Jehu Kills the Family of Ahab
2 Kings 10Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the rulers of Jezreel, even the elders, and to those who brought up Ahab’s sons, saying, “Your* master’s sons are with y’all, and y’all have chariots and horses, a fortified city also, and armor. Now as soon as this letter comes to y’all, y’all are to chose the best and fittest of your* master’s sons and set him on his father’s throne. Then fight for your* master’s house.”
But they were very afraid, and said, “Look, two kings couldn’t stand before him! How can we stand?” He who was over the household, and he who was over the city, the elders also, and those who raised the children, sent to Jehu, saying, “We are your servants, and will do all that you ask us. We will not make any man king. You do that which is good in your eyes.”
Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, “If y’all are on my side, and if y’all will listen to my voice, take* the heads of the men who are your* master’s sons, and y’all come to me to Jezreel by tomorrow this time.”
Now the king’s sons, seventy of them, were with the great men of the city, who brought them up. When the letter came to them, they took the king’s sons and killed them, even seventy people, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Jezreel. A messenger came and told him, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons.”
He said, “Y’all are to pile them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning.” In the morning, he went out and stood and said to all the people, “Y’all are innocent. Look, I conspired against my master and killed him, but who killed all these? Now y’all know that not a word YHWH has spoke about the house of Ahab will fall to the earth. For YHWH has done what he said through his servant Elijah.”
So Jehu struck all that remained of Ahab’s house in Jezreel, with all his great men, his close friends, and his priests. He left no survivors.
He got up, departed, and went to Samaria. As he was at the shearing house of the shepherds on the way, Jehu met with the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah and said, “Who are y’all?”
They answered, “We are the brothers of Ahaziah. We are going down to greet the children of the king and the children of the queen.”
He said, “Y’all must take them alive!”
They took them alive, and killed them at the pit of the shearing house, even forty-two men. He didn’t leave any of them.
When he had departed from there, he met Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him. He greeted him and said to him, “Is your heart rightly aligned with my heart?”
Jehonadab answered, “It is.”
“If it is, then give me your hand.” He gave him his hand, and he pulled him up to him into the chariot. He said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for YHWH.” So they made him ride in his chariot. When he came to Samaria, he struck all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, until he had destroyed them, according to the word of YHWH which he spoke to Elijah.
Jehu Kills the Servants of Baal
Jehu gathered all the people together, and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him a lot. Now y’all must summon to me all the prophets of Baal, all of his worshipers, and all of his priests. Let no one be absent, because I have a great sacrifice for Baal. Whoever is absent will no longer live.” But Jehu did deceptively, intending to destroy the worshipers of Baal.
Jehu said, “Y’all go call a celebration for Baal!”
So they proclaimed it. Jehu sent word through all Israel, and all the worshipers of Baal came. There was not a man left who didn’t come. They went into the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was filled from one end to another. He said to him who kept the wardrobe, “Bring out robes for all the worshipers of Baal!”
So he brought robes out to them. Jehu went with Jehonadab the son of Rechab into the house of Baal. Then he said to the worshipers of Baal, “Y’all look around and make sure that none of the servants of YHWH are here with y’all; there ust only be worshipers of Baal.”
So they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had appointed for himself eighty men outside and said, “Whoever lets a life escape from y’all’s hands will lose his life.”
As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, “Y’all head in and kill them! Don’t let anyone escape.” So they struck them with the edge of the sword. The guard and the captains threw the bodies out, and went to the inner shrine of the house of Baal. They brought out the pillars that were in the house of Baal and burned them. They broke down the pillar of Baal, and broke down the house of Baal, and made it a latrine, to this day.
Summary of Jehu’s Reign
Thus Jehu eradicated Baal worship from Israel.
However, Jehu didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin—the golden calves that were in Bethel and that were in Dan. YHWH said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes, and have done to Ahab’s house according to all that was in my heart, your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.”
But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of YHWH, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, which he caused Israel to sin.
In those days YHWH began to cut away parts of Israel, and Hazael struck them in all the borders of Israel from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan. Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? Jehu slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria. Jehoahaz his son reigned in his place. The time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.