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.
AHAB'S SONS KILLED
(vv.1-11)
Ahab had 70 sons in Samaria and Jehu was purposed to put them to death also. He chose the method of demanding by letter that the rulers and elders of Israel should choose one of Ahab's son as king to fight against Jehu (vv.1-3). The rulers were terrified by this proposal, for they knew Jehu would easily defeat them. They decided therefore to be the servants of Jehu and sent word to him that they would not make anyone king, but would submit to his authority (vv.4-5). Jehu took full advantage of this situation and wrote to them again, telling them to bring the heads of the sons of Ahab to him the next day. Thus Jehu was spared the work of killing them himself, for the rulers cut off the heads of these 70 sons and brought them in baskets to Jehu (vv.6-7).
Jehu gave orders to lay the heads in two heaps until morning (v.8), at the entrance of the gate. This was the most public place in the city, where all who entered or left the city would see them. Jehu did not shrink from causing such a display. One would think at least that the heads should have been buried, but Jehu went out in the morning and said to the people, "You are righteous. Indeed I conspired against my master and killed him; but who killed all these?" (v.9).
The answer was that they were killed because of Jehu's word, but Jehu implicated the people in this slaughter in order to unite them all under his authority. But he added what was certainly true, that nothing would fail of all that the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab, for He had already done what He had spoken by Elijah.
Not only Ahab's relatives were included in the purge of Jehu, but the great men in Ahab's government and other close associates and idolatrous priests (v.11).
AHAZIAH'S BROTHERS KILLED
(vv.12-14)
Jehu then, going to Samaria, met 42 men whom he asked who they were. They were the brothers of Ahaziah, the king of Judah, who had recently been killed, and they were coming to greet others of their family (v.13). Though they were not the direct descendants of Ahab, yet since Ahaziah was the grandson of Ahab, Jehu considered all of these identified with Ahab's sin and commanded that all 42 of these be taken and killed.
THE REST OF AHAB'S FAMILY KILLED
(vv.15-17)
Jehu intended to be altogether thorough in his judging the house of Ahab. On the way to Samaria he met Jehonadab the son of Rechab who was coming to meet Jehu. Jehonadab is spoken of inJeremiah 35:6 as commanding his sons not to drink wine, not to build houses, not to sow seed or plant a vineyard, but to dwell in tents. The reason for this is evident. He recognised that the condition of Israel under Ahab was obnoxious to God and he wanted to separate himself and his family from such a condition. His sons honoured him, though this record in Jeremiah is some years later, when Nebuchadnezzar invaded Israel (Jeremiah 35:11).
Jehu questioned Jehonadab, who responded favourably to him, evidently because he knew that Jehu was carrying out the Word of the Lord against the evil of Israel. Jehu invited him into his chariot, telling him, "Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord" (v.15). Jehu was not exactly a humble man! - and actually his zeal was not altogether for the Lord, for it had a great deal of self mixed with it.
At Samaria Jehu finished the work of destroying all the family of Ahab (v.17). The number this involved was very large indeed, but it did not include Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, who was as wicked as her mother Jezebel. We may wonder why Jehu did not seek her out to kill her after he had killed her son and her mother. Of course she was at Jerusalem, not Samaria.
BAAL WORSHIPERS KILLED
(vv.18-28)
However, Jehu was not yet finished his work of destruction. He called the people together and told them, "Ahab served Baal a little, Jehu will serve him much" (v.18). Therefore he ordered that all the prophets, servants and priests of Baal should come to a solemn assembly that promised a great sacrifice for Baal. The people had no idea that Jehu was acting deceptively so as to have all Baal worshipers gathered together in order to destroy them (v.19).
When the notice was sent out, the worshipers of Baal came from every direction to fill the temple of Baal (v.21). To be sure there were only Baal worshipers there, Jehu ordered them to wear vestments (v.22). Then he and Jehonadab went in to tell these people to search among them to be sure there were no servants of the Lord there, but only worshipers of Baal (v.23). These worshipers began to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings, but were interrupted by an invasion of 80 of Jehu's guards and captains, who slaughtered them with their swords. Also, they destroyed the idolatrous pillars by fire, then tore down the temple of Baal. Not only the people, but every detail of their idol worship must be destroyed. Thus Jehu destroyed the worship of Baal from Israel. His zeal was certainly unquestioned!
JEHU'S HALF-WAY OBEDIENCE
(vv.29-36)
Jehu's zeal for the Lord stopped short of abolishing the idolatrous worship of the golden calves in Bethel and Dan which had been introduced by Jereboam the son of Nebat (v.29). Yet the Lord did commend Jehu for having destroyed the worship and the worshipers of Baal and the house of Ahab. Because of this the Lord promised that the sons of Jehu would reign over Israel for the fourth generation (v.30). We might have expected that Jehu would be so thankful for God's grace toward him that he would have sought from that time to diligently obey God's Word. But he paid no attention to the law of God.
We hear no more of Jehu's exploits, but rather that the Lord began to cut off parts of Israel through the attacks of Hazael, king of Syria (v.32). Jehu was a determined warrior, but he evidently could not stand up to Hazael. Why not? Because his protection of idolatry in Israel rendered him weak before the onslaughts of the outside enemy. Thus Hazael conquered all Israel's land from Jordan eastward (v.33).
Verse 34 tells us that the rest of the acts of Jehu are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. This is not the scripture Book of Chronicles, which deals more with Judah than with Israel, and in this very little is said about Jehu. But at the death of Jehu he was buried in Samaria, and Jehoahaz his son took the throne. Jehu had reigned for 28 years, plenty of time for him to repent and bow to the Word of God, but he was not so inclined.