2 Kings 9 is the ninth chapter of the second part of the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible or the Second Book of Kings in the Old Testament of the ChristianBible. The book is a compilation of various annals recording the acts of the kings of Israel and Judah by a Deuteronomic compiler in the seventh century BCE, with a supplement added in the sixth century BCE. This chapter records Jehu's anointing as the next king of Israel and his assassinations of Jehoram the king of Israel, Ahaziah the king of Judah and Jezebelthe queen mother of Israel. The narrative is a part of a major section 2 Kings 9:1–15:12 covering the period of Jehu's dynasty.
This chapter and the next one contain one continuous narrative of Jehu's overthrow of the Omride dynasty and destruction of the Baal worship in Israel, reopening the battle against apostasy which was started by Elijah. Fulfilling the divine commission given to Elijah, Elisha arranged the anointing of Jehu who then executed a total revolution in Israel and Judah, by killing the reigning kings of both kingdoms. The narrative may be divided into two parallel sections, the first one about the assassination of the leaders in chapter 9 and the second about the killing of their kinsmen, ending with a summary of Jehu's reign and the consequences of his action in relation to his faithfulness to YHWH in chapter 10. The structure can be as follows:
The anointing of Jehu (9:1–15)
The inverted subject-verb order in verse 1 indicates the shift to another story line. Prophets' political influence is shown here as in the previous chapter when Elisha played a role in Hazael's coup against Ben-hadad in Damascus. In this part Elisha uses a military crisis to fulfill the last divine commission in to support Jehu's ousting of the Omri dynasty. The long oracle in verses 7–10 stems from Elijah's prophecy to Ahab at Naboth's vineyard in Jezreel.
Verses 1–3
"Get yourself ready": lit. in Hebrew "Gird up your loins". Elisha gave specific instructions to his disciples, detailing what to bring, what to do, what to say, with the emphasis to separate Jehu from his fellow soldiers outside and to take him to 'an inside room' for the anointing and commissioning, then charging the disciple upon the completion of the tasks to "open the door and flee and don't wait around".
The narrative follows an impressive scene from the sentinel's viewpoint, how Jehu steers his chariot in verses 17–20. Since no messengers he sent to Jehu came back king Joram decided to investigate the matter himself and met Jehu half way. Jehu's reply with sharp criticism of the Omrides' religious policy alerted Joram of Jehu's aggressive intentions, but it is too late to flee, only enough time to warn Ahaziah to run. Joram was killed by Jehu's arrow, because, according to Jehu's reason, 'Joram had to suffer for a sin committed by his father Ahab'. The discrepancies with and the addition of religious dimension in verse 22 suggest the originality of the passage in the context.
Verse 20
The man's "crazy" driving style as the chariot was approaching identified the driver as Jehu. The Hebrew word for "crazy" here is of the same root word as the nickname "crazy man" associated to the disciple who anointed Jehu in verse 11.
Verse 23
"Turned his hands": refers to how someone would have pulled on the reins in order to make the horses turn around. The switch to inverted subject-verb order emphasizes the simultaneity of Jehoram's attempt to flee and Jehu's taking aim to shoot him with an arrow as the forensic-style report also points the exact path the arrow took to hit Joram.
Verse 26
"In this plot": or "on this property".
After the assassination of Jehoram, Jehu provides a brief flashback that he and Bidkar directly heard the original pronouncement of the oracle against Ahab to avenge the death of Naboth. This information sheds new light that Jehu accepted the oracle after his anointing without question because he had heard it before, thus fueling his conspiracy by the doubled divine word and justifying the slaying of the son of Ahab as recompense for the murder of the sons of Naboth. The pronouncement is framed by his order to Bidkar to throw Joram into the field of Naboth, fulfilling the prophecy.
Ahaziah the king of Judah initially managed to flee to the south, but was overtaken after about 10 km on the ascent to the mountains and fatally shot, but he could still reach Megiddo, died there, then was taken to Jerusalem by his followers.
Verse 29
"In the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab": Thiele calculates that Ahaziah the son of Jehoram of Judah 'began to reign' as "co-regent" with his father in the month of Tishri 842 BCE, and later became a sole king of Judah after his father's death between April and September 841 BCE. The mention of "11th year" and "12th year" gives the initial clue to Thiele on how to unravel the chronology of the Hebrew kings.
Jehu had Jezebel killed (9:30–37)
With the death of both kings, Jehu can turn his attention to Jezebel, who is still in Jezreel. He encounters no resistance on entering the city, finding Jezebel, lavishly decorated, appearing at 'the window from which royalty show themselves to the people'. She addressed the approaching Jehu as "Zimri", recalling another usurper who assassinated his royal master, only soon to be overcome himself by Omri. Jehu responded impatiently and ordered the queen mother to be thrown out of the window. After it was promptly executed, Jehu imperturbably went in to eat, then, as an afterthought, he remembered that noble people should be given a decent burial, but there is not enough left of Jezebel to bury. Verses 33–37 refer to the judgement made in to legitimize the events.
Verse 31
Jezebel associates Jehu with another assassin, Zimri, who approximately 44 years before had murdered King Elah, only to meet a violent death just a few days later.
