He said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for Yahweh.” So they made him ride in his chariot. When he came to Samaria, he struck all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, until he had destroyed him, according to Yahweh’s word, which he spoke to Elijah. Jehu gathered all the people together, and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu will serve him much. Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, all of his worshipers, and all of his priests. Let no one be absent; for I have a great sacrifice to Baal. Whoever is absent, he shall not live.” But Jehu did deceptively, intending to destroy the worshipers of Baal.
Jehu said, “Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal!” So they proclaimed it.
Jehu sent through all Israel; and all the worshipers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that didn’t come. They came into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal was filled from one end to another. He said to him who kept the wardrobe, “Bring out robes for all the worshipers of Baal!” So he brought robes out to them.
Jehu went with Jehonadab the son of Rechab into the house of Baal. Then he said to the worshipers of Baal, “Search, and see that none of the servants of Yahweh are here with you, but only the worshipers of Baal.”
So they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had appointed for himself eighty men outside, and said, “If any of the men whom I bring into your hands escape, he who lets him go, his life shall be for the life of him.”
As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, “Go in and kill them! Let no one escape.” So they struck them with the edge of the sword. The guard and the captains threw the bodies out, and went to the inner shrine of the house of Baal. They brought out the pillars that were in the house of Baal, and burned them. They broke down the pillar of Baal, and broke down the house of Baal, and made it a latrine, to this day. Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.
However, Jehu didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin, the golden calves that were in Bethel and that were in Dan. Yahweh said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes, and have done to Ahab’s house according to all that was in my heart, your descendants shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.”
But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of Yahweh, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv18, 20, 23, 24, 25, 30 Here Baal is taken for Ashtoreth the idol of…
Here Baal is taken for Ashtoreth the idol of the Sidonians, which Jezebel caused to be worshipped, as it is also so used, 1 Kings 16 and 22:53.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv16–31 2Ki 10:16 And he said, Come with me, and…
2Ki 10:16 And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD. So they made him ride in his chariot.
Ver. 16. Come with me, and see my zeal.] It is good policy to join friendship with the religious: as his counsel was to agree to Gregories Austin, if he were humble. {a} But why should Jehu so desire that his zeal {b} should be noted and noticed? Hypocrisy is very ostentatious. Drones make more noise than bees, though they make neither honey nor wax. It is reported of Mr John Fox, that as he was going along London streets, a woman of his acquaintance met with him; and as they discoursed together, she pulled out a Bible, telling him that she was going to hear a sermon; whereupon he said to her, If you will be advised by me, go home again. But, said she, when shall I then go? To whom he answered, When you tell no one of it.
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{a} Act. and Mon., p. 107. [Sic.(?) Gregory the First’s letter to Austin, Act. and Mon., 131.]
{b} Sincere zeal desireth not to be seen of any save him who seeth in secret.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31 My zeal for the Lord, i.e. for the vindication…
My zeal for the Lord, i.e. for the vindication of his honour and quarrel, and for the execution of his commands. Do not believe my words, but mine actions, which thine eyes shall behold.
They, i.e. Jehu’s servants, opened the door of his chariot, and lifted up Jehonadab into it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v29 Here is all the account of the reign of…
Here is all the account of the reign of Jehu, though it continued twenty-eight years. The progress of it answered not to the glory of its beginning. We have here,
I. God's approbation of what Jehu had done. Many, it is probable, censured him as treacherous and barbarous - called him a rebel, a usurper, a murderer, and prognosticated ill concerning him, that a family thus raised would soon be ruined; but God said, Well done (Kg2 10:30), and then it signified little who said otherwise. 1. God pronounced that to be right which he had done. It is justly questionable whether he did it from a good principle and whether he did not take some false steps in the doing of it; and yet (says God), Thou hast done well in executing that which is right in my eyes. The extirpating of idolaters and idolatry was a thing right in God's eyes, for it is an iniquity he visits as surely and severely as any: it was according to all that was in his heart, all he desired, all he designed. Jehu went through with his work. 2. God promised him a reward, that his children of the fourth generation from him should sit upon the throne of Israel. This was more than what took place in any of the dignities or royal families of that kingdom; of the house of Ahab there were indeed four kings, Omri, Ahab, Ahaziah, and Joram, but the last two were brothers, so that it reached but to the third generation, and that whole family continued but about forty-five years in all, whereas Jehu's continued in four, besides himself, and in all about 120 years. Note, No services done for God shall go unrewarded.
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II. Jehu's carelessness in what he was further to do. By this it appeared that his heart was not right with God, that he was partial in his reformation. 1. He did not put away all the evil. He departed from the sins of Ahab, but not from the sins of Jeroboam - discarded Baal, but adhered to the calves. The worship of Baal was indeed the greater evil, and more heinous in the sight of God, but the worship of the calves was a great evil, and true conversion is not only from gross sin, but from all sin - not only from false gods, but from false worships. The worship of Baal weakened and diminished Israel, and made them beholden to the Sidonians, and therefore he could easily part with that; but the worship of the calves was a politic idolatry, was begun and kept up for reasons of state, to prevent the return of the ten tribes to the house of David, and therefore Jehu clave to that. True conversion is not only from wasteful sins, but from gainful sins - not only from those sins that are destructive to the secular interest, but from those that support and befriend it, in forsaking which is the great trial whether we can deny ourselves and trust God. 2. He put away evil, but he did not mind that which was good (Kg2 10:31): He took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel. He abolished the worship of Baal, but did not keep up the worship of God, nor walk in his law. He had shown great care and zeal for the rooting out of a false religion; but in the true religion, (1.) He showed no care, took no heed, lived at large, was not at all solicitous to please God and to do his duty, took no heed to the scriptures, to the prophets, to his own conscience, but walked at all adventures. Those that are heedless, it is to be feared, are graceless; for, where there is a good principle in the heart, it will make men cautious and circumspect, desirous to please God and jealous of doing any thing to offend him. (2.) He showed no zeal; what he did in religion he did not do with his heart, with all his heart, but did it as if he did it not, without any liveliness or concern. It seems, he was a man that had little religion himself, and yet God made use of him as an instrument of reformation in Israel. It is a pity but that those that do good to others should always be good themselves.
III. The judgment that came upon Israel in his reign. We have reason to fear that when Jehu took no heed himself to walk in God's law the people were generally as careless as he, both in their devotions and in their conversations. There was a general decay of piety and increase of profaneness; and therefore it is not strange that the next news we hear is, In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short, Kg2 10:32. Their neighbours encroached upon them on every side; they were short in their duty to God, and therefore God cut them short in their extent, wealth, and power. Hazael king of Syria was, above any other, vexatious and mischievous to them, smote them in all the coasts of Israel, particularly the countries on the other side Jordan, which lay next him, and most exposed; on these he made continual inroads, and laid them waste. Now the Reubenites and Gadites smarted for the choice which their ancestors made of an inheritance on that side Jordan, which Moses reproved them for, Num. 32. Now Hazael did what Elisha foresaw and foretold he would do. Yet, for doing it, God had a quarrel with him and with his kingdom, as we may find, Amo 1:3, Amo 1:4. Because those of Damascus have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron, therefore (says God) I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad.
Lastly, The conclusion of Jehu's reign, Kg2 10:34-36. Notice is taken, in general, of his might; but, because he took no heed to serve God, the memorials of his mighty enterprises and achievements are justly buried in oblivion.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv16–31 And he said, come with me, and see my…
And he said, come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord of hosts,.... In destroying idolaters and idolatry, with an intent to do which he was going to Samaria; this seems to savour very much of vain glory, hypocrisy, and a pharisaical spirit:
so they made him ride in his chariot; the servants of Jehu by his order opened the chariot door, and assisted Jonadab in getting into it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv18, 25, 27, 29, 30, 31 Jehu said - The words being manifestly false, and…
Jehu said - The words being manifestly false, and spoken with a design to deceive, cannot be excused, this being an unmovable principle, That we must not do the least evil, that the greatest good may come.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv16, 18, 19, 22, 23, 25, 27, 30, 31 Verse 16. Come with me, and see my zeal…
Verse 16. Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord.] O thou ostentatious and murderous hypocrite! Thou have zeal for Jehovah and his pure religion! Witness thy calves at Dan and Bethel, and the general profligacy of thy conduct. He who can call another to witness his zeal for religion, or his works of charity, has as much of both as serves his own turn.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 26, 29, 30, 31 2Ki 10:17. He slew all that remained unto Ahab…
2Ki 10:17. He slew all that remained unto Ahab in Samaria — Either all his household, or, rather, all his kindred and relations, though more remote from him. This he did, no doubt, under pretence of zeal for God, and to fulfil the prophecy of Elijah; but there is too much reason to apprehend, from several of his actions, and, indeed, his general conduct, that in this, as well as in several of the other slaughters which he made, his chief motive was to secure the kingdom to himself and his posterity.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30 Compare 2Ki 10:11. Thus was finally completed the political…
Compare 2Ki 10:11. Thus was finally completed the political revolution which transferred the throne from the house of Omri to that of Nimshi, the fifth of the royal families of Israel.
According to the saying of the Lord - This emphatic reiteration (compare 2Ki 10:10) marks, first, how in the mind of the writer all this history is viewed as deriving its special interest from its being so full and complete an accomplishment of Elijah’s prophecies; and, secondly, how at the time Jehu carefully put forward the plea that what he did had this object. It does not indicate that a single-minded wish to execute God’s will was Jehu’s predominate motive. Probably, even where he most strictly fulfilled the letter of prophecies, he was working for himself, not for God; and hence, vengeance was denounced upon his house even for the very “blood of Jezreel” Hos 1:4.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 27, 29, 30 I will worship him more. Jehu sinned in thus…
I will worship him more. Jehu sinned in thus pretending to worship Baal, and causing sacrifices to be offered to him: because evil in not to be done, that good may come of it, Romans iii. 8. (Challoner) (Worthington) --- St. Jerome, &c., excuse him from mortal sin, as his intention was good. (Tirinus) --- If he had not thus dissembled, he could not have so effectually destroyed the adorers of Baal, who would have concealed themselves. But God rewarded his zeal, and not his falsehood. (Calmet) --- He might speak ironically; though Theodoret, &c., admit a lie. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv19, 22, 29 HE DESTROYS THE WORSHIPPERS OF BAAL. (Kg2 10:18-29)
HE DESTROYS THE WORSHIPPERS OF BAAL. (Kg2 10:18-29)
call unto me all the prophets of Baal--The votaries of Baal are here classified under the several titles of prophets, priests, and servants, or worshippers generally. They might be easily convened into one spacious temple, as their number had been greatly diminished both by the influential ministrations of Elijah and Elisha, and also from the late King Joram's neglect and discontinuance of the worship. Jehu's appointment of a solemn sacrifice in honor of Baal, and a summons to all his worshippers to join in its celebration, was a deep-laid plot, which he had resolved upon for their extinction, a measure in perfect harmony with the Mosaic law, and worthy of a constitutional king of Israel. It was done, however, not from religious, but purely political motives, because he believed that the existence and interests of the Baalites were inseparably bound up with the dynasty of Ahab and because he hoped that by their extermination he would secure the attachment of the far larger and more influential party who worshipped God in Israel. Jehonadab's concurrence must have been given in the belief of his being actuated solely by the highest principles of piety and zeal.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30 16. See my zeal for the Lord — He…
16. See my zeal for the Lord — He thus communicates his further purpose to continue the work of destruction. Some have thought that this was all pretended zeal and showy hypocrisy, but in 2Ki_10:30 the Lord commends Jehu for having done well, and declares that his bloody work was right in his eyes, and according to the feelings of his own heart. In other things Jehu sinned, (2Ki_10:31,) and it is not pretended that all his measures and motives in his work of doom had the approval of God; but in executing judgment on Ahab’s house, his zeal was praised, though it was not without a selfish ambition, and perhaps other elements of wickedness. But we need not call Jehu a heartless boaster and a murderous hypocrite. Shall he be blamed as murderous and cruel who obeys to the very letter Jehovah’s positive command? Comp. 2Ki_9:6-10. If the fall of the tower in Siloam were really a Divine judgment on the eighteen hapless victims whom it ground to powder, (Luk_13:4,) need we charge the tower with blood-guiltiness and cruelty? Sometimes, indeed, God uses wicked hands to execute his counsels, and holds them guilty for their deeds, (Act_2:23;) but never does he blame a minister of vengeance for doing what his own word has positively commanded him to do. Let us beware how we curse or blame what God has not blamed. There are in our times too many shallow and unbiblical attempts to ignore the awful severities of Divine justice, as revealed in God’s word.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv16–31 16. see my zeal for the Lord] This was…
16. see my zeal for the Lord] This was the boast of a man who did not know his own heart. He had some zeal and manifested it in the destruction of Baal, but stopped short at the suppression of the calves in Dan and Bethel. Josephus makes Jehu invite Jonadab to be witness ‘how he will spare no wicked man, but will destroy both the false prophets and the false priests and those who lead the multitude astray so that they leave the worship of the Most High, and adore strange gods: for it is a most honest and pleasing sight for a good and righteous man to see the wicked being punished’.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv16–31 (16) See.—Rather, look on at.
(16) See.—Rather, look on at.
My zeal for the Lord.—Jehu addresses Jehonadab as a notoriously staunch adherent of the old faith.
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They made him ride.—The Syriac, LXX., and Arabic read, “he made him ride;” the Vulg. is ambiguous; the Targum agrees with the Hebrew text, which may mean that Jehu’s followers assisted Jehonadab (who was probably an aged sheikh) to mount the chariot.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv16–31 And he said, Come with me, and see my…
And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord. Jehonadab must have understood that some further measures were about to be taken against the family and adherents of Ahab. He evidently approved of all that Jehu had already done, and was willing to give his countenance to further severities. He probably did not know exactly what Jehu designed; but he must have been able to make a tolerably shrewd guess at what was impending. So they made him ride in his chariot. Perhaps Wbkidyw should be changed into byKidYw, which seems to have been the reading of the LXX, who translate, by ejpikaqisen aujton ejn tw armati aujtou, "he made him ride in his chariot."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv16, 31 Come with me, and see my zeal for the…
2Ki_10:16
Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord.
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The nature of Christian zeal
Truly it is delightful and instructive to see any creature exhibiting the proofs of an ardent zeal for the glory, of the great Creator, and directing the energies of his nature to this one object as the chief end of existence. Then, and then only, may it be said that he fills and adorns the station allotted to him in the scale of being; and he becomes sublimely associated with Deity when every selfish consideration is absorbed by an intense desire that God may be all in all. Such character and conduct Jehu affected to exhibit in this history, And in the person of Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, he found a witness of his deeds the most suitable he could have desired. Our object in selecting the passage is not to hold out an example, but a caution. The light of sound instruction is to be found here. Let us reflect on the indications of a zeal essentially defective, and on those of one permanently influential.
I. The indications of a zeal essentially defective. It will be proper here to notice--
1. The motives which usually prevail. They are such as are accordant with the reign of selfishness. Of course, it is not intended to enter into a minute and extended investigation of the various motives which may be brought into play, in connection with the exhibitions of religions zeal. A few may suffice which are known to have an influence on the minds of men with regard to missionary operations. For instance, natural compassion for the temporal miseries of our species. Far be it from us to speak in terms of disparagement of such a feeling, it is excellent, so far as it goes; as on its influence, in a great measure, depends the preservation of the general framework of society. It need scarcely to be remarked, that, however excellent this feeling of compassion may be, it may exist, and in a strong degree, apart from any concern for the glory of God or the welfare of mens souls. A desire to propagate our own opinions and practices in matters of religion has often produced considerable effect on the minds of men. The vanity to be esteemed benevolent may also prove a powerful motive to exertion.
2. The degree of excitement produced by an appeal to such motives may be as strong as any of which nature is capable. Such as we have referred to evidently animated the Arabs in the infancy of the Moslem faith, and fined them with a vigour and a daring that scorned all opposition and difficulty, and that resulted in wonderful success. And were not these the motives co which appeal was made, when by the preachings of Peter the Hermit, and of the Pope, the indignation of Europe was roused; and when her potent states vied with each other in pouring forth their armed multitudes to meet the Saracens in the Holy Land--when the victorious soldiers waded through the blood of their foes to sing praises to Christ at His altar, as if in defiance of the precept which He had enjoined on His followers--Bless them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you?
3. There are certain limitations, by which such motives will be necessarily restrained. The coincidence of the gratification of self-love with the claims of philanthropy will ever determine the extent of activity. And this coincidence we cannot expect to be of long continuance. Some novel and therefore more popular cause will divert the attention.
4. The improbability of enjoying the Divine blessing while actuated by such motives. That God may bless, notwithstanding their influence, we are not inclined to doubt, but certainly, we are not warranted to expect a blessing, unless taught to act on higher principles. Let us therefore seriously examine ourselves with regard to our real motives.
II. The indications of a zeal permanently influential; of which it may be predicted at the outset of its career that it will prove co-extensive with the energies of life.
1. Such zeal must arise, we apprehend, from the effectual application of the Gospel to the heart. Without this, we cannot conceive how a man can really desire the increase of true religion, as he can have no just idea of its nature.
2. Motives corresponding with this experience will incline the believer to seek the conversion of sinners in the heathen world. Such we conceive the following to be. A desire to promote the glory of God, whose character is dishonoured by the practices of idolatry.
3. Universality and permanence of zeal are thus secured. Selfish zeal is partial; in the case of Jehu, the idolatry of Baalim is overthrown; but an idolatry equally offensive is countenanced at Bethel and Dan. He who acts under the influence of the motives peculiar to a renewed mind, is likely to aim at universality of obedience to Divine directions; and as He who has begun a good work in him, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ; his zeal, allowing for some variations of intensity and modes or exercise, will continue till time is exchanged for eternity.
4. Some important illustrations of the zeal which springs from the power of religion within. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave a perfect exemplification of this zeal. Of course His zeal was displayed under very different circumstances from ours, and was free from the internal counteraction that we too often feel; but in this leading feature, we observe the general analogy; His zeal proceeded from the purity of His character, it was the index of His religious feeling, of His regard for the glory of God, and the salvation of souls.
5. The intensity of our zeal will depend on that of our religion: the one cannot languish without the other. Hence our real prosperity may be more deeply involved in the vigour of our zeal for the Lord than we have perhaps suspected: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee (Psa_122:6). The health of a tree is promoted, rather than injured, in bearing fruit. (J. Jones.)
Zeal illustrated by the character of Jehu
In regions where civilisation has made but feeble advances, opinions grossly erroneous prevail concerning some of the most valuable productions of the earth. Substances which, among nations enlightened by science, are daily introduced with signal utility in medicine, in manufactures, in various arts which embellish the paths of life, are indiscriminately neglected and despised: or, in consequence of mischievous effects produced by a rash and unskilful application of them, or by heterogeneous mixtures with which they are debased, become objects of aversion and of dread. Or having been found, in casual trials, to be imbued with beneficial powers; they are extolled as invested with a kind of magical influence, and are blindly employed as possessed of universal efficacy. Similar misconceptions not unfrequently predominate even among ourselves concerning highly estimable endowments of the mind; and predominate from similar causes, a very inaccurate insight into the nature of those endowments, and a hasty and unwarrantable use and appropriation of them. Them by some genius is admired as an ill-powerful talent, grasping without an effort the treasures of Taste and Knowledge; while by others it is depreciated as unfitting the intellect for patient research, and terminating in tinsel and superficial attainments. And thus it is that industry at one time is dignified as nearly superseding the necessity of penetration and invention; at another is degraded as cold, plodding, servile, insensible to refinement, the associate of pedantry and dulness. Among mental qualities there is scarcely, perhaps, one more commonly misunderstood and less accurately appreciated than zeal. One class of men, surveying with indignation the timidity and selfishness of the lukewarm, applaud that conduct in themselves as unsophisticated zeal, which is deeply tinged with indiscretion, insubordination, and unchristian vehemence. An opposite class, deeming zeal but another name for fiery intolerance and enthusiastic wildness, abhor it as restless, sanguinary, and fanatical; and look with suspicion on moderation itself, until it has subsided so low as scarcely to be distinguishable from apathy.
1. The undertaking in which Jehu was engaged was the extermination of the family of Ahab. By the murder of Naboth, and by habitual idolatry, Ahab stood condemned to death under the impartial justice of the Divine law. The sentence was denounced. It is not however by a single characteristic that genuine zeal is ascertained. In colour the counter may exhibit a perfect resemblance of the unadulterated gold. But how stands the comparison as to weight, as to solidity, as to ductility? Let us bring the zeal of Jehu to the test of additional criterions.
2. In the prosecution of his object Jehu speedily displayed a ferocious and cruel spirit.
3. Zeal necessarily bears a character of publicity. It manifests itself in action; and, when directed to objects of extensive importance, is constrained to labour before the eyes and amidst the concourse of men. Genuine zeal for religion, thoroughly imbued with the spirit of Christian humility, though it cannot retire from notice, courts not popular observation. Steadfast, yet unobtrusive, it submits to the general gaze, to the general noise of tongues, which, without relinquishing its appointed office, it cannot avoid; but pushes not forward vain-glorious pretentions, delights not to become the spectacle of wonder, the theme of applause.
4. The zeal that is from above is, first, pure. However ardent in the prosecution of its object, it resorts not to means which are unjustifiable. It abominates craft and duplicity. It abhors the suggestions of that worldly wisdom, which teaches to do evil that good may come.
5. Genuine zeal for religion is, in the strictest import of the terms, zeal for the Lord. Its prime object is the glory of Jehovah, the honour of His name, the purity of His worship, the influence of His law. Is such the zeal of Jehu? Are his cruelty, his ostentation, his falsehood, no more than heterogeneous mixtures, stupendous indeed in collective magnitude, yet no more than extraneous impurities, unnaturally adhering to a latent yet actual zeal for religion; clouding and debasing the living flame, yet without extinguishing or superseding it? (T. Gisborne, M. A.)
Religious zeal
It has been remarked, that were the history of any private family faithfully recorded it would prove as useful and interesting as that of the most renowned nation. Perhaps I may add, with equal truth, that were the intricacies of any human character fairly developed, it would afford a study no less instructive than either; and I would further remark that the only very close details of individual character which are to be found are in the writings of the Old Testament; for, whilst ordinary biographers treat their subjects with a bias of favouritism or dislike, the inspired penmen of Scripture equally disclose both faults and virtues, and show that mixture of good and evil, which, but for our self-love, we should recognise in ourselves; and, but for our shortsighted prejudice/we should see in others. There is no human character without its light and shade. Now, Jehu is a remarkable instance of what I have said, concerning both the fidelity of the sacred writers and the universal mixture of good and evil in human nature. Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel; and, in consequence of his doing this and of his executing Gods judgments against the house of Ahab, a blessing was pronounced upon his family, and the throne was secured to them to the fourth generation. But here the righteous course of Jehu stopped short; when all the excitement attending his bloody enterprises died away, his zeal for the Lord fled with it; ordinary circumstances and ordinary temptations resumed their influence and empire over his carnal nature; he took no further heed to walk in Gods law but fell into idolatry. Now, abstractedly one would imagine that such changes of sentiment and irresolution of conduct could only arise in a feeble and capricious character; but Jehu did not belong to this class. I think, my brethren, that this history affords a striking lesson to every Christian, which On the one hand should teach him to distrust in himself a religious zeal produced by merely temporary external causes; and on the other to rest satisfied with nothing short of an abiding principle of faith, silently operating on the heart. We must remember that zeal is in itself but a neutral passion, and only good or bad according to the object about which it is concerned; and when engaged in what is absolutely good, being liable to discouragement through the coldness and indifference of others, it is a passion which subjects men to many trials and to much mortification. Hence it often comes to pass that ardent resolutions and sanguine aspirations, for lack of sympathy, fall back with disgust upon the heart which conceived them, and never revive again for the same worthy purpose. How many have started schemes of the noblest charity, which, failing to elicit co-operation, the feelings which originated them have become permanently embittered! Now in nothing, I apprehend, so much as in religion is zeal liable to carry us beyond the strict line of sincerity and stability; and this principally arises from religious motives affecting us so much more deeply than any other. When you can induce the mind to receive with entire credit that there are such places as heaven and hell--eternal torture and never-ending peace--then you reach depths of feeling which cannot be touched by any other argument. Those signal blessings or severe trials, with which Providence is apt to visit us for our improvement, are often the immediate cause of high resolutions. Other lighter causes operate in the same manner: the admonitions of a friend--the awakening eloquence of a severe sermon--will occasionally flash before the soul the awfulness of eternity, and kindle the holiest determinations; but the friend departs--the sermon ends--and we are again entangled with the world. Sometimes we pursue the ordinances of religion so strictly that we persuade ourselves we are doing God extraordinary service thereby; but from this delusion we also awake. Indeed, these and similar external appeals, meant as they undoubtedly are to provoke us to zeal, must be received with caution--they must not be presumed upon--we must take care that their effect upon us be not merely an Imaginative sentiment, but rather a deep conviction, so grounded in the heart as to produce steady and uniform obedience, even when the exciting cause has passed away! Come, see my zeal for the Lord! is the Pharisaical challenge of some ardent believer. To him the ordinary piety of more modest Christians is not worth the name of religion: his own prayers, his own labours, his own conduct, are the only standard of service which the Lord will accept: whatever falls short of these is but husks and vanity; and so he rashly arrogates his pretensions until a change of circumstances shows him his own weakness.
1. It will be my endeavour to show you how to acquire this assurance; and, first of all, avoid religious excitement avoid the cultivation of feelings which, however sincerely entertained at the time, have to confess their hollowness in the searching privacies of the chamber. We are told, remember, to pray in secret--not to let our right hand know what our left doeth--to commune with our own heart, and to be still; we are to ask God to try and prove our sincerity, as being able to accomplish what is not in the power of either ourselves or of the world. Until, therefore, we are assured, by secret self-examinations, that these rules and descriptions are practically exemplified in our own lives, we should avoid obtaining, by public excitation, a character for religious zeal to which conscience in private gives the lie. When once a man feels that he has a character for religion to sustain before the world, which he cannot support satisfactorily when alone--when to men he must appear one thing, and he involuntarily knows that to himself he is another--he has made the first step towards hypocrisy, and hypocrites God always deserts!
2. Let me tell you another way of both increasing and proving your zeal, which is this--be fervent in prayer. You will often find--the very best of you, I fear--that when your prayers are ended your thoughts have throughout been wandering, and that scarcely a petition which fell from your lips had any real sense attached to it: other things were in your mind, interesting and absorbing it. (A. Gatty, M. A.)
Jehus false zeal
It is the son of Rechab, the founder of a monastic sect which, amid prevailing idolatry, is still true to Jehovah. He gives, doubtless, a priestly benediction, or approving word, for the sanguinary work already done. It invites the quick reply, If our hearts are at one in this,--you, man of peace and I, of war,--then let us strike hands in ratification. The clasp is strong, and the stern ascetic is drawn up into the chariot, to have breathed in his ear, the still more horrible Secret which the avenger is hasting to execute. Here we get our first lesson.
I. Bad men are glad of the approval of religious teachers in their schemes. The multitudes exhibit the deep and unshaken belief that there is an impartial and omniscient Power, who maintains a perfect government in His universe. Spite of all denial, infidelity, and bravado, the wicked have the stubborn conviction that God will visit for their sins.. At the same time, the desire is strangely parent of the hope, that He can be persuaded to mitigate the judgment, or consent to their malign plans. His representatives are regarded as clothed with a certain authority which may be helpful or prejudicial. If their sanction can be obtained, the evil-doer often fancies the Lord is thereby committed. The anathemas of Pope Gregory brought the haughty Henry IV. to his feet in abject entreaty, while the tormenting conscience of Charles IX. was quieted, for a little, at the news of the Te Deums sung in Rome over the massacre of the Huguenots. The Divine will was thought, in both eases, to accord with the act of His vicegerents. It seems to be forgotten, that, if any servant is false, his Lord is not therefore untrue; if he is mistaken, his liege is not also; if he gives permit to wrong, the God without iniquity, just and fight, does not. The statutes of Christian states may allow and protect slavery, prostitution, dram-selling, easy divorce, but he who thinks therefore to have secured the approval of his Maker in such practices is utterly deceived. The wink of devils ought to bring even a slender saint to his senses. The smile and applause of the wolf ought to create suspicion in his unwary partner. While the world endures, he will try to secure the alliance of the shepherd. Returning to the pair, of such contrasted presence, hurrying on towards Samaria, we catch another sentence from the excited soldiers lips, Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord. At once we bethink ourselves that--
II. True piety is never boastful. Jehu verily thought that he cared much for Jehovah, as he gloated in imagination over the complete destruction of the worshippers of Baal. Idolatry had proved the weakness of the nation and undermined the throne. He was king, and would sit secure only when these perfidious, irreligious subjects were slain. He found that, to rid the earth of them, was to exalt his own name and prestige. The stroke of policy was a stroke of piety. He and the Lord were fighting together. He, at any rate, would get great glory out of it. My zeal must advertise itself--can never survive unless it does. Holy ardour, on the contrary, is never aware of its own exhibition. The scourge in the hands of the Christ was the token of his zeal for the honour and purity of His Fathers house. It was a ready means to a worthy end--aimed at effect indeed, but not display. John the Baptist, of fiery purpose, was content to be only a voice, that the Messiah might be seen. Marys box of ointment has shed its sweet perfume of loving unworthiness through the centuries, but she never dreamed of its mention as a costly offering. All the really great things which the disciples of Christ have performed have been without ostentation or consciousness of their superiority. It is a Hindu saying that, Lowliness excites no mans envy, but it does inspire the like grace in a sincere heart. Well had it been for this hero of Israel, if he could have heard the later word of one, every whit his equal in false zeal, but who had learned in the white light of Divine rebuke, that the things which are despised hath God chosen, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. We watch now for the illustration of the single-hearted soldiers zeal, and witnessing the trap set and sprung, and the revolting butchery, are forced to conclude--
III. The self-righteous are likely to regard the suggestions of their passions, as the Divine command. It was a momentous order which Jehu received from the prophet, to destroy the whole reigning family. It came to a ready spirit. By the solemn law of the nation the unfaithful king and all related to him had forfeited their claim upon life. It was a fatal transgression to depart from the Living God. The executioner might be pestilence, or flames leaping from the clouds, or an invading host, or some mighty man armed for the work. Right thoroughly it had been done. The ghastly pile of seventy heads of princes, laid on either side of the gate of Jezreel, had witnessed to this servants energy and fidelity. The taste of blood had created, as in the tiger, an imperious thirst. A wild glare was in his eye as the Rechabite tried to read its secret. Interpreting his orders that not only the dynasty of Ahab, but that of Baal too, must fall by the sword, he set about it in terrible earnest. Craft and cruelty combined against priest and devotee. All who had come up to the solemn festival came, instead, to the shambles, and not one escaped. So Mahomet-Ali conquered the Mamelukes; so Amalric stamped out heresy in Languedoc, bidding: Kill them all. The Lord will know who are His. It ws the complete and final overshow of the accursed system of Baal worship. Was it not, like the hangmans act, a dread necessity? We cannot answer; but, till we find precise instructions for such wholesale slaughter, we shall presume he exceeded his commission. So have men ever since been construing their low inclinations, as being also the good pleasure of their Creator. Every form of sin has had such apology. Divinities have been invented to favour and further the most depraved appetites, while, to-day, not a few are trying to believe that God is altogether such an one as themselves. To make our own moral standards, is to antagonise the eternal laws. The closing scene of the tragedy passes before us. It is evident from it, that--
IV. To destroy one form of sin is not to abolish all. We see this zealous soul going straightway to offer sacrifice at the shrine of the golden calves, after the fashion of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin. Even if Jehu had been familiar from youth with this corrupted religious system, he did know that at Jerusalem the true God was worshipped, not in the likeness of living things. His besom could have swept away the altars and images of the one form of idolatry as well as the other. Not seeing nor embracing his opportunity, he gave the lie to all professions of love and jealousy for the Lord. His zeal for righteousness did not turn inwards and burn up his own sins. The popular faith answered well enough for him. He would be as good as the average. What a pattern of the modern saint! Hot in indignation toward that which affects him not; very careful where his seeming interests are involved, the old couplet fits him well, as all who--
Compound for sins they are inclined to,
Condemning those they have no mind to.
Such easy terms do men make with God! Such choices are they ready for, and pride themselves in! Making a merit of temperance, they indulge in lust; lavish with their wealth, they are vindictive toward one who has wronged them; harping much on philanthropy, they are untrustworthy. One sin cherished is enough to keep the soul for ever under condemnation. A slight flaw in the diamond renders it unfit to be set in the crown. Heaven is lost by withholding the whole heart. This career, so startling and dramatic, terminated sadly. Reward was given for his grim but appointed service. Judgment was visited for his profane worship. His strong arm lost its terror. His last days were clouded by the denial of his ambition, that his name might abide in the rulers of the future. Furious driving is sure to end in wreck, unless the omnipotent hand is also upon the reins, guiding the impassioned soul along the Kings highway. That he spurned it is plain, as we read in Hosea: And I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and I will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. (Monday Club Sermons.)
Zeal without consistency
Jehu is not in any sense an interesting person. An energetic and bold man; prompt in action, determined and thoroughgoing, unfeeling and unscrupulous; well fitted for his particular work, a work of judgment upon those who had sinned beyond mercy. He had a Divine commission, and executed it faithfully. In softer days we read impatiently of acts of severity, even when done in Gods behalf or by Gods command. We do not feel sin as we ought, and therefore we often cherish a kind of morbid sympathy with the sinner. Such was Jehus office, and he discharged it well. He could say with truth, as he says in the former part of the text, Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord. It was not here that he failed. His zeal for God was thorough in act, and perhaps sincere in intention. The fault was that, while he had a real zeal, he had no true obedience. He could enforce Gods law upon others, but he could not obey it himself. He maintained that political expedient of symbols of worship placed in his frontier cities by which the first king of the ton tribes had sought to keep his people from being attracted back to the house of David in Jerusalem; he continued the worship of the golden calves that were in Bethel and that were in Dan, though he had broken down the image of Baal and the temple of Baal, and destroyed his worshippers in Samaria. And therefore in those days, even in the reign of him who had done such good service to the cause of God in his earlier years, the Lord began to cut Israel short; and Jehu himself is handed down to us not as an example, but rather as a warning, while upon his tomb we read the condemning inscription: Zeal without consistency; zeal without obedience; zeal without love.
1. Zeal is the same word as fervour. In its forcible original meaning, it is the bubbling up of the boiling spirit; the opposite of an impassive, cold-hearted indifference; the outburst of that generous indignation which cannot endure to see right trampled underfoot by might; the overflowing of that gratitude, devotion, love towards God, which counts no toil irksome and no suffering intolerable if it may express its own sense of His greatness, of His goodness, of His long-suffering of Christ, and draws others by its example to know and to speak good of His name; the glowing warmth of that Divine humanity which would willingly spend, and be spent, in snatching but one or two brands from the burning. This is what we mean by zeal. The zeal of Jehu was of a lower order than this. Yet even Jehu may reprove. Would that there were more of us--must I say, that there were any of us?--who could say in any true sense, like Jehu, Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord! Any zeal for God, even an ignorant, a mistaken, a rash zeal, were better far for us than none. Instead of it what have we? We show our zeal for God--if that sacred name can thus be parodied--chiefly by the infliction of arbitrary and most disproportionate punishment upon offenders, not against the moral law of God but against the moral law of the world. Where God has spoken, man may sin and scarcely suffer; where the world has spoken, no sorrow and no suffering, no lapse of time, no sincerity of repentance, and no consistency of amendment, is allowed to replace the erring man or woman within the pale of a human sympathy, or even of a Christian charity. Such is zeal for God, when debased and disfigured by the modifying hand of man.
2. And this brings us to apply to ourselves, in the way of counsel and warning, the unfavourable part of the character before us. Jehu had a zeal for God, but Jehu nevertheless took no heed to walk in Gods law with all his heart.
(1) There is great force in that word, took no heed--observed not, as the margin renders it--to walk in Gods way. We all know what heedlessness is in a child. In the things of religion, in the ways of God and of the soul, we are all too much children. To the heedlessness of human nature most of our sins may be traced up. Wherewithal shall a man cleanse his way? etc. (Psa_119:9).
(2) Jehu took no heed to walk in Gods law with all his heart. Is not this the fault in our service, the cause of our heedlessness, that the heart is not right with God? Therefore it was that Jehu gave zeal, but could not give obedience; gave zeal, but could not give consistency; gave zeal, but could not give love. And therefore it is that we too often give neither zeal nor obedience, neither zeal nor love. Christian zeal, like Christian- faith, worketh by love. If you are tender to the suffering, if you are plain with the sinful--yet both alike in humility and in all kindness--then you may hope that your zeal has something in it of Christ. But, most of all, look within. Look to the heart. See whether there is any love of God there. (The Dean of Llandaff.)
Religious zeal
I. Our zeal should be a lasting and increasing principle. Not like light from the thunder-cloud, the evanescent result of passing circumstances, but rather like the great luminary of heaven, steadily beaming on our path, cheering us in every situation, and gilding with hope the dark prospect of the grave,
II. To acquire this assurance, avoid religious excitement. We are told to pray in secret--not to let our right hand know what our left doeth. We are to ask God to prove our sincerity; the recesses of the soul are His dwelling-place. Until we are assured, by self-examination, that these descriptions are exemplified in our own lives, let us avoid obtaining, by religious public excitation, a character for religious zeal to which conscience in private gives the lie.
III. Genuine zeal, for God is founded and matured in the heart and character by the counsels of the spirit. After Pauls conversion, three days of blindness and fasting were necessary for the conviction of his error and the growth of a counter resolution. His subsequent zeal in the ministry shows that the principles must be established by an inward conviction, and not be moved by mere outward impressions (1Co_9:26-27).
IV. Instead of congratulating ourselves, then, that we know nothing of these feelings, let us be humbled that we are devoid of them. In wanting them altogether, we want that without which religion is an empty profession.
V. Wherever there is a true faith, there with be a zeal which will think nothing too good to give up for (Gal_2:20). Pray for (Rom_10:2), which manifests itself in a holy love, and consistent obedience. Such a zeal had Daniel, Shadrach, etc.; Paul (Act_21:13); David (Psa_73:24-25). Such a zeal may not, at present, obtain the applause of men; but it will not be forgotten when (Luk_12:8), and when every act flowing from love to God in Christ shall be recorded before assembled worlds. (H. Blunt.)
Zeal for the Lord
Zeal for the Lord, His truth, cause, service, glory, a needful, and ought to be a visible, prominent feature in every true believer, even as His love for us has rendered visible and prominent in Him an earnest zeal for us men and for our salvation. There may, however, be false zeal--zeal which, so far as we are personally concerned, will bring no glory to Him, no benefit, no blessing to ourselves; and there may be a true zeal, bringing much glory to God and a rich harvest of blessing to our own souls.
I. False zeal. Jehu is an instance of this. Proceeding from--
1. Natural energy of character (2Ki_9:20; 2Ki_9:24, etc.).
2. Sense of being appointed and qualified for some particular service (2Ki_9:1-7).
3. Seeking praise of men (text). The heart may nevertheless be not right with God--may be going after its idols (2Ki_10:29; 2Ki_10:31).
II. True zeal. St. Paul is an instance of this. In him zeal for the Lord was visible, prominent, as in Jehu; but with this difference: in Jehu it resembles the fitful flashes of a thunderstorm, sudden and vivid, contrasting with, yet not dissipating, the darkness out of which it springs. In St. Paul it ever burns with clear and steadfast light, illuminating the entire course of his life, and shedding a halo of glory around his martyr death. We see its commencement (Act_9:6); its continuance (1Co_9:26-27; Gal_2:20; Php_3:13-14); its close (2Ti_4:6-8). Whence this difference? St. Paul was naturally an idolater no less than Jehu. His idols were self-righteousness, Judaism, Pharisaism--zeal very similar to that of Jehu (Php_3:4-6). These, however, were overthrown when Jesus was revealed to him as his Redeemer, convincing him of, and cleansing him from, sin; making known to him the true character of God. Thenceforward his motto was, God, whose I am, and whom I serve (Act_27:23).
III. Lesson for us. No true zeal for God until and unless we know Him as the only true God and Jesus Christ, etc. (Joh_17:3). No true zeal for Him until we have personally realised His loving, self-sacrificing zeal for us in our salvation through Christ Jesus. (R. Chester, B. A.)
The good and evil in Jehu
1. Jehu had great executive ability. His fast driving was characteristic. He was impetuous, but not reckless. Having formed a purpose, he rushed to its realisation. He brought things to pass. He combined energy with tenacity, and was capable of rapid decision. He was not so dominated by fixed notions that he could not speedily and silently retrace his steps when he found himself on the wrong path. Like Napoleon at Austorlitz, he knew the value of five minutes. He had a strong personal magnetism that coerced his associates into willing and even eager subservience. A true descendant of Jacob, he was versed in the science of dissimulation. He had the claws of a tiger, but they were muffled in velvet. His step was quick, but stealthy. He was not only rapid, but persistent. He never tired. His speedy pace was ceaseless, on and on. His deadly work did not stop half-way, but utterly extirpated the dynasty of Ahab and the worship of Baal.
2. But Jehus character was stained by vindictiveness, The bloody role assigned to him by the Omnipotent was congenial to his nature. He was ready enough to obey God so long as the Divine command fell in with his own ambitious and bloodthirsty passions. A man who wished the stones cleared away from a little plot of ground once called together the boys of the neighbourhood, and setting up a mark outside of his ground, proposed that all should throw stones at it. The stones were soon removed. How ready we are to do Gods will when it happens to coincide with our own feelings! We seize eagerly, says Goethe, upon a law that will serve as a weapon to our passions.
3. Jehu was a kind of human tiger, and only too glad to have God use him as such. He had, indeed, a sense of destiny, like Napoleon or Stanley; but this destiny impelled him along the grooves of his own lust for rule and thirst for blood. His personal enemies,--the family of Ahab, which stood between him and the throne, the worshippers of Baal, who might cause his royal head to rest uneasy,--he went at them as if armed with a firman from the Almighty. He was like an executioner hacking his victim to pieces with fierce glee. It was as if a Christian, moved by Scripture precepts drawn from a far-away age and from a legal dispensation, should beat his child in anger. How different the spirit of a father whom I knew! After using the rod prayerfully, reluctantly, and even tenderly, he broke it up and threw it into the fire. Jehu was like some of the old divines, who seemed to preach hell with a gusto. Jehu is like a minister secretly rejoicing over the heresy of a successful rival and suddenly becoming valiant for the very phase of truth which his erring brother has slighted. (E. Judson, D. D.)
Zeal
John Foster says that this element will combine with any active principle in man, inspire any pursuit, profane itself to the lowest, be the glory of the highest, like fire that will smoulder in garbage and will lighten in the heavens. There is a zeal not according to knowledge, usually made up, says Colton, more of pride and love of victory than of truth. Cecil says, on the other hand, a warm, blundering man does more for the world than a frigid wise man. One who gets into the habit of inquiring about proprieties, expediencies, and occasions, often spends his whole life without doing anything to purpose.
Ignorant zeal
St. Paul, in Rom_10:2, finds fault with the zeal of the Jews because it is not according to knowledge, There is a great deal of this kind of zeal in our day. The less people know the more zealous they are often. It is easier to agitate a shallow pool than a deep lake. It is easier to kindle a pile of shavings than a ton of coal. And so it is with men and women. And hence it comes to pass that the one-idea folks are the most enthusiastic. Their single lonely notion of reform stirs them up as a strong wind sweeps the forest leaves, or gathers clouds of dust in the open roadway. It is all surface agitation. It is noise and bluster, fuss and fury, but makes no permanent impression. Alas, how the world has been excited, and still is, by zeal that is not according to knowledge! Men catch a fraction of some great truth; they rush into print or on the platform; they think they know all that the world needs to know; they imagine they have the panacea for all its ills; they agitate; they organise; they denounce everybody who does not believe that their fraction is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Another party gets hold of another fraction, and is equally zealous for their panacea; and the war goes on like that of boys who splash each other from the opposite sides of a narrow pool.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv18, 29 2Ki_10:19. But Jehu did it in subtilty—His subterfuge for…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
2Ki_10:19. But Jehu did it in subtilty—His subterfuge for the destruction of Baal’s priests and votaries must not be regarded as proof of Jehu’s attachment and loyalty to Jehovah, but because he knew these priests and prophets were adherents to Ahab’s dynasty, and would be unfriendly to his own. He used religion for his own guilty ends, as 2Ki_10:29 proves.
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2Ki_10:22. Vestments for all the worshippers of Baal—These priestly vestments were white robes, and kept within the temple by the master of the wardrobe; as, indeed, the holy garments of the priests of Israel were kept in the temple at Jerusalem.
2Ki_10:26. Images out of the house of Baal—See Note on 1Ki_14:23.
2Ki_10:27. A draught-house—A sink or filth-closet, in order to cover the scene with infamy and detestation.
HOMILETICS OF 2Ki_10:18-28
THE PUNISHMENT OF IDOLATRY
JEHU’S thirst for blood is not yet satiated. There remains one more power that menaces his peaceful and safe possession of the throne. The Baal-idolatry was so closely interwoven with the fortunes and prestige of the dynasty of Ahab, that Jehu must feel his crown insecure while that cultus was allowed to predominate. He rapidly matures a scheme by which the priests and worshippers of Baal shall be utterly exterminated, and the very name of the great Phœnician deity degraded and made an abomination for ever. It was a horrible conception. But Jehu was in the temper of mind, in the fever-flush of slaughter, when such conceptions had nothing revolting in them. He had shed too much blood already to shrink for a moment from shedding more. He was the more confirmed in his resolution, as he had the countenance and co-operation of the God-fearing Jehonadab, who saw in this subtle plan the necessary and deserved punishment of idolatry.
I. That the punishment of idolatry is in harmony with Divine law. Judged in the light of Mosaic ethics, the destruction of idolaters was a righteous and laudable work. The law commanded that the devotees of idolatry should be punished with death (Deu_13:1-15; Deu_17:2-4; Deu_18:20). There is nothing clearer in the history before us than this—that all the calamities that fell upon Ahab were in consequence of his idolatry. Two of the grandest prophets of Old Testament times were sent to instruct and warn him and his people. Their counsels and miracles were unheeded, and the chosen people of God were in danger of being irredeemably lost in idolatry, and His gracious purpose concerning the race of being frustrated or indefinitely postponed. As a just punishment for disobedience and rejection of Jehovah, and in the widen interests of the nation and of the world, the Baal-worship must be utterly destroyed. In this respect Jehu was the instrument of just and righteous vengeance.
II. That the punishment of idolatry may be accomplished by false and unjustifiable methods. Here we cannot but blame Jehu, and here the Old Testament morality rebukes him. He interposed the cunning and plotting of the military stategist into the carrying out of a righteous work. His Divine commission doubtless authorised him to cut off the worshippers of Baal, but not by guile. God praised his zeal in rooting out idolatry, but not his subtlety. His craft and guile on this occasion were in fearfulness equal to the duplicity and baseness which prepared the way for the massacre of St. Bartholomew. Truth never requires a lie. The end does not justify the means. It is unjustifiable to do a right thing in a wrong way. And yet what a large class of people there is in the world who do this! There is an evil that is damaging society; the more licence it has, the more it grows; it must be put down; let all possible force be put into operation to crush it; irrespective of the rights and feelings and opinions of others, root it out. It is the right thing to do; but in the majority of instances it is done in the wrong way. There’s a friend yonder going wrong; he has no longer the humility and zeal and power he used to have; he must be remonstrated with. It is the right thing to do; but in nine cases out of ten it is done in the wrong way, and more harm is done than good. A rude, impulsive, unsympathetic spirit hurried Jehu into acts of unnecessary severity and cruelty while he was seeking to do what was right, and he has many imitators in that respect in modern times.
III. That the punishment of idolatry should nevertheless be thorough and final. “Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel” (2Ki_10:28). In slaying the priests and worshippers of Baal, the sword of Jehu completed the work which Elijah began at the brook Kishon (1Ki_18:40). The deep corruption into which this idolatry had sunk the nation is evident in the fact that there was not one man with spirit and bravery enough to dispute the usurpation of Jehu, and in the cowardice and cruelty with which men of the highest rank assisted in the murder of the king’s sons. It was time that a system that could produce such utter moral degradation as this should be extinguished. Jehu was at home in such work; it was everyway congenial to his instincts. The images of Baal are shattered, the sacred citadel of Baal himself is invaded, his colossal figure is broken in pieces, the massive temple is pulled down in ruins, and the very site made a place of filth—a degradation which would cover the name of Baal with everlasting infamy and reproach. Such must be the fate of all that seeks to oppose and substitute itself for God. Every age of shams and unrealities has its Iconoclast who will shatter them in pieces. The world should be wiser and better as it reads the history and fate of all false systems.
LESSONS:—
1. Jehovah cannot tolerate a rival.
2. All idolatries must perish.
3. In the midst of the deepest degeneracy God is preparing the instrument of its punishment.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2Ki_10:18-28. Idolatry a national curse. I. Demoralizes the people. II. Is hateful to Jehovah. III. Not to be abolished by deceitful and unjust methods. IV. Witnesses in its destruction no greater enormities than it generates itself. V. Its complete uprooting essential to national growth and prosperity.
—In an objective light the slaying of the servants of Baal was quite in harmony with the law, and quite legitimate on theocratic grounds; but the subjective motive which, irrespective of the artifice, influenced Jehu was thoroughly selfish. As the priests and prophets of Baal in the land of Israel, with all their interests and their whole existence, were bound up with the dynasty of Ahab, they might be dangerous to Jehu, if he did not, from political considerations, earnestly promote their objects; whereas by their extermination he might hope to bring to his side the whole of the certainly very numerous party of the earlier legally constituted worship of Jehovah in Israel, and thereby give stability to his throne. But that Jehu used religion only as a means to an end is proved by the circumstance that he continued the worship of the calves.—Keil.
—A work which is in itself pure and holy loses its value when it is accomplished by falsehood and dissimulation. One cannot battle for the truth with the weapons of falsehood. What things one may do by outward acts, and yet be internally a hypocrite! Jehu dissimulated in order to circumvent the hypocrites and idolaters in himself. Jehu destroys the worship of false gods by the sword, and by external violence. He had full justification for this in the law, for under the old covenant idolatry was the worm at the root of the Israelitish nationality; it was high treason to the Israelitish state. Under the new covenant, it is not permitted to make use of fire and sword against heresy and superstition. No other weapon may here be used than that of the Spirit—i.e., the word of God. Christianity is not bound to any people; as it was not brought into the world by violence, so it cannot be extended and nourished by the sword. Even now, every evil power has the right and the duty to proceed to extreme measures against a cultus like that of Baal, which is interwoven with licentiousness and abominations.—Lange.
2Ki_10:18-21. What a dead paleness was there now in the faces of those few true-hearted Israelites that looked for a happy restoration of the religion of God! How could they choose but think—Alas! how are we fallen from our hopes! Is this the change we looked for? Was it only ambition that hath set this edge upon the sword of Jehu? It was not the person of Ahab that we disliked, but the sins; if those must still succeed, what have we gained? Woe be to us, if only the author of our misery be changed, not the condition, not the cause of our misery. On the other side, what triumphs sounded everywhere of the joyful Baalites! What glorying of the truth of their profession, because of their success! What scorn of their dejected opposites! What promises to themselves of a perpetuity of Baalism! How did the dispersed priests of Baal now flock together, and applaud each other’s happiness, and magnify the devotion of their new sovereign? Never had that idol so glorious a day as this, for the pomp of his service. Before, he was adored singly in corners; now solemn sacrifices shall be offered to him by all his clients, in the great temple of the mother city of Israel. I can commend the zeal of Jehu; I cannot commend the fraud of Jehu. We may come to our end even by crooked ways. He that bade him to smite for Him, did not bid him to lie for Him. Falsehood, though it be but tentative, is neither needful nor approved by the God of truth. If policy have allowed officious untruths, religion never.—Bp. Hall.
2Ki_10:18-19. Duplicity.
1. Should be beneath the dignity of a king.
2. Not allowable, even in the execution of a righteous punishment.
3. All the more detestable when under the mask of religious zeal.
2Ki_10:19. That it was possible for a large number of persons to be imposed upon by this pretence, after what Jehu had done, painfully evinces the extent of religious corruption in Israel. Something may, however, be allowed for the still imperfect knowledge of the transactions at Jezreel. News travelled but slowly in those days; and the men who had come over with the king to Samaria—his personal followers and guards—had perhaps been instructed not yet to disclose the full particulars of the great tragedy at Jezreel.—Kitto.
2Ki_10:20-22. The popularity of religion no proof of its genuineness. I. The court set the fashion in religion, and the people followed. II. Whatever pleases the outer senses—in ceremony or vestments—is sure to be popular. III. A national holiday soon gathers a crowd. IV. A crowd is little aware of the peril with which it is sometimes threatened.
2Ki_10:23. Sincerity in worship. I. Should be encouraged by self-scrutiny. II. Essential to spiritual profit. III. Demanded by an all-seeing God.
2Ki_10:25. How is the tune now changed! What shrieking was here! What outcries! What running from one sword to the edge of another! What scrambling up the walls and pillars! What climbing into the windows! What vain endeavours to escape that death which would not be shunned! Whether running, or kneeling, or prostrate, they must die. The first part of the sacrifice was Baal’s, the latter is God’s; the blood of beasts was offered in the one, of men in the other. The shedding of this was so much the more acceptable to God, by how much these men were more beasts than those they sacrificed. Bp. Hall.
2Ki_10:26-28. The glory of Baal
1. Discovered to be empty and deceptive.
2. Powerless to resist the fury of righteous retribution.
3. Dragged down to the most loathsome degradation.
2Ki_10:28. So ended this great revolution. The national worship of Baal was thus in the northern kingdom forever suppressed. For a short time, through the very circumstances which had destroyed it in Samaria, it shot up afresh in Jerusalem. But in Israel the whole kingdom and church returned to the condition in which it was before the accession of the house of Omri. The calf-worship of Jeroboam was once more revived, and in that imperfect form the true religion once more became established.—Stanley.
—If we attempt with all this light given to us by the text to estimate Jehu’s personal feeling in regard to this revolution, we shall reach the following conclusion—Jehu was a military man to whom the crown presented itself as an object of earthly ambition worth some effort. Supposing him to have been by conviction an adherent of the religion of Jehovah, the call to him to put himself at the head of a reaction in favour of the Jehovah-religion, and the anointment to the royal office by a prophet of Jehovah, might move him to make the attempt. The adherence of the army determined him. When he had won his victory, he carried out faithfully the policy to which he was bound as leader of the Jehovah-party. He put an end to the worship of Baal. The crown, however, was his reward. It was a political reward, and he took political means to secure it. He slew all the possible pretenders to the crown from the house of Ahab, according to the oriental custom in such cases, as a means of securing himself on the throne. He stopped short with his religious reforms, and did not destroy the golden calves. He left them for the same political reasons for which Jeroboam erected them—that the northern kingdom might have its own religious centres outside of Jerusalem. He saw in the revolution principally a gratification of his own ambition. He was willing to be the instrument of the overthrow of a wicked dynasty and a corrupt religion, and he stopped just where his personal interests were in danger of being impaired. It is not strange that his contemporaries rejoiced so much at the rescue of their ancestral religion that they were indifferent to the excesses by which Jehu tried to establish his royal power, nor that later and calmer judges, on the contrary, raised his bloodshed into prominence in judging of his career.—Editor of Lange.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v18 2 Kings
2 Kings
IMPURE ZEAL
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2Ki 10:18 - 2Ki 10:31.
The details of this story of bloodshed need little elucidation. Jehu had ‘driven furiously’ to some purpose. Secrecy and swiftness joined to unhesitating severity had crushed the dynasty of Ahab, which fell unlamented and unsupported, as if lightning-struck. The nobler elements had gathered to Jehu, as represented by the Rechabite, Jehonadab, evidently a Jehovah worshipper, and closely associated with the fierce soldier in this chapter. Jehu first secured his position, and then smote the Baal worship as heavily and conclusively as he had done the royal family. He struck once, and struck no more; for the single blow pulverised.
The audacious pretext of an intention to outdo the fallen dynasty in Baal worship must have sounded strange to those who knew how his massacre of Ahab’s house had been represented by him as fulfilling Jehovah’s purpose, but it was not too gross to be believed. So we can fancy the joyous revival of hope with which from every corner of the land the Baal priests, prophets, and worshippers, recovered from their fright, came flocking to the great temple in Samaria, till it was like a cup filled with wine from brim to brim. The worship cannot have numbered many adherents if one temple could hold the bulk of them. Probably it had never been more than a court fashion, and, now that Jezebel was dead, had lost ground. A token of royal favour was given to each of the crowd, in the gift of a vestment from the royal wardrobe. Then Jehu himself, accompanied by the ascetic Jehonadab, entered the court of the temple, a strangely assorted pair, and a couple of very ‘distinguished’ converts. The Baal priests would thrill with gratified pride when these two came to worship. The usual precautions against the intrusion of non-worshippers were taken at Jehu’s command, but with a sinister meaning, undreamed of by the eager searchers. That was a sifting for destruction, not for preservation. So they all passed into the inner court to offer sacrifice.
The story gives a double picture in 2Ki 10:24. Within are the jubilant worshippers; without, the grim company of their executioners, waiting the signal to draw their swords and burst in on the unarmed mob. Jehu carried his deception so far that he himself offered the burnt offering, with Jehonadab standing by, and then withdrew, followed, no doubt, by grateful acclamations. A step or two brought him to the ‘eighty men without.’ Two stern words, ‘Go, smite them,’ are enough. They storm in, and ‘the songs of the temple’ are turned to ‘howlings in that day.’ The defenceless, surprised crowd, huddled together in the dimly lighted shrine, were massacred to a man. The innermost sanctuary was then wrecked, corpses and statues thrown pell-mell into the outer courts or beyond the precincts, fires lit to burn the abominations, and busy hands, always more ready for pillage and destruction than for good work, pulled down the temple, the ruins of which were turned to base uses. The writer, picturing the wild scene, sums up with a touch of exultation: ‘Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel’-where note the emphatic prominence of the three names of the king, the god, and the nation. That is the vindication of the terrible deed.
Now the main interest of this passage lies in its disclosure of the strangely mingled character of Jehu, and in the fact that his bloody severity was approved by God, and rewarded by the continuance of his dynasty for a longer time than any other on the throne of Israel.
Jehu was influenced by ‘zeal for the Lord,’ however much smoke mingled with the flame. He acted under the conviction that he was God’s instrument, and at each new deed of blood asserted his fulfilment of prophecy. His profession to Jehonadab {2Ki 10:16} was not hypocrisy nor ostentation. The Rechabite sheikh was evidently a man of mark, and apparently one of the leaders of those who had not ‘bowed the knee to Baal’; and Jehu’s disclosure of his animating motive was meant to secure the alliance of that party through one of its chiefs. No doubt many elements of selfishness and many stains mingled with Jehu’s zeal. It was much on the same level as the fanaticism of the immediate successors of Mohammed; but, low as it was, look at its power. Jehu swept like a whirlwind, or like leaping fire among stubble, from Ramoth to Jezreel, from Jezreel to Samaria, and nothing stood before his fierce onset. Promptitude, decision, secrecy,-the qualities which carry enterprises to success-marked his character; partly, no doubt, from natural temperament, for God chooses right instruments, but from temperament heightened and invigorated by the conviction of being the instrument whom God had chosen. We may learn how even a very imperfect form of this conviction gives irresistible force to a man, annihilates fear, draws the teeth of danger, and gathers up all one’s faculties to a point which can pierce any opposition. We may all recognise that God has sent us on His errands; and if we cherish that conviction, we shall put away from us slothfulness and fear, and out of weakness shall be made strong.
But Jehu sets forth the possible imperfections of ‘zeal for the Lord.’ We may defer for a moment the consideration of the morality of his slaughter of the royal house and the Baal worshippers, and point to the taint of selfishness and to the leaven of deceit in his enthusiasm. We have not to analyse it. That is God’s work. But clearly the object which he had in view was not merely fulfilment of prophecy, but securing the throne; and there was more passion, as well as selfish policy, in his massacres, than befitted a minister of the divine justice, who should let no anger disturb the solemnity of his terrible task. Such dangers ever attend the path of the great men who feel themselves to be sent by God. In our humbler lives they dog our steps, and religious fervour needs ever to keep careful watch on itself, lest it should degenerate unconsciously into self-will, and should allow the muddy stream of earth-born passion to darken its crystal waters.
Many a great name in the annals of the Church has fallen before that temptation. We all need to remember that ‘the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God,’ and to take heed lest we should be guided by our own stormy impatience of contradiction, and by a determination to have our own way, while we think ourselves the humble instruments of a divine purpose. There was a ‘Zelotes’ in the Apostolate; but the coarse, sanguinary ‘zeal’ of his party must have needed much purifying before it learned what manner of spirit the zeal of a true disciple was of.
Another point of interest is the divine emphatic approval of Jehu’s bloody acts {2Ki 10:30}. The massacre of the Baal worshippers is not included in the acts which God declares to have been ‘according to all that was in Mine heart,’ and it may be argued that it was not part of Jehu’s commission. Certainly the accompanying deceit was not ‘right in God’s eyes,’ but the slaughter in Baal’s temple was the natural sequel of the civil revolution, and is most probably included in the deeds approved.
Perhaps Elisha brought Jehu the message in 2Ki 10:30. If so, what a contrast between the two instruments of God’s purposes! At all events, Jehovah’s approval was distinctly given. What then? There need be no hesitation in recognising the progressive character of Scripture morality, as well as the growth of the revelation of the divine character, of which the morality of each epoch is the reflection. The full revelation of the God of love had to be preceded by the clear revelation of the God of righteousness; and whilst the Old Testament does make known the love of God in many a gracious act and word, it especially teaches His righteous condemnation of sin, without which His love were mere facile indulgence and impunity. The slaughter of that wicked house of Ahab and of the Baal priests was the act of divine justice, and the question is simply whether that justice was entitled to slay them. To that question believers in a divine providence can give but one answer. The destruction of Baal worship and the annihilation of its stronghold in Ahab’s family were sufficient reasons, as even we can see, for such a deed. To bring in Jehu into the problem is unnecessary. He was the sword, but God’s was the hand that struck. It is not for men to arraign the Lord of life and death for His methods and times of sending death to evil-doers. Granted that the ‘long-suffering’ which is ‘not willing that any should perish’ speaks more powerfully to our hearts than the justice which smites with death, the later and more blessed revelation is possible and precious only on the foundation of the former. Nor will a loose-braced generation like ours, which affects to be horrified at the thought of the ‘wrath of God,’ and recoils from the contemplation of His judgments, ever reach the innermost secrets of the tenderness of His love.
From the merely human point of view, we may say that revolutions are not made with rose-water, and that, at all crises in a nation’s history, when some ancient evil is to be thrown off, and some powerful system is to be crushed, there will be violence, at which easy-going people, who have never passed through like times, will hold up their hands in horror and with cheap censure. No doubt we have a higher law than Jehu knew, and Christ has put His own gentle commandment of love in the place of what was ‘said to them of old time.’ But let us, while we obey it for ourselves, and abjure violence and blood, judge the men of old ‘according to that which they had, and not according to that which they had not.’ Jehu’s bloody deeds are not held up for admiration. His obedience is what is praised and rewarded. Well for us if we obey our better law as faithfully!
The last point in the story is the imperfection of the obedience of Jehu. He contented himself with rooting out Baal, but left the calves. That shows the impurity of his ‘zeal,’ which flamed only against what it was for his advantage to destroy, and left the more popular and older idolatry undisturbed. Obedience has to be ‘all in all, or not at all.’ We may not ‘compound for sins we are inclined to, by’ zeal against those ‘we have no mind to.’ Our consciences are apt to have insensitive spots in them, like witch-marks. We often think it enough to remove the grosser evils, and leave the less, but white ants will eat up a carcass faster than a lion. Putting away Baal is of little use if we keep the calves at Dan and Beth-el. Nothing but walking in the law of the Lord ‘with all the heart’ will secure our walking safely. ‘Unite my heart to fear Thy name’ needs to be our daily prayer. ‘One foot on sea and one on shore’ is not the attitude in which steadfastness or progress is possible.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v29 The Reign of Jehu
The Reign of Jehu
v. 29. Howbeit, in spite of this excellent showing, 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; he did not abolish the steer-worship, his knowledge of the true God not extending to that point.
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v. 30. And the Lord said unto Jehu, most likely by a prophet, 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, accomplishing thereby a deed which is here readily recognized and acknowledged, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.
v. 31. But Jehu took no heed to walk in the Law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart; his zeal for the Lord had not been an expression of unmixed devotion, but had largely been influenced by his own personal ambition; for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.
v. 32. In those days, in consequence of the prevalent idolatry, the Lord began to cut Israel short, to cut off parts, by permitting hostile nations to take possession of remote districts. And Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel, his raids being carried out with boldness and meeting with success:
v. 33. from Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, the river which formed the southern boundary, even Gilead and Bashan, all the territory of the two and one half tribes east of Jordan.
v. 34. Now, the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, his political and military exploits, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
v. 35. And Jehu slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz, his son, reigned in his stead.
v. 36. And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty and eight years. Even if a person has performed important services in the kingdom of God, all this will be overlooked and forgotten if he afterward opposes the will and the Word of God. By denying or ignoring better knowledge the guilt is merely increased.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv18, 21, 23, 25, 29 gathered all the people together
gathered all the people together
"called all the people and had them come to where he was"
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all the people together
"all the people of Samaria"
serve him much
"serve him much more than Ahab"
Let no one be left out
"Do not leave anyone out"
Whoever does not come will not live
This means that if they do not come they will be executed. AT: "We will execute anyone who does not come" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
Set a time
This means to designate and prepare a period of time for something. In this case they were to prepare for an assembly for Baal. AT: "Prepare" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
Ahab
servant
Baal
call
prophet
worship
priest
sacrifice
deceive
assembly
preach
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv18, 25, 27, 28, 30, 31 10:18-27 By executing the priests of Baal, Jehu intended…
10:18-27 By executing the priests of Baal, Jehu intended to wipe out religious worship associated with the house of Ahab, thereby destroying any sentimental attachment people had with the former dynasty.
10:18-19 Jehu deceptively played to the populace, promising to continue and promote the worship of Baal.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.