Jehu 1
How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together
in unity
It is like precious oil
poured on the head
running down on the beard
down upon the collar of his robes
Psalm 133:1-2
Rewind the tape. The last blog looked at the Elijah and Elisha relationship. But just before that...yeah, turn back to that: Elijah at Mt. Horeb. God gave Elijah 3 last tasks. He completed one: anoint your replacement. And ... as we saw ... it wasn't like he didn't have enough time. From the point where Elijah skyped with God at Horeb to when the Elijah caught the rapture test flight was somewhere between 5 and 8 years. Elijah didn't disregard God's instructions ~ he delegated.
The first of the tasks left in Elisha's inbox -- anoint Hazael as king over Aram -- is intriguing to me mainly for its shock value. Aram was NOT one of the nations that acknowledged YHWH as God. Having a prophet from Israel come to anoint a king in Aram was not only politically shocking -- imagine sending one of the top rabbi's to Iran to set in the next ayatollah -- but it was religiously, theologically absurd. The "theology" of the day said that each country had their own god. That god was connected to the people and the land. To me this direction -- anoint Hazael king over Aram -- was God making a strong theological statement: I AM LORD OVER ALL THE EARTH. We, as Christians, believe this so fundamentally that it is often hard to remember it is a relatively 'modern' revelation. Not that it hasn't always been true -- God has said it from the VERY beginning. Man just couldn't see it -- really -- until about the middle of the book of Acts. You can read ... and you SHOULD go read ... the story in 2 Kings 8:7-15.
But ~ the SECOND task -- anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel -- that one is a fun story! It has been 19 to 20 years since Elijah spoke to God on top of Mt. Horeb. Yeah, really ~ that long. Ahab was king at least 5+ years more, his son Ahaziah was king 2 years, and we are told that at the time of the story of Jehu's anointing, Joram, Ahaziah's brother, had been king for 12 years. By this time Ahaziah is king of Judah (yes, Ahaziah again ... different Ahaziah than Ahab's son who had been king of Israel before Joram...and yes the names make me crazy too) This king -- Ahaziah king of Judah -- is wicked. We are told he was related to Ahab's family by marriage ... which may also explain the name.
[King Ahaziah, king of Judah's dad, Jehoram, Jehoshaphat's son, had been Ahab's son-in-law -- and you know how family names are. "OH Jehoram, sweetie" said Ahaziah's mom at delivery, "we should name him after your wife's brother, Ahaziah. It would have made your father-in-law soooooo happy."]
Anyway ~ Ahaziah was buds with Joram: both wicked, both like Ahab. They join forces and go to war against Hazael, King of Aram. Well, Joram gets wounded and he and King Ahaziah go have some R&R at Jezreel while the rest of the army stays at Ramoth Gilead, and continues to defend the city against Hazael. Now, the geography is kind of important to the story. If you go check a map you will see that Jezreel is about 40 miles, as the crow flies, from Ramoth Gilead.
So, Elisha decides that it is time for task #3. He sends a prophet over to Ramoth Gilead and tells him to anoint Jehu king over Israel. Wow...there is a sitting king, in pretty good health recouping over in Jezreel, and this prophet is to anoint Jehu as king. So, Elisha's exact instructions make a LOT of sense:
"When you get there look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go to him, get him away from his companions and take him into an inner room. Then take the flask and pour oil on his head and declare, 'This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.' Then open the door and run; don't delay."
Rough translation: go start a coup. . .then run! Good instructions. And the prophet does just that.
Now, why, you may be asking, did I begin this blog with the quote from Psalm 133? I did have a reason. I wanted to create in your mind a mental picture of "anoint". In those churches that still anoint with oil, when someone is anointed with oil...and these days this is quite rare...what happens is that someone with a vial of plain oil, maybe olive oil but maybe just vegetable oil, that is usually small ~ about 2 oz at the MOST ~ takes a drop of oil onto their finger and lightly touches the person they are anointing on the forehead. That is NOT what 'anoint' looked like in OT times. This prophet took the flask of oil and poured it on Jehu's head. "... precious oil, poured on the head, running down the beard, ... down upon the collar of his robes." The second thing about this oil you should understand (you can read about this in Exodus 30:22, 25) was that it smelled like perfume...it was made from very strong scented spices.
So get the picture. Jehu, who is a commander in the army, is sitting out under the trees one afternoon having a beer with his guys. A prophet runs up and says he has a message for him. He takes him aside into the house and pours a flask of perfumed oil onto Jehu's head, and then gives him a pretty surprising word from God. {I will get into the word and what Jehu did next time.} Then the prophet opens the door and runs. Jehu's men say, "Is everything all right? Why did this mad man come to you?" Jehu says "You know the man and his babble." In other words, Jehu tells them, 'oh, it was nothing; you know prophets. They are always babbling on about something. Pour me another beer. Now what were we talking about?' Get the picture? He comes out of the house smelling like he has taken a bath in perfume with his hair and beard and clothes dripping with oil. As he sits down, asking for another beer, he is wiping oil out of his eyes. NO WONDER his men answer, "You are lying! Tell us...".
What a great first scene to a great action flick this would be!
when brothers live together
in unity
It is like precious oil
poured on the head
running down on the beard
down upon the collar of his robes
Psalm 133:1-2
Rewind the tape. The last blog looked at the Elijah and Elisha relationship. But just before that...yeah, turn back to that: Elijah at Mt. Horeb. God gave Elijah 3 last tasks. He completed one: anoint your replacement. And ... as we saw ... it wasn't like he didn't have enough time. From the point where Elijah skyped with God at Horeb to when the Elijah caught the rapture test flight was somewhere between 5 and 8 years. Elijah didn't disregard God's instructions ~ he delegated.
The first of the tasks left in Elisha's inbox -- anoint Hazael as king over Aram -- is intriguing to me mainly for its shock value. Aram was NOT one of the nations that acknowledged YHWH as God. Having a prophet from Israel come to anoint a king in Aram was not only politically shocking -- imagine sending one of the top rabbi's to Iran to set in the next ayatollah -- but it was religiously, theologically absurd. The "theology" of the day said that each country had their own god. That god was connected to the people and the land. To me this direction -- anoint Hazael king over Aram -- was God making a strong theological statement: I AM LORD OVER ALL THE EARTH. We, as Christians, believe this so fundamentally that it is often hard to remember it is a relatively 'modern' revelation. Not that it hasn't always been true -- God has said it from the VERY beginning. Man just couldn't see it -- really -- until about the middle of the book of Acts. You can read ... and you SHOULD go read ... the story in 2 Kings 8:7-15.
But ~ the SECOND task -- anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel -- that one is a fun story! It has been 19 to 20 years since Elijah spoke to God on top of Mt. Horeb. Yeah, really ~ that long. Ahab was king at least 5+ years more, his son Ahaziah was king 2 years, and we are told that at the time of the story of Jehu's anointing, Joram, Ahaziah's brother, had been king for 12 years. By this time Ahaziah is king of Judah (yes, Ahaziah again ... different Ahaziah than Ahab's son who had been king of Israel before Joram...and yes the names make me crazy too) This king -- Ahaziah king of Judah -- is wicked. We are told he was related to Ahab's family by marriage ... which may also explain the name.
[King Ahaziah, king of Judah's dad, Jehoram, Jehoshaphat's son, had been Ahab's son-in-law -- and you know how family names are. "OH Jehoram, sweetie" said Ahaziah's mom at delivery, "we should name him after your wife's brother, Ahaziah. It would have made your father-in-law soooooo happy."]
Anyway ~ Ahaziah was buds with Joram: both wicked, both like Ahab. They join forces and go to war against Hazael, King of Aram. Well, Joram gets wounded and he and King Ahaziah go have some R&R at Jezreel while the rest of the army stays at Ramoth Gilead, and continues to defend the city against Hazael. Now, the geography is kind of important to the story. If you go check a map you will see that Jezreel is about 40 miles, as the crow flies, from Ramoth Gilead.
So, Elisha decides that it is time for task #3. He sends a prophet over to Ramoth Gilead and tells him to anoint Jehu king over Israel. Wow...there is a sitting king, in pretty good health recouping over in Jezreel, and this prophet is to anoint Jehu as king. So, Elisha's exact instructions make a LOT of sense:
"When you get there look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go to him, get him away from his companions and take him into an inner room. Then take the flask and pour oil on his head and declare, 'This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.' Then open the door and run; don't delay."
Rough translation: go start a coup. . .then run! Good instructions. And the prophet does just that.
Now, why, you may be asking, did I begin this blog with the quote from Psalm 133? I did have a reason. I wanted to create in your mind a mental picture of "anoint". In those churches that still anoint with oil, when someone is anointed with oil...and these days this is quite rare...what happens is that someone with a vial of plain oil, maybe olive oil but maybe just vegetable oil, that is usually small ~ about 2 oz at the MOST ~ takes a drop of oil onto their finger and lightly touches the person they are anointing on the forehead. That is NOT what 'anoint' looked like in OT times. This prophet took the flask of oil and poured it on Jehu's head. "... precious oil, poured on the head, running down the beard, ... down upon the collar of his robes." The second thing about this oil you should understand (you can read about this in Exodus 30:22, 25) was that it smelled like perfume...it was made from very strong scented spices.
So get the picture. Jehu, who is a commander in the army, is sitting out under the trees one afternoon having a beer with his guys. A prophet runs up and says he has a message for him. He takes him aside into the house and pours a flask of perfumed oil onto Jehu's head, and then gives him a pretty surprising word from God. {I will get into the word and what Jehu did next time.} Then the prophet opens the door and runs. Jehu's men say, "Is everything all right? Why did this mad man come to you?" Jehu says "You know the man and his babble." In other words, Jehu tells them, 'oh, it was nothing; you know prophets. They are always babbling on about something. Pour me another beer. Now what were we talking about?' Get the picture? He comes out of the house smelling like he has taken a bath in perfume with his hair and beard and clothes dripping with oil. As he sits down, asking for another beer, he is wiping oil out of his eyes. NO WONDER his men answer, "You are lying! Tell us...".
What a great first scene to a great action flick this would be!
This whole God and people thing is really strange. He tells a prophet something to do but with no timetable. I mean, even with a tickler file that popped up when it was time to do a task, come on, years later who's going to remember what the tickler file is all about? Can't wear a string on the finger all those years. And then you are to anoint a king but not tell anyone? What good does that do? Shouldn't the people know? See, if the people were told about Hazael maybe they wouldn't have gone to war with him. They were probably still thinking he was a heathen. Know what I mean?
ReplyDelete