Do You Love A Mystery Action Adventure?

Part 2 !!!!!

By Mac 12 June 2001

This is the second in a series of studies designed (hopefully) to help new Christians fall in love with the Bible. It may also prove helpful in assisting ‘older’ Christians in the same way, who have lost their zeal and desire to daily search out God’s words.

In the first study, we looked at Colossians 4, verses 2 through 6, and went from there, attempting to portray the Bible as a Mystery. We discussed several scriptures that Paul used to portray the revelation of the mystery of our Savior, Jesus Christ. In THIS study, I want to focus more on an Old Testament STORY, but not necessarily a mystery.

After re-reading several books of the Old Testament, I realized that there ARE mystery stories throughout. There are also several Action Adventure films, I mean, stories. You can also find Documentaries, Murders, Love Stories, Comedies, X (or at least ‘R’ or PG-13) rated tales, How-To-Books (such as building a boat, or a place of worship), and even Horror Stories, to name just a few. We pay (good?) money pretty regularly to view these same types of stories portrayed on the big screen. Millions of dollars in the US alone are spent on hard-back and paper-back novels and other books representing all of these, and several other venues of storylines. I suggest that we save some of our hard earned money, and look for ENTERTAINMENT in the ONE book we all have, the Bible.

In this study, we will look at just ONE of the hundreds of interesting stories that have peaked my interest in the past few years. I hope that by the time we are through, that you TOO, may be a little more interested in seeking out some of these other great story lines. I am not going to ANALYZE the story in any great detail. I just want you to READ it, and ENJOY it. YOU can try to figure out what it means on your own. (I MAY include a coupla points, however, just to show that I read it myself).

Turn to one of my favorite books in the Old Testament, 2^nd Kings. We are going to read a story about a man named Jehu, who reigned as King of Israel from Samaria for 28 years. If you have a weak stomach, you may not want to continue….I am just kidding, HOWEVER, a Hollywood version of this story WOULD be very gory, trust me!

Turn to Chapter 9 in 2^nd Kings, and read the entire chapter, and soak in the ambiance of the time and the events that occurred. (If you want, read a couple of chapters before chapter 9, but it is not really necessary at this time). When you are finished, return to this paper…..

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Now, was that interesting, or not? Especially the part about Jezebel. Just a little bit about her. Jezebel was a conniving, ruthless woman, who just HAPPENED to be married to King Ahab (one of Jehu’s nemeses). You will better understand those verses (30-37), and Jezebel, if you review OTHER parts of the Bible that talk about her. At your convenience, you may want to read the following scriptures to help you learn about this ‘woman with painted eyes’. These ALSO, are great stories that make the Bible FUN to read. You can find all about Jezebel in 1 Kings. Start in chapter 16, (skip 17 and 20, if you want...I wouldn’t, but YOU might want to), and read through chapter 21. “Everything You Wanted to Know About Jezebel, But Were Afraid to Ask” can be found in those chapters, climaxed with Elijah’s prophesy (1 Kings 21:3) of her gruesome death in 2 Kings, chapter 9. (And some in Chronicles, as well).

So, what happened in this story we just read? Well, Elisha (you remember Elisha? Student of Elijah? (1 King’s 19:16-21, 2 Kings 2:1-12)…..HIS story is also so interesting, especially some of the ‘weird’ things that he did.), intent upon helping God out, here on the Earth in the 9th century before Christ was born, sent a messenger to the son of Jehosaphat (is this where Jumping Jehosaphat came from??), Jehu. (An interesting but useless side note: jehu, with a small ‘j’, in English, means ‘cab driver’.) Also, please note that in some verses, Jehu is known as the son of Jehosaphat, and in some, son of Nimshi. It is commonly thought that Nimshi was the grandfather, Jehosaphat the dad, and Jehu, the son. Don’t get hung up on what may seem like inconsistencies as you read the Bible, read it for fun at first. Then, LATER, if you want deeper analyses (which will put some people to sleep), go back and do a more detailed study on your own. Also, “I” pronounce his name as YAY-WHO, with a half-silent ‘J’. I am not sure of the exact pronunciation, but I like the sound of it that way. Besides, later on in the story, this guy is called a “madman”, and YAY-WHO seemed to fit better than JAY_WHO or JEE-WHO!!!

ANYWAY, back to the story. This messenger was told by Elisha to give the message to Jehu, anoint him, and then get his own “butt outa there”, (or words to that affect). Elisha always seemed to have strange ways of doing things, but then, that was Elisha. So when Jehu was anointed by the messenger, he became the King of Israel (Elisha had God’s power to appoint Kings, obviously), succeeding his father, Jehosaphat. And basically, the messenger gave him two instructions from Elisha: Go kill Ahab’s entire family, including that ‘wench’ (MY description, not specifically found in the Bible), Jezebel. As soon as the messenger finished his instructions, “he opened the door and ran.” When Jehu, who had been currently serving as an Army Commander under the original command of Ahab (Ahab had been killed at Ramoth Gilead by a stray arrow), told his fellow officers what had happened, they immediately recognized him as King, and bowed down to him. I have NO idea why they knew immediately, but they did (another one of those mysteries of the Bible). And that takes us through verse 13.

Starting in the next verse, we see Jehu preparing to go to battle. His first target, was King Joram, a son of Ahab and Jezebel. I guess one way to perturb you enemy, is to kill his son. The movie Ransom, starring Mel Gibson, was similar in plot, except HIS son was not killed, only kidnapped, and the villain was after money, instead of world conquer like A and J (Ahab and Jezebel). This initial battle is worth ‘analyzing’, if not for tactical purposes, at least for the interesting manner in which it took place. Jehu decided the place to attack this Son-of-Sam, I mean, son of Ahab, was in a place called Jezreel. Joram was there recovering from his wounds that he received when he fought the Arameans (preceding chapter). As luck would have it (good luck for Jehu, bad luck for the Ahab clan), his brother, Ahaziah, was also there visiting him. Read 2^nd Chronicles, chapters 21 and 22 for more on Ahaziah, Ahab, Jezebel, and the whole vile gang. Jehu, now on his way to attack the city of Jezreel, rode like a madman (verse 20), intent upon destroying his enemy. Kind of reminiscent of a recently released (1995) ‘feature film’, BraveHeart. (I don’t know WHY Mel Gibson keeps coming up in this study!) You probably all recall the type of “madman” that William Wallace appeared to be as he led his fellow Scottish clansmen on the battlefield against the English. Well, I am pretty sure that Jehu appeared to Ahab’s tribes the same way. He was hell-bent (excuse the expression) to do what God had instructed him to through the word of Elisha and the messenger.

In this story, two separate ‘scouts’ are sent forward to meet Wallace, I mean, Jehu, to see if he came in Peace. ‘Twas very interesting, Jehu’s response: “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me.” (v.19) And, really, Jehu was right. Outpost guards are not there for peace, they are there to warn of war. So, when this happens twice, Joram, (remember him?, the recuperating son of Jezebel?), decides he and his brother had better get prepared and go out to meet this ‘madman’ and see for themselves. Little did they know that Jehu was NOT in the negotiating mood. Jehu’s goal was to annihilate, and annihilate he did. Shot him in the back! And then, to rub it in to Ahab’s family, told his minions to dump his body on the battlefield. VERY revengeful. But that is the way God wanted him to be at that time. (See 1^st Kings, 21:19 and the surrounding verses!). Also, Jehu wasn’t going to stop with just Joram; his brother was ALSO on the battlefield. Although he was unable to capture and kill “King-for-a-Year” Ahaziah (see 2^nd Chronicles about this, chapter 22, verses 1 through 4), he was able to wound him so that he later died of those wounds.

After this mayhem outside the city, Jehu and his merry band of men continued onward into the city of Jezreel. There, “in yon window broke’, or something like that, was, none other than Queen Jezzy herself. In what seemed like a feeble attempt to disguise herself (painted eyes and a new “do”…verse 30), she queries Jehu about his purpose. Obviously knowing who she was, he convinced two or three eunuchs to throw her down from that ‘yon window’. NOW, comes the interesting part of the story. If you had taken the opportunity to read of Jezebel’s previous escapades, this part of the story would be like watching the end of a modern-day movie where “truth justice, and the American way” win out in the end. Prophesied by Elijah in 1^st Kings 21:3 and by Elisha in 2^nd Kings 9:10, we now get to see the dreadful demise of Jezebel as her trampled remains are eaten by dogs. Ugh. How gruesome. But, this was in no way, gruesome enough to pay back for all she had done. Jehu was simply doing his Godly duty. I guess you HAD to have real BRAVE HEARTS, or at least hearts of stone back then to do God’s will and instructions.

Chapter 10, the NEXT part of this action-packed adventure, is pretty cool. Go ahead and read this chapter, in its entirety, at this time, and then come back to this study.

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As you read, killing Joram and Ahaziah was only the beginning for our hero, Jehu. He was after bigger game. He wanted the WHOLE Ahab family. And, seeing as how most of them lived right there in Samaria, his next ploy was to challenge the next-in-line of the Ahab clan. He sent a letter to the officials of the city, to the elders, and to the guardians of Ahab’s children. At that time, there were 70 sons in the Ahab family, one of whom should have taken over the head of the family when the boys at Jezreel were done in, but had not done so at that time. Fearing death at the hand of Jehu, the governor and leaders of the city Jezreel wrote back to Jehu, saying that they would not appoint a King and fight him, but would become his servants. Jehu, taking advantage of this situation, tested their commitment to what they had said, wrote a second letter to them, and instructed them to behead all 70 of the ‘royal princes’ of the Ahab family. And, of course, they did that. Then they brought the heads to Jehu, who had these 70 skulls stacked in two piles at the entrance of the city gate (what an image that brings to mind). In the morning, he addressed all the people of Jezreel, telling them that he indeed was the one that had killed Joram and Ahaziah, but challenged the whole crowd with a rhetorical question (verse 9): “but who killed all these?”. At that, he completed his work of destroying the locals that were part of the Ahab ‘family’.

But, unfortunately, it doesn’t even stop there. Jehu continued his quest for annihilation of the Ahab family. He found some relatives at Beth Eked and killed them. He found some more in Samaria, and killed all of them. (verses 12 through 17).

Next, we find our caped crusader, our masked man, our defender of freedom (Jehu), cleaning up the final act. Starting in verse 18, and going through verse 28, he employs another deception similar to the beheading-of-the-seventy. His goal in these eleven verses was to rid the worship of Baal, the pagan god of the Phoenicians. Baal (normally pronounced ‘bail’), was often associated with the heathen goddess Ashtaroth. Baal was also the supposed son of the non-existent god Dagon. Just a study of all these so-called ‘gods’ would be tremendously interesting, but for now, we will stick to our current study. But, just one very quick history lesson about Baal. He was the ‘god’ that Elijah challenged when he confronted the “unfortunate 450”. For details on THIS short anecdote, go back and read 1 Kings 18:16-40 and see what happened to these 450 ‘priests/prophets of Baal’. In any case, here in 2^nd Kings, we find Jehu deceiving the prophets and ministers of this so-called god, by pretending to offer a great sacrifice to him. Of course this brings all of the people that normally worship Baal 24/7 out of their homes, and even those that did it as a weekend commitment. Everyone was there, crowding the temple. Of course all the ministers were there, because Jehu had threatened to kill anyone that didn’t show up. What an incentive to go to church!!!!! Once all the ministers were ‘identified’ with robes, Jehu ordered his 80 men to kill them all. And, by doing that, he was able to destroy Baal worship in Israel.

Quite a story, huh? The good guys wins. Probably wore a white hat. But, isn’t it amazing, the power of God? God worked through Elisha and a messenger, picked out this dude named Jehu, and had him destroy the remaining descendants of Ahab and all of the disgusting worship of the pagan god Baal. Unfortunately, this is really NOT the end of the Jehu story. If you re-read verses 29 through 36, you see that, although Jehu did what God commanded, as far as Ahab and Baal was concerned, he STILL lived a life that was despicable to God. (verses 31 and 32). A moral to the ending of this story is like that written in Galatians 5:21…”Those that live like this will not inherit the Kingdom of God”. And also, another scripture comes to mind: “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” (James 2:10)

I started off this study by saying that I wasn’t going to do a deep analysis of the story, because I just wanted to present an ‘interesting’ tale available in the Bible. There are SEVERAL points that could be made about these two chapters, but we can do that some other day. Stories such as this abound throughout the Old Testament. For each one, you can find a moral, some points, or other notable thoughts. And this would be good. Analyze them. Compare yourself to various characters found in them. Do ANY kind of dissection of them as you desire. But FIRST, READ THEM! ENJOY THEM! APPRECIATE THEM!

I hope you have enjoyed our little rendezvous with Jehu, and I hope I have sparked just three pims (one ounce) of interest so that you might desire to read some of the other great stories provided by God.

To God be the Glory! Amen!