For my weekly quiet time this week, I studied II Kings 9. Elisha sends a son of a prophet to Ramoth-Gilead to anoint Jehu king of Israel. Both the Northern Israelite and the Judahite armies are in Ramoth-Gilead, fighting Hazael, the king of Syria. Perhaps Israel is attempting what Ahab and Jehoshaphat tried to do in I Kings 22: to recapture Ramoth-Gilead for Northern Israel.
Jehu is a captain in the Israelite army, and he’s in Ramoth-Gilead, among other captains. The prophet’s son comes and asks to speak with the captain, and Jehu inquires as to which one. The prophet’s son apparently knows who Jehu is, for he replies, “To you, O Captain.”
Elisha had instructed the prophet’s son to speak with Jehu privately, in an inner chamber, and Elisha told him not to tarry. Why? One explanation is that the prophet’s son, by anointing Jehu king, was committing an act of treason against the reigning king of Israel, Joram. If the prophet’s son were to anoint Jehu publically and to tarry, perhaps he’d fall victim to Joram’s sympathizers and get killed, or word would get back to Joram and he’d soon be an outlaw.
Another explanation is that the prophet’s son had a mission to accomplish, and Elisha didn’t want him to dilly-dally. We see this sort of thing elsewhere in I-II Kings. In I Kings 13, the man of God is forbidden to eat with Northern Israelites in his prophetic mission against Jeroboam’s sanctuary, the one in Bethel. In II Kings 4:29, Elisha forbids Gehazi to salute a man on his way to heal the son of a Shunammite woman. According to this view, the business of God is important business, and there were times when it needed to be carried out with single-mindedness.
There does seem to be a concern with secrecy in II Kings 9. The prophet’s son anoints Jehu secretly, and, after Jehu reluctantly tells the soldiers with him what the prophet said, Jehu sets up guards to keep word from reaching Joram that Jehu has been anointed king. Many contend that Jehu wanted to take Joram completely by surprise.
Something that I wonder: presumably, God was aware that the soldiers with Jehu would follow Jehu and support his ascension to the monarchy. So would God be concerned that the prophet’s son might fall victim to Joram’s sympathizers within Jehu’s camp? Why would God want the prophet’s son to anoint Jehu privately and quickly, as if he were keeping a secret? The secret soon got out after the prophet’s son left, and the men with Jehu were supportive of the prophet’s message that Jehu would become king (even though some of these men considered the prophet’s son to be a madman). What was God trying to protect the prophet’s son from?
Or was the idea that the prophet’s son should be secretive and quick in his mission from the thoughts of Elisha, and not God? Maybe Elisha was trying to be practical. Elisha didn’t know for sure that Jehu’s camp lacked sympathizers of Joram, so he sought to protect the prophet’s son, just in case there were some of them in Jehu’s camp.
Or perhaps the prophet’s son was carrying out his mission in the proper manner. If he were to enter Jehu’s camp and boldly proclaim that Jehu would be king—in an environment where people already considered him a madman—pandemonium could erupt. People might dismiss the message of the prophet’s son, or laugh at it, or even spread the message in a disorderly fashion, such that word would get back to Joram. It was more orderly for the prophet’s son to anoint Jehu in private, and then for Jehu to calmly convey the message to the men at his camp. Then, the men would ask Jehu what the prophet’s son had said, and Jehu could respond. That would be better than the prophet’s son bursting into the camp unexpectantly, proclaiming a provocative message out of the clear blue sky!
Overall, that’s what I got out of the chapter: God has a plan, but he still wants us to be wise, practical, and orderly.
But there are times when God can trump our plans. For example, Jehu knew from the prophet’s son and from the message of Elijah that Jezebel would not be buried, but would be eaten by dogs. Yet, Jehu ordered her burial soon after she was thrust down a tower, for he respected her status as a king’s daughter. When Jehu was then told that Jezebel had been eaten by dogs, he recalled Elijah’s prophecy. Throughout II Kings 9, Jehu sees God’s prophecy fulfilled, and he recognizes its fulfillment. This occurs when Joram, the son of Ahab, dies in the field of Naboth, which is similar to what Elijah predicted in I Kings 21. But, for some reason, Jehu was slow to believe that God’s prophecy would be fulfilled to a T, for he ordered the burial of Jezebel, even though the prophecy was that she would be eaten by dogs and thus would not be buried. There’s a place for practicality, but God is larger than our plans.
Then there’s Jehu’s encounter with Jezebel. Jezebel put on make-up, perhaps in an attempt to save her own life by becoming a part of Jehu’s harem. So much for her attempt to be practical, for Jehu decided to honor God’s judgment! Jezebel also called Jehu ”Zimri”, echoing I Kings 16, in which Zimri overthrew Baasha, only to be pushed into suicide by Omri, the father of Ahab. According to one commentator whom I read, Jezebel was telling Jehu that he may not be safe after overthrowing the house of Ahab and Jezebel. Nothing’s sure in this world. Jehu can overthrow the house of Ahab, but what’s to keep him from being overthrown? Maybe Jezebel was implying that Jehu needed an experienced (and attractive) advisor, to protect him through the political infighting. But, at that moment at least, Jehu chose to honor and to trust God, by overthrowing Jezebel.