Our first king today, King Jehoram, did not follow in the footsteps of his father, the good King Jehoshaphat. Jehoram was an idolater who “caused the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves and had led Judah astray.” 2 Chronicles 21:11

Whenever the Bible refers to God’s people prostituting themselves, it means they worshiped false gods and violated the relationship between Israel and God. God likened idol worship to adultery in his covenantal relationship with his people. It broke his heart and made him angry. He burned with jealousy and tried to win them back. But, in the end, he was willing to let go of those who stubbornly refused him.

God sometimes disclosed to his prophets what would become of kings even before they took the throne. In 2 Kings 8:7-15, the prophet Elisha wept when he met Hazael of Aram. Gazing at him he foresaw Hazael seizing the throne of Aram and then wreaking terror and havoc on Israel.

The old prophet Elijah prophesied the demise of Jehoram and wrote a letter to him, even before Jehoram took the throne. Elijah foresaw Jehoram’s treachery in killing his brothers “men who were better than you.” He prophesied Jehoram’s eventual downfall, the loss of his family, and his early death. Jehoram received the letter near the end of his reign. (2 Chronicles 21:12-15)

The Death of Jehoram

Everything Elijah foretold about Jehoram came to pass.

“The Lord aroused against Jehoram the hostility of the Philistines and of the Arabs who lived near the Cushites. They attacked Judah, invaded it and carried off all the goods found in the king’s palace, together with his sons and wives. Not a son was left to him except Ahaziah, the youngest.” 2 Chronicles 21:16-17

Jehoram lived for two more years with a horrible disease, probably colorectal cancer, that finally led to an agonizing death. He died in Jerusalem and the people built an honorary fire in his memory, but that was the only honor he received.

“He passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.” 2 Chronicles 21:20

He was only forty years old.

King Ahaziah

“Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri, king of Israel. He followed in the ways of the house of Ahab and did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done, for he was related by marriage to Ahab’s family.” 2 Kings 8:26-27

King Ahaziah of Judah’s mother, Athaliah, was the Granddaughter of King Omri, an idolatrous king in Israel, and Ahaziah’s wife was also from the family of King Ahab. Ahaziah’s mother encouraged him to do the wicked things that Ahab had done, and to listen to advice from counselors in Ahab’s household. That advice became his undoing. He had barely taken the throne in Judah when he agreed to go with Israel’s King Joram to fight the Aramean King Hazael in Ramoth Gilead.

King Joram was wounded and fled back to Jezreel to recover where Ahaziah went to visit him. Joram was not well, but he roused himself and took Ahaziah to meet a threat in the person of Jehu son of Nimshi who came to kill them both.

“Through Ahaziah’s visit to Joram, God brought about Ahaziah’s downfall. When Ahaziah arrived, he went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab.” 2 Chronicles 2:7

Jehu is Anointed King of Israel

God waited a very long time for the household of Ahab and Jezebel to repent of their wickedness. He sent them prophets, helped them in war, and even blessed them, but they still turned their backs on him and did things that were detestable in his sight.

So God went outside the royal house of Israel and raised up a new king, Jehu son of Nimshi. Elisha sent a young prophet to anoint Jehu and tell him,

“You are to destroy the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the Lord’s servants shed by Jezebel.” 2 Kings 9:7

Jehu kept his anointing as king a secret while he went to deal with King Joram. He rode to Jezreel and when Joram and Ahaziah came out to meet Jehu, Joram asked,

“‘Have you come in peace, Jehu?’

‘How can there be peace,’ Jehu replied, ‘as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?’” 2 Kings 9:22

Joram turned to flee in his chariot, but was shot in the back with an arrow and died. King Ahaziah fled, too, but Jehu chased him and wounded him. Ahaziah’s servants took him to Jerusalem and buried him with his ancestors.

The Death of Jezebel

Jezebel heard that Jehu was coming to find her, so she did her hair and makeup and waited for him by a window. She was defiant and rudely compared him to Zimri a former king of Israel who gained the throne through murder. Jehu didn’t waste any words on Jezebel.

“He looked up a the window and called out, ‘Who is on my side? Who?’ Two or three eunuchs looked down at him. ‘Throw her down!’ Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood splattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot.” 2 Kings 9:32-33

Jehu went in to have a meal, then thought he should order Jezebel’s burial since she was a king’s daughter. But dogs had already carried off and devoured her body, fulfilling the word of the Lord through Elijah:

“On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs will devour Jezebel’s flesh.” 2 Kings 9:36

Jehu Destroys the House of Ahab

Jehu had a mandate from God to wipe out the house of Ahab and get rid of Baal worship, and he  went at it ruthlessly. First he contacted the guardians of the sons of Ahab and gave them the opportunity to defend themselves. He sent word to Samaria that they should crown the best of Ahab’s sons and then prepare to fight him.

They declined to do that since Jehu had just killed two kings and a queen. They replied to Jehu:

“‘We are your servants and we will do anything you say.” 2 Kings 10:5

So Jehu ordered the deaths of all seventy of Ahab’s sons and the next day their heads were delivered to him in baskets. Jehu then went throughout Jezreel and killed everyone who had been loyal to Ahab. Finally, he went to Samaria and killed everyone that was left from Ahab’s family there, as well as some officials and relatives from King Ahaziah’s house in Judah.

Ahaziah died and was buried with honors in Jerusalem, not because he had earned honor, but because “He was a son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his heart.” 2 Chronicles 22:9

Jehu Kills the Priests of Baal

Jehu dealt with the priests of Baal through deception. He declared that he was a Baal worshiper and insisted that all of the priests of Baal come for a time of worship and sacrifice. Word went throughout Israel and the priests crowded into the temple of Baal where they were each given a special robe to wear.

Jehu posted guards around the temple so no one could escape, then he sent soldiers in with orders to kill the priests of Baal inside. When that was done, they entered the sacred place in the temple and brought out the stone of Baal and burned it. Finally, they tore down the temple of Baal and turned it into a public latrine.

God was pleased with what Jehu had done.

“‘The Lord said to Jehu, ‘Because you have done well in accomplishing what is right in my eyes and have done to the house of Ahab all I had in mind to do, your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.’” 2 Kings 10:30

A Divided Heart

Contrast God’s four-generation promise to King Jehu with God’s promise to King David, whom he said would have a descendant on his throne forever.

God knew Jehu’s heart. While he had been zealous for God at this time, Jehu was not fully committed to obeying the Law of God, and he embraced the sins of Jeroboam – the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.

King David’s heart belonged completely to God, but Jehu’s heart was divided.

It’s a good lesson for us. We need God to help us examine our hearts and make sure there is no disobedience or idolatry hiding in there while we make a show of serving him. God wants our hearts to be undivided toward him.