Elijah (41 page)

They were halfway across the plain when the sirocco hit. The eastern wind poured over the edge of the plateau, marking its approach with twisting devils of red, spiraling dirt. The temperature rose rapidly, so quickly that the prophets felt their breath sucked away. They turned their backs against the onrush. The dust-filled wind attacked their nostrils, drying the membranes, making breath itself painful. The whirling wind snapped their clothing furiously. They shut their eyes against the wildness and pulled the ends of their turbans over their faces.

As the hot wind pulled the loose soil upward into its ever-thickening cloud, Elisha reached his hand toward his master. Elijah was not there. The servant spread his hands across his face for protection. Looking through the slits between his fingers, he turned full circle to search for his friend. The sound of a roaring wind pulled his eyes upward. In the dim, red-dirt sky Elijah’s form mounted into flaming chariots drawn by flaming horses. The wheels were circles of fire, the carriages were rings of fire, the traces were streams of fire. The horses’ manes were shooting flames, their thrashing hooves were flailing fire, their flashing eyes were furnace coals. The sky was filled with them, with chariots and horses, mounted by fiery angels, pulling at fire-streaked reins.

Elisha screamed at his master. “My father, my father.” His voice fought through the wind. “I see them! The chariots and horsemen of Israel! I see them!”

The red-dirt sky tore at Elisha’s eyes. His hand held back its fury only for a moment. His tears fought against the siege of dust, and he could see no more. Still screaming at the sky, he fell to the ground and crouched his face into his knees, away from the wind.

The worst was over in a few minutes, though the hot sirocco wind still blew the desert dust with vengeance and wrung all moisture from the air. The dirty sky above held like a fog over the land. With his turban still wrapped around his face, he wiped his eyes and looked around. A dark, dust-covered cloth lay tangled on a bush a few steps away. He walked to it. Carefully, he extracted Elijah’s mantle from the thin branches and shook the loose dust into the wind. He placed it over his shoulders and turned back toward the Jordan.

Epilogue

Jehoram reigned for twelve years. He was an able king, but not as competent as his father. War was the pattern of his rule. The trouble with Syria continued, while Mesha of Moab took advantage of circumstances to capture much of Israel’s territory that lay east of the Jordan.

Elisha became the most significant prophet in Israel. His fame spread beyond Israel’s borders, and especially to Syria. He was aggressive, sometimes harsh, and heavily involved in the politics of the day. He established a school for prophets that became both community and seminary to them.

The prophet anointed Hazael to be king of Syria, in fulfillment of Elijah’s charge, but he wept when he performed the act. He knew well the grief Ben-hadad’s successor would bring to Israel. Hazael returned to the ailing Ben-hadad, smothered him with a wet blanket, and claimed the throne.

Jehu’s anointing was postponed, since Jehoram showed some sympathy, perhaps mainly through political motives, for the Yahwist reforms. But Jezebel still was Queen Mother and a power in Israel. So long as she lived, Jehoram’s efforts could only be token, whatever his motives. At last, while the king recovered in Jezreel from wounds inflicted in yet another battle for Ramoth-gilead, Elisha sent one of his prophet sons to the battlefield to anoint Jehu.

The commander quickly was accepted by the officers under him. He instructed them not to allow anyone to get word to Jezreel. With a troop of chariots, he raced madly for the summer palace to carry out his coup. Jehoram spotted the speeding company while they were still a good way off. He sent a horseman to determine the nature of the party. The horseman joined with Jehu, and the next horseman sent out did the same. Jehoram himself then went to meet the company, but by that time Jehu was near Jezreel. They met in Naboth’s field.

Jehu’s accusations were stern. He accused Jehoram of allowing Jezebel to continue her obscene idol worship. The king, aware of Jehu’s intentions and almost unprotected, tried to escape. Jehu shot an arrow through his heart. He commanded his men to leave the body where it lay, so to fulfill Elijah’s prophecy. As soon as the troops left, wild dogs tore into Jehoram’s body.

The new king rode quickly to the palace in Jezreel. News of the coup had reached Jezebel, and she leaned from a high window to shout her imprecations at the victorious Jehu. Ignoring her, he called out for any who supported his cause. Some eunuchs who attended the queen looked out from a window to shout their allegiance to Jehu. He commanded them to throw her out of the window. They grabbed her with a vengeance and hurled her screaming to the pavement. Her body slammed onto the stones with such force that blood spattered onto the wall on one side and on the horses’ legs on the other. Jehu reared his horses and guided their thrashing hooves to the queen’s unconscious body. In a moment she was unrecognizable.

Jehu went into the palace to eat the necessary communal meal at which the court officials would have to determine their allegiance. Sometime later, he gave the command to bury the cursed woman, since she was a king’s daughter. The men quickly returned, however, to inform Jehu that Jezebel’s body had been torn to shreds by wild dogs, her clothing and bones ripped apart and carried away by the snarling beasts. Nothing remained of her but her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands.

The new king moved quickly to consolidate his reign. As was the practice in that day, he slaughtered every kinsman of Ahab’s, seventy of whom were royal princes, and every person considered a close friend to the royal family. Then he attacked Baalism with a fury. As a ruse, he announced a great sacrifice to Baal, so important that any Baal priest or minister who did not attend would be killed. Then, once the priests were gathered in a single large temple, Jehu had them slaughtered mercilessly.

The people were tired of the policies of Ahab and his successors. They rallied with enthusiasm to the new king, thrilled to claim a king once more who had the endorsement of the prophets. Jehu ruled for twenty-eight years, and his dynasty lasted for three generations after him.

Even with all the efforts of Jehu, Elisha, and their contemporaries, Baalism was not beaten. It remained a force in Israel, rising and falling in repute according to the sympathies of the kings, until the final destruction of the nation by Assyria in 721 B.C. Moreover, the practices of commerce and politics released by the Baal emphases permeated much of the life of Israel, even within the worship of Yahweh itself. Those emphases, the later prophets claimed, were the seeds of the final destruction of the nation. But through the almost single efforts of Elijah, the back of the Baal religion was broken. Never again did it threaten the religion of Yahweh with extinction.

And so, because of Elijah’s single-minded commitment to his God, Yahweh worked through the genius of Israel to give to the world an ethical code that rose head, shoulders, chest, and waist above anything the world had known.