Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Yehu is Annointed, Sort Of

Melachim B (Kings II) 9:2: As King Yoram (Joram) of Israel lies dying of wounds inflicted by General Hazael of Aramea, the Prophet Elisha sends disciples to annoint Yehu (Jehu) with a pach shemen (cruse of oil) much like King Shaul (Saul) had been anointed.  David and Shlomo (Solomon) were anointed from a keren shemen (horn of oil,) and their monarchy was permanent in that it was passed on to their descendants.  The lesser pach shemen foreshadows many parallels between Kings Shaul and Yehu, including:

1.       Neither of them were of the proper tribe, as the king must be from Yehuda (Judah,) and Shaul was from Binyamin (Benjamin) while Yehu was from one of the northern tribes, and the northern kingdom Yehu ruled was an aberration which wasn’t even supposed to exist.

2.       Shaul failed to completely wipe out Amalek, and Yehu failed to completely wipe out idolatry, and as a consequence…

3.       Both of their reigns were cut short.

 

No comments: