Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of 2 Kings
Chapter 9: What Peace, So Long as the Whoredoms of Jezebel?
God's long-delayed judgment on the house of Ahab now falls. Elisha sends a young prophet to anoint Jehu king and commission him to avenge the blood of the prophets. Jehu drives furiously to Jezreel, kills Joram in the very field of Naboth, strikes down Ahaziah of Judah, and orders Jezebel thrown from her window, and the dogs devour her, exactly as Elijah had foretold.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of 2 Kings chapter 9. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Jehu Anointed to Judge Ahab's House (2 Kings 9:1-13)
A young prophet secretly anoints Jehu king to execute God's judgment on the house of Ahab.
I Have Anointed Thee King Over Israel
"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: 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; 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. So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramothgilead. 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. 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. 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. 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: 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: 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. 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. 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. 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."
Word Study
"I have anointed thee," Hebrew mashach (מָשַׁח), to anoint, the root of "Messiah." The commission first given to Elijah at Horeb, to anoint Jehu (1 Kings 19:16-17), is now carried out. Elisha sends a young prophet to pour the oil and declare, "Thus saith the LORD... I have anointed thee king over Israel." The anointing (mashach) marks Jehu as God's chosen instrument for a specific, terrible task: "thou shalt smite the house of Ahab... that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets... at the hand of Jezebel." God had watched the martyrdom of His prophets and the blood shed by Jezebel; now the reckoning comes. This is the God who says, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay" (Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:19), and who avenges "the blood of his servants" (Deuteronomy 32:43). The scoffing captains call the prophet a "mad fellow", the world often despises God's messengers, "the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God" (1 Corinthians 2:14), but when they hear Jehu is anointed king, they instantly proclaim him with their garments and trumpets. God's long-delayed judgment on Ahab's house, decreed years before and repeatedly postponed in mercy (1 Kings 21:29), now begins to fall. The wheels of divine justice grind slowly but surely; every drop of the martyrs' blood will be answered.
Explanation
Elisha dispatched a young member of the prophetic guild to Ramoth-gilead with a flask of oil and precise instructions: find the army commander Jehu, take him aside privately, anoint him king of Israel in the LORD's name, deliver the commission to destroy the house of Ahab in vengeance for the murdered prophets, and then flee. The young man did exactly so, declaring that all Ahab's house would perish and that dogs would eat Jezebel at Jezreel. When Jehu rejoined the other officers, they asked why the "mad fellow" had come; upon hearing he had been anointed king, they immediately spread their cloaks under him, blew the trumpet, and proclaimed, "Jehu is king." God's chosen executioner of judgment was now enthroned.
Gospel Focus
This chapter is the outworking of God's justice, long delayed but never abandoned. Years earlier God had marked the house of Ahab for judgment, and in mercy had deferred it when Ahab humbled himself; but the debt of the martyrs' blood remained, and now it is paid. "The blood of my servants the prophets" was precious to God, and He avenged it. This assures the persecuted people of God in every age: the cries of the martyrs are heard, and God will "avenge the blood of his servants" (Revelation 6:10; 19:2). "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." We need not repay evil ourselves, for God is the righteous Judge. And note how the world treats God's messenger: "wherefore came this mad fellow to thee?" The prophet was despised, as God's servants often are; the world called Jesus Himself beside Himself (Mark 3:21) and Paul mad (Acts 26:24). Do not be surprised if the world mocks the messenger of God. But God's word, however despised, accomplishes His purpose; the "mad fellow's" word made a king. God's justice is certain, His timing is His own, and His word cannot fail.
The Fall of Joram and Ahaziah (2 Kings 9:14-29)
Jehu drives furiously to Jezreel and kills Joram in the very field of Naboth, and Ahaziah as well.
What Peace, So Long as the Whoredoms of Thy Mother?
"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. 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. 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. 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? 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. 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. 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. 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. 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? And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah. 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. 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; 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. 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. And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David. And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah."
Word Study
"Is it peace?" Hebrew shalom (שָׁלוֹם), and Jehu's answer, "What peace?" Jehu drives to Jezreel, where the wounded Joram of Israel lies and Ahaziah of Judah is visiting, both houses gathered for judgment. Three times the question comes, "Is it peace?" (shalom), and Jehu's answer cuts to the root: "What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?" There can be no true peace while idolatry and rebellion against God reign; "there is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked" (Isaiah 48:22). Joram cries "There is treachery" and flees, but Jehu's arrow finds his heart. Then comes the striking detail: Joram falls "in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite", the very field his parents Ahab and Jezebel had stolen by murder (1 Kings 21). Jehu recalls the prophecy: "Surely I have seen... the blood of Naboth... and I will requite thee in this plat." God's justice is exact; the crime committed in that field is repaid in that same field, "according to the word of the LORD." What is sown is reaped, often in kind and in place. Ahaziah of Judah, entangled with the house of Ahab (chapter 8:27), is caught in the same judgment and dies at Megiddo. The long-deferred word against Ahab's house is coming true to the letter. God's mills grind slow, but they grind exceeding fine.
Explanation
Jehu conspired against Joram and rode hard for Jezreel, ordering that no one escape to warn the king. A watchman spotted his furious approach; two messengers sent to ask "Is it peace?" were absorbed into Jehu's company. Joram and the visiting Ahaziah rode out to meet Jehu, and, providentially, met him in the very field once belonging to Naboth. When Joram asked, "Is it peace?" Jehu named the root problem: his mother Jezebel's idolatry and witchcraft. As Joram fled crying treachery, Jehu shot him through the heart and had his body cast into Naboth's field, in fulfillment of God's word against Ahab. Ahaziah of Judah fled but was mortally wounded and died at Megiddo; his servants buried him in Jerusalem. Both kings, bound together by the house of Ahab, fell in the day of judgment.
Gospel Focus
"What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel...?" Jehu's words strike at a truth we must not miss: there is no true peace while sin reigns unrepented. "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked" (Isaiah 57:21). Men cry "peace, peace; when there is no peace" (Jeremiah 6:14), papering over rebellion against God with false calm. Real peace is not the absence of conflict but a right relationship with God, and it comes only through the removal of sin. There can be no peace with God while we cling to our Jezebels. But the gospel offers what Joram never had: "being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). Christ "made peace through the blood of his cross" (Colossians 1:20); He is our peace (Ephesians 2:14). And note the exactness of God's justice: Joram fell in the very field his family stole by murder. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Galatians 6:7). God forgets no wrong and repays with perfect precision, in His time. This should make the impenitent tremble and drive us to the only place of peace: the cross of Christ, where sin is removed and true shalom is found.
The Death of Jezebel (2 Kings 9:30-37)
Jezebel is thrown from her window and devoured by dogs, exactly as Elijah had foretold.
This Is the Word of the LORD by Elijah
"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. And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master? 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. 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. 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. 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. 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: 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."
Word Study
"she painted her face, and tired her head," the last defiance of a proud enemy of God. Jezebel, the great villain of the Elijah narrative, the murderer of prophets and the driving force of Baal-worship, meets her end unrepentant and defiant. Hearing Jehu has come, she "painted her face, and tired (adorned) her head, and looked out at a window", meeting death with cosmetics and contempt, taunting Jehu as another Zimri, a short-lived usurper. There is no fear of God, no repentance, only pride to the last. At Jehu's word "Who is on my side?", her own eunuchs throw her down; she is trampled by the horses, and Jehu callously eats and drinks before ordering her burial. But the dogs have already done their work: "they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands." Jehu recognizes the exact fulfillment of the word Elijah had spoken years before (1 Kings 21:23), that dogs would eat Jezebel at Jezreel. Elijah's prophecy comes true to the smallest detail, "so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel", her memory itself blotted out. The name Jezebel becomes forever a byword for wicked seduction into idolatry (Revelation 2:20). Her end warns that defiance of God, however proud, however long it prospers, ends in ruin, and that God's word against the wicked will not fail. "Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished" (Proverbs 11:21).
Explanation
Learning of Jehu's arrival, Jezebel defiantly made herself up and looked down from a window, mocking Jehu with a reference to the usurper Zimri. Jehu called for anyone loyal to him, and a few palace eunuchs threw the queen down at his command. Her blood spattered the wall and horses, and Jehu trampled her body, then went in to eat. When he sent men to bury her as a king's daughter, they found only her skull, feet, and hands, the dogs had consumed the rest. Jehu recognized this as the exact fulfillment of Elijah's prophecy that dogs would eat Jezebel at Jezreel and her remains would be as dung on the field, so that no one could even identify her grave. God's word had come to pass to the letter.
Gospel Focus
Jezebel's end is one of Scripture's most vivid pictures of the wages of unrepentant wickedness. She had reigned in power for decades, murdered God's prophets, and driven a nation into idolatry, and she died defiant, painted and proud, refusing even at the last to fear God. And every word Elijah had spoken years before came true to the letter: the dogs ate her, her body became as dung, her very identity erased. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked" (Galatians 6:7). The long prosperity of the wicked is not God's acquittal but His patience, and it ends in certain judgment. Yet see the mercy this warning implies: God gave Jezebel years to repent, and He gives us the same space now. The tragedy was not that judgment came, but that she never turned. "To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts" (Hebrews 3:15). The same God whose word fell so exactly on Jezebel has promised mercy to all who repent and life to all who believe. Do not meet God in Jezebel's defiance, painted and proud; meet Him in the humility of the penitent, and find, instead of the judgment she received, the grace He freely gives in Christ.
Chapter in Review
Second Kings 9 is the day of reckoning for the house of Ahab. God's long-delayed judgment, first decreed to Elijah, now falls through Jehu, secretly anointed king by Elisha's messenger and commissioned to avenge the blood of the prophets shed by Jezebel. Jehu drives furiously to Jezreel and kills Joram of Israel in the very field of Naboth, stolen by murder years before, "according to the word of the LORD"; Ahaziah of Judah, bound to Ahab's house, dies in the same judgment. And Jezebel, defiant and painted to the last, is thrown from her window and devoured by dogs, exactly as Elijah had foretold, her memory blotted out. The chapter proclaims that God avenges the blood of His servants, that there is no peace while sin reigns, that men reap what they sow with exact justice, and that God's word against the wicked, however long delayed, will surely and precisely come to pass.
Key Takeaways
- God avenges the blood of His servants. The martyred prophets were not forgotten; "vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord."
- There is no peace while sin reigns. "What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel?" True peace comes only through Christ.
- We reap what we sow, with exact justice. Joram fell in the very field his family stole; God's justice is precise.
- Long prosperity is not acquittal. Jezebel reigned for decades, but judgment came at last; God's patience has an end.
- God's word comes to pass to the letter. Elijah's prophecy about Jezebel was fulfilled in every detail.
Questions for Reflection
- Do you rest in the truth that God, the righteous Judge, will avenge every wrong in His time, so you need not?
- Is there a "Jezebel," an unrepented sin, that is robbing you of true peace with God?
- Where might you be sowing what you would not want to reap?
- Are you mistaking God's patience with the wicked (or with yourself) for His approval?
- Will you meet God in penitent humility rather than in Jezebel's proud defiance?
References
- Scripture: 2 Kings 9:1-37, King James Version.
- Cross-references: 1 Kings 19:16-17; 21:19-29; Deuteronomy 32:35, 43; Proverbs 11:21; Isaiah 48:22; 57:21; Jeremiah 6:14; Mark 3:21; Acts 26:24; Romans 5:1; 12:19; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Galatians 6:7; Ephesians 2:14; Colossians 1:20; Hebrews 3:15; Revelation 2:20; 6:10; 19:2.
- Hebrew word meanings: standard lexical sources (Strong's, BDB) for mashach and shalom; historical background of Jezreel, Naboth's field, and Jehu's dynasty.