Jehu 3
Then Jehu went to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard about it, she painted her eyes, arranged her hair and looked out of a window.
2 Kings 9:30
Jezebel...who would you cast to play her part, in this scene ~ her last? She is older now...perhaps middle aged or older, depending on how old she was when she married Ahab. OK, math again: Ahab reigned 22 years; Ahazaiah, his son, reigned 2 years; and Joram, Ahab's other son (the one Jehu had just speared out in Naboth's vineyard) had reigned 12 years. Say she was 14 or 15 when they got married --then that was a marriageable age -- and it seems that Ahab married her soon after he became king, so you add 36 years and come to around 40. So ~ to give latitude +/or/- ~ Jezebel is 35 to 45 years old. It would not have been a 'young' 40. No plastic surgery or personal trainers in that day. But she was a queen who clearly prized her looks...the FIRST thing she does when she gets the news about Jehu is put on make-up and do her hair.
My pick to play her part would be Susan Sarandon. Here is a picture I found of her when she played the part of the evil queen in Enchanted. It was too perfect...I couldn't resist including it.
Jehu is very familiar with her and clearly sees her as the root of the evil growing in Israel at that time. When Joram comes to meet Jehu at Naboth's vineyard and stupidly and/or arrogantly asks, "Do you come in peace.", Jehu's answer is quite revealing :
"How can there be peace," Jehu replied, "as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?"
2 Kings 9:22
So when Jehu rides into town, why does Jezebel put on her make-up and do her hair? Clearly she is being political. Does she think she can entice Jehu? Is it merely a show of power? Her reply to him is interesting to me. As Jehu rides under her window she says :
"Have you come in peace, Zimri, you murderer of your master?"
2 Kings 9:31
Who is Zimri and why call Jehu by that name? Well if you flip back in your Bible to 1 Kings 15 and 16, you can read about the very turbulent first years of the kingdom of Israel. There was Jeroboam, then Nadab his son became king, then Nadab was assassinated by Baasha, and then Baasha's son Elah became king. Elah was assassinated by Zimri.
Zimri, one of his officials, who had command of half his chariots, plotted against him. Elah was in Tirzah at the time, getting drunk in the home of Arza, the man in charge of the palace at Tirzah. Zimri came in, struck him down and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah. Then he succeeded him as king.
As soon as he began to reign and was seated on the throne, he killed off Baasha's whole family. So Zimri destroyed the whole family of Baasha, in accordance with the word of the LORD spoken against Baasha through the prophet Jehu- because of all the sins Baasha and his son Elah had committed and had caused Israel to commit, so that they provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger by their worthless idols. . . .
Zimri reigned in Tirzah seven days. The army was encamped near Gibbethon, a Philistine town. When the Israelites in the camp heard that Zimri had plotted against the king and murdered him, they proclaimed Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that very day there in the camp. Then Omri and all the Israelites with him ... laid siege to Tirzah. When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the royal palace and set the palace on fire around him. So he died
1 Kings 16:9-19
Jezebel had done her homework and knew the history of Israel and the bloody history of the previous kings. Her statement is a manipulative threat : don't expect to get lots of time on this throne. I get why she made the connection. The parallels in the stories are quite amazing: 1) Zimri had commanded the chariots...Jehu rides up in the chariot and so perhaps he too was commander of the chariots; 2) Zimri had been fulfilling a word from God to wipe out the family of Elah's father Baasha ...Jehu is acting on the command of God and is fulfilling the word of judgement against Joram's father, Ahab. and 3) for me the wildest parallel of all : the prophet who delivered the word against Zimri's father was .... JEHU!!
But...her threat make NO impact on Jehu. Jehu doesn't even acknowledge her. He looks to the men standing around her.
He looked up at the window and called out, "Who is on my side? Who?" Two or three eunuchs looked down at him. "Throw her down!" Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot.
Jehu went in and ate and drank.
Wow! Cold, right!? Wouldn't this make the greatest scene in an action flick??? I am still standing with my decision to have Bruce Willis play Jehu., by the way. Can't you just see it? The end of this scene:
Jehu takes one final drink of wine, and wipes his face and hands. He looks grimly over at his commanders, one of them raises an eyebrow and looks meaningfully at the window. The camera pans out in that direction and then back to Jehu. The scene fades and there is a flashback scene: it is Naboth's vineyard. As the camera come into focus you see a king in a chariot...then the camera pans out and refocuses on a wild looking man in rough clothes with a long cloak whipping in the wind behind him. It is Elijah confronting Ahab on the day Naboth had been killed. Elijah delivers his caustic word of judgement against Ahab and Jezebel. The flashback fades and Jehu stands, and, walking from the table, says,
"Take care of that cursed woman," he said, "and bury her, for she was a king's daughter." But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing except her skull, her feet and her hands. They went back and told Jehu, who said, "This is the word of the LORD that he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs will devour Jezebel's flesh. Jezebel's body will be like refuse on the ground in the plot at Jezreel, so that no one will be able to say, 'This is Jezebel.'"
2 Kings 9:32-37
Jehu's story is not finished ~ in fact, he is just ramping up.
2 Kings 9:30
Jezebel...who would you cast to play her part, in this scene ~ her last? She is older now...perhaps middle aged or older, depending on how old she was when she married Ahab. OK, math again: Ahab reigned 22 years; Ahazaiah, his son, reigned 2 years; and Joram, Ahab's other son (the one Jehu had just speared out in Naboth's vineyard) had reigned 12 years. Say she was 14 or 15 when they got married --then that was a marriageable age -- and it seems that Ahab married her soon after he became king, so you add 36 years and come to around 40. So ~ to give latitude +/or/- ~ Jezebel is 35 to 45 years old. It would not have been a 'young' 40. No plastic surgery or personal trainers in that day. But she was a queen who clearly prized her looks...the FIRST thing she does when she gets the news about Jehu is put on make-up and do her hair.
My pick to play her part would be Susan Sarandon. Here is a picture I found of her when she played the part of the evil queen in Enchanted. It was too perfect...I couldn't resist including it.
Jehu is very familiar with her and clearly sees her as the root of the evil growing in Israel at that time. When Joram comes to meet Jehu at Naboth's vineyard and stupidly and/or arrogantly asks, "Do you come in peace.", Jehu's answer is quite revealing :
"How can there be peace," Jehu replied, "as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?"
2 Kings 9:22
So when Jehu rides into town, why does Jezebel put on her make-up and do her hair? Clearly she is being political. Does she think she can entice Jehu? Is it merely a show of power? Her reply to him is interesting to me. As Jehu rides under her window she says :
"Have you come in peace, Zimri, you murderer of your master?"
2 Kings 9:31
Who is Zimri and why call Jehu by that name? Well if you flip back in your Bible to 1 Kings 15 and 16, you can read about the very turbulent first years of the kingdom of Israel. There was Jeroboam, then Nadab his son became king, then Nadab was assassinated by Baasha, and then Baasha's son Elah became king. Elah was assassinated by Zimri.
Zimri, one of his officials, who had command of half his chariots, plotted against him. Elah was in Tirzah at the time, getting drunk in the home of Arza, the man in charge of the palace at Tirzah. Zimri came in, struck him down and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah. Then he succeeded him as king.
As soon as he began to reign and was seated on the throne, he killed off Baasha's whole family. So Zimri destroyed the whole family of Baasha, in accordance with the word of the LORD spoken against Baasha through the prophet Jehu- because of all the sins Baasha and his son Elah had committed and had caused Israel to commit, so that they provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger by their worthless idols. . . .
Zimri reigned in Tirzah seven days. The army was encamped near Gibbethon, a Philistine town. When the Israelites in the camp heard that Zimri had plotted against the king and murdered him, they proclaimed Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that very day there in the camp. Then Omri and all the Israelites with him ... laid siege to Tirzah. When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the royal palace and set the palace on fire around him. So he died
1 Kings 16:9-19
Jezebel had done her homework and knew the history of Israel and the bloody history of the previous kings. Her statement is a manipulative threat : don't expect to get lots of time on this throne. I get why she made the connection. The parallels in the stories are quite amazing: 1) Zimri had commanded the chariots...Jehu rides up in the chariot and so perhaps he too was commander of the chariots; 2) Zimri had been fulfilling a word from God to wipe out the family of Elah's father Baasha ...Jehu is acting on the command of God and is fulfilling the word of judgement against Joram's father, Ahab. and 3) for me the wildest parallel of all : the prophet who delivered the word against Zimri's father was .... JEHU!!
But...her threat make NO impact on Jehu. Jehu doesn't even acknowledge her. He looks to the men standing around her.
He looked up at the window and called out, "Who is on my side? Who?" Two or three eunuchs looked down at him. "Throw her down!" Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot.
Jehu went in and ate and drank.
Wow! Cold, right!? Wouldn't this make the greatest scene in an action flick??? I am still standing with my decision to have Bruce Willis play Jehu., by the way. Can't you just see it? The end of this scene:
Jehu takes one final drink of wine, and wipes his face and hands. He looks grimly over at his commanders, one of them raises an eyebrow and looks meaningfully at the window. The camera pans out in that direction and then back to Jehu. The scene fades and there is a flashback scene: it is Naboth's vineyard. As the camera come into focus you see a king in a chariot...then the camera pans out and refocuses on a wild looking man in rough clothes with a long cloak whipping in the wind behind him. It is Elijah confronting Ahab on the day Naboth had been killed. Elijah delivers his caustic word of judgement against Ahab and Jezebel. The flashback fades and Jehu stands, and, walking from the table, says,
"Take care of that cursed woman," he said, "and bury her, for she was a king's daughter." But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing except her skull, her feet and her hands. They went back and told Jehu, who said, "This is the word of the LORD that he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs will devour Jezebel's flesh. Jezebel's body will be like refuse on the ground in the plot at Jezreel, so that no one will be able to say, 'This is Jezebel.'"
2 Kings 9:32-37
Jehu's story is not finished ~ in fact, he is just ramping up.
Comments
Post a Comment