Editing Jehu (section)

== Biblical narrative ==
[[File:Jehu of Israel.png|thumb|left|180px|Jehu, depicted in [[Guillaume Rouillé]]'s ''[[Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum]]'']]

=== Proclamation as king ===
Jehu was anointed King of Israel by [[Elijah|Elijah the Prophet]] after the Lord spoke to Elijah in the cave in Mt. Sinai / Horeb to the far south. (1 Kings 19:9-15). Then, the Lord commanded Elijah to travel back to the desert of Damascus from Horeb, a trip of ver 250 miles, where he would anoint Jehu. (1 Kings 19:16). The reign of Jehu's predecessor, [[Jehoram of Israel|Jehoram]], was marked by the [[Battle of Ramoth-Gilead]] against the army of the [[Arameans]]. Jehoram was wounded and returned to [[Jezreel (city)|Jezreel]] to recover. He was attended by [[Ahaziah of Judah|Ahaziah]], king of [[kingdom of Judah|Judah]], who was also his nephew, son of his sister [[Athaliah]]. Meanwhile, according to the writer of the Books of Kings, the prophet [[Elisha]] ordered one of his students to go to Ramoth-Gilead and separate Jehu, a military commander at the time, from his companions. There, he was to anoint Jehu as king in an inner chamber and explain to him that he was to act as an agent of [[divine judgment]] against the house of [[Ahab]]. The student followed these instructions, and upon completion he ran away. Jehu initially dismissed the student as a "madman", but nonetheless told his companions about his anointing. His companions later enthusiastically blew their trumpets and proclaimed him their king.<ref name="driscoll">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08332a.htm Driscoll, James F. "Jehu"], ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]''. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 7 Jan. 2014</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+9%3A1-13&version=NIV|title=2 Kings 9:1-13}}</ref>

=== Jezreel and the deaths of Jehoram and Jezebel ===
[[File:Andrea Celesti - Queen Jezabel Being Punished by Jehu - WGA4622.jpg|thumb|Queen Jezebel Being Punished by Jehu. [[Andrea Celesti]] (1637–1712).]]

With a chosen band, Jehu planned his conspiracy against King Jehoram and secretly entered Jezreel. Jehoram tried to flee, but Jehu shot an arrow that pierced his heart. Jehu later threw his body on [[Naboth]]'s vineyard, to avenge Naboth, whom Jehoram's [[Ahab|father]] and [[Jezebel|mother]] had murdered.<ref>''Bible'' {{bibleverse|1 Kings|21:4}}</ref> King [[Ahaziah of Judah|Ahaziah]] fled after seeing Jehoram's death but Jehu wounded him. Ahaziah fled to [[Tel Megiddo|Megiddo]], where he died.<ref name=driscoll/>

Jehu proceeded to enter the premises of the palace at Jezreel. [[Jezebel (biblical)|Jezebel]] watched him with contempt from the palace window and mockingly compared him to King [[Zimri (king)|Zimri]]. Jehu later commanded Jezebel's eunuchs to throw her out of the palace window. They obeyed his commands and Jezebel was instantly killed. Jehu trampled over her body, and when he decided later to arrange a proper burial due to her royal descent, only her skull, hands and feet remained. The rest of her body had been eaten by dogs.

Now master of Jezreel, Jehu wrote to command the chief men in [[Samaria]] to hunt down and kill all the royal princes. They did so, and the next day they piled the 70 heads in two heaps outside the city gate, as Jehu commanded. Ahab's entire family was slain. Shortly afterward, Jehu encountered the 42 "brothers of [[Ahaziah of Judah|Ahaziah]]" (since the brothers of Ahaziah had been taken away and probably killed by the Philistines,<ref>''Bible'' {{bibleverse|2 Chronicles|21:17}}</ref> these must have been relatives of Ahaziah in a broader sense, like nephews and cousins) at "Beth-eked of the shepherds". They told Jehu they were visiting the royal family. Jehu killed them all at "the pit of Beth-eked".

[[File:Jehu on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III.jpg|thumb|upright|{{center|Jehu on the [[Black Obelisk]] of [[Shalmaneser III]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kuan |first1=Jeffrey Kah-Jin |title=Neo-Assyrian Historical Inscriptions and Syria-Palestine: Israelite/Judean-Tyrian-Damascene Political and Commercial Relations in the Ninth-Eighth Centuries BCE |date=2016 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-4982-8143-0 |pages=64–66 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zMOqCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA65 |language=en}}</ref> This is "the only portrayal we have in ancient Near Eastern art of an Israelite or Judaean monarch".<ref name="AD">{{cite book |last1=Cohen |first1=Ada |last2=Kangas |first2=Steven E. |title=Assyrian Reliefs from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II: A Cultural Biography |date=2010 |publisher=UPNE |isbn=978-1-58465-817-7 |page=127 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uRKU0YXBWtgC&pg=PA127 |language=en}}</ref>}}]]

After Jehu's slaughter of the House of Ahab, he met [[Jehonadab]] the [[Rechabites|Rechabite]] and convinced him that he was pro-[[Yahweh|Yahwist]]. Jehonadab quickly allied with him, and they entered the capital together. In control of Samaria, he invited the worshippers of [[Baal]] to a ceremony, then trapped and killed them.<ref>''Bible'' {{bibleverse|2 Kings|10:19–10:25}}</ref> He then destroyed their idols and temple, and turned the temple into a latrine.<ref>''Bible'' {{bibleverse|2 Kings|10:27}}</ref>

=== Reign ===
Other than Jehu's bloody seizure of power and tolerance for the [[golden calf|golden calves]] at [[Dan (biblical city)|Dan]] and [[Bethel]], which was criticized as a "heretical" interpretation of Yahwism, little else is known of his reign. He was hard pressed by [[Hazael]], king of the [[Arameans]], who defeated his armies "throughout all of the territories of [[Israel]]" beyond the [[Jordan River]], in the lands of [[Gilead]], [[tribe of Gad|Gad]], [[tribe of Reuben|Reuben]], and [[tribe of Manasseh|Manasseh]].<ref>''Bible'' {{bibleverse|2 Kings|10:32}}</ref>

This suggests that Jehu offered tribute to [[Shalmaneser III]], as depicted on his [[Black Obelisk]], in order to gain a powerful ally against the [[Arameans]]. ''Bit-Khumri'' was used by [[Tiglath-Pileser III]] for the non-Omride kings [[Pekah]] (733) & [[Hoshea]] (732),<ref>Kitchen, K A (2003) ''The Reliability'' of the [[Old Testament]], Cambridge, Eerdmans, p. 24</ref> hence House/Land/Kingdom of [[Omri]] could apply to later Israelite kings not necessarily descended from Omri. According to others, this description should be taken very literally, as in this period Assyrians were very closely following the events in this area, with control slipping in later years.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290995545| title = Balancing evidence about Jehu and Joash in ancient near east texts - Critical reassessment}}</ref>

The destruction of the house of Ahab is commended by the author of 2 Kings as a form of divine punishment. Yahweh rewards Jehu for being a willing executor of divine judgment by allowing four generations of kings to sit on the throne of Israel.<ref>''Bible'' {{bibleverse|2 Kings |10:30}}</ref> Jehu and his descendants Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam II, and Zachariah ruled Israel for 102 years. Nonetheless, according to the [[Book of Hosea]], God punished the [[House of Jehu]] through the hands of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Assyrians]] for Jehu's massacre at [[Jezreel (city)|Jezreel]],<ref>''Bible'' {{bibleverse|Hosea|1:4–1:5}}</ref> and some Biblical commentators reasoned that this was because Jehu's motives may not have been entirely pure in his massacre.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hosea 1:4 Commentaries: And the LORD said to him, "Name him Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. |url=https://biblehub.com/commentaries/hosea/1-4.htm |access-date=2022-04-07 |website=biblehub.com}}</ref>