Tanach Thoughts

As a continuation of my recent post on the rise of Omri and the special trait of his house, I noticed that this is how Yehu killed the descendants of Achav: Divide and conquer. In Kings 2:9:21-24 , Yehu approaches both King Yehoram, son of Achav and King Achazyah, son of Atlayah, daughter or sister of Achav and Yehoram, son of Yehoshafat. It may be understood from the verses that Yehu first barged towards Yehoram, cursing him, as though he did not notice Achazyah. This makes Yehoram conclude that Achazyah was betraying him and shouts at him "Treason, Achazyah!" before he is slaughtered by Yehu. Yehu then gives chase to Achazyah and slaughters him as well ( ibid. 27 ). Next he slays the 70 other sons of Achav ( ibid. 10:1-11 ). Finally, he kills the 42 kinsmen of Achazyah ( ibid. 10:13-14 ). All of this spilling of blood was appranetly caused by one man. The various branches of the House of Achav could have taken him on, but they were ill-prepared and divided (in some cases, g...

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 happen...