2 Kings 10

Studying these two chapters gives you the feeling that you’re reading the morning paper or watching the ten o’clock news on television. You meet two leaders—Jehu, former army commander and now ruler of the northern kingdom of Israel, and Jehoiada, high priest at the temple in Jerusalem in the Southern Kingdom. As you watch these two men, you recognize the fact that the same forces for good and for evil were at work in their world that are at work in our own world today.

You also recognize the difference between leaders who are motivated by selfish ambition and leaders who are motivated by spiritual dedication. Jehu was proud of his “zeal for the Lord” (10:16), but that “zeal” was a pious cloak that hid the egotism and anger that really motivated his service. God gave Jehu an important work to do, but the king went beyond the assigned boundaries and carried his mandate too far. The Lord commended Jehu for what he accomplished (10:30), but He also chastened him for his pride and compromise. Humanly speaking, were it not for the courageous service of the high priest, Jehoiada, and his wife Jehosheba, the Davidic dynasty would have come to an end. The future of God’s promises to David, that involved His great plan of salvation, was all wrapped up in a little baby boy named Joash.

Let’s identify the forces that were at work in that day, forces that are still at work in our world today,

Years before, Elijah had prophesied that the line of godless King Ahab would come to an end and that every last descendant of Ahab would be slain (1 Kings 21:20–29). The Lord gave this mission to Jehu when He anointed him king of Israel (2 Kings 9:6–10). Even though the nation was divided into two kingdoms, the Jews were still God’s covenant people and their kings couldn’t do whatever they pleased. Ahab and Jezebel had promoted Baal worship in Israel, and when Jehoram, king of Judah, married Athaliah, a daughter of Ahab, he encouraged Baal worship in Judah (8:16–18). By this evil marriage, Jehoram not only corrupted Judah with idol worship, but he corrupted the line of David and jeopardized the fulfillment of the messianic promises.

Jehu had already killed Joram, king of Israel, and Ahaziah, king of Judah (9:14–29), and he had also slain Jezebel, the evil wife of Ahab (9:30–37). Now Jehu was on a “search and destroy” mission to find and kill every one of Ahab’s descendants. His first challenge was to get control of the capital city of Samaria where Ahab’s male descendants were being protected and prepared for places of leadership in the government. Jehu knew that his forces couldn’t easily take a walled city like Samaria, but being a clever strategist, he knew how to get his enemies to surrender. Once he had taken Samaria, the other key cities in the land would also surrender.

Samaria accepts Jehu’s rule (vv. 1–5). Jehu was in Jezreel (9:30), about twenty-five miles north of Samaria, and from there, he communicated with the leaders in Samaria—the palace administrators, the military leaders, and the tutors and guardians of the princes. He knew that if he could intimidate these respected leaders, he could take over the city without a fight. His first challenge was that they choose one of Ahab’s male descendants, put him on the throne and then defend his right to reign. This was probably a suggestion that the new king or a champion of his choice fight Jehu one-on-one and the winner take all. (See 1 Sam. 17:8ff. and 2 Sam. 2:9.)

Jehu even pointed out their advantages: they were in a walled city and they had armor and weapons as well as chariots and horses. Jehu was using a technique that revolutionaries have used successfully for centuries: making a bold proposal and letting the leaders’ imaginations create fear in their hearts. Adolf Hitler wrote, “Mental confusion, contradiction of feeling, indecisiveness, panic: these are our weapons.” Three different groups of leaders had to unite on this decision, and these men knew that Jehu had killed two kings and disposed of Jezebel. Furthermore, he seemed invincible, for nobody had stood in his way. The message they sent to Jehu at Jezreel was one of complete unconditional surrender. They promised to do whatever he commanded and they agreed not to name a new king. In short, they accepted Jehu as their king.

Samaria obeys Jehu’s orders (vv. 6–10). Now Jehu shows himself to be the master of political double-talk. He accepted their submission to his rule and then ordered them to “take the heads” of the seventy descendants of Ahab and bring them to Jezreel. This could mean “bring the leaders among the group to me and we’ll discuss matters,” or it could mean “behead all seventy and bring me their heads.” It was the second interpretation that the leaders followed, so they immediately killed Ahab’s descendants and sent messengers to Jezreel with the heads. When they arrived that evening, Jehu ordered the messengers to stack up the heads at the entrance of the city, certainly a grisly reminder to the people of Jezreel that it didn’t pay to get in Jehu’s way.

But the next morning, Jehu again showed himself a master politician by absolving himself of any guilt! He admitted that he had killed Joram, the former king of Israel, but since he had not left Jezreel, he couldn’t have murdered the seventy young men. Then he reminded them of the divine promise that all of Ahab’s descendants would be eliminated, so the responsibility ultimately lay with the Lord and His prophet Elijah. In one brief speech, Jehu washed his hands of the mass murder and also allied himself with the Lord and the prophet Elijah!

Jehu practiced what is today called “double-speak.” Taxes are now “revenue enhancement” and potholes are “pavement deficiencies.” People are no longer bald; they are only “follicularly deprived.” Hospital technicians gave a fatal dose of nitrous oxide to a mother about to deliver and killed both the mother and the child. They called the tragedy “a therapeutic misadventure.” Poor people are now “fiscal underachievers,” and soldiers no longer kill the enemy, they “service the target.” David was right when he wrote, “They speak falsehood to one another; with flattering lips and with a double heart they speak” (Ps. 12: nasb).

Jehu’s divine commission had now become a personal crusade, motivated by his own selfish ambition. Novelist Joseph Conrad wrote in the preface to Some Reminiscences, “All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries and credulities of mankind.” Lawful ambition uses truth and builds on the past, while unlawful ambition uses lies and destroys the past. Dictators must annihilate their enemies in order to be safe, but in so doing, they destroy the past and the information and help they need for moving into the future. A German aphorism says, “Every eel hopes to become a whale,” and Jehu was now driving in that lane.

He goes too far (vv. 11–14). To prove that he intended to obey God and purge the land of Ahab’s family, Jehu proceeded to kill all of Ahab’s descendants that he found in Jezreel. But he didn’t stop there; he went beyond his divine commission and killed Ahab’s close friends, his chief officers, and the priests who served in the palace. It was a wholesale slaughter based on “guilt by association.” The Lord wanted to rid the land of Ahab’s family so that none of them could usurp the throne, but for Jehu to kill Ahab’s friends, officers, and priests was totally unnecessary. In fact, Jehu later had serious problems with the Syrians (10:22–23) and could have used some of the wisdom and experience of the court officers he killed. By wiping out these former leaders, Jehu destroyed a valuable source of political wisdom and skill.

He then left Jezreel and went to Samaria to claim his throne. On the way, he met a group of travelers who were going to Jerusalem to visit King Ahaziah, who was related to them. They didn’t know that King Ahaziah, King Joram, and Queen Jezebel were all dead and that Jehu had killed them and was now in charge. Since Ahaziah had married into Ahab’s family (8:18), it seemed logical to Jehu that anybody related to Ahaziah belonged to the enemy, so he had all forty-two men slain. But these men weren’t related by blood to Ahab; they were descendants of David! Jehu was now attacking the Davidic dynasty! (See 2 Chron. 22:8.)

He enlists a friend (vv. 15–17). Jehu now encountered an ally, Jehonadab the Rechabite, and used him to give respectability to his own ambitions. The Rechabites were a people that belonged to the Kenites, the descendants of Moses’ brother-in-law Hobab (Judg. 4:11). They identified with the tribe of Judah (Judg. 1:16) but stayed to themselves and followed the traditions laid down by their ancestors (Jer. 35). They were respected highly by the Jewish people, but, being nomads and tent-dwellers, the Rechabites were separated from the everyday city life and politics of the Jews.

Jehonadab was just the kind of man Jehu needed to make his crusade look credible. When Jehonadab took Jehu’s hand and stepped into the royal chariot, he declared that he was heart and soul behind the new king. Certainly Jehonadab disapproved of Baal worship and rejoiced to hear that Ahab’s family was being eradicated. However, when he met Jehu, Jehonadab didn’t know the motives that were driving the king and the ruthless methods he was using.

Every ambitious leader needs a respectable second man to help “sell” his policies and practices to the public. It was bad enough that Jehu had begun to murder innocent people, but now he was “using” an innocent man to make his crimes look like the work of the Lord. However, this is the way many unscrupulous leaders operate. Jehu’s statement “see my zeal for the Lord” (v. 16) reminds us of the words of Elijah when he was running from Jezebel and hiding in the cave (1 Kings 19:10, 14). The Hebrew word can be translated “jealous” or “zealous.”

When Jehu and Jehonadab arrived at Samaria with the company of soldiers, Jehu presented himself as their king and the people submitted to him. Jehu had already intimidated the rulers of the city, so he met no opposition when he rode through the city gate. The city officers turned Ahab’s remaining relatives over to him and Jehu killed them all.

Jehu had finished the work of ridding the nation of Ahab’s family, so there were no descendants who could challenge his right to the throne. But what about the Baal worship that had infected the land? That was Jehu’s next responsibility and he decided to use deception as his major weapon.

As king of Israel, Jehu could have dealt with the Baal worshippers in one of three ways. He could have commanded them to leave the land, or he could have obeyed Deuteronomy 13 and killed them. He might even have tried to convert them, although it would have been easy to “convert” if the sword was hanging over your head. He also could have ordered the temple of Baal to be torn down. Jehu had the promised support of the leaders in Samaria (v. 5), so why did he choose to lie to the people and then kill them? God’s servants are not allowed to “do evil that good may come” (Rom. 3: nasb; see 1 Thess. 2:3), yet that’s the course that Jehu took. He had authority from Moses to kill the idolaters, and that he did, but why did he deceive them first?

He lied to them about himself, claiming that he was more devoted to Baal than Ahab had been. He also lied about the service in the temple of Baal. However, this may have been another instance of Jehu’s “doublespeak,” for there was a “great sacrifice” to Baal—the lives of the priests and the worshippers in Baal’s temple! Jehu was a military man whose life was so dedicated to strategy and conquest that, unlike David, he couldn’t bring faith and the glory of God into his battles. Jehu seems to have had a lust for blood and a joy in outsmarting his enemies, and we never read that he sought the mind of the Lord in any of his endeavors.

First, he assembled the prophets, ministers, and priests of Baal and commanded them to announce a great sacrifice for Baal. Coming from the king through the religious leaders, the announcement would carry much more weight and be more believable. Jehu even sent messengers throughout the land to command the Baal worshippers to attend the great sacrifice in Samaria. The house of Baal in Samaria was built by Ahab for Jezebel (1 Kings 16:31–32), so Jehu would destroy “the house of Ahab” in two senses: his physical “house” or family and the house he built for Baal.

Once the people were in the temple, Jehu made sure that no true worshippers of Jehovah were among the worshippers of Baal. He commanded that the Baal worshippers wear the special garments that were used during their services, and he and Jehonadab admonished the priests not to allow any outsiders to participate (v. 23). Jehu gave the impression that he wanted “pure worship” for the great sacrifice. Once the Baal worshippers were ready inside the temple, Jehu instructed his eighty soldiers outside the temple to be ready to enter the temple as soon as the sacrifice was ended.

Does the “he” in verse 25 (kjv) refer to Jehu or to the high priest of Baal? The NIV and the NASB both opt for Jehu, but not knowing the layout of the temple or the order of the service, it’s difficult to decide. How could the king be visible at the altar and, without raising suspicion, leave the altar and go outside to command the soldiers? It’s likely that Jehu provided the animals for the sacrifices, so in that sense, he was “sacrificing to Baal” whether he was at the altar or not. The soldiers killed all the Baal worshippers in the temple and threw their bodies outside into the court. Then some of the men went into the inner shrine of the temple and removed the wooden images of the gods and the stone image of Baal and destroyed them. What once was the sacred house of Baal was turned into a public latrine.

Jehu’s plan worked and enabled him in one day to wipe out Baal worship in the land. By lying to the people, he accumulated a larger crowd of Baal worshippers than if he had gone after them one by one, but it’s unfortunate that his first public act as king in Samaria was an act of deception. Would anybody trust him after that?

Once things quieted down, Jehu had a long reign of twenty-eight years, but he followed the ways of Jeroboam and worshipped the golden calves at Dan and Bethel. The calves were supposed to be only symbols of Jehovah, but it was idolatry just the same. In spite of his zeal for the Lord, Jehu was an idolater at heart who used the Lord’s name only to cover up his sins. By being a part of the “national religion,” Jehu united the people and gained their respect. Jehu was a consummate politician to the very end.

The Lord commended Jehu for the work he had done and rewarded him by giving him the longest dynasty in the history of the northern kingdom—over one hundred years. He was succeeded by Jehoahaz, Joash, Jeroboam II, and Zechariah, all of whom were bad kings. But the prophet Hosea announced that the Lord was displeased with Jehu for murdering innocent people (Hos. 1:4; 2:21). Jehu established his dynasty by killing King Joram at Jezreel (2 Kings 9:15ff.), and for this God would judge him. “Jezreel” means “God scatters” and He would scatter the northern kingdom by allowing the Assyrians to conquer them in 722 BC Jehu’s great-great-grandson Zechariah reigned only six months and was assassinated by Shallum who reigned only one month. The dynasty began with a murder and ended with a murder.

Even during Jehu’s lifetime, the Lord chastened him by allowing Israel’s old enemy Syria (Aram) to take territory from the tribes east of the Jordan. Having the enemy living right across the Jordan River wasn’t a comfortable situation for the nation. Jehu was an effective soldier but he wasn’t much of a builder, and he’s remembered only for the people he killed. He could have assembled a group of gifted men to assist him in promoting the true faith in the land, but he settled for following the crowd and worshipping the golden calves.

Retaliation (11:1; 2 Chron. 22:10) We move now to the southern kingdom of Judah where the throne was empty because Jehu had killed King Ahaziah near Jezreel (9:27–28). The queen mother, Athaliah, a daughter of Ahab, saw her opportunity and seized the throne, reigning for six years. As the founder of Baal worship in Judah, she had no desire to see the Davidic dynasty succeed. She tried to kill all the royal princes, but one survived. David’s family was rapidly being destroyed. When Jehoram became king of Judah, he killed all his brothers and some of the princes of Israel to prevent them from dethroning him (2 Chron. 21:4), and the Arabian invaders had killed Jehoram’s older sons (22:1). Jehu had killed some of David’s descendants (22:8), and now Athaliah had ordered the “royal seed” to be wiped out. Satan certainly did his utmost to keep the promised Messiah from being born in David’s family in Bethlehem!

Athaliah was retaliating because of all that Jehu had done in eradicating Ahab’s family and Baal worship in Israel. To return evil for good is demonic; to return good for evil is godlike; and to return evil for evil and good for good is human. Wherever there is conflict in this world, you will usually find this spirit of revenge and retaliation. As individuals used to fight duels to uphold their personal honor, so nations sometimes fight wars to protect their national honor. But by killing the royal seed, Athaliah was rebelling against the Lord Jehovah who had promised David that he would have a descendant sitting on his throne in Jerusalem.

Most of us don’t go to that extreme in seeking to “pay back” our enemies, but revenge isn’t an unknown thing among God’s people. Moses in the law admonished his people not to practice revenge (Lev. 19:18), and Solomon gave the same counsel (Prov. 20:22; 24:29). Jesus taught against personal revenge (Matt. 5:38–48), as did the apostles Paul (Rom. 12:17–21) and Peter (1 Peter 3:8–9). Planning and executing revenge does far more harm to the perpetrator than to the victim. Many famous authors have written about “sweet revenge,” but experience shows that revenge is very bitter. A Jewish proverb says, “The smallest revenge will poison the soul.” If you are going to pay back an enemy, choose a good one, because paying back an enemy is a very expensive luxury.

Faith and courage (11:2–12; 2 Chron. 22:11— 23:11) When wicked Athaliah killed the heirs to David’s throne, the faithful remnant in Judah must have wondered where God was and what He was doing. Why would He make a covenant promise to David and not keep it? How could He allow the queen mother to do such an evil deed and jeopardize the future of the messianic line? But God was still on the throne and had His servants prepared to act. In a world that seems to be controlled by deceit and selfish ambition, there are still people like Jehoiada and Jehosheba who have faith in God’s Word and courageously do His will.

Protection (vv. 2–3; 22:11–12). Jehoiada was the high priest and Jehosheba, his wife, was a princess, a daughter of King Jehoram and a sister to King Ahaziah, whom Jehu had slain. This made her an aunt to little Joash. That such a godly woman should come out of that family is a miracle of the grace of God. Knowing what Athaliah planned to do, the priest and the princess stole one-year-old Joash from the royal nursery and hid him with his nurse, first in a room where old bedding was stored and then in a room in the temple. As he grew older, he mingled and played with the other children in the temple area and wasn’t recognized as an heir to the throne.

Presentation (vv. 4–12; 23:1–11). Jehoiada and Jehosheba and the boy’s nurse had the patience to wait for God’s time, for faith and patience go together (Heb. 6:12). “Whoever believes will not act hastily” (Isa. 28: nkjv). In His gracious providence, the Lord watched over the child as well as the three people who knew who he was and where he was, for if Queen Athaliah had known what they were doing, she would have killed them along with the prince.

While waiting those six years, the high priest had thought and prayed, and the Lord told him how to take Athaliah off the throne and put Joash on the throne. First, he called together the five officers who were in charge of the temple guard, presented the king to them and had them take an oath to obey his orders and tell no one what was going to transpire. After outlining his plan, he sent them throughout the kingdom of Judah to order the Levites living away from Jerusalem and the heads of the Jewish families (clans) to come to Jerusalem on a specific Sabbath day. They were to assemble at the temple as though they were there to worship the Lord.

Jehoiada’s plan was simple but effective. The five officers each commanded one hundred men. Two companies would ordinarily be on duty daily and be replaced on the Sabbath Day, but on this particular Sabbath they would remain on duty and guard the king. A third company would guard the palace where Athaliah lived, and this would give her a false sense of security. A fourth company was assigned to the gate Sur (or “the foundation gate”—23:5), which may have led from the nearby palace to the temple area. The fifth company assembled at the gate behind the guardhouse, a normal place for the temple guards to gather. Anybody watching at the temple would have no reason to suspect that anything dramatic was about to occur. They would see the guards march in and take their usual places, and they might notice that the crowd of worshippers in the temple was larger than usual.

Even King David was involved in the plan! The high priest distributed to the men the weapons that David had confiscated in his many battles, and the guards protected David’s own heir with those weapons. It was David who purchased the property on which the temple stood (2 Sam. 24:18ff.), and it was David who provided the wealth that enabled Solomon to build the temple. Some of it came from his own personal treasury and the rest from the spoils of the battles he had fought for the Lord (1 Chron. 28—29). He wrote many of the songs the Levites sang in the temple services, and now he was providing the weapons to defend his own dynasty. David not only served his own generation (Acts 13:36) but every generation that followed. What an example for us to follow!

When everybody was in place, Jehoiada brought out the seven-year-old king and presented him to the people. Jehoiada put the crown on Joash’s head and gave him a copy of the law of God that he was to obey (Deut. 17:14–12; 31:26). The high priest anointed him and the people joyfully welcomed him as their ruler. “God save the king” is literally “Let the king live!” (See 1 Sam. 10:24; 2 Sam. 16:16; 1 Kings 1:25, 39.) God had kept His covenant promise and put one of David’s descendants on the throne of Judah!

Obedience (11:13–21; 2 Chron. 23:12–21) God had protected the young king and had enabled Jehoiada and the officers to present him to the people, but the work wasn’t over yet.

The execution of Athaliah (vv. 13–16; 23:12–15). The repeated shout “God save the king!” startled Athaliah and she hastened out of the palace to see what was happening. The first thing she discovered was that she was trapped. There were guards around the palace and between the palace and the temple courts, so there was no opportunity for her to escape or for her own soldiers to come to her rescue. She hurried to the temple court where she saw the young king standing by the pillar (1 Kings 7:21), protected by the captains. She also saw that the assembly was made up not only of priests, Levites and military personnel, but also “the people of the land,” that is, the land-holding citizens whose work, wealth, and influence were important to the nation.

How paradoxical that she should shout “Treason! Treason!” when she was the real traitor. Joash was a descendant of David and had every right to the throne, while Athaliah had seized the throne and had no claim to it. Jehoiada ordered the five military captains to escort her out of the temple area and told the guards to slay anybody who followed her. Once they were back on the palace grounds, near the Horse Gate, they killed her with the sword.

The dedication of the people (v. 17; 23:16). Jehoiada had already given the holy covenant to the king (v. 12), but it was necessary that both the people and the king affirm their allegiance to one another and to the Lord. Israel was a theocracy and God was their King. The king ruled as God’s chosen representative, and the people obeyed the king as they would obey the Lord, for the law of Israel was the law of the Lord. Israel was a covenant nation, for at Mount Sinai their ancestors had sworn allegiance to the Lord and His Word (Ex. 18—19). No other nation on earth has this same covenant relationship to the Lord (Ps. 147:19–20).

The elimination of Baal worship (vv. 18–21; 23:17). As Jehu had done in Samaria, so Jehoiada did in Jerusalem: he and the people destroyed the temple of Baal and killed the chief priest of Baal before the altar of Baal. No doubt they also executed the other people who were leaders in Baal worship. They also destroyed the temple of Baal and the altar and images that it contained. Because of Athaliah and her compromising husband Jehoram and their son Ahaziah, the kingdom of Judah had been infected with idolatry for at least fifteen years, and now the infection was exposed and removed.

The restoration of the Davidic dynasty (11:19–21; 23:20–21). What a joyful crowd it was that escorted the king from the temple to the palace, where they placed him on the throne! Satan’s attempt to end the Davidic line had failed, and the messianic promise was still in force. The people had done the will of God and obeyed His Word, and for the first time in many years, righteousness and peace reigned in the land.

The organization of the temple ministry (11:18b; 2 Chron. 23:18–19). We learn from 2 Kings 12 that the temple of the Lord had been grossly neglected and abused during the time that Athaliah was the power behind the throne. Jehoiada immediately took steps to remedy this situation by following David’s orders (1 Chron. 23—26) and putting the proper priests and Levites into places of ministry. It was important that they offer the daily sacrifices to the Lord and sing praises to Him. It was also essential that the doors of the temple be guarded so that no unclean person might enter and defile the other worshippers. Revival is simply obeying God’s Word and doing what He commanded our fathers to do. We don’t need the novelties of the present; we need the realities of the past.

When God began to restore true worship in Jerusalem and Judah, He started with one dedicated couple—Jehoiada the high priest and his wife, Jehosheba. They enlisted the nurse who cared for Joash, and God protected all four of them for six years. Then Jehoiada enlisted the five military captains, who in turn assembled their five hundred soldiers. The scattered priests, Levites, and people of the land came together as one to honor the Lord and obey His Word. Sin was purged, God’s will was accomplished and the name of the Lord was glorified!

God could do it then, and He can do it today—but we must trust Him to have His way.