Inconsistent Zeal for the Lord

Transcript

GRS 2-107
4/20/2008
Inconsistent Zeal for the Lord
2 Kings 10-11
Gil Rugh

We are in Second Kings Chapter 10, and we have just closed the door on the most infamous couple in Israel’s history; Ahab and Jezebel. We are not done with their family or their influence. But both Ahab and Jezebel have come under the judgment of God and both have died and been disgraced in their death. Jezebel stands out as a name infamous for wickedness, when Jesus Christ addressed the church at Thyatira in Revelation Chapter 2, he said; I have this against you, you tolerate that woman Jezebel and she has a corrupting influence on my servants.

So, her name become synonymous with wickedness, with immorality and she certainly had a terrible impact upon Israel through her husband Ahab who was king, and then through their family connections. In Second Kings Chapter 9; Elisha the Prophet anointed Jehu to be king over Israel. Remember when we are talking about Israel; we are talking about the northern kingdom at this stage in Israel’s history, Judah being the southern kingdom and part of Jehu’s responsibility will be to mete out judgment on the family of Ahab.

He immediately moves to do that and he becomes God’s instrument for the execution of the King of Israel and the King of Judah, both have been brought in the sovereign plan of God to Jezreel and Jehu catches them both off guard and kills both; the King of Israel and the King of Judah. And we are on the process now of the judgment that will come on the descendants of Ahab and that will come down into the southern kingdom because the two lines have been joined by marriage, and the King of Judah has been joined through marriage with his family to the family of Ahab and Jezebel.

Chapter 10; records the reign of Jehu and it focuses attention on the destruction of the family of Ahab. God fulfilling his promises to bring an end to the line of Ahab and to eradicate the worship of Baal out of Israel, so when you come to verse 28 of Second Kings 10; thus Jehu eradicated Baal out of Israel. So he becomes God’s instrument, to cleanse the northern kingdom of that particular idolatrous worship that was brought in fullness into the northern kingdom by Jezebel, she married Ahab.

So the Chapter opens up with Jehu bringing judgment and destruction on Ahab’s family. The first three verses now; Ahab had 70 sons in Samaria and Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the rulers of Jezreel, the elders, to the guardians of the children of Ahab saying; now when this letter comes to you since your master’s sons are with you as well as the chariots and horses and fortified city and the weapons, select the best and fittest of your master’s sons, set him on his father’s throne and fight for your master’s house.

Jehu is a man to be reckoned with. You see something of his boldness here. He doesn’t decide; now I have to sneak up and try somehow to deal with the family of Ahab and the next king. He just sends them an advance message; you have got the king’s sons and grandsons with you. You have got all his weapons, all his chariots, you are in a fortified city, select your next king, we are going to war, we will see who wins. Of course they are overwhelmingly intimidated.

When you read about the seventy sons of Ahab that would include grandsons as well as sons, the expression; the sons of would include grandsons as well. Ahab had numerous wives, so he would have had large family but here you would have the male line of Ahab; sons and grandsons because any of those would be a potential heir to the throne exceeding their father or their grandfather and so Jehu gives them opportunity; select the next king from the line of Ahab but we will go to war and he has just killed two kings, the King of Israel and the King of Judah.

So the elders those who have charge of the royal family think; what chance do we have. Two kings couldn’t stand against Jehu, now we are going to put a young person on the throne, put our lives at risk by saying we are opposed to Jehu, so they simply verse 4; fear greatly and said; behold the two kings cannot stand before him, how then can we stand and the one who was over the household and he was over the city, the elders, the guardians sent word to Jehu saying; we are your servants, all that you tell us we will do, we will not make any man king, do what is good in your sight.

In other words; Jehu we acknowledge you are the king, we are not going to set up a rival king, we are your servants, we submit to your authority, you are king, tell us what you want us to do. And Jehu’s instructions seem brutal to us and they are but they are not out of line with the practices of the day. He wrote a letter to them, the second time saying if you are on my side, you listen to my voice, take the heads of the men, your master’s sons and come to me at Jezreel tomorrow about this time.

Now the king’s sons 70 persons were with the great men of the city who were rearing them. When the letter came to them they took the king’s sons, slaughtered them, 70 persons, put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel. That is the way you deal with it, we are not going to go to war and I crush you in defeat, then you cut off the heads of every man who could be potential king, any of Ahab’s male descendants, cut off their heads, put their heads in baskets, bring them to me.

You note, they make a slight adjustment here at the end of verse 7; they sent them to him because there could be an awkward situation going themselves, they are not quite ready to go that far but they do send their heads to him. When the messengers came, told him saying; they have brought the heads of the king’s sons. He says; pile them at the entrance to the gate, what a gruesome situation you have here now. You have two piles, 35 heads in each pile at the gate of the city and again from secular history going back into this period we find this wasn’t a unique practice.

It was practiced by others as well, the coming Assyrians will make this kind of activity their common activity, to totally intimidate and paralyze with fear anyone who would contemplate opposing them and so this is here for a time, anyone now can look and see, here is my potential rivals that have been totally removed and you see what happens to anyone who could be a potential rival to me. So it is a way of establishing your hold and creating fear among your opponents.

Verse 9; in the morning Jehu went out and stood and said to all the people; you are innocent, behold, I conspired against my master and killed him but who killed all of these. He takes full responsibility for his rebellion against the king and he says; the family of Ahab is responsible for this. They have joined in the rebellion and now he is going to be the instrument to mete out judgment. Verse 10; know then that there shall fall to the earth nothing of the word of the Lord which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab, for the Lord has done what he spoke through his servant Elijah.

Elijah was the predecessor of the Elisha and back in First Kings Chapter 21 verse 20; Ahab said to Elijah; have you found me, O my enemy. He answered; I have found you because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord, behold, I will bring evil upon you, will utterly sweep you away, will cut off from Ahab every male, both bond and free in Israel. The prophecy on Jezebel in the same context; the dogs will eat Jezebel in the district of Jezreel in verse 23.

You remember Jehu said that he was present because he had served under Ahab so he stood in Naboth’s garden when Elijah gave the prophecy to Ahab and now Elisha has come and anointed him to be the one to fulfill that prophecy and is -- we have already seen when Jehu was carrying out the destruction, the execution of Jezebel. In all of this he saw that he was fulfilling the word of the Lord that he had heard. You see here this word of the Lord, he has not forgotten it; I’m going to be the instrument to carry out Elijah’s prophecy and to bring devastating and complete judgment on the house of Ahab and all associated with him.

So Jehu killed all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all his great men and his acquaintances and his priests until he left him without a survivor. Also just as Elijah had prophesied and here Jehu sees himself as an instrument in God’s hand to carry out God’s word and it is time for judgment on the house of Ahab. It continues verse 12 with the execution of Ahaziah’s relatives. Ahaziah of course is the son of Ahab and was the king who was killed and now we are dealing with the family.

So verse 12; he rose, departed, went to Samaria, we are about 25 miles when you are at Jezreel to come down to Samaria, and on the way while he was at Beth-eked of the shepherds, Jehu met the relatives of Ahaziah, King of Judah and said; who are you. And they said; well we have come to -- we are relatives of Ahaziah, we have come down to greet the sons of the King and the sons of the queen mother with family. You have family members from Judah coming to visit relatives by marriage of the house of Ahab. Well it was a bad meeting because now they are tied and connected to the family of Ahab.

So we have come down to greet the sons of the king, the sons of the queen mother. They are totally oblivious to what has happened but of course I wouldn’t be, travel in these days, you are out and you are away from news, so they come along, they don’t know the King of Israel and the King of Judah have been killed that Jehu is on the warpath so to speak. We are coming to visit the king, family and friends of the king. So 42 people are taken at this time, 42 men are brought to the pit in verse 14 at Beth-eked, 42 men and he killed them, left none of them.

He departed from there, he met Jehonadab, the son of Rechab coming to meet him and he greeted him and said to him; is your heart right as my heart is right, is with your heart. Jehonadab says; it is. So in other words Jehonadab says he supports Jehu and agrees with his action and recognizes him as God’s instrument of judgment on the house of Ahab. So Jehu says; come on up into my chariot and you will see the things that I’m going to do. Verse 16; the way he puts it come with me and see my zeal for the Lord and he made him ride in his chariot.

So he is right up in here now in the king’s chariot and come on with me, I will show you my zeal for the Lord and we are going to see in Jehu a zeal to be the Lord’s instrument of judgment but not a zeal to serve the Lord, an interesting contrast. He declares himself committed to fulfill the word of the Lord as given through Elijah to bring judgment on Ahab’s house but he does not commit himself to follow the Lord God of Israel, two different things.

He does one but not the other, this Jehonadab; he starts a family line that become somewhat ascetic in Israel 250 years later or so Jeremiah will speak of his family. Turn over to Jeremiah Chapter 35, find a little about this man who evidently was a believer in Israel and a Godly man. But in Jeremiah 35; remember now Jeremiah is writing in the days leading up to and then subsequent to the Babylonian captivity. Babylonian captivity happens in 586, so you can see Jehu reigned from 841 to 814 and Jeremiah will be reigning -- prophesying in the years leading up to the Babylonian captivity and then in the time following that.

Jeremiah Chapter 35 verse 5; then I set before the men of the house of the Rechabites, now remember Jehonadab the son of Rechab, so you have the Rechabites. I said to them drink wine verse 6 but they said; we will not drink wine for Jehonadab the son of Rechab our father. Of course he is their father in the sense of the ancestor like you would usually refer to Abraham, our father, even though they are centuries removed from Abraham, he is their founding ancestor.

So here Jehonadab, the son of Rechab our father commanded us saying; you shall not drink wine, you or your sons forever, you shall not build a house, you shall not sow seed, you shall not plant a vineyard, own them but in tents you should dwell all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you served soldiering. We have obeyed the voice of Jehonadab, the son of Rechab our father in that he commanded us not to drink wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons or daughters, no to build houses to dwell in, we don’t vineyards, fields, seed, we only dwell in tents.

We have obeyed and have done according to all that Jehonadab, our father commanded. So he starts a line really that is more ascetic in Israel, the reason he has mentioned here, verse 12; then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying; thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, go and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; will you not receive instruction by listening to my words declares the Lord. The words of Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons not to drink wine are observed.

So they do not drink wine to this day for they have obeyed their father’s command but I have spoken to you again and again and you have not listened to me. Also I have sent you all my servants the prophets sending them again and again saying; turn now and remain from this evil way and mend your deeds, do not go after other gods and worship them but you have not inclined nor listened to me. So a word of commendation to the family, the descendants of Jehonadab because 250 years later they are honoring the instructions given by their forefather.

God says I don’t get that kind of respect. I continually give you my word and you continually reject it. Come back to Second Kings 10, so he -- Jehonadab gets in the chariot rides with Jehu, they come to Samaria. In verse 17; when he came to Samaria he killed all that remained to Ahab in Samaria until he had destroyed him, note this, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke to Elijah. So this process of eradication, we have destroyed the family including all those associated in administration with the reign of Ahab and his descendants but we have one thing. Jezebel the wife of Ahab brought the worship of Baal into Israel and it became a center of Baal worship.

Jehu is ready to deal with the worship of Baal. So Jehu gathered all the people and said to them in verse 18; Ahab served Baal a little, Jehu will serve him much. So he has got a process of deception here, he announces to the people that Ahab was a Baal worshipper but you haven’t seen anything, he was just a little Baal worshipper, I’m going to worship Baal on a level that you have never experienced. So I want you to gather all the prophets of Baal, all the priests of Baal, all the leading worshippers of Baal and we are going to have a great sacrifice to Baal and nobody who is a worshipper of Baal, better stay at home or they will die for it.

Whoever is missing shall not live. Jehu has made clear he is a man of his word and he said; if you are a worshipper of Baal you be here for this service, if you don’t come I will have you executed, no one would doubt whether Jehu would do that. So Jehu did it in cunning, so that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal. He says; sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal, they proclaimed it, Jehu sent throughout Israel, all the worshippers of Baal came, so there was no man left who didn’t come. They went to the house of Baal; the house of Baal was filled from one end to the other.

He said to the one in charge of the wardrobe; bring out the garments for all the worshippers of Baal, so he brought out garments for them, special garments, wore at the time of worship. What he is doing here is clearly marking out these individuals. Jehu went into the house of Baal with Jehonadab, the son of Rechab and said to the worshippers of Baal; search and see that there is with you none of the servants of the Lord but only the worshippers of Baal. He wants to be careful here that no true worshippers of the God of Israel have been caught up for whatever reason.

So if the worshippers of Baal would look around they would know; who the true worshippers of Baal are and anybody here that doesn’t belong here, they have to get out because it sounds like, oh he really just wants the true worshippers here and we don’t want anybody else either. Then they go into offer sacrifice and burnt offerings. Jehu had stationed for himself 80 men outside. Now they are surrounding the house of Baal, he has got 80 key men, his soldiers, he said to them alright if you let anyone get through, anyone who escapes, you give your life for their life.

So these men are quite motivated, there will be no passes given to anyone here because again Jehu has demonstrated that he is a man who would not hesitate to take your life. So soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the Guard and to the royal officers; go in and kill them. Let none come out, they killed them with the edge of the sword, the guard, the royal officers threw them out, went to the inner room of the house of Baal, brought out the sacred pillars of the house of Baal, burnt them, broke down the sacred pillar of Baal, broke down the house of Baal, made it a latrine to this day.

I mean to totally disgrace it, you make it a latrine, desecrate it. We have destroyed it and so nothing would be built on this or use it as a latrine. So you have slaughtered all the worshippers, the priest, the prophets, all those associated with Baal, the worshippers and you have destroyed the worship center and thus Jehu eradicated Baal out of Israel. Now we can summarize the rest of Jehu’s reign, and you known verse 29 begins with however, now we see the other side of Jehu, the failure.

He is a man passionate for God; know he is a man passionate to bring judgment on God’s enemies who happen also to be his enemies and there is something in it for Jehu because he is establishing his throne and his hold on the throne by destroying those that God said must be destroyed because they would also be potential rivals to Jehu. But however as for the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin, from these Jehu did not depart. Even the golden calves that were at Bethel and that were at Dan. You see we have eradicated the worship of Baal but he accepts the worship of the calves because these have a history going back to the First King of the Northern Kingdom.

I’m really dealing with Ahab and his family and the worship of Baal is associated with Jezebel and Ahab. So I’m happy to be the instrument to wipe that out but he doesn’t have the same kind of motivation, not a passion for the Lord and to destroy any rival worship. No just to destroy rival worship that could be a rival to his authority but the Lord commends him as far as he goes. Lord said to Jehu; because you have done well in executing what is right in my eyes, have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.

Jehoahaz, Jeroboam II and Zachariah; all descendants of Jehu will sit on the throne in Israel. He had four subsequent descendants who ascend to the throne of Israel as God’s reward to him if you will for faithfully destroying the house of Ahab. You see God is a God of judgment, why unbelievers cannot comprehend that the God of the Old Testament would be a God, that we love and respect, but we see here he is a God of justice and Judgment and it is devastating.

I mean we are dealing with the family of Ahab, we are dealing with small children and grown children, this is a brutal time, it is a time of judgment there are no male descendants left to Ahab, so that youngest grandson is slaughtered along with the older sons. When God comes to bring judgment; it is complete. So you have the Lord if you will, rewarding Jehu for the faithfulness that he demonstrated to what God said had to be done but sandwiched between verse 29 and verse 31.

Verse 31 repeats again but Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel with all his heart, he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam with which he made Israel to sin. Amazing, how you can see the sin of Ahab and have that sense of being God’s instrument of judgment on him and then to continue to do something that is just as wicked and vile by continuing calf worship that was set up in opposition to the worship of the God of Israel focused in Jerusalem.

So there is judgment now coming on the house of Jehu. God says he will give him four descendants on the throne but the territory begins to get whittled away, so you have Syria now taking the trans-Jordan area; the land east of the Jordan, where you had two and a half tribes who have their land. Now Syria breaks that off from Israel, so Hazael defeated them throughout the territory of Israel because the Lord began to cut off portions from Israel in verse 32.

So it is not like Jehu has a free pass but God does reward him for doing what he said with the house of Ahab but by the same token he also begins to bring judgment in the form of the enemies; become stronger, more difficult to deal with and so the kingdom shrinks and verse 33 tell us; from the Jordan eastward all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, the Reubenites, the Manassites, that is now all under Syria. The rest of the acts of Jehu, all that he did, all his might they are written in the Book of the Chronicles, The Kings of Israel.

Jehu slept with his fathers, they buried him in Samaria, Jehoahaz, his son became king in his place, the time which Jehu reigned over Israel and Samaria was 28 years. You see how time is condensed for us because Jehu came to the throne in Chapter 9. He has to get rid of the two kings and then Jezebel, so you have basically his 28 reign summarized in little over Chapter of our bible because we are just concerned in moving Israel’s history along to see the hand of God in working to accomplish his purposes among his rebellious people.

Chapter 11; we are going to switch to the Southern kingdom Judah. We are going to focus attention there because Ahaziah if you have your Judah’s kings in number 6; he was killed by Jehu so who is going to be king. Well we have a change coming, Athaliah is in the scene. Ahaziah’s mother is Athaliah and you remember who Athaliah is; she is the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, she had been the wife of the king of -- King Jehoram of Judah.

So she is the mother -- was the mother of Ahaziah. Now her son was killed by Jehu when he was up visiting the king of Israel who had been wounded, remember, and Jehu killed them both. She is about to become the only queen in either the northern or the southern kingdom, the only woman to rule on the throne in Israel, northern or southern kingdom. She was also the strongest promoter of Baal worship in Judah. We have just eradicated Baal worship in the northern kingdom but the southern kingdom now has a person ascending to the throne who will do more than any other ruler did in Judah to promote the worship of Baal.

Chapter opens up; when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead she rose and gathered all her grandchildren to protect them; not so, she rose and destroyed all the royal offspring. Does something to your picture of that warm grandmotherly woman, doesn’t it? Oh, my son is dead the first thing I have to do is kill all my grandchildren then I can be queen and I can reign, what a wicked vile woman. She is a true daughter of her mother Jezebel.

But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram, sister of Ahaziah took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, stole him from among the King’s sons who were being put to death, placed him and his nurse in the bedroom, so they hid him from Athaliah, he was not put to death. So Ahaziah was her brother, she is the dead king’s sister. They are coming to put all the kings, she rescues an infant and brings the infant and his nurse and secures them in her bedroom.

Now she is of royal family so she is in a unique position here and so she is able to save one of the descendants, they hid him from Athaliah, he was not put to death. Now what you have here is God’s hand, he is going to preserve the line of David, so you have to have that. You see here one little baby but the hand of the Lord at work in keeping his promises. He was hidden with her in the house of the Lord six years while Athaliah was reigning over the land.

Six years she reigns and now we have got a situation here where the family has dealt this way with others, Athaliah’s husband was Jehoram and he was the fifth king and we won’t turn over there, but in Second Kings 21:4 when he became king first thing he did was put to death his brothers, so that he wouldn’t have any rivals. So this is a sort of family activity and it goes on. Now for six years; Athaliah is reigning over Israel, we don’t go into any of the details. You note here, God keeps our eyes just tracking here.

We don’t get down into lot of the everyday activities going on in Israel because it is the events here, on this level that God is concerned about that we track to see his hand overseeing the nation. Now in the seventh year Jehoiada sent and brought the captains of hundreds of the Carites and of the guard and brought them to him in the house of the Lord. Then he made a covenant with them and put them under oath in the house of Lord and showed them the king’s son.

Now we have Jehoiada the priest, the high priest at the time, now remember the woman Jehosheba verse 2, the daughter of king Jehoram is the one who has hid this one surviving infant, descendant. Turn over to Second Chronicles, after Kings we have Chronicles, you want to go to Second Chronicles Chapter 22. You know it is difficult enough for us to keep track of all these connections and the Lord has planned them all, brings them all about in just the right time because it is interesting to see who is Jehosheba is.

Verse 11 of Second Chronicles 22; but Jehosheba, the king’s daughter took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, so same account we have, and stole him from among the king’s sons who were being put to death and placed him and his nurse in the bedroom. So Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, so she was the sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah. So you have got a connection here, now you have the high priest and it was his wife who is part of the royal family who secreted the baby, so you have got a connection here, that you have a man who is the religious leader, who will be in a position to establish and put on the throne the next king.

All brought about in the amazing plan of God with the way these families are mixed up and yet here you have the sister of Ahaziah married to the high priest in Jerusalem and she chooses to take the little infant and hide him so you can understand what is going on with the high priest here in verse 4 with Jehoiada because he has been aware of this whole thing, this is wife, so all part of the plan. So now it comes time, we don’t get into Athaliah’s reign in any detail here, Chronicles will fill in some of the details as it talked more about Judah, we have talked about but we are going to move right now.

So it is time to put a legitimate king on the throne, now in the seventh year Jehoiada sent and brought the captains of hundreds and so on which we read, so he brings the guard, he has the temple guard at his disposal, he has authority in this realm, so it gives him a chance to set things up and prepare. Verse 5 he showed them the king’s son, the end of verse 4 and he commanded them saying; this is the thing that you shall do, one third of you who come in on the Sabbath and keep watch over the king’s house, one third shall be at the gates, one third at the gate behind the guard, you shall keep watch over the house for defense.

Two parts of you will go outside and watch over the house of the Lord for the king, then you shall surround the king, each with his weapons in his hand, whoever comes within the rank shall be put to death. Be with the king when he goes out, when he comes in. So the captains of hundreds and all of these do what they are told and he is preparing now to have a coronation for the king and to overthrow Athaliah. So verse 11; the guards stood each with his weapons in his hands, from the right side of the house, to the left side of the house, by the altar, by the house, surround the king, he brought the king’s son out put the crown in him, gave him the testimony.

It evidently would be copy of the law and in accord with Moses instructions in Deuteronomy and they made him king and anointed him, clapped their hands and said; long live the king. He got this little seven year old kid standing here with a crown on his head, the trappings now to be king and everybody acclaiming him king. When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard, of the people, she came to the people, in the house of the Lord she looked, behold the king was standing by the pillar according to the custom where you would have the new king anointed.

And all the people of the land rejoiced, blew trumpets, Athaliah tore her clothes and cried; treason, treason. Now here is a pot calling the kettle black. Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of the hundreds who were appointed over the army and said to them bring her out between the ranks, whoever follower her; put to death with the sword and the priest instructed don’t put her to death within the confines of the house of the Lord.

So they take her, bring her out to the horse gate and there she is executed. So you have the removal of Athaliah, the only queen, a godless person. There is more information on her in some of the parallel accounts in Chronicles but enough revealed here and for a time you have the usurper who is without any rights to the throne in Judah which we think of as the more godly part of the surviving split kingdom. The northern kingdom was corrupted from the beginning by its calf worship, the center of worship for Israel was Jerusalem and its temple there, priest, established by God.

Her death brings an end to the influence of the family of Ahab in Judah so Jehu has wiped out the family of Ahab in the northern kingdom and now with the death of Athalia, put to an end the influence of the family of Ahab and Jezebel in the southern kingdom. So Jehoiada the priest establishes a covenant part of the establishing of the reign of the new king, made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people; that they would be the Lord’s people, also between the king and the people.

So the people first of all commit to be the Lord’s people, they will live under his authority, be obedient to his law, second; the people and the king make a commitment to one another, they will submit to him as the rightful heir to David’s throne and he will lead them as the king that God has established. So that is the covenant, that is two parts there. All the people of the land went to the house of Baal, tore it down, his altars, his images, they broke in pieces thoroughly, killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars.

The priest appointed officers over the house of the Lord, he took the captains of hundreds and -- so all the people of the land, verse 20, rejoiced, the city was quiet, where they have put Athaliah to death with the sword at the King’s house. Jehoash was seven years old when he became king and as Chapter 12 opens up we are told; he will reign forty years in Jerusalem and how does he reign. Well during the first part of that reign, Jehoiada the priest really is the one giving input.

Jehoash is the king but obviously he is under the guardianship at seven years of age that Jehoiada will have a Godly influence on Jehoash. Sadly after Jehoiada passes from the scene Jehoash will fail in his faithfulness to the Lord but that is something yet to come. We establish a period here unique in Israel’s history with the establishing of Jehoash or Joash as he is also named; a little more shortened form of his name. We have now a period of hundred years where we will have good kings over Judah. Jehoash or Joash will be less faithful after Jehoiada the priest dies but he is basically considered a godly king and for the next hundred years Joash, Amaziah, Azariah and Jotham would be godly kings.

They are not the best kings that ever ruled Judah but it is a unique time to have a succession of kings covering a hundred years in Judah and they are all counted as godly kings, good kings. So this is a unique period of Israel’s history, it will carry down through if you look on your Judah’s kings down through Jotham, the eleventh king of Israel. Uzziah is also known as Azariah in the list of the kings. So we come to a unique period in Israel’s history, the southern kingdom, the Judah.

The northern kingdom never has a time like this because they never even have one good king, one godly king let alone a string of four of them covering a hundred year time, a block of time not broken up by an ungodly king. Alright just a couple of observations about the things we have looked at; these two chapters. One you have to begin with, God’s word will always be accomplished in Chapter 10 verse 10; know then that there shall fall to the earth nothing of the word of the Lord which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab, for the Lord has done what he spoke through his servant Elijah.

Isaiah 55:11; he is always true, will always be true, so will my word be which goes forth from my mouth, it will not return to me empty without accomplishing what I desire, without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it, Isaiah 55:11. So here the sovereign hand of God uses Jehu who will not be a godly king of Israel to fulfill his word and to accomplish his purposes. Secondly zeal for the Lord involves standing against false religion. You just can’t be neutral, when you have a zeal for the Lord then you are strongly opposed to all other worship systems, all other gods.

So in verse 16; and it is a credit to Jehu, he said; come with me and see my zeal for the Lord. Down in verse 31; Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel with all his heart, so zeal for the Lord means to stand against false religion. Jehu had a divided heart, he was against Baal but he wasn’t against calf worship and that is an unacceptable compromise in the plan of God. A third observation in light of this; great victories do not mean an individual is a great servant of the Lord.

This can be a trap, Jehu’s victories over Ahab and Baal were complete and they were part of God’s plan but Jehu was not a faithful servant of the Lord in the overall picture. We need to be careful, people think; well the Lord used me here, the Lord did this here and therefore these areas of my life that are sinful and wrong probably aren’t that significant but you understand that God is looking at us as we are. Jehu did some commendable things, God commends him for what he did but that did not make acceptable the sin that he was involved in.

So we need to be careful, you sometimes look at Christian leaders and say how did they get into this, sometimes they look and see how the Lord is indeed using them and somehow they get deluded into thinking; therefore sin is not so serious in my life because would God be using me so greatly if he was upset with me and we are more like Jehu in that sense. Fourth observation; we must not be selective in our hatred of sin, this sort of pools together what we have been talking about. Jehu hated the sin of Ahab and he wanted to wipe every remnant of Ahab’s family from the face of the earth.

He hated the worship of Baal and every Baal worship -- and everything associated with the worship of Baal had to go but he held on the sins of Jeroboam. No explanation given because it doesn’t matter what the explanation is does it, that is what he did, that is what he is held accountable for. He may have had his reasons, you like to sit down and say; Jehu I just like to ask you a question why were you so zealous in dealing with the sin of Ahab and dealing with the false worship of Ball and willing to accept the calf worship and not deal with the sin in your own life.

Is there any rational explanation for this but there never is a rational explanation for sin. Sin is by nature irrational because it is self destructive, its wages are death, so we can’t be selective in our hatred of sin. It is other people’s sin that disgusts me but somehow my own sin just; it is understandable and it is not all that serious and we all to one degree or another confined to ourselves, deluding ourselves, that’s not so major, wherever it is, in my home, my family, my dealings whatever. I have to come back and say wait a minute, there has to be a consistency in that.

As we have talked about in previous studies, wicked compromises can have broad consequences and we are not going to go through, I have laid out again but we went through the family connections. Ahab marries Jezebel and through her wicked influence the worship of Baal corrupts the northern kingdom, Jehoshaphat marries Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, now the southern kingdom is corrupted by the influence of these Godless people and the worship of Baal, Athaliah maneuvers her way to the throne.

You have families being murdered here, all this going on and her corrupt influence continues for years as she reigns and establishes Baal worship in the southern kingdom and you realize -- you remember where this all started with the King of Judah making a godless compromise and having a family marriage arranged and all of a sudden years later you have had how many people who have had to die, how much corruption has permeated both kingdoms all because; it is good political alliance and after all northern kingdom is still part of the -- they are 10 tribes of the 12.

I’m not just marrying her off to any pagan in a foreign land or him off, my son off, wait a minute, so we adjust our compromises and think this was not so bad. We have the advantage, we look and see where that led and we think what a disastrous, foolish thing to do, you understand those compromises; that we look at and say; they aren’t so significant, it is not so major, don’t make a big deal out of it. As we look back in our history and say that was a big deal, never thought that kind of compromise will lead to that end.

In all this though, bright spot; God is faithful to his promises. The line of David is restored to the throne in Jerusalem in Chapter 11. We are back on track so to speak. You cannot frustrate the plan of God; God has made a covenant and with that covenant come promises to David and his line and the most wicked of the wicked, whether they are greatest cunning, they can ascend the throne but they cannot frustrate God’s plans. They can do everything they can to annihilate the line but they cannot frustrate God’s plan. God’s word never falls never false, never fails and through this all Gods’ covenant relationship with his people continues.

Second King’s Chapter 11 verses 17 and 18; Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the King and the people; that we would be the Lord’s people, also between the king and the people. We are back on track, Israel is not on track permanently. But we are going to have a line for 100 years of godly kings that will have a good and godly influence in the southern kingdom. They stand as reminders of God’s faithfulness and goodness and encouragement to us as well. The only thing we can do is be faithful, we can’t control the events around us.

I can’t control what is going on in the realms of ruler-ship among the great and the mighty. I can’t control the events of our own city, I can’t, but I can determine to be a faithful person, to walk with the Lord and trust his word, and it is good enough for me that I’m in his hands, his promises will come true. What were the faithful in Israel thinking through all of this, I mean that is bad enough of the northern kingdom went the path, they have in Jezebel and everything around it, but the southern kingdom # for the godly in Israel it looked like there is no future and then Athaliah is sitting on the throne.

And as far as most of the people in Israel knew there was no legitimate successor left for the line of David. They had all been executed, it’s hopeless, there is no way for God to fulfill his word. No, God is never done, he is never outmaneuvered, he is always in control. So where we are thousands of years later we can take confidence. How is it going to work? I don’t know. It doesn’t seem to me we have hit a dead-end, there is no way for God to get through, well all I know is he will do what he promised. We have read the last chapter, we know how it comes out, now we just don’t know all the details but that is alright we don’t need to. I know everything I know to live for God today and each day has enough trouble of its own, so I walk by faith.

So, let’s pray together. Thank you Lord for your grace; thank you for the account you have given of your people Israel. Lord, so much of it’s a sad account, a record of unfaithfulness, of rebellion, disobedience, you the God who loves them, who provided for them, who cared for them even in their rebellion and yet they continued to persist, had to undergo the discipline, the judgments, the chastening. Lord, through it all you are keeping your word. That is true for your people Israel right down till today as they continue to experience your judgment for their rebellion and unbelief, and yet we have read the last chapter that your word will come true and it will not fall, it will not fail, it will accomplish what you have promised, some day the nation Israel will turn to their Messiah and experience glorious redemption.

And Lord we as your people of the Church are blessed to be reminded of your faithfulness. Lord, how much more should we walk faithfully before you, we will have the record of Israel’s history, we who have the completion of the new covenant, Lord in all these things we will be faithful, knowing you are a God who keeps his word. It’s our privilege to trust you in Christ’s name, Amen.