2 Kings 9:14-29 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is 2 Kings 9:14-29. As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first. See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below. Let’s go!
2 Kings 9:14-29 (NIV)
14 So Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram and all Israel had been defending Ramoth Gilead against Hazael king of Aram,
15 but King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him in the battle with Hazael king of Aram.) Jehu said, “If this is the way you feel, don’t let anyone slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel.”
16 Then he got into his chariot and rode to Jezreel, because Joram was resting there and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see him.
17 When the lookout standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu’s troops approaching, he called out, “I see some troops coming.” “Get a horseman,” Joram ordered. “Send him to meet them and ask, ‘Do you come in peace?'”
18 The horseman rode off to meet Jehu and said, “This is what the king says: ‘Do you come in peace?'” “What do you have to do with peace?” Jehu replied. “Fall in behind me.” The lookout reported, “The messenger has reached them, but he isn’t coming back.”
19 So the king sent out a second horseman. When he came to them he said, “This is what the king says: ‘Do you come in peace?'” Jehu replied, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me.”
20 The lookout reported, “He has reached them, but he isn’t coming back either. The driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi–he drives like a madman.”
21 “Hitch up my chariot,” Joram ordered. And when it was hitched up, Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah rode out, each in his own chariot, to meet Jehu. They met him at the plot of ground that had belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite.
22 When Joram saw Jehu he asked, “Have you come in peace, Jehu?” “How can there be peace,” Jehu replied, “as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?”
23 Joram turned about and fled, calling out to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!”
24 Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart and he slumped down in his chariot.
25 Jehu said to Bidkar, his chariot officer, “Pick him up and throw him on the field that belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember how you and I were riding together in chariots behind Ahab his father when the LORD made this prophecy about him:
26 ‘Yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, declares the LORD, and I will surely make you pay for it on this plot of ground, declares the LORD.’ Now then, pick him up and throw him on that plot, in accordance with the word of the LORD.”
27 When Ahaziah king of Judah saw what had happened, he fled up the road to Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him, shouting, “Kill him too!” They wounded him in his chariot on the way up to Gur near Ibleam, but he escaped to Megiddo and died there.
28 His servants took him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his fathers in his tomb in the City of David.
29 (In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king of Judah.)
On verses 14-29: These verses describe how Jehu assassinates Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah. Jehu travels from Ramoth Gilead to Jezreel where Joram king of Israel is nursing his wounds from battle and where Ahaziah king of Judah has gone to visit Joram (v14-16). When Joram’s guards spot Jehu approaching in his chariot, twice Joram sends a horseman to ask Jehu, “Do you come in peace?” and each time Jehu replies, “What do you have to do with peace?” Instead of reporting back to Joram, both of these horsemen decide to follow Jehu (v17-20) and Jehu continues driving “like a madman” in his chariot toward King Joram (v21).
When Jehu meets King Joram of Israel with King Ahaziah of Judah by his side, King Joram asks Jehu, “Have you come in peace?” Jehu replies, “How can there be peace as long as the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother [Jezebel] abound?” (v22) At this point both Joram and Ahaziah realize that Jehu is no longer on their side, but it’s too late as Jehu wounds both of them fatally (v23-24, 27-28). Jehu also tells his chariot officer Bidkar to throw Joram’s body onto the field of Naboth the Jezreelite (v25-26). This is to fulfill a prophecy that Elijah had spoken years before in 1 Kings 21:19.
What can we learn from this? Notice that four times in this passage the same question appears: “Do you come in peace?” (v17, 18, 19, 22) Each time Joram or one of Joram’s men asks Jehu this question, Jehu retorts, “What do you have to do with peace?” or “How can there be peace as long as the idolatry and witchcraft started by Joram’s mother Jezebel abound?” Jehu understood that unless idols and witchcraft were eliminated from the land, Israel would never truly be at peace. From this there are at least two lessons we can learn:
1. You can’t have true peace in the territory God has given to you (whether it’s your private thoughts, your relationships, or the city/community that you live in) if idols and witchcraft remain in that territory. If you want real lasting peace in your life, you need to get rid of idolatry and witchcraft first.
2. Here we see two types of people. First, there are those who try to maintain a superficial level of peace in their relationships. They may know something is deeply wrong, but they would rather keep the status quo than to rock the boat. Second, there are those who aren’t afraid to disturb the peace. Because they want to make things better, they take real, thoughtful steps to disturb the current status quo. They do it not because they love chaos or because they just want to be rebellious, but they do it so that a greater, deeper peace can be established.
Jehu, at least at this point in his life, fell into that second category. He was willing to disturb the superficial peace so that a greater peace could result. Jesus even more falls in this second category, although Jesus’ much gentler way of disturbing the peace was much different from Jehu’s. One could even say that God the Father fits into that second category as well when He sent His Son Jesus to rock our world and disturb whatever superficial peace there had been before. That’s why Jesus says in Matthew 10:34-36:
34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law– 36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
These are strong words from Jesus. In other words, when you follow Jesus, at first it might not bring peace right away in every way. In fact, your commitment to Jesus might at first cause a disturbance, both in you and also among those close to you who don’t understand why you have decided to follow Jesus. But in the end following Jesus always leads to the greatest amount of peace. Before you can experience the greatest amount of lasting peace that Jesus brings, sometimes that superficial peace you once knew may first need to be disturbed a bit. Sometimes you need to rock the boat before true peace can come.
Is there a relationship or an area in your life that you know is not going well, but you’ve been afraid to do anything different for fear of rocking the boat? How do you know when it’s time to rock the boat? As in Jehu’s case, you’ll know because God’s Word confirms it, godly people in your life affirm it, and there’s a peace and courage in your heart from the Holy Spirit to pursue it. May God give you wisdom to know when it’s time to protect the status quo and when it’s time to rock the boat.
Father, thank You that because You wanted to give us a much deeper peace than the world could give, You rocked our world and “disturbed the peace” when You brought Your Son Jesus into our world. Thank You for being willing to take the risk so that we could know true peace with You. Please give me wisdom to know when it’s time to maintain the status quo and when it’s time to rock the boat so that something greater can take place. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
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