The new king of Israel, rising from the ranks, a conspiracy inspired by the religious leadership of Elisha, begins his reign in blood. After killing the King of Israel and the King of Judah, as well as the Queen Mother of Israel, Jezebel, he proceeds to kill every relative of the royal house. Seventy severed heads of princes and relatives of King Yehoram are piled in front of the palace, beheaded by the people who were supposed to take care of them but became instant loyal subjects of the new king. Forty two delegates from Judah, who happen to cross Jehu’s path, are also killed. More carnage is carefully planned against the religious leadership of Israel that worships Ba’al, as promoted by the previous royal house. All are murdered. And all this in the name of YHWH and his zealot path that tolerates no religious competition. Does the state prosper when the zealots take over? Does the blood trail lead to success? Not exactly. Once again, history meets today’s front page and today’s literal celebration of Israel, 75 years old, with leadership fueled by fear and motivated by messianic religious fervor that may topple the whole thing down. Again.
The authors of Kings 2 are clearly ambivalent about Jehu’s reign. On the one hand - he will rule for 28 years and his dynasty will last for a long time - the longest in israel. On the other hand - not only did he pave his power path through bloodshed - his regin is the beginning of the end, as this verse clearly indicates:
The expression ‘YHWH began to reduce Israel’ is unique and puzzling. Most translators interpret it as a geographical reality - the land is reduced to less of what it was. But it’s also about the decline of the state of things - the moral fabric of the nation, the collapse of its center, over time.
The text goes on to specify the slowly decimated border - how the Aramean enemy annexes more and more of Israel’s land.
Alex Israel explores this tension:
“What we witness here is a total capitulation on Israel's eastern front, in which Hazael's forces dominate the Israelite tribes on the east side of the Jordan. "YHWH began to reduce Israel" sounds very much like divine displeasure with Jehu. The waning of Israel's power may have political underpinnings. Jehu's assassination of Jezebel and his removal of Baal engendered a rupture of ties with Phoenicia; his execution of the royals of Judah left him without a southern ally. This situation damaged the kingdom militarily and economically, leaving Jehu vulnerable and weak. And yet it is not without some irony that Jehu, the swashbuckling military captain, proved inept at defending his people, unable to succeed on the battlefield where his predecessor failed.
In these final lines of the chapter, Jehu is not a success story. We leave this dramatic episode with a complex understanding of Jehu: on the one hand a zealot for God, but on the other hand a man who failed to adopt for himself the high standards that he demanded from others. As shall be seen, his is the longest-ruling dynasty of the northern kingdom, and yet he presides over the beginning of a period in which Israel will suffer greatly from Aramean dominance.”
So how do we view this zealot king whose tactics are not gone from the world and the Bible does not condemn?
“King Jehu is determined to show his passion for the God of Israel. Does he do that by eliminating poverty? By welcoming the stranger? By providing care for the sick or the widow, shelter for the homeless?
No. He shows his passion for God by preparing the brutal deliberate slaughter of all the followers of Baal. And this after butchering the surviving kin of his predecessor, King Ahab. 70 innocent relatives, murdered. While venturing from that massacre to the next, he runs across 42 relatives of the dead king of Judah, Ahaziah. He kills them too. Then all the followers of Baal are gathered through subterfuge into a single room and ordered his guards to kill each and every one of them with their swords, a gruesome, painful, and terrifying death.
Is that really the service of the Divine? Isn’t it true that the dark underside of religious faith is the propensity to make mediocre people say and do truly terrible things? Religion often inspires our best. But it can also bring out our monstrous bloodlust and judgmentalism.
I would have liked a biblical gesture of understanding – yes, this is intolerable, and God is repulsed by this dogmatic bloodshed. What about ourselves, and religious authorities throughout the ages? There have been rabbis who demand the literal application of these murderous verses in various political contexts.
But there have also been humane voices that repudiate those views in the name of key Torah values. In our time, we must apply the Torah’s loftiest values. The justification for religious killings is toxic and we must summon the courage to reject it.”
The worst, perhaps, is yet to come.
In the next chapter we will meet a queen whose story is a mystery - and her grandson, the last surviving member of the Davidic line, in the midst of a family feud.
More than anything, reading this horror story today feels like a warning, a glimpse into the playbook of power, and even a blessing - let’s not repeat what has happened.
Let’s not allow zealots and glory-hunters to destroy lives and legacy, homes and homeland in the name of blood-thirsty policies that defy and deny the very essence of what sacred seed grows in the heart of this beloved, hallowed and enduring national tradition, with all its flaws.
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