Jehu, the army commander of Israel, has been anointed to be the next king of Israel. In yesterday's study we found him shooting King Joram of Israel with an arrow as Joram fled from him in his chariot. Difficult as it may be for us to understand him taking the life of the king, judgment had already been pronounced against the house of Ahab (Joram's father) by the Lord because of the extreme wickedness of this family. Joram died in his chariot on the plot of land adjoining the palace complex---the plot of land that his parents took from the innocent Naboth by taking Naboth's life and the lives of Naboth's sons. Joram may not have been complicit in Naboth's death but he has done his part in causing the citizens to turn away from the Lord. In his very short speech to Joram yesterday, Jehu charged the king with allowing and supporting the evil Queen Jezebel's cult of Baal. Jezebel persecuted the Lord's prophets and, with her state-sponsored religion, encouraged and possibly even forced the citizens to forsake the Lord in favor of Baal.
Jehu orders one of his officers to remove the dead body of King Joram from his chariot and fling it onto the plot of ground that had so sinfully been taken from Naboth. "Jehu said to Bidkar, his chariot officer, 'Pick him up and throw him on the field that belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember how you and I were riding together in chariots behind Ahab his father when the Lord spoke this prophecy against him: 'Yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, declares the Lord, and I will surely make you pay for it on this plot of ground, declares the Lord.' Now then, pick him up and throw him on that plot, in accordance with the word of the Lord.'" (2 Kings 9:25-26)
The incident Jehu refers to occurred in 1 Kings 21. Upon hearing that Queen Jezebel and King Ahab had arranged to have Naboth and his sons killed so Ahab could acquire his property for a vegetable garden, the prophet Elijah went out to meet Ahab and deliver a dreadful prophecy against Ahab's house. Elijah predicted the end of Ahab's dynasty and stated that all his male heirs would perish. In addition, he said that this would be the fate of the evil Jezebel: "Dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel." (1 Kings 21:23) We will see the prophecy concerning her coming true in tomorrow's study.
In our study today, King Ahaziah of Judah who was visiting Joram also loses his life. The author of 2 Chronicles says of this visit, "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 not only to become the next king of Israel but also to carry out justice for all the wicked things done by Ahab and his descendants. In addition, Jehu is the instrument of justice against Ahaziah and his house, for Ahaziah forsook the God of Israel and adopted Baal worship. We were told in 2 Chronicles 22:3-4a: "He too followed the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother encouraged him to act wickedly. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done." The Bible doesn't outline the evil deeds of Ahaziah for us but we can trust that the Lord would not have had him killed if he did not deserve it.
After seeing what happened to King Joram by the hand of Jehu, Ahaziah flees for his life. "When Ahaziah king of Judah saw what had happened, he fled up the road to Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him, shouting, 'Kill him too!' They wounded him in his chariot on the way up to Gur near Ibleam, but he escaped to Megiddo and died there." (2 Kings 9:27) The account of Ahaziah's death in 2 Chronicles differs somewhat from the account in 2 Kings. "While Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, he found the officials of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah's relatives, who had been attending Ahaziah, and he killed them. He then went in search of Ahaziah, and his men captured him while he was hiding in Samaria. He was brought to Jehu and put to death." (2 Chronicles 22:8-9a)
These two accounts do not represent a contradiction in the Scriptures. What has happened is that this tale is presented to us in far more detail in the book of 2 Kings than in the book of 2 Chronicles. If we read both accounts together, in chronological order, they go like this: King Joram realizes that Jehu is coming to Jezreel to kill him, then Joram shouts a warning to Ahaziah who doesn't have time to flee before seeing Joram shot by an arrow, then Ahaziah (who is riding in a separate chariot) sees Jehu's official throwing the dead body of Joram onto the ground. At that point Ahaziah begins to flee and catches the eye of Jehu. Realizing that this is the Baal-worshiping king of Judah, Jehu gives orders to his men to kill Ahaziah too. One of Jehu's men hits Ahaziah with an arrow and wounds him but Ahaziah still manages to get away. While this pursuit is happening, Jehu and many of his troops march into the royal city of Jezreel. (We will study this portion of Scripture tomorrow along with these next events I'm about to mention.) Jehu and his men begin executing Joram's heirs and top officials along with the family members and officials of Ahaziah who accompanied him to Jezreel. They also seize Jezebel and throw her from the window of a top floor of the palace. She is severely wounded by the fall, then is trampled underfoot by running horses, and then---as prophesied by Elijah---the dogs scavenge her remains. After this Jehu and his men go in search of Ahaziah who is hiding from them. He is found by some of Jehu's soldiers, brought to Jehu, and executed in Megiddo which lay in the Jezreel Valley. There is no contradiction between 2 Kings saying he dies in Megiddo and 2 Chronicles saying he was hiding in Samaria, for Megiddo lay within the northern kingdom of Israel and the words "Israel" and "Samaria" are often used interchangeably in the Bible.
Ahaziah's body is taken back to Jerusalem for burial. "His servants took him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his ancestors in his tomb in the City of David." (2 Kings 9:28) It appears this was done with the permission and approval of Jehu, for the author of 2 Chronicles adds this information after saying that Ahaziah was brought to Jehu and put to death: "They buried him, for they said, 'He was a son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart.'" (2 Chronicles 22:9b) In verse 9b it's difficult to tell who "they" are and it almost seems as if "they" are Jehu's men. But since it's highly doubtful that Jehu's Israelite soldiers would have taken the king of Judah to Jerusalem and buried him, and since we are told that it was Ahaziah's servants who buried him, I believe Jehu's men turn the body of Ahaziah over to his servants for burial. For the sake of Ahaziah's grandfather Jehoshaphat, who was a faithful servant of the Lord, Jehu and his men have no objection to Ahaziah receiving a proper burial. It is clear that it is only out of respect for the godly Jehoshaphat that these men allow Ahaziah's body to be taken back to his hometown to be placed in a tomb.
There will be no one among Ahaziah's descendants at this time who is capable of ascending to the throne and reigning in his stead. His mother, who is the daughter of the evil King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, will assume the throne herself and will be so power-hungry that she will stop at nothing to hold onto the throne. Upon her orders her own grandsons will be put to death so none of them can lay claim to the crown and it's only by the mercy of the Lord that the life of one of them is preserved. One of them will survive because the Lord made a promise to David that He will never break: there will always be a living male descendant of the direct line of David who will have the right to the throne.
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