2 Kings 10 (Part 1) Bible Study (Jehu Slaughters Ahab's Descendants) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Meet me in the Bible at Second Kings chapter 10.

2 Kings 10 · chapter mention

Let's meet together in Second Kings chapter 10.

2 Kings 10 · chapter mention

When Elijah prophesied the doom of the House of Ahab, he

ominously declared that the Lord will cut off from Ahab every

male bond or free in Israel. And it is in this chapter where

we will see that part of the prophecy being fulfilled.

Last week you and I studied Jehu beginning his campaign and how

he successfully eliminated 3 key individuals, Joram the king of

Israel, Ahaziah the king of Judah, and Jezebel the wife of

Ahab. That all took place in a region

called Jezreel. But as Jehu now continues his

mission, his attention is going to shift to the capital of

Israel. Tell me what the capital of

Israel is? Was this is Israel the northern

Kingdom? So we understand that unified

Israel having Jerusalem as the capital, but this is a divided

Kingdom. So they have a new capital.

Starts with the letter S Samaria is the capital of Israel at this

point. And right away the challenge of

this particular mission is made clear to us from the start.

So let's read the first 3 verses together.

Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria.

So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the rulers

of the city, to the elders, and to the guardians of the sons of

Ahab, saying Now then, as soon as this letter comes to you,

seeing your master's sons are with you, and there are with you

Chariots and horses, fortified cities also, and 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.

We learned that Ahab had not 7, not 17, but seventy sons, and

then that number likely includes his grandsons.

And we see here that because of Jehu's limitations, remember, he

doesn't have a very impressive army backing him, at least

numerically. This is going to be a challenge.

How is he going to approach Samaria and come after the

Princess of Samaria without a struggle or without some of them

escaping? And so JU has to think before he

can make any attempt of actually attacking the capital.

He sends multiple letters with the same message to its leaders.

And I have to be honest that when we read here what he said,

for a couple of days, I didn't understand what Jehu was trying

to accomplish by doing this. You see, if I were in his shoes,

sure, I might send something, but I'm not going to invite them

to a fight. I'm going to ask him to

surrender and warn them not to put up a fight.

What does he do? The exact opposite of that.

He not only tells them to choose an heir among Ahab's sons, but

all the while he's also reminding them of their

resources and their assets and their army.

And he he invites them to engage in battle.

In a sense, he's instilling in them a false sense of

confidence. This, this is strange.

And then it hit me. I'm not a commander of any army.

Jehu is a commander of Israel's army, and he is a strategist.

And so here's how he's thinking. Knowing that he's outnumbered at

this point. He takes a huge risk, but it is

bold at the same time. The man is essentially bluffing.

Do you see that? He's aware that the news of

Joran, the king of Israel's death, reached Samaria, but he

is also aware that the people in Samaria do not know how their

king was killed. And so he uses us to his

advantage. And so he comes to this point

with this Intel, and he decides to not make this unimpressive

appearance in Samaria but tampers with the imagination of

its leaders. How does he do that?

He makes it sound like he has this massive backing, and he

informs him that he is in no way intimidated by their Chariots,

their horses, or fortified cities.

And guess what? It worked.

I want you to see the reaction of the rulers, the elders, and

the guardians in verse 4. But they were exceedingly afraid

and said, behold, the two kings could not stand before him.

How then can we stand? Remember, the leaders in Samaria

did not witness how the king of Israel and the king of Judah

were murdered. They only received reports about

it. They only heard the news.

And so we see here that Jehu is actually taking that ignorance

and using it. See, if the Samaritans here knew

what Jehu was actually working with, they probably would have

believed they had a chance to resist them.

But they're left in the dark, they only have the news about

it. And so this man is highly

intelligent. He comes to this point where he

stays in Jezreel and creatively conveys and paints a picture as

though he is this force that they can't deal with.

And he does it by offering them a challenge.

Why don't we fight? Winner takes all.

You don't talk like that unless you are confident that you can

win. And this is how these leaders

are interpreting his message. And so they are so afraid.

They think to themselves, let's just surrender and spare our

lives. So we read these 3 verses right,

of this chapter and I believe that there are at least two

lessons that we can draw from it for our own lives.

Number one, I want to bring to your attention the principle of

warfare in the mind. Warfare in the mind.

This is an actual war, but we see here that J who is

implementing something with the mind.

And as Christians, we are told throughout the New Testament

that we are in a war, in a spiritual battle.

And though we don't war with people in the same way that this

chapter communicates, we don't fight people, we don't wield any

weapons, we don't hit. There is an element of this kind

of where for in this chapter that is echoed in the New

Testament. And I want to take you to a very

familiar passage in the New Testament concerning spiritual

warfare. And I want you as we're reading

these verses, to pay attention to a common denominator in

Paul's description of Christian warfare.

So go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 10, beginning in verse 3.

And I want you to especially pay attention to verse 5, but we're

going to read 3:00 to 5:00. Here's what Paul says.

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according

to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare

are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy

strongholds. We destroy arguments in every

lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every

thought captive to obey Christ. Look again at verse five.

Look at the language that he uses.

Arguments, lofty opinions raised against the knowledge of God,

every What thought captive? What do all those things have in

common? They deal with the mind.

Here's what we learn about spiritual warfare.

According to the words of Paul, the main arena of our warfare is

in our thinking. Do you know how many people

misapply Paul's words here when it comes to how Christians

engage in warfare? Pulling down strongholds?

What do so many interpret that to mean?

Rebuking and casting out demons? Renouncing generational curses?

That's not what Paul is talking about at all.

When he mentions strongholds, he's providing imagery that

describes what ideologies, false belief systems, philosophies and

persuasions that contradict the truth of God's word.

Fortresses of wrong thinking that hold people captive.

That's what strongholds are. They're in the mind.

And here's what's so wonderful about this.

If Paul is highlighting the main arena of our warfare, then we

also know the weapons we ought to use.

And the primary weapon in seeing people liberated defensively,

offensively, is to know the scriptures from cover to cover,

cover in order to dismantle and destroy and bring down these

things that resist the liberation that comes from the

truth. And so the weaker we are in the

Word of God, the more vulnerable we are to spiritual warfare and

the less likely we are to see people set free from bondage.

This is where warfare is held. This is where we're supposed to

put our focus in the mind. Paul was aware of this.

And to some degree we see Jehu implementing warfare.

Yes, it's psychological warfare, but before he wields any

physical weapon, he is going to take captive their minds.

And notice. We're going to read in a moment

that he's actually going to have the leaders of Samaria do The

Dirty work for him. He's after the sons of Ahab, and

he's not going to even lift a finger.

And Satan is very clever in the way he takes his captives.

Before the enemy can make you do anything, he first makes you

think in a certain way. That is the common pattern of

the Evil 1. He plants his flag in your mind,

and before you act away, he'll cause you to think away.

And we see a clear example of this.

Which brings me to the second lesson.

From what we read in the verses that we unfolded together.

Do not underestimate the controlling power of fear.

Come back to 2nd Kings 10 and look at verse 4 again.

But they were exceedingly afraid and said, behold, the two kings

could not stand before him. How then can we stand?

So he was over the palace, and he who was over the city,

together with the elders and the guardians sent to Jehu saying we

are your servants and we will do all that you tell us.

We will not make anyone king. Do whatever is good in your

eyes. Wow.

Notice the connection between fear and submission, verse five.

They say we are your servants, but before we learn that they

are willing to become servants, they were first exceedingly

afraid. This shows us that if you and I

are not careful, what we fear can easily become what we end up

obeying. What you fear, you will obey.

Think about it. If I fear what people think

about me, then I'm going to conform my convictions to their

preference, right? If I fear what enemies of the

gospel will do to me, then I'm more willing to conceal my

identity or compromise the message.

If I fear any element of the future, what am I compromising?

I'm giving up an element of the joy, peace, and purpose that

Christ intends for me today. And the examples can go on and

on and on. Here's what fear does when it's

ungodly fear. It paralyzes your obedience

while promoting disobedience. It paralyzes your obedience and

it excites disobedience. So we see here that Jehu is

very, very cunning. He makes them afraid in order to

make them slaves. That is why you and I are called

to fear God. Not that there is a slavish

fear, but that there should be such an awareness of His glory

and majesty that it wins our allegiance to Him, and that

anything that tries to rival with anything that tries to make

you afraid would burn up in light of the flame of devotion

that you have, because you have a clear perception of who He is.

They were exceedingly afraid, so they became slaves.

It reminds me of the words of Paul to Timothy where he says

that God does not give us what a spirit of fear.

He doesn't give us a spirit of fear.

Now, that's that's what we see there in Timothy.

But the the context is right before that verse.

He tells Timothy, fan it to flame the gift of God within

you. What's the connection?

Timothy was timid. He was not allowing the

flourishing of his gift because he was afraid of persecution and

the arrests and, and the deaths and the beatings that were

taking place among Christians because of their faith in Jesus.

And and Paul says, listen, you need to fan it, to flame that

gift. And because you're afraid,

you're not allowing that to happen.

So we always limit ourselves when we live in fear in any way,

in every way. And we see here that there is

such an easy surrender because there was such a striking fear

that suffocated them. Let's come back to 2nd Kings 10.

So we learned that they gave in to Jehu's leadership.

But notice verse 6. This is not the only thing that

he's going to ask to them. Then he wrote to them a second

letter saying, If you are on my side, and if you are ready to

obey me, take the heads of your master's sons and come to me at

Jezreel tomorrow at this time. Now the King's sons, 70 persons,

were with the great men of the city who are bringing them up.

And as soon as the letter came to them, they took the King's

sons and slaughter them, 70 persons, and put their heads in

baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel.

It's very graphic, but sometimes history is raw.

What's happening here? Well, we might have yet another

extreme but good example of what fear can drive a man to do.

But I think the lesson is deeper than that.

Because remember, these are the leaders in Samaria.

They have been employed by Ahab and Jezebel, and we have seen

before how capable these leaders are in performing heinous acts.

Remember, Jezebel was the one that had Nabeth killed in order

for her husband to have his vineyard by the palace.

Remember that? But do we remember the means

that were implemented in order for Nabeth to be killed?

If you don't remember, go to 1st Kings 21 and you're going to see

an interesting connection. First Kings chapter 21, verse 9

1 Kings 21:9

I want you to look at who Jezebel called upon to do her

bidding. And she wrote in the letters,

proclaim a fast and set Nabeth at the head of the people, and

set 2 worthless men opposite him, and let them bring a charge

against them, saying, You have cursed God and the king.

Then take him out and stone him to death.

Verse 11 And the men of his city, the elders and the leaders

who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent word to them as

it was written in the letters that she had sent to them.

It was the compliance of some of the leaders in Jezebel's Kingdom

that led to the murder of an innocent man.

And I'm not saying that these are the same leaders that we

find in Second Kings 10. I'm just saying they're all

members of the same company and they all share the same ethic.

And here's how we can apply this to ourselves.

If the sons of Ahab had a shred of wisdom, then they would have

been much more cautious about who they chose to trust because

clearly they didn't consider that what these leaders have

done in the past is something that could have been done to

them in a moment. An innocent man was killed, and

these sons of Ahab thought that they could be treated in the

same way. For whatever reason, when it

comes to the choices that you and I make in relationships, you

have to be careful to discern if the people that you are willing

to yoke yourself to govern their lives in the fear of God, or if

their lives are actually led by fleshly impulses or self

preservation at any cost. Choosing relationships in this

way will spare you from much unnecessary heartache.

And there are many in ministry and in marriage and everything

in between who are suffering because they did not take the

time to discern the kind of people that they are willing to

partner with. Does this person ultimately live

with and in the fear of the Lord?

Where where God's heart is their motive in everything?

And many ministries, ministers are crumbling because of that.

Many marriages are in the same boat, and unfortunately, these

sons of Ahab allowed people who are willing to, at a moment's

notice, betray their conscience or whatever is left in their

conscience to do the most despicable things, and they

thought that it wouldn't apply to them.

In many cases, if somebody unrepentantly does something to

others, they are probably willing to do it to you.

I've learned that. So what happens here?

They deliver these heads severed in baskets.

They sent him to Jezreel. And if we're not convinced of

Jehu's cleverness by now, it will be hard to ignore it here.

Let's read in verse 8. When the messenger came and told

them they have brought the heads of the King's sons, he said, lay

them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the

morning. Then in the morning when he went

out, he stood and said to all the people, You are innocent.

It was I who conspired against my master and killed him.

But who struck down all these? 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

said by his servant Elijah. So these heads are severed.

They're brought most likely in the night.

Makes you wonder if. Jehu lost some sleep that night

because he really took his time to make sure that these were the

faces of the sons of Ahab, but he instructed that two piles

would be made at the gate. Why would he want to make a

public display of such things? Because he wants to gather a

crowd, and he wants to use this moment to make a speech.

And when he addresses the inhabitants of Jezreel the next

morning, Oh, this man is something.

He accomplishes a few things in these few words.

The first thing that he does is that he feels as though this is

the right moment to confess that he was the one who murdered the

king of Israel. Here's my question.

I lift my hand up now to nobody really.

But as I'm really saying, why is he saying this?

What is he achieving in this? Well, obviously, there's

suspicion. There's rumors spreading now of

what happened with the king of Israel.

Remember, there was limited information among the

Samaritans, and we're going to find out that the Southern

Kingdom didn't even hear about it.

And so Jehu just makes it clear. I'm the guy.

You're innocent. Nobody else is to blame here.

I'm the one who shed blood. What are you doing?

Here's what he's doing. He realized that if he confesses

this, it won't seem as significant in light of the fact

that there are 70 severed heads of the sons of Ahab.

It seems like a lighter offense with this horrific scene before

the people. And you might be wondering, but

isn't Jehu responsible for the death of these seventy sons?

Yeah, we know that. Guess who doesn't?

The inhabitants of Jezreel. So here's a second observation

that we can make from this that at the same time Jehu, yes,

confesses that he is the culprit, he also disses himself

from this massacre. Notice what he says again in

verse 9. You are innocent.

It was I who conspired against my master and kill them.

But who struck down all these by saying this?

The average person listening might think to themselves, all

right, if Jehu was willing to admit that he killed the king,

surely he'd be willing to admit that he also killed the sons of

Ahab. But he doesn't, so it must be

someone else. Now you might be wondering why

he's speaking in this way, and the answer is quite simple.

He is trying to seize the throne without any obstacles by keeping

his image as clean as possible. And so he's willing to admit his

actions that will help him look like a savior while also denying

anything that he has done that might make him look like a

brutal, bloodthirsty tyrant. And so he knows that the king of

Israel is not very popular, and he brought so much trouble upon

the Kingdom. So he goes, I'm the one who

killed the king of Israel. There's going to be a lot more

positive feedback with that. But there might be pushback,

even really backlash if the people learned that he

slaughtered all of his sons. And so he says, I'm not sure

what happened here. Men's playing politics.

He's playing with their minds. And it's very clever because

he's appealing to a mixed crowd in a complex situation, because

he wants to gain as many supporters as possible so that

there would be no trouble for him to seize the throne.

And so he taps into their ignorance while also doing what

he emphasizes, divine approval for the events that took place

that day. Look at verse 10.

What does he say? He says here, 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 said by his servant Elijah.

It's as though he's saying, I'm not sure how the sons of Ahab

met their end, but I know what God's word said about the future

of this dynasty. So we better get a line with his

will. Do you see how brilliant this

man is? It's actually really scary

because once again, it worked. He gained their support.

Now before we move on, if you feel a little disturbed or

concerned about Jehu's tactics here, you should be.

Because lying in manipulation to accomplish the will of God is

never justified. It's never to be implemented.

But already we're seeing some concerning traits in this man,

and it's only going to become more manifest in the verses

we're about to read. Look at verse 11.

So Jehu struck down all who remained of the House of Ahab in

Jezreel, all his great men and his close friends and his

priest, until he left him. None remaining.

Now let's read down to verse 14. Then he set out and went to

Samaria. Pause.

He feels confident now, right? He gained more supporters.

He now realizes it's appropriate for me to approach the Capitol.

So he goes to Samaria and let's continue on the way.

When he was at Beth Ecked of the shepherds, Jay, who met the

relatives of Ahaziah, king of Judah, and he said, who are you?

And they answered, we are the relatives of Ahaziah and we came

down to visit the royal Princess and the sons of the Queen

Mother. Uh oh.

Probably not the best answer to give to a man who has been

anointed and destined to kill the House of Ahab.

He said take them alive and they took them and slaughtered them

at the pit of Beth Eckhard, 42 persons and he spared none of

them. Makes you wonder, was this right

of Jeho to do? Is this legitimate?

Is this legal? Is this in accordance with God's

will? Now, one way to explain it is

recalling what we studied last week, that when Joram was

recovering in Jezreel, Ahaziah, king of Judah, visited him.

Why? Because they were related in

marriage. And when Aaziah visited Joram,

he too was killed. And we determined that that was

God's purpose. It was ordained that Aaziah,

who's from the House of David, ultimately would be killed

alongside Joram. And we reference, though we

didn't visit the verse Second Chronicles to confirm that.

But this time I want us to visit that verse.

So you have to go to the parallel account in Second

Chronicles 22 to see this with me.

Look at the divine approval that the Holy Spirit gives concerning

the death of Ahaziah in Second Chronicles 22.

Eight. Let's begin in verse 7.

Excuse me? But it was ordained by God that

the downfall of Azai should come about through his going to visit

Joram. For when he came there, he went

out with Joram to meet Jehu, the son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had

anointed to destroy the House of Ahab.

So it's clear it's irrefutable. God ordained that the king of

Judah would be killed for walking in the ways of the House

of Ahab. But here's the question, was

Jehu justified in killing Eziah's relatives?

Because what we read in Second Kings 10 is that he deemed them

guilty by association and he had them slaughtered right there and

then. So we have to ask the question,

was this appropriate? So we read verse seven.

Look at verse 8. And when Jehu was executing

judgement on the House of Ahab, he met the Princess of Judah and

the sons of Eziah's brother. So these are his nephews who

attended Isaiah and he killed them.

What's omitted in verse 8? The commentary of God's

approval. Now, some might make the case

that it's inferred because they are related to Isaiah and that

they had good rapport with the House of Israel.

But we can't rush to that conclusion.

And this is really the beauty of studying narratives in the

Bible. You're not always explicitly

told when an action is right or if it's wrong, if it's righteous

or if it's evil. And that demands greater

investigation that come to a clear conclusion.

This is one of those cases. So he was in the right for

killing Eziah. Was he in the right killing

Eziah's nephews? Can I tell you something?

I believe that there is another text and a completely different

book, completely different genre actually, where we have

clarification on Jehu's actions. Does anybody know what prophetic

book I am referring to? I'm just curious to know if

anybody knows the reference. Minor prophet starts with the

letter H Hosea chapter one. Turn there in your Bibles and

behold the brilliance of God's Word where you can understand

Second Kings chapter 10 better by knowing Hosea.

2 Kings 10 · chapter mention

Look at verse 4 of Hosea chapter 1.

Hosea 1 · chapter mention

And the Lord said to him, Call his name Jezreel.

For in just a little while, I will punish the House of Jehu

for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the Kingdom

of the House of Israel. Why do you think this has

troubled some Bible students over the years?

Any idea? God says of the people of Israel

that He is going to visit the House of Jehu for shedding blood

in Jezreel. That's what we're studying here

in Second Kings 9 and tonight in Second Kings 10.

Why would God bring about that kind of condemnation to the

House of jail? Why does that seem to be

problematic? We're going to get there in a

moment, but think about it from the beginnings.

Is Jehu just running on his own fumes here and just doing what

he thinks is right? Let me ask you this way.

Was Jehu commanded by God to slaughter the House of Ahab?

OK, So why is he being condemned for it?

Do you see contradiction in your Bible?

No, no, no, no, no, no. It's not a it's not a

contradiction. It makes sense now when we look

at what we read in verse 11 and verse 14, that Jehu, though he

was commended for obeying the Lord in this way, at some point

was excessive and he began to feel like it was right to kill

innocent people. And the killing of the nephews

of ASI is just one example of that.

So what do we find here? That Jehu, when Hosea condemns

him, reveals that he went above and beyond the mandate.

His mandate was to deal with the House of Ahab, not the House of

AIA Zaya. But we find him here feeling

very comfortable to act in this way.

What do we learn from that? I think there are a couple

things to learn. The first thing is that this is

a good example, though extreme example, of how we can get

carried away in a righteous zeal.

Have you ever observed people going above and beyond what God

had written in His Word in the name of obedience to God?

It's called legalism. It's called legalism when in the

name of righteousness, in the name of holiness, you begin to

go above what is written, beyond what has been demanded.

We have to understand that there is a danger that we impose on

others in that pursuit. We see Jehu here, who in his

zeal is literally killing people, and listen when it comes

to those who go above and beyond, whether it's their human

tradition or personal convictions.

You also damage others. You also harm others to the

point where you might even push them away, where they embrace

self destructing ways of life. And so this is a clear example

of how we can justify certain things in the name of righteous

zeal. The way you feel about something

doesn't make it right, even if it's in a pursuit of supposed

honor. But not just that.

I believe there's an example here of how we can implement

carnal means to accomplish a righteous end.

God told him to deal with a specific house, but what does

this man do? He begins to now tamper with a

different house. And it makes you wonder if Jehu

is a little insecure. It makes you wonder if this man

is not really trusting in the sufficiency of God's

instructions because he really wants to protect his pursuit of

power. And so before what does he do?

He lies and he manipulates and now what does he do?

He goes beyond that. He begins to kill people.

If he really trusted the Lord, he would just rest in what God

asked of him and that the Lord would take care of everything

else. But instead, anybody that had a

hint of association or some kind of harmonious relationship with

the House of Ahab, he saw them as a threat and he came after

them. This man now is becoming very

dangerous. He's stepping outside of bounds

and it's going to cost them in different ways.

So his eyes, nephews now become victims.

But let's read on now in these final verses.

And when he departed from there, he met Johonadab, the son of

Rekab coming to meet him. And he greeted him and said to

him, is your heart true to my heart as mine is to yours?

And Johonadab answered, it is. Jehu said, If it is, give me

your hand. So he gave him his hand, and

Jehu took him up with him into the chariot.

And he said, Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.

So he had him ride in his chariot, and when he came to

Samaria, he struck down all who remained to Ahab in Samaria till

he had wiped them out, according to the word of the Lord that he

spoke to Elijah. So as his nephews are not the

only ones that Jehu encounters on his way to Samaria, we get

the impression here that this man, Jehon Adab, was not a

stranger, but an acquaintance, some somebody that Jehu knew.

Why? Because look again at verse 15.

And when he departed from there, he met Jehon Adad, the son of

Recap, coming to meet him. And when they meet face to face,

Jehu doesn't ask what he asked those strangers in the previous

verses. He doesn't say who, Who are you?

He knows exactly who he is. He greets him.

Not only does he greet him, he asks for his opinion.

He asks for where his heart stands with what's taking place.

Is your heart true to my heart as mine is to yours?

And this man Johanna that says it is, he says come up with me.

Now this seems a little ambiguous.

Seems to me like there's history here that we're unaware of

between these two, and it's helpful to know that this man,

Johanna Dab, is actually mentioned in one other place in

all of the Old Testament. Does anybody know the book where

Johanna Dab is referenced? I'll give you time to think

about it. Let me give you another hint.

It's a prophet. It's a prophetic book.

It's not Hosea, it's one of the bigger books, Major Prophets.

So now you're left with three options.

Think no, you're left with two. Now, Jeremiah.

Now I'm going to ask you to turn to a chapter in Jeremiah in a

moment, but let me give you a little bit of background.

Jeremiah received this interesting command from heaven.

He was told to go to the House of Rakab and he was to invite

the sons of this house into one of the rooms in the temple.

And when he invited the inhabitants of this particular

tribe, you read there in the beginning of Jeremiah chapter

Jeremiah 35 · chapter mention

35, that Jeremiah places before them pictures of wine and a

bunch of cups for everyone to drink.

And he looks at these sons and he says, drink wine.

And you get this lengthy denial from the sons of the same tribe

that this man Johanna Dab is from.

And that's what I want you to see.

Go to Jeremiah 35, verse 6, because how this particular

Jeremiah 35:6

people respond will serve as a scathing rebuke to the

unfaithfulness of the people of Judah, but will also reveal the

history of their oranges. So look at verse 6 of Jeremiah

35. But they answered, We will drink

no wine for Jonadab the son of Rekab.

That's who we read in Second Kings 10, is it not?

Our father commanded us. You shall not drink wine,

neither you nor your sons, forever.

You shall not build a house, you shall not sow seed, you shall

not plant or have a vineyard, but you shall live in tents all

your days, that you may live many days in the land where you

sojourn. We have obeyed the voice of

Jonadab the son of Recon our father, and all that he

commanded us to drink no wine all our days, ourselves, our

wives, our sons or our daughters, and not to build

houses to dwell in. We have no vineyard or field or

seed, but we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done all

that Jonadab our father commanded us.

Question, do you think Jonadab is a respected person based on

this answer? Very respected.

He is a cherished and well loved leader among the Rekabytes and

we don't have time to explore the history of this tribe, but

it's clear that they were a family that honored the wishes

of their ancestor. Even after many, many years,

they were told to abstain from wine and they were instructed to

live a simple nomadic life. And they honored that to the

degree that even when Jeremiah the prophet invited them to sip

wine, they refused without hesitation.

Now what this says about this man that we read in Second Kings

10, Jehonadab, also known as Jonadab, is that he must have

been a righteous individual who was very concerned about.

The spiritual purity of his family and his descendants.

And so he implements these strict rules.

He asked them never to plant themselves permanently anywhere,

especially in urban areas where idolatry tended to flourish, but

to to live lightly and to to just remain in the outskirts and

to to abstain from any activities that might arouse the

flesh. And this was something that his

descendants honored for decades upon decades and decades.

So we believe this about Jonah Dabb.

Then it makes sense that even at the time of Second Kings 10,

where he is introduced in the Bible, he must have been a

revered individual. He must have been at least

someone that the general population recognized as being

pious and serious. And for some reason, he's

friends or at least a colleague of Jehu, so that when Jehu asked

him, are you for me? Do you affirm what I am doing

here? It's no surprise to us that this

kind of a man agrees. He probably hated bail worship.

He despised it. And when he learned that Jehu,

though probably unaware of his methods, was ransacking and

cleaning house, he, he applauded it.

But Jehu, remember, he's playing politics here, realizes now in

this moment that this respected, righteous individual, this man

of character and principle approves of him.

If people see that he approves of me, then my movement will

gain more. What credibility?

So he looks at Jonah Depp and he says, you agree with me because

I agree. I love what you're doing.

Come with me. And what is Jeyu thinking as I

make my way to Samaria and people see me?

They're going to see Jonah Dabb is with him.

He's for him. And this is only winning him

more popular support of a very clever man.

Very clever man. But notice the way he invites

Jonah Dabb into his chariot. What does he say in verse 16?

And he said, come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.

Now, you might be impressed with that statement at first, but you

should actually be concerned. If you're not concerned, if you

think that this is just a declaration of faithfulness, let

me give you a modern example that will put the right taste in

our mouths. Can you imagine after this Bible

study if I come down and talk with somebody here and ask what

you're doing on a particular weekend and you say, well, I'm

actually free and I say, well, I'm actually preaching at a

conference in the city. I'm inviting you to actually

come to the conference. I want you to hear how

passionate I am for God. How would that sound to you?

That'd be a little concerning. That's essentially what Jehu is

saying. Come and see my zeal for the

Lord. Is he drawing attention to the

Lord, to himself? Himself?

So now we're beginning to see some symptoms of what?

Pride, Selfish ambition mingling with his pursuit of obedience?

Is that possible for some people to do?

It is possible. There's a difference between

honoring God with our passion for Him and seeking honor from

others through our passion for Him.

There's a difference between seeking God's honor with our

passion for Him, and receiving honor from people through our

passion for Him. And for some, the joy of their

zeal for the Lord comes from being praised for it.

But a truly holy man or woman of God will be totally content and

knowing that God alone is pleased, whether they are

acknowledged for their zeal or not.

Come see my zeal for the Lord. So now we have every right to

question Jehu's motives. Are they completely pure?

And it's interesting to see how the Lord allows him to continue

in this way in order to achieve his purposes.

You know, I read something in my morning readings.

I wasn't even planning to do this for Bible study.

But why don't we do it? I think it'd be a good way to

end our time together. I want you to come with me to

the book of First Corinthians and in a place where Paul

describes his credibility as an apostle, the reliability of his

testimony, he mentioned something in First Corinthians

1 Corinthians 15:8

15, verse 8 as he rehearses the importance of the gospel, the

history of the gospel, the eyewitness accounts of the

resurrection of Jesus Christ. Notice what he says in verse 8.

Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

For I am the least of all the apostles unworthy to be called

an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God.

So Paul continue to live with this awareness that he was

unworthy. He knows he's forgiven.

He knows that he's redeemed. But he he, he didn't forget the

history, not in a way where his past haunted him and made him

feel condemned, but to always live in the realization, I don't

deserve to be here. I don't deserve to be here.

And this was, if you want to know what my morning meditation

was and what it's been all day, it's the next couple of verses,

verse 10. But by the grace of God, I am

what I am. That's the motto for every

single one of us. But by the grace of God, I am

what I am. And his grace toward me was not

in vain. Oh, I was chewing on that all

morning. So he acknowledges that he is a

recipient, a rich recipient of God's grace.

But notice this language. But his grace tomorrow is not in

vain. You know what that tells me?

That you can receive God's grace and remain passive with it.

Now, how many people live like that?

I'm forgiven. I know that I'm going to go to

heaven. I know that it's not my mayor,

my righteousness that will grant me eternal life.

But what? They're lazy Christians.

They just coast through life. That's not what Paul saying is

like, no, no, once I understood the grace, it got me going.

Now I'm serving him. Now I'm pursuing him.

Now I'm obeying him. To what degree?

Look what he says in the latter portion.

On the contrary, I work harder than any of them, though it was

not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

So even the moment where he brings up like real practical

example and he testifies of his efforts, he can't help but

finish that sentence of the saying.

But it was really God's grace in me.

It's all God's grace and his salvation and his sanctification

and his service. God's grace, God's grace.

But don't you see what God's grace promoted in him?

This dedication and the service to the Lord in a way.

Listen, that if you were to measure the actual time and

energy, he towered over the other apostles.

Yeah. Peter, John, James, He admits

that. And it's not pride here.

Just saying. Yeah, actually I work really

hard, but it's God's grace in me.

Verse 11, whether then it was I or they.

So we preach. And so you believed Jehu was a

very zealous and faithful man, but he's not the best example.

Christ ultimately is our example, but if you can

genuinely identify a zeal in your heart for the Lord, that is

wonderful. But realize that zeal itself is

a gift and it is a working of the Holy Spirit and give him

glory for that. And if you're in this place and

you can say by God's grace, I am what I am, can I ask you, how

has that changed you? Though you're not boasting in

anything, though you're not asking for attention.

Can people look at your life and see that you have been impacted

by this grace? Paul says this grace was not

given to me in vain. Look at my life.

Look what it's done. And I pray that that'd be true

of all of us, that when people see the way you live, why do you

go there on Friday nights? Here I'm talking about why do

you do this with your free time? Why do you go there?

Why do you give like that? Why do you not do this?

You can say because His grace, how can I not?

So many people see a zeal in us, not that we're asking to be

seen, but may they still see it. Because you see, a person who's

truly zealous for the Lord doesn't have to do what Jehu

does. They don't have to advertise

their zeal. They don't have to say, hey,

everybody, look at me, look at my zeal for the Lord.

People will see it, They will see it.

All you need to do is continue to drink from that well and let

it energize you day by day by day, and it has the power to

keep you energized until you see him face to face.

Lord, we thank you for this Bible study.

What a wonder it is to even come to this historical record of a

man who arrived at the throne of the Kingdom of Israel and we can

still apply truth to our lives. We ask, Lord, that everything

that we heard would be able to be retained, and Lord, that You

would show us exactly how it should change us.

Lord, we love you, and we believe this word is Your word.

And so now we worship you. And we asked Lord tonight that

You would enlarge our hearts, that we may run in the way of

Your commandments. We want zeal for You, but Lord,

we want it so that we can honor You.

If anything, Lord, we ask that when people see us and hear us,

they can't help but be convinced that Christ is in us.

That's our desire for our names to disappear, for no one to

receive any praise or acknowledgement but you and you

alone in Jesus name. Amen.

Let's stand and worship the Lord together and so on.