Jehu יהוא
king of Israel for twenty-eight years; he destroyed the house of Ahab
Jehu son of Nimshi was a commander at Ramoth-Gilead when a disciple of Elisha poured oil on his head and declared him king over Israel with a charge: destroy the house of Ahab. He drove to Jezreel «furiously», killed Jehoram, then Ahaziah king of Judah, had Jezebel thrown from her window, and afterwards gathered all the servants of Baal into their own temple and cut them down there.
He reigned twenty-eight years — and yet Kings sums him up with a reservation: he did what was right in destroying Ahab's house, «but from the sins of Jeroboam, wherewith he made Israel sin, Jehu did not depart». For what he did carry out he was promised four generations on the throne, and his proved the longest dynasty of the north. In his days Assyria first took tribute from Israel: the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III shows an Israelite king prostrate at the Assyrian's feet.
On the timeline
Sources
Tanakh
- Melachim II (2 Kings) 9:1–13 — the anointing at Ramoth-Gilead by a disciple of Elisha
- Melachim II (2 Kings) 9:30–37 — the death of Jezebel
- Melachim II (2 Kings) 10:18–31 — the destruction of the servants of Baal and the reservation about Jeroboam's sins
Documents of the period
- Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III — the depiction of an Israelite king bringing tribute to Assyria
Basis: stated in the Tanakh.