(RNS) — He’s a type of Cyrus, the ancient Persian emperor. Or a modern Job, defiantly enduring diabolical persecution. It is Esther, placed by Providence “for such a period as this”. Now he is a David, an imperfect but anointed man of God…

Meet Donald Trump, biblical paragon.

Over the past decade, Trump’s Christian theologians, whom I discuss in my new bookhave made a hobby of connecting the famously profane, womanizing, greedy real estate mogul to biblical heroes and quotable Bible verses. The mix of biblical characters, all mirrors of Trump and his cosmic destiny to lead America, constitutes a pillar of his appeal among evangelical Christians.

More recently, however, these biblical allusions and correlations have taken a menacing turn. The latest iteration of this trope is Trump as the obscure character from the Hebrew Bible, King Jehu, an equivalence that could signal a tacit acceptance that Trump is provoking a wave of violence.

Almost as soon as Trump entered the political scene in earnest, charismatic prophetswhose evangelical followers believe they literally speak the word of God today and have made Trump a figure of biblical prophecy. The original comparison and perhaps still the most emblematic was highlighted by Alabama pastor Jeremiah Johnson just a month after Trump became a 2015 presidential candidate, associating him with Persian King Cyrus the Great.

After Cyrus and his Persian armies conquered the Babylonian Empire, Cyrus sent the Israelites, then captive in Babylon, home to rebuild Jerusalem. The prophet Isaiah refers to Cyrus as God’s.anointed“, noting that the Gentile king does not recognize the Hebrew deity. In Isaiah’s vision, Cyrus is a secular liberator, an instrument in the hands of God.

This Cyrus-Trump comparison has become one of the main evangelical rationalizations for supporting Trump in 2016: he is not a believer, nor even a good man, but he is the man of God. Johnson and the handful of other prophets who bet big on Trump’s victory have become celebrities in evangelical media. Charismatic prophets such as Lance Wallnau and Paula White then brokered the porcupine-like partnership between Trump and his still-loyal evangelical voting base by casting Trump as God’s chosen pseudo-biblical instrument to restore American Christianity.

Thus began a avalanche of such prophecies. Spurred on by his Christian supporters’ voracious demands for increasingly positive messages about Trump, hundreds, if not thousands, of charismatic evangelical prophets have entered the business of pro-Trump prophecy.

But since Harris became Trump’s adversary, the dominant biblical figure invoked in these prophetic circles has begun to shift away from Cyrus (or Job, Esther, or David) and toward Jehu, a frightening role model for the post season. -electoral.

Jehu ascended the throne of Israel after the infamous reign of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, two of the most loathsome characters in the biblical record, who had led the people of Israel to worship false gods, persecuting the rest pious Israelite and clashed against the famous prophets Elijah and Elisha.

The name Jezebel was once a common word for a scheming woman, but in charismatic circles, where images from the Hebrew Bible seem larger than life, it still has the force of law to describe sexual promiscuity, abortion, LGBTQ+ rights and other attributes of what they consider malicious feminism. Charismatic prophets have lamented for decades how the “Jezebel spirit” has invaded American culture, and Harris, as soon as he became the Democratic nominee, was almost instantly marked with name.

Jehu, anointed king after the death of Ahab, presides over the annihilation of Jezebel. He asks his servants to chase her from a high tower, then tramples her body with his horse. Wild dogs come to eat his corpse. The message of the story: Jezebel was so profane, so hateful, that all memory of her was eradicated.

“Queen Jezebel punished by Jehu” by Andrea Celesti, late 17th century. (Image courtesy of Wikimedia/Creative Commons)

A few weeks ago, tens of thousands of evangelicals gathered on the National Mall for a day of prayer, worship and prophecy to influence elections. After 10 hours of politicized religious fervorone of the country’s most respected charismatic Christian leaders, a California pastor and apostle named Ché Ahn, who was named this week photography at the center of a circle of Christian leaders laying hands and praying for Trump, stood up to declare the will of God: “Donald Trump is a Jehu type, and Kamala Harris is a Jezebel type. As you know, Jehu drove out Jezebel. … I decree in the mighty name of Jesus, and I decree by faith that Trump will win on November 5, that he will be our 47th president, and that Kamala Harris will be ousted and she will lose.”

Linking the vice president – ​​herself a Baptist Christian – to Jezebel in our moment of political violence borders on threatening her life.

Another provocation came when Trump gathered with its National Faith Advisory Board, its formal circle of evangelical advisors, on October 25, and Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, author of the best-selling books on prophecypronounced this statement on Trump from the stage:

President Trump…God has called you to walk in the pattern of Jehu, a warrior king. He called on Jehu to restore his nation to greatness. Jehu has come to the capital with the aim of draining the swamp… If (God) should now bring you to the height of power, it will be for his glory. This will be America’s last act and perhaps last chance for redemption.

Cahn and other prophets employing this image not only note interesting parallels between Trump and Jehu. Rather, they order Trump to operate according to the model of Jehu, a biblical scenario that must come to pass.

Note, for example, how Jehu “drained the swamp” of Israel, a story related in the Bible. second Book of Kings. Jezebel’s execution pales in comparison. After the defenestration of Jezebel, Jehu goes on a rampage, massacring all the children of Ahab and Jezebel, piling their heads at the city gates. He then murdered hundreds of Israelite citizens, including religious leaders who supported Jezebel. One of the most brutal and vindictive scenes in the Bible, Jehu’s vengeance is presented as the divinely ordained template for a second Trump term.

We might dismiss the Jehu comparisons as a metaphor if we hadn’t listened to Trump’s recent speeches at rallies. These biblical quotes echo Trump’s campaign rhetoric, which itself has taken a more vengeful and violent turn. He launched his 2024 campaign in declaring“I am your warrior. I am your judge. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed: I am your recompense. He closes it with promises of eradication”the enemy within» and calling his American adversaries “vermin.”

Like Jehu’s rampage against the old regime, Trump promises to purge government and society (with violence if necessary) of the evil forces his people hate and fear.

These biblical invocations reveal the accommodations that Christians have made to embrace a vulgar authoritarian populist. As the source of all truth and guide to evangelical belief, the Bible shapes the imagination of evangelical Christians. Making Trump a Jehu creates theological license for Christians to accept the violence promised by Trump.

If he wins this election, Jehu’s image signals to Trump’s Christian supporters that some real violence might be necessary to purge America of its demons. If he loses, particularly against Kamala Harris, Jehu’s model prescribes revenge and violence until the Harris regime is wiped out.

(Matthew D. Taylor is a senior fellow at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies in Baltimore and is the author of the forthcoming book “”The violent attack by force: The Christian movement that threatens our democracy. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)