מלכים ב, פרק י׳, פסוק ט׳

Stepping out into the morning light at Jezreel, Jehu faces the silent, heavy judgment of the people following a bloody rebellion. To justify the violence, he employs a calculated rhetorical strategy, framing the recent assassinations not as a political coup, but as a divine mandate.

He begins by directly addressing the crowd's sense of moral superiority. By calling them righteous, he acknowledges their unspoken accusation: they view themselves as upright citizens and consider him wicked for rebelling against and assassinating the king [רש"י, מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. He does not deny his actions. Instead, he openly admits his treason, taking full responsibility for turning against his master [ביאור שטיינזלץ].

Having admitted his single act of treason, he immediately pivots to a far larger issue, asking who is responsible for the mass slaughter of the king's sons. He points out that he did not commit this act; rather, it was the respected leaders of Samaria who executed them without even attempting to fight [רד"ק, ביאור שטיינזלץ].

This fact serves as the foundation for a profound moral and legal argument. By law, a community is forbidden from handing people over to be executed unless those individuals are truly deserving of death. Because the remnant of Israel are fundamentally righteous and would not commit such an injustice, the leaders' willingness to carry out this mass execution proves that it was no ordinary political murder [מלבי"ם]. The ultimate message Jehu seeks to implant in the hearts of the people is that the decree to wipe out the royal family came directly from God. Anyone who participates in this act is simply fulfilling His Commandment. Through this logic, he makes it clear that neither he nor the people bear any guilt, and that they are entirely justified in the shedding of the royal family's blood [רש"י, רד"ק].