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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
2 Kings 9:16–29, “So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram. And there stood a watchman on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take an horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace? So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he cometh not again. Then he sent out a second on horseback, which came to them, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu answered, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and cometh not again: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously. And Joram said, Make ready. And his chariot was made ready. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many? And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah. And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot. Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the LORD laid this burden upon him; Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the LORD; and I will requite thee in this plat, saith the LORD. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat of ground, according to the word of the LORD. But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. And Jehu followed after him, and said, Smite him also in the chariot. And they did so at the going up to Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there. And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David. And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.”
Jehu immediately went with his followers to Jezreel on the western side of the Lake. They travelled in chariots as fast as they could to make sure that Joram wasn’t warned to their intentions. Joram was in Jezreel and had taken the usual precautions by staying in a walled city with guards and watchmen. One of the watchmen saw a contingent of chariots heading towards the city and told Joram. Joram’s men sent a horseman out to find out what was happening. Jehu told the horseman to join his party and kept driving at great speed towards the city. As second horseman was sent out with the same result. The watchmen on the walls realised that the advancing troop was led by Jehu because he had a distinctive style of driving his chariot. Joram and Ahaziah went out to meet Jehu in their chariots and met him at Naboth’s property, presumably this was a vegetable garden rather than the vineyard it had been before Jezebel interfered. Joram asked Jehu if he was coming in peace but Jehu told Joram that he was coming to punish Joram for the sins committed by his family. Joram and Ahaziah tried to escape but Jehu shot Joram with an arrow from his bow. Joram died from the wounds and Jehu told his men to dump the body where Naboth’s body had been left so that the Lord’s word would be fulfilled. Jehu’s men also followed Ahaziah, king of Judah, and killed him because he was closely allied with Ahab’s family. He was wounded and escaped to Megiddo where he died.
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