Skeptic Tank Text Archive File

Pages 2-3: spring 1991


      THE BLOOD OF JEZREEL

                          Jerry McDonald
   
   In the spring 1990 issue of The Skeptical Review, Editor Farrell Till wrote 
an article entitled "A Perfect Work of Harmony?" in which he challenged Bible 
fundamentalists to answer a difficulty involving 2 Kings 10:30 and Hosea 1:4. 
Apparently  no one took the challenge, so he reissued it in the summer issue 
in an article entitled "No Takers." It is to these challenges that I address 
this response.

     And the Lord said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in 
  executing that which was right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the 
  house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children 
  of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel (2 Kings 
  10:30).

     And the Lord said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a 
  little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of 
  Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel 
  (Hosea 1:4).   

   There are several problems with Mr. Till's interpretation of these two 
passages. In this article, we shall notice these problems and will show that 
these two verses have absolutely no relationship whatever to each other. In 
summary of Mr. Till's problems, we see that [1] he did not carefully read 
what the two passages had to say, [2] he did not read all that was said on 
the subject, [3] he did not allow for figures of speech, and [4] he did not 
allow for the context.  Had he not violated these four principles, he would 
not have taken the position that he took.

   [1] Mr. Till did not carefully read what the passages had to say. "Why 
would Yahweh want to punish the house of Jehu for what was done at Jez-
reel," he asked, "if all Jehu had done was 'that which was right in mine 
(Yahweh's) eyes'?" (The Skeptical Review, Spring 1990, p. 12). Did  God say 
that he was punishing the house of Jehu for what Jehu did to the houses of 
Jehoram (the son of Ahab) and Ahaziah? No.  Did Hosea say this?  No.  Did 
anyone  make this charge?  Yes. Who?  Farrell Till.  All God said that he 
was going to do was "avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu." 
Mr. Till wants it to read like this: "I will avenge upon the house of Jehu 
what Jehu did in Jezreel to the houses of Jehoram and Ahaziah." But it does 
not read that way. We must always be careful to read exactly what the writer 
had to say and not what we want him to say.

   [2] Mr. Till did not read all that was said about the subject.  He tried to 
make it sound as if Zachariah (the king in power at the time) was a good man 
who was being punished for Jehu's (supposed) transgression. However, in 
looking at Zachariah, we notice that he "did that which was evil in the sight 
of the Lord, as his fathers had done: he departed not from the sins of Jer
oboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin" (2 Kings 15:9).  So we can 
see that Zachariah was an evil king, and we see he was being punished for 
his wickedness and not for anything Jehu had done.

   Another part of Mr. Till's problem is that he assumed that the blood of 
Jezreel had to refer to that which was done by Jehu at Jezreel to the houses 
of Jehoram and Ahaziah.  In making this assumption, he completely overlooked 
the story in 1 Kings 21 about the blood of Naboth the Jezreelite being shed 
by the order of Jezebel.  Naboth had a vineyard that had been given to him 
by God. This vineyard was next to Ahab's palace.  Ahab saw the vineyard, 
desired to have it, and tried to buy it from Naboth.  Naboth refused: "The 


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Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee" 
(1 Kings 21:3).  Now this angered Ahab, and he went to his room to pout. 
He pouted so much that he would not eat, and when this came to the atten-
tion of his wife Jezebel, she came to find out why he would not eat.  
He told her about the vineyard he wanted, and she told him to eat.  She 
would take care of the matter.  

   Jezebel sent letters in Ahab's name to the elders and nobles who dwelt in 
Jezreel and proclaimed a feast that would set Naboth on high before the 
people. Then she set two men, the sons of Belial, before him with instruc-
tions to accuse him of blaspheming God and the king. The instructions in-
cluded taking Naboth out and stoning him to death.  When all these things 
happened according to Jezebel's plans, Ahab was able to take possession of 
Naboth's vineyard.  Because of this crime, God sent Elijah the Tishbite to tell 
Ahab and Jezebel that they would be punished because of what Jezebel had 
done.  Jezebel would die and Ahab's son would die.  Jezebel did die, and 
Jehoram (the son of Ahab) died at the hands of Jehu.  Whose blood did Ahab 
and Jezebel shed?  The blood of Naboth the Jezreelite.  Could that not right-
fully be stated as being "the blood of Jezreel"?  Yes! Now when one looks at 
Hosea 1:4 in this respect, it can be easily seen that this makes much more 
sense than what Mr. Till proposed.

   [3] Mr. Till's third problem is that he  did not allow for figures of 
speech.  The phrase "the blood of Jezreel" is a figure of speech called 
synecdoche in which the part is put for the whole.  To be more specific, we 
have a synecdoche of the species: "Blood is put for murder or cruelty; or 
death generally.... So Hos. i.4..." (Figures of Speech Used in the Bible, p. 
628). The avenging of blood, in the Bible, was often used in reference to 
avenging any innocent blood that was shed.  In this case, the blood of 
Naboth the Jezreelite was used figuratively to refer to the vengeance that 
would be taken upon the one who had shed the spiritual blood of Israel.

   [4] Mr. Till did not allow for the context.  In Hosea 1:4, God told Hosea 
to name his firstborn son Jezreel because in a little while he was going to 
avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu. Hosea's  son represented 
the innocent blood that was  shed by the wicked king Zachariah. He was 
probably called Jezreel because of Naboth's innocent blood that was shed at 
Jezreel. Hosea and Gomer had a second child, a daughter, and were instruct-
ed to name her Loruhamah, because God would have no more mercy upon the 
house of Israel. Then they had a third child, a boy, whose name was to be 
called Loammi, because Israel would no longer be God's people. Hosea repre-
sented God, and Gomer represented Israel. The three children represented 
the three stages of Israel's departure from God. Jezreel represented the 
innocent spiritual blood of the Israelites that was shed by the wicked king. 
Loruhamah represented Israel following the wicked king and going off into 
apostasy and even going to the point that God would no longer have mercy. 
Loammi represented Israel completely cut off from God.

   The phrase "I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu" 
simply meant that God would avenge the spiritual blood of his people (which 
was shed by Zachariah when they were good) upon the house of Jehu. Be-
cause Zachariah continued in the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, in caus-
ing Israel to sin, he was shedding their spiritual blood, and because of this 
God was going to punish him.  He used the phrase "the blood of Jezreel" as 
a figure to stand for the punishment that he would inflict upon Zachariah. He 
remembered Naboth to show that injustice will always be punished in the end.

   If Mr. Till spent half as much time trying to reconcile these "so-called" 
difficulties as he spends finding them, he would find far fewer difficulties in 
the Bible.  There is no problem with these two passages. I hope this explana-
tion puts to rest any fears that anyone may have of there being a problem 
with these two passages.  They have absolutely nothing in the world to do 
with each other.


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   (Jerry McDonald's address is 97 Florence Street, Sullivan, MO 63080.)          


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