Bible Study Notes on 2 Kings 9:1-13: The Anointing of King Jehu of Israel

When I think about all the possible commands God might give me, I have to be honest that being told to "run" is not one I have ever considered. It sounds so cowardly and so undignified, not at all something you would expect a good God to tell you to do. Yet when we read the story outlined in 2 Kings 9:1-13, we find that is exactly what God commands one of his prophets to do: run. Even more astonishing, this man is told to run after completing a very special mission: anoint the next king of Israel.

Elisha was the main prophet during the time of this story. We know from 2 Kings 6:1 and other passages that he was associated with a company of prophets, but he was certainly the most famous and the most respected. In other passages he was simply called "the man of God" (see 2 Kings 6:9, 15). Yet for all his fame, surprisingly, it is not Elisha that God calls to anoint Jehu as king, but rather an unknown young prophet. (See 2 Kings 9:1, 4)

We know from these passages that he was young, which may be key to why he was chosen: God was going to ask this man to run, to flee once his job was done. Perhaps Elisha was too old for this task, and so it was passed to a younger man, one who would be physically capable of fleeing upon command. Or perhaps God chose this unknown to anoint Jehu because it was an anointing that needed to be done in secret and Elisha was too well known. While this man was known to be a prophet (Jehu recognized him, see 2 Kings 9:11) he was probably seen as a minor player in the political game, not someone who would dare to claim the right to declare a man king. In any case, this man's orders were clear: get Jehu alone, anoint him as king, speak the word of the Lord over him, then run for your life.

As we read this passage, we can get some understanding of why this young prophet was told to flee: he was doing something incredibly dangerous. By anointing Jehu as a king, he was telling this soldier he had God's blessing to rebel and assassinate his master, King Joram of Israel. If the young prophet had lingered or basked in the fame of how God had called him (bypassing the famous Elisha) to anoint Jehu, he might easily had attracted the attention of the wrong people and been killed for inciting this rebellion. Joram was the son of Ahab and Jezebel, two of the most wicked people ever mentioned in Scripture. God was going to use Jehu to kill Jezebel and completely destroy all of Ahab's household. This prophet's words were the flashpoint that would result in a massacre on an epic scale and put a new family line on the throne of Israel.

Sometimes God intervenes to protect us in dramatic, flashy ways (think of the pillar of cloud interceding between the Egyptians and the fleeing Israelites during the Exodus; see Exodus 14:19-20), but He just as easily might ask you to run away and escape the danger under your own power. God does not care about appearances; He does not care if you appear undignified or cowardly or foolish to human eyes. (Think of poor Isaiah in Isaiah 20 called to walk around, stripped and barefoot, like a slave or prisoner of war, for three years.) God cares about obedience. If this young prophet had been the kind of man who had felt that running and appearing "a madman" (see 2 Kings 9:11) was beneath him, I think it might easily have cost him his life.

Blessings!

Sources
Women's Devotional Bible. New International Version
Compton's Interactive Bible NIV