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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 9:1–10, “And Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets, and said unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take this box of oil in thine hand, and go to Ramothgilead: And when thou comest thither, look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up from among his brethren, and carry him to an inner chamber; Then take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith the LORD, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Then open the door, and flee, and tarry not. So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramothgilead. And when he came, behold, the captains of the host were sitting; and he said, I have an errand to thee, O captain. And Jehu said, Unto which of all us? And he said, To thee, O captain. And he arose, and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of the LORD, even over Israel. And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish: and I will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel: And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah: And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. And he opened the door, and fled.”
The Lord even chose to change dynasties in Israel to give them a new king and a new chance to repent. Each dynasty was given fair time to lead the nation in repentance and then the kings faced the consequences of their own sin. Of course, the people were free to worship the Lord in their own way, according to the Law and, during Elijah’s time there were many who still worshipped the Lord (1 Kings 19: 18). We can assume that this was true throughout the entire period of the northern nation’s existence. The Lord told Elisha that it was time for a dynastic change to see if another king would take the opportunity to lead the nation in repentance. Elisha told one of the young prophets to go and deliver a message for him. By this time, Elisha was a well recognised man and he would not be able to carry out an incognito mission as the Lord required. The young man was told to go and find a man called Jehu and take a box containing anointing g oil with him. He was to take Jehu for a private conference and anoint him as the new king of Israel. At that stage Joram, Ahab’s son was recuperating from war wounds while his soldiers were stationed in the Golan Heights, called Ramoth Gilead in those days. The young prophet found a group of senior officers eating their meal and asked Jehu to come and have a private meeting with him. He anointed Jehu as king over Israel and told him to effect the Lord’s judgment on the house of Omri and Ahab for their great sin against the Lord. He told Jehu that ever possible male heir of Ahab’s line would perish, they would die as though a man would die in war. He also said that Jezebel would receive the consequences of her sin against Naboth and she would experience the same kind of end as he did. She would die and her body would be unmourned and treated with the same respect as Naboth’s body had been.
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