So Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his chief men, his close friends and his priests, leaving him no survivor. – 2 Kings 10:11

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 10, 2016): 2 Kings 10

I believe that we often get confused between what the Bible describes and what it prescribes (or tells us to do.) Not everything in the Bible carries the weight of “you need to do this” with it. And the story of King Jehu eliminating the descendants of Ahab is one of those stories. We can easily fall into the trap of assuming that there is a command of God hidden somewhere in the description of events. Consider this; God had ordained Jehu to be King, and he had ordained that the House of Ahab would need to be destroyed. The two ideas seem to go hand in hand. Jehu would be the instrument by which the House of Ahab would be destroyed, and in doing so would take over the throne. So as Jehu kills everyone in Jezreel, he is doing exactly what God wanted him to do. I am convinced that, at the very least, this was what Jehu believed.

Having said that, the prophet Hosea writes this word from God – “I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel” (Hosea 1:4). It doesn’t make sense that God would both prescribe or command an action and then punish the person who does what he has been told to do. Somehow, in the action at Jezreel, Jehu is found guilty of sin.

So what happened? And I think the easiest way to describe the problem is by recalling the story of David, a man after God’s own heart. David found himself in the identical position that Jehu had found himself. Saul was king, and God had ordered that the House of Saul would fall. At the same time, David had already been anointed as the future King of Israel. As the conflict between Saul and David increased, it would have been easy for David to rise against Saul and defeat him – doing the will of God.

But David refused to do what Jehu did even though he had ample opportunity to massacre the House of Saul. David built a close friendship with Jonathan, the heir apparent to the throne, and he refused to lift his hand against the King. Even though David had already been anointed, in David’s mind that did not mean that Saul was no longer anointed. David made it clear to all who would follow him that the destruction of the House of Saul was in the hands of God – and not in David’s. David would not lift a hand against the anointed King of Israel. It was a move that required incredible character, and it was also a godly decision.

Jehu would be king. The House of Ahab would be destroyed. God had spoken both events into reality. But he never directed Jehu to massacre the House of Ahab. Jehu only inferred from a description that there was a command. The high road and the godly road was the one that David took. If Jehu had wanted to be God’s man, he should have followed the Davidic example. Because he didn’t, he became just one more evil king who ruled in Israel.

   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 11