Commentary - 2 Kings 10:29-31

Bird's-eye view

This short passage serves as the divine verdict on the reign of Jehu, and it is a classic biblical case study in the complexities of partial obedience. God, in His absolute sovereignty, raised up Jehu as an instrument of His wrath to perform a particular task: the complete annihilation of the house of Ahab. In this, Jehu was zealous, thorough, and brutally effective. For this external obedience, God commends him and grants him a temporal, dynastic blessing. However, the text immediately pivots to Jehu's profound failure. While he was a faithful executioner of God's judgment against Baal worship, he was entirely unfaithful in his own personal walk with God. He perpetuated the foundational sin of the northern kingdom, the political idolatry of Jeroboam's golden calves. This reveals that Jehu's heart was not fundamentally aligned with God's heart. His actions, while outwardly conforming to a divine command, were likely driven by personal ambition and political calculation rather than a true love for Yahweh and His law. The passage is a stark reminder that God sees the heart, and that He distinguishes between using a man for His purposes and approving of that man's character.

In essence, Jehu was a hammer in God's hand, and a very effective one. But a hammer is not a son. God rewarded the hammer for the work it did, but He also judged the man for the heart he had. This is a crucial distinction for understanding how God works in history. He is sovereign over the actions of all men, both the righteous and the wicked, and uses them to accomplish His will. But the reward for the righteous is eternal, flowing from a renewed heart, while the reward for a man like Jehu is earthly, temporary, and serves as a testimony to God's justice, not Jehu's righteousness.

Outline

Context In 2 Kings

This passage comes at the end of the bloody and dramatic narrative of Jehu's coup. Anointed by a prophet at Elisha's command, Jehu launched a furious campaign, killing King Joram of Israel, King Ahaziah of Judah, and the wicked queen mother Jezebel. He then orchestrated the execution of all seventy of Ahab's sons and wiped out the remaining members of the royal house. His zeal culminated in a cunning and brutal slaughter of all the priests and worshippers of Baal in Samaria, effectively eradicating organized Baal worship from Israel. The verses in our text (29-31) serve as the divine commentary and summary of these events. They provide the theological lens through which we are to interpret Jehu's violent reign. This evaluation sets the stage for the subsequent history of Jehu's dynasty and the continuing downward spiral of the northern kingdom, which, despite this brief and bloody reformation, never truly repented of its foundational sin.

Key Issues

Obedience from the Outside In

The story of Jehu is a picture of what we might call merely external reformation. He changed the official state religion from Baalism back to a form of Yahweh-worship, but it was a corrupted form. He cleaned house, but he didn't clean his own heart. His obedience was impressive in its scope and ferocity, but it was also shallow. He dealt with the gaudy, imported idolatry of Jezebel, but he clung to the homegrown, political idolatry of Jeroboam.

Why? Because Jeroboam's calves at Bethel and Dan were a political necessity for the kings of Israel. To get rid of them would be to encourage the people to go to Jerusalem to worship, which would undermine the legitimacy and security of the northern throne. Jehu was willing to obey God when it aligned with his own political consolidation of power, destroying the house of his rival Ahab was good for business. But he was unwilling to obey God when it threatened his political security. This reveals that his ultimate loyalty was to the throne of Israel, not the throne of God. God commends the action He commanded, but the text makes it plain that God was not fooled by the motive. This is a permanent warning against any form of Christianity that is zealous about smashing the idols out there in the culture, but is content to leave the idols of political expediency and self-interest standing in the high places of the heart.

Verse by Verse Commentary

29 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.

The verse begins with a sharp turn, a "however" that qualifies everything. After the spectacular destruction of Ahab's house and Baal's temple, this is the great exception. Jehu's reformation had a clear boundary line, and that line was drawn at the "sins of Jeroboam." This was the original sin of the northern kingdom, the establishment of a counterfeit worship system to prevent the people from returning to Jerusalem and the house of David. It was a state-sponsored, politically-motivated religion. Jehu was a reformer up to a point. He would gladly destroy the dynasty of Ahab and the foreign cult of Baal. But he would not touch the foundational political structure of his own kingdom. The calves were useful. They kept the people away from Judah. They secured his throne. So, while he was a hammer against Baal, he was a patron of the calves. This was not an oversight; it was a calculated political decision, and it revealed that his heart was not truly for Yahweh alone.

30 And Yahweh said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in doing what is right in My eyes, and 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.”

Here we see the startling sovereignty of God. God speaks to Jehu and commends him. He commends him specifically for executing the judgment on Ahab's house. Jehu did precisely what was in God's heart to do. God had decreed the destruction of Ahab's line, and Jehu was the appointed instrument. For this service, God gives him a reward. It is a real reward, a promise that his dynasty would last for four generations, which, for the tumultuous northern kingdom, was a significant period of stability. This teaches us something crucial about God. He is a just God, and He rewards the work that is done in accordance with His stated will, even if the man doing it is a compromised instrument. God can and does use unregenerate and partially obedient men to accomplish His purposes in history. He approved the deed without approving the man's heart. This is a temporal blessing for a temporal obedience.

31 But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of Yahweh, the God of Israel, with all his heart; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel sin.

And here is the final verdict, the divine explanation for the compromise mentioned in verse 29. The "but" here is just as sharp as the "however" before. The problem was the heart. Jehu "was not careful", he did not take heed, he was not diligent, to walk in God's law with all his heart. His zeal was impressive, his energy was boundless, but his heart was divided. The core of the issue was not a failure of energy, but a failure of integrity. He served God where it served himself. The repetition of the charge concerning the sins of Jeroboam drives the point home. This was the litmus test of his heart, and he failed it. True obedience is not a matter of picking and choosing which commands are convenient. True obedience flows from a whole heart, a heart that desires to please God in all things, not just in the things that align with our own ambitions. Jehu's reign was a flurry of external activity, but at the center of it was a heart that was not carefully tending the flame of devotion to Yahweh.

Application

The account of Jehu is a sharp-edged tool for examining our own hearts. It is very easy for us in the reformed world to become zealous for doctrinal purity and cultural engagement. We can become very good at tearing down the altars of Baal in the public square. We can write blogs, host podcasts, and preach sermons that thunder against the sins of our age with the fury of Jehu's chariot. And all of this can be a good thing, just as Jehu's destruction of Baalism was a good thing.

But God's searching gaze goes right past the sound and fury and looks at the heart. It is entirely possible to be a culture warrior for Christ while leaving the golden calves of personal ambition, political compromise, or hidden sin untouched in the Bethel and Dan of our own lives. Are we careful to walk in the law of the Lord with all our heart? Or are there areas where we, like Jehu, find obedience too costly, too inconvenient, too threatening to our own little thrones?

The blessing Jehu received was four generations on the throne. It was a real blessing, but it was dust and ashes in the end. The blessing God offers us in Christ is not a temporary dynasty, but an eternal inheritance. This is a blessing that cannot be earned by external zeal. It is received by faith, and it results in a new heart, a heart that is careful, a heart that desires to obey God not for the reward, but out of love for the One who obeyed perfectly on our behalf. The gospel frees us from being Jehu. We don't have to obey in order to secure our kingdom. Christ has secured His kingdom, and has freely given it to us. Therefore, we are free to obey with our whole heart, tearing down not only the public idols, but the secret ones as well, not for political gain, but for the glory of God.