The Fact About God
All the pieces that’s improper in our world might be traced again to this: “They exchanged the reality about God for a lie.”
In Israel within the ninth century BC, below the affect of the home of Ahab, folks had exchanged the reality about God for a lie. The lie was Baal. The worship of Baal was very dangerous certainly. All of the evils of this regime had been the fruit of this idolatry (see 2 Kings 9:22).
It’s no accident, subsequently, that the account of Jehu coping with the evil of the home of Ahab involves its dramatic climax and conclusion in a horrible confrontation with the worship of Baal. What occurred to the worshipers of Baal will horrify us. Once we see what Jehu did, we might want to replicate on how Baal worship could possibly be so dangerous that it incurred this response from the person appointed by God to guage. We have to see clearly that to change the reality about God for a lie may be very dangerous certainly. It’s a story of:
- Crafty (2 Kings 10:18–21)
- Care (2 Kings 10:22, 23)
- Destruction (2 Kings 10:24–27)
- An excellent consequence? (2 Kings 10:28)
Crafty (2 Kings 10:18–21)
Jehu’s actions up so far could possibly be understood politically. All obstacles to his taking the throne in Israel had been eliminated. First to go had been the sitting king (Jehoram, 2 Kings 9:21–26), his strongest ally (Ahaziah, 2 Kings 9:27, 28), and the formidable drive that had corrupted the entire kingdom (Jezebel, 2 Kings 9:30–37). Second, all potential claimants to the throne had been slain (the “sons” of Ahab, 2 Kings 10:1–10). Third, these in Jezreel who had most loyally served King Jehoram had been struck down (2 Kings 10:11). Fourth, the “family members” of Ahaziah, who might need been anticipated to oppose Jehu’s revolution, met their finish (2 Kings 10:12–14). Fifth, he worn out all who could be counted as Ahab’s folks in Samaria (2 Kings 10:17).
This commentary, written by an skilled Bible expositor, helps trendy readers, particularly pastors and Bible lecturers, perceive and apply the message of two Kings to their very own lives. A part of the Preaching the Phrase collection.
Jehu had already been acclaimed as king by the military (2 Kings 9:13). With all potential opposition out of the best way, he assumed the function of nationwide chief with out additional ado. What he did subsequent demonstrated that this revolution was about greater than political energy.
Jehu gathered collectively “all of the folks” (2 Kings 9:18a), little doubt which means their representatives. The brand new king was about to deal with all his topics formally for the primary time. Having struck down the home of Ahab (2 Kings 9:7), what would Jehu’s first phrases to all of the folks be? For readers of this story, what he stated is sufficient to take your breath away. He declared to the assembled folks, “Ahab served Baal just a little, however Jehu will serve him a lot” (2 Kings 9:18b).
Readers who’ve already seen the crafty method wherein Jehu manipulated the main residents in Samaria into killing the “sons” of Ahab (2 Kings 10:1–10) might suspect that Jehu’s announcement to his folks was not an easy assertion of the reality. We’ll see in a second that that’s so. However first allow us to recognize how these phrases would have been heard by “all of the folks” that day. “Ahab served Baal.” Certainly he did. He constructed a temple for Baal (1 Kings 16:32). He allowed lots of of prophets of Baal to thrive below his spouse’s patronage (1 Kings 18:19). He additionally allowed Jezebel’s enthusiasm for Baal free reign in Israel. However some who adopted Baal might have been dissatisfied with Ahab. He had apparently been swayed, not less than briefly, by the antics of the prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel and had allowed Elijah to kill lots of of Baal prophets that day (1 Kings 18:39–46). On one other event he had proven convincing indicators of repentance from his Baal-inspired methods (1 Kings 21:27). Moreover, he had given his sons names that had been hardly an encouragement to Baal devotees: Ahaziah (“Yahweh has grasped,” 1 Kings 22:40) and Jehoram (“Yahweh is exulted,” 2 Kings 3:1). Certainly, a kind of sons had proven a definite anti-Baal tendency (2 Kings 3:2). Maybe there have been many nods within the crowd as they heard the brand new king: “Ahab served Baal just a little.”
How happy many will need to have been to listen to, “However Jehu will serve him a lot.” Jehu’s discuss “the phrase of the Lord” (2 Kings 9:26, 36; 2 Kings 10:10) was to not be taken too significantly. Jehu had displaced the home of Ahab and Jezebel solely to outdo them in enthusiasm for Baal. So it appeared to Jehu’s gullible hearers. Those that had swallowed the massive lie of Baal had been simply misled. They readily believed what they needed to consider.
Jehu continued with a royal summons to present expression to his eager Baalist agenda: “Now subsequently name to me all of the prophets of Baal, all his servants1 [ESV, worshipers] and all his monks. Let none be lacking, for I’ve a fantastic sacrifice to supply to Baal” (2 Kings 9:19a).
It will need to have sounded as if Jehu was planning to be put in as king with a fantastic Baal ceremony. Finally! Gone are the times of “limping between two opinions” (1 Kings 18:21). Elijah’s ultimatum on Mount Carmel was about to be overturned. “If Baal [is God], then comply with him,” Elijah had stated. Now the folks had a king who would lead them in doing simply that. Jehu needed all Baal followers to return. No exceptions.
With stunning irony (after we see how occasions unfold), Jehu declared, “Whoever is lacking shall not dwell” (2 Kings 9:19b). He gave no trace of what would occur to whoever got here.
The narrator kindly relieves the stress for his readers with this apart: “However Jehu did it with crafty so as to destroy the servants [ESV, worshipers] of Baal” (2 Kings 9:19c). Jehu’s phrases had been intentionally misleading, but in addition very intelligent.2 As together with his earlier letter (2 Kings 10:6), there have been ambiguities. The Hebrew verb ‘bd (“serve”) in 2 Kings 9:18 sounds virtually similar to ’bd (“destroy”) in 2 Kings 9:19c.
Jehu declared his intention to “serve” Baal, however his true plan was to “destroy.”3 Equally the nice “sacrifice” (zebakh) he deliberate to supply will turn into somewhat completely different from what his hearers will need to have anticipated. The paradox right here is refined however putting, for that is the phrase that was used of one other anticipated slaughter of false monks (see 1 Kings 13:2; 2 Kings 23:20). The hearers of Jehu’s phrases didn’t understand that they’d turn into Jehu’s “nice sacrifice”!4 Crafty certainly!
Jehu continued, “Sanctify a solemn meeting for Baal” (2 Kings 9:20a). Hearers may assume that he was planning a grand enthronement for himself in Baal’s temple. That might be a primary for Israel. How very thrilling for all who adored Baal!
The solemn, holy Baal gathering was referred to as (2 Kings 9:20b).
And Jehu despatched all through all Israel, and all of the servants [ESV, worshipers] of Baal got here, in order that there was not a person left who didn’t come. They usually entered the home of Baal, and the home of Baal was stuffed from one finish to the opposite. (2 Kings 9:21)
The Baal temple that Ahab had inbuilt Samaria most likely had an enormous, open courtyard the place this huge gathering of individuals could possibly be accommodated (as implied for the somewhat completely different home in Jerusalem in 1 Kings 6:36).5 It was packed. All of the prophets, monks, and different servants of Baal squeezed into the house. Nobody needed to overlook this nice day! Nobody *dared miss this present day (“Whoever is lacking shall not dwell,” 2 Kings 9:19).
Care (2 Kings 10:22, 23)
The hype was constructing. Jehu took the exuberance to a different degree. “He stated to him who was answerable for the wardrobe,6 ‘Convey out the vestments for all of the servants [ESV, worshipers] of Baal’” (2 Kings 9:22a). Nobody, definitely not this lowly attendant, suspected Jehu’s intentions. “So he introduced out the vestments for them” (2 Kings 9:22b). For the reader of the narrative the stress mounts. Each follower of Baal is now current, wearing a uniform that can clearly determine him as a Baal-man.
Then Jehu went into the home of Baal with Jehonadab the son of Rechab, and he stated to the servants [ESV, worshipers] of Baal, “Search, and see that there isn’t a servant of the Lord right here amongst you, however solely the servants [worshipers] of Baal.” (2 Kings 9:23)
We don’t need any servants of Yahweh right here right now. Solely servants of Baal. The presence of Jehonadab provides to the stress. Jehu had introduced him to Samaria to “see my zeal for the Lord” (2 Kings 10:16). But once more on this dreadful story of Jehu we wish to shut our eyes.
Destruction (2 Kings 10:24–27)
Should you can bear it, learn on. “Then they went in to supply sacrifices and burnt choices” (2 Kings 9:24a). It’s pure to know “They” as Jehu and Jehonadab.7 The crafty is breathtaking. If Jehonadab was recognized (which is feasible) as a loyal follower of Yahweh, his obvious conversion to the worship of Baal below the affect of Jehu would signify the nice change that their new king was introducing. If even Jehonadab, son of Rechab, had come to supply sacrifices to Baal, this could possibly be the tip of all Yahweh worship in Israel.
The narrator is able to let his readers in on the key, not but recognized to anybody within the temple that day besides Jehu and Jehonadab. “Now Jehu had stationed eighty males exterior and stated, ‘The person who permits any of these whom I give into your palms to flee shall forfeit his life’” (2 Kings 9:24b). That is chilling, Jehu’s “crafty” plan from the beginning. Eighty trusted armed males secretly positioned themselves across the temple of Baal, protecting each potential exit. On ache of their very own dying, they had been below orders to see that nobody wearing a Baal vestment would escape from the Baal temple that day.
In order quickly as he had made an finish of providing the burnt providing, Jehu stated to the guard and to the officers, “Go in and strike them down; let not a person escape.” So once they put them to the sword, the guard and the officers solid them out . . . (2 Kings 9:25a)
Once more it’s pure to know that “he” was Jehu, personally providing the burnt providing, carrying on the deception to the final second.8 The sudden, stunning change from religious worshipper to executioner-in-chief is described with brutal brevity. The response of the gathered worshippers is left to the readers’ creativeness. Their our bodies had been, it appears, solid out on the open floor, identical to these of Jehoram and Jezebel (2 Kings 9:25, 35–37).
There was extra destruction to return:
[They] went into the interior room9 of the home of Baal and so they introduced out the pillar that was in the home of Baal and burned it. They usually demolished the pillar of Baal, and demolished the home of Baal. (2 Kings 9:25b–27a)
We now have heard about this “pillar” earlier than.10 It had been “put away,” however not destroyed by King Jehoram (see 2 Kings 3:2). Now below Jehu they did what Jehoram ought to have completed: They smashed it to items. The verb (natats, “demolish”) refers back to the violent tearing down of assorted human constructions, particularly these of pagan non secular significance.11 This demolition subsequently was an act of radical reform, the destruction of idolatry.
Then the home itself was demolished (similar phrase). The utter devastation of the whole lot and everybody representing Baal in Israel was appropriately symbolized: “and [they] made it a latrine to this present day” (2 Kings 9:27b). Simply as Jezebel had ended up like dung on the bottom in Jezreel (2 Kings 9:37), so Baal himself could be represented from this present day on by a dung heap in Samaria.12
A Good Consequence? (v. 28)
With putting understatement our author concludes this episode: “Thus [or, And] Jehu worn out Baal from Israel” (v. 28).13 Simply as he had “worn out” all Ahab’s folks remaining in Samaria (10:17), so now he had “worn out” or destroyed Baal from Israel. The verb is especially forceful and refers to an motion after which nothing is left. It refers back to the annihilation of the unique inhabitants of the land of Canaan within the ebook of Deuteronomy in addition to the utter destruction of Israel as a consequence of the sins of Jeroboam (1 Kings 13:34), about which we hear in verse 29.15
We have to recognize that wiping out Baal from Israel is a wholly constructive consequence for the author, and it’s meant to be so for his readers.15 The eradication of Baalism from Israel was an unqualified good. It might be just like the eradication of Nazism from Europe.
At this time we discover this troublesome. In our time religions are usually considered sentimentally (and, I have to say, patronizingly) as points of human cultures that must be valued and revered. That’s not the Bible author’s view of Baalism. It’s not the Bible’s view of any faith (or non-religion) that exchanges the reality about God for a lie.
What in regards to the violence? It’s undoubtedly troublesome, however ought to assist us see that the worship of Baal was so dangerous that such drastic motion was crucial. As we noticed within the conclusion to our final chapter, this definitely doesn’t imply that related violent motion is ever justified right now. The cross of Christ has modified the whole lot. What Jehu completed for Israel in his time and in his method was a shadow of what Jesus has completed for us (see Luke 10:18; John 12:31; 16:11; Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 2:14). In his dying Jesus destroyed all false gods, even Devil himself. The battle towards evil should not now be undertaken by way of bodily violence (see Ephesians 6:10–20).
Nonetheless, we’ve got solely appreciated the story of this chapter after we perceive that the destruction of “each lofty opinion raised towards the information of God” by the ability of the gospel of Jesus Christ is an efficient factor (see 2 Corinthians 10:5), even higher than the wiping out of Baal worship from Israel.
Notes:
- The Hebrew verb ‘‘abad and corresponding noun ‘ebed happen 9 occasions in our passage and are finest translated constantly as “serve” and “servant.”
- “Crafty” appears to seize the sense of the Hebrew (‘aqbah) right here, the one incidence of this noun within the Outdated Testomony. Options embody “subtilty” (AV, RV), “a trick” (JB), “outwitted” (REB), “deceptively” (HCSB, NIV). For the corresponding adjective (‘aqob) the ESV has “uneven floor” in Isaiah 40:4 and “deceitful” in Jeremiah 17:9. The verb from the identical root (‘qb) is translated “cheat” in Genesis 27:36, the place it’s linked to the identify of Jacob (ya‘aqob)
- Equally Burke O. Lengthy, 2 Kings, The Types of Outdated Testomony Literature, Vol. 10 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerd mans, 1991), 139; Lissa M. Wray Beal, 1 & 2 Kings, Apollos Outdated Testomony Commentary, Vol. 9 (Nottingham, UK and Downers Grove, IL: Apollos, 2014), 381.
- Equally John Grey, I & II Kings: A Commentary, Third, Totally Revised, Version (London: SCM, 1977), 560; T. R. Hobbs, 2 Kings, Phrase Biblical Commentary, Vol. 13 (Waco, TX: Phrase Books, 1985), 129.
- See John Woodhouse, 1 Kings: Energy, Politics, and the Hope of the World, Preaching the Phrase (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018), 190–91.
- The Hebrew phrase (meltakhah) happens solely right here. “Wardrobe” is an affordable guess on the which means from the context. Evaluate 22:14 (a distinct Hebrew phrase).
- Contra Jones, who insists it “should confer with Jehu and the worshippers of Baal.” Gwilym H. Jones, 1 and a couple of Kings, Vol. 2, New Century Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI and London: Eerd mans and Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1984), 470.
- Equally F. W. Farrar, The Second Guide of Kings, The Expositor’s Bible (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1894), 137, be aware 1; James A. Montgomery, A Important and Exegetical Commentary on the Books of Kings, The Worldwide Important Commentary (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1951), 411; Grey, Kings, 561; Jones, Kings, 471; Iain W. Provan, 1 & 2 Kings, Understanding the Bible Commentary Sequence (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1995), 215. Contra Keil, who understands “he” to be the sacrificing priest, not Jehu. C. F. Keil, “1 and a couple of Kings,” in C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Outdated Testomony, Vol. 3 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1996), 248.
- The structure of the temple of Baal is unclear and needn’t concern us right here. The phrase translated “interior room” (‘iyr) often means “metropolis” and will confer with a city-like walled courtyard. So Provan, Kings, 218.
- See our dialogue of three:2.
- A useful examine is C. Barth, “natats,” TDOT 10, 108–14.
- Nelson notes that “a latrine to this present day” is “much less a method of supporting the credibility of the narrative than merely a superb joke.” Richard D. Nelson, First and Second Kings, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Instructing and Preaching (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1987), 205.
- The ESV and different translations make verse 28 the primary sentence of the subsequent paragraph, with some help from the house on the finish of verse 27 within the printed Hebrew textual content, in addition to the conjunction initially of 10:29.
- On the Hebrew verb shmd hiphil (“destroy,” “wipe out”), see Woodhouse,
1 Kings, 713, be aware 16. - “[I]t is inconceivable to overstate the appreciation this narrative has for the violent finish of Baalism.” Walter Brueggemann, 1 & 2 Kings, Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys, 2000), 402.
This text is customized from 2 Kings: The Fact about Our Troubled World by John Woodhouse.
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