The Plot To Take The Crown

Recently I stumbled upon a site that appears to have been some sort of high school Tanach project in Israel. In the site, the writers, apparently students, discussed the story of Achiyah Hashiloni anointing Yerov'am as though it was a criminal trial. They pointed fingers at Achiyah for plotting with Yerov'am to take over the United Israeli Kingdom and creating an Efraim-based government. I actually thought they made a fascinating point: From a secular perspective, it certainly seems as though Achiyah, from the old Israeli religious capital Shiloh, situated in Efraim's tribal territory, wanted to return the old glory of Efraim by seizing control of the kingdom through the anointing of Yerov'am to kingship.

The Tanach provides us the religious/spiritual background, but now I wonder whether there were people in that generation who may have not been aware of all of the spiritual processes that took place and, as bystanders, may have thought that this is exactly what happened: A good old-fashioned coup.

Which brings me to a thought that I had today: Perhaps that's what went through the head of Elisha when he wanted to anoint Yehu!

Consider this: There are disagreements to which tribe Elisha belonged to because there are disagreements on where Avel Mecholah was situated, but some say he was of Menashe. Similarly, there's no concrete evidence for Yehu's tribe, but an argument for Menashe can be made: His grandfather was named Nimshi, which in Hebrew is the same letters as Menshi, meaning: of Menashe. Also, Elisha's father was named Shafat and Yehu's was named Yehoshafat, similarly to the gemara saying that Amotz and Amatzyah were brothers. Finally, it would make sense that a man of Menashe would bring about the end of the line of Omri and Achav who were of Efraim. Someone had to knock some sense into the insolent younger brother, and who better than the older brother?

So if this is all true, then a bystander might have viewed the anointing of Yehu by Elisha as yet another intratribal coup.

Solution: Elisha sends his assistant, who some say was a young Yonah, to anoint Yehu instead of him. It turns into a humorous episode, with the assistant doing to Yehu the Tanachic equivalent of smashing a cream pie on someone: He just pours the oil on him without saying anything and runs off, leaving Yehu dripping. Then the other generals come and say, Hey, what happened to you?

Jokes aside, perhaps this is the reason that Yonah went instead of Elisha. Also good training for when he became a prophet.