Bible Challenge Day 131: The Enigma of Jehu (2 Kings 9-10)

Jehu intrigues me. It would appear at first that he is one of the good guys. Elijah has prophesied judgment on the family of the wicked King Ahab. Jehu is anointed king of Israel by a prophet, acting under instructions of Elisha, largely for the purpose of executing that judgment. He does, and with vigor, killing Ahab’s son (the current king) and widow Jezebel, as well as Ahab’s other seventy sons. As he exacts this bloody retribution, Jehu explicitly cites Elijah’s prophecy as justification.

But Jehu is not done with his religious purge. He also tricks and then slaughters the prophets, priests, and people of Baal, following the example of the prophet Elijah and wiping out Baal from Israel (10:28). In terms of the values of Second Kings, this all seems like virtuous work. At last, a king of Israel is worshipping Yahweh, and Yahweh only.

Ironically, Jehu does not go far enough for the author of Kings. Apparently Jehu should also have undone the religious policies of Jereboam, the first king of Israel after Solomon, by tearing down altars in Dan and Bethel. For that failure, Jehu is judged (10:31). So this most zealous follower of Yahweh of all the kings of Israel (but not Judah) was deemed wicked. It seems a harsh judgment for one who did so much in conscious imitation of and loyalty to the prophets of his time.

By the standards of our time, of course, Jehu fares much worse. Slaughtering political and religious opponents is the attribute of a murderer and tyrant, not of a righteous leader. And the judgment of our time is at least partially justified by events reported in Second Kings. Jehu slaughters much of the royal house of neighboring Judah, needlessly alienating Israel’s best ally (10:13f). There is no stated religious justification for these acts. He also loses significant territory to Aram (10:32f). As a consequence, Jehu’s twenty-eight year reign seems like a disaster for Israel, which ends up reduced in territory, isolated diplomatically, and, I presume, traumatized by brutality.

The troubling part of all this is that my own judgment of Jehu as excessively narrow-minded and brutal seems basically opposite of the judgment of the book. The religious policy promoted in Second Kings is harsh and intolerant, more like ISIS than the policies of the United States. Other parts of the Bible are less brutal. But these books, interesting though I find them on historical grounds, make me uneasy . . . .

Fr. Harvey