2 Kings 9:30 - Meaning and Application

Jezebel was the worst offender in Ahab’s house. She introduced Baal worship, killed the Lord’s prophets, arranged Naboth’s murder, and pushed her husband, and later her sons, into evil. Here she is called a cursed woman (2 Kings 9:34), a curse on the land, and a woman everyone who cared for the nation would curse. Her rule had lasted through three reigns, but at last her time had come.

The church at Thyatira had a false prophetess compared to Jezebel and named after her (Revelation 2:20). Her sin was the same, leading God’s servants into idolatry. She also had time to repent, as Jezebel had, and she too came to a fearful end (Revelation 2:22-23). So Jezebel’s ruin can be seen as a picture of the ruin that will come on idolaters and persecutors, especially that great corrupt power called the mother of prostitutes, who has made herself drunk with the blood of saints and with the nations drunk with the wine of her sexual immorality, when God turns earthly kings against her (Revelation 17:5-6).

Jezebel dared the judgment that was coming. She heard that Jehu had killed her son, killed him because of her sexual immorality and witchcraft, and thrown his body into Naboth’s land, just as the Lord had said. She also heard that Jehu was coming to Jezreel, where she could only expect to be his next victim. Instead of hiding, she went to a window at the city gate to confront him and challenge him.

She did not act like someone afraid of God’s judgment. She exposed herself to danger and showed no fear. A heart hardened against God will keep pushing forward until the end, even rushing headlong into destruction, like Job’s picture of running against God’s neck (Job 15:26). But no one ever hardened himself against God and came out well.

She also did not humble herself. She should have gone into mourning for her son, but instead she painted her face and fixed her hair so she would look like her usual self, grand and imposing. She hoped to frighten Jehu and stop him. The Lord had called for grief and sackcloth, but she chose makeup and finery instead, going against God’s call (Isaiah 22:12-13). A proud heart that stays unbroken under God’s humbling hand is a sure sign of coming ruin.

She also did not tremble before Jehu, the tool of God’s judgment. Instead, she tried to unsettle him with the warning, “Had Zimri peace, who killed his master?” (2 Kings 9:31). She ignored God’s hand against her family and attacked the man who was only carrying out God’s sword. When trouble comes, people often lash out at the instrument of their trouble instead of bowing before God and judging themselves.

She also comforted herself with the thought that Jehu would end badly too. He had shut her out from any hope of peace (2 Kings 9:22), and now she wanted to shut him out as well. Those who do God’s work are often told they are heading toward trouble. Reformers and faithful reprovers may be threatened, but they should not be shaken by fear (Philippians 1:28).

Jezebel also tried to stop Jehu by pointing to a bad example. Zimri had no peace, she said, and Jehu would not either. Zimri came to the throne by murder and treachery, then burned the palace over himself within seven days. If Jehu had been acting the same way, that warning would have fit. God’s judgments on wicked people before us should warn us not to follow their path.

But Jezebel misused the example. Zimri had no right to what he did. He acted from ambition and cruelty. Jehu, by contrast, had been anointed by one of the sons of the prophets and was acting under God’s order. When we compare people and actions, we must tell the difference between what is noble and what is corrupt, and we must not read the doom of wicked men into the fate of men God has sent.

Jehu then called for help against her. He looked up at the window, not shaken by her bold but empty threats, and cried, “Who is on my side? Who?” (2 Kings 9:32). He had been called to God’s work, to reform the land and punish those who had ruined it, and now he called for help in doing it. He raised a standard, like Moses asking, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” (Exodus 32:26), and like the psalmist asking, “Who will rise up for me against the evil-doers?” (Psalm 94:16). When reform begins, it is time to ask who truly stands with it.

Her own attendants handed her over to his just judgment. Two or three chamberlains looked out to Jehu with such a face that he thought they were on his side, and he told them not to seize her for later, but to throw her down at once. That was one way criminals were punished, by being cast headlong from a high place. In this way, vengeance came on her for Naboth’s stoning. They threw her down (2 Kings 9:33). If God’s command justified Jehu, then God’s command also justified them.

Perhaps they secretly hated Jezebel’s wickedness, even while they served her. Or perhaps she had been cruel to them, and they took this chance to get back at her. Or maybe, seeing Jehu’s success, they hoped to win favor with him and keep their places in his court. Whatever their motives, she was put to death in a shameful way. She was dashed against the wall and the pavement, then trampled by the horses, which were stained with her blood and brains. See the end of pride and cruelty, and say, “The Lord is righteous.”

Then the dogs finished her shame, just as the prophecy had said. After Jehu had eaten in the palace, he remembered that Jezebel still deserved burial, at least because she was a woman, a king’s daughter, a king’s wife, and a king’s mother. So he said, “Go and bury her” (2 Kings 9:34). But even if he had forgotten the prophet’s word, “The dogs shall eat Jezebel” (2 Kings 9:10), God had not forgotten it. While Jehu was eating and drinking, the dogs had eaten her dead body. The dogs that roamed the city (Psalm 59:6) fed on the carcass until nothing was left but her skull, her feet, and her hands. The hungry dogs showed no respect for her royal birth. A king’s daughter was no different to them from anyone else.

When we spoil our bodies and live for comfort, we should remember how weak and lowly they really are. Very soon, they will either become food for worms in the ground or for animals above it.

When Jehu heard this report, he remembered the warning from (1 Kings 21:23): “The dogs will eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.” Nothing was to remain of her except the memory of her shame. She had often appeared in public with great pride, and people had said, “This is Jezebel. What a noble look and bearing she has. How impressive she seems.” But that kind of praise would end now.

We often see the wicked buried (Ecclesiastes 8:10), yet sometimes, as with Jezebel, they do not even receive burial (Ecclesiastes 6:3). Her name was preserved only as a mark of disgrace in Scripture. No one could point and say, “This is Jezebel’s grave,” or “This is Jezebel’s descendants.” In this way, the name of the wicked rots, even above the ground.