01_Dubovský_321_346 28/10/14 10:32 Pagina 324 324 PETER DUBOVSKÝ dynasty 9. Finally, it was not Omri but the people of Israel who eliminated Tibni’s followers. These reasons suggest that Omri’s as- cension to the throne should not be understood as a coup d’état. For this reason, Tibni is also not listed in the following table, and his removal from the throne is not considered a dynastic change. The last dynastic change to be evaluated is Jehu’s revolt and his extermination of Ahab’s dynasty (2 Kings 9–10) 10. Neither in this case can we speak about the stereotyped formula of a coup d’état. The narrative starts with the anointing of Jehu, and therefore the extermination of Ahab’s dynasty can be considered one of the “heroic deeds” of a new king as in the case of Omri. However, the narrative contains several elements that prompt an attentive reader to notice the literary motif of coup d’état. After an introduction de- scribing how the officers proclaimed Jehu king, the narrator char- acterizes Jehu’s ascension to the throne as a conspiracy (2 Kgs 9,14). After this narrative comment, the narration continues with a lengthy description of bloodshed. In 2 Kgs 10,9 Jehu himself de- fines his coup d’état as a conspiracy and assumes the responsibility for the death of the king Jehoram, using the verb hkn. Finally in 2 Kgs 10,36 the narrator informs us that Jehu ruled over Israel for 28 years ($lm), considering him a true king. In sum, 2 Kings 9–10 con- tain the basic elements of a coup d’état: Jehu conspired against the king (verb rvq: 2 Kgs 9,14; 10,9), he struck down the kings of Is- rael and Judah and other members of the royal family (verb hkn: 2 Kgs 9,24.27; 10,9.11.17.25), he killed them (instead of the verb twm the verb grh 11 is used: 2 Kgs 10,9), and finally Jehu became the king in Samaria (the verb $lm: 2 Kgs 9,1-13; 10,36). These elements in- dicate that, even though we cannot speak about the formula of coup d’état being used by them, the final redactors classified the story as a conspiracy narrated in the style of a story (Erzählung) 12. The following table relates the series of coups d’état to the dy- nasty changes: 9 In the case of Shallum, despite the fact that he reigned only for one month the résumés are still given (2 Kgs 15,13.15). 10 S. HASEGAWA, Aram and Israel during the Jehuite Dynasty (BZAW 434; Berlin – Boston, MA 2012) 12-35. 11 This variant is used in 2 Chr 24,25. 12 LONG, I Kings, 261.