The Heart, the Hand, and the Chariot of Zeal Text: 2 Kings 10:15-17
Introduction: The Necessity of Sharp Edges
We live in an age that despises sharp edges. Our culture is one of gelatinous platitudes, where the highest virtue is a squishy, inoffensive niceness. The prevailing spirit of the age wants a god without wrath, a Christ without a sword, and a gospel without judgment. But the God of the Bible is not a tame God; He is a consuming fire. And when He anoints a man to do His work, particularly the work of judgment, He does not hand him a wet noodle. He hands him a sword, and He expects him to use it.
The story of Jehu is one such instance, and it is a hard story for our soft generation. Jehu was commissioned by God, through the prophet Elisha, to be an instrument of divine vengeance. His task was to utterly annihilate the house of Ahab, a dynasty that had plunged Israel into the darkest forms of pagan idolatry, state-sponsored murder, and covenantal apostasy. This was not personal revenge; it was the execution of a divine sentence, long overdue. The blood of Naboth and the blood of God's prophets cried out from the ground, and God had heard them.
But even a man on a divine mission needs allies. He needs to know who is with him and who is against him. The work of reformation is never a solo act. It requires the identification of the faithful remnant, those whose hearts have not bowed the knee to Baal. This is where our text picks up. Jehu, fresh from executing judgment on the relatives of Ahaziah, encounters a man named Jehonadab. This meeting is not a mere historical footnote; it is a crucial diagnostic moment. It reveals the nature of true spiritual alignment, the character of genuine zeal, and the unwavering necessity of covenantal obedience in a corrupt world.
We are going to see three things in this brief encounter: a question of the heart, an invitation to the chariot, and a demonstration of the work. This is a story about the intersection of divine calling and human fellowship, and it teaches us what it means to have a heart that is right with God and to join hands with those who are about His business.
The Text
Then he went from there and found Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him; and he blessed him and said to him, "Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?" And Jehonadab answered, "It is." Jehu said, "If it is, give me your hand." And he gave him his hand, and he took him up to him into the chariot.
Then he said, "Come with me and see my zeal for Yahweh." So he made him ride in his chariot.
And he came to Samaria and struck down all who were left to Ahab in Samaria, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of Yahweh which He spoke to Elijah.
(2 Kings 10:15-17 LSB)
A Question of the Heart (v. 15a)
We begin with the crucial question that frames the entire interaction.
"Then he went from there and found Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him; and he blessed him and said to him, 'Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?' And Jehonadab answered, 'It is.'" (2 Kings 10:15a)
Jehu, the newly anointed king and divine executioner, meets Jehonadab. This isn't just any man. Jehonadab was the patriarch of the Rechabites, a clan known for their austere, separatist lifestyle, committed to the commands of their ancestor. Hundreds of years later, the prophet Jeremiah would hold up the Rechabites as a model of covenantal faithfulness in stark contrast to unfaithful Judah (Jeremiah 35). They were a remnant, set apart and fiercely loyal to their principles. Jehonadab was a man of reputation, a man whose spiritual allegiances were known.
Jehu's question is direct and cuts through all superficialities: "Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?" This is not a question about feelings or sentimental affection. The "heart" in Hebrew thought is the seat of the will, the intellect, the entire inner man. Jehu is asking about fundamental alignment. He is asking, "Are we oriented toward the same ultimate reality? Do we serve the same God? Do we agree on the basic, non-negotiable truths of this situation?"
Notice the basis of the question: "as my heart is with your heart." Jehu establishes his own position first. He is not asking for blind loyalty. He is saying, "My heart is set on the purposes of Yahweh. I am committed to purging this land of Baal worship and the house of Ahab. Is your heart with me in this?" This is the basis of all true Christian fellowship. It is not based on shared hobbies, personality compatibility, or political affiliation. It is based on a shared, settled conviction about the lordship of Jesus Christ and the authority of His Word. We do not create unity; we recognize it. We discover that our hearts are already aligned because they have both been captured by the same God.
Jehonadab's answer is equally direct: "It is." There is no hesitation, no negotiation, no "let me think about it." He knows what Jehu is doing. He knows the wickedness of Ahab's house. He knows the commands of God. And he knows where he stands. This is the clarity that comes from a life of settled conviction. When you have already determined to obey God, you do not need to deliberate when an opportunity to do so presents itself.
An Invitation to the Chariot (v. 15b-16)
Once the alignment of the heart is established, the fellowship of the hand and the chariot immediately follows.
"Jehu said, 'If it is, give me your hand.' And he gave him his hand, and he took him up to him into the chariot. Then he said, 'Come with me and see my zeal for Yahweh.' So he made him ride in his chariot." (2 Kings 10:15b-16 LSB)
The handshake here is a seal of agreement, a public pledge of solidarity. It moves the internal alignment of the heart into the external world of action. This is crucial. Faith without works is dead, and a right heart that never extends a right hand is a useless abstraction. Jehu then pulls Jehonadab up into the chariot with him. This is a profound gesture. The chariot is the instrument of Jehu's royal authority and his military power. By bringing Jehonadab into the chariot, Jehu is making him a partner in the work. He is not just an observer; he is a participant, a witness, and a public endorser of Jehu's mission.
Jehu's invitation is explicit: "Come with me and see my zeal for Yahweh." Now, some have criticized Jehu for this, seeing it as arrogant boasting. And it is true that Jehu's reformation was ultimately incomplete; he tore down Baal but left the golden calves of Jeroboam standing. His zeal had its limits. However, we must not let his later failures negate the rightness of his actions here. Zeal for the Lord is a good thing. It is the opposite of the lukewarm apathy that Christ condemns in the church at Laodicea. Phinehas was commended for his zeal. Elijah was a man of zeal. Paul speaks of having zeal. Zeal is a holy fire, an intense devotion to the glory of God.
Jehu is not just showing off. He is inviting accountability and seeking validation from a recognized man of God. He is saying, in effect, "Watch me. See if my actions line up with my profession. I am claiming to do this for Yahweh; come and be the witness that this is so." This is a pattern for all Christian leadership. Our lives should be an open book, an invitation for other faithful men to get in the chariot with us and see our zeal for the Lord, not so they can praise us, but so they can confirm that the work is indeed of God.
A Demonstration of the Work (v. 17)
The final verse of our text shows the result of this newfound partnership. The zeal is not just talk; it is action. The heart and the hand lead to the sword.
"And he came to Samaria and struck down all who were left to Ahab in Samaria, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of Yahweh which He spoke to Elijah." (2 Kings 10:17 LSB)
With Jehonadab in the chariot, Jehu rides into Samaria, the very heart of Ahab's corrupt kingdom, and he finishes the job. He executes the remainder of Ahab's house. This is a bloody and violent business, and it makes our modern sensibilities recoil. But we must understand this through biblical lenses. Jehu is not a vigilante. He is a magistrate, a king anointed by God, carrying out a judicial sentence pronounced by God Himself. He is the de-creation of a wicked house, the fulfillment of a holy curse.
The text is careful to ground Jehu's actions in the ultimate standard: he did all this "according to the word of Yahweh which He spoke to Elijah." This is the key. Jehu's zeal was not a free-floating passion. It was tethered to, guided by, and judged by the revealed Word of God. God had spoken through His prophet Elijah years before (1 Kings 21:21-24), declaring the utter destruction of Ahab's line. Jehu is simply the instrument bringing that prophetic word to pass. His sword is the punctuation mark at the end of God's sentence.
This is the only safeguard for zeal. Zeal without the Word of God becomes fanaticism. It becomes self-righteous and destructive. But zeal that is meticulously obedient to the Word of God is a holy and righteous thing. Jehu's actions were not an atrocity; they were an act of national cleansing, a painful but necessary surgery to cut out the cancer of Baal worship that was killing the nation.
Conclusion: Whose Chariot Are You In?
This brief narrative is packed with application for us. We too live in a day of rampant idolatry and covenant-breaking. The spirit of Ahab and Jezebel is alive and well in our culture, promoting sexual perversion, murdering the unborn, and demanding that we bow down to the idols of the state and the self.
In such a time, the Lord is still raising up Jehus, men and women who are zealous to see the kingdom of God advance and the kingdom of darkness torn down. And the fundamental question still rings out: "Is your heart right?" Is your heart aligned with the heart of God in these matters? Do you see the evil for what it is, and do you long to see the lordship of Christ established over every area of life?
If your heart is right, then the next question is, whose hand are you taking? Whose chariot are you in? It is not enough to have right opinions in private. We must seek out those who are engaged in the work and join hands with them. We must get in the chariot, to be witnesses, to be participants, to lend our strength and our encouragement to the cause of reformation.
The work of the New Covenant is not accomplished with a literal sword of iron. Our weapons are not carnal, but they are mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds (2 Cor. 10:4). We are called to wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. We are called to proclaim the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation. This gospel is a declaration of judgment on the old house of Adam and a declaration of new life in the house of Christ. When we preach the gospel, we are, in a spiritual sense, doing the work of Jehu: striking down the old man of sin and idolatry, "according to the word of the Lord."
So, find your Jehonadab. Find your Jehu. Find those whose hearts are right, whose hands are ready, and whose chariots are rolling toward the enemy's gates. Give them your hand, get in the chariot, and go with them to see, and to show, a zeal for the Lord that is rooted in His Word and aimed at His glory.