Editing Jehu (section)

=== 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>