Jehu: The Butcher King

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Previously on the Chosen people. 00:00:03 Speaker 2: I have a message for Jehu, a message from the Lord, but it's for your ears only. You are to destroy the house of Ahab, your master. You will bring vengeance for the blood of the prophets and the servants of the Lord shed by Jezebel's hand. 00:00:21 Speaker 3: Ready, my chariot, it's time for judgment. 00:00:24 Speaker 1: To day, Jay, who had never felt more alive. Today was the day of atonement. Today blood would flow like the Nile river. 00:00:35 Speaker 3: Please pleae your lives and get us out here. 00:00:41 Speaker 4: This, this is madness. 00:00:45 Speaker 1: The King of Judah toppled from his chariot, hitting the ground with a sickening thud. 00:00:52 Speaker 5: Now it's time to cut the head off the snake. 00:00:58 Speaker 1: Jezebel then unceremoniously Jay, who walked away and stepped on to his chariot. He gripped the reins and drove forward directly over Jezebel's body, over and over, My Lord, has the will. 00:01:17 Speaker 5: Of the Lord been zealed? Have a finished as commanded of. 00:01:20 Speaker 1: Us, Jay, who turned to him with a smile that was equal parts zeal and madness, his voice steady, as though the question itself were laughably naive. 00:01:33 Speaker 6: Of the finished Oh no, no, wow, no no. For the family of the Judgment Judgment Day, It's just ah, It's just begund. 00:01:50 Speaker 4: Ha ha ha ha a. 00:02:01 Speaker 7: Shello, my friends from here in the Holy Land of Israel. I'm ya l estein with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, and welcome to the Chosen People. Each day we'll hear a dramatic story inspired by the Bible, stories filled with timeless lessons of faith, love, and the meaning of life. Through Israel's story, we will find this truth that we are all chosen for something great. So take a moment today to follow the podcast. If you're feeling extra grateful for these stories, we would love it if you left us a review. I read every single one of them, and if you're interested in hearing more about the prophetic, life saving work of the Fellowship, you can visit IFCJ dot Org. Let's begin. 00:02:51 Speaker 1: The sun was bleeding itself out across the western sky, turning the hills to rust and the clouds to bruises. The horses pulled hard, their flanks foamed and streaked with dust and red. Jehu stood tall in the chariot, one hand on the reins, the other clenched around a jawbone. He hadn't realized he was still holding the grin on his face, had not moved in hours, frozen somewhere between euphoria and exaucism. 00:03:25 Speaker 5: Behind him, the wind. 00:03:26 Speaker 1: Tore his cloak like it wanted him naked before God. And then a man called Jehu's eye. He was off the roadside trail where the stones gave way to a grove of terebinths. It was Johannadab, the holy Man, bent in prayer, still cloaked, serene. He looked like he belonged to another age, or at least another kind of story, the kind where people are holy and stay that way. He knelt in the dirt with quiet confidence. He didn't hear the chariot at first. He didn't smell the iron, or the horses, or the war God grinning behind them. But then came the voice, You there, holy Man. Johonadab turned startled. His brow was furrowed, eyes adjusting to the spectacle. There, framed in sunset and madness, stood Jehu, bare chested, splattered in blood, wheels, still dripping with Jezebel. The wind howled, as if trying to drag him down into shield. 00:04:39 Speaker 3: Are you Johonadab sign of brickab, devout among men, voice in the wilderness, camel hair in a world of silk. 00:04:48 Speaker 8: Ah, Yes, that would be. 00:04:50 Speaker 3: Me, God, God, Come climb up, brother, you shall be the errand to my Moses under like Sinai. Together, come ride with Jehu. You are a new king. 00:05:06 Speaker 1: Johanadab stood, dusting off his robe in a daze. He had heard the rumors of Jehu. The man was like a holy ghost wrenched into the wrong story, blinking at the sudden invitation into a war wagon. But there was something electric in Jehu's voice, some terrible magnetism, the kind of calling that makes your bones rattle even as your conscience runs screaming. 00:05:33 Speaker 8: Yes, I have heard that you seek to bring order to the land. My heart is with you and with the Lord. 00:05:42 Speaker 3: Except haha, that up up, Men of God, Let us fire prophets, ride together. Let the zeal of Yahweh scorch. 00:05:51 Speaker 1: They are The chariot groaned as Johanadab climbed on board. The ride lurched forward, wheels screaming whom pounding the dust like the war drums. For a moment, the monk looked exhilarated, eyes wide as the planes tore past them, the wind catching in his beard like banners of old. 00:06:13 Speaker 3: You see it, don't you, The rot, the Santa Mahap's legacy choking the land, his son, suckling idolatry from the cracked breast of Jezebel's ghost. And we, brother, we are the axe laid at the root of the tree. 00:06:31 Speaker 8: Yes, yes, righteousness must rain. Lord must be feared again. 00:06:38 Speaker 5: Oh he shall, my friend. 00:06:44 Speaker 3: He shall come. Now is the time for revolution. Ride beside me, witness what it means to cleanse a kingdom. 00:06:55 Speaker 1: Johonadam said nothing, but the grip he held on the chariot rail tightened until his knuckles went white. They arrived in Jezreel just as the town was exhaling its dusk prayers. Word had already spread of Jayhu's slaughter. The gates did not need opening. They had been flung wide the day before, and no one had dared shut them. Since Jayhu addressed the crowd like a prophet, the people gathered nervous, whispering wide eyed. Jayhu looked like a hero of old, but he was truly terrifying. 00:07:37 Speaker 3: People of Israel look upon me, and no, the Lord has kept his promise. The house that they have is falling like a dung, heaps of a blaze. What a question remains? 00:07:55 Speaker 1: He paced before them, arms spread wide, his voice our lower, teasing, as though he were. 00:08:02 Speaker 5: Safer in the secret. 00:08:05 Speaker 3: What shall be done with the remnants the sons of that cursed house, seventy of them. 00:08:15 Speaker 6: Crawling through Samaria like maggots in a dying ars. 00:08:21 Speaker 1: Gasps, murmurs, Johnadap tensed beside him, brows tightening. 00:08:27 Speaker 3: Shall we burn them alive, toss their mothers to the jackals? Shall we salt their fields and teach their children the taste of ashes? 00:08:40 Speaker 8: Or perhaps a letter, firm, godly letter. 00:08:45 Speaker 1: King Jayu turned eyes twinkling. He clapped the monk on the back so hard, in nearly not the wind from him. 00:08:55 Speaker 3: Yes, a letter, Yes, a scrawl dipped in will, wisdom and sealed with dread. Let us begin with that. 00:09:09 Speaker 1: The message arrived by courier before dusk, jay who stood beneath the gate where Jezebel had painted her face and cracked her skull the same gait. The crowd gathered again, drawn like moths to prophecy, or maybe just to blood. 00:09:27 Speaker 9: Hmm, let's see what they wrote. Dearest Lord Jay, who we are your servants. We will do all you ask. We will not crown another king. You do whatever is good in your eyes. 00:09:46 Speaker 1: He let the scroll fall. It landed in the dust like something rotten. 00:09:52 Speaker 5: Spineless worms. 00:09:55 Speaker 8: That sounds like surrender, Jay, who a victory without blood? 00:10:00 Speaker 4: Peace, There is no victory without blood. This sounds like men who wait to see which way the sword swings before they kneel. They serve me to day, but they served Aha yesterday. 00:10:19 Speaker 1: He turned a smile crept across his face. It didn't reach his eyes. 00:10:25 Speaker 5: I shall send them a stronger letter. It was dawn. 00:10:37 Speaker 1: Quiet, the wind rustled the gates of Jezrael. The people had returned, not because they were told, but because they sensed something was coming Jay, who stood once again beneath that cursed gate, his eyes on the road. And then they arrived, a line of men, silent dust covered their arms, strained beneath the weight of wicker baskets. 00:11:05 Speaker 5: They did not speak. 00:11:07 Speaker 1: They placed them gently in a heap at the gate, seventy baskets, and then silence until Jay, who gave the nod. The cloths were pulled back heads, seventy heads. The sons of Ahab row upon row of blank stairs and congealed blood, mouths frozen mid scream, eyes vacant, staring up at the same sky their father once defiled. The crowd recoiled, her child wailed. The merchant vomited. Johannadab could not speak, He could not breathe. 00:11:49 Speaker 5: His lips moved, but no sound came. 00:11:52 Speaker 1: Jay, who only nodded slowly, satisfied. 00:11:57 Speaker 5: You you tall them to do this. I told them what I'd do to them if they didn't. 00:12:09 Speaker 1: He stepped forward, lifted one of the heads by the hair, and turned to the crowd. 00:12:15 Speaker 3: Let's all who passed through this gates, remember, this is what obedience looks like. 00:12:27 Speaker 8: You you didn't have to do it this way. 00:12:32 Speaker 9: No I didn't. 00:12:36 Speaker 5: That's what makes it obedience. He turned to the people. 00:12:42 Speaker 1: Arms raised again, People armstraya. 00:12:48 Speaker 3: See how god fulfills his word? Not one prophecy fars to the ground. The house of a ham is nor more. Look, the sons of rebellion lie in silence. 00:13:06 Speaker 1: He pointed to the heads, as if they were trophies instead of butchered royals. 00:13:12 Speaker 3: Let all live under Heaven know to defy your way is to be forgotten, and to follow him. To follow him is to ride with me. 00:13:27 Speaker 1: The crowd cheered, but it was a hesitant cheer sharpened by fear. Johannadab stood still beside the chariot, and for the first time since climbing aboard, he did not answer when Jayhu called him brother. By the time the sun rose again, the blood had dried on the city gates of Jezrael. Flies swarmed the heads Jay, who wiped the sleep from his eyes with the same unwashed hand that had held his soared the night before, and turned towards Samaria. There were still embers smoldering in Ahab's dynasty, and he meant to stomp out every last one with the heel of divine wrath. The road to Samaria was long, straight and blessedly empty, until it wasn't Jay who and his men arrived in beth Acred the binding house. It was an old shepherd's stock turned ghost town after the wars, Jay who slowed the chariot there, letting the dust settle just enough to reveal the figures walking up the road toward them. Dozens of drunken nobles stumbled through the town. Johanadab sat up straighter and squinted. 00:14:48 Speaker 8: What's this now, pilgrims, perhaps a caravan of worshippers returning from sacrifice. 00:14:57 Speaker 1: The crowd neared the tall among them waved with the ease of a man unaware he's about to enter a completely different genre of story travelers. 00:15:09 Speaker 10: Fine morning, Hey, we're heading to Jizreel gathering the royal house. Uncles, cousins, sounds of Ahsaiah, a feastways. 00:15:20 Speaker 1: Jay, whose face lit up like God had just handed him a rapt gift. 00:15:25 Speaker 3: A family reunion. You say that's splendid, I bring gifts for the house of a Hijah. 00:15:33 Speaker 1: The men laughed and clapped each other on the backs. Jay, who stepped off the chariot, stretched his arms like he was about to give a toast. Then, with the grace of a dancer, pulled his sword in one smooth motion, Jay, who decapitated the man with a single swipe. The man's head fell to the ground with a sickening thud, as blood gush from his neck like a fountain. For a moment, there was only silence. One of the younger men opened his mouth to scream, But Jay, who's dagger flew before the sound came, lodging itself in the man's eye. The others scattered like a herd of startled cows, stumbling about Jay, who vaulted back onto his chariot, grabbed his bow and let off three arrows in quick succession, one through an eye, one through a mouth and its scream, and one that went clean through two men trying to run away, skewing them like figs on a spit. Johannadab stared horrified as Jay, who spun the horses in a circle, driving straight into the fleeing crowd and leaping off mid turn to slam a hatchet into the skull of a man trying to climb a tree. The well ran red before the last body hid the earth, Jay, whose loyal soldiers were quick to try on the fray, and within moments the entire company of would be partygoers was slain. 00:17:07 Speaker 3: Forty two. That was forty two people. Ahijah had quite the family tree up. I just pruned it. They were armed. They weren't even fighting. You. 00:17:25 Speaker 6: Yeah, it's all the same to me. They fought with their bloodlines, same as a have, same as Jezebel. The axe is laid to the root. Brother the acts does not ask the tree if it's ready, It similar strikes. 00:17:41 Speaker 1: Johanna Dab opened his mouth to speak, then thought better of it. He was learning slowly, tragically. Samaria was the final stage, Jay, who rode in slowly. The people lined the streets, afraid to cheer, too afraid not to The banners of Ahab still hung limp from the palace walls, Jay, who barely looked at them. Then the purge began. It was less a massacre and more a ballet of horror. Jay, who moved like a man, possessed his bow, sang with every drawstring, arrow streaking into eyes, throats, hearts. 00:18:30 Speaker 5: He kicked in. 00:18:31 Speaker 1: The door of a royal merchant's home and beheaded three sons with one swing, before turning to the father and asking if he'd ever dined at Ahab's table. He had, Jay, who's sword replied. He caught a fleeing steward by the collar and dragged him screaming into the street, tossing him through a window and following with a spear through the man's gut. As he landed, blood painted the walls of the city like murals. A man cried out, but I only sold sandals to his cousins, Jay, who didn't answer. He just severed the man's feet with his axe and kept walking. By the end of the day, smoke rose from half the buildings in Samaria, the gutters overflowed with crimson, and somewhere in the smoke, Jay who stood smiling, breathing hard, arms slicked with gore, his eyes glittering like broken glass. 00:19:33 Speaker 8: You were supposed to cleanse the land, You've salted it. 00:19:39 Speaker 5: I did what Elijah couldn't. 00:19:44 Speaker 9: I finished the story. 00:19:47 Speaker 5: Yes, you's adoriness. This is madness, mad madness, madness. Snow this. 00:20:00 Speaker 6: He is. 00:20:03 Speaker 5: Judgment. 00:20:05 Speaker 1: And with that Jay who dismounted his chariot and stormed into the inner courts of the palace, more carnage awaited him. Johanadab realized at that moment, Jay who was possessed by something other than righteous fury. The gates of the temples swung open with all the ceremony of a royal wedding, trumpets blaring, banners, fluttering, sun gleaming down on polished stones, scrubbed clean of the last regime's blood. Jay, who had orchestrated it all with theatrical flare, a Messianic Charlatan, plain, prophet, priest and king in the same bloodstained robe. Word had spread fast. Israel's new king had converted, not only converted, but reformed Jay, who was throwing a festival for ba a grand one bigger than Ahabs, more zealous, more devout, and the people came in droves. They came in woes and jewels, with sacrifices and flutes, incense and symbols. Baal's priests arrived first, strutting like roosters. Then the devotees, the temple dancers, the money changers, the priests of lesser idols. They packed into the temple like sheep, crowding a pen, singing their praises to Ba, to Moloch, to Asherah, to every rusted god who never whispered false power into the wind, Jay who played his part to perfection. He stood at the front and danced before the altar. The crowd went wild, priests through flower petals, women screwed their delight. John Dan watched from the shadows stomach journey. 00:22:07 Speaker 3: My beautiful ball lights, What a day, what a gathering, a temple full of glory. You look like a holy wild fire dressed in silk. And why have we gathered to honor the god of gods, the storm singer, the bull rider, the seed giver. Ball. Yes, Ball whose voice is thunder and whose breath brings rain? 00:22:45 Speaker 5: Am I right? They have served? 00:22:50 Speaker 3: Ball? Oh? 00:22:52 Speaker 6: Yes, but only as a servant serves a feast he cannot take. I I am a lover of Ball. 00:23:07 Speaker 3: I worship him with fire in my lungs and dancing in my bones. Ball who blesses the fertile wounds, who sends crops in give or take a season? Ball whose temple was filled with beauty, incense, music, and the occasional child sacrifice. But tradition, Am I right? Tradition? 00:23:40 Speaker 5: Hope? More laughter? Applause. 00:23:44 Speaker 1: One of the priests clapped a little too hard, not yet noticing the poison in the punch. 00:23:51 Speaker 3: Ball who never asked too much. Just your loyalty, your worship, your sons, your daughter's You're everything. 00:24:04 Speaker 1: The crowd murmured in agreement, still nodding, but with less enthusiasm. 00:24:09 Speaker 3: Now and in return, what did he give? Rain? Some times victory on occasion, cattle that didn't miscarry, if you baked, if you bowed, if you. 00:24:28 Speaker 1: Blend, The laughter began to falter, confusion stirring just beneath the surface, Jay who tilted his head. 00:24:38 Speaker 3: Poor poor Ball. 00:24:40 Speaker 6: He he needs so much, doesn't he? 00:24:46 Speaker 3: Blood? Applause, affirmation, like a god sized child throwing a tantrum. If you forgot to light the candle just just right, so clow. 00:25:00 Speaker 1: Oh, nervous laughter. Now a few began glancing at each other. Johanna Dab's eyes widened. 00:25:10 Speaker 3: Oh, how generous we had to be Ball, How often we reminded him we loved him, lest he sulk in his storm clouds and with all the rain. 00:25:21 Speaker 5: Again, that's why we. 00:25:25 Speaker 6: Let children bleed on his altars. Right, That's why we tossed women into the fire. 00:25:32 Speaker 3: Because Ball comes first. Ball knows best. 00:25:39 Speaker 5: The room stiffened ball, Ball does nothing but. 00:25:51 Speaker 1: Take He took one step forward, the torches dimmed. 00:25:58 Speaker 5: But Lord, the God of Israel, Yah way, he gives. 00:26:12 Speaker 1: Stillness. A ripple of dread passed through the temple. 00:26:17 Speaker 5: He does not hunger, He does not pout, He does not. 00:26:24 Speaker 6: Dance for your attention. He does not beg he does not barter. He is not entertained by your flutes. He is not fooled by your chance He is not amused. 00:26:38 Speaker 3: By your harlots. The Lord is a giver, and today he will give enterday he hears. 00:26:55 Speaker 1: Judgment Jay Who's gods? Where the people screamed and hands pounded against sealed exits. The crowd surged like cattles, sensing the slaughterhouse, and Jail drew his blade. He leaped from the altar like a lion, unchained his shadow, cast like a dagger across the stone. 00:27:20 Speaker 3: This is your waist, headlights s great. 00:27:24 Speaker 11: Deep lame, a whine as what the bredest dogs. 00:27:31 Speaker 5: It was not a battle, It was slaughter. 00:27:35 Speaker 1: He cut one priest down through the shoulder and spun, drove his elbow into another's nose, flung a dagger across the crowd into the throat of a dancer, then shoved a pillar over to crush three. 00:27:48 Speaker 5: As they fled. 00:27:49 Speaker 1: His men followed in, screaming waves, blades flashing, blood spray like perfume offered to a god who no longer accepted their kind of worship. 00:28:00 Speaker 11: This is the feast of bowl. Eat your hell, oh dog, have I donnoty? It is a festival of fire and true. 00:28:14 Speaker 1: He grabbed a priest trying to crawl under a bench and dragged him into the open by his ankle. 00:28:21 Speaker 3: Where is your God now asleep in his tomb, attending to the needs of his bowels? 00:28:31 Speaker 1: Or perhaps the sword swung his head fell, perhaps. 00:28:40 Speaker 5: Never existed that all except in the minds of selfish and self gratifying men. 00:28:55 Speaker 1: The Temple of Ball burned like a sacrifice, them curling into a sky that refused to weep. Jay who sat on a broken throne nearby, his sword rested beside him like a satisfied hound. Johanadab shaking, stepped over a corpse and approached slowly, as if the wrong movement might trigger another spree. 00:29:20 Speaker 5: And then he stopped. What are you doing there? 00:29:24 Speaker 1: He was, the King of Israel, squatting tunic, pulled up proudly, relieving himself atop the shattered remains of Baal's altar. 00:29:36 Speaker 5: Mark this shahonadad, this temple is no longer for worship. 00:29:43 Speaker 1: He stood, wiped himself with the hem of a Baal priest's robe, and tossed it aside. 00:29:50 Speaker 3: From this day, for let all Israel know the Temple of Ball is a latrine, a house of waste, an altar tour due. 00:30:03 Speaker 1: And so it was Johannadab turned away, his soul torn between awe and horror. Somewhere deep inside him, a voice whispered, he's gone too far. But louder still was another voice, deeper and darker, that whispered back, No, he's just getting started. And outside, the fire burned on. Years had passed, the fire was gone, the sword sheathed, the heads buried or rotted into the earth. Jay, whose reign limped toward its end, not with trumpets but with bureaucracy. Golden calves still stood in Bethel and Dan, polished like heirlooms. No one remembered the origin of He had done evil in the sun of Yahweh, and everyone knew it. Time had not broken Jay, who just hollowed him. His throne still stood in Samaria, surrounded by the very idols he once burned cities to raise. The golden calves of Jeroboam gleamed in the high places. The revolution was over. The rot returned, and Jay, who sat in a stone courtyard that stank of old oil and older regret. 00:31:30 Speaker 5: The sun no longer bowed to him. 00:31:33 Speaker 1: That's when Johonadab returned, thinner, now wrinkled, yes, but unbroken, he stood like a column in the ruins. 00:31:43 Speaker 5: I was told you were dead. Turns out it was just wishful thinking. 00:31:50 Speaker 8: I came to see what's left the men I once rolled. 00:31:53 Speaker 1: Beside Johonnadab looked around him and released a sigh, Jay who had become the very thing he swore to destroy. 00:32:03 Speaker 8: You didn't serve the Lord Jaho, not really. You served your rage. You heard the call of heaven and used to feed the fire in your own gut. You wore his name like a blade, but it was your own thirst you were quenching. You were supposed to be the Lord's instrument. It turns out you were just a man who loved the sound of his own sword. 00:32:30 Speaker 1: Jaeho said nothing because there was nothing left to say. Johannadab turned and walked away. Jay, who didn't call him back. He reigned for twenty eight years in Samaria. He tore down bow and bowed to a golden lie, because zeal without obedience isn't faith, it's ego wearing the robes of righteousness. The sun kept setting, and the king sat alone with nothing but idols for company and the echo of a voice that once called him brother. 00:33:17 Speaker 7: If your faith has been kindled by this podcast and it has affected your life. We'd love it if you left her review. We read them, and me personally, I cherish them as you venture forth boldly and faithfully. I leave you with the biblical blessing from numbers six IV Hashem vishmerechra yeah Heir hashempanave ele y sa hachempanavelera salon. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you. May he be gracious to you, Made the Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace. 00:33:58 Speaker 5: Amen. 00:34:00 Speaker 1: You can listen to The Chosen People with Isle Eckstein ad free by downloading and subscribing to the prey dot Com app today. This Prey dog comproduction is only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents. Steve Katina, Max Bard, Zach Shellabarger and Ben Gammon are the executive producers of the Chosen People with Yil Eckstein, edited by Alberto Avilla, narrated by Paul Coltofianu. Characters are voiced by Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvado, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan, Stephen Ringwald, Sylvia Zaradoc, Thomas Copeland Junior, Rosanna Pilcher and Mitch Leshinsky, and the opening prayer is voiced by John Moore. Music by Andrew Morgan Smith, written by Aaron Salvato, bre Rosalie and Chris Baig. Special thanks to Bishop Paulineer, Robin van Ettin, Kayleb Burrows, Jocelyn Fuller, Rabbi Edward Abramson, and the team at International Fellowship of Chris Steans and Jews. You can hear more Prey dot com productions on the Prey dot com app, available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. If you enjoyed The Chosen People with Yil Eckstein, please rate and leave a review,