2 Kings 10:15-17

B. JEHU AND JEHONADAB 10:15-17

TRANSLATION

(15) And he departed from there, and found Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him; and he blessed him, and said unto him, Is your heart right as my heart is with your heart? And Jehonadab said, It is. If it is, give me your hand. And he gave his hand, and he took him up unto 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) When he came to Samaria, he smote all that remained to Ahab in Sa maria, until he had destroyed him according to the word of the LORD which he had spoken to Elijah.

COMMENTS

Between Beth-eked and Samaria, Jehu happened upon the great Kenite chief Jehonadab, the founder of a remarkable sect of conservative Yahwists. Jehonadab was somewhat of an ascetic who required his sons to live in tents, to possess neither house, nor field, nor vineyard, and to abstain wholly from the use of wine (cf. Jeremiah 35:8-10). Jehu was anxious for the endorsement of this noted leader, and so he blessed him, i.e., greeted him, and inquired whether or not this zealous servant of the Lord was sympathetically inclined toward the revolution. Without a moment's pause, the Kenite chief cast his lot with Jehu, for he had chafed many years in the presence of Ahab's religious policy. Having received from Jehonadab a positive and enthusiastic endorsement, Jehu extended his hand to the venerable old man and took him up into his chariot. This action would at once honor the patriarch, and at the same time suggest to the populace that the two men were in accord with regard to the bloody anti-Ahab policy (2 Kings 10:15).

Jehonadab evidently approved of the measures already taken by Jehu, and the general hinted to him that further severe measures were about to be taken. These acts Jehu referred to as my zeal for the Lord. Though Jehonadab did not know exactly what Jehu had in mind, he must have had a good idea of what was about to happen. So being in agreement with Jehu's cause, the patriarch agreed to ride to the capital with the general. So they, i.e., Jehu and his attendants, made provision for Jehonadab to ride in the royal chariot (2 Kings 10:16). When they arrived in Samaria, Jehu slew all that remained of Ahab's house, viz., the daughters of Ahab, and the wives and perhaps families of the seventy sons already slain. This action fulfilled the word which God had spoken against the house of Ahab by the mouth of Elijah the prophet (2 Kings 10:17).