Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Kings 8-9.

I am not quite sure what to make of the thought which struck me about today’s passage.  In today’s passage, Elisha instigates a coup in Aram, and one in Israel.  First, Elisha goes to Damascus, then the capital of Aram.  At the time, the king of Aram was Ben-Hadad (a name which multiple kings of Aram had), who was also ill.  When Ben-Hadad heard that Elisha had come to Damascus, he sent one of his top aides, Hazael, to ask if he would get better.  Elisha told Hazael to tell Ben-Hadad that he would get better, but that Ben-Hadad would not get better.  Then Elisha told Hazael that God had revealed to him that Hazael would be king of Aram.  Hazael returned to Ben-Hadad and killed him, making himself king.  Then later in today’s passage, Elisha sends a messenger from the company of prophets to anoint Jehu, one of the commanders of the Israelite army, king of Israel.  Jehu then launches a coup and kills Ahab’s son, who was at that point the king of Israel, and Ahab’s grandson, who was king of Judah.  The passage explains why God had Elisha have Jehu anointed.  Well, not why Jehu specifically, but why Elisha precipitated the overthrow of Ahab’s dynasty.  But it does not explain why Elisha precipitated the overthrow of the dynasty in Aram.  Perhaps these two accounts of coups are here to remind us that every king and every ruler is in their position because God put them there.  Hazael, who did terrible things to the people of Israel, and Jehu, who overthrew Ahab’s dynasty and destroyed the cult of Baal in Israel, were equally chosen by God to be in the positions of power they occupied.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Kings 8-9.

I don’t think that I ever noticed before that King Jehoshaphat’s grandson was named after King Ahab’s eldest son.  I doubt there is much significance to that fact, but it does tell you a bit about the influence of Ahab’s daughter over Judah.  When Ben-Hadad sent a messenger to ask Elisha if he would get better, Elisha tells the messenger to lie to Ben-Hadad.  The messenger’s name was Hazael, and it seems that Elisha’s purpose in travelling to Damascus was to encourage Hazael to launch a coup.  In a similar way, Elisha sends a messenger to Jehu to encourage him to launch a coup against Ahab’s son.  I will note that Hazael becoming king in Damascus set the stage for Jehu to overthrow King Joram.  It took me many readings of this passage to realize that Elisha encouraged Jehu to overthrow Joram because of Jehu’s opposition to the idolatry of the House of Omri (Ahab’s father).  And it was only today that I realized that the support for Jehu among the army was for the same reason.  Which leads me to realize that despite the support of the crown, Baal worship was unpopular among the people of Israel, the Northern Kingdom.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Kings 8-9.

King Jehoshaphat of Judah was a good king, but he allied himself with King Ahab of Israel to the point that he allowed his son, and heir, to marry Ahab’s daughter.  When Jehoshaphat’s son took the throne he followed the example of his father-in-law rather than that of his father.  As a result, when the Jehu overthrew Ahab’s son, Jehoshaphat’s grandson was there and was killed as part of Jehu’s revolt.  Reading between the lines of these events suggests that while Ahab’s son, King Joram, was injured in battle, the wounds were relatively minor and he used them as an excuse to withdraw from battle and indulge himself.  King Ahaziah of Judah, Jehoshaphat’s grandson, joined him in doing so.  We do not exactly know the sins which Joram and Ahaziah committed during their reigns, but we do know that King Ahab and his wife Jezebel had worshiped Ashtoreth and that Ashtoreth worship involved promiscuous sexual practices.  I suspect that Joram and Ahaziah also partook in human sacrifice.  All of this led to the breakdown of social order in both kingdoms.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 8-9.

When I read this passage I wonder how the history of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel might have been different if King Jehoshaphat had raised his son to follow after him in serving God, and not arranged his marriage to King Ahab’s daughter.  Would Jehoshaphat’s grandson have then also served the Lord? And provided an ally who might have led King Jehu of Israel to be a better king?  In any case, Jehoshaphat’s son and grandson were kings who did evil in God’s sight and led the people of Judah to worship Baal.

In any case, when Jehu was anointed by a prophet to be king over Israel and to wipe out Ahab’s family he acted quickly and decisively.  The account of Jehu’s actions tells us that there was a strong element of those who still worshiped God and rejected Baal worship among the army of Israel and the people of Israel.  We can learn from this that as bad as things seem there are more people who still worship God than it may seem.