The House of Jehu or Jehu dynasty was a reigning dynasty of the Kingdom of Israel. They are depicted in both of the

Books of Kings The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of Israel also including the books ...

. Their estimated reign is placed from the 9th century to the 8th century BCE.Chase (2010), p. 222-223

Reign

The dynasty is named after its founder

Jehu ) as depicted on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III , succession = King of Northern Israel , reign = c. 841–814 BCE , coronation = Ramoth-Gilead, Israel , birth_date = c. 882 BCE , death_date = c. 814 BCE , burial_place = ...

. His immediate predecessor was

Jehoram of Israel Jehoram ( ''Yəhōrām''; also Joram) was the ninth king of the northern Kingdom of Israel ( 2 Kings 8:16, 2 Kings 8:25–28). He was the son of Ahab and Jezebel, and brother to Ahaziah and Athaliah. According to 2 Kings, 2 Kings 8:16, in t ...

of the

House of Omri The Omrides, Omrids or House of Omri ( he, , translit=Bēt ʿOmrī; akk, 𒂍𒄷𒌝𒊑𒄿, translit=bīt-Ḫûmrî) were a ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) founded by King Omri. According to the Bible, the Omride rulers of ...

. Jehoram was wounded in battle during a campaign against the rival state of

Aram-Damascus The Kingdom of Aram-Damascus () was an Aramean polity that existed from the late-12th century BCE until 732 BCE, and was centred around the city of Damascus in the Southern Levant. Alongside various tribal lands, it was bounded in its later ye ...

. Jehoram retreated to the city of Jezreel in order to recover from his wounds, but Jehu attacked and killed him there. Jehu also killed Jehoram's ally,

Ahaziah of Judah Ahaziah ( he, אֲחַזְיָהוּ, "held by Yah(-weh)"; Douay–Rheims: Ochozias) was the name of two kings mentioned in the Hebrew Bible: *Ahaziah of Israel *Ahaziah of Judah Ahaziah ( he, אֲחַזְיָהוּ, "held by Yah(-weh)"; Douay– ...

. Jehu was reportedly

anointed Anointing is the ritual act of pouring aromatic oil over a person's head or entire body. By extension, the term is also applied to related acts of sprinkling, dousing, or smearing a person or object with any perfumed oil, milk, butter, or oth ...

as king by the prophet

Elijah Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) was, according to the Books of ...

(1 Kings 19:16). According to the

Books of Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( he, דִּבְרֵי־הַיָּמִים ) is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third sect ...

, Jehu was authorized to eliminate the descendants of his predecessor

Ahab Ahab (; akk, 𒀀𒄩𒀊𒁍 ''Aḫâbbu'' 'a-ḫa-ab-bu'' grc-koi, Ἀχαάβ ''Achaáb''; la, Achab) was the seventh king of Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), Israel, the son and successor of King Omri and the husband of Jezebel of Sidon, ...

and all the priests of the god

Baal Baal (), or Baal,; phn, , baʿl; hbo, , baʿal, ). ( ''baʿal'') was a title and honorific meaning "owner", "lord" in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during Ancient Near East, antiquity. From its use among people, it cam ...

(2 Chronicles 22:7). Jehu continued the worship of the golden calves at the

holy place Sacred space, sacred ground, sacred place, sacred temple, holy ground, or holy place refers to a location which is deemed to be sacred or hallowed. The sacredness of a natural feature may accrue through tradition or be granted through a bless ...

s of

Bethel Bethel ( he, בֵּית אֵל, translit=Bēṯ 'Ēl, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; el, Βαιθήλ; la, Bethel) was an ancient Israelite sanct ...

and

Dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoi ...

(2 Kings 10:28-31). The Book of Kings accuses Jehu of

idolatry Idolatry is the worship of a cult image or "idol" as though it were God. In Abrahamic religions (namely Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, the Baháʼí Faith, and Islam) idolatry connotes the worship of something or someone other than the A ...

. The God

Yahweh Yahweh *''Yahwe'', was the national god of ancient Israel and Judah. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age if not somewhat earlier, and in the oldest biblical literature he posse ...

Himself proclaimed that four generations of Jehu's descendants would hold the throne of Israel, but then the dynasty would lose the throne as punishment for Jehu's idolatry (2 Kings 15:12). Jehu reigned for 28 years. Jehu was succeeded by his son

Jehoahaz of Israel Jehoahaz II of Israel ( he, יְהוֹאָחָז ''Yəhō’āḥāz'', meaning "Yahweh has held"; la, Joachaz) was the eleventh king of Israel and the son of Jehu (''2 Kings'' 10:35; 13:1). He reigned for seventeen years. History William F. A ...

. Jehoahaz was a

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain. W ...

to the monarchs of Aram-Damascus. He was reportedly a poor administrator, and the Book of Kings associates his reign with "great suffering" for his kingdom. He reigned for 17 years. Jehoahaz was succeeded by his son

Jehoash of Israel Jehoash ( he, ''Yəhō’āš'' or ''Yō’āš''; Israelian Hebrew: *''’Āšīyāw''; Akkadian: 𒅀𒀪𒋢 ''Yaʾsu'' 'ia-'-su'' la, Joas; fl. c. 790 BC), whose name means "Yahweh has given,""Joash, Jehoash;" ''New Bible Dictionary'' ...

. Jehoash is credited with victories over the kingdom of Aram-Damascus, and with freeing the Kingdom of Israel from its subordination to the monarchs of Damascus. Jehoash was reportedly allied to the prophet

Elisha Elisha ( ; or "God is my salvation", Greek: , ''Elis îos'' or , ''Elisaié,'' Latin: ''Eliseus'') was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a prophet and a wonder-worker. His name is commonly transliterated into English as Elisha via Hebrew, Eli ...

, who had promised him victory over Aram-Damascus. Jehoash is mentioned mourning Elisha's death. Jehoash reigned for 16 years. Jehoash was succeeded by his son

Jeroboam II Jeroboam II ( he, יָרָבְעָם, ''Yāroḇə‘ām''; el, Ἱεροβοάμ; la, Hieroboam/Jeroboam) was the son and successor of Jehoash (alternatively spelled Joash) and the thirteenth king of the ancient Kingdom of Israel, over which ...

. Jeroboam is depicted as a very competent leader for Israel. He dominated the

Arameans The Arameans ( oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; syc, ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ, Ārāmāyē) were an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Near East, first recorded in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. The Aramean ...

of Syria and reclaimed territories that the Kingdom of Israel had lost in previous conflicts. Israel's political power increased during his reign. Jeroboam reigned for 41 years. Jeroboam was succeeded by his son

Zechariah of Israel Zechariah ( he, זְכַרְיָה ''Zəḵaryāh'', meaning "remembered by Yah"; also ''Zachariah'', ''Zacharias''; la, Zacharias) was the fourteenth king of the northern Israelite Kingdom of Israel, and son of Jeroboam II. Zechariah became ...

, the last monarch of the House of Jehu. Zechariah only reigned for 6 months. He was assassinated by

Shallum of Israel Shallum of Israel ( he, שַׁלּוּם ''Šallūm'', "retribution", ''fl.'' mid-8th century BC), was the fifteenth king of the ancient Kingdom of Israel, and the son of Jabesh. The Shallum dynasty, or the House of Shallum was an ephemeral dynas ...

, who then claimed the throne of Israel for himself.

Ancestry

is mentioned in the inscriptions of

Shalmaneser III Shalmaneser III (''Šulmānu-ašarēdu'', "the god Shulmanu is pre-eminent") was king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his father Ashurnasirpal II in 859 BC to his own death in 824 BC. His long reign was a constant series of campai ...

, King of the

Neo-Assyrian Empire The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history and the final and greatest phase of Assyria as an independent state. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew t ...

(reigned 859–824 BCE). The inscriptions identify Jehu as a "son of (the land of)

Omri Omri ( ; he, , ''‘Omrī''; akk, 𒄷𒌝𒊑𒄿 ''Ḫûmrî'' 'ḫu-um-ri-i'' fl. 9th century BC) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the sixth king of Israel. He was a successful military campaigner who extended the northern kingdom of ...

", an apparent member of the House of Omri.Na'aman (2005), p. 13-15 In the Assyrian inscriptions, the designation "son of" is used to connect various rulers to the ancestral founders of each

dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...

, not to their actual fathers, and the formula generally calls Jehu a son of ''the House'' of Omri, and not a son of Omri himself. One modern interpretation of the Assyrian inscriptions is that Jehu was a descendant of a

cadet branch In history and heraldry, a cadet branch consists of the male-line descendants of a monarch's or patriarch's younger sons ( cadets). In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia, the family's major assets— realm, title ...

of the House of Omri, which would explain his high-ranking position in the army of Israel. The second of the

identifies Jehu as a son of Jehoshaphat and a grandson of

Nimshi Nimshi ( he, נִמְשִׁי ''Nīmšī''; Latin and Douay–Rheims: Namsi) is a character in the Hebrew Bible. He is mentioned in the Books of Kings and the Second Book of Chronicles as father, grandfather, or possibly a forebear of Jehu, the ...

. His great-grandfather is not mentioned in the text. Nadav Na'aman concedes that Jehu could have been a kinsman of his predecessor

, but he considers likely that Shalmaneser had a different motive for apparently legitimizing Jehu as an heir to the House of Omri. Black Obelisk side 4 Jewish delegation

Shalmaneser's inscriptions describe as

usurper A usurper is an illegitimate or controversial claimant to power, often but not always in a monarchy. In other words, one who takes the power of a country, city, or established region for oneself, without any formal or legal right to claim it as ...

s the kings

Hazael Hazael (; he, חֲזָאֵל, translit=Ḥazaʾēl, or , romanized as: ; oar, 𐡇𐡆𐡀𐡋, translit= , from the triliteral Semitic root ''h-z-y'', "to see"; his full name meaning, " El/God has seen"; akk, 𒄩𒍝𒀪𒀭, Ḫa-za-’- il ...

, Surri of Patina, and Marduk-bêl-usâte of

Karduniaš Karduniaš, also transcribed Kurduniash, Karduniash, Karaduniše, ) is a Kassites, Kassite term used for the kingdom centered on Babylonia and founded by the Kassite dynasty. It is used in the 1350-1335 BC Amarna letters Text corpus, correspondence ...

. All three of them were Shalmaneser's enemies, and their negative portrayals were used to justify the Neo-Assyrian Empire's wars against them. Surri's ancestry is unknown, Hazael was apparently a descendant of a previous royal dynasty, and Marduk-bêl-usâte had revolted against his brother

Marduk-zakir-shumi I Marduk-zâkir-šumi, inscribed mdAMAR.UTU''-za-kir-''MU in a reconstruction of two kinglists,''Synchronistic Kinglist'' KAV 10 (VAT 11261) ii 9.''Synchronistic Kinglist'' KAV 182 (Ass. 13956dh) iii 12. “Marduk pronounced the name,” was a king ...

. This means that Marduk-bêl-usâte was a member of the same dynasty as his brother. The royal ancestry of these usurpers was deliberately ignored by Assyrian

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

. Shalmaneser had reasons to legitimize Jehu's regime. Jehu's predecessors

and Jehoram were enemies of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and had repeatedly participated in the military

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

s against Shalmaneser himself. On the other hand, Jehu abandoned this anti-Assyrian policy. He formally surrendered to Shalmaneser and paid

tribute A tribute (; from Latin ''tributum'', "contribution") is wealth, often in kind, that a party gives to another as a sign of submission, allegiance or respect. Various ancient states exacted tribute from the rulers of land which the state conqu ...

to Shalmaneser as his vassal. Shalmaneser had every reason to favorably depict Jehu and to acknowledge him as a "son" of the previous dynasty. Amitai Baruchi-Unna considers it likely that Jehu actually was a descendant of Omri, and that his recorded hostility towards the so-called "House of Ahab" represents a fight for the throne between rival branches of the House of Omri.Baruchi-Unna (2017) Both Books of Kings and the second of the

consistently use the

patronymic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...

"son of Nimshi" for Jehu, suggesting that Nimshi himself was a famous figure of "high-lineage". Baruchi-Unna suggests that Nimshi was a son of King

and a brother of King

. Jehu's father, Jehoshaphat, would consequently be a first cousin to Ahab's children:

Ahaziah of Israel Ahaziah (, "Yah has grasped"; also gr, Ὀχοζίας, ''Ochozias'' in the Septuagint and the Douai-Rheims translation) was the eighth king of the northern Kingdom of Israel and the son of Ahab and Jezebel. Like his father, he reigned from Sa ...

, and

Athaliah Athaliah ( el, Γοθολία ''Gotholía''; la, Athalia) was the daughter of either king Omri, or of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel, the queen consort of Judah as the wife of King Jehoram, a descendant of King David, and later quee ...

Queen regnant A queen regnant (plural: queens regnant) is a female monarch, equivalent in rank and title to a king, who reigns ''suo jure'' (in her own right) over a realm known as a "kingdom"; as opposed to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reignin ...

of the

Kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah ( he, , ''Yəhūdā''; akk, 𒅀𒌑𒁕𒀀𒀀 ''Ya'údâ'' 'ia-ú-da-a-a'' arc, 𐤁𐤉𐤕𐤃𐤅𐤃 ''Bēyt Dāwīḏ'', " House of David") was an Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Ce ...

. Among the members of this extended House of Omri, the names Ahaziah, Jehoram, Athaliah, and Jehoshaphat are all

theophoric name A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or God's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that deit ...

s incorporating the name of

, while Omri, Ahab, and Nimshi make no reference to the deity. This may be reflective of the different religious tendencies among the first and second generations of the royal family from the Yahweh-worshipping third generation. On Jehu's background, the Book of Kings indicate that he had enjoyed the favor of his predecessors. Jehu had served as personal

bodyguard A bodyguard (or close protection officer/operative) is a type of security guard, government law enforcement officer, or servicemember who protects a person or a group of people — usually witnesses, high-ranking public officials or officers, w ...

under Ahab, and as a

general officer A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED O ...

under Jehoram. Narratives concerning previous kings of Israel depict them appointing their own kinsmen in positions requiring such a high level of trust.

Saul Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered t ...

had appointed his cousin Abner as the general of his army.

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

had appointed his nephews (sister's sons)

Joab Joab (Hebrew Modern: ''Yōʼav'', Tiberian: ''Yōʼāḇ'') the son of Zeruiah, was the nephew of King David and the commander of his army, according to the Hebrew Bible. Name The name Joab is, like many other Hebrew names, theophoric - derive ...

and Amasa as the generals of his own army.

References

Sources

* * *

Reign

Ancestry

References

Sources

See also