2 Kings 10:29 - Meaning and Application

This is the whole account of Jehu’s reign, though it lasted twenty-eight years. The way it ended did not match the promise of its beginning. We are told here about God’s approval of what Jehu had done, about Jehu’s failure to carry the reform far enough, and about the judgment that came on Israel in his days.

Many people probably blamed Jehu as dishonest and cruel. They may have called him a rebel, a usurper, and a murderer, and predicted that a family raised up like that would soon fall. But God said, “You have done well” (2 Kings 10:30), and that mattered far more than any human opinion. God declared right what Jehu had done, though it is fair to ask whether Jehu acted from a good heart and whether he took some wrong steps along the way. Even so, God said, “You have done well in carrying out what is right in my eyes.”

The destroying of idolaters and idolatry was right in God’s eyes, because he punishes that sin surely and severely. Jehu had done what God had wanted, all that was in God’s heart and purpose. He carried the work through to the end. God also promised him a reward, saying that his descendants would sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation. That was more than any other royal line in that kingdom received. The house of Ahab had four kings named Omri, Ahab, Ahaziah, and Joram, but the last two were brothers, so that line reached only three generations. Jehu’s family ruled through four generations after him, and for about 120 years in all. No service done for God will go unrewarded.

Yet Jehu was careless about what he still needed to do. This showed that his heart was not fully right with God, and that his reform was only partial. He did not remove all evil. He turned away from Ahab’s sins, but not from Jeroboam’s sins. He got rid of Baal worship, but kept the golden calves. Baal worship was the worse evil and more hateful in God’s sight, but calf worship was still a great sin. True turning to God means turning from all sin, not only from the most obvious sins, and not only from false gods, but also from false ways of worship.

Baal worship weakened Israel and made them depend on the Sidonians, so Jehu could more easily let that go. But the calf worship was a policy of state, started and continued to keep the ten tribes from returning to the house of David. For that reason, Jehu held on to it. True conversion turns away not only from costly sins, but also from profitable ones. It turns from sins that hurt a person’s worldly interests, and from sins that seem to support them. Giving up such sins is a hard test of whether we can deny ourselves and trust God.

Jehu put away evil, but he did not pay attention to what was good (2 Kings 10:31). He did not take care to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel. He removed Baal worship, but he did not keep up the worship of God or live by God’s law. He had shown great zeal in tearing down a false religion, but he showed no care for the true one. He lived carelessly, with no real concern to please God or do his duty. He did not take heed to the Scriptures, the prophets, or even his own conscience, but lived as if he could do as he liked. Those who are careless in this way are likely not truly changed, because a good heart makes people watchful, careful, and eager not to offend God.

Jehu also showed no true zeal. Whatever he did in religion, he did not do with all his heart. He acted without much life, warmth, or concern. It seems he had little religion himself, yet God used him as an instrument to bring reform to Israel. It is a sad thing when those who help others do good are not themselves good.

In Jehu’s reign, judgment came on Israel. It is likely that when Jehu himself took no care to walk in God’s law, the people also became careless, both in worship and in daily life. Piety grew weak, and disrespect for God increased. So it is no surprise that the next thing we hear is that “the Lord began to reduce the size of Israel” (2 Kings 10:32). Their neighbors pressed in on them from every side. They had been short in their duty to God, and God made them short in land, wealth, and power.

Hazael, king of Syria, was especially harmful to them. He struck all the borders of Israel, especially the lands east of the Jordan, which were closest to him and most exposed. He kept making raids there and laying those regions waste. Then the Reubenites and Gadites suffered for the choice their ancestors had made to settle on that side of the Jordan, a choice Moses had rebuked them for (Numbers 32). Hazael did what Elisha had foretold he would do. Even so, God still held Hazael and his kingdom responsible for it, as later words against Damascus show (Amos 1:3-4). God says that because Damascus has crushed Gilead with iron threshing sledges, he will send a fire on the house of Hazael that will destroy the palaces of Ben-hadad.

At the end of Jehu’s reign, his power is mentioned in general terms (2 Kings 10:34-36). But because he did not take care to serve God, the memory of his great acts is rightly lost. His mighty deeds are buried in silence.