II Kings 10, Destruction Continues

Jehu has killed kings of both Israel and Judah. His taste for blood has not been satisfied; there will be more murders.

The date is about 840 BC. 2 Chronicles 22 also covers this period, focusing on the kings of Judah.

2 Kings 10:1-4, Jehu threatens the descendants of Ahab

Now there were in Samaria seventy sons of the house of Ahab. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria: to the officials of Jezreel, to the elders and to the guardians of Ahab's children. He said, "As soon as this letter reaches you, since your master's sons are with you and you have chariots and horses, a fortified city and weapons, choose the best and most worthy of your master's sons and set him on his father's throne. Then fight for your master's house."

But they were terrified and said, "If two kings could not resist him, how can we?"

Jehu's challenge is, "Put up your best king. I've just killed two -- and I will kill yours!" The challenge frightens the guardians of Ahab's children, as intended. (Hubbard argues that the term "children" may include grandchildren and the word "seventy" was often used to mean "a lot".)

2 Kings 10:5-7, Slaughter of seventy sons of Ahab

So the palace administrator, the city governor, the elders and the guardians sent this message to Jehu: "We are your servants and we will do anything you say. We will not appoint anyone as king; you do whatever you think best."

Then Jehu wrote them a second letter, saying, "If you are on my side and will obey me, take the heads of your master's sons and come to me in Jezreel by this time tomorrow." 

Now the royal princes, seventy of them, were with the leading men of the city, who were rearing them. When the letter arrived, these men took the princes and slaughtered all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu in Jezreel.

The palace administrators quickly surrender to Jehu, promising to anoint him king. Jehu's destruction of Ahab's family continues. The proof of the murders is a collection of heads. Many of the murdered princes were children who were being reared by "leading men" of the city.

2 Kings 10:8, Pile of heads

When the messenger arrived, he told Jehu, "They have brought the heads of the princes." 

Then Jehu ordered, "Put them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning."

A very gory collection of bloody heads is piled outside the entrance to the city. Collecting heads and displaying them was a common ancient Near East display of power.

2 Kings 10:9-11, The end of the line of Ahab

The next morning Jehu went out. He stood before all the people and said, "You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him, but who killed all these? Know then, that not a word the LORD has spoken against the house of Ahab will fail. The LORD has done what he promised through his servant Elijah."

So Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his chief men, his close friends and his priests, leaving him no survivor.

Jehu has brutally killed everyone associated with Ahab. He formally declares the city innocent of the murder of the princes. (See the concept of a city's blood guilt in Deuteronomy 21:1-9.) Jehu then connects the massacre with the prophecy of Elijah that Ahab's line would be murdered (I Kings 21:20-24.)

2 Kings 10:12-14, Relatives of Ahaziah

Jehu then set out and went toward Samaria. At Beth Eked of the Shepherds, he met some relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah and asked, "Who are you?" 

They said, "We are relatives of Ahaziah, and we have come down to greet the families of the king and of the queen mother."

"Take them alive!" he ordered. So they took them alive and slaughtered them by the well of Beth Eked--forty-two men. He left no survivor.

Beth Eked, says Hubbard, is probably at modern Beit Qad, in northern Israel. Hubbard argues that this is a strange place for a people who are merely going to visit Ahaziah of Judah and as Jehu has already killed Ahaziah, he views them as a threat and so slaughters them also. (After all, his hands are already pretty bloody!)

2 Kings 10:15-17, The rest of Ahab's family

After he left there, he came upon Jehonadab son of Recab, who was on his way to meet him. Jehu greeted him and said, "Are you in accord with me, as I am with you?" 

"I am," Jehonadab answered. 

"If so," said Jehu, "give me your hand." So he did, and Jehu helped him up into the chariot. Jehu said, "Come with me and see my zeal for the LORD." Then he had him ride along in his chariot. When Jehu came to Samaria, he killed all who were left there of Ahab's family; he destroyed them, according to the word of the LORD spoken to Elijah.

We are briefly introduced to a man named Jehonadab, son of Recab. After siding with Jehu, Jehonadab disappears from the scroll of Kings. However, in Jeremiah 35, his descendants appear as a commune of Rechabites. If Jeremiah is the author of the scroll of Kings, this might explain Jehonadab's appearance here.

Jehu's purge continues. The rest of Ahab's family are murdered.

2 Kings 10:18-24a, Assembly in honor of Baal

Then Jehu brought all the people together and said to them, "Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much. Now summon all the prophets of Baal, all his ministers and all his priests. See that no one is missing, because I am going to hold a great sacrifice for Baal. Anyone who fails to come will no longer live." But Jehu was acting deceptively in order to destroy the ministers of Baal.
 

Jehu said, "Call an assembly in honor of Baal." So they proclaimed it. Then he sent word throughout Israel, and all the ministers of Baal came; not one stayed away. They crowded into the temple of Baal until it was full from one end to the other. And Jehu said to the keeper of the wardrobe, "Bring robes for all the ministers of Baal." So he brought out robes for them.

Then Jehu and Jehonadab son of Recab went into the temple of Baal. Jehu said to the ministers of Baal, "Look around and see that no servants of the LORD are here with you--only ministers of Baal." So they went in to make sacrifices and burnt offerings. 

Jehu invites all the priests of Baal to the temple of Baal. We are alerted that this is a deception. Jehu wants to make sure that only priests of Baal are there, not priests of YHWH. Of particular importance (says Hubbard) are the robes the priests were to wear, clearly identifying them as priests of Baal, not YHWH.

There may be wordplay in verse 18. Hubbard says that Jehu claimed "to serve" ('abad, עָבַד) Baal when he really intended "to destroy" (ha'abid) Baal. Furthermore, the word zebach (זֶבַח) translated "sacrifice" can also mean "slaughter."

2 Kings 10:24b-27, Massacre of priests

Now Jehu had posted eighty men outside with this warning: "If one of you lets any of the men I am placing in your hands escape, it will be your life for his life."  As soon as Jehu had finished making the burnt offering, he ordered the guards and officers: "Go in and kill them; let no one escape." 

So they cut them down with the sword. The guards and officers threw the bodies out and then entered the inner shrine of the temple of Baal. They brought the sacred stone out of the temple of Baal and burned it. They demolished the sacred stone of Baal and tore down the temple of Baal, and people have used it for a latrine to this day.

 

Jehu's men massacre the priests of Baal, destroy the temple and use the sacred stone as a latrine.

2 Kings 10:28-31, Jehu, good and bad

So Jehu destroyed Baal worship in Israel. However, he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit--the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.
 

The LORD said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in accomplishing what is right in my eyes and have done to the house of Ahab all I had in mind to do, your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation."
 

Yet Jehu was not careful to keep the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to commit.

Despite the destruction of the worship of Baal, Jehu still supports the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan, set up several centuries before by Jeroboam.

2 Kings 10:32-36, 

In those days the LORD began to reduce the size of Israel. Hazael overpowered the Israelites throughout their territory east of the Jordan in all the land of Gilead (the region of Gad, Reuben and Manasseh), from Aroer by the Arnon Gorge through Gilead to Bashan.

As for the other events of Jehu's reign, all he did, and all his achievements, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? Jehu rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son succeeded him as king. The time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.

The large kingdom created by Solomon is in decline. To the northeast, Hazael of Damascus enlarges his domain at the expense of Israel/Samaria.

So ends the bloody reign of Jehu. According to the author of the scroll of Kings, Jehu was zealous for YHWH but occasionally vacillating in his commitment. His bloodshed achieved the promised elimination of Ahab's descendants.  

The dynasty of Jehu will last almost a century, from about 842 BC to about 750 BC, when his great-great-grandson Zechariah will be assassinated (2 Kings 15:8-12.) 

First published December 19, 2023, updated October 30, 2026

II Kings 9, Jehu at Jezreel

God had told Elijah to anoint Jehu king of Israel (in 1 Kings 19:16.) Our story of the kings of Israel and Judah has then described the ministries of Elijah and Elisha but now returns to that mandated ordination.

2 Kings 9:1-3, "Go anoint Jehu"

The prophet Elisha summoned a man from the company of the prophets and said to him, "Tuck your cloak into your belt, take this flask of oil with you and go to Ramoth Gilead. When you get there, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go to him, get him away from his companions and take him into an inner room. Then take the flask and pour the oil on his head and declare, `This is what the LORD says: I anoint you king over Israel.' Then open the door and run; don't delay!"

Elisha assigns a young assistant to go and anoint Jehu king of Israel in place of Jehoram of Israel.

2 Kings 9:4-10, Anointing of Jehu

So the young man, the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. When he arrived, he found the army officers sitting together. "I have a message for you, commander," he said. 

"For which of us?" asked Jehu. 

"For you, commander," he replied.

Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the prophet poured the oil on Jehu's head and declared, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: `I anoint you king over the LORD's people Israel. You are to destroy the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the LORD's servants shed by Jezebel. The whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel--slave or free. I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah.  As for Jezebel, dogs will devour her on the plot of ground at Jezreel, and no one will bury her.'" 

Then he opened the door and ran.
 

Jehu is anointed because he will be used to destroy the remnants of Ahab. After the anointing of Jehu, the young unnamed prophet flees.

2 Kings 9:11-15, Response of officers

When Jehu went out to his fellow officers, one of them asked him, "Is everything all right? Why did this madman come to you?" 

"You know the man and the sort of things he says," Jehu replied.
 

"That's not true!" they said. "Tell us." 

Jehu said, "Here is what he told me: `This is what the LORD says: I anoint you king over Israel.'"

They hurried and took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, "Jehu is king!" 

So Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram and all Israel had been defending Ramoth Gilead against Hazael king of Aram, but King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him in the battle with Hazael king of Aram.) 

Jehu said, "If this is the way you feel, don't let anyone slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel."

Jehu's commanders support the anointment that has been made by the young prophet. Jehu accepts their loyalty and makes plans to defeat Jehoram/Joram of Israel.

2 Kings 9:16-20, Jehu at Jezreel

Then he got into his chariot and rode to Jezreel, because Joram was resting there and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see him.  When the lookout standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu's troops approaching, he called out, "I see some troops coming." 

"Get a horseman," Joram ordered. "Send him to meet them and ask, `Do you come in peace?'"
 

The horseman rode off to meet Jehu and said, "This is what the king says: `Do you come in peace?'" 

"What do you have to do with peace?" Jehu replied. "Fall in behind me." 

The lookout reported, "The messenger has reached them, but he isn't coming back."

So the king sent out a second horseman. When he came to them he said, "This is what the king says: `Do you come in peace?'" 

Jehu replied, "What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me."
 

The lookout reported, "He has reached them, but he isn't coming back either. The driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi--he drives like a madman."

Jehu goes to the royal palace at Jezreel.  As he approaches, two messengers go out to greet Jehu and end up joining his group instead of returning to report to Jehoram. Hubbard says that the question translated here "Do you come in peace?" is really a question about the results of the war with Hazael: "Is it peace?", that is, "Are we victorious?" There is no anticipation that Jehu is an assassin.

2 Kings 9:21-24, Death of Jehoram

"Hitch up my chariot," Joram ordered. And when it was hitched up, Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah rode out, each in his own chariot, to meet Jehu. They met him at the plot of ground that had belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite.

When Joram saw Jehu he asked, "Have you come in peace, Jehu?" 

"How can there be peace," Jehu replied, "as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?"

Joram turned about and fled, calling out to Ahaziah, "Treachery, Ahaziah!"

 

Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart and he slumped down in his chariot.
 

Jehu confronts Jehoram outside the palace. He accuses Jehoram's mother, Jezebel, of idolatry (zenunim, זָנוּן, literally "fornication" or "harlotry") and witchcraft. When Jehoram flees, Jehu shoots him with an arrow between the shoulders.

2 Kings 9:25-26, Field of 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 made this prophecy about 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."

Jehu has Jehoram's body thrown into the vineyard of Naboth, avenging the murder of Naboth by Ahab. Jehu recalls the prediction by Elisha in 1 Kings 21:18-19. 

2 Kings 9:27-29, Ahaziah also killed

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. His servants took him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his fathers in his tomb in the City of David.

(In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king of Judah.)

After killing the king of Israel, Jehu chases the king of Judah and kills him.

2 Kings 9:30-33, Jehu confronts Jezebel

Then Jehu went to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard about it, she painted her eyes, arranged her hair and looked out of a window. As Jehu entered the gate, she asked, "Have you come in peace, Zimri, you murderer of your master?"

He looked up at the window and called out, "Who is on my side? Who?" 

Two or three eunuchs looked down at him.

"Throw her down!" Jehu said. 

So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot.
 

After killing two kings, Jehu goes into Jezreel and finds Jezebel. She seems prepared to meet him; she arranges her hair and make-up and then taunts him. Jehu orders her servants to throw her from the window, which they do. Her body is trampled by horses and her blood splatters on a nearby wall. (We remember Elijah's prophecy in 1 Kings 21:23.)

2 Kings 9:34-37, "Take care of that cursed woman"

Jehu went in and ate and drank. "Take care of that cursed woman," he said, "and bury her, for she was a king's daughter."

But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing except her skull, her feet and her hands.  They went back and told Jehu, who said, "This is the word of the LORD that he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs will devour Jezebel's flesh. Jezebel's body will be like refuse on the ground in the plot at Jezreel, so that no one will be able to say, `This is Jezebel.'"

After eating and drinking in the palace, Jehu decides that Jezebel's body should be treated better. But it is too late. Already the dogs have eaten most of her. The ugly reign of both Ahab and Jezebel is over; its ending is consistent with its reign, in blood.

First published December 18, 2023, updated October 29, 2026

II Kings 8, Hazael in Damascus

We continue to hear of the actions of the prophet Elisha, disciple of Elijah.

2 Kings 8:1-6, Confirmation

Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, "Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because the LORD has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years." The woman proceeded to do as the man of God said. She and her family went away and stayed in the land of the Philistines seven years.

At the end of the seven years she came back from the land of the Philistines and went to the king to beg for her house and land. The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, and had said, "Tell me about all the great things Elisha has done."

Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to beg the king for her house and land. Gehazi said, "This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life."

The king asked the woman about it, and she told him. Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, "Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now."

In 2 Kings 4, Elisha promises a Shunamite woman that she will have a son. Later, when the child is older, he gets sick and dies, but Elisha brings the boy back to life. Then, being told by Elisha of a coming famine, she retreats to the land of the Philistines (westward of Israel.) When she returns to Israel, her land and house had been confiscated and so she appeals to the king (as customary in the ancient Near East.) It so happens that her appearance coincides with Gehazi's telling of her to the king. This both confirms Gehazi's tale and simultaneously gives her standing before the king. We are expected to recognize the divine timing in this event.

We note that this is the same Gehazi whose skin was turned leprous in an earlier chapter. It is not clear if this event occurs before or after that one.

2 Kings 8:7-11, Elisha and Hazael

Elisha went to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad king of Aram was ill. When the king was told, "The man of God has come all the way up here," he said to Hazael, "Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of God. Consult the LORD through him; ask him, `Will I recover from this illness?'"

Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him as a gift forty camel-loads of all the finest wares of Damascus. He went in and stood before him, and said, "Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to ask, `Will I recover from this illness?'"
 

Elisha answered, "Go and say to him, `You will certainly recover'; but the LORD has revealed to me that he will in fact die." He stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael felt ashamed. Then the man of God began to weep.
 

Elisha explains to Hazael that Ben-Hadad will indeed die. He doesn't explain yet why that will happen.  Clearly Elisha knows something about Hazael and now Hazael knows that he knows. After this conversation, surprisingly, Elisha begins to weep. 

(NIV footnotes: The Hebrew in verse 10 is unclear; Elisha might be saying "Go and say, 'You will certainly not recover,' for the LORD has revealed...")

2 Kings 8:12-15, Betrayal

"Why is my lord weeping?" asked Hazael. 

"Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites," he answered. "You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women."

Hazael said, "How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such a feat?" 

"The LORD has shown me that you will become king of Aram," answered Elisha.

Then Hazael left Elisha and returned to his master. When Ben-Hadad asked, "What did Elisha say to you?" 

Hazael replied, "He told me that you would certainly recover."

 

But the next day he took a thick cloth, soaked it in water and spread it over the king's face, so that he died. Then Hazael succeeded him as king.

 

The reason Ben-Hadad will die is because Hazael will assassinate him. After returning to Ben-Hadad, Hazael smothers the king with a heavy thick cloth. This murder leaves no marks and may allow Hazael to claim that his master died naturally. 

Elisha's weeping is because he sees the atrocities Hazael will commit against Israel. Hazael will oppress Israel throughout the next four chapters of 2 Kings. Possibly the oldest external source for the kingdoms of Judah comes from the Tel Dan stele, a stone slab found in northern Israel in which an Aramean king boasts of defeating both the king of Israel and the king of the line of David. This Bible Archealogy article claims that the Tel Dan stele records Hazael's claims of defeating Jehoram and Ahaziah.

2 Kings 8:16-19, Reign of Jehoram

In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, when Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat began his reign as king of Judah. He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. 

He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD. Nevertheless, for the sake of his servant David, the LORD was not willing to destroy Judah. He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever.

 

We now move from the history of Israel to the history of Judah. The date is still around 850 BC, only a few years after the events in the first chapter of 2 Kings.

Jehoram takes the throne of Judah. He is married to Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel (of Israel) and so, despite the previous effect of Jehoshaphat, Jehoram promotes the religion of his in-laws, Ahab and Jezebel of Israel. (The website gotquestions.org has an article on Athaliah.)

2 Kings 8:20-24, Rebellion of Edom

In the time of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against Judah and set up its own king. So Jehoram went to Zair with all his chariots. The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but he rose up and broke through by night; his army, however, fled back home.

To this day Edom has been in rebellion against Judah. Libnah revolted at the same time.

As for the other events of Jehoram's reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? Jehoram rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. And Ahaziah his son succeeded him as king.

 

Beginning at the reign of Jehoram, continuing into the day of the writer, the kingdom of Edom refused to be a vassal of Judah and sets up its own king. (The town of Libnah is mentioned in Joshua 15:33-47, see especially verse 42, as a town in the western foothills of Canaan.) 

The text alludes to one of a number of ancient annals, long lost.

More details about the reign of Jehoram of Judah are provided in 2 Chronicles 21. There we learn that Elisha confronts him with a letter and that Jehoram dies in pain of a bowel disease. He is not mourned and although he is buried in the City of David, he is not buried in the tomb of the kings.

The scroll of Kings gives names Joram/Jehoram to two kings, one of Judah, one of Israel, who reigned in the same century. Wikipedia has interesting articles on the two: Jehoram of Judah and Jehoram of Israel.

Ahaziah, son of Jehoroam (of Judah) and Athaliah, grandson of Jezebel, now reigns in Judah.

2 Kings 8:25-29, Ahaziah

In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign. Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother's name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri king of Israel.

He walked in the ways of the house of Ahab and did evil in the eyes of the LORD, as the house of Ahab had done, for he was related by marriage to Ahab's family.

Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead. The Arameans wounded Joram; so King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramoth in his battle with Hazael king of Aram. Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to see Joram son of Ahab, because he had been wounded.

Ahaziah succeeds Jehoram as king of Judah but only reigns one year. He aids Joram/Jehoram (of Israel) against Hazael. Joram/Jehoram is wounded in the battle and returns home to the palace in Jezreel to recover.

First published December 16, 2023, updated October 28, 2026

II Kings 7, The Lepers' Story

Samaria, the capital of Israel, is besieged and severe starvation is killing the citizens. Elisha, however, has predicted a 24-hour reversal of the siege.

2 Kings 7:1-2, Tomorrow

Elisha said, "Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria."

The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, "Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?" 

"You will see it with your own eyes," answered Elisha, "but you will not eat any of it!"
 

Elisha tells the angry king that the siege will end tomorrow. When challenged by the king's officer, Elisha gives a dire prophecy: the officer will see the famine end but will not eat any of the food.

2 Kings 7:3-7, Lepers visit the Aramean camp

Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, "Why stay here until we die? If we say, `We'll go into the city'--the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let's go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die."

 

At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, not a man was there, for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, "Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!" So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.

The lepers wisely decide they'd rather die among wealth and food than among the ruins of Samaria. So they go into the camp of the Arameans. What could the Arameans do to them? Possibly avoid them, due to their skin disease; possibly kill them -- but they are dying anyway.

When the lepers get to the camp, they find it abandoned.  The Arameans, hearing a supernatural noise of chariots and horses, have all fled!

2 Kings 7:8-11, Lepers' report

The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp and entered one of the tents. They ate and drank, and carried away silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also.

Then they said to each other, "We're not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let's go at once and report this to the royal palace." So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them, "We went into the Aramean camp and not a man was there--not a sound of anyone--only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as they were."

The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported within the palace.

The lepers enjoy the feast. Sated, they feel guilty about enjoying all the spoils and so report to the city gatekeepers that the enemy has fled.

2 Kings 7:12-16, Aramean army tracked

The king got up in the night and said to his officers, "I will tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving; so they have left the camp to hide in the countryside, thinking, `They will surely come out, and then we will take them alive and get into the city.'"

One of his officers answered, "Have some men take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their plight will be like that of all the Israelites left here--yes, they will only be like all these Israelites who are doomed. So let us send them to find out what happened."

So they selected two chariots with their horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army. He commanded the drivers, "Go and find out what has happened."

They followed them as far as the Jordan, and they found the whole road strewn with the clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown away in their headlong flight. So the messengers returned and reported to the king. Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. So a seah of flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, as the LORD had said.

 

The king of Samaria/Israel suspects a ruse and sends two chariots to track the Aramean army. Once the chariots see that the army has fled across the Jordan, they return with the good news. As the excited populace head into the countryside to raid the Aramean camp, the price of food naturally goes down. Formerly a handful of seeds (or dove's dung?) sold for 5 shekels. Now two seahs (close to 4 gallons?) of barley only cost a shekel.

2 Kings 7:17-20, Trampled officer

Now the king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of God had foretold when the king came down to his house. It happened as the man of God had said to the king: "About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria." The officer had said to the man of God, "Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?" The man of God had replied, "You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!"

And that is exactly what happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.

It is dangerous to challenge a prophet. The officer who challenged Elisha is trampled by the excited mob, who finally have access to food!

First published December 15, 2023, updated October 27, 2026

II Kings 6, Battles with Damascus

We continue with stories about Elisha. This chapter has three stories, each independent from the others. The first is a brief account of a miracle of Elisha's; the next two stories deal with conflicts with Aram/Damascus.

2 Kings 6:1-7, An axhead floats

The company of the prophets said to Elisha, "Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to live." 

And he said, "Go."

Then one of them said, "Won't you please come with your servants?" 

"I will," Elisha replied. And he went with them.  They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees.

As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. "Oh, my lord," he cried out, "it was borrowed!"

The man of God asked, "Where did it fall?" When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float.

 

"Lift it out," he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.
 

The company of prophets show up again. Apparently Elisha is instructing them and there is a need for a larger place for the prophets to meet with Elisha. So the prophets go to the Jordan to begin cutting down trees so as to build a meeting place. (Hubbard says that the trees along the Jordan would have been small and light and so this is probably a temporary shelter.) While working at the Jordan, one man loses, into the river, an axhead that he had borrowed for this task. We are some centuries into the iron age but iron is not common and in the poverty the day, the axhead is a valuable object. Elisha solves the problem of the lost axhead by making the iron float!

2 Kings 6:8-14, Arameans pursue Elisha

Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, "I will set up my camp in such and such a place."

 

The man of God sent word to the king of Israel: "Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there." So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.

This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, "Will you not tell me which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?"

"None of us, my lord the king," said one of his officers, "but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom."

"Go, find out where he is," the king ordered, "so I can send men and capture him." 

The report came back: "He is in Dothan."

Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.

Here, in a separate incident, an unnamed king of Aram/Damascus is attacking Israel, but each move is thwarted by intelligence provided by Elisha. Angered, the king sends a troop to surround the city where Elisha is staying.

2 Kings 6:15-18, Chariots of fire

When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked.

"Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, "Strike these people with blindness." So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.

Although surround by the army of Arameans, Elisha shows his servant that there are supernatural chariots of fire surrounding the Arameans. Then YHWH answers Elisha's prayer that his enemies be blinded.

Hubbard argues that the Hebrew word (sanverim, סַנְוֵר) interpreted as "blindness" here could also mean "to dazzle", as if the Arameans are not blinded but confused. (Outside of this verse, the Hebrew word only occurs one other time in the Old Testament, in Genesis 19:11, in the story of Lot's visit to Sodom.) The Arameans can see enough to come stumbling to Elisha.

2 Kings 6:19-23, Captured in Samaria

Elisha told them, "This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for." And he led them to Samaria.

After they entered the city, Elisha said, "LORD, open the eyes of these men so they can see." Then the LORD opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside Samaria.

When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, "Shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them?"

"Do not kill them," he answered. "Would you kill men you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master."

So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel's territory.

Elisha leads the blinded (or bedazzled) men into Samaria (Israel) where they are held briefly as prisoners, given food and water and released. This is a lesson for the bands of Arameans and they then cease their attacks on Samaria.

2 Kings 6:24-30, Siege of Ben-Hadad

Some time later, Ben-Hadad king of Aram mobilized his entire army and marched up and laid siege to Samaria. There was a great famine in the city; the siege lasted so long that a donkey's head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter of a cab of seed pods for five shekels.

As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, "Help me, my lord the king!"

The king replied, "If the LORD does not help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor? From the winepress?" Then he asked her, "What's the matter?" 

She answered, "This woman said to me, `Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we'll eat my son.' So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, `Give up your son so we may eat him,' but she had hidden him."

When the king heard the woman's words, he tore his robes. As he went along the wall, the people looked, and there, underneath, he had sackcloth on his body.

 

In the third event in this chapter a named king, Ben-Hadad, attacks Samaria. The siege leads to massive starvation, including the distressing story of two women cooking one of their children! In Deuteronomy 28, the Mosaic Law describes some of the curses that follow for not following YHWH.  This includes starvation such that mothers eat their children (Deuteronomy 28:53-57)!

Verse 25, describing the desperation of the city residents, uses a strange phrase, chare yonim (חֲרֵי־יוֹנִים), translated "seed pods" by the NIV. The Strong's concordance entry (see the link) translates it as "dove's dung".

A seah is probably about 7 to 9 dry quarts. A cab (qab, קַב) is apparently a "hollow", a small vessel? Maybe something like a cup?

2 Kings 6:31-33, "I want the head of Elisha!"

He said, "May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today!"

Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, "Don't you see how this murderer is sending someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it shut against him. Is not the sound of his master's footsteps behind him?"

While he was still talking to them, the messenger came down to him. And [the king] said, "This disaster is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?"

The king of Israel blames Elisha for this calamity and appears ready to kill him. The resolution of this story occurs in the next chapter.

First published December 14, 2023, updated October 26, 2026

Flavius Josephus, Ancient Jewish Historian

As we work our way through the Old Testament, we move from events in the ancient Near East well before 1000 BC (Abraham, Moses, Joshua, the judges and eventually the reign of Saul) to events in the fifth century BC (Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther.) This period covers the development of early alphabets and the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. In the sixth century BC the Archaemenid Empire (First Persian Empire) arose and slowly conquered the civilizations in the Fertile Crescent, including the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. By the fifth century BC, the Persian Empire had collided with the Greek city-states to the west. In both Greece and Persia there were well-developed alphabets, philosophers and their writings. Archaeologists and historians now have considerable sources from those times, some of which speak directly to the history of the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. On Sundays I will try to look at some of these, including the Elephantine papyri and ancient historians such as Flavius Josephus and Lucian of Samosota. These various sources give us independent information about some of the events in the later histories of the Old Testament.

Today I want to look at Flavius Josephus.

Flavius Josephus

Josephus was a Jewish leader in the first century AD, born in Jerusalem just after the crucifixion of Jesus. At one point (a little after the missionary journeys of Paul) he led an army against the Romans, was defeated, surrendered to the Romans and became an aide to the Roman emperor Vespasian of the Flavian dynasty. Taking the name Flavius, Joseph fully sided with Rome at the siege and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Adept at choosing the winning side, Josephus returned to Rome where he wrote several histories. One of the histories was The Jewish War which covered the conflicts between Jews and Romans from 168 BC through the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. That work was probably written in Hebrew or Aramaic but quickly translated into Greek, the language of the Roman empire of that day.

Of particular interest to us is Josephus' history of the Jews, The Antiquities of the Jews. 

The Antiquities of the Jews

The Antiquities of the Jews, written in Greek, probably about 95 AD, is an attempt to give a comprehensive history of the Jewish people. It includes many details from the Old Testament histories, from Adam through Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David and so on, with some considerable embellishments. It adds considerable details to the history of the divided kingdom and then goes on to describe the Babylonian exile, the return to Jerusalem afterwards, through the revolt of the Maccabees and eventually into the first century AD.

An online copy of The Antiquities of the Jews is here at Project Gutenberg. It makes for interesting reading. The Antiquities consists of twenty books (volumes.) Here, according to the translation cited above, is a table of contents for those twenty volumes.

1. From Biblical creation to Death of Abraham's son Isaac
2. From History of Isaac's sons to Exodus of Jews from Egypt
3. From Exodus from Egypt to First 2 years of the 40 years in the wilderness
4. From The remaining 38 years in the wilderness to Death of Moses upon reaching Canaan
5. From Joshua's replacement of Moses as leader to Death of the priest Eli
6. From The capture of the Ark by the Philistines to Death of King Saul
7. From David's ascension to the throne of the Kingdom of Israel to Death of King David
8. From Solomon's ascension as King of Israel to The death of King Ahab in battle with the Syrian army, and the saving of the army by Jehoshaphat
9. From Reign of King Jehoshaphat to Fall of Samaria
10. From Babylonian captivity of the Jews to Daniel and the destruction of the Neo-Assyrian Empire
11. From Start of the Persian Empire of Cyrus to the Great to Death of Alexander the Great
12. From Death of Alexander the Great to Maccabean Revolt and the death of Judas Maccabeus
13. From Origins of the Hasmonean dynasty to Death of Queen Alexandra
14. From The death of Queen Alexandra to Death of Antigonus II Mattathias
15. From Herod the Great's taking of Jerusalem to Completion of King Herod's temple in Jerusalem
16. From Completion of King Herod's temple to Death of Herod's sons
17. From Death of Herod's sons to Banishment of King Archelaus
18. From The banishment of King Archelaus to Banishment of the Jews living in Babylon
19. From The banishment of the Jews living in Babylon to Fadus the Roman procurators of Judea
20. From The time of Emperor Claudius to Procurator of Judea  to Florus, who antagonized the Jews leading to the Jewish Wars

Book VIII takes us from Solomon to Jehoshaphat; Book IX covers the time from Jehoshaphat to the fall of the northern kingdom. As one can see by the subtitles, Daniel appears in Book X. (That book starts with king Hezekiah.) Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther appear in Book XI. At times Josephus adds to the Old Testament material and it is not clear whether the details provide additional history or are a creative embellishments. At times his details differ slightly from the Masoretic text or the Septuagint. 

Josephus mentions Jesus briefly in paragraph 3 of chapter 3 of Book XVIII. In Book XX, Chapter 9, paragraph 1, is recorded the death of James, the brother of Jesus.

Importance of The Antiquities

The original texts of the Old Testament were probably written in Hebrew or proto-Hebrew on papyrus or vellum scrolls. These scrolls were fragile and deteriorated over time. We have few copies of the Old Testament in Hebrew from before 1000 AD and those are fragments of the Dead Sea scrolls. In our attempts to identify the original writings in Hebrew, we may look at the Septuagint or Peshitta manuscripts since those documents, although not in Hebrew, appear to be translations from the original Hebrew around the time of Jesus and so they give us a clue as to what the ancient Hebrew manuscripts looked like at that time. The works of Josephus have a similar value -- in some cases Josephus seems to be using Old Testament documents as his source. Furthermore, in his history of the divided kingdom, Babylonian exile and Second Temple period, Josephus seems to have access to other documents that has since disappeared. In this way we get an additional perspective on the details of events in the scrolls of Kings or Chronicles or Ezra-Nehemiah-Esther.

First published December 10, 2023; updated October 25, 2026

II Kings 5, Naaman's Leprosy

We continue with remarkable stories about Elisha.

2 Kings 5:1-5, A slave girl's story

Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. 

Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, "If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy."

Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said.

"By all means, go," the king of Aram replied. "I will send a letter to the king of Israel." So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing.

Naaman is a leader of the foreign country of Aram (to the east of Israel, across the Jordan.) He has some serious type of skin disease. (The NIV footnotes will remind us that the word translated "leprosy" is unclear. There were a number of skin diseases that might have been described by that term.) In the ancient Near East culture on slavery (outside the Mosaic Law) slaves were often captured in raids. Naaman learns from an Israelite slave girl that a prophet in Israel can heal him and so gets permission to travel to Samaria (that is, the northern kingdom.)

2 Kings 5:6-7, Letter to Israel

The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: "With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy." 

As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, "Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!"

The king of Israel believes that this letter is a pretense for an attack. He doesn't like the prophet (no king does) and now he is supposed to connect the prophet with a potential enemy.

2 Kings 5:8-12, Elisha's instructions disobeyed

When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: "Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel."

So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house.

Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed." 

But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage.

Elisha intervenes and tells the king of Israel to send Naaman to him. When Naaman arrives, Elisha does not even meet him but gives instructions to Naaman through a messenger. Both the treatment at the door and the instructions are viewed as insulting by Naaman, who is accustomed to considerable respect. The instructions include bathing in an Israeli river, not an Aramean river. Naaman refuses to follow these absurd instructions.

2 Kings 5:13-16, Servants intervene

Naaman's servants went to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, `Wash and be cleansed'!"

So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.
 

 Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. Please accept now a gift from your servant."

The prophet answered, "As surely as the LORD lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing." And even though Naaman urged him, he refused.

Naaman's servants confront their master and urge him to do the simple thing required by the Israeli prophet. Naaman washes in the Jordan and is healed. Ecstatic, he worships the God of Israel (this was the whole point in washing in the Jordan) and offers gifts. Elisha refuses the gifts.

2 Kings 5:17-19a, Earth from Israel

"If you will not," said Naaman, "please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the LORD. But may the LORD forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I bow there also--when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD forgive your servant for this."
 

"Go in peace," Elisha said. 
 

This is a remarkable passage. Naaman wants earth from Israel so that he can arrange offerings and sacrifices to YHWH. And he asks forgiveness, asking that when he bows down in the temple of Rimmon, that YHWH understand that he is really bowing down to YHWH!

2 Kings 5:19b-24, Gehazi's con

After Naaman had traveled some distance, Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself, "My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him." So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. 

When Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him. "Is everything all right?" he asked.

"Everything is all right," Gehazi answered. "My master sent me to say, `Two young men from the company of the prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.'"

 

"By all means, take two talents," said Naaman. He urged Gehazi to accept them, and then tied up the two talents of silver in two bags, with two sets of clothing. He gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them ahead of Gehazi.
 

When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the things from the servants and put them away in the house. He sent the men away and they left.

Gehazi will not be the last person to get rich off of religion. He sees that Naaman has offered riches and been turned down and believes Elisha should have been harder on this foreigner. So Gehazi finds a way to get a portion of the wealth from the foreign leader. In order to hide this act from Elisha, he hides the riches in his own home before returning to Elisha. 

But Elisha is not fooled....

2 Kings 5:25-27, Deceit revealed

Then he went in and stood before his master Elisha. "Where have you been, Gehazi?" Elisha asked. 

"Your servant didn't go anywhere," Gehazi answered.

But Elisha said to him, "Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money, or to accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, flocks, herds, or menservants and maidservants? Naaman's leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever." 

Then Gehazi went from Elisha's presence and he was leprous, as white as snow.

Elisha is not fooled. It is inappropriate to accept gifts for YHWH's healing. Elisha is surely alert to having his reputation (and that of YHWH) dragged into the mud by Gehazi's greed. Gehazi's theft is punished by the same skin disease that Naaman had at the beginning of the chapter.

Gehazi has been was Elisha for some time. Surely he might guess that Elisha would learn of this deceit!

First published December 13, 2023, updated October 24, 2026