There’s a soft, spiritual, and inspiring side to this part of the Old Testament and a hard, brutal, and violent side to the demise of the house of Achab (Israel’s former king along with his son Joram) and Ochozias the king of Juda.
First the soft, spiritual, and inspiring side that has the potential to open us up to all that is good in the Universe and the Kingdom of God:
Not talking about mere eyesight here, more about perspective, what can one see with their heart? Or how is our heartfelt eyesight clouded from one’s fears or resentments or the untruths of their life story?
Eliseus: Lord, Open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw: and behold the mountain was full of Horses and chariots of fire round about Eliseus.
Eliseus: Lord, Strike, I beseech thee, this people with blindness. And the Lord struck them with blindness, according to the word of Eliseus.
Eliseus: Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the Lord Opened their eyes, and they saw themselves to be in the midst of Samaria.
For the Lord had made them hear, in the camp of Syria, the noise of chariots, and of horses, and of a very great army…
The Lord made the Syrian army hear things that were not there!
What of our other three of our five senses—touch, smell, and taste? Surely God has the power to have us touch or feel something differently than it is; to smell something appealing that is rancid or vice versa; and to taste bitterness when it should be sweet?
He can make emotions, whether worldly good or bad, just be emotions and a part of the human experience. He can make us indifferent between pain and pleasure, once again coming from our Splendid Spiritual Selves there is no difference.
Our five senses are God given and we trust them or should we trust them?
Perhaps it is our Silly Ego or our denial or our rationalization or our justification that we are tricked by?
If we can free ourselves, surrender, and align our free will and its choices with the Will of God which comes complete with a mighty source of power then indeed the Universe is all ours to enjoy in the glimpse of a lifetime with the promise of God’s Kingdom eternally a big bonus!
Now the hard, brutal, and violent side to the demise of Achab and Ochozias and their legacies whether human or material:
In the fifth year of Joram son of Achab king of Israel, and of Josaphat king of Juda, reigned Joram son of Josaphat king of Juda. He was two and thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Achab had walked… and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.
And Joram slept with his fathers… and Ochozias his son reigned in his steed.
In the twelfth year of Joram son of Achab king of Israel, reigned Ochozias son of Joram king of Juda. Ochozias was two and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem… and he did evil before the Lord, as did the house of Achab…
He went also with Joram son of Achab, to fight against Hazael king of Syria in Ramoth Galaad, and the Syrians wounded Joram, and he went back to be healed in Jezrahel…
Eliseus the prophet called one of the sons of the prophet… take this little bottle of oil in thy hand… go to Ramoth Galaad… thou shalt see Jehu… thou shalt put it (the oil) on his head, and shalt say: Thus saith the Lord: I have anointed thee king over Israel, (the people of the Lord. And thou shalt cut off the house of Achab thy master)…
Jehu is king… conspired against Joram. Now Joram had besieged Ramon Galaad, he and all Israel, fighting with Hazael king of Syria, and returned to be healed in Jezrahel of his wounds… and Ochozias king of Juda was come down to visit Joram.
Then there was a showdown:
Joram king of Israel, and Ochozias king of Juda went out, each in their own chariot… to meet Jehu…
Joram to Jehu: Is there peace Jehu?
Jehu: What peace? So long as the fornications of Jezabel thy mother, and her many sorceries are in their vigor.
Joram turned his hand, and fleeing, said to Ochozias: There is treachery Ochozias.
Jehu bent his bow with his hand and shot Joram between the shoulders; and the arrow went out through his heart, and immediately he fell in his chariot.
Jehu to Badacer his captain: So now take him, and cast him into the field (of Naboth), according to the word of the Lord.
Ochozias king of Juda seeing this, fled… and Jehu pursued him, and said: Strike him also in his chariot. And they struck him… and he fled into Mageddo, and died there… and they carried him to Jerusalem: and they buried him in the sepulcher with his fathers in the city of David.
Jehu came into Jezrahel… Jezabel hearing of his coming in, painted her eyes with stibic stone, and adorned her head, and looked out of a window…
Jehu said…Throw her down headlong: and they threw her down, and the wall was sprinkled with her blood, and the hoofs of the horses trod upon her… It is the word of the Lord… In the field of Jezrahel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezabel, and the flesh of Jezabel shall be as dung upon the face of the earth… so that they who pass by shall say: Is this that same Jezabel?
And now the ridding of Achab and Ochozias and the possibility of any descendants:
And Achab had seventy sons in Samaria so Jehu wrote letters… But they (Achab’s seventy sons) were exceedingly afraid, and said: Behold two kings could not stand before him, and how shall we be able to resist?
And he (Jehu) wrote letters the second time to them saying: If you be mine, and will obey me, take the heads of the sons of your master, and come to me to Jezrahel by to morrow this time… And when the letters came to them (the chief men of the city), they took the king’s (Achab’s) sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him (Jehu) in Jezrahel.
Jehu to People: You are just: if I conspired against my master (Joram king of Israel, son of Achab), and slew him, who hath slain all these?
Jehu: See therefore now that there hath not fallen to the ground any of the words of the Lord, which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Achab, and the Lord hath done that which he spoke in the hand of his servant Elias.
So Jehu slew all that were left of the house of Achab in Jezrahel, and all his chief men, and his friends, and his priests, till there were no remains left of him (Achab).
And he arose, and went to Samaria… he met with the brethren of Ochozias king of Juda… and he said: Take them alive. And they took them alive, and killed them… two and forty men, and he left not any of them.
And now to rid Israel of Baal:
Jehu to Jonadab: Is thy heart right as my heart is with thy heart?
Jonadab: It is. If it be, said he, give me thy hand. And Jehu gave him his hand and lifted him up to him into the chariot…
Jehu to Jonadab: Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord. And he slew all that were left of Achab in Samaria, to a man, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke to Elias.
Jehu to the people: Achab worshipped Baal a little, but I will worship him more… call to me all the prophets of Baal, and all his servants, and all his priests, let none be wanting, for I have a great sacrifice to offer Baal: whosoever shall be wanting shall not live. Now Jehu did this craftily, that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal… there was not one left that did not come… and Jehu and Jonadab… but that there be the servants of Baal only…
Jehu to fourscore men without (outside): If any of the men escape, whom I have brought into your hands, he that letteth him go shall answer life for life… Go in, and kill them, let none escape…brought the statue out of Baal’s temple, and burnt it, and broke it into pieces. They destroyed also the temple of Baal, and made a jakes (outhouse) in its place unto this day.
But Jehu was not perfect in the eyes of God:
So Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel; but yet he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam… who made Israel sin, nor did he forsake the golden calves that were in Bethel and Dan…
The Lord to Jehu: Because thou hast diligently executed that which was right and pleasing in my eyes, and hast done to the house of Achab according to all that was in my heart, thy children shall sit upon the throne Of Israel to the fourth generation.
Apparently there was revenge in the heart of the Lord?
But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord the God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, who had made Israel to sin.
In those days the Lord began to be weary of Israel: and Hazael ravaged them in all the coasts of Israel from the Jordan eastward…
And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel, in Samaria, was eight and twenty years and his son Joachaz reigned in his steed.
Amidst this two-sided section of the Old Testament is a lot of confusion on my part:
Two different Jorams? One the son on Achab the king of Israel and the other the son of Josaphat king of Juda who died and Ochozias took over for?
There were two battles in Ramoth Galaad as the former king of Israel Achab was killed in Ramoth Galaad.
There also was one technicality as Third Kings has Ochozias, son of Achab too reigning over Israel in Samaria for two years whereas Fourth Kings has it for only one year?
And for a short period of time there were two kings of Israel—Joram, Achab’s son and Jehu, courtesy of Eliseus the prophet and God, of course.
Actually I think I am confused as there were two Ochozias (son of Joram king of Juda and son of Achab king of Israel)? I know I am confused!
So there you have it—imperfection—found in me and all us human beings!
Day 127: Reading The Bible with a TROML Perspective; Inspiring Perspective, Jehu Cleans up Israel, & My Confusion!
Read and inspired by the Old Testament, The Fourth Book of Kings Chapters 6-10
Bible Notes:
This Book continues the history of the two hostile kingdoms, Israel and Juda, up to their captivity. The Assyrians in 722 B.C. led Israel away; the Babylonians in 586 B. C. led Juda into captivity.
4 Kings Chapter 6: Eliseus causes iron to float; Eliseus reveals the Syrian plans; The Syrian army is blinded; Their sight and freedom restored; Benadad besieges Samaria; Famine causes a woman to eat her son; The king orders the beheading of Eliseus.
The sons of the prophet
And it happened, as one was felling some timber, that the head of the axe fell into the water… for this same (axe) was borrowed… Then he (Eliseus) cut off a piece of wood, and cast it in thither: and the iron swam… Take it up. And he (a servant) put out his hand and took it.
The man of God (Eliseus)
No one… but Eliseus the prophet… telleth the king of Israel all the words, that thos speakest in thy privy chamber.
Eliseus: Lord, Open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw: and behold the mountain was full of Horses and chariots of fire round about Eliseus.
Eliseus: Lord, Strike, I beseech thee, this people with blindness. And the Lord struck them with blindness, according to the word of Eliseus.
Eliseus: Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the Lord Opened their eyes, and they saw themselves to be in the midst of Samaria.
And it came to pass after these things, that Benadad king of Syria gathered together all his army, and went up, and besieged Samaria.
Certain Woman: Save me, my lord O king.
King: If the Lord doth not save thee, how can I save thee?
King: What aileth thee?
Certain Woman: This woman said to me: Give me thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow. So we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said to her on the next day: Give thy son that we may eat him. And she hath hid her son.
King: May God do so and so to me, and may he add more, if the head of Eliseus… stand on him this day.
4 Kings Chapter 7: Eliseus prophesies a time of plenty; Four lepers find the Syrians have fled; Fulfillment of Eliseus’ prophecy; The doubting lord is trod to death.
Eliseus: Thus saith the Lord: To morrow about this time a bushel of fine flour shall be sold for a stater, and two bushels of barley for a stater, in the gate of Samaria…
Lord to the man of God (Eliseus): If the Lord should make flood-gates in heaven, can that possibly be which thou sayest?
Eliseus: Thou shalt see it with thy eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.
Four lepers to the camp of the Syrians…
For the Lord had made them hear, in the camp of Syria, the noise of chariots, and of horses, and of a very great army…
Wherefore they arose, and fled away in the dark… desiring to save their lives.
Four lepers: We went to the camp of the Syrians, and found no man there…
The five horses that are remaining in the city (because there are no more in the whole multitude of Israel, for the rest are consumed)…
…And the people trod upon him in the entrance of the gate; and he died, as the man of God said… And it came to pass according to the word of the man of God…
4 Kings Chapter 8: The Sunamitess among the Philistines; Her property restored; Hazael goes to Eliseus; Hazael murders Benadad; Joram’s wicked reign; Edom and Lobna revolt; Ochozias succeeds Joram; Ochozias’ wicked reign; Joram is wounded.
Eliseus: for the Lord hath called a famine, and it shall come upon the land for seven years…
And when the seven years were ended…
And the king talked with Giezi, the servant of the man of God (Eliseus), saying: Tell me all the great things that Eliseus has done… the woman appeared, whose son he had restored to life, crying to the king for her house, and her lands… And the king appointed her an eunuch, saying: Restore her all that is hers, and all the revenues of the lands, from the day that she left the land, to this present.
Google Search: The eunuchs of the Bible were usually castrated males or those incapable of reproduction due to a birth defect. A eunuch could also be someone who performed work typical of eunuchs, although he remained perfectly capable of having sex—i.e., “eunuch” in some cases was simply a title. The purpose of intentional castration was to induce impotence and remove sexuality. It was a common practice in ancient times for rulers to castrate some of their servants and/or advisers in order to subdue and pacify them. It was especially common to castrate men who tended the royal harem.
Eliseus also came to Damascus, and Benadad king of Syria was sick…
King to Hazael: Can I recover of this my illness?
Eliseus to Hazael: Go tell him: Thou shalt recover; but the Lord hath shown me that he shall surely die.
And he stood with him, and was troubled so far as to blush; and the man of God (Eliseus) wept.
Hazael to Eliseus: Why doth my lord weep?
Eliseus: Because I know the evil that thou wilt do to the children of Israel. Their strong cities thou wilt burn with fire, and their young men thou wilt kill with the sword, and thou wilt dash their children, and rip up their pregnant women.
Hazael: Nut what am I thy servant a dog, that I should do this great thing?
Eliseus: The Lord has shown me that thou shalt be king of Syria.
Benadad… and on the next day… he died, and Hazael reigned in his stead.
In the fifth year of Joram son of Achab king of Israel, and of Josaphat king of Juda, reigned Joram son of Josaphat king of Juda. He was two and thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Achab had walked… and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.
But the Lord would not destroy Juda, for David his servant’s sake, as he had promised him, to give him a light, and to his children always.
In his days (Joram?) Edom revolted, from being under Juda, and made themselves a king… So Edom revolted from being under Juda, unto this day. Then Lobna revolted at the same time.
And Joram slept with his fathers… and Ochozias his son reigned in his steed.
In the twelfth year of Joram son of Achab king of Israel, reigned Ochozias son of Joram king of Juda. Ochozias was two and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem… and he did evil before the Lord, as did the house of Achab…
He went also with Joram son of Achab, to fight against Hazael king of Syria in Ramoth Galaad, and the Syrians wounded Joram, and he went back to be healed in Jezrahel…
King of Israel Achab was killed in Ramoth Galaad…
4 Kings Chapter 9: Eliseus sends a messenger to Jehu; Jehu is anointed king; Jehu goes to see Joram in Jezrahel; Jehu slays Joram; Ochozias is slain; Jezabel is slain and eaten by dogs.
Eliseus the prophet called one of the sons of the prophet… take this little bottle of oil in thy hand… go to Ramoth Galaad… thou shalt see Jehu… thou shalt put it (the oil) on his head, and shalt say: Thus saith the Lord: I have anointed thee king over Israel, (the [people of the Lord. And thou shalt cut off the house of Achab thy master)…
Jehu is king… conspired against Joram. Now Joram had besieged Ramon Galaad, he and all Israel, fighting with Hazael king of Syria, and returned to be healed in Jezrahel of his wounds… and Ochozias king of Juda was come down to visit Joram.
King: Are all things peaceful?
Jehu: What has thou to do with peace?
King: Is there peace?
Jehu: What has thou to do with peace? Pass, and follow me.
Joram king of Israel, and Ochozias king of Juda went out, each in their own chariot… to meet Jehu…
Joram to Jehu: Is there peace Jehu?
Jehu: What peace? So long as the fornications of Jezabel thy mother, and her many sorceries are in their vigor.
Joram turned his hand, and fleeing, said to Ochozias: There is treachery Ochozias.
Jehu bent his bow with his hand and shot Joram between the shoulders; and the arrow went out through his heart, and immediately he fell in his chariot.
Jehu to Badacer his captain: So now take him, and cast him into the field (of Naboth), according to the word of the Lord.
Ochozias king of Juda seeing this, fled… and Jehu pursued him, and said: Strike him also in his chariot. And they struck him… and he fled into Mageddo, and died there… and they carried him to Jerusalem: and they buried him in the sepulcher with his fathers in the city of David.
Jehu came into Jezrahel… Jezabel hearing of his coming in, painted her eyes with stibic stone, and adorned her head, and looked out of a window…
Jehu said…Throw her down headlong: and they threw her down, and the wall was sprinkled with her blood, and the hoofs of the horses trod upon her… It is the word of the Lord… In the field of Jezrahel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezabel, and the flesh of Jezabel shall be as dung upon the face of the earth… so that they who pass by shall say: Is this that same Jezabel?
4 Kings Chapter 10: Jehu destroys seventy sons of Achab; Slaying of the house of Achab in Jezrahel; Jehu slays forty-two brothers of Ochozias; Slaying of the house of Achab in Samaria; Jehu destroys the worshipers of Baal; Jehu follows Jeroboam’s wickedness; Hazael ravages Israel; Joachaz succeeds Jehu.
And Achab had seventy sons in Samaria so Jehu wrote letters… But they (Achab’s seventy sons) were exceedingly afraid, and said: Behold two kings could not stand before him, and how shall we be able to resist?
And he (Jehu) wrote letters the second time to them saying: If you be mine, and will obey me, take the heads of the sons of your master, and come to me to Jezrahel by to morrow this time… And when the letters came to them (the chief men of the city), they took the king’s (Achab’s) sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him (Jehu) in Jezrahel.
Jehu to People: You are just: if I conspired against my master (Joram king of Israel, son of Achab), and slew him, who hath slain all these?
Jehu: See therefore now that there hath not fallen to the ground any of the words of the Lord, which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Achab, and the Lord hath done that which he spoke in the hand of his servant Elias.
So Jehu slew all that were left of the house of Achab in Jezrahel, and all his chief men, and his friends, and his priests, till there were no remains left of him (Achab).
A d he arose, and went to Samaria… he met with the brethren of Ochozias king of Juda… and he said: Take them alive. And they took them alive, and killed them… two and forty men, and he left not any of them.
Jehu to Jonadab: Is thy heart right as my heart is with thy heart?
Jonadab: It is. If it be, said he, give me thy hand. And Jehu gave him his hand and lifted him up to him into the chariot…
Jehu to Jonadab: Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord. And he slew all that were left of Achab in Samaria, to a man, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke to Elias.
Jehu to the people: Achab worshipped Baal a little, but I will worship him more… call to me all the prophets of Baal, and all his servants, and all his priests, let none be wanting, for I have a great sacrifice to offer Baal: whosoever shall be wanting shall not live. Now Jehu did this craftily, that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal… there was not one left that did not come… and Jehu and Jonadab… but that there be the servants of Baal only…
Jehu to fourscore men without (outside): If any of the men escape, whom I have brought into your hands, he that letteth him go shall answer life for life… Go in, and kill them, let none escape…brought the statue out of Baal’s temple, and burnt it, and broke it into pieces. They destroyed also the temple of Baal, and made a jakes in its place unto this day.
Jakes—an outdoor privy; outhouse; an archaic slang word for lavatory.
So Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel; but yet he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam… who made Israel sin, nor did he forsake the golden calves that were in Bethel and Dan…
The Lord to Jehu: Because thou hast diligently executed that which was right and pleasing in my eyes, and hast done to the house of Achab according to all that was in my heart, thy children shall sit upon the throne Of Israel to the fourth generation.
But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord the God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jerobaum, who had made Israel to sin.
In those days the Lord began to be weary of Israel: and Hazael ravaged them in all the coasts of Israel from the Jordan eastward…
And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel, in Samaria, was eight and twenty years.
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