OT Characters: Jehu

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website.

Hebrew words:

• Yehu' (Jehu) -- Yah(weh) is He, or He is Yah(weh)
• 54x in the O.T., by my count. (There are three other Jehus as well.)

Further study:

• Passages covered in this podcast:
  • 1 Kings 19:16
  • 2 Kings 9-10
  • 2 Chronicles 22 (parallel passage)
  • Romans 12:11; Proverbs 19:2; John 2:13ff.
• The kings of Israel and Judah (parallel tracks)
  • Kings of Israel:
    • Saul – Ishbosheth – David – Solomon
    • Nadab – Baasha – Elah – Zimri – Omri – Ahab – Ahaziah – Jehoram – Jehu – Jehoahaz – Jehoash – Jeroboam II – Zechariah – Shallum – Menahem – Pekahiah – Pekah – Hoshea
  • Kings of Judah:
    • Saul – David – Solomon
    • Rehoboam – Abijah –Asa – Jehoshaphat – Jehoram – Ahaziah – Athaliah – Joash – Amaziah – Uzziah – Jotham – Ahaz – Hezekiah – Manasseh – Amon – Josiah – Jehoahaz – Jehoiakim – Jehoiachin – Zedekiah
  • Judah more righteous than Israel. God gives her extra time.  Northern Israel collapses, captured by the Assyrians, in 722 BC.  More than a century later, in 586 BC, the southern kingdom of Judah falls to the Babylonians.
• In 2 Cor 11:2, Paul is jealous [zēlô] with a zeal [zēlō]; the two words, even in English, are closely related.
• Even more material:
  • Is there a contradiction in Hosea 1:4?
    • This is one solution (mine, at the main website).
    • But there are other ways to look at the problem. Click here
  • Review the Phinehas podcast, in the present series, for more on zeal.
  • See my 2003 paper on Forceful Men, and also my 2005 paper on Driven Men.
• Let us strive to combine fiery zeal with gentle humility.
  • "Truth without enthusiasm, morality without emotion, ritual without soul, are things Christ unsparingly condemned. Destitute of fire, they are nothing more than a godless philosophy, an ethical system, and a superstition." -- Samuel Chadwick
  • "Certainly zeal for your house consumes me" (Psalm 69:9; John 2:17).

Some things we learn about God:,

• God may use us for his purposes but that hardly means he approves of everything we do.
• In O.T. times, God allowed a degree of violence among his people. In Jesus, however, the perfect will of God is revealed: love for enemies.
• Christ alone embodied the perfect balance…

For kids: See how well Mary Batchelor has rewritten the stories about Jehu for children. Click here and then scroll down to lessons 183-185.

Key verses:

• 1 Kings 19:16 -- Elijah is told to appoint Jehu as king of Israel. Yet...
• 2 Kings 9:6 -- Elisha has a junior prophet anoint Jehu.
• 2 Kings 9:20 -- Jehu drives like a madman! Is this man zealous to the point of recklessness?
• 2 Kings 9:24-33 -- Jehu kills J(eh)oram, king of (northern) Israel, Ahaziah, king of (southern) Judah, Jezebel, (former) "queen" of Israel.
• 2 Kings 10:11 -- Jehu kills Ahab's remaining descendants.
• 2 Kings 10:16 -- "See my zeal for the Lord."
• 2 Kings 10:18-31 -- Jehu eliminates Baal worship in Israel. He is not careful, however, to reverse the sins of Jeroboam.

Next lesson: Hezekiah.