10/21/2024
The point of view of Rabbi James Cohen on the similarity between King Jehu and Donald J Trump. Your vote for Donald Trump will be appreciated by most Bible scholars. -T. DeVol, Ph.D. Retired Quaker Evangelical missionary
Politics / Culture
July 03, 2019
By now, we’re used to hearing comparisons between President Trump and King Cyrus. Cyrus was an idol-worshipping king who lived 2,500 years ago, yet Isaiah prophesied that God would use him to restore the Judean exiles and rebuild Jerusalem, which he did (see Isaiah 44-45). In similar ways, evangelical leaders have suggested that Trump, who was hardly a Christian, would be used to help their cause.
But is there another biblical king to whom Trump can also be compared, namely King Jehu?
On December 15, 2018, Joel Pollak, an Orthodox Jew and senior editor for Breitbart.com, made this very comparison. He wrote, “In many ways, Trump is reminiscent of the biblical King Jehu, an outsider who was anointed to rule Israel and rid it of corruption. . . . Jehu also dispatched Ahab’s widow, the wicked Queen Jezebel, who had urged her late husband to persecute the prophets.”
He added, “Jehu continued his aggressive campaign to rid the kingdom of corruption. He ordered the ex*****on of seventy of Ahab’s sons, and used an ingenious ruse to slaughter all the remaining supporters of Baal, luring them to a temple by promising that he would also worship the idol and then ordering his guards to kill them. Though his methods were unconventional, Jehu earned the support of Jehonadab the son of Rechab, widely respected for his morals.”
Trump, then, would be reminiscent of a Jehu-like figure. He was the man who defeated Hillary Clinton, who was a Jezebel-type figure, being a pioneer feminist who stood against godly values.
Interestingly, more than one year before Pollak made these comparisons, Messianic Jewish author Jonathan Cahn made similar comparisons in his book The Paradigm: The Ancient Blueprint That Holds the Mystery of Our Times. But Cahn took them much further.
As summarized in a November, 2018 column, this was Cahn’s application of the ancient biblical texts. First, as in Ahab’s day, America was at a crossroads in the 2016 elections. Had Hillary Clinton been elected, “It would have sealed the Supreme Court for a generation. It would have ended religious liberty.”
Second, “Jehu was not a politician, and Donald Trump was not a politician. Jehu was a fighter. Donald Trump is a fighter. Actually, he fights with everybody!”
As Cahn explained, “Jehu was not a gentleman. Well? Jehu was kind of wild, kind of out of control, and you never knew what he was going to do next. Do I have to say anything? Jehu would come on the national stage suddenly and shake up the status quo, and so, too, with Donald Trump. . . .
“Jehu had not lived a godly life, and neither has Donald Trump. Now this warrior is used, despite himself, for God’s purposes in this moment.”
As for Jehu being “wild, kind of out of control,” Cahn pointed to 2 Kings 9:20. In that text, a watchman reporting on a rider coming to Samaria said that “the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously” (KJV).
Other translations render the last words with: “he drives like a maniac” (NIV; TLV; NRSV); “he drives like a madman” (CSB); he “drives wildly” (NJPSV); or, “he drives recklessly” (NET). Does this sound familiar?
Third, “Jehu the warrior will come head to head against the former First Lady. Then there will come a showdown.” So, too, with Trump and Hillary, whom also likened to a Jezebel-type, pioneer feminist figure.
Cahn sought to buttress his argument with further, detailed parallels, also likening Jehonadab to Pence.
What are we to make of such comparisons?
To be sure, they are nothing more than comparisons. And Hillary Clinton is hardly the same as Jezebel, a woman who actually slaughtered the prophets of Israel.
What does seem clear is this (and this holds true whether you love Trump or loathe him): An alpha male leader like Donald Trump will come into direct conflict with the radical, feminist spirit, the spirit of Jezebel. It cannot be avoided.
In short, the Trump candidacy, followed by the Trump presidency, has brought the worst of radical feminism to the surface.
In that sense, it has caused Jezebel to come out of the shadows and into the forefront.
In that sense, Trump is like Jehu, the man who drove “recklessly,” the leader who drove like a “madman,” like a “maniac.”
Just consider some of these disparaging headlines describing President Trump (with my emphasis in bold):
“DONALD TRUMP IS RECKLESS, ERRATIC AND INCOMPETENT, ACCORDING TO BUSINESS LEADERS AROUND THE WORLD” (Newsweek, June 23, 2017)
“Majority of voters think Trump is reckless, poll says” (Detroit Free Press, October 25, 2017)
“Poll: Majorities think Trump is reckless, profane and sexist” (The Hill, January 28, 2018)
“Trump’s not a liar. He’s a madman.” (Washington Post, May 29, 2018)
“War of words: Trump, visionary or madman?” (The Telegraph, May 25, 2018)
“A Virginia Democrat called Trump a 'narcissistic maniac.' And he's not the liberal in the race!” (CNN; June 5, 2017)
Shades of descriptions of Jehu!
Trump is a hated man, especially among liberal women. To them, he is the ultimate example of a powerful, sexist, abusive male. That’s why, at a massive women’s march immediately after Trump came into office, Madonna openly expressed her desire to blow up the White House.
Later that same year, comedienne Kathy Griffin held up the bloodied likeness of the president’s decapitated head. And month by month, witches have gathered to curse and hex him.
Shades of the spirit of Jezebel!
Just note this headline from December 21, 2018: “Witchcraft moves to the mainstream in America as Christianity declines - and has Trump in its sights.” (Jezebel was also associated with witchcraft and sorcery in the Bible.)
To be sure, there is a lot of female anger towards Trump because of his ugly, sexist past, including both alleged actions and recorded comments.
This is totally understandable, also causing many of these women to ask how any evangelical Christian could vote for him, support him, or work for him.
But the truth be told, some of the female anger towards Trump – really, it is outright rage – is due to the fact that he has become a pro-life champion, one of the more surprising developments in political memory. He is standing for God’s cause, just as Jehu did.
His Supreme Court appointees could threaten Roe v. Wade, which is one of Jezebel’s most carefully guided prizes. And these women will fight and scratch and claw to keep their “right” to abort.
A man like Trump, for better or worse, brings an angry, even hysterical, radical feminist spirit to the surface.
And that is why Jezebel is so enraged. Her agenda is being threatened. She is confronting her Jehu again.
(Excerpted and adapted from Michael L. Brown, Jezebel’s War with America: The Plot to Destroy Our Country and What We Can Do to Turn the Tide.)
