Bible Commentary

Expositor's Bible Commentary 2 Kings 9:1 And Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets, and said unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take this box of oil in thine hand, and go to Ramothgilead: THE REVOLT OF JEHU 2 Kings 9:1-37 B.C. 842 " Te semper anteit saeva Necessitas, Clavos trabales et cuneos manu, Gestans ahena. " - HORAT., " Od., " I 35:17 A LONG period had elapsed since Elijah had received the triple commission which was to mark the close of his career. Two of those Divine behests had now been accomplished. He had anointed Elisha, son of Shaphat, of Abel-Meholah, to be prophet in his room; and Elisha had anointed Hazael to be king over Syria, {1Ki 19:15-16} the third and more dangerous commission, involving nothing less than the overthrow of the mighty dynasty of Omri, remained still unaccomplished. If the name of Jehu ("Jehovah is He"): {2Ki 8:12-13} had been actually mentioned to Elijah, the dreadful secret must have remained buried in the breast of the prophet and in that of his successor for many years. Further, Jehu was yet a very young man, and to have marked him out as the founder of a dynasty would have been to doom him to certain destruction. An Eastern king, whose family has once securely seated itself on the throne, is hedged round with an awful divinity, and demands an unquestioning obedience. Elijah had been removed from earth before this task had been fulfilled, and Elisha had to wait for his opportunity. But the doom was passed, though the judgment was belated. The sons of Ahab were left a space to repent, or to fill to the brim the cup of their father’s iniquities. "The sword of Heaven is not in haste to smite, Nor yet doth linger." Ahaziah, Ahab’s eldest son, after a reign of one year, marked only by crimes and misfortunes, had ended in overwhelming disaster his deplorable career. His brother Jehoram had succeeded him, and had now been on the throne for at least twelve years, which had been chiefly signalized by that unsuccessful attempt to recover the territory of revolted Moab, to which we owe the celebrated Stone of Mesha. We have already narrated the result of the campaign which had so many vicissitudes. The combined armies of Israel, Judah, and Edom had been delivered by the interposition of Elisha from perishing of thirst beside the scorched-up bed of the Wady-el-Ahsy; and availing themselves of the rash assault of the Moabites, had swept everything before them. But Moab stood at bay at Kirharaseth (Kerak), his strongest fortress, six miles from Ar or Rabbah, and ten miles east of the southern end of the Dead Sea. It stood three thousand feet above the level of the sea, and is defended by a network of steep valleys. Nevertheless, Israel would have subdued it, but for the act of horrible despair to which the King of Moab resorted in his extremity, by offering up his eldest son as a burnt-offering to Chemosh upon the wall of the city. Horror-stricken by the catastrophe, and terrified with the dread that the vengeance of Chemosh could not but be aroused by so tremendous a sacrifice, the besieging host had retired. From that moment Moab had not only been free, but assumed the role of an aggressor, and sent her marauding bands to harry and carry the farms and homesteads of her former conqueror. {2Ki 13:20; 2Ki 24:2; Jer 48:1-47} Then followed the aggressions of Benhadad which had been frustrated by the insight of Elisha, and which owed their temporary cessation to his generosity. {2Ki 6:8-23} The reappearance of the Syrians in the field had reduced Samaria to the lowest depths of ghastly famine. But the day of the guilty city had not yet come, and a sudden panic, caused among the invaders by a rumored assault of Hittites and Egyptians, had saved her from destruction. {2Ki 7:6} Taking advantage of the respite caused by the change of the Syrian dynasty, and pressing on his advantage, Jehoram, with the aid of his Judaean nephew, had once more got possession of Ramoth-Gilead before Hazael was secure on the throne which he had usurped. This then was the situation:-The allied and kindred kings of Israel and Judah were idling in the pomp of hospitality at Jezreel; their armies were encamped about Ramoth-Gilead; and at the head of the host of Israel was the crafty and vehement grandson of Nimshi. Elisha saw and seized his opportunity. The day of vengeance from the Lord had dawned. Things had not materially altered since the days of Ahab. If Jehovah was nominally worshipped, if the very names of the kings of Israel bore witness to His supremacy, Baal was worshipped too. The curse which Elijah had pronounced against Ahab and his house remained unfulfilled. The credit of prophecy was at stake. The blood of Naboth and his slaughtered sons cried to the Lord from the ground; and hitherto it seemed to have cried in vain. If the Nebiim (the prophetic class) were to have their due weight in Israel, the hour had come, and the man was ready. The light which falls on Elisha is dim and intermittent. His name is surrounded by a halo of nebulous wonders, of which many are of a private and personal character. But he was a known enemy of Ahab and his house. He had, indeed, more than once interposed to snatch them from ruin, as in the expedition against Moab, and in the awful straits of the siege of Samaria by the Syrians. But his person had none the less been hateful to the sons of Jezebel, and his life had been endangered by their bursts of sudden fury. He could hardly again have a chance so favorable as that which now offered itself, when the armed host was at one place and the king at another. Perhaps, too, he may have been made aware that the soldiers were not well pleased to find at their head a king who was so far a faineant as to leave them exposed to a powerful enemy, and show no eagerness to return. His "urgent private affairs" were not so urgent as to entitle him to take his ease at luxurious Jezreel. Where Elisha was at the time we do not know-perhaps at Dothan, perhaps at Samaria. Suddenly he called to him a youth-one of the Sons of the Prophets, on whose speed and courage he could rely-placed in his hands a vial of the consecrated anointing oil, told him to gird up his loins, and to speed across the Jordan to Ramoth-Gilead. When he arrived, he was to bid Jehu rise up from the company of his fellow-captains, to hurry him into "a chamber within a chamber," to shut the door for secrecy, to pour the consecrating oil upon his head, to anoint him King of Israel in the name of Jehovah, and then to fly without a moment’s delay. The messenger-the Rabbis guess that he was Jonah, the son of Amittai-knew well that his was a service of immense peril in which his life might easily pay the forfeit of his temerity. How was he to guess that at once, without striking a blow, the host of Israel would fling to the winds its sworn allegiance to the son of the warrior Ahab, the fourth monarch of the powerful dynasty of Omri? Might not any one of a thousand possible accidents thwart a conspiracy of which the success depended on the unflinching courage and promptitude of his single hand? He was but a youth, but he was the trained pupil of a master who had, again and again, stood before kings, and not been afraid. He sprang from a community which inherited the splendid traditions of the Prophet of Flame. He did not hesitate a moment. He tightened the camel’s hide round his naked limbs, flung back the long dark locks of the Nazarite, and sped upon his way. A true son of the schools of Jehovah’s prophets has, and can have, no fear of man. The armies of Israel and Judah saw the wild, flying figure of a young man, with his hairy garment and streaming locks, rush through the camp. Whatever might be their surmisings, he brooked no questions. Availing himself of the awe with which the shadow of Elijah had covered the sacrosanct person of a prophetic messenger, he made his way straight to the war-council of the captains; and brushing aside every attempt to impede his progress with the plea that he was the bearer of Jehovah’s message, he burst into the council of the astonished warriors, who were assembled in the private courtyard of a house in the fortress-town. He knew the fame of Jehu, but did not know his person, and dared not waste time. "I have an errand to thee, O captain," he said to the assembly generally. The message had been addressed to no one in particular, and Jehu naturally asked, "Unto which of all of us?" With the same swift intuition which has often enabled men in similar circumstances to recognize a leader-as Josephus recognized Vespasian, and St. Severinus recognized Odoacer, and Joan of Arc recognized Charles VI of France-he at once replied, "To thee, O captain." Jehu did not hesitate a moment. Prophets had shown, many a time, that their messages might not be neglected or despised. He rose, and followed the youth, who led him into the most secret recess of the house, and there, emptying on his head the fragrant oil of consecration, said, "Thus saith Jehovah, God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of Jehovah, even over Israel." He was to smite the house of his master Ahab in vengeance for the blood of Jehovah’s prophets and servants whom Jezebel had murdered. Ahab’s house, every male of it, young and old, bond and free, is doomed to perish, as the houses of Jeroboam and of Baasha had perished before them, by a bloody end. Further, the dogs should eat Jezebel by the rampart of Jezreel, and there should be none to bury her. One moment sufficed for his daring deed, for his burning message; the next he had flung open the door and fled. The soldiers of the camp must have whispered still more anxiously together as they saw the same agitated youth rushing through their lines with the same impetuosity which had marked his entrance. In those dark days the sudden appearance of a prophet was usually the herald of some terrific storm. Jehu was utterly taken by surprise; but according to the reading preserved by Ephraim Syrus in 2 Kings 9:26 , he had on the previous night seen in a dream the blood of Naboth and his sons. If the thought of revolt had ever passed for a moment through his mind, it had never assumed a definite shape. True, he had been a warrior from his youth. True, he had been one of Ahab’s bodyguard, and had ridden before him in a chariot at least twenty years earlier, and had now risen by valor and capacity to the high station of captain of the host. True, also, that he had heard the great curse which Elijah had pronounced on Ahab at the door of Naboth’s vineyard; but he heard it while he was yet an obscure youth, and he had little dreamed that his was the hand which should carry it into execution. Who was he? And had not the house of Omri been, in some sense, sanctioned by Heaven? And were not the words of the prophet "wild and wandering cries," of which the issues might be averted by such a repentance as that of Ahab? And he felt another misgiving. Might not this scene be the plot of some secret enemy? Might it not at any rate be a reckless jest palmed upon him by his comrades? If any jealous member of the confederacy of captains betrayed the fact that Jehu had tampered with their allegiance, would his head be safe for a single hour? He would act warily. He came back to his fellow-captains and said nothing. But they were burning with curiosity. Something must be impending. Prophets did not rush in thus tumultuously for no purpose. Must not the youth’s mantle of hair be some standard of war? "Is all right?" they shouted. "Why did this frantic fellow come to thee?" "You know all about it," answered Jehu, with wary coolness. "You know more about it than I do. You know the man, and what his talk was." "Lies!" bluntly answered the rough soldiers. "Tell us now." Then Jehu’s eye took measure of them and their feelings. A judge of men and of men’s countenances, he saw conspiracy flashing in their faces. He saw that they suspected the true state of things, and were on fire to carry it out. Perhaps they had caught sight of the vial of oil under the youth’s scant dress. Could any quickened observation at least fail to notice that the soldier’s dark locks were shining and fragrant, as they had not been a moment ago, with consecrated oil? Then Jehu frankly told them the perilous secret. Thus and thus had the young prophet spoken, and had said, "Thus saith Jehovah, I have anointed thee king over Israel." The message was met with a shout of answering approbation. That shout was the death-knell of the house of Omri. It showed that the reigning dynasty had utterly forfeited its popularity. No luck had followed the sons of Naboth’s murderer. Israel was weary of their mother Jezebel. Why was this king Jehoram, this king of evil auspices, who had been repudiated by Moab and harried by Syria-why, in the first gleam of possible prosperity, was he being detained at Jezreel by wounds which rumor said were already sufficiently healed to allow him to return to his post? Down with the seed of the murderer and the sorceress! Let brave Jehu be king, as Jehovah has said! So the captains sprang to their feet, and then and there seized Jehu, and carried him in triumph to the top of the stairs which ran round the inside of the courtyard, and stripped off their mantles to extemporize for him the semblance of a cushioned throne. Then in the presence of such soldiers as they could trust they blew a sudden blast of the ram’s horn, and shouted, "Jehu is king!" Jehu was not the man to let the grass grow under his feet. Nothing tries a man’s vigor and nerve so surely as a sudden crisis. It is this swift resolution which has raised many a man to the throne, as it raised Otho, and Napoleon I, and Napoleon III. The history of Israel is specially full of coups d’etat , but no one of them is half so decisive or overwhelming as this. Jehu instantly accepted the office of Jehovah’s avenger on the house of Ahab. Everything, as Jehu saw, depended on the suddenness and fury with which the blow was delivered. "If you want me to be your king," he said, "keep the lines secure, and guard the fortress walls. I will be my own messenger to Jehoram. Let no deserter go forth to give him warning." It was agreed; and Jehu, only taking with him Bidkar, his fellow-officer, and a small hand of followers, set forth at full speed from Ramoth-Gilead. The fortress of Ramoth, now the important town of Es-Salt, a place which must always have been the key of Gilead, was built on the summit of a rocky headland, fortified by nature as well as by art. It is south of the river Jabbok, and lies at the head of the only easy road which runs down westward to the Jordan and eastward to the rich plateau of the interior. Crossing the fords of the Jordan, Jehu would soon be able to join the main road, which, passing Tirzah, Zaretan, and Bethshean, and sweeping eastward of Mount Gilboa, gives ready access to Jezreel. The watchman on the lofty watchtower of the summer palace caught sight of a storm of dust careering along from the eastward up the valley towards the city. The times were wild and troublous. What could it be? He shouted his alarm, "I see a troop!" The tidings were startling, and the king was instantly informed that chariots and horsemen were approaching the royal city. "Send a horseman to meet them," he said, "with the message, ‘Is all well?"’ Forth flew the rider, and cried to the rushing escort, "The king asks, ‘Is all well? Is it peace?"’ For probably the anxious city hoped that there might have been some victory of the army against Hazael, which would fill them with joy. "What hast thou to do with peace? Turn thee behind me," answered Jehu; and perforce the horseman, whatever may have been his conjectures, had to follow in the rear. "He reached them," cried the sentry on the watch-tower, "but he does not return." The news was enigmatical and alarming; and the troubled king sent another horseman. Again the same colloquy occurred, and again the watchman gave the ominous message, adding to it the yet more perplexing news that, in the mad and headlong driving of the charioteer, he recognizes the driving of Jehu, the son of Nimshi. What had happened to his army? Why should the captain of the host be driving thus furiously to Jezreel? Matters were evidently very critical, whatever the swift approach of chariots and horsemen might portend. "Yoke my chariot," said Jehoram; and his nephew Ahaziah, who had shared his campaign, and was no less consumed with anxiety to learn tidings which could not but be pressing, rode by him in another chariot to meet Jehu. They took with them no escort worth mentioning. The rebellion was not only sudden but wholly unexpected. The two kings met Jehu in a spot of the darkest omen. It was the plot of ground which had once been the vineyard of Naboth, at the door of which Ahab had heard from Elijah the awful message of his doom. As the New Forest was ominous to our early Norman kings as the witness of their cruelties and encroachments, so was this spot to the house of Omri, though it was adjacent to their ivory palace, and had been transformed from a vineyard into a garden or pleasance. "Is it peace, Jehu?" shouted the agitated king; by which probably he only meant to ask, "Is all going well in the army at Ramoth?" The fierce answer which burst from the lips of his general fatally undeceived him. "What peace," brutally answered the rebel, "so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?" She, after all, was the fons et origo mali to the house of Jehoram. Hers was the dark spirit of murder and idolatry which had walked in that house. She was the instigator and the executer of the crime against Naboth. She had been the foundress of Baal-and Asherah-worship; she was the murderess of the prophets; she had been specially marked out for vengeance in the doom pronounced both by Elijah and Elisha. The answer was unmistakable. This was a revolt, a revolution. "Treachery, Ahaziah!" shouted the terrified king, and instantly wheeled round his chariot to flee. But not so swiftly as to escape the nemesis which had been stealing upon him with leaden feet, but now smote him irretrievably with iron hand. Without an instant’s hesitation, Jehu snatched his bow from his attendant charioteer, "filled his hands with it," and from its full stretch and resonant string sped the arrow, which smote Jehoram in the back with fatal force, and passed through his heart. Without a word the unhappy king sank down upon his knees in his chariot, and fell face forward, dead. "Take him up," cried Jehu to Bidkar, "and fling him down where he is, -here in this portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. Here, years ago, you and I, as we rode behind Ahab, heard Elijah utter his oracle on this man’s father, that vengeance should meet him here. Where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth and his sons, let dogs lick the blood of the son of Ahab." But Jehu was not the man to let the king’s murder stay his chariot-wheels when more work had yet to be done. Ahaziah of Judah, too, belonged to Ahab’s house, for he was Ahab’s grandson, and Jehoram’s nephew and ally. Without stopping to mourn or avenge the tragedy of his uncle’s murder, Ahaziah fled towards Bethgan or Engannim, the fountain of gardens, south of Jezreel, on the road to Samaria and Jerusalem. Jehu gave the laconic order, "Smite him also"; but fright added wings to the speed of the hapless King of Judah. His chariot-steeds were royal steeds, and were fresh; those of Jehu were spent with the long, fierce drive from Ramoth. He got as far as the ascent of Gur before he was overtaken. There, not far from Ibleam, the rocky hill impeded his flight, and he was wounded by the pursuers. But he managed to struggle onwards to Megiddo, on the south of the plain of Jezreel, and there he hid himself. He was discovered, dragged out, and slain. Even Jehu’s fierce emissaries did not make war on dead bodies, any more than Hannibal did, or Charles V They left such meanness to Jehu himself, and to our Charles II. They did not interfere with the dead king’s remains. His servants carried them to Jerusalem, and there he was buried with his fathers in the sepulcher of the kings, in the city of David. As there was nothing more to tell about him, the historian omits the usual formula about the rest of the acts of Ahaziah, and all that he did. His death illustrates the proverb mitgegangen mitgefannen : he was the comrade of evil men, and he perished with them. Jehu speedily reached Jezreel, but the interposition of Jehoram and the orders for the pursuit of Ahaziah had caused a brief delay, and Jezebel had already been made aware that her doom was imminent. Not even the sudden and dreadful death of her son, and the nearness of her own fate, daunted the steely heart of the Tyrian sorceress. If she was to die, she would meet death like a queen. As though for some court banquet, she painted her eyelashes and eyebrows with antimony, to make her eyes look large and lustrous, and put on her jeweled head-dress. Then she mounted the palace tower, and, looking down through the lattice above the city gate, watched the thundering advance of Jehu’s chariot, and hailed the triumphant usurper with the bitterest insult she could devise. She knew that Omri, her husband’s father, had taken swift vengeance on the guilt of the usurper Zimri, who had been forced to burn himself in the harem at Tirzah after one month’s troubled reign. Her shrill voice was heard above the roar of the chariot-wheels in the ominous taunt, - "Is it peace, thou Zimri, thou murderer of thy master?" No!-She meant, "There is no peace for thee nor thine, any more than for me or mine! Thou mayest murder us; but thee too, thy doom awaiteth!" Stung by the ill-omened words, Jehu looked up at her and shouted, - "Who is on my side? Who?" The palace was apparently rife with traitors. Ahab had been the first polygamist among the kings of Israel, and therefore the first also to introduce the odious atrocity of eunuchs. Those hapless wretches, the portents of Eastern seraglios, the disgrace of humanity, are almost always the retributive enemies of the societies of which they are the helpless victims. Fidelity or gratitude is rarely to be looked for from natures warped into malignity by the ruthless misdoing of men. Nor was the nature of Jezebel one to inspire affection. One or two eunuchs immediately thrust out of the windows their bloated and beardless faces. "Fling her down!" Jehu shouted. Down they flung the wretched queen (has any queen ever died a death so shamefully ignominious?), and her blood spurted upon the wall, and on the horses. Jehu, who had only stopped for an instant in his headlong rush, drove his horses over her corpse, and entered the gate of her capital with his wheels crimson with her blood. History records scarcely another instance of such a scene, except when Tullia, a century later, drove her chariot over the dead body of her father Servius Tullius in the Vicus Sceleratus of ancient Rome. But what cared Jehu? Many a conqueror ere now has sat down to the dinner prepared for his enemy; and the obsequious household of the dead tyrants, ready to do the bidding of their new lord, ushered the hungry man to the banquet provided for the kings whom he had slain. No man dreamt of uttering a wail, no man thought of raising a finger for dead Jehoram or for dead Jezebel, though they had all been under her sway for at least five-and-thirty years. "The wicked perish, and no man regardeth." "When the wicked perish, there is shouting." We may be startled at a revolution so sudden and so complete; yet it is true to history. A tyrant or a cabal may oppress a nation for long years. Their word may be thought absolute, their power irresistible. Tyranny seems to paralyze the courage of resistance, like the fabled head of Medusa. Remove its fascination of corruption, and men become men, and not machines, once more. Jehu’s daring woke Israel from the lethargy which had made her tolerate the murders and enchantments of this Baal-worshipping alien. In the same way in one week Robespierre seemed to be an invincible autocrat; the next week his power had crumbled into dust and ashes at a touch. It was not until Jehu had sated his thirst and hunger after that wild drive, which had ended in the murder of two kings and a queen and in his sudden elevation to a throne, that it even occurred to this new tiger-king to ask what had become of Jezebel. But when he had eaten and drunk, he said, "Go, see now to this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a king’s daughter." That she had been first Princess, then Queen, then Gebirah in Israel for nearly a full lifetime was nothing: it was nothing to Jehu that she was a wife, and mother, and grandmother of kings and queens both of Israel and Judah; but she was also the daughter of Ethbaal, the priest-king of Tyre and Sidon, and therefore any shameful treatment of her remains might kindle trouble from the region of Phoenicia. But no one had taken the trouble so much as to look after the corpse of Jezebel. The populace of Jezreel were occupied with their new king. Where Jezebel fell, there she had been suffered to lie and no one, apparently, cared even to despoil her of the royal robes, now saturated with blood. Flung from the palace-tower, her body had fallen in the open space just outside the walls-what is called "the mounds" of an Eastern city. In the strange carelessness of sanitation which describes as "fate" even the visitation of an avoidable pestilence, all sorts of offal are shot into this vacant space to fester in the tropic heat. I myself have seen the pariah dogs and the vultures feeding on a ghastly dead horse in a ruined space within the street of Beit-Dejun; and the dogs and the vultures-"those national undertakers"-had done their work unbidden on the corpse of the Tyrian queen. When men went to bury her, they only found a few dog-mumbled bones-the skull, and the feet, and the palms of the hands. {1Ki 21:23} They brought the news to Jehu as he rested after his feast. It did not by any means discompose him. He at once recognized that another levin-bolt had fallen from the thunder-crash of Elijah’s prophecy, and he troubled himself about the matter no further. Her carcass, as the man of God had prophesied, had become as dung upon the face of the field, so that none could say, "This is Jezebel." The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat. 2 Kings 9:2-37 The history of Jehu David Thomas, D. D. Jehu was the son of Nimshi and the grandson of Jehoshaphat. He was one of the monsters of history. The leading facts of his revolting life will be found in this and the preceding chapter. I. A REVOLTING EXHIBITION OF HUMAN DEPRAVITY. He was ruthlessly and craftily cruel. He shot Jehoram dead in his chariot. He commanded Jezebel, who was looking out of a window as he passed by, to be thrown down, and in her fall she was smashed to destruction ( 2 Kings 9:30 .) He then proceeded to exterminate the family of Ahab. II. A DISTRESSING MYSTERY IN THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD. That the merciful Father should permit men to be murderers one of another confounds us with amazement. III. A MIGHTY ARGUMENT FOR FUTURE RETRIBUTION. Were we to believe that this state of things is to continue for ever, religion, which is supreme love to God, would be out of the question. "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ." IV. A PROOF OF THE SUPREME NEED OF A MORAL REGENERATOR. What can alter the character of such men as this Jehu, and put an end to all the cruelties, tyrannies, frauds, and violence, that turn the world into a pandemonium? Philosophy, literature, civilisation, legislative enactments, ceremonial religions? No, nothing short of a Power which can change the moral heart. The Gospel is this regenerating power. Thank God One has come into this world who will "create a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." ( David Thomas, D. D. ) Jehu F. Whitefield, M. A. The time had now fully come that the wrath of God was to be poured out upon the house of Ahab. The chapters we have selected for consideration bring this subject before us. The anointed of the Lord for the execution of this work was Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat. The first to fall under judgment was Jehoram the king. After him came Ahaziah and Jezebel; then the sons and grandsons of Ahab and the brethren of Ahaziah. After the royal family came the prophets, the priests, and the worshippers of Baal. These were all swept away at one stroke. Next followed the images of Baal and his house. These were devoted to utter destruction. So completely were the judgments of God executed upon apostate Israel and Judah that it is recorded "thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel." The narrative, however, has a spiritual aspect. Jehu's anointing was to a destruction with carnal weapons. The child of God now is anointed for a destruction of spiritual foes with spiritual weapons. 1. In these words we are presented with a picture of the way in which the Lord acts when He is about to call His servants to do His work. In the first place, there is the "anointing" — the Holy Spirit. Elisha commands the "box of oil" to be taken. Nothing can be done without this. In all true consecration to God's service the work must be, from beginning to end, the work of the Holy Spirit. Jehu can have no commission without the "oil." He can put no energy to work till the "oil" is "poured" upon him. It is this "anointing" that gives him his authority, his power, his perseverance, and his success. So it must be with the one who is devoted to the Lord's service. 2. In the next place, Jehu is made to "rise up from among his brethren." Here is separation. The work of God the Holy Ghost at once separates a man from everything around him. It is a personal call, an individual work. It is the direct action of that Holy Spirit on a man's own soul. He is drawn from every association and influence, and brought into "an inner chamber" — alone with God. There he is taught of God and trained for His work. There he obtains strength to fulfil it. Thus it is with all God's chosen ones. The more of this personal dealing of the Holy Spirit there is with the soul, the more of this work of the "inner chamber" going on, the more effectual will be the work we undertake for God. One marvels to see what one man could do! All the royal family, the prophets and priests, the worshippers and the idols — all fell down before this man at one stroke! What was the cause, what the secret source of this mighty energy and strength and success? It was the "off," the "separation," and the "inner chamber." 3. How little the world can understand or appreciate this Divine work is seen here. The messenger of the Lord is looked upon as a "mad fellow." This anointing is a secret into which none can enter but those who are subjects of it. Nor can he who is the subject ever sacrifice truth for the sake of peace. Three times the question is put to Jehu, "Is it peace?" But what peace can there be while God is dishonoured, sin loved and cherished, and the truth of God trampled in the dust! First purity, then peace — this is God's order. Peace at any price — this is man's. The world cries out for peace, and there is ready for it "the peace of God which passeth all understanding." But this peace springs from "the sword" which, first piercing man's heart for sin, breaks him from sin. Then follows the peace of God. There could be no peace to Joram, King of Israel, so long as God's truth was despised and set at nought. Put the sin away, every jot of it, then you can have God's peace in your soul! But who will maintain this standard? Who will carry it out at all seasons and under all circumstances? Only the consecrated Christian. Such high ground must entail the cross at every step, and none but a consecrated Christian can bear the cross "in season and out of season." None will take this ground unless there has been much of the "oil," the "separation," and the "inner chamber." 4. And mark the clear and unhesitating way in which every spiritual foe must be met, everything that stands between the soul and God dealt with. Jehu says, with regard to Ahaziah and Jezebel, "Smite him also," "throw her down"; with regard to Ahab's seventy sons, "Take ye the heads of the men, and bring them to me to Jezreel by to-morrow; with regard to the brethren of Ahaziah, "Take them alive"; with regard to the prophets, and priests, and worshippers, he says, "If any of the men escape, he that letteth him go his life shall be for the life of him." What uncompromising faithfulness! What an unreserved cutting-off of every evil one! Kings, nor queens, nor worshippers, are spared! All are swept away without a moment's hesitation! Ah, this is "faithfulness unto death!" This is consecration to God. This is what St. Paul meant when he said — "I am determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified"; "to me to live is Christ." It is clear from all I have said, that the difference between a just-saved Christian and one who is thus consecrated, is almost as great as between the former and an unbeliever. And this is the reason there is among Christians so little of the joy of the Lord. 5. Mark the hindrances, and the taunts and sneers such devotion to God has to endure: "Wherefore came this mad fellow," said one; "Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?" was the bitter taunt of Ahab's queen; "we are exceedingly afraid," was the cowardly reply of the rulers of Jezreel. To all these taunts and sneers Jehu has but one reply, "Who is on my side? Is thine heart right with my heart?" His was an eye looking right on, an arm ever uplifted, a course that saw nothing before him but the carrying out of God's word. Here the faithful one is crowned. Glory rests upon him and, through him, on his descendants. "I will give thee a crown of life"; "Him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me on My throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with My Father in His throne." See the glory that awaits the consecrated life! Is this life thine? Art thou aiming at it, wrestling in prayer for it, keeping it ever before thee? Christian, nothing but this will bring joy and gladness to thy heart now, and "a crown of glory " hereafter. This is life — the life of God. This is testimony — testimony to Christ. This is heaven enjoyed on earth — but only enjoyed through the Cross. Christian, again I ask, Is this life thine? 6. But here the curtain falls. A dark shadow crosses our path. Jehu falls. Thank God for the spiritual picture we have been enabled to draw from his life of what a Christian should be. Thank God for the warning his life presents in its fall. "But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin." Draw the picture of every earthly servant of God as bright as we may, there is a shadow somewhere. It is well. The eye should fix itself only on Him. "Looking off unto Jesus." Jehu falls.Let us mark how he fell, and the solemn warning that fall presents. 1. I have been describing the whole-heartedness which characterises every consecrated Christian. But to be whole-hearted, and to maintain it, from day to day, amid influences on every side destructive of it, "needs that we take heed." Jehu "took no heed." Here is our first warning, 2. Secondly, "to walk." This is where the "heed" is to be directed. Talk there is, plenty, and "the talk of the lips tendeth to penury." Profession there is — it is the garment of the many. Just-saved ones there are — the Church has multitudes of them. what we need is "to walk" — "walk in the light," "walk before Me," "walk as becometh saints." This is where we have to "take heed." "Jehu took no heed to walk." 3. Thirdly, "to Walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel." It is to walk in the truth, to "have His commandments and keep them," to ask at every step, "what would the Lord have me to do?" It is to "set the Lord always before me." This is "to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel." This Jehu "took no heed" to do. 4. And lastly, "to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart." Here is whole-heartedness, consecration to God. Some Christians give half a heart. Others give their heart just when it is convenient — just when the Lord's claims involve no sacrifice. Jehu fell just here. Christians all around fall just here. The Church of Christ is full of fallen Johns! Fallen Jehus, on whose brows will rest a deep brand of shame when the Lord comes! Fallen Jehus, the heavy drags on the wheels of every chariot that would run a faster race to heaven! ( F. Whitefield, M. A. ) Jehu's ready obedience J. Parker, D. D. We cannot but be struck by the obedience of Jehu to the heavenly call. There was no hesitation. We show ourselves to be yet under bondage when we hesitate regarding the calls which God addresses to us. We linger, we wish to return and bid those farewell who are in our father's house; we have sundry things to adjust and determine before we can go, we secretly hope that in the meantime occurrences may transpire which will Change the line of our destiny; by all this we mar the simplicity and purity of obedience, and discover a spirit that is not fit to be trusted with great functions and responsibilities in the Divine economy. ( J. Parker, D. D. ) Value of Jehu's work J. Parker, D. D. "Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel" (ver. 28). But the way was wrong. Perhaps for the period within which the destruction took place it was the only ministry that was possible. The incident, however, must stand in historical isolation, being utterly useless as a lesson or guide for our imitation. We are called upon to destroy Baal out of Israel, but not with sword, or staff, or implement of war. "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds of Satan." Jehu did his rough-and-ready work, a work, as we have said, adapted to the barbaric conditions under which he reigned, but there must be no Jehu in the Christian Church, except in point of energy, decision, obedience, and single-mindedness of purpose. A Christian persecution is a contradiction in terms. When Christians see evil, they are not to assail it with weapons of war; they are to preach against it, argue against it, pray about it, bring all possible moral force to bear upon it, but in no case is physical persecution to accompany the propagation of Christianity. Not only so: any destruction that is accomplished by physical means is a merely temporary destruction. There is in reality nothing in it. When progress of a Christian kind is reported it must not be tainted by the presence of physical severity. We cannot silence evil speakers by merely closing their mouths; so long as we can hold those mouths there may indeed be silence, but not until the spirit has been changed, not until the very heart has been converted and born again, can the evil-doer be silenced, and his mouth be dispossessed of wicked speeches and filled with words of honesty and pureness. ( J. Parker, D. D. ) Incomplete obedience G. Swinnock. Visibility and universality are Popish marks of a true Church, and Protestant marks of a true Christian. An hypocritical Jehu will do "some things"; a murderous Herod will do "many things"; but an upright Paul is "in all things willing to live honestly." A ship that is not of the right make cannot sail trim, and a clock whose spring is faulty will not always go true; so a person of unsound principles cannot be constant and even in his practices. The religion of those that are inwardly rotten, is like a fire in some cold climates, which almost fries a man before, when at the same time he is freezing behind; they are zealous in some things, as holy duties, which are cheap, and cold in other things, especially when they cross their profit or credit; as Mount Hecla is covered with snow on one side, when it burns and casts out cinders on the other; but the holiness of them that are sound at heart is like the natural heat, — though it resorts most to the vitals of sacred performances, yet, as need is, it warms and has an influence upon all the outward parts of civil transactions. It may be said of true sanctity, as of the sun, "there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." ( G. Swinnock. ) Wherefore came this mad fellow to thee? 2 Kings 9:11 The reproach of true religion Homilist. The man who was spoken of in this contemptuous manner was a prophet of God, sent by another prophet to a fellow-subject, with the present of a kingdom in his hand. Before night (so it appears) that kingdom had been secured; two con. federate kings had been swept out of the way; and a queen-mother, stronger than either, had been literally cast to the dogs. Such was the brief history of this message from heaven. No one called the prophet a madman at the close of that day. Many another true message from heaven has had a similar fate; and all such messages may expect it. They may expect a similar reproach in the first instance; and a similar vindication in the end. I. CONCERNING THE REPROACH. God hath spoken at "sundry times and in divers manners" to the world; but the messengers by whom He has spoken have seldom been recognised as such at the first. From the days of Noah to those of St. Paul, experience testifies this. Wherever God sends a special message to men, it clearly must be because a special message is required; in other words, because the knowledge and wisdom of man are not sufficient in his then existing circumstances to guide him. God sends him counsel because his own counsel is worthless, or worse. But this is just the thing which man's pride is unwilling to allow. Again, God's counsel, like Himself, is certain to be holy; and man's natural purposes, on the other hand, are sure to be ungodly and sinful. Further yet, God's wisdom is sure to be far-sighted and profound, while the faculties which attempt to scan it are always short-sighted and shallow. On all these grounds, therefore, the message, when it comes, will be something unwelcome and perplexing at the first. Its pretensions will be humiliating to man's pride; its tendency will be offensive to his nature; its contents will be confounding to his mind. "I know you that ye have not the love of God in you." It is an aggravated illustration of the same principle which causes frivolity to despise enthusiasm; selfishness, generosity; the savage, mercy and truth; and the clown, the highest efforts of literature, science, and art. Men hate to believe in anything superior to themselves. II. CONCERNING THE VINDICATION. "Wisdom is justified of all her children." Where a message is really from God, it compels belief at the last. This may be easily seen in all the cases already referred to. The flood of waters justified Noah; the fire from heaven justified Lot; the Exodus justified Moses; and the victory over the Philistines justified David. Exactly in proportion to the original contempt was the final honour in each case. It was the same with the apparently habitual scorn of all true prophecy in old days; true prophecy has long been fully revenged. Similar justice, also, has long been measured out to the once despised evangelists and apostles, and to that equally despised Master whom they obeyed. In proof of this you have only to consider that no greater praise can now be given to any man, than to say his conduct is truly apostolical, or his character really Christian. It is nothing that, in short, but the old proverb, "Magna est veritas, et praevalebit." A true message from heaven has heavenly resources behind it. It is like a bank with very large liabilities, but with assets much larger still. Consequently, whatever it dares, it can do; whatever the doubts, and surmises, and panic, it can meet them all with a smile. We may apply this as an excellent test of the various religions of the world. There are some that make no pretensions, that do not oppose men's desires, nor perplex their minds, nor offend their prejudices. That is condemnation enough by itself. God would hardly have sent us a message which we could have devised for ourselves. There are other religions which are all pretensions; which go on shouting for centuries that the Diana they worship is very great; and which are perpetually singing in chorus, We are right, and you are wrong, we are saved, and you are lost; but without any real proof of it all. Such religions offer no reason, and so require no reply. They are simply gigantic systems of self-praise; and it is no recommendation to them. These are not the marks of the true message — "If I honour myself, my honour is nothing." ( Homilist. ) The driving is like the driving of Jehu. 2 Kings 9:20 Religious fanaticism Homilist. Jehu was a religious fanatic; his whole nature was on fire with indignation against the idolatry in his country under the reign of King Joram. We may take this man's history to illustrate some of the worst features of fanaticism. I. IT "DRIVETH FURIOUSLY," WITH A HEARTLESS DISREGARD TO THE LIVES OF ALL WHO DIFFER FROM IT. What eared Jehu for the lives of those who differed from him in religious opinion? Nothing. What do your religious fanatics, who often assemble in thousands to hoot Out their impious crudities, care for the bodily interests, health, or life of those who differ from them? Religious fanaticism is essentially cruel. II. IT "DRIVETH FURIOUSLY," WITH AN OSTENTATIOUS SPIRIT. "Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord" ( 2 Kings 10:16 ). Jehu really did not care "for the Lord " or for true theology. He cared only for himself — self-display, self-glory. Fanaticism is essentially ostentations. It creates a morbid hunger for the applause of men. It will itinerate the country, have preachments every day of the week, prayer-meetings all the day, and drive "furiously" on; but it will take good care to have the whole set forth in puffing advertisements and paraded in all the prints of the so-called "Christian world." "Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord." How unlike the true ministry of heaven, which does not cause its voice to be heard in the street, which does its world silently as the sunbeam. III. IT "DRIVETH FURIOUSLY" UNDER THE COVER OF PRETENCE. This Jehu resolved to destroy all the worshippers of Baal; but how did he set to work in order to accomplish this end? Not in a straightforward way. Inspiration tells us, "Jehu did it in subtilty." There is a somewhat popular impression, that. fanaticism is always sincere. This is a mistake; as a rule, it is a lying thing. As it works by falsehood, so it works under its cover. "Fanaticism," says Professor Lange, "dissolves all the bonds of life and love, but imputes the blame of it to faith. It leads a man to acts of betrayal, of rebellion, and of murder, while he imagines that he is offering sacrifices acceptable to God. It institutes a community of hatred, in opposition to the community of love, and treats the fire of hell as if it were sacred. It appears in the guise of religion, but for the purpose of banishing Christ and His Gospel from the earth." Conclusion: — Infer not that because a minister, a community, or a Church are driving furiously in religious work, that they are religious. Genuine religion is a life, not a passion; it is a river, silent and constant as the stars, not a flood rushing and roaring for the hour. ( Homilist. ) Going ahead W. Williams. Jehu has been dead many a long century now, but he has always had his successors; and probably they are more numerous to-day than ever. Among the young men of our day this "go-ahead" character is very common. Nor do I feel disposed to check it. Our tirades demand it. We are living in an age of lightning. It teems with revolutions every hour. Art, science, and commercial enterprises advance with inconceivable velocity. What was, not long since, the dreary journey of a week, is now a delightful excursion of a few hours; and young men feel that if they are to keep pace with the times, they must possess the go-ahead spirit of Jehu. This I do not condemn. Idleness leads to the greatest prodigality. But what I wish to do to-night is this — exhort you to mind that your zeal is guided by wisdom and prudence. You are zealous; but is your zeal directed to right ends? A misdirected zeal is like a sword in a madman's hand. There are numbers, who, with their go-ahead spirit, have found themselves in our gaols, or lying in our hospitals, with the wasting hand of disease inflicting upon them its awful torments. And, alas, they them. selves are not the only sufferers. Look on those who wait on their footsteps, with muffled faces and sable garments. That is a father, and that is a mother, whose grey hairs are coming with sorrow to the grave. To all furious drivers I would say — I. FIRST, PULL UP. I have read somewhere, of a horse rushing down a country village, with nostrils distended, and with fire flashing from his heels, yet without driver or hand to guide him. He was dragging behind him a cart, in which was a child, who clung to its side in pale terror. A woman, as it passed, shot from her doorway, like an arrow from its bowstring, and followed in full pursuit, crying, "Save that child! save that child!" Why did she run and cry thus? Oh, you say, "It was her child." No, it was not. She had left her own little ones all safe around her hearth; but she had a heart above that selfishness which would care only for its own. That child had a mother, but she was not there, the good woman would take her place — one of her children might want help some day. Imbued, I trust, with the unselfish spirit of this woman, we seek to-night to check the speed of those fiery passions which are dragging some of you to death. You are probably unknown to us; but have you not a mother who loves you, a mother who prays for you? You have been going ahead bravely of late, you think. You rightly judge life to be short, and you feel that if you are to enjoy life, you had better be quick about it; if you are to get a fortune you had better keep a sharp lookout. Yes, this is all very well, but where will this pleasure-seeking lead you? It may be, in your haste to get money, you do not scruple to be a little dishonest. "Anyhow, by hook or by crook," you say, "I mean to go ahead." Yes, but where will this furious driving lead you? Perhaps you have never thought of this. You don't know where you are going. I believe more young men are ruined for the want of thought, than aught else. II. NOW I WANT YOU TO TURN ROUND. You feel to-night you have been going ahead on the wrong road. You have determined, as God shall help you, to pull up. But remember, pulling up is only part of the business. You have been on the wrong road; you now want the right. The first thing you need is a new heart. You need the power of the Holy Spirit to convert you. I shall have no faith in your fine resolutions to give up evil habits, evil companions, and pleasure-seeking, unless you have implanted within you new principles. Wind and tide will be against you. In your own strength you may pull until your veins stand like whipcord upon your brow, and you will go down the stream still: And even suppose you should be able to give up the grosset forms of sin, yet, without religion, you must feel when you come to die that, after all, your life has been a failure. Let me urge you, therefore, to seek salvation through Christ. III. NOW, GO AHEAD. I must now assume that you have decided for Christ, united yourself with Christian companions and a Christian Church. At any rate, many young men here have done that; so that the advice I am about to give cannot be deemed impracticable. In common sense, Christian young men, this go-ahead spirit is very desirable; desirable even from a business point of view. We are commanded to "be diligent in business." If you are in business for yourself, seek, in every true and honest way, to augment your income. In doing so, you will have God's blessing upon you. Do not be miserly, do not be covetous; but do seek, by dint of plodding perseverance, and constant attention to business, to rise in the world. ( W. Williams. ) Scorchers L. A. Banks, D. D. The "scorcher," as he is commonly understood in bicycle parlance, is a rider who is determined to have his own way and his own good time on the road, though he endanger the happiness and even life and limb of hundreds of other riders. He is certainly a nuisance and a despicable character. Alas! there are scorchers in other departments of life than bicycle riding. The scorcher in business or social or religious circles is just as mean and dangerous a character as when going at breakneck speed down the road on his wheel. The scorcher is such because of his selfishness. It is the work of Christianity to eleminate the scorcher, and bring in the "brother" in his place. The proverb of the scorcher is, "Every man for himself, and the devil take the hindermost." The law of the brother is, "Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ." ( L. A. Banks, D. D. ) Is it peace? 2 Kings 9:22 No peace out of Christ R. Simpson, M. A. The sovereignty of God is apparent in all His dealings with the children of men. He putteth down one and setteth up another. He killeth and maketh alive. He doeth what He pleases in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth. He giveth no account of any of His ways, nor may any one inquire, What doest thou? Still, "justice and judgment are the habitation of His throne," and we are sure that in all His dispensations, however mysterious to us, "the Judge of all the earth will do right." It is "by Him kings reign and princes decree justice." All this is evidenced in the case of Jehu, whose exaltation to the throne of Israel is described in the former part of this interesting chapter (vers. 1-10). I. THAT THERE IS NO PEACE TO BE FOUND IN THE WAYS OF SIN. In prosecution of the inquiry in our text, ask — 1. The open sinner. Sinner, hast thou peace? Ask Adam and Eve, when they had eaten of the forbidden fruit. Look at Achan who saw among the spoils of the enemy a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, and coveted them, and took them, and hid them in the earth in the midst of his tent and the silver under it. "Is it peace, Achan?" When Zimri slew Elah the son of Baasha, King of Israel, and usurped his throne, had Zimri "peace" who slew this master? ( 1 Kings 15:10 ). Look at Belshazzar at his impious feast ( Daniel 5:9 ); here was the very height of human enjoyment; but a guilty conscience spoiled all. Look at aul, King of Israel; hear his bitter cry, "I am sore distresed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more" ( 1 Samuel 28:15 ). Had he peace? Peace had fled from him. 2. Ask the formalist — resting in a round of duties, having the form of godliness, but destitute of its power. There may be a pharisaical spirit — a self-satisfaction "God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men" ( Luke 18:11 ), but "is it peace?" 3. Ask the unconverted, under his most favourable circumstances; and though we do not deny that there may be a momentary gratification, — what are termed by the apostle, The pleasures of sin for a season, Is there peace? Some, indeed, have a false peace, are "at ease in their sins" — but this is carelessness and indifference rather than "peace." 4. But this question may be asked of many, who have even sought peace for their souls, but sought it in the wrong way, by unhallowed means. Many are the ingenious devices of Satan, for blinding the minds of his captives, and keeping his goods "in peace." Hence his ministers are said to "daub with untempered mortar," and to "cry, Peace, peace; when there is no peace" ( Jeremiah 6:14 ; Ezekiel 13:10 ). Is peace then banished from the earth? far from it; the Holy Scriptures make known unto us "the way of peace," which unconverted men have never known ( Romans 8:17 ). "Christ is our peace" ( Micah 5:5 ; Ephesians 2:1 ; Isaiah 9:6 ). And though peace is only to be found in Him, here is solid, abiding, soul-satisfying peace. And this leads me to II. SHOW THAT TRUE, PERMANENT PEACE is to be obtained only through an experimental knowledge of God in Christ Jesus, through the Spirit, "Preaching peace by Jesus Christ, who is described in the Word of inspiration as the Prince of Peace" ( Isaiah 9:6 ). And here we may remark, that the believer has — 1. Peace with God. 2. The believer has peace of conscience — peace of mind, — rest for his soul. 3. He enjoys peace with others, for when a man's ways please the Lord, He maketh even His enemies to be at peace with Him. And what are the properties of this peace? Let the Scriptures declare ( Romans 14:17, 18 ). "A peace of God, which passeth all understanding," which "the world can neither give, nor take away"; which is perfectly independent of all the vicissitudes of this changing world. And this peace is enjoyed through faith in the Redeemer. It is peace and joy "in believing." Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee ( Isaiah 26:3 ). Peace under all circumstances; — "Say ye to the righteous it shall be well with him" ( Isaiah 3:16 ), in sickness and health; in prosperity and adversity; in poverty and riches; in life, in death, and through all eternity. ( R. Simpson, M. A. ) And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength. 2 Kings 9:24 Aimlessness Homiletic Review. The frivolous, purposeless lives of this world are like ships at the mercy of the wind and tide. Hail one of them, and ask, "Whither are you bound?" and the answer will be, "I don't know." "What cargo do you carry?" "Nothing." "Well, what are you doing out here on the ocean of life?" "Only drifting." "Ah! but you don't know what a sorry spectacle you make only drifting when there is so much to be done." It is said that Carlyle, on one of his daily walks, met a young man, and, falling into conversation with him, inquired about his purpose in life. "I haven't any particular purpose," came the reply. "Then get one," exclaimed the stern old man, striking his cane on the pavement — "get one quick." ( Homiletic Review. ) Had Zimri peace, who slew his master? 2 Kings 9:31 Divine purposes and human agencies J. W. Lance. These are not the words of the Spirit of God, but of that wicked witch Jezebel, wife of the idolatrous Ahab. Nevertheless, there is a truth implied in them which it shall be our present business to expound and illustrate. "Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?" What did she mean by this? The answer is in the story of Zimri told in the sixteenth chapter of the first Book of Kings. Elah, son of Baasha, has reigned over Israel but two years, when in a drunken revel, in the house of his steward, he is slain by Zimri, captain of half his chariots, and his throne usurped by the traitor who had thus shed his blood. But for Zimri

9:1-10 In these and the like events, we must acknowledge the secret working of God, disposing men to fulfil his purposes respecting them. Jehu was anointed king over Israel, by the Lord's special choice. The Lord still had a remnant of his people, and would yet preserve his worship among them. Of this Jehu was reminded. He was commanded to destroy the house of Ahab, and, as far as he acted in obedience to God, and upon right principles, he needed not to regard reproach or opposition. The murder of God's prophets is strongly noticed. Jezebel persisted in idolatry and enmity to Jehovah and his servants, and her iniquity was now full. 9:11-15 Those who faithfully deliver the Lord's message to sinners, have in all ages been treated as madmen. Their judgment, speech, and conduct are contrary to those of other men; they endure much in pursuit of objects, and are influenced by motives, into which the others cannot enter. But above all, the charge is brought by the worldly and ungodly of all sorts, who are mad indeed; while the principles and practice of the devoted servants of God, prove to be wise and reasonable. Some faith in the word of God, seems to have animated Jehu to this undertaking. 9:16-29 Jehu was a man of eager spirit. The wisdom of God is seen in the choice of those employed in his work. But it is not for any man's reputation to be known by his fury. He that has rule over his own spirit, is better than the mighty. Joram met Jehu in the portion of Naboth. The circumstances of events are sometimes ordered by Divine Providence to make the punishment answer to the sin, as face answers to face in a glass. The way of sin can never be the way of peace, Isa 57:21. What peace can sinners have with God? No peace so long as sin is persisted in; but when it is repented of and forsaken, there is peace. Joram died as a criminal, under the sentence of the law. Ahaziah was joined with the house of Ahab. He was one of them; he had made himself so by sin. It is dangerous to join evil-doers; we shall be entangled in guilt and misery by it. 9:30-37 Instead of hiding herself, as one afraid of Divine vengeance, Jezebel mocked at fear. See how a heart, hardened against God, will brave it out to the last. There is not a surer presage of ruin, than an unhumbled heart under humbling providences. Let those look at Jezebel's conduct and fate, who use arts to seduce others to commit wickedness, and to draw them aside from the ways of truth and righteousness. Jehu called for aid against Jezebel. When reformation-work is on foot, it is time to ask, Who sides with it? Her attendants delivered her up. Thus she was put to death. See the end of pride and cruelty, and say, The Lord is righteous. When we pamper our bodies, let us think how vile they are; shortly they will be a feast for worms under ground, or beasts above ground. May we all flee from that wrath which is revealed from heaven, against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.