Jezebel evidently painted her eyes and adorned her head (v. 30) to receive Jehu. Unwittingly, or perhaps deliberately,59she prepared herself for her own death. At least one interpreter believed she was trying to seduce Jehu.60Her greeting to Jehu may have been a sarcastic, derogatory threat (v. 31).61She asked, "Is it peace?"as the two horsemen and Joram had (vv. 17, 19, 22). However she meant, "Have you established peace (by assassinating the king)?"She implied he had not by calling him Zimri. Zimri was the rebel who had assassinated his king, Elah, only to die seven days later at the hand of Jezebel's father-in-law, Omri (1 Kings 16:9, 18-19). Jezebel implied that Jehu would suffer a similar fate. This interpretation seems better than that Jezebel saw Jehu as a rebel but complemented him on being the one who pruned Omri's dynasty.62"Zimri"may have become synonymous with "traitor"by this time.63
In response to Jehu's question, "Who is on my side?"a few officers (Heb. saris) who acted as harem attendants threw Jezebel out of her upper-story window. The way Jehu treated Jezebel's body shows his complete lack of respect for her. Rather than mourning her death, he feasted. He fulfilled Elijah's prophecy of how God would end her life (1 Kings 21:23). She who had ordered the murders of Naboth and his sons died on the very ground she had stolen from them. This was the same plot of ground where Jehu had thrown Joram's corpse (vv. 24-26). Yahweh and the godly people of Israel shared Jehu's lack of respect. Jezebel had been responsible for much of the apostasy, wickedness, and consequent divine discipline that had plagued Israel for over 30 years. As always in Kings, the writer recorded the type of death a person died to document God's faithfulness in blessing the obedient and cursing the disobedient.64
When Jehu occupied Jezreel, he had not yet established himself as Israel's king. Jezreel was only a secondary residence of Ahab's royal family after Samaria.65
