Day 185 – Jehu (Northern King 28 years)

Read my notes alongside the readings today, as they are complicated, and don’t worry if you don’t understand the verses in Hosea. You can skip these if you’d like.

• Today’s passages throw many names about, some of them new, which may take a bit of sorting out in your head. Dropped on top of that is a whole tonne of violent death, as God’s punishments for the sins of the previous Israelite kings start to come to their bloody fruition. It’s a complex mix, so we’ll pick out just the major points in these notes. Do you my notes to guide you, and don’t worry about remembering or writing down some of the minor details.
• At the start of this passage, Joram was still the king of Israel. Jehu was appointed the new king of Israel through the anointing of oil by Elisha (he’s still alive at this point!). It’s important to note that Jehu was an army commander, rather than a descendant of Joram, or indeed king Ahab (who died 12 years ago or so). In case you’re wondering, the Jehoshaphat mentioned in 2 Kings 9:2 isn’t the same one as the king of Judah.
• Jehu is given a command to “strike down the house of Ahab”. This means he needs to kill Ahab’s descendents. Why? Remember when Ahab took Naboth’s vineyard? It’s in 1 Kings 21:17-24. God condemned Ahab and his descendants to be “wiped out” for all the evil Ahab had done. It’s now Jehu’s job to carry out the job of destroying Ahab’s remaining family.
• In the rest of 2 Kings 9, who does Jehu start by killing? With the king dead, who does he then turn to? How does she die, and is she able to be buried?
• The first 17 verses of chapter 10 see Jehu riding through the land killing all those connected to Ahab’s family. How many die? Notice how Jehu also kills relatives of Ahaziah, the current king of Judah (2 Kings 10:12-14). He’s on a rampage, isn’t he?
• What does Jehu do with the prophets of Baal? See how he initially tricks them in verse 2 Kings 10:18-19, before ruthlessly dispatching them.
• Jehu may have followed God’s commands to kill the descendants of Ahab, and probably did good in God’s eyes by destroying the Baal prophets. But it’s possible that he did this simply for the fun and the bloodlust. I suggest this because today’s passages finish with the summary of Jehu’s reign, which show him to be a generally bad king (if slightly less bad than some!). What do you think, as you read the accounts?
• What’s also mentioned right at the end of chapter 10?
• The passages in Hosea add interesting context but for the scope of this study I would not concern yourself with them at this point. The verses bring with them lots of questions and I don’t want to detract from today’s main story.

Why do you think that there seem to be so many battles, killings and punishment in the Old Testament? Compare this to the New Testament, which talks of “turning the other cheek” and forgiveness. God is unchanging, so what’s the difference?

Did God just hate (or punish) sin more in Old Testament times, or is something different in the New Testament (and nowadays too)? Have a think about this question and chat it over with whomever you meet up with on a regular basis to talk it through.