Jehu continued with the clear out of the evil in the land. We are told that seventy sons of Ahab were still in Samaria (v1), so Jehu wrote letters to the leaders of Samaria, which was the capital of Israel, the rulers of Jezreel, the elders and those who were bringing up Ahab’s sons. The letter was telling them to take the best of Ahab’s sons and set him on the throne and fight for his master’s house (v3). The people were very afraid (v4) saying that two kings couldn’t stand against him, so how can we? They replied to Jehu saying that they would be his servants and do anything, but they wouldn’t make anyone king (v5). Jehu was obviously not very pleased, so, he instructed them to execute the sons of Ahab and come to him within twenty-four hours. They killed the sons, all seventy of them and put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel (v6,7). On arrival, Jehu told his men to put them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until morning (v8). It was a custom to put heads at the gates to deter rebels
Next morning Jehu asked who had killed the seventy, assuring them that the prophecy of Elijah would be completely fulfilled. He then slaughtered the rest of the house of Ahab including his great men, close acquaintances and his priests. None remained (v10,11). Jehu was committed to destroying the house of Ahab.
Jehu left for Samaria, on the way at Beth Eked of the Shepherds, he met Ahaziah’s brothers who had come to visit the sons of Ahab and Jezebel. Jehu commanded his men to kill them, and they did, all forty-two (v12,13).
Jehu continued his annihilation of Ahab’s family and in verses 15-17, he met Jehonadab son of Rechab. According to Jeremiah 35, Jehonadab was the leader of a group of people who who lived in the desert. They abstained from wine and depended solely on the Lord for sustenance. Known since as the Rechabites. They were very patriotic and separatists. They protested at the impurity and immorality of many in Israel and Judah, and the luxuries of the royal family. One commentator says that Jehonadab was a very honourable man, and another says that Jehu and Jehonadab were long-standing friends. No doubt a very good man to have on your side. Which seemed to be the idea behind Jehu’s question, which in other words was, ‘Are you with me or not?’ They shook hands and was taken into Jehu’s chariot. Then he said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD”.
They rode together in Joab’s chariot and coming to Samaria, he killed all who remained to Ahab in Samaria. He destroyed them all as the word of the LORD had been spoken to Elijah.
Jehu was very zealous but sadly, he was clearly showing his pride in his zeal.
We can be very zealous for God, but we must never be full of pride. We can do things in the name of the Lord, but we can still be unknown to God. (See Matthew 7:22 and Matthew 23.) King George VI called for days of prayer during the war, and Queen Elizabeth II appeared to be a believer in God, but if they had not repented and received the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord, they will be lost. I sincerely hope they are not.
Jehu gathered all his people together and told them to call all the prophets of Baal, servants and priests, all of them. He was going to make a great sacrifice to Baal and anyone who was missing would be put to death (v18-23). He announced that Ahab served Baal a little, but he was going to serve Baal much. Ahab served Baal much, so, his statement seemed to be strange. On the face of it, Jehu was turning away from serving God, but this was a deception. He was setting a trap for the followers of Baal. The worshipers of Baal fell for it, and they all came without exception. They must have thought that Jehu and Jehonadab had converted to their false god. Their king and the distinguished leader of the Rechabites. Jehu wanted to be sure that only Baal worshipers were in the temple of Baal, so he called for the followers of the LORD to leave if any were present and even told his servants to search and remove them.
He went in to offer a sacrifice to Baal, after which he commanded his men to kill them all (v24-28). If they let any escape, it would be their lives for the followers of Baal. They brought the sacred pillars out and burned them and broke down the pillar of Baal, tore down the temple, made by Ahab for Jezebel (1 Kings 16:32), and made it a refuse dump. He completely eliminated the worship of Baal, unlike the kings before him.
We must think that Jehu was a great, God-fearing king, in removing this idolatrous worship from the nation, but he failed to remove the idolatry of Jeroboam, who had set up golden calves in Bethel and Dan. Jeroboam who had caused all Israel to sin. Jehu was good but he hd his flaws (v29-31).
We still see people like that today who seem to speak for God but they posses another side to their character. We must be very careful not to be led astray by these hypocrites. The bible says that we will know people by their fruits, so we must check carefully. There are many false teachers who will lead us astray. We have many grave warnings in the Bible – 2 Peter 2:1,2 “But there were also false prophets…. Just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.”
Names come to mind to avoid – Tele-evangelists who want our money under the guise of peddling the gospel. Kenneth Copeland and the rest of the Word of Faith movement. Bethel School of supernatural and who also collect huge sums of money from so called worship songs, and lead many astray by their teaching. I know a young man who attended there and has done untold harm to a local church, especially our own grandchildren.
Jehu obeyed God up to a point but not completely. He did not follow the LORD God with all his heart. One commentator has said, ‘Jehu showed that he did not live a life of fellowship with God. He was a success in one regard, but a successful failure. “How terrible a warning is the story of this man – that it is possible to be an instrument in the hand of God and yet never be in fellowship with Him.”’
When the land of Promise was apportioned to the Israelites’ twelve tribes, they occupied land for 600 years on the west and on the east side of the Jordan. The tribes of Gad, Reuben and Manasseh occupied the land east of the Jordan and in those days the LORD began to cut off parts of Israel. Hazael king of Syria conquered all the territories on the east of the Jordan, which included the lands of Gilead and Bashan (v32,33).
We revert to a summary of the acts of Jehu (v34-36) which we are told are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel, which we have no copies. He reigned over Israel in Samaria for twenty-eight years. He was buried in Samaria. We are only told about the incidents at the beginning of his reign, nothing is known about the later years, he was considered the best of a bad lot. Jehoahaz his son reigned in his place
