II Kings 12, Reign of Joash

At age seven, Joash is installed as king of Jerusalem. The date is about 835 BC.

2 Kings 12:1-5, Plans to repair the temple

In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother's name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba. 

Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the years Jehoiada the priest instructed him. The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there.

 

Joash said to the priests, "Collect all the money that is brought as sacred offerings to the temple of the LORD--the money collected in the census, the money received from personal vows and the money brought voluntarily to the temple. Let every priest receive the money from one of the treasurers, and let it be used to repair whatever damage is found in the temple."

Joash gives instructions on repairing the temple. (The temple of Solomon is about 160 years old when Joash's reign begins and has endured a number of apostate rulers.) There are three funds for the temple and priesthood, as explained by August Konkel's online commentary: money collected in a regular census tax (Exodus 30:11-16) donations from personal vows (Leviticus 27:1-8)  and other miscellaneous donations.

2 Kings 12:6-8, Twenty three years later

But by the twenty-third year of King Joash the priests still had not repaired the temple. Therefore King Joash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and asked them, "Why aren't you repairing the damage done to the temple? Take no more money from your treasurers, but hand it over for repairing the temple." The priests agreed that they would not collect any more money from the people and that they would not repair the temple themselves.
 

The temple is still in need of repair. A decision is made on the funding, that the income is no longer to go to the priests but for repairs and a separate group will focus on repairing the temple.

2 Kings 12:9-12, Donation box

Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid. He placed it beside the altar, on the right side as one enters the temple of the LORD. The priests who guarded the entrance put into the chest all the money that was brought to the temple of the LORD. Whenever they saw that there was a large amount of money in the chest, the royal secretary and the high priest came, counted the money that had been brought into the temple of the LORD and put it into bags. When the amount had been determined, they gave the money to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple. With it they paid those who worked on the temple of the LORD--the carpenters and builders, the masons and stonecutters. They purchased timber and dressed stone for the repair of the temple of the LORD, and met all the other expenses of restoring the temple.

Jehoiada sets up a chest into which people can put money. From time to time that account is used to repair the temple. (This is the first example of a designated building fund! All of this money is to be used for temple repair!) 

2 Kings 12:13-16, Money spent for workers

The money brought into the temple was not spent for making silver basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, trumpets or any other articles of gold or silver for the temple of the LORD; it was paid to the workmen, who used it to repair the temple.

 

They did not require an accounting from those to whom they gave the money to pay the workers, because they acted with complete honesty. The money from the guilt offerings and sin offerings was not brought into the temple of the LORD; it belonged to the priests.

 

The temple repair project now has top priority and that money is not to be diverted to other needs. The text clarifies that the money brought into the temple was used exclusively for repairs. This was done without any accounting of the money since everyone was honest. (!)

2 Kings 12:17-18, Hazael on attack

About this time Hazael king of Aram went up and attacked Gath and captured it. Then he turned to attack Jerusalem. But Joash king of Judah took all the sacred objects dedicated by his fathers--Jehoshaphat, Jehoram and Ahaziah, the kings of Judah--and the gifts he himself had dedicated and all the gold found in the treasuries of the temple of the LORD and of the royal palace, and he sent them to Hazael king of Aram, who then withdrew from Jerusalem.

Hazael conquers Gath and then attacks Jerusalem. Joash bribes Hazael with the temple treasury and so Hazael goes away.

In 2 Chronicle 24 we read more about the reign of Joash. There we read that after the death of the priest Jehoiada, Joash abandoned the temple and allowed others to worship Asherah poles and other idols. When Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, spoke out against this, Joash had him killed. It was after that that Hazael invaded Jerusalem, taking the treasure from the temple. In that attack, Joash is seriously injured.

2 Kings 12:19-21, Coup

As for the other events of the reign of Joash, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?

His officials conspired against him and assassinated him at Beth Millo, on the road down to Silla. The officials who murdered him were Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer. He died and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. And Amaziah his son succeeded him as king.

Officials in Joash's court assassinate him. Yet they install his son as king. (The account in 2 Chronicles 24 will give the murder of Zechariah as reason for the assassination of Joash and identifies Joash's assassins as children of Moabite and Ammonite women. Hubbard suggests the assassins were mercenary soldiers.)

We will learn more of Amaziah in 2 Kings 14. In the next chapter we return to the history of Israel, the northern kingdom.

First published December 21, 2023, updated November 2, 2026

Review of Hubbard's Commentary of I & II Kings

One of my favorite Old Testament commentaries is Robert L. Hubbard, Jr.'s work, The Book of Ruth. It is a delightful exploration into the depth of that short book, pulling out all sorts of beautiful internal principles, such as the concept of hesed and the Israelite view of immigrants. (See my review of that book here.) Because of that book I have bought other commentaries in The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (NICOT) sequence. I have also tended to grab anything written by Hubbard, as I do anything written by Derek Kidner or Robert Alter.

The book of 1 & 2 Kings, unlike the book of Ruth, is quite lengthy, totaling 47 chapters to Ruth's four. And the goals of the author(s) of 1 & 2 Kings differed from the author of Ruth. So I should not be too surprised that the commentary, First and Second Kings, by Robert L. Hubbard, is also quite different from Hubbard's commentary on Ruth. In his commentary on Ruth, Hubbard takes 285 pages to cover the four chapters, 85 verses of Ruth. In his commentary on 1 & 2 Kings, Hubbard 239 pages to cover 47 chapters, 1536 verses. Obviously the material cannot be covered with the depth Hubbard devotes to Ruth. Ultimately the book of Ruth is a romance, a romance between Ruth and Boaz (aided adroitly by Naomi), and also a romance between YHWH, the people of Bethlehem, and the young foreigner. The scroll of Kings is a sad description of divorce, of a divorce between YHWH and His people, and a divorce between the tribes of Israel.

For all of these reasons, I was disappointed in Hubbard's book. It is really quite good, I see now, but my expectations were too high.

Hubbard sets up a nice introduction to the scroll of Kings, describing the viewpoint, possible authors (is Jeremiah the author?), the viewpoint (goal) of the author and the chronology. Hubbard's approach is an orthodox one, viewing the work as inspired by God, with a specific purpose for its inclusion in Scripture. (The commentary is published by Moody Press.) He stresses the Davidic/Messianic themes of 1 & 2 Kings, as the book records the good and bad (mostly bad!) descendants of David on the throne of Judah. Hubbard points out the continuing theme of God's judgment of the two kingdoms as they fail to follow the Mosaic Covenant. Hubbard also notes the book's emphasis on the role of prophets (we see Elijah, Elisha and even, at several points, a school of prophets.)

Hubbard attempts to keep up with all the computations required in accurately dating the kingdoms against the internal dates recorded, where one king's accession is dated in terms of the year of reign of the opposite kingdom. I made no attempt to keep up with the simple mathematics required. (I am a mathematician, but I am also retired!)

A pet peeve of mine with any commentary is that I want to read the scripture text within the commentary. I am too lazy to have a Bible app (or online page) handy while I read the commentary. This short book does not include the text of 1 & 2 Kings, obviously for reasons of space.  I understand the issues of space, but still I grumble. 

Overall the book is relatively thorough, professional and easily readible. On my goodreads.com home page I give it a rating of four stars out of five.

First published December 17, 2023; updated November 1, 2026

II Kings 11, Child King

The relatives of Ahaziah have been murdered by Jehu.

2 Kings 11:1-3, Joash hidden

When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family. But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes, who were about to be murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah; so he was not killed. He remained hidden with his nurse at the temple of the LORD for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.

Athaliah takes the throne and, like her brutal mother Jezebel before her, kills anyone who might threaten her reign.  These are family members she is killing, sons and nephews. But .Joash's mother (step-sister to Athaliah) hides her infant son with a nurse in the temple -- for six years.

2 Kings 11:4-8, Bodyguards for Joash

In the seventh year Jehoiada sent for the commanders of units of a hundred, the Carites and the guards and had them brought to him at the temple of the LORD. He made a covenant with them and put them under oath at the temple of the LORD. Then he showed them the king's son. He commanded them, saying, "This is what you are to do: You who are in the three companies that are going on duty on the Sabbath--a third of you guarding the royal palace, a third at the Sur Gate, and a third at the gate behind the guard, who take turns guarding the temple-- and you who are in the other two companies that normally go off Sabbath duty are all to guard the temple for the king.

Station yourselves around the king, each man with his weapon in his hand. Anyone who approaches your ranks must be put to death. Stay close to the king wherever he goes."
 

The priest, Jehoiada, sets up a protective guard for Joash. (According to 2 Chronicles 22:11-12, Jehoiada is the husband of Jehosheba and has been working with her for these six years to protect Joash.)  The protective guard is made up of commanders of the soldiers, yet presumably Jehoiada is aware that they can be trusted in this coup.

2 Kings 11:9-12, Coronation

The commanders of units of a hundred did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered. Each one took his men--those who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off duty--and came to Jehoiada the priest. Then he gave the commanders the spears and shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of the LORD. The guards, each with his weapon in his hand, stationed themselves around the king--near the altar and the temple, from the south side to the north side of the temple.

Jehoiada brought out the king's son and put the crown on him; he presented him with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king. They anointed him, and the people clapped their hands and shouted, "Long live the king!"

After making sure that Joash is protected, Jehoiada then brings him out to be crowned. This coronation appears to be on the Sabbath, when some temple activity is expected, and so all this happens without Athaliah's knowledge.

2 Kings 11:13-16, "Treason!"

When Athaliah heard the noise made by the guards and the people, she went to the people at the temple of the LORD. She looked and there was the king, standing by the pillar, as the custom was. The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her robes and called out, "Treason! Treason!"

Jehoiada the priest ordered the commanders of units of a hundred, who were in charge of the troops: "Bring her out between the ranks and put to the sword anyone who follows her." For the priest had said, "She must not be put to death in the temple of the LORD." So they seized her as she reached the place where the horses enter the palace grounds, and there she was put to death.

 

Athaliah hears the noise of the coronation of Joash and hurries to find out its reason. Angry at the site of a new king (a boy of seven) she shouts "Treason!" She apparently runs from the temple and is captured "where horses enter palace grounds" and there, outside the temple, she is killed. (The priest makes sure she is killed outside the temple; presumably her blood in the temple would be unholy.)

The overthrow of Athaliah and the rise of Joash is covered in more detail in 2 Chronicles 22-23.

2 Kings 11:17-21, Joash installed on the throne

Jehoiada then made a covenant between the LORD and the king and people that they would be the LORD's people. He also made a covenant between the king and the people. All the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols to pieces and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars. Then Jehoiada the priest posted guards at the temple of the LORD. He took with him the commanders of hundreds, the Carites, the guards and all the people of the land, and together they brought the king down from the temple of the LORD and went into the palace, entering by way of the gate of the guards. 

The king then took his place on the royal throne, and all the people of the land rejoiced. And the city was quiet, because Athaliah had been slain with the sword at the palace.

Joash was seven years old when he began to reign.

Joash is installed on the throne and, says the text, then the people rejoice. The writer notes that the city is quiet after the death of Athaliah -- Athaliah's reign was a corrupt one, stressful and chaotic for the people of Jerusalem.

The installation of Joash involves two covenants, one between YHWH, the king and the people -- presumably a covenant following Mosaic Law -- and then a covenant between the people and the king. All of this is organized by the priest Jehoiada and is presumably an attempt to return the reign to the theocracy implied in the covenants of Moses and David.

First published December 20, 2023, updated October 31, 2026

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