2 KINGS 9

22 And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu [Yehoram saw Yehu], that he said, Is it [shalom, Yehu?] And he answered, What [shalom], so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts [zenunei immecha Izevel (harlotries of your mother Jezebel) and her kheshafim ] are so many?

Before peace can be established in the world, "the enmity" [Eph. 2:15-16; cp Gen. 3:15] which God has put between good and evil, in word and deed, must be abolished.

Peace is to be deprecated as a calamity by the faithful, so long as the Roman Jezebel and her paramours are found among the living. "What peace, so long as her whoredoms and witchcrafts are so many" (2 Kings 9:22)? Will they destroy the divisions among powers and people, which God's truth is ever calculated to make where it is received in whole or part?

Arbitration indeed? And who are to be the arbitrators? The popes, cardinals, priests, emperors, and kings of nations? Can justice, integrity, and good faith proceed from such reprobates? Do the Quakers, and financial, or acquisitive reformers imagine, that a righteous arbitration could emanate from them upon any question in which the interest of nations as opposed to their's were concerned?

Really, the conceit of pious infidelity is egregiously presumptuous. If this peace-mania be a specimen of "the light within," [Luke 11:35 (John 11:10)] alas! how great is the darkness [Matt. 6:23] of that place which professes to be enlightened by it.

Elpis Israel 1.4.

34 And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman [arurah ], and bury her: for she is a king's daughter [Bat Melech].

35 And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull [gulgolet], and the feet [raglayim], and the palms [ kappot] of her hands [yadayim].

36 Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the Word [Devar] of Yahweh which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite [eved Eliyahu HaTishbi], saying, In the portion of Jezreel [chelek Yizre'el] shall dogs [kelavim] eat the flesh of Jezebel [ basar Izevel]:

37 And the carcase of Jezebel [nevelah of Izevel] shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel [sadeh in the chelek Yizre'el]; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel [Izevel].

"The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel" (1 Kings 21: 23).

This was worse than the sentence on Ahab, as the case demanded. Though Ahab's blood was to be licked, he himself was to be buried, but Jezebel was to be eaten by the dogs-a very unlikely thing to happen to a queen in actual authority to the last moment of her life-a thing to be divinely caused, and yet which was brought about in a perfectly natural way.

Jezebel survived Ahab fifteen years as queen-mother during the reigns of her sons Ahaziah and Joram. At length the moment arrived for the fulfilment of the prophecy. Jehu, one of her military captains, rebelled against her son and was proclaimed king in his stead. After his proclamation, he proceeded to destroy the entire family and relations of Ahab. Having, in the execution of this work, killed Joram, the king, and the king's cousin, Ahaziah, king of Judah, he came to Jezreel, where Jezebel was.

Jezebel hearing of his arrival, dressed herself specially well, and as Jehu entered the gate of the palace where she was, she stood at an open window and greeted him with taunts. Jehu, looking up to the window, demanded with loud voice who of the inmates was on his side. On this, several eunuchs presented themselves at the windows. Throw her down" was his order concerning Jezebel.

The order was obeyed, and down she was thrown, falling on the ground among the feet of Jehu's horses, by which she was trampled to death: Jehu then went into the palace, leaving Jezebel dead on the ground.

Having partaken of a repast with his captains, he bethinks himself of the rank of the dead woman, and, as "a king's daughter," orders her to be buried. But those who went to carry out the order, could not find the king's daughter to bury.

"They found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands"

Jezebel had been eaten by the dogs outside, while Jehu and his companions were eating and making merry inside. Thus had been fulfilled "the word of the Lord, which He spake by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel."

It had come about in a perfectly natural way, yet it was a divinely-caused occurrence. Though men were used to bring it about, men had not helped to bring it about as a matter of recognised programme. They had not performed their part wittingly. Jehu, it is true, understood that he was executing a divine purpose in the extirpation of the house of Ahab; but even he had forgotten all about this prophecy about the dogs eating Jezebel, and was struck when those who went to bury her by his command came back and told him she had been eaten by the dogs.

He then remembered that was what Elijah had foretold. How easily, as in the case of Ahab's blood it might have turned out otherwise. How unlikely to the last moment that dogs should eat the queen. Jehu's readiness to respect her rank in the matter of interment, shows that even the instrument employed to execute the vengeance had to be momentarily blinded to give the dogs their chance.

Ways of Providence Ch 20.