My Daily Meditation
Today’s Reading
The Second Book of Kings
Chapter 9:1-37
Friends and Brethren in Christ, greetings in His Name
Over the last few chapters we have read how those who would abandon the word of God will suffer in the end. Today’s reading is no exception. In today’s age, there are many who refuse to understand that God is righteous. They dismiss that He does indeed, reward those who turn from Him with the wages of their sin. Such cannot fathom it saying that a loving God would not punish His children. Yet, as parents, do we not at times punish our own, because we love them, and wish for them to learn from the wrongs that they do? We are instructed to discipline with love, and so we do, but we discipline all the same. And so it is with our Creator. It is not his wish that any should perish in the final judgment, but all come to repentance, yet that day will come, and when it does, those who have turned will be caught up with those who have repented, and God will judge both of them on that day. (a)
Turn now friends, and seek Him while He may still be found. Note the end of Jezebel, wherein even her earthly remains were devoured, so that, other than the writings of the OT, none would have known of her existence. Her reward for her wickedness, was to be cast out, and remembered no more, in so much as not even a trace of her bones would be found. It is my sad to duty to be so blunt, but again I ask the non-believer who is reading this to consider their own end, and repent.
1 Then Elisha the Prophet called one of the children of the Prophets, and said unto him, Gird thy loins, and take this box of oil in thine hand, and get thee to Ramoth Gilead.
2 And when thou comest thither, look where is Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, and go, and make him arise up from among his brethren, and lead him to a secret chamber.
3 Then take the box of oil and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee for king over Israel: then open the door, and flee without any tarrying.
4 So the servant of the Prophet got him to Ramoth Gilead.
5 And when he came in, behold, the captains of the army were sitting. And he said, I have a message to thee, O captain. And Jehu said, Unto which of all us? And he answered, To thee, O captain.
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 for king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel.
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 of the hand of Jezebel.
8 For the whole house of Ahab shall be destroyed: and I will cut off from Ahab, him that maketh water against the wall, as well him that is shut up, as him that is left in Israel.
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.
10 And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the field of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. And he opened the door, and fled.
11 ¶ Then Jehu came out 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 what his talk was.
12 And they said, It is false, tell us it now. Then he said, Thus and thus spake he to me, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee for King over Israel.
13 Then they made haste, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew the trumpet, saying, Jehu is King.
14 So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram: (Now Joram kept Ramoth Gilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Aram.
15 And king Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds, which the Aramites had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Aram) and Jehu said, If it be your minds, let no man depart and escape out of the city, to go and tell in Jezreel.
16 So Jehu got up into a chariot, and went to Jezreel: for Joram lay there, and Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram.
17 And the watchman that stood in the tower in Jezreel spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Jehoram said, Take a horseman and send to meet them, that he may say, Is it peace?
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 behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he cometh not again.
19 Then he sent out another 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 behind me.
20 And the watchman told, saying, He came to them also, but cometh not again, and the marching is like the marching of Jehu the son of Nimshi: for he marcheth furiously.
21 Then Jehoram said, Make ready: and his chariot was made ready. And Jehoram king of Israel, and Ahaziah king of Judah went out either of them in his chariot against Jehu, and met him in the field of Naboth the Jezreelite.
22 And when Jehoram saw Jehu, he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace? whiles the whoredomes of thy mother Jezebel, and her witchcrafts are yet in great number?
23 Then Jehoram turned his hand, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, O Ahaziah, there is treason.
24 But Jehu took a bow in his hand, and smote Jehoram between the shoulders, that the arrow went through his heart: and he fell down in his chariot.
25 Then said Jehu to Bidkar a captain, Take, and cast him in some place of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for I remember that when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the Lord laid this burden upon him.
26 Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, said the Lord, and I will render it thee in this field, saith the Lord: now therefore take and cast him in the field according to the word of the Lord.
27 But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house: And Jehu pursued after him, and said, Smite him also in the chariot: and they smote him in the going up to Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and there died.
28 And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulcher with his fathers in the city of David.
29 And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab, began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.
30 And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it, and painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window.
31 And as Jehu entered at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, which slew his master?
32 And he lift up his eyes to the window, and said, Who is on my side, who? Then two or three of her Eunuchs looked unto him.
33 And he said, Cast her down: and they cast her down, and he sprinkled of her blood upon the wall, and upon the horses, and he trode her under foot.
34 And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Visit now yonder cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a King’s daughter.
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.
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 field of Jezreel shall the dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel.
37 And the carcass of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the ground in the field of Jezreel, so that none shall say, This is Jezebel.
(a) Editor’s notation - Re: Preface - Read also 2 Peter 3:9-10; Ezekiel 33:11; 1 Timothy 2:4
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