The Berean Pursuit
Now Elisha the prophet summoned one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, "Tuck your cloak under your belt, take this flask of oil, and go to Ramoth-gilead. When you arrive, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go in, get him away from his companions, and take him to an inner room. Then take the flask of oil, pour it on his head, and declare, 'This is what the LORD says: I anoint you king over Israel.' Then open the door and run. Do not delay!"
So the young prophet went to Ramoth-gilead, and when he arrived, the army commanders were sitting there. "I have a message for you, commander," he said.
"For which of us?" asked Jehu.
"For you, commander," he replied.
So Jehu got up and went into the house, where the young prophet poured the oil on his head and declared, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anoint you king over the LORD's people Israel. And you are to strike down the house of your master Ahab, so that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of the LORD shed by the hand of Jezebel. The whole house of Ahab will perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, both slave and free, in Israel. I will make the house of Ahab like the houses of Jeroboam son of Nebat and Baasha son of Ahijah. And on the plot of ground at Jezreel the dogs will devour Jezebel, and there will be no one to bury her.'"
Then the young prophet opened the door and ran.
When Jehu went out to the servants of his master, they asked, "Is everything all right? Why did this madman come to you?"
"You know his kind and their babble," he replied.
"That is a lie!" they said. "Tell us now!"
So Jehu answered, "He talked to me about this and that, and he said, 'This is what the LORD says: I anoint you king over Israel.'"
Quickly, each man took his garment and put it under Jehu on the bare steps. Then they blew the ram's horn and proclaimed, "Jehu is king!"
Thus 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 he had suffered at the hands of the Arameans in the battle against Hazael their king.)
So Jehu said, "If you commanders wish to make me king, then do not let anyone escape from the city to go and tell it in Jezreel."
Then Jehu got into his chariot and went to Jezreel, because Joram was laid up there and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see him.
Now the watchman standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu's troops approaching, and he called out, "I see a company of troops!"
"Choose a rider," Joram commanded. "Send him out to meet them and ask, 'Have you come in peace?'"
So a horseman rode off to meet Jehu and said, "This is what the king asks: 'Have you come in peace?'"
"What do you know about peace?" Jehu replied. "Fall in behind me."
And the watchman reported, "The messenger reached them, but he is not coming back."
So the king sent out a second horseman, who went to them and said, "This is what the king asks: 'Have you come in peace?'"
"What do you know about peace?" Jehu replied. "Fall in behind me."
Again the watchman reported, "He reached them, but he is not coming back. And the charioteer is driving like Jehu son of Nimshi-he is driving like a madman!"
"Harness!" Joram shouted, and they harnessed his chariot.
Then Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah set out, each in his own chariot, and met Jehu on the property of Naboth the Jezreelite.
When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, "Have you come in peace, Jehu?"
"How can there be peace," he replied, "as long as the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?"
Joram turned around 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.
And Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, "Pick him up and throw him into the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. For remember that when you and I were riding together behind his father Ahab, the LORD lifted up this burden against him: 'As surely as I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday, declares the LORD, so will I repay you on this plot of ground, declares the LORD.' Now then, according to the word of the LORD, pick him up and throw him on the plot of ground."
When King Ahaziah of Judah saw this, he fled up the road toward Beth-haggan.
And Jehu pursued him, shouting, "Shoot him too!"
So they shot Ahaziah in his chariot on the Ascent of Gur, near Ibleam, and he fled to Megiddo and died there. Then his servants carried 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 over Judah.)
Now when Jehu arrived in Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. So she painted her eyes, adorned her head, and looked down from a window. And as Jehu entered the gate, she asked, "Have you come in peace, O Zimri, murderer of your master?"
He looked up at the window and called out, "Who is on my side? Who?"
And two or three eunuchs looked down at him.
"Throw her down!" yelled Jehu.
So they threw her down, and her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses as they trampled her underfoot.
Then Jehu went in and ate and drank. "Take care of this cursed woman," he said, "and bury her, for she was the daughter of a king."
But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing but her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands.
So they went back and told Jehu, who replied, "This is the word of the LORD, which He spoke through His servant Elijah the Tishbite: 'On the plot of ground at Jezreel the dogs will devour the flesh of Jezebel. And Jezebel's body will lie like dung in the field on the plot of ground at Jezreel, so that no one can say: This is Jezebel.'"
Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria to the officials of Jezreel, to the elders, and to the guardians of the sons of Ahab, saying: "When this letter arrives, since your master's sons are with you and you have chariots and horses, a fortified city and weaponry, select the best and most worthy son of your master, set him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house."
But they were terrified and reasoned, "If two kings could not stand against him, how can we?"
So the palace administrator, the overseer of the city, the elders, and the guardians sent a message to Jehu: "We are your servants, and we will do whatever you say. We will not make anyone king. Do whatever is good in your sight."
Then Jehu wrote them a second letter and said: "If you are on my side, and if you will obey me, then bring the heads of your master's sons to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow."
Now the sons of the king, seventy in all, were being brought up by the leading men of the city. And when the letter arrived, they took the sons of the king and slaughtered all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel.
When the messenger arrived, he told Jehu, "They have brought the heads of the sons of the king."
And Jehu ordered, "Pile them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until morning."
The next morning, Jehu went out and 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, for 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 great men and close friends and priests, leaving him without a single survivor.
Then Jehu set out toward Samaria. At Beth-eked of the Shepherds, Jehu met some relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah and asked, "Who are you?"
"We are relatives of Ahaziah," they answered, "and we have come down to greet the sons of the king and of the queen mother."
Then Jehu ordered, "Take them alive." So his men took them alive, then slaughtered them at the well of Beth-eked-forty-two men. He spared none of them.
When he left there, he found Jehonadab son of Rechab, who was coming to meet him. Jehu greeted him and asked, "Is your heart as true to mine as my heart is to yours?"
"It is!" Jehonadab replied.
"If it is," said Jehu, "give me your hand."
So he gave him his hand, and Jehu helped him into his chariot, saying, "Come with me and see my zeal for the LORD!" So he had him ride in his chariot.
When Jehu came to Samaria, he struck down everyone belonging to Ahab who remained there, until he had destroyed them, according to the word that the LORD had spoken to Elijah.
Then Jehu brought all the people together and said, "Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him a lot. Now, therefore, summon to me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests. See that no one is missing, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal. Whoever is missing will not live."
But Jehu was acting deceptively in order to destroy the servants of Baal.
And Jehu commanded, "Proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal." So they announced it.
Then Jehu sent word throughout Israel, and all the servants of Baal came; there was not a man who failed to show. They entered the temple of Baal, and it was filled from end to end.
And Jehu said to the keeper of the wardrobe, "Bring out garments for all the servants of Baal." So he brought out garments for them.
Next, Jehu and Jehonadab son of Rechab entered the temple of Baal, and Jehu said to the servants of Baal, "Look around to see that there are no servants of the LORD here among you-only servants of Baal."
And they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed eighty men outside and warned them, "If anyone allows one of the men I am delivering into your hands to escape, he will forfeit his life for theirs."
When he had finished making the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guards and officers, "Go in and kill them. Do not let anyone out."
So the guards and officers put them to the sword, threw the bodies out, and went into the inner room of the temple of Baal.
They brought out the sacred pillar of the temple of Baal and burned it. They also demolished the sacred pillar of Baal. Then they tore down the temple of Baal and made it into a latrine, which it is to this day.
Thus Jehu eradicated Baal from Israel, but he did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit-the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.
Nevertheless, the LORD said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in My sight and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel."
Yet Jehu was not careful to follow the instruction of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit.
In those days the LORD began to reduce the size of Israel. Hazael defeated the Israelites throughout their territory from the Jordan eastward through all the land of Gilead (the region of Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh), and from Aroer by the Arnon Valley through Gilead to Bashan.
As for the rest of the acts of Jehu, along with all his accomplishments and all his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
And Jehu rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria, and his son Jehoahaz reigned in his place. So the duration of Jehu's reign over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.
For the choirmaster. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
Hear this, all you peoples;
listen, all inhabitants of the world,
both low and high,
rich and poor alike.
My mouth will impart wisdom,
and the meditation of my heart will bring understanding.
I will incline my ear to a proverb;
I will express my riddle with the harp:
Why should I fear in times of trouble,
when wicked usurpers surround me?
They trust in their wealth
and boast in their great riches.
No man can possibly redeem his brother
or pay his ransom to God.
For the redemption of his soul is costly,
and never can payment suffice,
that he should live on forever
and not see decay.
For it is clear that wise men die,
and the foolish and the senseless both perish
and leave their wealth to others.
Their graves are their eternal homes-
their dwellings for endless generations-
even though their lands were their namesakes.
But a man, despite his wealth, cannot endure;
he is like the beasts that perish.
This is the fate of the self-confident
and their followers who endorse their sayings.
Selah
Like sheep they are destined for Sheol.
Death will be their shepherd.
The upright will rule them in the morning,
and their form will decay in Sheol,
far from their lofty abode.
But God will redeem my life from Sheol,
for He will surely take me to Himself.
Selah
Do not be amazed when a man grows rich,
when the splendor of his house increases.
For when he dies, he will carry nothing away;
his abundance will not follow him down.
Though in his lifetime he blesses his soul-
and men praise you when you prosper-
he will join the generation of his fathers,
who will never see the light of day.
A man who has riches without understanding
is like the beasts that perish.
"Do not judge, or you will be judged. For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' while there is still a beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
Do not give dogs what is holy; do not throw your pearls before swine. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the Prophets.
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, by their fruit you will recognize them.
Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'
Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!'
Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock.
But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell-and great was its collapse!"
When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at His teaching, because He taught as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.