The Zealous Purge of Jehu

Take your Bibles with me and turn to 2 Kings chapter 10. 2 Kings chapter 10. Last week we started looking at the story of King Jehu and we talked about Jehu's rise to power, how he killed the King of Israel, the northern kingdom Jehoram, who was a son of Ahab. Then he went on and killed Jezebel, Jehoram's mother, who was still alive. But as you turn the page into chapter 10, you realize that Jehu wasn't done. There were still lots of relatives of Ahab left around. Jehu, for all of his faults, understood that it was his job to completely eradicate the line of Ahab. So we're going to look at this chapter tonight in five different sections. And we're going to talk about the good and the bad of Jehu. I think this king of Israel has a lot to teach us. It's certainly an interesting story. Let's get right into it by reading verses 1 - 11. > [1](#) And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to them that brought up Ahab's children, saying, > [2](#) Now as soon as this letter cometh to you, seeing your master's sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, a fenced city also, and armour; > [3](#) Look even out the best and meetest of your master's sons, and set him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house. > [4](#) But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, Behold, two kings stood not before him: how then shall we stand? > [5](#) And he that was over the house, and he that was over the city, the elders also, and the bringers up of the children, sent to Jehu, saying, We are thy servants, and will do all that thou shalt bid us; we will not make any king: do thou that which is good in thine eyes. > [6](#) Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If ye be mine, and if ye will hearken unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men your master's sons, and come to me to Jezreel by to morrow this time. Now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought them up. > [7](#) And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent him them to Jezreel. > [8](#) And there came a messenger, and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the king's sons. And he said, Lay ye them in two heaps at the entering in of the gate until the morning. > [9](#) And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, Ye be righteous: behold, I conspired against my master, and slew him: but who slew all these? > [10](#) Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spake concerning the house of Ahab: for the Lord hath done that which he spake by his servant Elijah. > [11](#) So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his kinsfolks, and his priests, until he left him none remaining. So Jehu did his first purge of the house of Ahab at Jezreel, which was one of the major cities in Israel but Jezreel wasn't the capital city. The capital city was the city of Samaria, which was on the other side of the country. In the city of Samaria there were still 70 descendants of Ahab. On top of that there were lots of courtiers and partisans and just the upper crust that had been around Ahab and supported Ahab and supported his son Jehoram. Jehu knew he had to get rid of all of these descendants of Ahab. He also knew that there would be a strong tendency among these leaders among the court to choose one of the descendants of Ahab and to make him King and to start a civil war. Jehu sent them a letter and basically challenged them to do just that, saying, "Pick your person, pick your King; let's fight this out." Jehu had been so devastating and so zealous in what he did that these leaders were absolutely intimidated to do that and they sent back and said, "No, you're our King. We don't want to mess with you. You're our King." Jehu said, "All right then if that's the case, here's what I want you to do. I want you to take all of the sons of Ahab that are still alive. I want you to kill all of them. I want you to bring me their heads in baskets." These feckless leaders of Israel, these bureaucrats, did exactly what Jehu told them to do and killed all of the sons of Ahab and brought them in baskets to Jezreel. And Jehu piled them up on both sides of the gate there. He had a speech to all the people. He got all these leaders around and all the people came around and he gave them a speech. His speech was basically like this: "You guys are going to look down on me because you think I'm a traitor that killed my master. I did. That's exactly what I did but you all did the same thing. We're all in this together. You're not any more righteous than I am. I was acting at the command of God. God told me to do this. God by the prophet Elijah prophesied that Ahab's family would be wiped out and I was acting on this. You're all involved in it." So we see Jehu; he's just wiping out the family and the followers of Ahab. He's consolidating power here. Any of the sons of Ahab would have been a challenger to his throne and he's consolidating power for himself. He's implicating all of these people, all of these leaders, along with him. And so we see here two things about Jehu that I think are interesting: 1. We see this zeal to do what God has called him to do. God has called him to be an avenger. God has called him to be a hammer, a sword of judgment on the house of Ahab and Jehu is going to do that fully. 2. We also see that he is cunning and ambitious and manipulative to make himself great in Israel. Let's read the next section. Verses 12-14 > [12](#) And he arose and departed, and came to Samaria. And as he was at the shearing house in the way, > [13](#) Jehu met with the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, Who are ye? And they answered, We are the brethren of Ahaziah; and we go down to salute the children of the king and the children of the queen. > [14](#) And he said, Take them alive. And they took them alive, and slew them at the pit of the shearing house, even two and forty men; neither left he any of them. So Jehu goes to Samaria. He goes to the capital city and while he's there he meets the family members of Ahaziah, the King of Judah. Now remember Jehu has already killed Ahaziah, the King of Judah. Ahaziah was related to Ahab and he's killed the family member of Ahab and that includes Ahaziah, King of Judah. This royal contingent comes to visit Ahaziah; they haven't heard yet apparently. Jehu says, "Who are you guys?" They said, "Well we're the family of Ahaziah and we came down to salute the children of the king and the children of the queen." I think that was what did them in because the queen was Jezebel. They were declaring themselves loyal to Ahab and Jezebel, not knowing what was going on here. So Jehu has them all rounded up and he kills all of them. He kills forty-two of these people, or 42 men; he doesn't leave any of them alive. And this is kind of questionable. On the one hand Jehu is fulfilling God's judgment and Jehu is trying to wipe out all of the children of Ahab but here he's kind of killing the children of David at the same time. Most Bible scholars think that Jehu is probably going too far here. We'll come back to that later. Let's keep reading. Verses 15-16: > [15](#) And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him: and he saluted him, and said to him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot. > [16](#) And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord. So they made him ride in his chariot. So now we meet another interesting character. This guy is named Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, and he is the founder of a group of people called the Rechabites. Go ahead and hold your finger here and turn with me to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 35. Look at verses 6-7: > [6](#) But they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever: > [7](#) Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any: but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye be strangers. Jeremiah's talking about the same guy here. This is much later but he's looking back at this man Johonadab. Johonadab apparently was a religious leader in Israel in Judah who got people to live this sort of ascetic lifestyle, which was a revolt against the sinfulness of Baal worship. They took it so far that they wouldn't drink any wine and they wouldn't plant any fields or build any houses. They were all living in tents in the desert and just trusting God to take care of them. So Johonadab is kind of this extreme religious leader and Jehu finds him and says, "Hey is your heart with me?” It's like he's saying, "Johonadab, are you down with what I'm doing here? Are you cool with me following God's orders and killing all of the seed of Ahab?" And Johonadab is like, yep. So Jehu says, "Hop in my chariot. Come see my zeal for the Lord." And then they go together and find more of the sons of Ahab and more Baal worshipers and kill more sons of Ahab and more Baal worshipers. Again you can look here at Jehu and you can start to see, yes this is a guy that is zealous for doing what God has called him to do. He's zealous for being God's hammer but he's also kind of proud of it. He's also kind of got an ego about it. Let’s look at the next section. Verses 17-28: > [17](#) And when he came to Samaria, he slew all that remained unto Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed him, according to the saying of the Lord, which he spake to Elijah. > [18](#) And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said unto them, Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu shall serve him much. > [19](#) Now therefore call unto me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests; let none be wanting: for I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal; whosoever shall be wanting, he shall not live. But Jehu did it in subtilty, to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal. > [20](#) And Jehu said, Proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal. And they proclaimed it. > [21](#) And Jehu sent through all Israel: and all the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that came not. And they came into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal was full from one end to another. > [22](#) And he said unto him that was over the vestry, Bring forth vestments for all the worshippers of Baal. And he brought them forth vestments. > [23](#) And Jehu went, and Jehonadab the son of Rechab, into the house of Baal, and said unto the worshippers of Baal, Search, and look that there be here with you none of the servants of the Lord, but the worshippers of Baal only. > [24](#) And when they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings, Jehu appointed fourscore men without, and said, If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escape, he that letteth him go, his life shall be for the life of him. > [25](#) And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in, and slay them; let none come forth. And they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains cast them out, and went to the city of the house of Baal. > [26](#) And they brought forth the images out of the house of Baal, and burned them. > [27](#) And they brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day. > [28](#) Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel. So Jehu hatches this plan. He wants to get rid of all of the Baal worship in Israel. He calls a great sacrifice as the new king, a great sacrifice to Baal. He sends out this message that says, "The past king worshipped Baal a little. I'm going to worship Baal a lot. Come to my great sacrifice." And all the Baal worshipers come to this great sacrifice, this special day that's set aside to worship Baal. They come to the temple for Baal that was built by Ahab for Jezebel. And it's packed out in there. Shoulder to shoulder. And Jehu and Johonadab go through the crowd and they make sure that it's all really Baal worshipers, that there's no followers of God in the crowd. Then Jehu says to the army, "Kill them all! Don't let anybody be left and if you let anyone out, their blood is going to be on your hands. Take care of all of them." All of these Baal worshipers that came to this sacrifice are massacred. Then Jehu tears down this temple to Baal and he turns it into a draught house. Do you know what a draught house is? It's a toilet. It's an outhouse. Jehu gives the worst disrespect you possibly can to the Baal worshipers and the Baal temple and he turns the Baal temple into a dump for excrement. Listen this is a good thing. This is a terrible thing, this Baal worship for Israel. It's a terrible thing. Under the worship of Baal they had gone after God's prophets and killed God's prophets. They had brought all kinds of immorality and filthiness into Israel. And it was a needed thing to clean house here and to get rid of Baal worship. So what are your thoughts on Jehu so far? Is he a good guy? Is he a bad guy? I mean he certainly seems to be someone that takes God very seriously and wants to do what God has called him to do. That's more than we can say for many people that call themselves Christians. Let's read the rest of this chapter and see what God has to say about Jehu because that's what matters, right? > [29](#) Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan. > [30](#) And the Lord said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel. > [31](#) But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin. > [32](#) In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short: and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel; > [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, even Gilead and Bashan. > [34](#) Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? > [35](#) And Jehu slept with his fathers: and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead. > [36](#) And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty and eight years. So what do we make of Jehu? I mean Jehu is this very bloody character. It's really hard for us to look at this chapter and the chapter before it and think, "Wow God was behind this?” I mean can you imagine the United Methodists or the Unitarians trying to explain how God was behind Jehu? I want to give you four points tonight in closing about Jehu and make some application to ourselves. The first thing I want to say about Jehu and I think this is obvious from the Scripture is… Jehu was used by God. --------------------- Yes God used Jehu to do his work of judgment. Yes he was an imperfect character but you know what? All of the people that God used in the Bible were imperfect characters, save one and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. God doesn't use sanitized tools because there are none available. If God was to do his work, he had to do it through this imperfect person named Jehu. Another thought is that the work of judgment is never pretty. I mean how is God going to judge the family of Ahab without bloodshed? I mean I guess they could have all died in their sleep but that is still terrible and tragic. God is love and God is our savior but God is also just and God is a judge. The work of judgment is seldom pretty. We need people in missions that are reaching out to the worst and hardest and poorest of people and showing them the love of God but we also need a government that “bears not the sword in vain” and that punishes crime and upholds standards of righteousness and upholds the righteousness and judgment of God. We can't get it in our head where God is in one camp or the other. God is in both. God is not only the God of mercy and missions — he is also the God of judgment and justice. I think we can see a second thing in this chapter about Jehu and that is.. Jehu was zealous for God’s work. -------------------------------- I mean that's what this chapter says. God looked at Jehu and said, "You've done well for this thing. You've done well in executing the judgment against Ahab and because you've been so zealous in this work, I am going to make sure that your dynasty lasts for four generations." Zeal for God's work is not a bad thing. God rewarded the work of Jehu. I'll come back to that in a minute. Let me give you the third thought. Jehu went too far and not far enough. ------------------------------------- One of the most interesting things about Jehu is that he went too far in some areas and not far enough in other areas. Let me tell you what I mean. The prophet Hosea talked about Jehu and what Jehu did. Hear in Hosea chapter 1 and let me read you these verses because it’s interesting. > [4](#) And the Lord said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. > Hosea 1:4 (KJV) Hosea talks about how God is going to avenge the bloodshed at Jezreel. This is what we just read about. God is going to punish the house of Jehu because of what Jehu has done here. You can read this and you can see that in God's eyes Jehu went a little too far. Probably killing the family of Ahaziah, probably some of the ways that he went about things, God was not pleased with it. The overall of it? God gave the thumbs up. You were good in doing that but he took it too far. But then we read here in chapter 10 of 2 Kings that he didn't go far enough. Yes he got rid of Baal worship but he did not get rid of the original sin of Israel, which was the golden calves. Jehu got rid of the worship of false gods. Good for him but he still worshipped the true God in a false way. And because of that God does not call Jehu a good king. He is certainly the best of a bad bunch. He is certainly the one of the whole group that seemed to have some zeal for God but he wasn't a good king because he worshipped God the wrong way. He worshipped God through idolatry. Someone said, "It's not enough to be zealous against the bad. We have to be zealous for the good." It's not enough to hate the evil of this world and to hate it vehemently. We have to also love God. I think that it would be good for us to just stop here and think about this for a second because I meet all kinds of people in the world today. I meet them online or I meet them in person that truly hate all of the evil that's happening around us. I mean they hate the sexualization of our culture. They hate the anti-God bent of our culture. They have eyes to see and they can see that there is evil and they can see Satan’s work is afoot and they hate it. And they rail against it. And they make that a big part of who they are. They hate evil. That's good but they don't go to church. They don't read their Bibles. They're okay with a version of Christianity that's just sort of this cultural Christianity that doesn't ask anything of them. So Jehu was doing the work of God. Jehu was zealous for the work of God. Jehu went too far but not far enough. There's one more thing I want you to see about Jehu… Jehu didn’t have a personal relationship with God. -------------------------------------------------- I think verse 31 might be one of the scariest most sobering verses in all of the Bible. Look at it again. > [31](#) But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin. > 2 Kings 10:31 (KJV) Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord. Jehu was somebody that was happy to do God's work but not to have a personal relationship with God or a personal holiness before God. And God used him. God even rewarded him in giving him a dynasty. But that's all he got. Spurgeon said that Jehu was just a hired servant and he got the throne as his wages but he wasn't God's son. Jehu stands as a warning to us that it's possible to work for God while not walking with God. It's possible to be used by God but not close to God. Here's the question I want to leave you with tonight. Which one are you? Are you a hired servant or are you a son? Because you can be in church every week. You can be outraged at the right things. You can do the work, show up, serve, give — and still be exactly where Jehu was. Doing the work of God without walking with God. The difference between a hired servant and a son isn't what they do. It might even look the same from the outside. The difference is the relationship. A son walks with his father. A son knows his father. A son isn't just working for wages — he's living in the house. God is not just looking for people to do his work. He's looking for people who want to know him. He's not just looking for zeal. He's looking for a heart that takes heed to walk in his law. Jehu got his reward. He got what he worked for. But the Bible never says God loved Jehu. It never says Jehu loved God. And at the end of twenty-eight years on the throne, that's a sobering epitaph for any man. Don't let that be yours.

The Zealous Purge of Jehu

More from this series

Ryan Hayden