Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today's reading is from 2 Kings chapters
9 and 10. Chapter 9 And Elisha the prophet called
one of the sons of the prophets and said to him,
Get yourself ready, take this flask of oil in
your hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead. Now when
you arrive at that place, look there for Jehu
the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. and
go in and make him rise up from among his associates,
and take him to an inner room. Then take the
flask of oil, and pour it on his head, and say,
Thus says the Lord, I have anointed you king
over Israel. Then open the door, and flee, and
do not delay. So the young man, the servant of
the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead, and when
he arrived, there were the captains of the army
sitting, and he said, I have a message for you,
commander. Jehu said, For which one of us? And
he said, For you, commander. Then he arose and
went into the house, and he poured oil on his
head and said to him, Thus says the Lord God
of Israel, I have anointed you king over the
people of the Lord, over Israel. You shall strike
down the house of Ahab your 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. For the whole house of
Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab
all the males in Israel, both bond and free.
So I will make the house of Ahab like the house
of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house
of Basha the son of Ahijah. The dogs shall eat
Jezebel on the plot of ground at Jezreel, and
there shall be none to bury her. And he opened
the door and fled. Then Jehu came out to the
servants of his master, and one said to him,
Is all well? Why did this madman come to you?
And he said to them, You know the man and his
babble. And they said, A lie, tell us now. So
he said, Thus and thus he spoke to me, saying,
Thus says the Lord, I have anointed you king
over Israel. Then each man hastened to take his
garment and put it under him on the top of the
steps, and they blew trumpets, saying, Jehu is
king. So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son
of Nimshi conspired against Joram. Now Joram
had been defending Ramud Gilead, he and all Israel,
against Haziel king of Syria. But king Joram
had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds
which the Syrians had inflicted on him when he
fought with Haziel king of Syria. And Jehu said,
If you are so minded, let no one leave or escape
from the city to go and tell it in Jezreel. So
Jehu rode in a chariot and went to Jezreel, for
Joram was laid up there. And Ahaziah king of
Judah had come down to see Joram. Now a watchman
stood on a tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company
of Jehu as he came and said, I see a company
of men. And Joram said, Get a horseman and send
him to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace?
So the horseman went to meet him and said, Thus
says the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What
have you to do with peace? Turn around and follow
me. So the watchman reported, saying, The messenger
went to them, but is not coming back. Then he
sent out a second horseman, who came to them
and said, Thus says the king, Is it peace? And
Jehu answered, What have you to do with peace?
Turn around and follow me. So the watchman reported,
saying, He went up to them, and is not coming
back. And the driving is like the driving of
Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously.
Then Joram said, Make ready. And his chariot
was made ready. Then Joram king of Israel and
Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot,
and they went out to meet Jehu, and met him on
the property of Naboth the Jezreelite. Now it
happened, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said,
Is it peace, Jehu? so he answered what peace
as long as the harlotries of your mother jezebel
and her witchcraft are so many then joram turned
around and fled and said to ahaziah treachery
ahaziah now jehu drew his bow with full strength
and shot jehoram between his arms and the arrow
came out at his heart and he sank down in his
chariot then jehu said to bidkar his captain
Pick him up and throw him into the tract of the
field of Naboth the Jezreelite. For remember,
when you and I were riding together behind Ahab
his father, that the Lord laid this burden upon
him. Surely I saw yesterday the blood of Naboth
and the blood of his sons, says the Lord, and
I will repay you in this plot, says the Lord.
Now therefore take and throw him on the plot
of ground according to the word of the Lord.
But when Ahaziah king of Judah saw this, he fled
by the road to Beit Hagan. So Jehu pursued him
and said, Shoot him also in the chariot. And
they shot him at the ascent of Gur, which is
by Iblim. Then he fled to Megiddo and died there.
And his servants carried him in the chariot to
Jerusalem, and buried him in his tomb with his
fathers in the city of David. In the eleventh
year of Joram the son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become
king over Judah. Now when Jehu had come to Jezreel,
Jezebel heard of it. And she put paint on her
eyes and adorned her head and looked through
a window. Then as Jehu entered at the gate, she
said, Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of your master?
And he looked up at the window and said, Who
is on my side? Who? So two or three eunuchs looked
out at him. Then he said, Throw her down. So
they threw her down, and some of her blood splattered
on the wall and on the horses, and he trampled
her underfoot. And when he had gone in, he ate
and drank. Then he said, Go now, see to this
accursed woman, and bury her, for she was a king's
daughter. So they went to bury her, but they
found no more of her than the skull and the feet
and the palms of her hands. Therefore they came
back and told him, and he said, This is the word
of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Elijah
the Tishbite, saying, On the plot of ground at
Jezreel, dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel,
and the corpse of Jezebel shall be as a refuse
on the surface of the field in the plot at Jezreel,
so that they shall not say, Here lies Jezebel.
Chapter 10 Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria,
and Jehu wrote and sent letters to Samaria to
the rulers of Jezreel. To the elders and to those
who reared Ahab's sons, saying, Now as soon as
this letter comes to you, since your master's
sons are with you, and you have chariots and
horses, a fortified city also, and weapons, choose
the best qualified of your master's sons, set
him on his father's throne, and fight for your
master's house. But they were exceedingly afraid
and said, Look, two kings could not stand up
to him, how then can we stand? And he was in
charge of the house, and he was in charge of
the city, the elders also. Now the king's sons,
70 persons, were with the great men of the city
who were rearing them. So it was when the letter
came to them, that they took the king's sons
and slaughtered seventy persons, put their heads
in baskets, and sent them to him at Jezreel.
Then a messenger came and told him, saying, They
have brought the heads of the king's sons. And
he said, Lay them in two heaps at the entrance
of the gate until morning. So it was in the morning
that he went out and stood, and said to all the
people, You are righteous. Indeed, I conspired
against my master and killed him. But who killed
all these? Now know that nothing shall fall to
the earth of the word of the Lord which the Lord
spoke concerning the house of Ahab. For the Lord
has done what he spoke by his servant Elijah.
So Jehu killed all who remained of the house
of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and
his close acquaintances, and his priests, until
he left him none remaining. And he arose and
departed and went to Samaria, on the way at Beth
-eked of the shepherds. Jehu met with the brothers
of Ahaziah, king of Judah, and said, Who are
you? So they answered, We are the brothers of
Ahaziah. We have come down to greet the sons
of the king and the sons of the queen mother.
And he said, Take them alive. So they took them
alive and killed them at the well of Beth -eked.
Forty -two men, and he left none of them. Now
when he departed from there, he met Jehunadab,
the son of Rechab, coming to meet him. And he
greeted him and said to him, Is your heart right,
as my heart is toward your heart? And Jehonadab
answered, It is. Jehu said, If it is, give me
your hand. So he gave him his hand, and he took
him up to him into a chariot. Then he said, Come
with me, and see my zeal for the Lord. So they
had him ride in his chariot. And when he came
to Samaria, he killed all who remained to Ahab
in Samaria, till he had destroyed them, according
to the word of the Lord, which he spoke to Elijah.
Then Jehu gathered all the people together and
said to them, Ahab served Baal a little. Jehu
will serve him much. Now therefore call to me
all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and
all his priests. Let no one be missing, for I
have a great sacrifice for Baal. Whoever is missing
shall not live. But Jehu acted deceptively with
the intent of destroying the worshippers of Baal.
And Jehu said, Proclaim a solemn assembly for
Baal. So they proclaimed it. Then Jehu sent throughout
all Israel, and all the worshippers of Baal came,
so that there was not a man left who did not
come. So they came into the temple of Baal, and
the temple of Baal was full from one end to the
other. And he said to the one in charge of the
wardrobe, Bring out vestments for all the worshippers
of Baal. So he brought out vestments for them.
Then Jehu and Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, went
into the temple of Baal, and said to the worshippers
of Baal, Search and see that no servants of the
Lord are here with you, but only the worshippers
of Baal. So they went in to offer sacrifices
and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had appointed for
himself eighty men on the outside, and had said,
If any of the men whom I have brought into your
hands escapes, whoever lets him escape, it shall
be his life for the life of the other. Now it
happened as soon as he had made an end of offering
the burnt offering that Jehu said to the guard
and to the captains, Go in and kill them. Let
no one come out. And they killed them with the
edge of the sword. Then the guards and officers
threw them out and went into the inner room of
the temple of Baal. And they brought the sacred
pillars out of the temple of Baal and burned
them. Then they broke down the sacred pillar
of Baal and tore down the temple of Baal and
made it a refuse dump to this day. Thus Jehu
destroyed Baal from Israel. However, Jehu did
not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, the
son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin, that is,
from the golden calves that were at Bethel and
Dan. And the Lord said to Jehu, Because you have
done well in doing what is right in my sight
and have done to the house of Ahab all that was
in my heart, your sons shall sit on the throne
of Israel to the fourth generation. But Jehu
took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God
of Israel with all his heart, for he did not
depart from the sins of Jeroboam, who had made
Israel sin. In those days the Lord began to cut
off parts of Israel, and Hazael conquered them
in all the territory of Israel from the Jordan
eastward, all the land of Gilead, Gad, Reuben,
and Manasseh, from Arwar, which is by the river
Arnon, including Gilead and Bashan. Now the rest
of the acts of Jehu All that he did and all his
might, are they not written in the book of the
chronicles of the kings of Israel? So Jehu rested
with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria.
Then Jehoahaz, his son, reigned in his place.
And the period that Jehu reigned over Israel
in Samaria was twenty -eight years. I hope you
enjoyed today's reading as much as I did, and
I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow to
continue on our journey. God bless you and have
a great day.