Riding Like the Riding of Jehu
A Poem
“Who is that rider riding hard?”
Said Joram to his watchman guard.
“Tis Jehu’s riding, ‘least it seems
To shake the rafters and the beams!
The rafters and the beams!
The message rider that we sent
Has not returned from whence he went.
The second also, when he came,
has turned and followed in the train.
He followed in the train!”
The watchman spoke thus to his lord.
The king said, “Make, with mare and cord,
My chariot prepared to ride
To see this Jehu’s peace or pride,
This Jehu’s peace or pride!”
The northern king rode out as well,
These sons of wicked Jezebel;
To Jehu then they asked in woe,
“Is this your ride for peace, or no?
Your ride for peace, or no?”
“‘What peace?’ Is that a riddle, King?
What peace is there that I could bring?
What peace? O peace… a word bizarre!
When all your mother’s whorings are!
When all her whorings are!”
Then Jehu raised and bent his bow.
King Joram cried and turned to go:
“This, Ahaziah, is a raid!
Betrayed, Ah, treachery! Betrayed!
Ah, treachery! Betrayed!”
But Jehu’s deadly fletchéd shaft
Sought out its place in Joram’s aft.
Between his shoulders, through his vest,
The arrow exited his chest.
It exited his chest!
When Ahaziah saw the zeal
Of Jehu taking no appeal,
By way of Beth-haggan he fled,
But Jehu’s riders shot him dead!
The riders shot him dead!
Then Jehu, having two kings slain,
Rode on to challenge, of the twain,
The mother who had taught them ill.
He rode to castle Jez-re-el!
He rode to Jez-re-el!
But Jezebel, the crafty queen,
Looked out her window at the scene.
She had a thought and stepped away.
She thought her face looked awful gray,
Her face looked awful gray!
Within her room, she took a box
Of makeup, gold, and precious rocks.
She used her antimony dyes
To paint her wicked, wand’ring eyes,
Her wicked wand’ring eyes!
Those witching eyes, so proud and sly,
Looked down at Jehu, drawing nigh,
And when he passed within the gate,
She spoke to him with subtle hate,
She spoke with subtle hate:
“O Jehu, look upon my face.
Can peace within you have a place?
You Zimri, who has slain your lord,
What peace or rest can you afford?
What peace can you afford?”
But none of these her words could bend
The course of Jehu from its end.
His flaming zeal no winks could quell;
He came to kill queen Jezebel,
To kill queen Jezebel.
Up to the window Jehu cried,
“Who is within and on my side?!”
Two eunuchs looked, or maybe three,
To Jehu for his bold decree,
For Jehu’s bold decree.
Then Jehu shouted, “Throw her down!”
So from the walls of Jezre'l town,
Queen Jezebel was headlong cast,
And, neath the hooves of horses, passed.
To doom she swiftly passed!
This poem is based on the events of 2 Kings 9:16-33, when the justice foretold by the prophets of God against the house of Ahab is realized.
It is to be noted that while Jehu was a true instrument of Divine justice on the house of Ahab, the house of Jehu was later threatened by God for its own sins in the first chapter of the prophet Hosea.
If this poem seems to delight in the destruction of sinners, it does this only insofar as it rejoices in Divine Justice, not hating sinners according to their nature but according to their sin, where the “desire of the wisher is not referred to the man’s punishment, but to the justice of the punisher, according to Psalm 57:11: “The just shall rejoice when he shall see the revenge”” (St. Thomas, ST II-IIae Q25.A6).
Thank you for reading!