300. TO HIM THAT KNOWETH TO DO GOOD

(The Faith Forum Series – Batch 10)

Jehu was called of God to a mighty purpose. Although he had not expected it, he was singled out by God and chosen, to destroy the house of Ahab, where Ahab’s son Joram reigned as king over Israel. He was also chosen to be the next king over Israel and was even anointed for this purpose, God desiring to end the reign of those who were of Ahab’s lineage due to the evil that they had all done. This included Ahab’s ungodly and wicked wife Jezebel, the daughter of king Ethbaal of the Zidonians, who influenced Ahab greatly to do wrong.

The Bible states in 2 Kings 9:1-10:

“And Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets, and said unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take this box of oil in thine hand, and go to Ramothgilead: And when thou comest thither, look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up from among his brethren, and carry him to an inner chamber; Then take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Then open the door, and flee, and tarry not.

So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramothgilead. And when he came, behold, the captains of the host were sitting; and he said, I have an errand to thee, O captain. And Jehu said, Unto which of all us? And he said, To thee, O captain. And he arose, and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel.And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish: and I will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel: And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah: And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. And he opened the door, and fled.”

Jehu therefore understood the call and received support from those around him in fulfilling it. In keeping with the call, he conspired against king Joram, the son of Ahab and killed him shortly thereafter. He then had Jezebel, the mother of Joram killed and in 2 Kings 10, he went on in fulfilling God’s command, to have the seventy sons of Ahab who lived in Samaria, killed.

Without a doubt therefore, Jehu understood why God was angry with the house of Ahab. Him being a righteous God, he was displeased at all the evil that Ahab and his house had done, including all of the prophets of the Lord and his servants that Ahab and his family had had killed.

While Ahab’s son Joram had not done the same level of evil as his father and mother had done, as he had put away the image of Baal that his father had made, he still wrought evil, after the fashion of the sins committed by Jeroboam, when he was on the throne.

2 Kings 3:1-3 states of Joram:

“Now Joram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years. And he wrought evil in the sight of the Lord; but not like his father, and like his mother: for he put away the image of Baal that his father had made. Nevertheless he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom.”

Due to the collective wickedness of this entire family therefore, Jehu understood well, that God desired to use him as the instrument to destroy those of this lineage and that he was gracing him instead, God having the power to set up and to set down who he willed, to be on the throne of Israel. This was indeed a privilege and Jehu followed the command obediently.

As he carried out God’s instruction, he even understood at different stages, that God was fulfilling what he had had his servant Elijah the Prophet, prophesy years before Jehu therefore knew and believed the Word of God.

For example, after he had killed Joram, he remembered the Word of God that had been communicated to Joram’s father Ahab, when he Jehu and Bidkar his captain, had ridden behind Ahab.

Earlier on, in 1 Kings 21:17-24, during Ahab’s reign and after his wife had had Naboth killed so that Ahab could steal his vineyard, the Bible states:

“And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.

And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin. And of Jezebel also spake the Lord, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.”

This was the prophesy that Jehu remembered after he had killed Ahab’s son Joram. The Bible states in 2 Kings 9:25-26:

“Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the Lord laid this burden upon him; Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the Lord; and I will requite thee in this plat, saith the Lord. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat of ground, according to the word of the Lord.”

Later on, when Jehu had Jezebel killed by commanding the eunuchs who were in the room where she was, to throw her down out of the window, Jehu again remembered the Word of God, realizing that God was using him to fulfill prophesy.

In 2 Kings 9: 30-37, it states:

“And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window. And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master? And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs. And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot.

And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a king’s daughter.And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel: And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.”

In 2 Kings 10:17, it also states, “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.”

He even went on to destroy all of the worshippers of Baal, a false god which the people worshipped with prevalence during the reign of the household of Ahab and destroyed their images. 2 Kings 10:22-28 states:

“And they brought forth the images out of the house of Baal, and burned them. And they brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day. Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.”

Having done what he was told, in verse 30, it states that he received commendation from God for executing the command. The scripture reads:

^“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.”

Jehu therefore understood that God was righteous, that he hated evil, that he was sovereign and could exalt or abase who he pleased. He understood that God had decided to use him to destroy the house of Ahab and why. It was because Ahab’s house had done evil and God was requiting their actions, including the blood that they had shed and the idols they had caused Israel to worship.

Jehu therefore understood that, if God had removed Joram due to his evil reign and him belonging to the house of Ahab and God was putting him, Jehu, in his place, that the expectation would be that he would do better. He understood that he was to do right and not follow in the footsteps of any of his evil predecessors.

Importantly, James 4:17 states, “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

Yet, sadly, although Jehu knew of the importance of being faithful in the entirety to God and was used as the instrument to destroy the evil household of Ahab, when he got on the throne, he himself did not depart wholeheartedly from sin. Instead of taking a different path and humbly serving God in the entirety, he did as he pleased to some extent, seemingly forgetting the God who had put him on the throne over his people in the first place.

It breaks the heart, after having read of Jehu’s great victory for God, to read in Verses 29 and 31:

“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…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.”

Jehu therefore, while he may not have sinned as much as Ahab and Jezebel, became part of the problem, him not devoting himself fully to the Lord while on the throne. He sinned just as Joram, the son of Ahab had done, the man that he had killed, in the name of righteousness!

Jehu ought to have learned by experiencing the downfall of Ahab’s house and in particular, Joram, that one could not rebel against God and win or hope that there would be blessings and longevity if he did so. He ought to have known, that doing evil in the sight of a holy God, would reap nothing but curses, defeat, God’s wrath and judgment. Yet because sin is deceitful and its pleasures sweet, Jehu, although he knew better, opted for the path of evil that Jeroboam, a previous king had taken, ironically, just like Joram had done, who he had destroyed.

In fact, Jeroboam’s sin and the sin he had caused Israel to commit, had so provoked the Lord, that in like fashion to the house of Ahab, he had caused his servant to prophesy to him that he would destroy his house, which he eventually did do.

In 1 Kings 14, Ahijah the prophet had told Jeroboam’s wife who had sought him to find out if their sick child would live:

“Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel, And rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes; But hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back: Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone. Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the Lord hath spoken it.”

Jeroboam’s ways were therefore not worthy of emulation but were to be avoided. Yet, the Bible likens Jehu’s reign to this king, thereby placing him on the same level as wicked Joram, Jehu refusing to depart from the sins that this prior king Jeroboam had committed.

How about us? Do we know to do good but yet do what is displeasing in God’s sight? This is an uncomfortable question because it may make us feel uneasy but yet it must be asked. Are we choosing our will over the Lord’s on some matters, while claiming to serve him in others? Are we emulating poor examples, committing the same sins as those who went before us and displeased God and reaped his judgment as a result, people whose practices we may even have rebuked?

Given that whatever the king did tended to influence the actions of the people, Jehu’s actions sadly seemed to have contributed to the people of Israel sinning against God. As a result, although God had promised him that his children would sit on the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation, the Bible states that, “In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short: and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel”.

Jehu’s legacy though beautiful in some parts was therefore marred by his failure to serve God with all his heart, him having done evil during his reign, tantamount to that of Jeroboam’s and Joram’s.

As one external online author commented:

“The Lord blessed Jehu for his obedience, granting him a dynasty that would last to the fourth generation. However, because Jehu continued to hold on to the idolatrous worship of King Jeroboam, God began to reduce the size of Israel, gradually giving them over to the power of even Hazael of Syria…

Through Jehu we can learn that, although it is true that God blesses and grants success to those who seek to obey Him, God also can and will pull away His blessing from one who willfully chooses to live in sin. As Jesus says in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” We cannot serve God while continuing to hold on to false gods. As Joshua said, we must “choose for [ourselves] this day whom [we] will serve” (Joshua 24:15). Where does your allegiance lie?“

(Written on 09th March, 2024)