Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 9
The young man was very afraid at the severe message that God gave him for Jehu. He loyally declared the words that God gave to him. However, he did not wait to see Jehu’s reaction. He ran away at once, and left Jehu alone to decide what to do about God’s message.
Jehu now knew that God had appointed him to be Israel’s next king. As an act of God’s judgment, Jehu would kill Joram, the present king, and his whole family. To do that, Jehu would have to organise a revolution against the present government.
It seems that Jehu originally intended to keep this matter secret. He returned to his meeting with the other commanders of Joram’s army. He tried to say nothing about what the prophet (holy man) had said or done. Jehu could not tell these things to anyone who was not completely loyal to him.
However, one of the other commanders realised that Jehu had received an unusual and important message. That commander seemed to know that the young man with the message was a prophet. For that reason, he called the young man a ‘mad man’ to insult him (compare 2 Kings 2:23). Perhaps some of the oil for the ceremony to appoint Jehu king was still on his head or clothes (compare Psalm 133:2). So, the other commander urged Jehu to tell him what the young prophet had done.
Jehu tried to avoid the question. He seemed to laugh at the way that the other commander had insulted the prophet. If the man is mad, then his words must be foolish, Jehu said.
However, the other commanders would not accept this answer. If that young prophet really had appointed Jehu to be king, they all needed to know.
Next part: Jehu declares that God has appointed him as king (2 Kings 9:12)
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