The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 158

HOMILIES BY V.A.RIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-37.-The deaths of Jehoram and Jezebel; or, the Divine law of retribution. King Jehoram was lying sick at Jezreel of the wounds he had received in battle from the Syrians. Ahaziah King of Judah had come down to visit him, and, as they conversed together, the watchman upon the city wall brought tidings of an arme,i company approaching. J·ehu, at the head of them, was by-and-by recognized by his furious driving. He had already been proclaimed king in Ra.moth-Gilead, but J ehoram knew nothing of this. He suspected some ill news, however, and he and Ahaziah drove out with their two chariots to meet Jehu. And where was it that they met1 Jehu had good reason to know the place. So had Jehoram. About twenty years before, another memorable meeting had taken place there. Jehoram's father, Ahab, had coveted Naboth's vineyard. Jehoram's mother, Jezebel, had brought about Naboth's death by a process of false swearing against him. Ne.both was dead, and Ahab, accompanied by his two captains, Jehu and Bidkar, rode out to take possession of that vineyard whose owner the queen had murdered. But his sin had found him out. Elijah, the messenger of God, met him there. And there, in that vineyard which he had procured through covetousness, envy, treachery, and bloodshed, .Ahab was compelled to listen to his doom. Terrible words they were indeed for a king to hear. "Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine." And Jezebel, the instigator of the crime, was not forgotten. "The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel." And now, in that very place, stained with the blood ofNabotb, Jehu meets Jehoram, the son of Ahab the murderer and the king. The blood of Na.both cries to Heaven for vengeance. Jehoram was little better than his father. He too "cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin." He forsook the true God and served other gods. No doubt his conscience emote him and his spirit failed him, as he asked of J ehu, "Is it peace?" But there was not much time left him to prepare to die. Jehu's words were few, and his actions quick as thought. With his full strength he drew his bow and sent his arrow straight to Jehoram's heart. It was then that the words of Elijah, spoken twenty years before in that ve:ry place, flashed b[l,l)k upon his mind, and he caused the lifeless body of Jehoram to be cast into the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. But Jehu's work of vengeance is not yet done. Jezebel's long career of wickedness had hardened her heart and blinded her to her danger. .A.s Jehu rode into the city, she sat at her window in her best attire, as if to defy him,aud greeted him with the sneering ciuestion,  200 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. [on. 1:it. 1-87,