2 Kings · chapter 10 of 25
Updated on
2 Kings 10 tells how Jehu has Ahab's seventy sons killed in Samaria, eliminates the relatives of Ahaziah and what remained of Ahab's house, and gathers the worshipers of Baal by a ruse to kill them in their temple, which is destroyed. The Lord commends him, but Jehu does not give up Jeroboam's golden calves and does not follow the Lord's law with all his heart; the kingdom begins to lose territory.
In chapter 9 Jehu was anointed king to put an end to the house of Ahab. 2 Kings 10 describes the second stage of that task: the removal of the heirs to the throne and of the worship of Baal. The chapter is harsh and presents a fulfillment of God's word, but it also shows the limits of Jehu's obedience, which stops halfway.
Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. Jehu writes to the rulers and elders of the city, telling them to choose the best of their master's sons, set him on the throne and fight for their master's house. They are terrified and answer that they will not make anyone king and will do whatever Jehu commands. Jehu writes again: if they are on his side, they must bring him the heads of Ahab's sons at Jezreel by this time tomorrow. They kill the seventy and send the heads in baskets. Jehu has them piled at the entrance of the gate and tells the people that none of the word of the Lord will fall to the ground, because the Lord has done what he said through Elijah. Jehu kills all who remained of the house of Ahab at Jezreel.
On the way to Samaria, Jehu meets the relatives of Ahaziah, king of Judah, who were going down to greet the king's sons, and has them killed, forty-two men, at the pit of Beth-eked. Then he meets Jehonadab son of Rechab and invites him up into his chariot to see his zeal for the Lord. In Samaria he wipes out those who remained of Ahab's house.
Jehu gathers the people and says that Ahab served Baal a little but he will serve him much. He summons all the prophets, servants and priests of Baal for a great sacrifice. When they are inside the temple, he makes sure no servant of the Lord is among them and orders eighty men to kill them. They tear down the pillar of Baal and the temple and turn it into a latrine. So Jehu destroys Baal out of Israel.
However, Jehu does not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, the golden calves at Bethel and Dan. The Lord promises him that his sons will reign to the fourth generation. But Jehu is not careful to walk in the law of the Lord with all his heart. In those days the Lord begins to cut off parts of Israel, and Hazael defeats the people east of the Jordan. Jehu reigns twenty-eight years and dies.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Jehu reminds the people that none of the word of the Lord will fall to the ground, and that the Lord has done what he said through Elijah. The judgment on Ahab's house is not human whim but the fulfillment of God's word.
Jehu wipes out Baal from Israel. The public worship of Jezebel's god ends, but the text will show immediately that the work was left incomplete.
The Lord acknowledges that Jehu did what was right in his eyes and promises that his sons will reign to the fourth generation. God honors partial obedience, though he does not consider it complete.
Jehu is not careful to walk in the law of the Lord with all his heart, and he does not turn from the sins of Jeroboam. It is a warning against zeal that tears down what is evil but does not give itself fully to God.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Seventy. — 2 Kings 10:1
Answer: That they bring him the heads of Ahab's sons at Jezreel. — 2 Kings 10:6
Answer: Forty-two men, at the pit of Beth-eked. — 2 Kings 10:13-14
Answer: Jehonadab, son of Rechab. — 2 Kings 10:15-16
Answer: By pretending to hold a great sacrifice to Baal. — 2 Kings 10:18-21
Answer: The golden calves of Jeroboam at Bethel and Dan. — 2 Kings 10:29
Jehu destroyed the temple of Baal but left the golden calves standing, because they served his political convenience. It is easy to remove what others worship and keep the idol that favors us. In a small group you can ask which respectable idol, such as success, security or the approval of others, we keep without realizing it.
The text also warns that half obedience is not the same as obeying with all the heart. God can use imperfect people and reward what they do well, but he calls for complete devotion. Each person can ask in what area they walk only as far as it is comfortable.
2 Kings 10 ends with Jehu's death and Israel weakened by Hazael's attacks. In chapter 11 the story turns back to Judah, where Athaliah, Ahab's daughter, will try to wipe out the royal family, and only one child, Joash, will escape alive.
The text does not approve all of his violence. The Lord acknowledges that Jehu carried out what he commanded against the house of Ahab, but the prophet Hosea would later announce judgment on the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel. Jehu acted as an instrument of God's judgment and at the same time with his own ends.
He was a man loyal to the Lord from a family line that would later become famous for refusing wine and living in tents, as Jeremiah 35 tells. Here he agrees to get into Jehu's chariot and accompany him in his zeal against Baal.
They were two images Jeroboam I set up at Bethel and Dan so that the people would not go up to Jerusalem to worship. Although presented as symbols of the Lord, the Bible treats them as idolatry, and the kings of Israel who kept them are judged for it.