18. JEHU
JEHU
"He said, Thus and thus spoke he to me saying, Thus saith Jehovah: I have anointed thee king over Israel . Then they hasted and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the very stairs, and blew with trumpets, and said, Jehu is king! And Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram."
Years before, God had told Elijah to anoint Jehu king of Israel. But God in His longsuffering had deliberately postponed the execution of His judgment against Ahab when Ahab had humbled Himself before Him. Now the time had come. Elisha sent a young prophet to anoint Jehu, commission him to destroy completely the house of Ahab, and then flee. Judgment is not pleasant or a joy!
Jehu was the man for the job. He did not equivocate. He was well known for his furious driving, a man of action, thorough, and a leader among his fellow army captains. As soon as they learned he had been anointed they spread their garments for him to walk on and blew the trumpet, proclaiming him king. They immediately started out for Jizreel, where King Joram was recovering from wounds sustained in battle. No one was to get ahead of them to spread the alarm. Those who met them were made to join them. The king himself, accompanied by his nephew Ahaziah, the young king of Judah, went to meet Jehu. Jehu shot his royal master with an arrow, killing him immediately. Ahaziah fled, but was killed also. With the help of some eunuchs Jezebel was killed. Then it was the turn of Ahab’s 70 sons who were being brought up and were now killed by the leading citizens of Jizreel. On and on!
Judgment against wickedness is a sad necessity. Yet God calls it His strange work. Jehu proved expert and thorough in executing judgment upon Ahab’s house. There are those today who are glad to walk in his footsteps. Beware lest you be glad to be a Jehu!
"Jehu.found Jehonadab.and he greeted him, and said to him, Is thy heart right, as my heart is.? And Jehonadab said, It is. and Jehu took him up to him into the chariot, and said, Come with me, and see my zeal for Jehovah.But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of Jehovah the God of Israel with all his heart; he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin."
Jehu had been zealous and thorough in exterminating the house of Ahab. God commended him for this and promised that his children of the fourth generation would sit on the throne of Israel. He proved equally thorough in rooting out the worship of Baal.
Jehu thought highly of himself and of his zeal for Jehovah and boasted of himself to Jehonadab. In the New Testament we are told: "But he that boasts, let him boast in the Lord. For not he that commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends" (2Co 10:17-18). God’s verdict as to Jehu’s heart being right and his zeal for the Lord reads quite differently from Jehu’s self-commendation. Hundreds of years earlier God had told Samuel that man looks on the outward appearance, but God on the heart.
Jehonadab, to whom Jehu boasts about himself and whom he invites to go with him to see his zeal for the Lord, is also mentioned in 2 Chronicles 2:55 and Jer 35:1-19. He was not an Israelite but was of Kenite background, living among the Israelites. He was a true stranger in the land. Hundreds of years later his descendants were still obeying what he had commanded them: not to drink wine, build houses, sow seed, plant or have vineyards, but to live in tents as sojourners. They win God’s commendation and promise of blessing for their obedience to the command of their forefather. Oh, that we too might learn to be strangers and pilgrims on this earth, obeying God’s Word from the heart!