II Kings Chapter 10
Please read: II Kings 10 –
The new king of Israel, Jehu, wasted no time in completing his mission ordained by God. Jehu was to stamp out the wickedness that had been in the land for so long. This included all the surviving family members, servants and friends of King Ahab. We are told in the Bible that Ahab had been a very evil man. Whatever you are thinking in your mind is the definition of “very evil,” multiply that by 100 and you might be close to the evilness of his wife Jezebel. Jezebel was what we would call a satan worshipper. She was heavily involved in the occult.
Jehu had been ordained by God to become the next king through the prophet Elijah and then again anointed by Elisha (rather a servant of Elisha), to signify it was time to take the throne. Jehu had served under the evilness of these previous kings as the commander of the army. He knew what it would take to purge the land including taking out the prophets of Baal. You might be surprised at first at what Jehu said when he sent out the command found in verses 18 and 19. This was strategic warfare. You would be correct in saying that this was not only physical warfare but spiritual warfare.
Let's Reflect
1. Two of Ahab’s sons had served as king of Israel first Ahaziah and then Jehoram. How many more sons did this man have that would want to take the throne?
2. The strong influence of Jehu convinced the people of Israel to slaughter all the remaining sons of Ahab. How had Jehu orchestrated this event?
3. Jehu had not been in Samaria where these sons of Ahab lived. Samaria served as the capital city of the northern tribe, but Jehu had been away at Jezreel where he shot with an arrow King Joram. How did Jehu know that the people had carried out his instructions to assassinate the sons of Ahab? See verse 7.
4. We find that Jehu had not left Jezreel because there was work for him to do there. What did Jehu do in Jezreel?
5. How did Jehu describe the work that the people of Israel and himself were doing in assassinating the empire of Ahab? See verse 10.
6. As Jehu travelled to Samaria, he met up with some people from the southern kingdom of Judah. They were relatives of the other Ahaziah (the king of Judah). They thought they would go and visit the princes of the northern king and the queen mother. Apparently, they hadn’t heard that Jezabel was dead. You might recall in a previous chapter that Ahaziah’s mother was a daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. So, these relatives of the southern king had strong ties to the wicked family of Ahab. What did Jehu do when he learned who these people were?
7. Jehu is on his way to assume the throne in Samaria. On his journey he found another man named Jehonadab and questioned his loyalty. Jehonadab said he was loyal to Jehu and was invited to ride in the chariot with Jehu. What did Jehu say to this man when he invited him to ride along? See verse 16.
8. Jehu wasted no time upon arriving in Samaria. He gave a surprising command to gather every prophet of Baal. He said he wanted to worship Baal in a much bigger way than even Ahab had. But what does verse 19 tell us about this command?
9. Before giving the order to kill all the prophets of Baal and the people worshipping Baal, he was careful to make sure there weren’t certain people present. Who were the certain people that Jehu wanted to protect from the assassinations that was about to take place?
10. Jehu had done a great thing in ridding the country of Baal worship and the Bible says that the LORD was pleased. But as the new king there was still idol worship that Jehu allowed. These idols had been set up clear back when Jeroboam the first king of Israel was on the throne. What were the idols?
11. God had told Jehu that because He was pleased with his efforts to remove the worship of Baal, He would reward him. What reward did God offer to Jehu?
12. Sadly, Jehu did not strive to live a life pleasing to God. The Bible says he caused Israel to sin in the 28 years of his reign. The judgement for those sins occurred at the hand of Hazael the king of Syria. According to verse 32 what did Hazael orchestrate against Israel?
