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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Jehu Biography JEHU. Tenth King of Israel (c.842-815 B.C.), Son of Jehoshaphat and grandson of Nimshi. From the position of one of the body guards of Ahab he rose to that of general under Joram. He seized the opportunity of Joram's absence in Jezreel, whither he had gone to seek healing from his wounds received in the battle with the Aramaeans of Damascus, to seat himself on the throne. Having control of the army intrusted to him for the protection of the border city Ramoth-Gilead against the Aramæans, Jehu proceeded against his royal master, slew Joram and also Ahaziah, King of Judah, who was on a visit to the King of Israel. He also had Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, put to death and, not content with this brought about a wholesale massacre of Ahab's (or Joram's) family and also of 42 kinsmen of Ahaziah. This story of Jehu's conspiracy is told (2 Kings ix-x) in connection with the narrative of the prophet Elijah. Jehu's deeds are portrayed as retribution for the judicial murder of Naboth (1 Kings xxi), and he is represented as the instrument of Yahwe to bring about the destruction of Ahab. Such an interpretation, of course, reflects the later religious point of view; but it would seem that Jehu indeed posed as the devotee of Yahwe, for he follows up his destruction of the house of Ahab by an extermination of the prophets and priests of Baal. By a cunning stratagem he collects them together in the temple court and puts them to death (2 Kings x. 18-28). Whatever his motives may have been, he does not appear in the light of a religious reformer to the later Old Testament writers, who cannot disguise the fact that Jehu was not a Yahwe worshiper according to their ideals. In fact, he maintained the "high places" with the Canaanitish rites and associations, and the triumph of Yahwe simply meant for Jehu an absorption of Baal's role by the Hebrew deity. The political activity of Jehu was mainly directed towards the subjugation of Judah, which under Ahab had practically become a vassal of Israel. (See JEHOSHAPHAT.) At the close of his reign, however, Judah was in a somewhat more favorable position than at the beginning. In 842 B.C., shortly after mounting the throne, Jehu purchased the favor of Shalmaneser III of Assyria (800-825 B.C.) by rich gifts. The Assyrian king laid siege to Damascus, and on his return from his campaigns erected a monument in Nineveh (the so-called black obelisk of Shalmaneser III, now in the British Museum), on which, among other events, he depicted this tribute of Jehu. The latter, however, gained little by currying favor with Assyria. Damascus again began to stir itself and assumed the offensive against Israel, and before the end of Jehu's reign his kingdom was weakened on various sides, though he was able to hand over the succession to his son Jehoahaz.(q.v.). The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 626. |