2 Kings 9:1-13

God’s preparation of Jehu 9:1-13

God had told Elijah that he would anoint Jehu (1 Kings 19:16). [Note: For more information on anointing with oil (2 Kings 9:3; 2 Kings 9:6), see my note on 1 Samuel 16:13.] He did this through his successor Elisha who accomplished it by using one of his protégés (2 Kings 9:1). Jehu would wipe out Omri’s dynasty in Israel (2 Kings 9:7-10). Jehu’s father was a different Jehoshaphat from Judah’s king of the same name (2 Kings 9:2). Elijah had prophesied the end of Ahab’s line (1 Kings 21:21-22; 1 Kings 21:29) and Jezebel’s death (1 Kings 21:23). God had worked through prophets previously, especially Elijah and Elisha, and would continue to do so. However, Jehu was just as much an instrument in God’s hand as the prophets, though his methods were not always proper. This is the only place in Kings where the writer emphasized Yahweh as avenging (cf. Nahum 1:2-3). Jehu was His instrument.

"At times the behavior of the prophet was unusual or abnormal, but a careful consideration of each of these instances will reveal some divine purpose or spiritual significance." [Note: Hobart E. Freeman, An Introduction to the Old Testament Prophets, p. 60.]

"Jehu is the only king of the Northern Kingdom (Israel) to have been anointed, perhaps to indicate that he should follow in the Davidic tradition, as Saul had been anointed by Samuel (1 Samuel 9:16; 1 Samuel 10:1); David by Samuel, to mark the Spirit of God endowing him for the task (1 Samuel 16:12-13); and Solomon by the high priest Zadok and Nathan the prophet (1 Kings 1:45). Such anointing was symbolic and probably confined to Hebrew practice (see also on 1 Kings 1:34)." [Note: Wiseman, pp. 218-19.]