The Sword of Jehu – part 2 (2 Kings 10:1-28)
The Sword of Jehu – Pt. 2
2 Kings 10:1-28 (1-11)
By this point, we are well aware that the rise of Jehu
Was a direct fulfillment of God’s prophecy to Elijah.
God had told Elijah that He would use the sword
To undo the wickedness of Ahab in Israel.
Those that Elisha failed to get, Hazael would,
Those that Hazael failed to get, Jehu would.
And last week we saw the rise of Jehu
As he began to bring the fulfillment of God’s promised judgment.
But aside from that promise to Elijah,
There was another prophecy made concerning the house of Ahab.
After Ahab murdered Naboth and stole his vineyard,
Elijah found him, and this is what he had to say.
1 Kings 21:20-24 “Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, O my enemy?” And 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, and will utterly sweep you away, and will cut off from Ahab every male, both bond and free in Israel; and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked Me to anger, and because you have made Israel sin. “Of Jezebel also has the LORD spoken, saying, ‘The dogs will eat Jezebel in the district of Jezreel.’ “The one belonging to Ahab, who dies in the city, the dogs will eat, and the one who dies in the field the birds of heaven will eat.”
It is obvious that God is making good on His word.
Last week we saw the death of Joram (Ahab’s 2nd son to become king) as Jehu shot him through and threw his body to rot in Naboth’s vineyard.
We also saw the death of Ahaziah (the son of Ahab’s daughter) as Jehu hunted him down and killed him with the sword.
And we saw the death of Jezebel, throne from a window, trampled underfoot, and eaten by the dogs.
God was indeed using Jehu to fulfill His promised judgment.
This morning we see the conclusion of that fulfillment.
Ahab has lost a son, a grandson, and his wife,
But God promised a clean sweep of his entire line.
Jehu indeed has more work to do.
And as we study this text,
I want you to particularly notice how thorough God is,
Not only in the fulfillment of His word,
But also in the judgment of the wicked.
God is not one who allows a single word to fail,
Nor is He one to allow a single sinner to escape.
This we will see as we continue looking at the sword of Jehu.
4 divisions to our text this morning.
#1 REMOVING AHAB’S HEIRS
2 Kings 10:1-11
In verse 1, we see an informative statement.
“Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria…”
In your margin you could write something like
“The Seed of Ahab”.
Sure Ahab himself is dead, but it is apparent
His reign has plenty of opportunity to continue.
• We already had his son reigning in Israel and his grandson in Judah.
• We are about to see his daughter (Athaliah) take the throne in Judah,
• We see here that there is no shortage of heirs to the throne in Israel.
Like a bad batch of seed, Ahab’s lineage is growing,
And set to spread wickedness even further
Throughout the nation of Israel and even into Judah.
And these grab our particular interest,
Because these are potential candidates for the throne.
These are sons and most likely grandsons.
“And Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the rulers of Jezreel, the elders, and to the guardians of the children of Ahab…”
It is apparent that Ahab’s children
Have been placed in protective custody.
The city managers of Jezreel, along with the individual guardians
Of Ahab’s children are now in hiding in Samaria.
But as you can see Jehu has found them.
And he sent a letter to those who are protecting them.
(2-3) “Now, when this letter comes to you, since your master’s sons are with you, as well as the chariots and horses and a fortified city and the weapons, select the best and fittest of your master’s sons, and set him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s house.”
Jehu has been around the block long enough to know
That in each of these 70 sons is a budding seed of hatred and revenge,
And instead of watching his back forever,
He would rather do his fighting now.
But as you will see, there is no fight in store.
VERSES 4-5
Ahab’s seed are now being betrayed by those supposed to care for them.
Apparently they fear Jehu more than Ahab’s sons
And so they quickly swap their allegiance.
VERSES 6-7
And there Ahab’s heirs are complete annihilated.
They are beheaded and their heads are sent to Jehu at Jezreel.
VERSE 8
You noticed that Jehu piled up their heads
As a visual reminder of the judgment on Ahab’s house.
It was a public notice that the lineage of Omri and Ahab is no more.
The reign of that royal family is over.
And then Jehu has a message for the people.
(9) “Now in the morning he 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 these?”
No doubt the people were horrified at the sight
And Jehu assures them that NO GUILT would fall on them for this.
WHY?
Because this act was bigger than just Jehu.
Jehu killed Joram, but who killed all of Ahab’s sons?
It wasn’t because Jehu didn’t know,
Rather Jehu was revealing that this slaughter
Was more than one man’s vendetta,
This was the work of holy God.
God was removing Ahab’s heirs and therefore because God was doing it, the people would incur no guilt.
And then Jehu delivers the sermon of the day.
(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.”
In reference to the prophecy made by Elijah to Ahab
Which we read to open the sermon,
Jehu now proclaims God’s word fulfilled.
We learn that absolute faithfulness of God concerning His word.
God promised this, and it came to pass.
“the LORD has done what He spoke”
Isaiah 55:11 “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”
• God’s word never fails…
• God never boasts beyond His ability…
• God never writes checks He can’t cash…
When God promises it, it happens,
Even when His promise involves the judgment of the wicked.
THAT MEANS WE CAN TAKE GOD’S WORD TO THE BANK.
WHEN HE WARNS US, WE SHOULD LISTEN!
This is actually one of the blessings of God’s word.
He doesn’t just blind-side us, He is a God who warns.
Psalms 19 is a great Psalm about the commandments of God.
Psalms 19:11 “Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward.”
God’s word is a tremendous warning to us.
TURN TO: 2 PETER 3:8-18
Here Peter is essentially telling us to head the warning
And walk in the holiness God desires.
You can hear Peter telling you that God will keep His promise of judgment
And you had better head the warning.
Ahab did not heed God’s warning,
And so here we see Jehu standing at the mountain of heads
Proclaiming that “the LORD has done what He spoke”.
How many someday will be shocked to be cast into the fiery hell
To be tormented day and night,
And as they enter the flame will hear again the words of Jehu,
“the LORD has done what He spoke”.
We must take God’s word and His warnings serious,
For He is not playing around.
(11) “So Jehu killed all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men and his acquaintances and his priests, until he left him without a survivor.”
Jehu unleashed the sword on Ahab and his friends.
(The fact that he killed his friends will invite the judgment of God,
but we will see that next week.)
So first, The Removing of Ahab’s Heirs
#2 REMOVING AHAB’S ALLIES
2 Kings 10:12-14
So now after killing the heirs, Jehu is on the way to Samaria,
But while on the journey, he happens upon some Ahab sympathizers.
We know them as “the relatives of Ahaziah”
And notice their alliances.
“we have come down to greet the sons of the king and the sons of the queen mother.”
We all know who this queen mother is.
It is Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab,
The one who influenced Jehoshaphat’s boy Jehoram
And Jehoram’s boy Ahaziah into wickedness.
And these are friends of hers, coming to declare allegiance.
(14) “He said, “Take them alive.” So they took them alive and killed them at the pit of Beth-eked, forty-two men; and he left none of them.”
These of course would have been Ahab’s allies.
One can only imagine the conspiracy that was to begin
If they were to actually make contact with Athaliah.
No doubt new schemes and plots would have been made
And Jehu was not about to allow it to happen.
Not only were Ahab’s heirs killed, but so also were his allies.
We have seen his heirs removed
We have seen his allies removed
#3 REMOVING AHAB’S INFLUENCE
2 Kings 10:15-17
Now we don’t have time to do a full run down on Jehonadab the son of Rechab, so let me give you a quick description.
– Neither priest nor prophet, yet widely regarded as a holy man
– A man who kept a lifelong Nazarite vow (example of holiness)
– A man who greatly influenced his offspring (Jeremiah 35)
And when Jehu sees him, he seeks to impress him.
(Another fault of Jehu we will discuss next week)
But what I want you to see here is
The next step in the sword of Jehu.
(17) “When he came to Samaria, he killed all who remained to Ahab in Samaria until he had destroyed him, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke to Elijah.”
These of course were not the heirs, they had already been dealt with.
This is the remainder of Ahab’s family.
We have already seen how influential
The women in Ahab’s family could be.
His wife was the most wicked woman to ever live,
And his daughter is causing enormous problem in Judah.
Ahab’s total influence had to removed.
There could be no chance of one of his daughters marrying a king
And spreading Ahab’s poison all over again.
This man’s influence had to be completely removed.
And so Jehu killed them all.
He killed all in Jezreel, now he kills them all in Samaria.
“according to the word of the LORD which He spoke to Elijah.”
God is seriously removing the cancer of Ahab from Israel.
He removed his HEIRS
He removed his ALLIES
He removed his INFLUENCE
#4 REMOVING AHAB’S RELIGION
2 Kings 10:18-28
Ahab was gone, and now it is time to get rid of his religion.
Baal worship had flourished under Ahab.
• Sure Balaam had led Israel astray after the Baals at Baal Peor..
• Yes Israel dabbled with the Baals during the time of the judges…
But it was Ahab who turned Baal worship
Into a national religion.
1 Kings 16:29-33 “Now Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD more than all who were before him. It came about, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him. So he erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he built in Samaria. Ahab also made the Asherah. Thus Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him.”
Ahab had completely led Israel away from the LORD after Baal,
Now that Ahab was gone, it was time to wage war on his religion.
Jehu pretended allegiance to Baal
And called for a great feast and a solemn assembly.
After discerning that all of Baal’s worshipers were present
And none of the followers of the LORD were present,
Jehu called for their slaughter.
• He then burned the sacred pillars of the house
• He then broke down the sacred pillar of Baal
• And He completely broke down the temple.
“and made it a latrine to this day.”
Literally “a place of dung”
Jehu turned Baal’s house into the local restroom,
This was to ensure that it was never rebuilt.
(28) “Thus Jehu eradicated Baal out of Israel.”
And all of a sudden God’s promise to Elijah was fulfilled.
• I will remove Ahab…
• I will remove Baal…
• I will do it through the sword of judgment…
AND GOD DID
Revival is not the only way God can purify a people.
Judgment has always proven to be an effective purifier.
WHAT WE SHOULD LEARN:
Not only is God FAITHFUL in executing His promises of judgment.
God is also THOROUGH in executing His promises of judgment.
Listen to John the Baptist
Matthew 3:7-12 “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘ We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. “The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Remember the parable of the wheat and the tares?
Matthew 13:41 “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness,”
Remember the parable of the dragnet?
Matthew 13:47-49 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous,”
God is thorough in His judgment.
Listen to Paul:
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.”
Galatians 5:19-21 “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
For further proof,
We only have to listen as John the apostle describes heaven.
Revelation 21:7-8 “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Revelation 21:27 “and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
Revelation 22:14-15 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.”
There is no chance whatsoever of one person who is in sin
Ever slipping past the security of God.
TURN TO: MATTHEW 22:1-14
I hope you notice why the man was not able to sneak in.
BECAUSE THE KING HIMSELF EXAMINED THE GUESTS.
John the Baptist said that He will “thoroughly clear the threshing floor”
And that is what He does here.
He knows every guest by name.
– Those He does not know, He spots and removes.
– Those who try to enter by their own goodness, He spots and removes.
– Those who try to live in their sin, He spots and removes.
GOD IS THOROUGH WITH HIS JUDGMENT OF THE WICKED
You need to know that God will not let sin slide.
You need to know that God will not let sinners go undetected.
He finds them all, regardless of where they hide.
Revelation 20:13 “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.”
The only way to slip past the judgment of God is to be holy.
The only way to be holy
Is to be clothed in the righteousness of God’s only Son.
In that parable in Matthew 22, you may notice who attended.
(10) “Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests.”
The evil were welcome, so long as they clothed themselves
In the righteousness of the Son.
It was the one who refused to clothe himself in Christ’s righteousness that was removed.
We learn from Jehu and Ahab that God’s judgment is not a joke.
His warnings are not idle threats.
You and I are intended to head the warning
And seek out His salvation.
That salvation is found in Jesus Christ.
The sinless Son of God who gave His life on the cross
To pay the penalty of sin, and appease God’s wrath on sinners.
To escape God’s wrath, we must submit our lives to Him.
On the day of Pentecost, men were terrified at God’s judgment.
Here is what Peter said to them:
Acts 2:37-40 “Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ” Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!”
This world is headed for the destruction of intense heat.
Be saved by repenting and trusting Jesus.
