Fall of the House of Ahab
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with a great plague will the Lord smite thy people, and thy children,
and thy wives, and all thy goods: and thou shalt have great sickness.”
In fulfillment of this prophecy “the Lord stirred up against Jehoram
the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, that were near the
Ethiopians: and they came up into Judah, and brake into it, and carried
away all the substance that was found in the king’s house, and his
sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save
Jehoahaz [Ahaziah, Azariah], the youngest of his sons.
“And after all this the Lord smote him in his bowels with an incur-
able disease. And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end
of two years, ... he died of sore diseases.” “And Ahaziah [Jehoahaz]
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his son reigned in his stead.”
Verses 12-19
;
2 Kings 8:24
.
Jehoram the son of Ahab was still reigning in the kingdom of Israel
when his nephew, Ahaziah, came to the throne of Judah. Ahaziah ruled
only one year, and during this time, influenced by his mother, Athaliah,
“his counselor to do wickedly,” “he walked in the way of the house of
Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the Lord.”
2 Chronicles 22:3, 4
;
2
Kings 8:27
. Jezebel, his grandmother, was still living, and he allied
himself boldly with Jehoram of Israel, his uncle.
Ahaziah of Judah soon met a tragic end. The surviving members
of the house of Ahab were indeed “his counselors after the death of
his father to his destruction.”
2 Chronicles 22:3, 4
. While Ahaziah was
visiting his uncle at Jezreel, the prophet Elisha was divinely directed
to send one of the sons of the prophets to Ramoth-gilead to anoint
Jehu king of Israel. The combined forces of Judah and Israel were
at that time engaged in a military campaign against the Syrians of
Ramoth-gilead. Jehoram had been wounded in battle, and had returned
to Jezreel, leaving Jehu in charge of the royal armies.
In anointing Jehu, the messenger of Elisha declared, “I have
anointed thee king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel.”
And then he solemnly charged Jehu with a special commission from
heaven. “Thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master,” the Lord
declared through His messenger, “that I may avenge the blood of My
servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord,
at the hand of Jezebel. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish.”
2
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Kings 9:6-8
.
After he had been proclaimed king by the army, Jehu hastened
to Jezreel, where he began his work of execution on those who had