Jehu and the Agent of Vengeance

The Bible is ambivalent about Jehu. God directed Elisha and Elijah to appoint him the agent of vengeance against the evil house of Omri. The Hebrew kingdoms would spend the rest of their days in the dark shadows of more powerful states, at first Aram Damascus and Assyria, and finally Babylon. We follow Israel's house of Jehu for a century, then catch up with the events in the kingdom of Judah. It's a bumpy ride.