Jehu cleaned a little house, didn’t he? This chapter sort of does and doesn’t answer questions I had from the last chapter. My main question was, did Jehu reign over both Judah and Israel, discontinuing the tradition of having two kings and therefore a division of the Promised Land? Of course, we know from history this isn’t really true. But what if in the bigger picture, there is a little truth behind it? Bear with me for a few. We get a couple hints, the first being from the elders and guardians to whom Jehu wrote letters. In the first letter, he asked the elders and guardians to choose a king from Israel, but they refused, and here’s the hint that made me think that Jehu may now sort of be king over both Judah and Israel: they said, “We’ve seen that two kings couldn’t stand against this man! (V. 4) Then in chapter 12 to 14, Jehu meets and kills relatives of King Ahaziah, the former king of Judah. Finally, in the last verse (36), the text tells us that Jehu reigned over Israel for 28 years. So, there are hints that maybe Jehu had some control over both Judah and Israel, and possibly the kingdom was somewhat united during that time, but it looks like officially Jehu was considered the king of Israel at that time, rather than the king of Judah and Israel. Not trying to rewrite history, folks! Just pondering about how the atmosphere may have felt back then.
Writing prompt: united
Do you think the kingdom is united or remains separate under King Jehu. Write about his reign, the fact that this chapter mentions that God didn’t stay all that happy with him and any things that resonated with your spirit this morning.
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