2 Kings 9 11

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2 Kings 9:11 Then Jehu came forth 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 his communication. 12 And they said, It is false; tell us now. And he said, Thus and thus spake he to me, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over Israel. (KJV) This took place in Ramoth Gilead.

God’s love of Abraham and the covenant in Genesis 15 that extends to the Children of Jacob is the foundation for this story of obedience, fear, and respect for the Holy One of Israel. This story in 2 Kings 9:1-13 is God using His prophets to bring the land of Israel back to Himself. Elisha starts by getting a prophet with the courage to go and deliver one serious message to a leader in the king’s army. He is not the only prophet at this time, Micaiah plays an important role in the first defense of Ramoth Gilead, and the unnamed prophet in 1 Kings 20, plus the school of prophets.

The Young Man

No pressure here, right? Elisha the Man of God tells you to go and anoint the next king and gives you some very specific instructions. I can see that verses 2 + 3 were for his safety. Verses 11 + 12 give me the impression that this young man was personally known to the officers and not just a “crazy” man of God. If Elisha was at Mt. Carmel this young man walked more than seventy miles to Ramoth carrying that flask of oil. There was a war going on at the time, so tension had to be high.

It is hard to not notice that his message was much more detailed than what Elisha had said. I firmly believe that when he was obedient to the first part of his mission God poured through him the rest of the message that had started with Elijah in 1 Kings 19.   

The young man is called a “crazy fellow” or meshuga.  Strong’s Hebrew: 5288. נַ֫עַר (naar) — a boy, lad, youth, retainer (biblehub.com) and Strong’s Hebrew: 7696. שָׁגַע (shaga) — to be mad (biblehub.com)   Jehu referred to his speech as babbling or a complaint. Strong’s Hebrew: 7879. שִׂ֫יחַ (siach) — complaint, musing (biblehub.com)

The Message

Three people heard the message and repeated it to three different audiences. The reactions of those who heard are worth looking at. God spoke and things happened.

  • Elisha heard and spoke to the prophet, who believed and did what he was told, the way he was told to do it.
  • The prophet heard Elisha and more from God and spoke it out to Jehu son of Nimshi. (Once he showed his obedience the Spirit gave him more to say.) The prophet running was for his safety as those other officers may have been an issue, also he was not there to get any recognition. Jehu was dripping with oil that may have smelled nice. Did he believe? I think he did, but he did not know how the other officers would receive the message so he downplayed it. They called him a sheker or a liar. Strong’s Hebrew: 8267. שֶׁ֫קֶר (sheqer) — deception, disappointment, falsehood (biblehub.com)
  • Jehu heard the message and tells the soldiers. They quickly responded to the message by proclaiming him king. That conversation needs to be looked at. There was no hesitation because they “knew” the prophet and that he would speak the words of God.   

I found Jehu’s exchange with the other soldiers interesting.

  • 9:11 – One said, “Why has this meshuga come to you.” He knew him or could at least tell he was a prophet.
  • Jehu played off who he was and what he said, again (compare with 5 + 6). He may have been wary of the officers because they could have been loyal to the king and not the word of the Lord.
  • 9:12 – The group then called Jehu or at least what he said – sheker. There was a belief in the prophets, even in the north, that they did speak God’s word. Again, they knew him or at least associated him with Elisha. Remember that Jehu was dripping with oil and that may have smelled nice. 

Jehu son of Nimshi

His story should have started right after 1 Kings 19:16. It is not recorded that Elijah did all three (or four) of the things God told him to do. He did anoint Elisha. Please take this as an example of grace and mercy for Elijah, but God still had Jehu in His plan. 1 Kings 21 is the story of Naboth’s vineyard where Jehu received a prophecy that he talks about in 2 Kings 9:25 concerning Ahab. God was preparing Jehu even though Elijah did not anoint him. For a record of all Jehu did read 2 Kings 9 and 10. In this post, I will focus on his dynasty.

Jehu belongs to a small group of leaders who were offered a dynasty of rulers. The length of his dynasty was only four generations.

  • Jehu – 2 Kings 9 – 12. 2 Kings 10:31 records that he did not get rid of the sin of Jeroboam.
  • Jehoahaz – 2 Kings 13 He was challenged by Amaziah king of Judah to battle, 2 Chronicles 25:17.
  • Jehoash – 2 Kings 13:10 Elisha died during his reign.
  • Jeroboam – 2 Kings 14:23 Jonah was a prophet during his time as king.
  • Zechariah – 2 Kings 15:8 Isaiah, Hosea, and others were prophets by this time.

The references to this promise of a dynasty are 2 Kings 10:30+31, 15:12.

The other rulers who were offered a dynasty:

  • King Saul, 1 Samuel 13:13. He did not keep the Lord’s commands, if he had it would have been a lasting kingdom.
  • David, 2 Samuel 7:13-16. Verse 15 talks about God not removing His love from Solomon. Yes, this goes on to have meaning for Jesus. In my 2 Chronicles 911 post, I stated some doubts about Solomon, verse 15 does cover some of them. Isaiah 55:3 is a reference to God’s promise to David.
  • Jeroboam, 1 Kings 11:38. He was promised a dynasty to match David’s if he did right in the eyes of the Lord. He did not, he caused Israel to sin. He made idols and selected priests from anyone who wanted to be one; this practice continued in the Northern Kingdom and is one reason for its fall and deportation.

Hosea 1:4 And the Lord said to him, “Name him Jezreel; for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. (NASB)

This is the last reference to Jehu and it talks about his excessive bloodshed. 2 Kings 10:11 tells of the killing of the house of Ahab, as he was commissioned to do. I did not think that would qualify for the prophecy in Hosea. 2 Chronicles 22:8 is a related but different story. He kills the princes of Judah, which leads to Athaliah (she was related to Ahab) taking the throne of Judah. This should be the bloodshed that is referenced, he was not ordered to kill them.

Ramoth Gilead

This city and region were the first conquered by Israel while wandering in the desert. This is also the region that Jacob traveled through to go to Laban. It is on the east bank of the Jordan River Valley (Numbers 21:33, Deuteronomy 4:43). One of its “guard cities” is Lo Debar. Ramoth Gilead was also a refuge city (Joshua 21:38). This area is also known as the Bashan, word search that name in your favorite Bible app, it was known for its cattle and trees. If you watch The Chosen it is where the S2E2 scene of meeting Philip takes place.

The area has been a source of contention and attack since Judges 10:8, 1 Kings 22, and 2 Chronicles 18. The reason Jehu was anointed there is he was a leader in the defense of the region from northern invaders.

Ahab and Jezebel

This power couple from the Northern Kingdom is the perfect example of what not to be. Many times, I look up names and find interesting information, but trying to build your study off of just a name is not a great idea. These two are the case in point: Ahab means brother or friend of father, H256. Jezebel means chaste, H348; and G2403 gives a metaphorical meaning to her name in Revelations because of her treachery. So, the Hebrew meanings are not going to build much of a case for how bad they were. With that said I will bring Ahab’s father into the study.

Not much is said about Omri in the Bible and none of it is good, use the websites to explore more on this unrighteous man. Ahab was his son, but Athaliah was his granddaughter (apparently by another child), so in just those two he produced more evil than the kings before him (LOL). 1 Kings 16:30 has Ahab doing more evil than his father. Omri, however, had put his DNA and disregard for God into the royal line of David and the kings of the south. Yes, some kings of Judah chose to walk in the path of David, but many followed in Omri’s path away from the God of Israel.

These are some references that are for the Northern Kingdom.

  • 1 Kings 16:21 is Ormi’s start. Verse 29 begins Ahab.
  • 1 Kings 17 is the first we see of Elijah.
  • 1 Kings 19 is Jezebel’s threat to Elijah and his running away.
  • 1 Kings 21 is the story of Naboth’s vineyard.
  • 1 Kings 22:51 Ahab’s son becomes king.
  • 2 Kings 9:30 is when Jezebel was killed and eaten by dogs.
  • 2 Chronicles 22 – 23 is Athaliah’s brief and bloody rule over Judah.

Omri – Wikipedia

Who Was King Omri in the Bible and What Made Him He So Evil? – Topical Studies (biblestudytools.com)

Bread in the Bible – Epiousios

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Because epiousios is in Matthew 6:11 and Luke 11:3 it is the second best-known bread in the Bible. Those references are in the center of the Lord’s Prayer, along with forgiveness, and they contain the special Greek word epiousios. How special? It is only used twice in the corpus of Greek writings and literature. Okay, I did not say just the Bible, I said all of Greek literature before the time of Jesus. (God bless translators.) It has been rendered “daily”. Never have I heard this word or how special it is; take some time and check out these links. O the verse- Give us this day our DAILY bread. (Mark translation.)

Since there is nothing to compare it to, my first reaction was MANNA! What is this special concept in the Lord’s Prayer that is sandwiched between “give us this day” and “bread”? “Daily” has worked; “for the coming day” may be just as good, or is there even more? As this is a study, I will put it in context with the Sermon on the Mount and then break that compound word down. After all of that, I will share my crust with you (The crust on a loaf of bread is special to me.).

Luke – Only Matthew and Luke recorded this prayer by the guiding hand of the Holy Spirit. Luke had heard this prayer many times before he wrote it to Theophilus. There are slight variations between the two in the Greek text but that should be expected. Others have added more and bigger changes than these slight variations. (I am working on a study on the Lord’s Prayer.) Luke 11 to me is the start of his version of the Sermon on the Mount, it does go for a few chapters.

Thoughts on the Word

The Author of Creation and the Word of Life coined a word. Epiousios was not a mistake or an accident. If you look at verse 11, it could have been said “Give us today our bread” and the meaning would have been clear.

I thank the Father for the food we have to eat and His grace for willingly taking care of my family. Do I have a simple explanation for epiousios. No, but the study has moved some “tent pegs” because my God has pushed my box out of shape. I will try to put this compound word into the context of Jesus’ sermon and His teachings for His Kingdom. Now, let’s think above our possessions.

The Sermon – I need to start/mention the baptism of Jesus (3:13), which compares to the Children passing through the Red Sea. He then goes into the wilderness and is tempted (4:1-4). The first temptation is about bread or what He needs to live on. (If it is just a number reference it is from Matthew.) Jesus then picks up and adds to John the Baptist’s message; the good news that the kingdom of heaven/God is near (4:17) and He is healing every disease (4:23). Remember that the Children came out of Egypt healed. Relax take a breath and view the Sermon as a Jesus version of the Ten Commandments and the Law. Now consider how food, water, manna, and quail played into the trip to the mountain where they met God. A note to myself – they had gold, silver, and possessions but no food or water; what did they complain about?

The Sermon has several references to food, eating, and what is needed to maintain our lives. I decided the best way to study these was to list them.

  • 5:6 – those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
  • 5:13 – you are salt (needed for life) stay flavorful
  • 5:42 – help those who need to borrow from you
  • 6:11 – gives us bread every day and “more”. We could be praying every day for what we need tomorrow. It could be a statement to give us above what we need so we can share.
  • 6:19 – watch what you are storing up
  • 6:25 – life is more important than food, Father knows we need it so don’t worry
  • 6:31 – don’t worry about what to drink or eat
  • 7:9 – if you ask Father for bread or fish, He is not going to give you something harmful
  • 7:16-20 – good fruit comes from good trees

Actual and metaphorical these verses help to open the Kingdom and show the righteous relations that God wants with the Body of Christ and that we are to have with the other parts of the Body. Luke 6:38 with the “good measure” being poured for us, then pressed, shaken, and running over is exhorting us to get out of our box and give above what is sufficient. I am beginning to feel that is a good picture of epiousios.

The Parts

Epi is a prefix in Greek, and I have seen it as a word. It can mean upon or above. We are talking about Father God, the owner of the cattle on a thousand hills.

Ousios in our “modern” jargon carries the concept of substance or being. In the Wiki article above that concept was part of the trinitarian doctrine and the controversy that arose in the early church. See Luke 15:12+13.

My Musings

I may say “daily” but I am not sure I can go that small in my thinking ever again.

Metaphorically I can see epiousios as the crust on a loaf of bread. It is on top of the substance that most people like. It has formed from the heat changing the dough to make a shield for the soft inner part. The crust can have a pleasant color. It gives me something to chew on while I enjoy the softer inside. Personally, I like to eat the crust.

Many kernels of grain are needed to make a loaf of bread. They are picked, ground up, and mixed together to make bread. The Body of Christ has many individual “kernels” that are being prepared so we can be the Bride and be presented spotless and perfect.   

Artos in the Book of Matthew

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Artos is the Greek word for bread and loaves (Strong’s G 740), and I like using Matthew as a reference point. There are kernels of truth in many other verses in the New Testament about bread, and if you look into the Hebrew, you will find lechem. The town of Bethlehem is the town of bread. So, grab a donut or make a sandwich, and let’s start studying bread. ἄρτος | Free Online Greek Dictionary | billmounce.com

Matthew 6:11, which is in the center of the Lord’s Prayer and started this study, that will be another post. After having sliced through the crust of this topic, I found many questions that needed looking at. But we will start in Matthew 4.

Jesus was fasting and the “tempter” started his grinding attacks with a “what if”. The challenge was to make bread. Elegant sermons abound for this story, and I will not attempt to match them. So, I am going to ask questions. Why stones? Stones indicate that man had used them for something. I would expect rocks to be out in the wilderness. Why bread? I love the smell of fresh bread, but what about the fragrant aroma of beef, lamb, or bird? (Check Leviticus 1, all of those are parts of sacrifices.) Jesus’ answer, in verse 4 may give us a clue or open the bag for several metaphors for bread used in Matthew and beyond. Bread, leavened or not, barley, or wheat (See Ruth 2) were the mainstay of the diet, in Egypt they even used baked bread to make the beer. We should fill our larders every day with the words of God so we can taste the righteousness and get strength from the grace that Jesus opened up to us.

I think it is fair to take a Muse Moment and look at 7:9 when in the Sermon Jesus flips the pan and asks who would give his son a stone instead of bread. The word again is lithos and not petra. Jesus is our petra, but when man “handled Him” He became the cornerstone that would cause them to stumble.

I am not leaving out any ingredients in this study, just mixing them in a slightly different order. My next stop is 12:4 where Jesus is not getting along with the Pharisees because of heads of grain. Those heads of grain put this story between Passover and the Feast of Trumpets. It had to be a carefully measured walk also because it was on the Sabbath and the Pharisees were tagging along. David and the Shewbread or Bread of the Presence and breaking the Law is the main sticking point this time. That consecrated bread is what was put into the Tabernacle to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. Jesus’ point is that He is the Lord of the Sabbath and that the Sabbath is not the lord of man. This is not a license to not rest with God one day a week, just do not make more rules to follow. Love God and love man is more than enough.

My guess is that those twelve loaves were made of barley (See Judges and the story of Gideon.) The recipe for those loaves is not written in the Law and only the priest knew how to make them. In Purpose or Prothesis, I asked about what they were made of during the forty years of wandering. They may have stayed in one place long enough to grow grain, but manna was their main food source. That of course makes them gluten-free for their time of wandering:)

I am not done, but I am hungry, so the other references on bread will be served up later.  

Jacob Israel

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Isaiah 48:1 Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness. (KJV)

The “waters” are also translated as lineage. Think about it.

My post, Jacob/Israel What Was His Name, is a reference for this one. Like the above verse I have been running into this thought lately, so I wanted to revisit this name change. All of these verses are in Genesis.

  • 25:22 Rebekah has twins wrestling in her womb.
  • 27:35 +36 Jacob took Esau’s blessing as the first son. Okay, Esau had sold Jacob his birthright but that is downplayed at the moment. Jacob is called a deceiver which is what his name could be translated into.
  • 32:24 Jacob wrestles again; this time with “a man”.
  • 32:26 He demands a blessing.
  • 32:28 What he gets is a name change. One who has struggled with God and man.
  • 35:10 The name change is stated again.

Wrestling, blessing, and name-changing are all in just ten chapters. Jacob wrestling and being born and then “born-again” was what I wanted to point out. Another way to say it is Jacob wrestled in the womb to get his first name, he wrestled with God and got a new name. That limp was a sign for him to think about and remember the God he chose to serve and his life.

Jacob and Esau were not teenagers by the time Jacob went to Laban. (See the links below). The information is approximate at best, and I had to work backward to get to the start.

Tribes of Israel – A timeline | Mark’s Bible Study (ificouldteachthebible.com)

The Tribes of Israel – How Old Were These Guys | Mark’s Bible Study (ificouldteachthebible.com)

Jacob and Israel are the seed of Abraham by promise and faith. I tend to read/think of Jacob as the natural-born children and Israel as the supernatural children when the names are together in the same verse.

Moria

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With ink and leaf, melodies for the ear, art to envision the possibilities, and cinema to connect the pieces of Tolkien’s world we find his creation of Moria. The mine or house or land belonged to the dwarves and was taken over by the orcs and other terrors. This Khazad-dûm, this black pit played its role to perfection in both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. The Fellowship entered it by calling “friend” and left in tears and grief.

J. R. R. Tolkien the scholar and more important a Christian, who influenced C. S. Lewis to believe in Jesus seems to have used a Greek word to name this land under the Misty Mountains. Moria, Strong’s G3472, means foolishness. Paul uses this word five times in 1 Corinthians – 1:18, 21, 23; 2;14; 3:19.

The verses in Chapter 1 deal with Jesus and His Cross being foolish to Jews and Greeks, but to us who have believed it is salvation. 2:14 sees the man without the Spirit of God finding only foolishness in spiritual words and truth. Paul ends his use of these words by stating in 3:19 that the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. If only Adam and Eve had eaten from the Tree of Life first the knowledge of good would have been given to them and the moria of evil would have been clear.  

Paul’s time in Corinth is recorded in Acts 18. Please read that before studying the Letters to the Corinthians. It is good to note that the Church that lacked no spiritual gift had troubles and trials and needed additional instruction and encouragement to live righteously (in right relations with God and each other).

Strong’s Greek: 3472. μωρία (mória) — foolishness (biblehub.com)