One of the most profound pieces of political porpaganda is located in 2 Kings 9,10,11,12.
It is quite humerous and also tragic and shocking. It is also mostly FICTION!
8:29King Joram
returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds
which the Syrians had given him at Ramah,
when he fought against Hazael king of Syria.
Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went
down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel,
because he was sick.
(I think this is a stupid comment. The obvious reason the King of Judah was there was with armies to defend his ally and uncle.)
9:1Elisha the prophet called one of the sons
of the prophets, and said to him, “Put your
belt on your waist, take this vial of oil in your
hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead. 9:2When you
come there, find Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat
the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him
arise up from among his brothers, and carry
him to an inner room. 9:3Then take the vial
of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, ‘Thus
says Yahweh, “I have anointed you king over
Israel.”’ Then open the door, flee, and don’t
wait.”
(Here Jehu is introduced with an almost Aramaic name.)
9:4So the young man, even the young man
the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. 9:5When
he came, behold, the captains of the army were
sitting. Then he said, “I have a message for you,
captain.”
Jehu said, “To which of us all?”
He said, “To you, O captain.” 9:6He arose,
and went into the house.
(House? <<<??? This has puzzled many bible commentators and I think the answer lies in the fact that Rammoth-Gilead had previously been conquered by the Syrians. Jehu likely a Syrian general owned a house. The Dtr. Historian later slipped this phrase out of old Israelite annuls)
Then he poured the
oil on his head, and said to him, “Thus says
Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘I have anointed
you king over the people of Yahweh, even over
Israel. 9:7You shall strike the house of Ahab
your master, that I may avenge the blood of
my servants the prophets, and the blood of all
the servants of Yahweh, at the hand of Jezebel.
9:8For the whole house of Ahab shall perish. I
will cut off from Ahab everyone who pisses
against a wall, both him who is shut up and
him who is left at large in Israel. 9:9I 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. 9:10The dogs will eat Jezebel
on the plot of ground of Jezreel, and there shall
be none to bury her.’” He opened the door, and
fled.
(This is both humerous and ludicrous)
9:11Then Jehu came forth to the servants of
his lord: and one said to him, “Is all well? Why
did this mad fellow come to you?”
He said to them, “You know the man and
what his talk was.” 9:12They said, “That is a lie.
Tell us now.”
He said, “He said to me, ‘Thus says Yahweh,
I have anointed you king over Israel.’”
9:13Then they hurried, 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.”
(At thiis point any critical reader is rolling on the floor laughing)
9:14So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of
Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram
was keeping Ramoth Gilead, he and all Israel,
because of Hazael king of Syria; 9:15but 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.)
(Likely the only true statement in this story)
Jehu said, “If this is your thinking, then let no
one escape and go out of the city, to go to tell
it in Jezreel.” 9:16So Jehu rode in a chariot, and
went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. Ahaziah
king of Judah had come down to see Joram.
9:17Now the watchman was standing on the
tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of
Jehu as he came, and said, “I see a company.”
Joram said, “Take a horseman, and send to
meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’”
9:18So there went one on horseback to meet
him, and said, “Thus says the king, ‘Is it
peace?’”
Jehu said, “What do you have to do with
peace? Fall in behind me!”
(Is this true? Did Israelite soldiers defect to Syria? Probably)
The watchman said, “The messenger came
to them, but he isn’t coming back.”
9:19Then he sent out a second on horseback,
who came to them, and said, “Thus says the
king, ‘Is it peace?’”
Jehu answered, “What do you have to do
with peace? Fall in behind me!”
9:20The watchman said, “He came to them,
and isn’t coming back. The driving is like the
driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he drives
furiously.”
(Another rolling on the floor comment.)
9:21Joram said, “Get ready!”
They got his chariot ready. Joram king of
Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out,
each in his chariot, and they went out to meet
Jehu, and found him in the portion of Naboth
the Jezreelite. 9:22It happened, when Joram saw
Jehu, that he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?”
He answered, “What peace, so long as the
prostitution of your mother Jezebel and her
witchcraft abound?”
(This is a Deatronomist propaganda. Ignore it)
9:23Joram turned his hands, and fled, and
said to Ahaziah, “There is treason, Ahaziah!”
(The Hebrew expression 'turned with his hands' is very differcult to understand. Was it a signal to attack, flee, surrender?)
9:24Jehu drew his bow with his full strength,
and struck Joram between his arms; and the
arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down
in his chariot. 9:25Then Jehu said to Bidkar his
captain, “Pick him up, and throw him in the
plot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; ...
(At this point we many skip ahead as the next few verses are propaganda...)
9:27But when Ahaziah the king of Judah
saw this, he fled by the way of the garden
house. Jehu followed after him, and said,
“Strike him also in the chariot!” They struck
him at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam.
He fled to Megiddo, and died there. 9:28His
servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem,
and buried him in his tomb with his fathers
in the city of David. 9:29In the eleventh year
of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to
reign over Judah.
(This is interesting but we will find this is NOT quite true.Jehu will later slaughter Ahaziah's brothers and mysteriously they die again in the next chapter lol)
9:30When Jehu had come to
Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her
eyes, and attired her head, and looked out at
the window. 9:31As Jehu entered in at the gate,
she said, “Do you come in peace, Zimri, you
murderer of your master?”
(Do you believe this? If you do you are a fool. It is humerous though)
9:32He lifted up his face to the window, and
said, “Who is on my side?Who?”
Two or three eunuchs looked out at him.
9:33He said, “Throw her down!”
So they threw her down; and some of her
blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the
horses. Then he trampled her under foot.
......................................................
10:1Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria.
Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, to
the rulers of Jezreel, even the elders, and
to those who brought up the sons of Ahab,
saying, 10:2“Now as soon as this letter comes
to you, since your master’s sons are with you,
and there are with you chariots and horses, a
fortified city also, and armor. 10:3Select the best
and fittest of your master’s sons, set him on
his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s
house.”
10:4But they were exceedingly afraid, and
said, “Behold, the two kings didn’t stand before
him! How then shall we stand?” 10:5He who
was over the household, and he who was over
the city, the elders also, and those who raised
the children, sent to Jehu, saying, “We are your
servants, and will do all that you ask us. We
will not make any man king. You do that which
is good in your eyes.”
10:6Then he wrote a letter the second time
to them, saying, “If you are on my side, and
if you will listen to my voice, take the heads of
the men your master’s sons, and come to me to
Jezreel by tomorrow this time.”
Now the king’s sons, being seventy persons,
were with the great men of the city, who
brought them up. 10:7It happened, when the
letter came to them, that they took the king’s
sons, and killed them, even seventy persons,
and put their heads in baskets, and sent them
to him to Jezreel. 10:8A messenger came, and
told him, “They have brought the heads of the
king’s sons.”
(This is likely factual however it is VERY VERY Problamic! Judges chapter 9 has a story almost identical.)
He said, “Lay them in two heaps at the
entrance of the gate until the morning.” 10:9It
happened in the morning, that he went out,
and stood, and said to all the people, “You
are righteous. Behold, I conspired against my
master, and killed him; but who struck all
these? .......
10:11So Jehu struck all that remained of the
house of Ahab in Jezreel,with all his greatmen,
his familiar friends, and his priests, until he left
him none remaining.
10:12He arose and departed, and went to
Samaria. As he was at the shearing house of
the shepherds on the way, 10:13Jehu met with
the brothers ofAhaziah king of Judah, and said,
“Who are you?”
They answered, “We are the brothers of
Ahaziah. We are going down to greet the
children of the king and the children of the
queen.”
10:14He said, “Take them alive!”
They took them alive, and killed them at the
pit of the shearing house, even forty-two men.
He didn’t leave any of them. 1
0:15When he had
departed from there, he met Jehonadab the son
of Rechab coming to meet him. He greeted him,
and said to him, “Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?”
Jehonadab answered, “It is.”
“If it is, give me your hand.” He gave him
his hand; and he took him up to him into the
chariot. 10:16He said, “Come with me, and see
my zeal for Yahweh.” So they made him ride in
his chariot. 10:17When he came to Samaria, he
struck all who remained to Ahab in Samaria,
until he had destroyed him,....
(This is NOT HISTORICAL! Jehonadab is the father of a people called the Recabites. These were friends of Jeremiah a Deuteronomist. This is placing the writers of this very text into a heroic epic. The rest of this chapter is about Jehu getting rid of Baal worshippers. Likely untrue)
10:35Jehu sleptwith his fathers; and they buried
him in Samaria. Jehoahaz his son reigned in
his place. 10:36The time that Jehu reigned over
Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.
But Wait!
What about the 'House of the Beloved'? Atalaih?
You want humor? Read this:
11:1Now when Athaliah the mother of
Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose
and destroyed all the seed royal. 11:2But
Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister
of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and
stole him away from among the king’s sons
who were slain, even him and his nurse, and
put them in the bedroom; and they hid him
from Athaliah, so that he was not slain; 11:3He
was with her hidden in the house of Yahweh
six years. Athaliah reigned over the land. 11:4In
the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the
captains over hundreds of the Carites and of
the guard, and brought them to him into the
house of Yahweh; and hemade a covenant with
them, and took an oath of them in the house
of Yahweh, and showed them the king’s son.
(Who killed the princes of Judah? It wasn;t Athaliah! LOL... This is pure propaganda.
11:20So all the
people of the land rejoiced, and the city was
quiet. Athaliah they had slainwith the sword at
the king’s house. 11:21Jehoash was seven years
old when he began to reign.
12:1In the seventh year of Jehu began Jehoash
to reign; and he reigned forty years
in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was
Zibiah of Beersheba.
(Likely Jehu killed her. Not some Yahweh rightuoes priests. I will futher submit that Jehoash was NOT from the House of DWD but retained the title. <<<< SHOCKING
The rest of this chapter claims Jehoash 'repaiered' the house of Yahweh. I think he built it! Not Solomon Jehoash!
12:17Then Hazael king of
Syria went up, and fought against Gath, and
took it; and Hazael set his face to go up to
Jerusalem. 12:18Jehoash king of Judah took all
the holy things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram
and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had
dedicated, and his own holy things, and all
the gold that was found in the treasures of the
house of Yahweh, and of the king’s house, and
sent it to Hazael king of Syria: and he went
away from Jerusalem. 12:19Now the rest of
the acts of Joash, and all that he did, aren’t
they written in the book of the chronicles of
the kings of Judah? 12:20His servants arose,
and made a conspiracy, and struck Joash at the
house of Millo, on the way that goes down
to Silla. 12:21For Jozacar the son of Shimeath,
and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants,
struck him, and he died; and they buried him
with his fathers in the city of David: and
Amaziah his son reigned in his place.
(It is hard to say if this last sentance is historical but iat least it's not full of propaganda. The next chapter will deal with how Israel reacted to this new dynesty.