2 Kings 9
Lutheran reading notes
In 2 Kings chapter 9, the account continues the story of the decline and exile of Israel and Judah. Lutheran interpretation frequently highlights how these events reveal both human sinfulness and God’s faithful promises. The chapter demonstrates the tension between human failure and God’s ongoing grace working through history.
1
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:
2 Kings 9:1 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
2
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; {inner...: Heb. chamber in a chamber}
2 Kings 9:2 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
3
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.
2 Kings 9:3 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
4
So the young man, {even} the young man the prophet, went to Ramothgilead.
2 Kings 9:4 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
5
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.
2 Kings 9:5 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
6
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.
2 Kings 9:6 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
7
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.
2 Kings 9:7 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
8
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:
2 Kings 9:8 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
9
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:
2 Kings 9:9 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
10
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.
2 Kings 9:10 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
11
Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord: and {one} said unto him, {Is} all well? wherefore came this mad {fellow} to thee? And he said unto them, Ye know the man, and his communication.
2 Kings 9:11 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
12
And they said, {It is} false; tell us now. And he said, Thus and thus spake he to me, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I have anointed thee king over Israel.
2 Kings 9:12 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
13
Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put {it} under him on the top of the stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king. {is king: Heb. reigneth}
2 Kings 9:13 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
14
So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram had kept Ramothgilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria.
2 Kings 9:14 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
15
But king Joram was returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) And Jehu said, If it be your minds, {then} let none go forth {nor} escape out of the city to go to tell {it} in Jezreel. {Joram: Heb. Jehoram but not in verse sixteen} {had given: Heb. smote} {let none...: Heb. let no escaper go, etc}
2 Kings 9:15 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
16
So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram.
2 Kings 9:16 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
17
And there stood a watchman on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take an horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, {Is it} peace?
2 Kings 9:17 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
18
So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus saith the king, {Is it} peace? And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he cometh not again.
2 Kings 9:18 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
19
Then he sent out a second on horseback, which came to them, and said, Thus saith the king, {Is it} peace? And Jehu answered, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me.
2 Kings 9:19 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
20
And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and cometh not again: and the driving {is} like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously. {driving: or, marching} {furiously: Heb. in madness}
2 Kings 9:20 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
21
And Joram said, Make ready. And his chariot was made ready. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. {Make ready: Heb. Bind} {met: Heb. found}
2 Kings 9:21 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
22
And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, {Is it} peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts {are so} many?
2 Kings 9:22 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
23
And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, {There is} treachery, O Ahaziah.
2 Kings 9:23 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
24
And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot. {drew...: Heb. filled his hand with a bow} {sunk: Heb. bowed}
2 Kings 9:24 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
25
Then said {Jehu} to Bidkar his captain, Take up, {and} cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the LORD laid this burden upon him;
2 Kings 9:25 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
26
Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the LORD; and I will requite thee in this plat, saith the LORD. Now therefore take {and} cast him into the plat {of ground}, according to the word of the LORD. {blood: Heb. bloods} {plat: or, portion}
2 Kings 9:26 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
27
But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw {this}, he fled by the way of the garden house. And Jehu followed after him, and said, Smite him also in the chariot. {And they did so} at the going up to Gur, which {is} by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there.
2 Kings 9:27 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
28
And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David.
2 Kings 9:28 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
29
And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.
2 Kings 9:29 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
30
And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard {of it}; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window. {painted...: Heb. put her eyes in painting}
2 Kings 9:30 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
31
And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, {Had} Zimri peace, who slew his master?
2 Kings 9:31 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
32
And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who {is} on my side? who? And there looked out to him two {or} three eunuchs. {eunuchs: or, chamberlains}
2 Kings 9:32 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
33
And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and {some} of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot.
2 Kings 9:33 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
34
And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed {woman}, and bury her: for she {is} a king's daughter.
2 Kings 9:34 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
35
And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of {her} hands.
2 Kings 9:35 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
36
Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This {is} the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel: {by: Heb. by the hand of}
2 Kings 9:36 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.
37
And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; {so} that they shall not say, This {is} Jezebel.
2 Kings 9:37 highlights covenant history and god’s providence with emphasis on law, gospel, grace, and faith.