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Chapter 10: The Reign of Jehu (841-814 BC)
2 Kings 10:1-5 ~ Jehu sends a challenge to the officials of Samaria
1 There were seventy of Ahab's sons in Samaria. Seventy is probably not a literal number but a symbolic number representing the totality of Ahab's sons and grandchildren in the capital city.
Jehu cleverly challenged those who wished to oppose his claim to the throne and who remained loyal to the House of Ahab to set their choice of a descendant of Ahab on the throne and to go to battle against his forces for control of the kingdom. They are terrified. They are not military men and Jehu apparently has the loyalty of the army. They sent a return letter announcing their submission to Jehu.
2 Kings 10:6-11 ~ Jehu's offer and the massacres at Samaria and Jezreel
Question: What is the purpose of Jehu's second letter? What demand does Jehu make?
Answer: It is a test of their loyalty to him. If they indeed accept him as their king, they must kill the remaining sons and grandsons of the House of Ahab who might one day become a threat to Jehu and bring their heads to Jezreel.
In verse 9, Jehu very cleverly absolved the murderers of the male members of Ahab's family. If they cannot be charged with what they have done, they can hardly hold the murder of King Jehoram against him.
Question: What justification does he offer for his actions?
Answer: He says he has fulfilled the prophecy of Elijah against the House of Ahab.
Then he killed every member of the House of Ahab surviving in Jezreel, all his leading men, his close friends, his priests; he did not leave a single one alive (verse 11). This massacre includes anyone who might remain loyal to the former royal family: the former king's personal servants, friends, members of the illicit priesthood of Baal who served the king as royal officials (as in 2 Sam 8:18; 20:26; 1 Kng 4:5), and royal officers who served at the palace in Jezreel.
2 Kings 10:12-14 ~ The massacre of the kinsmen of Ahaziah
On the road between Jezreel and Samaria (10 miles), Jehu met a company of men who identified themselves as the "brothers" of Ahaziah of Judah. The "brothers" are not siblings of Ahaziah but "kinsmen" who were probably related to Ahaziah through his Israelite mother. We are not told where they were coming from, but they were on their way to Jerusalem to pay their respects to Ahaziah and his mother Athaliah, the Gebirah/Queen Mother. The reference could not be to Jezebel because queens of Israel did not bear the title "Gebirah." They were apparently unaware that Ahaziah was visiting his uncle in Jezreel and unaware of the recent coup in which both Jehoram and Ahaziah were killed. The writer of 2 Chronicles records that these men were officers of Judah and Ahaziah's nephews who were in attendance on Ahaziah (2 Chr 22:8). The sequence of events is told in a different order in 2 Chronicles and the confusion may have been because these events unfolded so quickly. 2 Chronicles also records that Ahaziah was wounded but made it back to Samaria where he was found by Jehu and killed (2 Chr 22:9).
2 Kings 10:15-17 ~ The massacre of the survivors of Ahab's family in Samaria
Jehonadab was the founder of the Rechab clan, a small but ultra-traditionalist group that observed a way of life similar to the Israelites of the Exodus generation. They abstained from wine, lived in tents and did not engage in agriculture but only herded animals.
Recognizing that this traditionalist Israelite could be an important ally, Jehu invited him to be a part of the judgment on the apostate people of Samaria. Their combined "zeal" for Yahweh (verse 16) is seen as their commitment to radical monotheism in belief in Yahweh as the one and only God (1 Kng 19:10, 14).
2 Kings 10:18-24a ~ Jehu's plan to deal with the devotees of Baal
In Samaria, Jehu calls a "sacred assembly" for the worshipers of Baal. A sacred assembly is an event that requires the participation of every devotee of Baal. We are told it is a trick but the devotees and priests of Baal probably thought Jehu was going to seek their support and the support of Baal by offering special sacrifices.
2 Kings 10:24b-27 ~ The destruction of the temple of Baal in Samaria
Jehu positioned eighty of his men around the outside of the temple of Baal. The guards are ordinary soldiers and the equerries are member of the royal guard who attend the king. All the devotees of Baal were killed according to the Law in Deuteronomy 13:13-19. The Law prescribed the death penalty for Israelite prophets/priests of pagan divinities and apostate members of the covenant who lead others astray.
Obedient to the command in Deuteronomy 12:3, Jehu and his men burned the "sacred pole" a cult object sacred to the goddess Asherah, destroyed the pagan image of Baal, and demolished the temple dedicated to Baal. They showed their disgust for the pagan worship site by turning it into a latrine.
2 Kings 10:28-36 ~ Summary of Jehu's Reign in Israel (841-814 BC)
Jehu's reign over Israel is verified in Assyrian records. As with all the summaries of the kings of Israel, his reign is compared to the first non-Davidic king of Israel, Jeroboam son of Nebat.
Jehu destroyed Baal worship and its disgusting practice of child sacrifice in the Northern Kingdom, but like Jeroboam, he feared losing control of the kingdom if he let the people go to Jerusalem to worship in Yahweh's temple. He did not dismantle the illicit worship sites of the Golden Calf in the Northern Kingdom that Jeroboam had established in Bethel and Dan (1 Kng 12:26-29).
The House of Jehu was the longest lasting of the nine dynasties that ruled the Northern Kingdom, with five kings ruling from 841-743 BC.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church #633 addresses the condition of the dead in Sheol/Hades prior to the Advent of Christ: "Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down hell, Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek, because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God. Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the redeemer, which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into Abraham's Bosom. It is precisely theses holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham's bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell. Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him."
CHALLENGE: “Modern cosmology gives us no reason to believe in God.”
DEFENSE: Elsewhere we cover the support the Big Bang gives to God’s existence (see Day 46), but there is also the fact that the universe appears to be finely tuned to allow the possibility of life.
This argument may be phrased as follows:
1. The universe has a significant number of physical constants that fall within narrow ranges that allow life to develop.
2. These values are either the product of design or chance.
3. It is highly unlikely that they are the product of chance.
4. Therefore, the physical constants of the universe are designed to allow intelligent life to develop.
5. Design requires a designer.
6. Therefore, the universe has a designer.
7. The designer of the universe is God.
8. Therefore, modern cosmology gives us reason to believe in God.
The premises of this argument are lines 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7. The conclusions (lines 4, 6, and 8) follow from them.
Line 1 is widely admitted by astronomers and physicists. Cosmologist Stephen Hawking writes: “The laws of science, as we know them at present, contain many fundamental numbers, like the size of the electric charge of the electron and the ratio of the masses of the proton and the electron. . . . The remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life” (A Brief History of Time, chapter 8).
Line 2 is true by definition, understanding chance to be anything not designed.
Line 3 is supported by the fact that, if we imagine all the possible alternative values the universe’s constants might have, it is very improbable that they would all fall within the ranges needed for intelligent life by chance.
Line 5 is required by the concept of design, which presupposes a designer, just as the concept of art presupposes an artist.
Line 7 is based on one of the most common ways of conceptualizing God—i.e., as the Creator of the universe.
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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