Gilbert House Fellowship #459: 2 Kings 9–11

THE END of Ahab’s line came within a span of seven years.

Jehu, an Israelite military commander under Ahab’s son, King Jehoram (or Joram), was anointed king over the northern kingdom at the direction of the prophet Elisha. Jehu moved quickly to eliminate Jehoram and the rest of the sons of Ahab. We explain why Ahab didn’t literally have 70 sons (the number 70 in the ancient Near East was not a quantity; it was a symbol that represented “all of them”).

Jehoram’s nephew, King Ahaziah of Judah, was also killed by Jehu as he fled in his chariot, finally dying at the city of Megiddo.

Then Jehu went to Jezreel and found Jezebel, the queen mother, whose last act in this world was probably screaming after she was tossed out of a tower window by her eunuchs.

That left only Athaliah, mother of King Ahaziah. Athaliah was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, the sister of King Jehoram of Israel. When she heard that Ahaziah was dead, she tried to kill all of her grandsons. Why? She—and really, it was the Fallen realm motivating her—tried to eliminate the line of David (her husband, King Jehoram of Judah, son of Jehoshaphat, was a descendant of David) and replace it with the line of Ahab.

Unfortunately for Athaliah, she missed one—an infant boy named Joash. Jehoiada the priest had secretly saved and raised Joash in the Temple. At the age of seven, Jehoiada brought him out, proclaimed him king, and, at his command, had Athaliah put to death, thus putting an end to the house of Ahab.

Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.

Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)!

Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)!

If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:

• Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)
• Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)
• Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)
• Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF)

The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch

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