- 133-
The formal conspiracy against Joram, now hastily made, was immediately carried
out. At the proposal of Jehu, the city gates were watched, lest any fugitive might
bring tidings to Jezreel. Jehu himself, with Bidkar as his chief captain, in his chariot
(ver. 25), and attended by a "multitude" (ver. 17) - no doubt, of horsemen - rapidly
made his way to Jezreel. From incidental notices in the account (vers. 17, 30, 31) we
gather that the royal palace formed part of the fortifications of the town, - perhaps, as
in other places, that the palace was the only fortified part of Jezreel,^272 the town
straggling beyond, and lying, as it were, in the shelter of the palace fort, which would
occupy the height. Thus the "watchman on the tower of Jezreel" would really hold
that place of observation in the palace, and when "Jehu came to Jezreel," Jezebel
could address him from a window above, as he "entered in at the gate."
From the knoll - about 500 feet high, forming a low spur of Mount Gilboa - on which
Jezreel stands, two roads diverge, keeping close to Mount Gilboa. The one turns east
and south, and then sharply round the corner at Beth-Shean; the other crosses the
plain of Esdraelon, almost straight south to En-gannim ("the fount of the gardens,"
the modern Jenin), where the direct road leads to Samaria, but whence also we might
turn off eastwards to Beth-Shean and the Jordan. It is almost needless to say that it
was along the former of these roads that the watchman on the tower of Jezreel saw
Jehu and his company advancing at "mad" haste. For miles they must have been
visible on the road that led up to Beth-Shean. When the watchman announced their
approach to the king, Joram, in his false security, directed that a single horseman
should be sent to inquire what tidings they brought. As he reached Jehu, the rebel
general imperiously bade him join his troop. This movement also the watchman
observed and reported to Joram. If the dispatch of the first horseman may be
understood, that of a second one seems in the circumstances little short of fatuity.
By the time the second messenger from Jezreel had obeyed the orders of Jehu and
joined his companion, the troop was sufficiently near for the experienced eye of the
watchman to recognize, not indeed the face of Jehu, but that the driving of the
foremost chariot was like none other's than that of the bold, reckless chief captain of
Israel's host. When the watchman reported it to the king, this would probably
coincide with what had been his own idea from the first. A troop advancing from that
direction could only have come from the army in Ramoth-Gilead - probably to bring
tidings of some victory, or of the final retreat of the Syrians, or of proposals of peace.
The announcement that it was Jehu himself would tend to confirm such anticipations.
Accordingly Joram had his war chariot and that of Ahaziah hastily made ready, and
the two kings went to meet Jehu.
As we descend from Jezreel on the road to Beth-Shean there are on the east and
south-east of the city "rock-cut wine-presses on the rugged hills," marking no doubt
where "the portion of Naboth" and his vineyard had been. It was here that the royal
(^)