← Back to sermon library

[Music] Kings chapter 10 second Kings chapter 10 we meet the end completely of Ahab's house all of it all of his descendants are slaughtered by Jay who remember last week in second Kings chapter 9 Jay who is installed or ordained a crowned as the king in the northern kingdom in his first order of business is to kill joram of Israel and then he kills a hosea of Judah and then Jezebel this in accordance with the word and the promise of God God made a promise to Elijah in first Kings 19 15 to 17 that God would bring judgment upon the Northern Kingdom because of their idolatry and he would do so via Elijah the prophet Haza el the king of syria and through Jehu the king of Israel Elijah himself off also pronounced this upon or declared this to Ahab in first Kings chapter 21 especially verse 21 where he told him that God would indeed eliminate all of those all those males in the house of Ahab we come to conclude that section tonight with the death of everybody connected to a hub via Jehu so I'll begin reading in verse 1 of chapter 10 now Ahab had 70 sons in Samaria and Jehu wrote and sent letters to Samaria to the rulers of Jezreel to the elders and to those who reared a hab sons saying now as soon as this letter comes to you since your masters sons are with you and you have chariots and horses a fortified City also and weapons choose the best-qualified of your masters sons set him on his Father's throne and fight for your master's house but they were exceedingly afraid and said look two kings could not stand up to him how then can we stand and he was in charge of the house and he was in charge the city the elders also and those who reared the Sun sent to Jay who's saying we are your servants we will do all you tell us but we will not make anyone King do what is good in your sight then he wrote a second letter to them saying if you are for me and will obey my voice take the heads of the men your masters sons and come to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow now the king's sons seventy persons were with the great men of the city who were rearing them so it was when the letter came to them that they took the king's sons and slaughtered 70 persons put their heads in baskets and sent them to the to him at Jezreel then a messenger came and told him saying they have brought the heads of the king's sons and he said lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until morning so it was in the morning that he went out and stood and said to all the people you arise indeed I conspired against my master and killed him but who killed all these know now that nothing shall fall to the earth of the word of the Lord which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab for the Lord has done what he spoke by his servant Elijah so Jay who killed all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel and all his great men in his clothes acquaintances and his priests until he left him none remaining and he rose and departed and went to Samaria on the way at Beth ake head of the Shepherd's Jay who met with the brothers of a aasaiya king of Judah and said who are you so they answered we are the brothers of a Hosea we have come down to greet the sons of the king and the sons of the Queen mother and he said take them alive so they took them alive and killed them at the well of beth a cad 42 men and he left none of them now when he departed from there he met johanna dab the son of rake ab coming to meet him and he greeted him and said to him is your heart right as my heart is toward your heart and Johanna Johanna dad answered it is Jay who said if it is give me your hand so he gave him his hand and he took him up to him into the then he said come with me and see him see my zeal for the Lord so they had him ride in his chariot and when he came to Samaria he killed all who remained to ahab in samaria till he had destroyed them according to the word of the Lord which he spoke to Elijah and Jehu gathered all the people together and said to them a hab served bail a little J who will serve Him much and therefore call to me all the prophets of bail all his servants and all his priests let no one be missing for I have a great sacrifice for bail whoever is missing shall not live but J who acted deceptively with the intent of destroying the worshippers of bail and J who said proclaim a solemn assembly for bail so they proclaimed it then J who sent throughout all Israel and all the worshippers of bail came so that there was not a man left who did not come so they came into the temple of bail and the temple of bail was full from one end to the other and he said to the one in charge of the wardrobe bring out vestments for all the worshipers of bail so he brought out vestments for them then J who and Johanna dab the son of red cab went into the temple of bail and said to the worshippers of bail search and see that no servants of the Lord are here with you but only the worshippers of bail so they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings now J who had appointed for himself 80 men on the outside and had said if any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escapes whoever let whoever lets him escape it shall be his life for the life of the other now it happened as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering that J who said to the guard and to the captains go in and kill them let no one come out and they killed them with the edge of the sword then the guards and the officers threw them out and went into the inner room of the temple of bail and they brought the sacred pillars out of the temple of bail and burned them then they broke down the sacred pillar of bail and tore down the temple of bail and made it a refuse dump to this des thus je who destroyed bail from Israel however je who did not turn away from the sins of jeroboam the son of nebat who had made Israel sin that is from the golden calves that were at Bethel and Dan and the Lord said to Jay who because you have done well in doing what is right in my sight and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in my heart your son shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation but Jay who took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart for he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam who had made Israel sin in those days the Lord began to cut off parts of Israel and Xhosa al conquered them in all the territory of Israel from the Jordan eastward all the land of Gilead GAD Reuben and Manasseh from our Oh our or which is by the river arnon including Gilead and Bayesian the rest of the acts of Jehu all that he did and all his might are they not written in the book of The Chronicles of the kings of Israel so Jay who rested with his father's and they buried him in Samaria then Jehovah has his son reigned in his place and the period that Jay who reigned over Israel in Samaria was 28 years amen well just by way of a refresher I alluded to it but turn back for just a moment to first Kings chapter 19 there are a couple of instances in chapter 10 here where we are told that this is a fulfillment of God's Word and it's important to keep that before our eyes and in our minds and first Kings chapter 19 it's at Horeb after Elijah goes there the Lord ministers to him and the Lord comforts him by giving him a promise concerning the judgment of God upon the Northern Kingdom for idolatry and in 1st Kings 19 15 what the Lord said to him go return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus and when you arrive anoint Hazael as king over Syria also you shall anoint jehu the son of nimshi as king over Israel and elisha the son of shaphat of Abe Mahalo you shall appoint our anoint as prophet in your place it shall be that whoever escapes the sword of hawza l.j who will kill and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu elijah will kill yet i have reserved seven thousand in Israel all whose knees have not bowed to bale and every mouth that is not kissed him and then over in first Kings chapter 21 first Kings chapter 21 the situation is the murder of nebith a hab is instigated by Jezebel to execute this man namath so that a hab could take his property and so allied Jah promises God's judgment upon the house of Ahab and if you notice specifically at verse 21 it says behold I will bring calamity on you I will take away your posterity and will cut off from a hab every male in Israel both bond and free I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and like the house of baisha the son of a high jaw because of the provocation with which you have provoked me to anger and made Israel sin now going back to 2nd Kings chapter 10 there are some pretty difficult things as we read through this chapter and we need to remember that this is God's judgment as a result of idolatry the Lord God does not take kindly to those who turn away from him and to those who follow after other gods and that is precisely why Jay who is raised up we see that Jo according to the divine commentary here in 2nd King Stan did not wholly follow the Lord he was not committed in art to following God Almighty so Jay who was an imperfect instrument in the hands of a perfect God to bring about the Lord's will in the execution of judgment upon the house of Ahab I want to look at chapter 10 under three considerations first the destruction of the house of Ahab in verses 1 to 17 secondly the destruction of the worshippers of bale in verses 18 to 28 and then the decline of the house of Israel in verses 29 to 36 but in the first place let's look at the death of these 70 sons now it might not necessarily be direct sons it could also include grandsons and essentially what we have is 70 sons or grandsons of Ahab living in Samaria and then notice that Jay who writes a letter to van this isn't the first time that letters are written to the rulers of Jezreel it's sort of harkens back to that instance in first Kings 21 when Jezebel instigates a.m. to go ahead and take name Auslan the way that she orchestrates that is by writing letters to the rulers of Jezreel to indicate that Namath was a blasphemer now ultimately Namath was executed for the crime of blasphemy and the land was seized and turned over to the crown so there's sort of that reminiscent feel here so Jay who writes and since sent letters to Samaria to the rulers of Jezreel now that makes perfect sense more than likely the rulers of Jezreel knew exactly what Jay who was doing or had done rather in Jezreel that is there he kills joram the king of the north and it is there that he's going to kill or that he kills or it's from there that he flees and he kills a Hosea so they probably fled to Samaria and so Jay who writes this letter and essentially challenged them it's a bold challenge by Jay who to the leaders to put forth their best man to fight for the kingship remember he's been anointed he's taken out joram he is the he was the the King at that particular time and now he issues this challenge to these men of Jezreel he says as soon as this letter comes to you since your masters sons are with you and you have chariots and horses a fortified city also and weapons choose the best-qualified of your masters sons set him on his Father's throne and fight for your master's house I don't think that he's really serious in terms of wanting to follow this through rather he is provoking them he is challenging that he is going to indeed kill those seventy sons and he's going ultimately use these men to facilitate that John Gill says all which he did not desire might be but in this sarcastic and sneering manner he dares them to do so now note their response in verses 4 and 5 they are fearful of this man J who more than likely this is why they flee from Jezreel to Samaria they're fearful because they have heard of what has happened to joram and to a Hazara J who didn't mess around J who rode furiously J who drew back his bow and J who killed the sitting king of the northern of the Northern Kingdom he then takes out a Isaiah the king of Judah so they know this and then notice what they go on to say they claim to be J whose servants notice in verse 4 look two kings could not stand up to him how then can we stand and he was in charge of the house and he was in charge of the city the elders also and those who reared the son sent to Jay who's saying we are your servants we will do all you tell us but we will not make anyone King do what is good in your sight so you see his challenge has worked he has put them back into a corner and this will indeed bring about the desired result of sending the 70 heads of these heirs to the throne to him at Jezreel they assert their fidelity to his rule and so Jay who now sends another letter and that's verse 6 he wrote a second letter to them saying if you are for me and will obey my voice take the heads of the men your masters sons and come to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow so you got to see what Jay was do it consolidating power he's asserting himself as the anointed king of Israel he has killed the sitting king of Israel Jorah now he is going to deal with the household of Ahab so there's no heir to the throne and he does this so that they will participate in this and this will give him the opportunity to assert that he is indeed the rightful heir to the throne of Israel if you are for me and will obey my voice take the heads of the man your masters sons come to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow now notice that they comply with this verse 7 certainly his reputation had gotten around they knew what manner of man he was so it was when the letter came to them that they took the king's sons slaughtered 70 persons put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel again I don't know that this is the kind of stuff that we in the church typically celebrate or rejoice it but we need to keep it in that context a up the king of Israel in first Kings chapter 16 institutionalized Bale worship what he did was create a people ultimately that bowed the knee to Bale and so this is God's judgment as a result of that sin and he is raised up Jehu to deliver the death blow to the house of Ahab so they lop off the heads of these 70 persons they put their heads in baskets and they sent them to him at Jezreel now note the instruction concerning the heads I don't know how better to say that it certainly sounds a bit odd but the instruction concerning the heads verse 8 they have brought the heads of the king's sons and he said lay them into heaps at the entrance of the gate until morning now this was something that was done by ancient near-eastern kings the heads would be placed at the gate to intimidate the inhabitants of the city suppose you could see how that might happen right you've got two baskets of heads certainly it would cause you a bit of consternation about how they got there and the man responsible for putting them there as well it would discourage rebellion the whole idea being that if you go the route of these particular fellows then your heads will accompany their heads in the same sort of baskets as well it would assert the authority of Jehu and highlight that a counter-attack would be useless with reference to any opposition his rule and reign as the king over Israel now note J who addresses the city of Jezreel remember the gates of the city is where the business is conducted this is where the that the governor's the rulers the leaders the magistrates the the elders those who are you know sort of the higher-ups the muckety-mucks they hang out there at the gate of the city and so J who addresses this particular situation as he's looking at these baskets of heads and no doubt everybody else is looking at these baskets of hats notice what he does in verse nine there is an argument here from wide spread support terms of his rightful kingship remember that's what this is about he first challenges them put up a man will fight whoever wins becomes the king they fear they know what he's capable of and they say no we're your servants so you said if you're my servants that I want you to take the seventy sons of Ahab I want you to lop off their heads I want you to put them in baskets and send them to the city and so now he is going to use this to communicate to the people of Jezreel remember Jezreel i'ts don't know the particulars of what has happened they don't know what's going on in terms of the power play that's going that's going on behind the scenes they see baskets of heads and it's Jay who is going who's going to interpret the baskets of heads for them and he does that with two particular arguments first the argument from wide spread support verse nine so it was in the morning that he went out and stood and said to all the people you are righteous indeed I conspired against my master and killed him but who killed all these you see what he's saying here he owns the fact that he that he did destroy Jorah but these other men the persons the rulers over jazreel are the ones who killed the seventy other men essentially what he is saying I'm gonna quote Davis here who sort of paraphrase is it sure I knocked off joram but this can't be my work the heads and the baskets not his direct responsibility certainly he instigated it but it was the rulers of Jezreel that put the heads in the basket so back to Davis surely I knocked off cheoreom but this can't be my work these heads arrived via the Postal Service someone else did this there is widespread support for me these are royal heads I have the loyalty of the folks at the highest levels you see these heads proved that Jay who was in fact supported by the rulers of Jezreel which would then incline the people of it of Jezreel to be behind him as well he is consolidating his power base now brethren as we move through the passage Jay who in many respects is a wonderful individual because he's a he's an instrument in the hand of God Most High but never forget the comment and verse 31 he is not a follower of Yahweh he is an opportunist and I believe in many respects that opportunity is what benefits Jay who first and foremost and we need to keep that in mind he's consolidating power he is orchestrating events so that he will be indeed the rightful king now the second argument is the argument from theology and that's verse 10 now essentially what he does here is quote what was promised to Elijah or rather by Elijah in first Kings 21 21 verse 10 know now that nothing shall fall to the earth of the word of the Lord which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab for the Lord has done what he spoke by his servant Elijah so not only does he have the widespread support of the rulers of Jezreel who put the heads in the bags or in the baskets but he's also got the support of God Most High the words Jay who is the Lord's servant Jay who has been raised up for this particular function again in light of verse 31 this is very somewhat disingenuous he's invoking the written word of the Living God to sort of validate legitimize his place and gods were done or God's historical plan but at the same time he doesn't follow Yahweh he is doing this certainly as an instrument of God but nevertheless he is not doing it out of love for God and then we have a summary of the narrator in verse 11 so Jay who killed all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel and all his great men and his close acquaintances and his priests until he left none remaining so everybody that was connected to a hab that lived in Jezreel is now dead so now he moves on to Samaria he goes to Samaria according to verse 12 and we see the death of the 42 brothers I mean this man definitely brings the judgment of God to bear upon those who are not rightly connected to Yahweh so he arises he departs he went to Samaria on the way at Beth a cat of the Shepherd's Jay who met with the brothers of Isaiah king of Judah and said who are you now first or second chronicles tells us that the Arabians killed the brothers these are probably you know the word isn't so confined to that physical person that lives next to you that has the same blood has the idea of relatives it could be his brothers sons it could be any number of things but he met with the brothers of a Isaiah king of Judah and said who are you we are the brothers of a Hosea we have come down to greet the sons of the king and the sons of the Queen Mother obviously they had not heard I doubt they were going to the city of Jezreel to greet the heads in the baskets these sons are dead these men don't know this at this particular time now it is intriguing because there was no divine mandate for Jehu to kill the descendents of David in fact house says that he's stepping outside the boundaries here and House argues that Hosea 1 4 & 5 specifically refers to this house says the prophesies of Elijah and Elijah say nothing about killing David's descendants and that's who these are this is a Isaiah of Judah now I think the more persuasive argument comes from this the Davis kin this with the intermarriage between Israel and Judah remember that a Isaiah was connected by marriage to the house of Ahab and most likely that's what's in view here Davis says the royal houses of Israel and Judah had intermarried and so Jay who probably assumed that having the golden opportunity he must decimate the pro' a hab contingent in Judah as well again this is going to help Jay who ultimately this idea to get rid of any heirs to the throne with reference to the house of Ahab brings further security to Jay who again he's doing it for God as a servant as an instrument to kill the house of Ahab for the idolatry but he's got a vested political interest in this as well and I will submit a submit that this is probably the driving factor in the next section when he destroys all the worshipers of bail it's probably not religion that motivates him but more likely it is politics that motivates him at least at that particular time so then notice they take them alive verse 14 probably indicating they were not armed they weren't unarmed at this particular point they had not heard of what had happened to the to the to the sons of the king and the sons of the Queen Mother so they took them alive killed him at the well of Beth a CAD forty two men and he left none of them and then noticed the death of all who remained anyone remotely connected to Ahab is dead by the end of verse 17 now this man Johanna dab the son of Ray Kappe Ray Kappe you'll read about our Johanna davon Rekha bites you'll read about in the Book of Jeremiah the Prophet now most of the commentators indicate that they were well the text in Jeremiah indicates that they were ascetics now an ascetic was somebody that was typically removed from society in a religious sort of way they wouldn't eat certain things they wouldn't drink certain things it was an attempt to keep oneself pure and so most commentators associate this Johanna John the wrecker bite with sort of a an old-school loyalist to Yahweh movement in other words jonadab represented what was best about Israel and so here you've got Jay who wanting Johanna dab to go along with him in fact Jay who says in verse 16 come with me and see my zeal for the Lord so that would have gotten Johanna dab on board and it would have certainly played out well for Jay who to have a Johanna job with him to sort of instill in the folk that there was this old school element that was projet who within the nation of Israel within the northern kingdom so when we see this here what we have is what John Gill says that Jay who saw that the company of such a man so famous for wisdom and goodness he knew would give in much countenance among the people and sanctioned to what he did so there's a couple things I'm trying to bring this out he is an instrument in the end of God to bring judgment and destruction upon the house of Ahab but he's also a king who's trying to secure his political power base and he's trying to make it such that that he has reign and rule and he doesn't affect 'iv you know he's the longest reigning king in the north up until this point he reigns 28 years so somehow he did something right along the way I mean that's a pretty significant thing when you consider that US presidents will last no more than eight years I think the same is true for the prime minister in Canada hopefully not but I think you get anywhere near eight years but but but what you find is that somebody who can run a country for 28 years has to have something on the ball I mean even if it's not the best regime nevertheless to administrate a kingdom for 28 years indicates that somebody's doing something right to some degree or others so Jay who is building his power base he is basically politicizing at this particular point for inviting Johanna Dodd to accompany him on these exploits and then we have another summary in verse 17 and when he came to Sumeria he killed all who remained into a hub in Sumeria till he had destroyed them according to the word of the Lord which he spoke to Elijah now by way of a practical application that statement oftentimes punctuates the narrative in 1st and 2nd Kings as well in 1st and 2nd Samuel according to the word of the Lord which he spoke to Elijah if you ever doubt for a moment that God is not going to bring to pass one of the things he promises read these Old Testament books see for yourself how 1st Kings 19 is promised to Elisha the prophet how first Kings 21 Elijah the Prophet promises Ahab and here in 2nd Kings chapter 10 at verse 17 we have the utter fulfillment of that promise all are he killed all who remain to Ahab in Samaria till he had destroyed them according to the word of the Lord which he spoke to Elijah this is historical narrative but it's theological historical narrative it's about God it shows us how God raises men up it shows us how God puts men down it shows us how gotta execute judgment upon those who are placed in positions of of high government and then who lead the country into total apostasy from the Living God this is a great illustration of what proverbs says righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people you see that over and over again in the book of 1st and 2nd Kings when these men rise up and they oppose the living and true God God ultimately opposes them and puts them down with great vengeance now note the destruction of the worshipers of bail in verses 18 to 28 now he has a plan and then he executes that plan notice plan verse 18 Jehu gathered all the people together and said to them hey observe bail a little Jay who will serve him much at this point we're not expecting that but the author will go on to tell us that he is acting deceptively he is trying to rope the people in he is trying to get them to lower their guard perhaps at this particular time the popular word is going out of the word is going out about J whose great animosity toward the house of Ahab how he acted in accordance with the promise of God to Elijah and now he wants to assuage the fears of those bay lists within Israel he wants them to think that he is a friend to Bale that though he has opposed Ahab he hasn't opposed a Habs God and so he says a hab a surd Bale a Little J who will serve Him much now therefore call to me all the prophets of bale all his servants and all his priests let no one be missing for I have a great sacrifice for bail whoever is missing shall not live now house makes this observation ironically Jay who threatens to kill any bailiffs who does not Tom when in fact he intends to kill them if they do appear right I mean he's not an idiot he knows exactly what he is doing I mean if you you know we know again based on the divine commentary he's not a godly man in the sense of worshiping Yahweh but he certainly knows how to deal with idolatry at least in terms of Bale worship so the author tells us that he is acting deceptively notice in nineteen B but Jay who acted deceptively with the intent of destroying the worshipers of bale now again the reason here may be more political than religious if we didn't have verse 31 in this section if we didn't have you know this statement in verse 29 concerning Jay whose religious affinity or Jay whose spiritual condition we might be tempted to think that he was doing this because he detested BHEL ISM now maybe he did the text doesn't tell us but the fact is is that he wants to eradicate any a hab supporters out of Israel and by killing ballasts he is eradicating a hab supporters you see if you were a bailiffs you loved a hab and now Jay who has come and killed a hab and taken over the throne from his side joram and so what he is doing here definitely has a religious effect upon Israel by getting bail out but it has a salutary a salutary political benefit for Jehu so the reason may be more political than religious but either way it does comply with the mandate of Deuteronomy 13 and I realized I'm throwing out a lot of texts tonight Deuteronomy 13 says that you are to tolerate no apostasy in Israel you are not to engage you're not to allow those who seduced to idolatry you're not to allow them to live whether they are close family members whether they are false prophets or whether they are cities given over to the crime of idolatry you're not supposed to have any proc was such in Israel you're supposed to eliminate that know that that's really what Deuteronomy 13 says kill the false prophet kill the family member and kill the city that is given over to the worship of idols so in that sense Jay who is acting in accordance with the Word of God here so that's his plan get them all together in one place and then kill them notice there's a solemn assembly for bail according to verse 20 Jay who said proclaim a solemn assembly for bail so they proclaimed it verse 21 to 23 the gathering in the temple of bail notice that all the worshipers of bail came they probably thought this was a good thing in fact matthew henry says and i quoted this just because i loved as his alliteration the bigoted besotted bay lists or bay lights began to think themselves very happy that now they should see golden days again i mean as far as they were concerned this was a party this was a state state sanctioned party they hadn't had anything like this and you know since the days of ahab and jezebel certainly they've been allowed to exist they've been allowed to worship they've gone to the temple of bail but nobody's throwing them a bash quite like this until Jay who and he has come along and he has done this notice that he provides vestments to the worshippers of bail in verse 22 matthew henry again says this is where the devil learned to put his followers in vestments probably a dig on the Church of England because that was always a problem for the Puritans and the evangelicals that that opposed the Church of England were the vestments and then notice in verse 23 Jehu and Johanna dab the son of Rab went into the temple of bail and said to the worshippers of bail search and see that no servants of the Lord are here with you but only the worshippers avail hence the vestments see he's not a fool he knows exactly what he is doing he's orchestrating a slaughter of those who worship bail he clothed them investments and then tells them to make sure there's no worshipers of Yahweh within the confines what would be quite easy at that particular time if you weren't wearing a vestment you weren't a bail so therefore get out so everybody who got out was safe and protected from the slaughter that was going to ensue which does occur in verses 24 in following he tells his 80 men on the outside that if anyone escapes then it will be your life for their lives and that brings in the destruction in verses 25 to 27 the execution of the worshippers in verse 25 it happened as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering that Jay who said to the guard and to the captains go in and kill them let no one come out and they killed them with the edge of the sword then the guards and the officers threw them out and went into the inner room of the temple of bail so you see they were deceived by Jay who Matthew Henry says no Marvel if those that suffer themselves to be deceived by bail as all idolaters were by their idols are deceived by Jay who to their destruction you're not dealing with the brightest folk when you're dealing with people that worship bail and so they were easy captive at this particular point he appeals to their vanity he throws a solemn assembly for bail he puts them in vestments he shuts the doors and he exited commands that all of them are slaughtered and executed and then he dissipates the same good pillars and the temple and he reduces it literally to a refuse dump to to a latrine to a toilet was Jonathan Jones just recently sent me an article from a from a newspaper they newspaper online it was an article about excavations showing that what happened at one particular dig or one particular site was that it had been a previous temple to an idol and it was turned into a latrine essentially and that is the commentary by Jay who unbale ISM he turned it into a latrine that's precisely what the tax says then they broke down the sacred pillar a bale tore down the temple of bale and made it a refuse dump to this day now the New King James smooths it out a little bit refuse dump sounds a whole lot better than toilet I guess but that's pretty much what we have John Gill says a common sewer a Jake's a fit place for dung Hill God's to be thrown into and an idle temple to be turned into so that's how Jay who dealt with bale ISM in Israel and verse 28 tells us thus Jay who destroyed Bale from Israel something that the Israelites the faithful in Israel probably thought they would never see they thought that a hub was such and his dynasty was such that Bale was always going to be part and parcel of Israel's religious life will always have to contend with these persons who have gone a whoring from Yahweh and bowed the knee to bail but they saw it and brethren I think that ought to encourage us thus Jiayu destroyed bail from Israel that at least is typical of what our Lord Jesus Christ will do with all false religion and all idols and anything that tries to to rise up in competition to the living and the true God now notice thirdly and finally the decline of the house of Israel we see the spiritual condition of Jehu and I think that's connected to what we find in terms of Israel note the contrast between 28 and 29 28 tells us thus Jay who destroyed bail from Israel verse 29 however Jehu did not turn away from the sins of jeroboam the son of nebat who had made israel sin that is from the golden calves that were at bethel and dan he destroyed bail but he didn't turn away from the calves now here again and I'm just suggesting this I cannot be dogmatic but it may be more political than it is religious remember that Jeroboam instituted calf worship in first Kings chapter 13 for a specific reason now Jeroboam was an idolatry the son of nemat was a wretch but one of the reasons why he set up those worship centers for these calves was to protect his kingdom remember that when Jeroboam takes the northern kingdom he is afraid that at feast time his people are gonna go down to Jerusalem in order to worship Yahweh and he knows that if they go down to work go down to Jerusalem to worship Yahweh they may just as well return to the house of David or to the southern tribes and so part of the driving force behind the calf worship was political stability or political control set up these worship centers so that these people don't have to go down to Jerusalem we will declare that these calves are Yahweh or God that brought you out of Egypt go ahead and worship there now perhaps that's what's driving Jay though it's probably I mean it could be the case that he's a devout worship or the golden calves but it might be that he's trying to maintain hold on his political power and so calf worship is the way to ensure that so none of the persons in the North travel back down to the south and rejoin the house of David so the goal here may have been political but either way it's certainly religious the king of Israel when he makes political decisions they certainly have religious significance and so the contrast is he destroys bail but he doesn't destroy the calves so he sends the sins of jeroboam the son of nebat though he does take exception to the sins of a abbe who caused the nation to plunge into baile ism so in that respect it's a good thing and in fact God commends them in verse 30 and this is one of those sorts of things where we see often times in the Book of Kings God gives a a positive assessment to a very imperfect man a positive assessment to a to a very imperfect man notice in verse 30 and the Lord said to J who because you have done well in doing what is right in my sight and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in my heart your son shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation he commends him using language that is somewhat that is somewhat conspicuous as it's applied to David and to those who are like David I mean he commends him very well for doing what he did with reference to bail ISM he promises that his sons will sit on the throne of Israel - the fourth generation this is an idiot an eternal Kingdom like God promises David in 2nd Samuel 7 but nevertheless the Lord takes notice of the fact that Jay who did what Jay who was supposed to do it's a beautiful thing and God commends him for it God says good job Jay who with reference to rooting out bail ISM from Israel but then the condemnation of verse 31 but Jay who took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart for he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam who had made Israel sin listen to Matthew Henry here he says the worship of bail was indeed the greater evil and more heinous in the sight of God but the worship of calves was a great evil and true conversion is not only from gross sin but from all sin this we're gonna get a little more practical I know a lot of that stuff was heads and you know Jehu and power base and politics but but we're gonna try to get a little more practical from this point out the worship of bail was indeed the great evil and more heinous in the sight of God but the worship of the calves was a great evil and true conversion is not only from gross sin but from all sin so Jay who if he was truly converted wouldn't have only put away bail he would have put away the calves true conversion isn't just about stopping growth sin it's about stopping all sin it's about having a change of heart about sin not just the big sins but the little sins not just the little sins but the big sense it is to see sin the way God sees it it is to see sin as something vile and heinous and wretched and to oppose it with every fiber of our being it is to see it as that which is contrary to God and which ought to be contrary to the godly he says not only from false gods but from false worships and then matthew henry goes on to comment on the the political expedience I've already mentioned that Jay who may have been driven the way Jeroboam was it was politically expedient to set up these shrines to these calves to keep persons from going back to Jerusalem so just carry that thought for a moment listen to matthew henry here he says the worship of bill weakened and diminished israel and made them beholden to the sidonians and therefore he could easily part with that the words bill brings nothing but subjugation to the sidonians so therefore bales got to go he says but the worship of the calves was a political idolatry was begun and kept up for reasons of state to prevent the return of the ten tribes to the house of David and therefore Jehu clave to that Jews follow what he's saying here baile brings subjugation to sight it back the calves bring unification to the northern kingdom that's okay as long as it's politically expedient we can allow the calf shrines to stand because it benefits Jo just like it benefited Jeroboam the son of Nebat now listen to him matthew henry true conversion is not only from wasteful sins bail but from gainful sins the calves true conversion doesn't say oh but this benefits me so I'm going to leave it untouched this Idol doesn't bring me into subjection to the cydonia ants so I'm gonna allow it to flourish I think this is masterful true conversion is not only from wasteful sins but from great gainful sins not only from those sins that are destructive to the secular interest but from those that support and befriend it in forsaking which is the great trial whether we can deny ourselves and trust God in other words with reference to this true conversion we get rid of something that previously benefited us Jehu doesn't do that this secures the power base this keeps everything tickety-boo in the northern kingdom this precludes anybody from going back and joining the house of David when they go down to Jerusalem to worship you see there is in this passage something taught to us concerning true conversion if you're still holding on to a particular Idol that benefits you that prospers you that gives you some degree of comfort and stability you need to get rid of it the way Jay who needed to get rid of the calves he needed to forsake that he needed to rip them down and he needed to build refuse dumps right where they stood but he wasn't willing to do that this was a political expediency that benefited him in the crown so he was going to keep it bail bad nothing but bad it's okay to get rid of bail the true test of a man salvation is what does he do with those things that benefit him are we going to get rid of those and trust God or are we going to hang on to those and have it and God that's what we attempt but it will never work I think that's a very valuable lesson that second Kings 10 with reference to Jay who holds out to us so notice what we find concerning that the spiritual condition of Jehu affects the spiritual condition of Israel notice in verse 32 in those days the Lord began to cut off parts of Israel why because they're wretched that's easy right again matthew henry they were short in their duty to God and therefore God cut them short in their extent wealth and power you see this God raises up one to judge someone and then that one is judged by another you see the same thing in Isaiah town God raises up Assyria to do what to bring judgment upon Israel Assyria then boasts about what they've done and so God judges Assyria that's the Jay who has Al factor going on in microcosmic form in 2nd Kings chapter 10 we see that they were conquered and more than likely this is what had happened there was the the rising assyrian power at this particular point and at one point syria and israel were unified in their fight against Assyria but then Assyria begins to make inroads against Syria and in fact there's actually an obelisk with a image of of this Jay who bowing down to shall owe me a showman easer the 3rd of Assyria so what had happened is at one time Israel was with Syria now Assyria Assyria starts to invade Syria and Israel's on their side so no doubt Haza L didn't receive that very kindly here he was a former ally now opposed bowing to the very king of Assyria so Jay who had his problems to be sure and Israel reaped the consequences as a result so the list of lands are given to us all east of the Jordan and then in verses 34 to 36 we have a summary statement concerning Jehu his death and the fact that his son Jehovah has is his successor he won't come till chapter 13 as I said this is the longest reign thus far in the northern kingdom 28 years for Jehu well in conclusion we see the fulfillment of God's Word we've already seen that the testimony of Jehu the affirmation by the narrator and then the means of God's judgment I suppose if he had never read second Kings 10 and you met these baskets of heads it might alarm you just a bit uncertain it alarms those outside the church those who have any contact with scripture and they see a chapter like chapter 10 and they say horror of Horrors how in the world could we ever sanction such a thing or ever condone such a thing or how in the world can Christians carry a book that carries such you know devastation decimation and flat-out brutality I mean we live in a day and age where you can't do anything and without offending you know the mass of humanity I mean baskets of head certainly wouldn't go over well in the 21st century I mean we've got the the Boy Scouts now accepting girls I mean that's what's happened today the Boy Scouts now accept girls because we don't want to offend anybody so persons come to second Kings 10 and I have to think they're offended by baskets of heads so how do we work through this reality of God's just judgment the chapter indicates that a king that was not committed to Yahweh was the means of fulfilling Yahweh's word and that he did so in a most unsanitary way again baskets of heads I can't even conceive of baskets of heads personally 70 heads to be exact that's a lot of heads in baskets I'm gonna quote Davis again because I think he nails it with reference to what appears to be the unsanitary ways of God's judgment he says first the Bible shows that God frequently works we might say indirectly through human instruments he does right I mean there were times when he sends hailstones out of heaven or he dispatches a lion or a couple she bears or even then it's indirect I mean he can stop a man from breathing in his tracks but God uses indirectly he uses means she bears hailstones Jay whose haza ales Elijah's he he uses means so the Bible shows that God frequently works we might say indirectly through human instruments and on like surgeons God has no sterilized instruments you get that right if God's going to use a human by virtue of necessity they're not sterilized human there's no human that's going to carry out the judgment of God in a perfect way I mean they're gonna collect heads and put them into baskets God has no sterilized instruments all of them are flawed and many of them are opportunistic self-serving Jay who's so God uses wicked people to carry out his divine design now that may trouble us but that is the consistent message that we've seen in 1st and 2nd Kings we've seen it in 1st and 2nd Samuel and if you care to open your eyes you will see it from Genesis to Revelation it can be no other way God takes crooked things and make straight things happen God uses these instruments and they're not sterilized and then Davis says 2nd this is a situation involving the judgment of God and it is very difficult to make judgment pleasant that's it sorry when you commit the kinds of sins that Ahab and his family committed your head may end up in a basket that is life in a moral universe governed by a holy righteous just God he does not take idolatry lightly he will raise up Elijah he will raise up aza ill he will raise up Jehu and he will devastate and destroy those engaged in persistent idolatry and then as I said this chapter at least gives us some typical significance of the reign of Christ the Messiah verse 28 the stay who destroyed bail from Israel we are looking forward to a day when a much much much greater than J who will ultimately destroy bail from Israel he will destroy all of his enemies he will subdue each and every one and he will enter in a rusher and a blessed eternal state wherein there is no unrighteousness no bails no Asherah no abortion no sodomy no sins nothing that defiles will be in that place J who at least points us to our Lord Jesus Christ in a most wholesome way well let us pray our Father we thank you for your word we thank you for your justice your righteousness your holiness and God as we see such a passage may we take heed and may we fear and tremble for certainly god we want to follow you holy we want our hearts to be committed to you and yet we with the hymn writer say that we're prone to wander and prone to leave the god that we love help us to relinquish not only bail but the calves help us to get rid of those things that comfort us that are not right help us to be a faithful people that serve you that love you that fear you that honor you and God how we look forward to that day when Jesus does in fact rid the world of all idols and all competitors all rivals we look forward to that day when God is all in all go with us now we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord amen