Jehu
Army commander who overthrew the house of Ahab at Elisha’s prompting and reigned twenty-eight years in Samaria. Assyrian inscriptions record his tribute to Shalmaneser III in 841 BC, and the Black Obelisk pictures it.
Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, was a commander of the army of Israel at Ramoth-gilead when a prophet sent by Elisha anointed him king (2 Kings 9:1–13). He killed King Joram, had Ahaziah of Judah shot, ordered the death of Jezebel, wiped out the family of Ahab and destroyed the temple of Baal in Samaria (2 Kings 9:14–10:28). Kings praises the purge and blames him for keeping the calves of Bethel and Dan (2 Kings 10:29–31); Hosea later condemns the bloodshed at Jezreel (Hosea 1:4).
In the year of his revolt he paid tribute to Shalmaneser III of Assyria, who calls him “son of Omri” (Shalmaneser III, Annals RIAo 12, lines 21–30) (Black Obelisk caption 2 (RIAo 88)); see Jehu’s Revolt and Tribute to Assyria. During his reign Hazael of Damascus took Israel’s territory east of the Jordan (2 Kings 10:32–33). He reigned twenty-eight years and was buried in Samaria (2 Kings 10:35–36).
In the timeline
- 841 BC, firm dateJehu’s Revolt and Tribute to Assyria
The army commander Jehu, anointed at Elisha’s word, kills the kings of Israel and Judah, Jezebel and the house of Ahab, and destroys the temple of Baal in Samaria. In the same year Assyrian records show him paying tribute to Shalmaneser III.