2 Kings 9.
THE time had come for God to act in behalf of His name in both Israel and Judah, —nations which owed their all to Him, and where the testimony to Him had shone brightly in Joshua, in the Judges, in Samuel and in David, and Solomon’s earlier years.
Elisha sent one of the sons of the prophets to Ramoth-Gilead, the scene of the last war with the Syrians, east of the Jordan, there to anoint Jehu; one of the officers of the army of Israel, to be king in the stead of Joram. The commission Jehu was given, was expressly to put an end to the bloody house of Ahab, including Jezebel. As the sword had fallen on the houses of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and of Baasha the son of Ahijah because of their guilt, so should it be with the house of Ahab: —all were to perish.
Jehu, man of action (we could not say at all, man of God), immediately went to Jezreel, prepared to execute his commission, his companions proclaiming him king. Some forty miles of country he passed over at high speed, and nearing Jezreel, a watcher on the tower there saw and reported him to the king. The anxious Joram sent out messengers to find out the purpose of this approaching party, and finally as they did not return, he with his visitor, the king of Judah, set forth to meet them. Then, at the very place where Naboth had lived, whom Ahab and Jezebel had put to death in order to gain his property, Jehu shot an arrow through the heart of Joram. The king of Judah. equally responsible associate in evil and in departure from God, with Joram was not to escape, and yielded his life likewise.
Then came Jezebel’s turn; there were none now to do her bidding, and in a most revolting fashion she comes to her richly deserved end.
God is long suffering and of great patience, but sin must be punished.
ML 11/27/1927