2 Kings 10:18-36
Worshipers of Baal Killed
18 Then Jehu gathered all the people together, and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little, Jehu will serve him much. 19 Now therefore, call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests. Let no one be missing, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal. Whoever is missing shall not live.” But Jehu acted deceptively, with the intent of destroying the worshipers of Baal. 20 And Jehu said, “Proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal.” So they proclaimed it. 21 Then Jehu sent throughout all Israel; and all the worshipers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left who did not come. So they came into the temple of Baal, and the temple of Baal was full from one end to the other. 22 And he said to the one in charge of the wardrobe, “Bring out vestments for all the worshipers of Baal.” So he brought out vestments for them. 23 Then Jehu and Jehonadab the son of Rechab went into the temple of Baal, and said to the worshipers of Baal, “Search and see that no servants of the LORD are here with you, but only the worshipers of Baal.” 24 So they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had appointed for himself eighty men on the outside, and had said, “If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escapes, whoever lets him escape, it shall be his life for the life of the other.”
25 Now it happened, 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 kill them; let no one come out!” And they killed them with the edge of the sword; then the guards and the officers threw them out, and went into the inner room of the temple of Baal. 26 And they brought the sacred pillars out of the temple of Baal and burned them. 27 Then they broke down the sacred pillar of Baal, and tore down the temple of Baal and made it a refuse dump to this day. 28 Thus Jehu destroyed Baal from Israel.
29 However Jehu did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin, that is, from the golden calves that were at Bethel and Dan. 30 And the LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in doing what is right in My sight, and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” 31 But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD God of Israel with all his heart; for he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, who had made Israel sin.
Death of Jehu
32 In those days the LORD began to cut off parts of Israel; and Hazael conquered them in all the territory of Israel 33 from the Jordan eastward: all the land of Gilead—Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh—from Aroer, which is by the River Arnon, including Gilead and Bashan.
34 Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 35 So Jehu rested with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. Then Jehoahaz his son reigned in his place. 36 And the period that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.
Jehu had successfully accomplished the word of the LORD in ending evil Ahab and his descendants as God’s promise against their blasphemous evil demanded for the justice of righteousness and holiness as leaders of His people. But he did not care to obey God’s word in his own life, keeping the golden calf idols to lead the people astray in misdirected worship in violation of the words of the first commandment. He did not walk in the word of the LORD with all his heart in stark contrast to king David before him who was remembered for being a sincere follower of the LORD by being a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14, Psalm 89:20, 27-28, 29, Acts 13:22, 23), and whose lineage was the Seed of promise In the Messiah to come who would keep every word (Matthew 5:17, Romans 10:3-4) of God perfectly as we cannot (Romans 3:23, 6:23) as sinful fallen creatures. Jehu did some things right in God’s sight and earned the right for his descendants to lead from the throne after him, but he did not live from his heart in obedience to the word of the LORD; he loved by the letter and not spirit in true worship (John 4:23, Romans 8:4, 2 Timothy 2:15, 1 John 3:24) as we are all called to do, then and now. To lead His people we must aim to be men after God’s own heart in true and willing obedience, not just to check compliance boxes in word alone, nor allow sin to continue in our hearts in shared worship, but to worship in spirit and truth with devoted lives in hearts and minds. We are to remember the contrast between Ahab and David and aim the direction of our lives in the heartfelt upward call (Philippians 3:12-13, 14) in Christ in doing what is right from the heart as we did from the start of our salvation’s journey of sanctification. Doing Right should be from the Heart instead of by the letter of outward compliance alone.
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