For instance, when Elisha dispatches a colleague to go and anoint Jehu to be the new king over Israel, we get a glimpse of how the power structure of that day viewed prophets. When Elisha's messenger arrives at a council of military men and furtively anoints Jehu before suddenly bolting, Jehu's peers are naturally curious. "Is everything all right? Why did that madman come to you?" Jehu's response? He at first tries to brush it off, chalking it up to the weirdness of prophets. "You know the sort and how they babble" (vs. 11). I could see the same thing being said of religious people today by the powers-that-be. Jehu must not have been very convincing, because his men press him: "Liar! Come on, tell us!" This amusing dialogue rings true and sounds as if were transcribed by a witness.
Another enlightening detail can be seen when Jehu kills the king of Israel to take his place. Where should this happen but at the site of Naboth's property in Jezreel! If you aren't familiar with the history of this location, check out I Kings 21 to see why it is fitting that Ahab's son Joram meets his end here. A generation earlier, Ahab and Jezebel had brought about the death of Naboth by treachery just so they could get their hands on his vineyard. At that time, the Lord had sent the prophet Elijah to pronounce doom on Ahab for this sin. Elijah found him at Naboth's vineyard and prophesied that where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, so, too, would Ahab's blood by licked up. Then, because Ahab genuinely repented, the Lord delayed that sentence and promised to visit it upon his son instead. Many chapters of the Bible later, it comes to pass. A little detail like the location of Joram's death actually holds great significance.
Finally, notice Jezebel's last words in vs. 31. After killing both the king of Israel and the king of Judah, Jehu sets off to purge the land of the rest of Ahab's evil family. He knows that Jezebel has to go. The old worshiper of Baal had girded herself in a tower, and painted her eyes and adorned her hair. When she sees Jehu entering the city gate, she calls to him with a jeer, "Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of your master?" Zimri? Who is Zimri? To understand this insult, you have to refer farther back in the history of the kings of Israel. Before Ahab's family began reigning over Israel, the family of Baasha was sovereign. A king of that house named Elah was treacherously murdered by his servant, Zimri (I Kings 16:9), just like Joram was cut down several generations later by his servant Jehu. To call Jehu "Zimri", then, is to accuse him of betrayal and also predict that his success would be as short-lived as Zimri. Zimri only reigned for 7 days before Omri (Ahab's father) took the kingdom away for his own family (I Kings 16:15). Once again, there is a lot of implied meaning wrapped up in the detail of that name Jezebel called out right before her ignominious death. But, as we will see, Jehu is no Zimri!
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