Author Topic: Yehu the son of Nimshi - A Discussion  (Read 2341 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline edu

  • Master JTFer
  • ******
  • Posts: 1864
Yehu the son of Nimshi - A Discussion
« on: July 25, 2011, 04:34:35 AM »
An Examination of the act of Yehu {Jehu}son of Yehoshafat son of Nimshi
II Kings {parts of} chapters 9 and chapter 10
1] And Elisha the prophet called one of the prophets' disciples, and said to him: gird up your loins and take this flask of oil in your hand and go to Ramot-gilad.
2] And when you come there, see there Yehu the son of Yehoshafat the son of Nimshi, and go in and make him rise up from among his brothers and carry him in to an inner chamber.
3] Then take  this flask of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, "Thus says G-d, I have anointed you king over Israel". Then open the door and flee and do not wait.
4] So the young man, the youthful prophet, went to Ramot-gilad.
5] And when he came, behold, the commanders of the army were sitting; and he said, I have an errand regarding you,  O commander. Then Yehu said, To which one from all of us? And he said, to you O commander.
6] Then he rose and went into the house and he poured the oil on his head and said to him, thus says, G-d the L-rd of Israel: I have anointed you king over the people of G-d, over Israel.
7] And you shall strike the  house of Ahav {Ahab} your masters; then  that I shall be avenged of the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of G-d at the hand of Izevel {Jezebel}.
8] For the whole house of Ahav will perish: and I will cut off from Ahav all that urinate upon the wall and him that is shut up and him that is left free in Israel.
9] Now I will make the house of Ahav like the house of Yarovom [Jeroboam] son of Nevat and like the house of Basha the son of Ahiyya:
10] And the dogs shall eat Izevel in the portion of Yizri'el {Jezreel}, and there shall be no one to bury; then he opened the door and fled.
11] Now Yehu came out to the servants of his master and one of them said to him, Is all well? Why did this lunatic come to you: And he said to them, you know this man, and his way of talking.
12] Then they said, it's a lie; please tell us now. So he said, thus and thus spoke he to me, saying thus says G-d, I have anointed you king over Israel.
13] Then they hastened and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew with the shofar, saying, "Yehu has become king".

Yehu carried out the prophetic command.
II Kings chapter 9
21] Now Yehoram said, "Harness!" and he harnessed his chariot. Then Yehoram the king of Israel and Ahazyahu king of Judah went out each in his own chariot and they went out against Yehu and met him in the portion of Navot {Naboth} the Yizri'elite.
22] Then it came to pass when Yehoram saw Yehu that he said, "Is it peace, Yehu"? Then he answered, "what is the peace that should extend to the lewd practices of your mother Izevel and her abundant witchcrafts"?
23] And Yehoram turned his hands and fled and said to Ahazyahu, Treachery, Ahazya.
24] Then Yehu drew a bow with his full strength and hit Yehoram between his arms and the arrow went out at his heart and he sank down in his chariot.
25] Now he said to Bidkar his captain, take him up and toss him into the portion of field of Navot the Yizri'elite, for remember  when I and you rode together after Ahav his father, so had G-d pronounced this burden upon him.
26] "Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Navot, and the blood of his sons", says G-d, "and I will bring retribution upon you  in this plot of ground" says G-d; so now take him and toss him into the plot of ground according to the word of G-d.
27] But when Ahazya the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house; then Yehu chased after him and he said, also he too, strike him upon the chariot in the ascent of Gur which is by Yivli'am. And he fled to Megiddo and died there.

II Kings chapter 9
30] Then Yehu came to Yizri'el and Izevel heard and painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out at the window.
31] Then Yehu came to the gate and she said, Is it peace? you Zimri, who killed his master?
32] And he lifted up his face to the window and he said who is with me? Who? And there looked out at him two or three officers.
33] Then he said, throw her down, so they threw her down and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall and on the horses and he trampled her.
34] Then he came in and ate and drank and said: go see now to this cursed woman and bury her for she is the daughter of a king.
35] Then they went to bury her and did not find her except for her skull, her legs and the palms of her hands.
36] So they came back and told him. And he said, this is the word of G-d, which he spoke by his servant Eliyahu {Elijah} the Tishbite, saying, in the portion of Yizri'el shall dogs eat the flesh of Izevel.
37] And the carcass of Izevel shall be as dung upon the open field in the portion of Yizri'el; so that they shall not be able to say, This is Izevel.

II Kings chapter 10
6] Then he wrote a letter the second tome to them saying, if you are mine, and you will obey my voice, take the heads of the men your master's sons and come to me to Yizri'el tomorrow this time; now the king's son, being seventy persons, were with the notable of the city , who were raising them.
7] And it came to pass when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons and slew seventy persons and put their heads in baskets and sent him them to Yizri'el.

II Kings chapter 10
11] So Yehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahav in Yizri'el and all his great men and his familiar friends and his priests until he left none remaining.
12] And he rose and he came and went towards Shomron, namely, he was at the shepherds' meeting house on the way.
13] Then Yehu found the brothers of Ahazyahu King of Judah and said, "who are you"? and they told him, "we are the brothers of Ahazyahu and we are going down for the welfare of the sons of the king and the sons of the queen mother".
14] Then he said, take them alive. And they took them alive and slew them at the pit of the meeting house, forty two men and he did not let any of them survive.

15] Then he went from there and came across Yehonadav the son Rekhav coming to meet him and he blessed him and he said to him, is your heart upright as my heart is with your heart? Then Yehonadav answered it is, indeed it is, give me your hand, so he put out his hand and he took him up to him to the chariot.
16] Then he said, come with me and see when I am zealous for G-d; so they set him up for riding in his chariot.
17] Then he came to Shomron and slew all that remained for Ahav in Shomron until he had utterly destroyed him according to the saying of G-d which he spoke to Eliyahu.

II Kings chapter 10 verse 30
30] And G-d said to Yehu, because you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahav according to all that was in my heart, your children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.

My thoughts, on this story in the Tanach, I without vowing, and G-d willing, will add at a future time.

Offline edu

  • Master JTFer
  • ******
  • Posts: 1864
Re: Yehu the son of Nimshi - A Discussion
« Reply #1 on: July 27, 2011, 01:30:48 AM »
Yehu received praise, when he at the command of G-d shed the blood of the king from the house of Ahav at the first opportunity.
    And the verse testifies that by exterminating the house of Ahav the result is "that I shall be avenged of the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of G-d at the hand of Izevel". That is to say that the purpose of the assassination was to remove the killers that ruled the people. One should add that even though the person that was killed here was the son of Ahav and not Ahav himself [who was punished in a different manner] this son was also infected with the sin of murder. For behold in II Kings chapter 6 verses 31 and 32 it is stated:

31] Then he said, the L-rd do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shafat remains on him today.
32] But Elisha sat in his house and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man from before him; but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, do you see how this son of a murderer has sent to remove my head? See to it, that when the messenger comes, shut the door and push him out with the door; is not the sound of his master's feet behind him?
        Radak explained there
32]  He sent a man - the king sent a man before him to remove the head of Elisha.
    But before - ...And the matter of the verse is that the king sent a man before him to Elisha and before the messenger appeared to him, he said to the elders that the king has sent a man to remove his head, for it was told to him by means of prophecy....
    The son of a murderer - the son of Ahav that murdered Navot, so too does he desire to murder me.


Offline edu

  • Master JTFer
  • ******
  • Posts: 1864
Re: Yehu the son of Nimshi - A Discussion
« Reply #2 on: July 28, 2011, 07:13:59 PM »
Comments Rabbi Meir Kahane (Peirush Hamaccabee) the following:
Quote
A leader that is not chosen by G-d, does not have legitimacy

"They have established a king but not from me"...Hoshea 8:4

Ibn Ezra explained :
"For they did not ask Hashem{G-d} to establish Yeravam{Jeroboam} as king and it is written (Dvarim/Deut.17:15): “That Hashem your L-rd will choose him", "this is {true} also for a King of Israel".
And Radak wrote: "whereupon they saw that he prevented them from ascending to Yerushalayim{Jerusalem} before Hashem and he made {idols of} calves,
they should have removed him from the monarchy...". Behold, the nation has the privilege and the duty to take down a government that prevents them from going in the way of Hashem (And See Sanhedrin 26a, etc., in the matter of Chizkiyahu{Hezekiah} and Shevna{Shebna} - that any majority that is against Hashem is a treasonous plot of the wicked). Now it appears, that if it does not prevent the nation from going in the ways of Hashem, even thought the government doesn't observe commandments, perhaps there is no obligation to take the government down by force if this will lead to a civil war; but if the government does not allow even individuals within the nation to fulfill commandments, certainly we are obligated to even use force in order to fulfill the commandment.


Offline edu

  • Master JTFer
  • ******
  • Posts: 1864
Re: Yehu the son of Nimshi - A Discussion
« Reply #3 on: July 29, 2011, 02:29:11 AM »
Although Rabbi Kahane wrote what he wrote, he nevertheless generally used
Non-Violent tactics against the Soviet Union, etc.
Perhaps Rabbi Kahane felt, that his political goals would be better advanced and promoted without too much violence, while Yehu the son of Nimshi, deduced from the words of the prophet, that violence would also be pragmatic.

If someone has a better answer I am open to hearing it.

Offline muman613

  • Platinum JTF Member
  • **********
  • Posts: 29958
  • All souls praise Hashem, Hallelukah!
    • muman613 Torah Wisdom
Re: Yehu the son of Nimshi - A Discussion
« Reply #4 on: July 29, 2011, 02:44:39 AM »
Although Rabbi Kahane wrote what he wrote, he nevertheless generally used
Non-Violent tactics against the Soviet Union, etc.
Perhaps Rabbi Kahane felt, that his political goals would be better advanced and promoted without too much violence, while Yehu the son of Nimshi, deduced from the words of the prophet, that violence would also be pragmatic.

If someone has a better answer I am open to hearing it.

My opinion on violence is that there is a time and a purpose for every tactic.

A friend of mine has been studying the tactics of war, and there are times when violence is called for, and there is a time when negotiations are called for.

In the end the victor will be decided by Hashem, and thus our davening and our actions will cause Hashem to fulfill his promise to go to battle with us.

And as I stated in a post last year the wise king Solomon stated:

For everything there is a season, a time for every matter under the heaven: A time to give birth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot that which is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break and a time to build. A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time of wailing and a time of dancing. A time to cast stones and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. A time to seek and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to cast away. A time to rend and a time to sew; a time to be silent and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace...Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

We should always be prepared for war until the yetzer hara is completely destroyed. I am glad that we can look forward to a day when war will be forgotten and the world will live in peace. The messianic vision is what gives me hope. But because we currently live in a world of struggle and challenge we must remain vigilant and strong. I believe Hashem is challenging us to see if we are worthy of our reward.

Thus is my opinion...
You shall make yourself the Festival of Sukkoth for seven days, when you gather in [the produce] from your threshing floor and your vat.And you shall rejoice in your Festival-you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, who are within your cities
Duet 16:13-14