2 Kings 10:1-36
1 And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to them that brought up Ahab's children, saying,
2 Now as soon as this letter cometh to you, seeing your master's sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, a fenced city also, and armour;
3 Look even out the best and meetest of your master's sons, and set him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house.
4 But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, Behold, two kings stood not before him: how then shall we stand?
5 And he that was over the house, and he that was over the city, the elders also, and the bringers up of the children, sent to Jehu, saying, We are thy servants, and will do all that thou shalt bid us; we will not make any king: do thou that which is good in thine eyes.
6 Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If ye be mine, and if ye will hearkena unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men your master's sons, and come to me to Jezreel by to morrow this time. Now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought them up.
7 And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent him them to Jezreel.
8 And there came a messenger, and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the king's sons. And he said, Lay ye them in two heaps at the entering in of the gate until the morning.
9 And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, Ye be righteous: behold, I conspired against my master, and slew him: but who slew all these?
10 Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the LORD, which the LORD spake concerning the house of Ahab: for the LORD hath done that which he spake byb his servant Elijah.
11 So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his kinsfolks,c and his priests, until he left him none remaining.
12 And he arose and departed, and came to Samaria. And as he was at the shearingd house in the way,
13 Jehu met with the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, Who are ye? And they answered, We are the brethren of Ahaziah; and we go down to salutee the children of the king and the children of the queen.
14 And he said, Take them alive. And they took them alive, and slew them at the pit of the shearing house, even two and forty men; neither left he any of them.
15 And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him: and he saluted him, and said to him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot.
16 And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD. So they made him ride in his chariot.
17 And when he came to Samaria, he slew all that remained unto Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed him, according to the saying of the LORD, which he spake to Elijah.
18 And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said unto them, Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu shall serve him much.
19 Now therefore call unto me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests; let none be wanting: for I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal; whosoever shall be wanting, he shall not live. But Jehu did it in subtilty, to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal.
20 And Jehu said, Proclaimf a solemn assembly for Baal. And they proclaimed it.
21 And Jehu sent through all Israel: and all the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that came not. And they came into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal was fullg from one end to another.
22 And he said unto him that was over the vestry, Bring forth vestments for all the worshippers of Baal. And he brought them forth vestments.
23 And Jehu went, and Jehonadab the son of Rechab, into the house of Baal, and said unto the worshippers of Baal, Search, and look that there be here with you none of the servants of the LORD, but the worshippers of Baal only.
24 And when they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings, Jehu appointed fourscore men without, and said, If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escape, he that letteth him go, his life shall be for the life of him.
25 And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in, and slay them; let none come forth. And they smote them with the edgeh of the sword; and the guard and the captains cast them out, and went to the city of the house of Baal.
26 And they brought forth the imagesi out of the house of Baal, and burned them.
27 And they brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day.
28 Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.
29 Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan.
30 And the LORD said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.
31 But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.
32 In those days the LORD began to cutj Israel short: and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel;
33 From Jordan eastward,k all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan.
34 Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
35 And Jehu slept with his fathers: and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead.
36 And the timel that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty and eight years.
2 Kings 10:1. Seventy sons, whose end was destruction, like the sons of Gideon, of Saul, and of David. The sure way to build up a house is equity, not polygamy. Jehu wrote letters. God gave him a high martial spirit to avenge the blood of his saints. Elevation to a great mind inspires dignity of sentiment, and majesty of style.
2 Kings 10:9. Who slew all these? He was careful to associate the citizens, as well as the soldiers, in the total excision of Ahab's house. It is rarely wise for kings to interfere with religion.
2 Kings 10:13. We are the brethren of Ahaziah, brothers, cousins, and kinsmen of the king, going to the grand fête on the recovery of king Jehoram. What an inquisition for innocent blood! Where can we find a parallel, except in the blood of the nobles and clergy of France, for the blood of the protestants visited on the third and fourth generation during the revolution of 1789.
2 Kings 10:15. Jehonadab, prince of his pastoral tribe, a faithful man to the religion of his ancient fathers, now rejoicing that the wicked were put down. Jehu honoured him as a prince, by taking him into his chariot. All men spontaneously hailed Jehu as the spark which ignites the powder.
2 Kings 10:22. Vestments. This last stroke fell on the priests; they were known by their robes.
2 Kings 10:23. Look that there be none of the servants of the Lord. There was a great enmity between the worshippers of Baal, and the servants of the Lord. Besides, Baal had no doubt his mysteries, as well as his worshippers, which might readily be distinguished by the favours they wore at festivals in honour of their gods.
2 Kings 10:27. A draught-house, a desecrated ruin, yet the grove stood.
2 Kings 10:32. The Lord began to cut Israel short; for Hazael conquered the north of Galilee, and all the coasts east of Jordan to the Ammonites. Hazael raised the kingdom of Damascus to greater power than it had ever known before.
REFLECTIONS.
This chapter opens with the God of vengeance riding gloriously in his car. Jehu, emboldened by the fall of two kings, and of Jezebel, whose judgment long slumbered; Jehu finding Jezreel the grand arsenal in his power, next summoned Samaria, the capital, and the strongest place in the kingdom, to surrender, and with an irony more intimidating than the appearance of arms. This place having unconditionally surrendered also, all the other cities submitted without delay. So with a slight carnage rather than a fight, he found the sceptre of Israel invested in his hands.
In the test of homage required of the elders of Samaria, we have a terrible trait of the characters of divine justice: it was to bring the heads of Ahab's seventy sons, which they piled in two heaps before the throne of justice in the gate of Jezreel; for the eastern nations have always made a vast parade of the heads of persons who may have fallen either by popular fury, or by the hand of justice. Probably when he first gave that order in haste, he had not the immediate recollection of Naboth and his sons being falsely accused at the bar, and instantly stoned in that city. But when he saw the heads, all came to remembrance, and the whole city could not avoid acknowledging the hand of God. In passing the gates that morning, and making his remarks on the fall of Ahab's sons, scarcely had he reached the pool where they washed, and the house where the sheep had been shorn, before he saw forty gentlemen approach in splendid dresses, little suspecting that they were coming as sheep to the slaughter. On interrogation, they pleaded privilege from dignity of birth. We are the brethren, said they, of Ahaziah, late king of Israel, and we are going to congratulate his brother Jehoram on his recovery from his wound. They were then told of the revolution, of the fall of their family, and of the mortal wound of Ahaziah king of Judah. Scarcely had their ears time to tingle, before they heard their own sentence, and saw the glittering weapons uplifted to begin the carnage. Thus more than a hundred persons of Ahab's house that day lay bleeding in Jezreel; and all the rest were exterminated perhaps in the course of the day. Surely God set a net for the feet of this family; not one of them escaped. How then can the wicked enjoy their sins, and secretly say the punishment shall never come.
Jehu having now purged the throne, next purged the altar. On arriving at Samaria he resolved to execute the letter of the law on all the prophets and priests of Baal; and as his religious sentiments were not yet known, he judged it the easiest way to bring them forward by proclamation for a great sacrifice, to make them fall in the very place where they had violated the Lord's covenant, and where they had perpetrated crimes which cannot be named. And though the artifice employed was an abuse of zeal; yet it ought to be recollected, that the people who so fell had most deeply participated in all the innocent blood which had been shed by Jezebel. Poor deluded multitude, little did they dream of the vengeance about to burst. The altar began to smoke, the temple was crowded, and all the multitude were about to enjoy the frantic dances and pleasures of the feast. But ah, that day the sword alone was doomed to feast; they themselves were to be the victims; and their temple, long the sanctuary of guilt, was to be their funeral pile. The cloud of smoke went up to heaven; the hill on which this house stood was converted into a burning beacon, to warn the whole land no more to apostatize from the God of their fathers. Oh that the multitude of giddy and forgetful people who forsake God, and riot in pleasure, would recollect that one day the supper of the great God shall come, and perhaps when as little expected as this crowd, shut up within the doors of their idol temple, expected the sword to violate their sanctuary.
While Jehu was proceeding with the army from Jezreel to Samaria, he was met with congratulation by Jehonadab. This early token of homage to the Lord's king was a prudent measure for the safety of his tribe and family. Jehu, on being assured of his loyalty, took him by the hand, and invited him to a seat in his chariot, that he might see his zeal for the Lord. Let us learn of this man to pay an early homage to the Lord Christ; let us approach him with a heart humble and contrite, that he may make it right by his grace. No man's heart is right in his sight, till it be filled with love, animated with holy zeal, and emulous to offer him the earliest homage of praise.
Jehu invited this man to see his zeal, and surely Elijah did not excel him in prompt and terrible measures for the extermination of idolatry. But Elijah's zeal was distinguished by devotion and justice: Jehu's by dissimulation and carnage. Elijah acted solely for God, and that his country might enjoy every covenant mercy. Jehu acted both for God and himself; and as soon as he saw the house of Ahab all dead, he neither removed the calves nor cherished the pure worship of the Lord. Learn, christian, to cleanse thy heart of every idol. Thy bosom sins, thy pleasing and profitable sins are to thee, what the calves were to Israel; and thy soul can never prosper while iniquity is indulged. Political considerations protected the calves. Thus the vain fear, lest the Israelites should become attached to the house of Judah by worshipping at Jerusalem, caused the whole nation ultimately to be lost.