2 Kings 9:30-37: a reflection

30When Jehu had come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her eyes, and adorned her head, and looked out at the window. 31As Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, “Do you come in peace, Zimri, you murderer of your master?” 32He lifted up his face to the window, and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked out at him. 33He said, “Throw her down!” So they threw her down; and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses. Then he trampled her under foot. 34When he had come in, he ate and drank. Then he said, “See now to this cursed woman, and bury her; for she is a king’s daughter.” 35They went to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull, the feet, and the palms of her hands. 36Therefore they came back, and told him. He said, “This is the LORD’s word, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘The dogs will eat the flesh of Jezebel on the plot of Jezreel, 37and the body of Jezebel will be as dung on the surface of the field on Jezreel’s land, so that they won’t say, “This is Jezebel.”’”

The end of Jezebel, who had given her life to wickedness and the persecution of God's prophets, comes in a striking scene. Hearing that judgment was approaching, she paints her eyes and adorns her head and looks out the window, meeting her end in outward finery. But the adornment could not save her; her end came as God's word through Elijah had foretold. There is a bleak lesson here about a life given to wickedness and outward show: Jezebel had spent her years in evil, and even at the end she was occupied with outward appearance, painting her eyes; but neither her wickedness nor her adornment could avail her. A life given to wickedness comes to an empty end, and the outward show that so occupies such a life cannot save it. All the years of evil, all the attention to appearance, came to nothing. To give our lives to wickedness and outward show is to build on what cannot last or save. A life spent in evil and appearance ends empty, whatever its outward finery.

Notice the emptiness of Jezebel's end. She had given her life to wickedness, to the pursuit of power by evil means, to the persecution of God's people; and even facing her end, she was occupied with her appearance, adorning herself. But neither the years of wickedness nor the outward show could avail her; her end came as foretold, and all that she had lived for came to nothing. This is a bleak but instructive picture of a life given to evil and to outward appearance: it ends empty, for it was built on what cannot last or save. The power sought by wickedness, the appearance so carefully maintained, could not preserve her. A life spent in wickedness and preoccupied with outward show has nothing solid to rest on at the end. All such a life amounts to is exposed as empty when the end comes. This is a warning against building our lives on wickedness or on outward appearance, neither of which can finally avail. What we give our lives to matters; a life given to evil and show comes to an empty end. The finery that occupies such a life cannot save it.

That is worth taking to heart, for a life given to wickedness and outward show comes to an empty end, and we do well not to build our lives on such things. We can give our lives to the pursuit of things by wrong means, or become preoccupied with outward appearance, as Jezebel gave her life to wickedness and was occupied with her adornment even at the end; but neither wickedness nor outward show can finally avail or save. A life built on such things comes to an empty end. What we give our lives to matters. Do not build your life on wickedness or on outward appearance, which cannot last or save; a life given to such things comes to an empty end, as Jezebel's did. Do not give your life to wickedness or to outward show, which cannot finally avail or save you, as Jezebel, who had spent her years in evil, painted her eyes and adorned herself even at the end but could not escape the end that came as God's word had foretold; for a life given to evil and preoccupied with outward appearance is built on what cannot last or save, and comes to an empty end whatever its finery, so that what we give our lives to matters greatly, and it is folly to build on wickedness or appearance rather than on what endures.

Lord, the end of Jezebel, who had given her life to wickedness and the persecution of your prophets, comes in a striking scene. Hearing that judgment was approaching, she paints her eyes and adorns her head and looks out the window, meeting her end in outward finery. But the adornment could not save her; her end came as your word through Elijah had foretold. There is a bleak lesson here about a life given to wickedness and outward show: Jezebel had spent her years in evil, and even at the end she was occupied with outward appearance; but neither her wickedness nor her adornment could avail her. Show me the emptiness of Jezebel's end. She had given her life to wickedness, to the pursuit of power by evil means, to the persecution of your people; and even facing her end, she was occupied with her appearance. But neither the years of wickedness nor the outward show could avail her; all that she had lived for came to nothing. This is a bleak but instructive picture of a life given to evil and to outward appearance: it ends empty, for it was built on what cannot last or save. A life spent in wickedness and preoccupied with outward show has nothing solid to rest on at the end. This is a warning against building my life on wickedness or on outward appearance. What I give my life to matters. Take that to my heart, for a life given to wickedness and outward show comes to an empty end, and I do well not to build my life on such things. I can give my life to the pursuit of things by wrong means, or become preoccupied with outward appearance, as Jezebel did; but neither wickedness nor outward show can finally avail or save. Keep me from building my life on wickedness or on outward appearance, Lord, which cannot last or save, as Jezebel's finery could not save her from the end that came as your word had foretold; help me build instead on what endures.