2 Kings 9:30-37

D. THE DEATH OF JEZEBEL 9:30-37

TRANSLATION

(30) Now when Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she put on eye make-up, and adorned her head, and looked out the window. (31) When Jehu came in the gate, she said, Is all well, O Zimri, who slays his master? (32) And he lifted up his face unto the window, and said, Who is with me? Who? And two or three eunuchs looked out unto him. (33) And he said, Throw her down. And they threw her down, and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall and on the horses; and he trampled her underfoot. (34) And he went in, and ate and drank, and said, Go, I pray you, and visit this accursed one, and bury her; for she is the daughter of a king. (35) And they went to bury her; but they found nothing of her except the skull, the feet, and the palms of her hands. (36) And they returned, and told him, and he said, it is the word of the LORD which He spoke by the hand of His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel; (37) and the corpse of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the ground in the portion of Jezreel, so that they shall not say this was Jezebel.

COMMENTS

After pursuing Ahaziah as far as Ibleam, Jehu turned about and headed back to Jezreel. About three hours would have elapsed since the death of King Joram. Jezebel, who had probably witnessed from the walls of Jezreel the death of her son, was resignedly waiting for her confrontation with Jehu. When she heard he was coming, she put on eye make-up,[560] adorned her head, and took up her position near a window (2 Kings 9:30). Even though she was a grandmother of at least fifty years, Jezebel still hoped to be able to capture the affections of Jehu with her beauty.[561] The question asked of Jehu by Jezebel is probably to be interpreted as conciliatory rather than inflammatory. The queen asked: Is all well now between you and me? She probably intended her appellation Zimri to be an honorific one, recalling the fact that another Israelite general had revolted and slain his master and reigned as king (2 Kings 9:31).

[560] From the earliest times women throughout the Near East would paint a dark dye on their upper and lower eyelids. Such make-up was designed to increase the apparent size of the eye and give it unnatural brilliancy.
[561] Other commentators think Jezebel was simply preparing to meet death in a manner befitting a queen.

Jehu was not about to be deterred by the wiles of Jezebel. He was deaf to her flatteries, blind to her seductions. Spying some palace eunuchs behind the queen, Jehu cried out, Who is with me? (2 Kings 9:32). The eunuchs stepped forward and peered from the window as if to respond positively to the general's challenge. Throw her down, ordered Jehu. Though Jezebel was the queen mother, she was nothing more to Jehu than a wicked woman who was in his way. The eunuchs grabbed the screaming queen and flung her to the courtyard below. As she fell her body bounced off certain wall projections at once smearing her blood on those walls, and showering it on the horses that pulled Jehu's chariot. The general then had his chariot driven over her crumpled corpse (2 Kings 9:33). Rawlinson remarks concerning the treatment afforded this royal personage: History presents no parallel to such an indignity.[562]

[562] Rawlinson, PC, p. 196.

Jehu was completely unaffected by the bloodshed in which he had been involved. He immediately entered the palace and ordered a meal for himself. Not until after he had satisfied his appetite did he give any thought to the corpse of the late queen ignominiously lying untended on the cold earth without. Jehu ordered that this cursed woman, who had instigated and participated in so many crimes, be taken and given a decent burial. After all, in spite of all the trouble she had caused, Jezebel was the daughter of a king (2 Kings 9:34) and at the least deserved dignified burial. But when the servants went to bury the queen mother, all they could find of her was the skull, the feet, and the palms of her hands (2 Kings 9:35).

When the servants reported back to Jehu what they had found, the general remembered a prophecy delivered many years earlier by Elijah. That prophecy, recorded in 1 Kings 21:23, is here expanded, either because Jehu's recollection was not exact, or because the record in I Kings is abbreviated. As Jehu remembered it, Elijah had said four things about the fate of Jezebel: (1) that dogs would devour her; (2) that this would take place in the portion of Jezreel, i.e., the cultivated space or portion of land outside the wall of the city; (3) that the carcass of Jezebel would be as dung upon the face of the ground; (4) that the fragments of the body would be so scattered that it would be impossible to bury all her remains in one tomb (2 Kings 9:36-37).