Bible Commentaries
2 Kings 9

Verses 1-37

The hour had come to carry out the sentence of God on the house of Ahab. The prophet sent one of the sons of the prophets to anoint Jehu. This Jehu, as his history reveals, was a fitting instrument for swift and relentless judgment. He was a furious driver, which was symbolic of his character. He halted at nothing, but swept like a whirlwind from point to point until the things he desired were accomplished. This is startlingly manifest in this chapter.

On tde way, having been anointed directly to his work, he slew Joram with his own hands, and, quickly moving back, encompassed the death of Ahaziah, and then proceeded to where Jezebel was still living. Pronouncing upon her the very doom of God, he carried out in detail the sentence pronounced long ago.

It is indeed a terrible chapter in which the truth of the divine government is written no longer in the gentle words of patient mercy, but in flames of fire. At last the day of God's patience had passed, and the devouring sword fell on the chief persons in the household of Ahab, who had done so much to encompass the ruin of His ancient people.