Jehu the son of Nimshi was anointed king over Israel by a servant sent by Elisha the prophet. God had instructed Elijah to anoint Jehu to overthrow the house of Ahab and to purge Israel of Baal worship. Jehu was a flawed and brutal man who functioned as a kind of savior by destroying the house of Ahab and nearly exterminating Baalism in Israel. He killed King Joram of Israel, King Ahaziah of Judah, Jezebel, Ahab's seventy sons, and all who remained of Ahab's house along with their priests and close associates. He also massacred the worshippers of Baal after deceiving them into gathering at the temple of Baal. Jehu acted swiftly and decisively with extreme and violent energy. He showed no mercy and felt no guilt about murder. God stated that Jehu had done well in carrying out what was in His heart regarding the house of Ahab, and therefore Jehu's sons would sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation. However Jehu did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. He failed to restore true worship of the Lord. As a result his actions left Israel in weakness and defeat. Hazael of Syria conquered large portions of Israelite territory and Jehu was forced to pay tribute to the king of Assyria. His salvation for the nation was vengeance without righteousness.

Jehu was anointed king over Israel to strike down the house of Ahab and purge Israel of Baal worship and the depredations wrought by Ahab and Jezebel. God directed that Jehu would kill those who escaped the sword of Hazael. Jehu conspired against Joram, drove furiously to Jezreel, and shot Joram between the arms with an arrow that came out at his heart. Jehu ordered the beheading of Ahab's seventy sons and killed all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel along with Ahab's great men, close acquaintances, and priests. Jehu slaughtered forty-two brothers of Ahaziah who had come to greet the sons of the king. Jehu killed all who remained to Ahab in Samaria. Jehu massacred the worshippers of Baal, destroyed the temple of Baal, and redeveloped the site as a public latrine. However Jehu did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. The Lord said that because Jehu had done well in doing what is right in His sight and had done to the house of Ahab all that was in His heart, Jehu's sons would sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation. Yet Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart. In those days the Lord began to cut off parts of Israel, and Hazael conquered territory from the Jordan eastward. Jehu's kind of salvation is all vengeance and no righteousness. Jehu saved Israel from Ahab and Jezebel and from their idolatries, but he left the vacuum that remained afterward empty.

Jehu fulfilled God's prophecy on the house of Ahab through the massacre at Jezreel. The terrible massacre of the family, friends, prophets and hanger-ons of the wicked Ahab, by which Jehu ascended to the throne, was itself a horror and called for judgment too. Although God passed over Jehu himself because he was God's tool in judging Ahab, God indicates in this prophecy that Jehu's descendants, the house of Jehu, will be judged.