like his father (Jehoram of Judah) and his grandfather (Jehoshaphat of Judah), Ahaziah allies with the northern kingdom, and goes with him to battle against Hazael king of Syria. And when King Joram of Israel is wounded, Ahaziah comes to see him at Jezreel, because he was sick. Jezreel. Please don't say that God has no sense of humor! Do you remember Jezreel? It was in Jezreel that Ahab turned a vineyard into a vegetable garden. The vineyard is a picture of Israel the vine whom God planted in the land the vegetable garden is a picture of Egypt. A vineyard takes years to develop, and lasts for generations. A vegetable garden may come and go, and may last for only a season. It was here in Jezreel that Ahab and Jezebel had put Naboth to death in order to steal his vineyard. And now the son and the grandson of Ahab are gathered in the city where Ahab and Jezebel had done this wicked deed. The blood of Naboth cries to heaven for vengeance against the house of Ahab. As the martyrs cry out throughout all generations: How long, O LORD, faithful and true, until you avenge our blood! The house of Omri has demonstrated itself to be an anti-Christian dynasty. I know, we don't usually use the word "Christian" to refer to the OT church. But "Christ" is simply the Greek word for "anointed one," or Meshiach and as Omri is a parody of David (a military commander who becomes king, and builds a new capital city), and Ahab is a parody of Solomon (the son who builds a temple in his father's city), it is fair and proper to call them "antichrists" because they are both "in the place of" and "against" the Anointed king in Jerusalem. 1. Jehu: the Only Messiah in the North (9:1-13) In verses 1-13 of chapter 9 we hear about the only Messiah from the north. Jehu is the only king in the whole history of the northern kingdom who is anointed. He is easily the closest thing to a good king in Israel! We saw last time that Elisha fulfilled half his prophetic mandate in appointing Hazael as king over Syria. Now he fulfills the second half in anointing Jehu as king over Israel. In Revelation we hear of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, who bring judgment upon the earth. Well, the three horsemen of the Omride apocalypse are now in place: Hazael of Syria who brings judgment against Israel, Jehu of Israel who brings judgment against the house of Omri, and Elisha the prophet who mops up the rest! as God had said in 1 Kings 19. Elisha calls one of the sons of the prophet and tells him to take a flask of oil and go to Ramoth-gilead. Ramoth-gilead was an Israelite stronghold on the eastern side of the Jordan. It was also the city where Ahab died fighting against the Syrians. And he tells him to look for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi in other words, "He is Yahweh" the son of "Yahweh Judges." (Son of Nimshi is likely added to make it clear that he is not the son of the Jehoshaphat who had been king of Judah) He is anointed to reveal the judgment of Yahweh against the house of Ahab. The coming of Jehu is an advent, foreshadowing the coming of Jesus. Even as Jehu brings down the temple of Baal in Samaria, so also Jesus will bring down the temple in Jerusalem which, according to Luke's gospel, had become possessed. But as Elisha says, so the servant of the prophet does. He came to Jehu and said, I have a word for you, O commander. And Jehu replied, To which of us all? Jehu does not seem to think of himself as the commander. But the servant of the prophet singled out Jehu and took him into the house and poured oil on his head and said, Thus says the LORD the God of Israel, I anoint you king over the people of the LORD, over Israel. And you shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, so that I may avenge on Jezebel the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel. And 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. And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her. Then he opened the door and fled. (9:6-10) Once again, we hear the prophetic voice declaring and determining history. As the prophet speaks, so it happens. But also the prophet's action foretells the future. Even as the prophet flees before Jehu, so also will Jehoram and Ahaziah flee before him! Jehu is King. Jehu is the Messiah the LORD's anointed and all his enemies will flee before his face. When Jehu came out, Jehu's men ask, "Is it peace?" By translating this "is all well?" many translations have missed the connection between 9:11 and the many encounters throughout the rest of the passage. Jehu's men ask him, "is it peace?" Joram's first messenger asks him, "is it peace?" (9:17) Joram's second messenger asks him, "is it peace?" (9:19) Joram himself asks him, "is it peace?" (9:22) Jezebel asks him, "is it peace?" (9:31) The Messiah, the anointed of the LORD does not come to bring peace, but a sword. It is only through the destruction of idolatry and apostasy that peace will come to the earth. When Jesus says, I came not to bring peace, but a sword, you can hear the echo of Jehu in his words. It appears that Jehu thought that his men had sent the servant of the prophet, "You know the fellow and his talk." Ha, ha, you've had your joke! But Jehu's men truly did not know what the prophet had said! And so when they hear the word of the LORD to Jehu, they respond by laying their garments before him and declaring, Jehu is king! Again, you hear echoes of this when Jesus' disciples lay their cloaks before him, as Jesus enters Jerusalem in the triumphal entry. Jehu is plainly pointing us forward to the great Messiah, Jesus, as the Anointed of the LORD. 2. "I Came Not to Bring Peace, but a Sword" (9:14-29) In verses 14-15 we hear that Joram, the King of Israel, had also been at Ramoth-gilead, guarding against the intrusions of Hazael, but after he was wounded, he returned to Jezreel. In verse 16 we are reminded that Ahaziah of Judah was also in Jezreel, visiting his uncle. (Indeed in verse 30 we will hear that grandma Jezebel is there also!) Yahweh has gathered the three ringleaders of apostasy together in one place. So Jehu headed for Jezreel. And the watchman saw a company headed toward the city, so Joram said, Take a horseman and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace? So he went and asked Jehu, Thus says the king, 'Is it peace?' Notice the contrast: "Thus says the LORD, go strike down the house of Ahab" What does Jehu do? He goes and strikes down the house of Ahab! "Thus says the king, 'Is it peace?'" What does Jehu do? He replies, What do you have to do with peace? Turn around and ride behind me. The Word of the LORD directs history. The word of kings is feeble and powerless. Remember that! It is not the word of George Bush, but the word of the LORD that drives history. Who are you listening to? Whose word drives your life? Do you hang on the word of your husband? Do you depend on the praise of your friends? Or are you focused on hearing the Word of the LORD? Joram is not especially good at listening! The first messenger hears the word of Jehu, and obeys. So he sends a second messenger. And the second is the same as the first. Thus says the king, 'Is it peace?' What do you have to do with peace? Turn around and ride behind me. And after the second horseman fails to come back, the watchman comments, He reached them, but he is not coming back. And the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously. What do you do when your leading general is driving full-speed toward you with a host of your soldiers? What could he possibly be thinking? Maybe the Syrians have defeated your army and he is fleeing? But then why don't your messengers come back? But Joram is so confident in his commander, that he says "Make ready." And so they made ready his chariot, and Joram of Israel and Ahaziah of Judah go out in their chariots to meet Jehu. They happen to meet him at the property of Naboth the Jezreelite. This confirms what we suggested before, that the property of Naboth was just outside the city. And so here, at the very site where Ahab and Jezebel had conspired against Naboth, Jehu meets the son and the grandson of Ahab and Jezebel. Is it peace, Jehu? What peace can there be, so long as the whorings and the sorceries of your mother Jezebel are so many? And there, on the very ground for which Naboth died, the son and the grandson of his murderer are executed. For Jehu shot Joram between the shoulders, and he ordered his aid, Bidkar, to throw him on Naboth's ground. And he explains how he knew what to do: Remember, when you and I rode side by side behind Ahab his father, how the LORD made the pronouncement against him. Jehu had been a soldier in Ahab's employ back in the day when Naboth was murdered. Perhaps he had been horrified at his king's actions then. Certainly he now relished his role as the one who would make Ahab's house pay for his sins. Notice the way he describes the curse of the LORD: As surely as I saw yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons declares the LORD I will repay you on this plot of ground. That was what God had said to Ahab through Elijah. But Jehu declares that it is fulfilled by throwing Ahab's son on the plot of ground, in accordance with the word of the LORD. Just as Ahab had shed the blood of Naboth and his sons here, so now Ahab's son will pay with his blood. As Ahab had done to Naboth cutting off his inheritance here, so now God does to Ahab through Jehu, by killing his son and his grandson. The children pay for the sins of the parents. Is that true? Well, consider the obvious: the people of New Orleans were destroyed in a flood, largely because of the sins of the last generation. If righteousness had prevailed in New Orleans in the 20th century, the city would have been in much better shape. But think of biblical examples: there were lots of children in Sodom and Gomorrah, who had never committed heinous crimes; but they were destroyed together with their parents. And because of the sins of the wilderness generation, the next generation grew up in the desert, rather than in the Promised Land! So, yes, children do pay for the sins of their parents. And part of the way we pay is because we act like our parents! I am my father's son both in good ways and in bad ways! Joram of Israel was the son of his father (Ahab), and so he dies like his father (pierced by an arrow cf. 1 Kings 22:34-35). Ahaziah of Judah was the grandson of his grandfather (Ahab), he also dies like his grandfather (pierced by an arrow, and taken back to a city where he dies) Usually when a king dies, we hear a death notice. Not for Joram of Israel. The last we hear of him his corpse is tossed into the field of Naboth for the dogs to eat. Thus endeth the rule of the house of Ahab. But the prophecy of Elijah is not yet fulfilled. Jezebel the sorceress is still alive along with many of her brood of vipers! 3. The Death of the Great Whore (9:30-37) The book of Revelation uses the image of Jezebel to refer to a woman (or a movement) in Thyatira. Jesus says to the church in Thyatira, I have this against, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. And Jesus warns that because she refuses to repent, Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. In other words, Remember Jezebel? The wicked queen whom Jehu destroyed? Thus it will happen to any Jezebel who leads my people astray! Jezebel is certainly the instigator of Israel's idolatry and harlotry, but she is also a symbol of Israel's idolatry and harlotry. Jehu has called Jezebel a whore and a sorceress. And when Jehu enters the city of Jezreel, Jezebel plays the part! Remember that Ahab has been dead for around 14 years. Jezebel is a grandmother with a 22 year-old grandson (Ahaziah of Judah)-- which means that she is probably in her late fifties or early sixties. She paints her eyes and adorns her head, and looks out of the window and cried out, Is it peace, you Zimri, murderer of your master? Who was Zimri? Zimri was the general who had killed Elah and all the house of Baasha, the ill-fated second dynasty of the northern Kingdom of Israel. Zimri's had lasted all of seven days, before Omri (Jezebel's father-in-law) had overthrown him. By calling Jehu "Zimri" she is suggesting that Jehu has a bleak future! But her days of sorcery and whoring are over. And he lifted up his face to the window and said, Who is on my side? Who? In Exodus 33:26, when Israel had rebelled and started worshiping the golden calf, Moses cried out, "Who is on the LORD's side?" And the Levites had come to him and they went out and struck down the wicked. Now Jehu asks, in effect, the same question. And two or three eunuchs look down. Even in the heart of Ahab's household, in the service of Jezebel the sorceress, there were two or three whose hearts belonged to the LORD. (Don't forget that! Just because a church is corrupt does not mean that everyone in that church is apostate!) And when the moment of decision comes, they throw down Jezebel and some of her blood sprinkled the wall and the horses, and they trampled her. The word "sprinkle" or "splatter" is the word that is normally used for sprinkling blood on an altar. And notice that having sprinkled her blood on the wall, Jehu went in and ate and drank. After the great harlot is destroyed, the Anointed King goes in to eat and drink! Yes, I think that we are intended to see a parallel here with Revelation 18-19, after the great harlot is destroyed comes the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. And as the wedding supper of the Lamb in Revelation is paralleled by the great supper of our God, in which the birds of the air and the beasts of the field consume the wicked, so also Jehu's supper is paralleled by the feast of the dogs on the flesh of Jezebel. This is the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Elijah, the Tishbite, 'In the territory of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel, and the corpse of Jezebel shall be as dung on the face of the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that no one can say, 'This is Jezebel.' Fallen, fallen, is Jezebel the Great, no one shall ever mark her resting place for her corpse is as dung upon the ground. Throughout the centuries Jezebel has been the image used to describe the temptress, the one who lures husbands away from their families. And given the use of Jezebel in the book of Revelation, I would say that it is a proper use of her name. But of course, the only reason why Jezebel had any power in the first place, was because Ahab's heart was turned away from the Lord. In the nineteenth century, evangelicals in New York started a ministry to prostitutes, called "Moral Reform" (they didn't like using words with sexual connotations!). Operating under the assumption that these prostitutes were helpless, exploited women, they offered a path to a future of middle-class domesticity! They were horrified to discover that prostitutes often enjoyed their way of life. The money was good. And what is more, they had power over men-- something middle-class women did not! Why do I say this? The power of Jezebel whether the original Jezebel of Israel, or the Jezebel of the first century church of Thyatira, or the Jezebels of modern society (movies, pornography, etc) all find their power in subverting your lust for power and control. Men, when you succumb to the lust of the eyes, you are surrendering control to Jezebel. She owns you! So when you are tempted, remember Jezebel's end: a skull and a few bones refuse dung. When you are tempted to look where your eyes should not go I want you to see dung! Because that's what Jezebel is! And as we'll see next time, that is what her children are! And yet there is also a remarkable testimony to the grace of God, and the power of God to cleanse us from our sins. Because as we will see in a couple weeks, one great-grandson of Jezebel will live. Joash. You could say that the house of David is forever tainted by the blood of Jezebel, until the virgin conceived and bore a son. The wickedness of Jezebel cannot triumph. And even as it is through a woman that Baal worship enters Israel, so also it is through a woman that the cure for Baal worship comes.