Reflections on 2 Kings 10

2 Kings 10 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Ahab still had seventy descendants living in Samaria. So Jehu wrote a letter to each of the important leaders and officials of the town, and to those who supported Ahab. In the letters he wrote:
   
2. Your town is strong, and you're protected by chariots and an armed cavalry. And I know that King Ahab's descendants live there with you. So as soon as you read this letter,
   
3. choose the best person for the job and make him the next king. Then be prepared to defend Ahab's family.
   
4. The officials and leaders read the letters and were very frightened. They said to each other, "Jehu has already killed King Joram and King Ahaziah! We have to do what he says."
   
5. The prime minister, the mayor of the city, as well as the other leaders and Ahab's supporters, sent this answer to Jehu, "We are your servants, Your Majesty, and we will do whatever you tell us. But it's not our place to choose someone to be king. You do what you think is best."
   
6. Jehu then wrote another letter which said, "If you are on my side and will obey me, then prove it. Bring me the heads of the descendants of Ahab! And be here in Jezreel by this time tomorrow." The seventy descendants of King Ahab were living with some of the most important people of the city.
   
7. And when these people read Jehu's second letter, they called together all seventy of Ahab's descendants. They killed them, put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jezreel.
   
8. When Jehu was told what had happened, he said, "Put the heads in two piles at the city gate, and leave them there until morning."
   
9. The next morning, Jehu went out and stood where everyone could hear him, and he said, "You people are not guilty of anything. I'm the one who plotted against Joram and had him killed. But who killed all these men?
   
10. Listen to me. Everything the LORD's servant Elijah promised about Ahab's family will come true."
    
11. Then Jehu killed the rest of Ahab's relatives living in Jezreel, as well as his highest officials, his priests, and his closest friends. No one in Ahab's family was left alive in Jezreel.
    
12. Jehu left for Samaria, and along the way, he met some relatives of King Ahaziah of Judah at a place where shepherds meet. He asked, "Who are you?" "We are relatives of Ahaziah," they answered. "We're going to visit his family."
    
13. (SEE 10:12)
    
14. "Take them alive!" Jehu said to his officers. So they grabbed them and led them to the well near the shepherds' meeting place, where they killed all forty-two of them.
    
15. As Jehu went on, he saw Jehonadab son of Rechab coming to meet him. Jehu greeted him, then said, "Jehonadab, I'm on your side. Are you on mine?" "Yes, I am." "Then give me your hand," Jehu answered. He helped Jehonadab into his chariot
    
16. and said, "Come with me and see how faithful I am to the LORD." They rode together in Jehu's chariot
    
17. to Samaria. Jehu killed everyone there who belonged to Ahab's family, as well as all his officials. Everyone in his family was now dead, just as the LORD had promised Elijah.
    
18. Jehu called together the people in Samaria and said: King Ahab sometimes worshiped Baal, but I will be completely faithful to Baal.
    
19. I'm going to offer a huge sacrifice to him. So invite his prophets and priests, and be sure everyone who worships him is there. Anyone who doesn't come will be killed. But this was a trick--Jehu was really planning to kill the worshipers of Baal.
    
20. He said, "Announce a day of worship for Baal!" After the day had been announced,
    
21. Jehu sent an invitation to everyone in Israel. All the worshipers of Baal came, and the temple was filled from one end to the other.
    
22. Jehu told the official in charge of the sacred robes to make sure that everyone had a robe to wear.
    
23. Jehu and Jehonadab went into the temple, and Jehu said to the crowd, "Look around and make sure that only the worshipers of Baal are here. No one who worships the LORD is allowed in."
    
24. Then they began to offer sacrifices to Baal. Earlier, Jehu had ordered eighty soldiers to wait outside the temple. He had warned them, "I will get all these worshipers here, and if any of you let even one of them escape, you will be killed instead!"
    
25. As soon as Jehu finished offering the sacrifice, he told the guards and soldiers, "Come in and kill them! Don't let anyone escape." They slaughtered everyone in the crowd and threw the bodies outside. Then they went back into the temple
    
26. and carried out the image of Baal. They burned it
    
27. and broke it into pieces, then they completely destroyed Baal's temple. And since that time, it's been nothing but a public toilet.
    
28. That's how Jehu stopped the worship of Baal in Israel.
    
29. But he did not stop the worship of the gold statues of calves at Dan and Bethel that Jeroboam had made for the people to worship.
    
30. Later the LORD said, "Jehu, you have done right by destroying Ahab's entire family, just as I had planned. So I will make sure that the next four kings of Israel will come from your own family."
    
31. But Jehu did not completely obey the commands of the LORD God of Israel. Instead, he kept doing the sinful things that Jeroboam had caused the Israelites to do.
    
32. In those days the LORD began to reduce the size of Israel's territory. King Hazael of Syria defeated the Israelites and took control
    
33. of the regions of Gilead and Bashan east of the Jordan River and north of the town of Aroer near the Arnon River. This was the land where the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh had once lived.
    
34. Everything else Jehu did while he was king, including his brave deeds, is written in The History of the Kings of Israel.
    
35. Jehu died and was buried in Samaria, and his son Jehoahaz became king.
    
36. Jehu had ruled Israel twenty-eight years from Samaria.
    

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Jehu was God's instrument of judgment on the house of Ahab. We should not be mistaken, however, by thinking him a truly godly man. He knew he was carrying out the prophecies spoken against Ahab by Elijah and took pride in it, but he was also on his own crusade and no doubt thought he had God's blessing for all he did.

Chapter 9 describes Jehu's first wave of destruction on the house of Ahab. Chapter 10 tells of his next three waves of destruction, some of which were not of God's design. In the first wave Jehu killed Joram, the king, Ahaziah, king of Judah, and Jezebel, the king's mother. The second wave is described in the first 11 verses of chapter 10. This wave included the sons of Ahab. Jehu was rather crafty in the way he handled this phase of destruction. He sent letters to all those in charge of the 70 sons and told them to appoint a king from one of the sons and then "fight for your master's house." (10:3) In other words, defend them against Jehu's attack. Those in charge of the sons knew they didn't have a chance against Jehu so they wrote back "We are your servants, and we will do whatever you tell us. We will not make anyone king. Do whatever you think is right." (10:5) What Jehu thought was right was for each of those in charge of the sons to kill the son for whom they were responsible and send the head to Jehu by the next day. These orders were followed and Jehu had the heads all piled at the city gate.

The next morning he gathered the people at the gate and told them, "You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him. But who struck down all these?" (10:9) He gained the trust of the people by accepting responsibility for killing the king and proclaiming them innocent of any responsibility. With this trust he then had them believe that the death of the sons of Ahab was simply an act of God in which he had no involvement. Before he was finished with this wave of destruction, he went on to kill officials of Joram's administration along with close friends and priests. This was overkill which also left Jehu without experienced counsel in his role as king.

At the completion of this wave, Jehu set out for Samaria to execute the third wave of destruction. On the way he encountered an unexpected and unauthorized wave of destruction. He met an entourage of relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah on their way to "greet the king's sons and the queen mother's sons." This would also make them relatives of Ahab. Jehu took the liberty of killing this whole entourage - 42 people - not all of whom would have been relatives. Jehu was a bit too bloodthirsty.

Jehu's next wave of destruction was acted upon when he arrived in Samaria. This was not against the house of Ahab but against the worshipers of Baal. Though this destruction may have been to God's liking, there is no indication that Jehu was instructed by God to carry it out. He again used deception to gain the trust of the people, claiming that he would serve Baal even more so than Ahab. With this false claim he announced a solemn assembly for the worship of Baal. Word was sent throughout Israel for the gathering of "all the servants of Baal." On the day of the gathering he had all the servants of Baal dressed in the appropriate garments and made sure no "servants of the Lord" were present in the temple. Then he had his appointed men kill all those worshippers of Baal in the temple. Next he had all the implements of worship and the temple itself destroyed. He thus "eliminated Baal worship from Israel." (10:28)

This completed Jehu's destruction of the household and influence of Ahab. Because he had been faithful to carry out God's judgment on Ahab's house God rewarded him by allowing him to have a dynasty of four generations on the throne of Israel. But we are told that he did not turn completely to the Lord and did not "follow with all his heart the law of the LORD God of Israel." (10:30) God judged him for these sins by cutting off parts of Israel during his reign. He did not know peace while he was king.