Is My Zeal for the Lord Clarified with "However" and "But"?---Day 161 Through the Bible

                   Four "ridges" can be seen in this picture which was taken off Hwy. 80 South, near Mt. Celo Church.
              These ridges help make up the Blue Ridge Mountains which are part of the Appalachian range.
       The Blue Ridge Parkway--a 469 mile scenic highway runs along the crest line of the farthest ridge in this picture. 


Jehu is anointed king over "the people of the Lord, over Israel". God was going to avenge the blood of His prophets and servants at the hand of Jezebel on the house of Ahab.  He was going to use Jehu to do this.  As the prophet had foretold, Ahab's whole house would perish.  Joram, the current king of Israel was Ahab & Jezebel's son and was killed in his chariot by an arrow shot by Jehu.  Joram's body was thrown in a field that had been owned by Naboth, who was killed by Jezebel so that her husband Ahab could have his property.  Jehu also killed the king of Judah who was with Joram and had fled.

When Jezebel heard that Jehu had come to Jezreel, "she put paint on her eyes and adorned her head".  (Even today, a woman who uses a lot of make-up and has impure motives may be referred to as "a Jezebel".)  Jehu asked, "Who is on my side? Who?"  Two or three eunuchs (these were men who were castrated so they could serve in the court of the women) "looked out at him" in response to Jehu's question and obeyed his command to throw Jezebel out the window and into the courtyard below. There, the prophecy of Elijah was fulfilled and Jezebel's few remains were scattered across the field.

The seventy sons of Ahab were killed as well as all those remaining in Ahab's household.  The prophecy that the Lord had given Elijah was fulfilled down to every detail. As Jehu left Jezreel, he was met by Ahaziah's brothers (Ahaziah, the king of Judah had been killed by Jehu) who were on their way to "greet" the sons of Ahab and Jezebel--Jehu killed them also.  He then met Jehonadab and asked him, "Is your heart right, as my heart is toward your heart?"  Jehu took him into his chariot and invited him to come with him "and see my zeal for the Lord".  They proceeded to Samaria where he destroyed all who remained to Ahab.

Ahab had served Baal and Jehu called every worshiper of Baal to the temple for a solemn assembly. "The temple of Baal was full from one end to the other".  Every worshiper of Baal was to be killed and if someone escaped the man who allowed him to escape would pay with his own life. 2 Kings 10:27, says the pillar of Baal (KJV says "image of Baal") and the temple were destroyed and made "a refuse dump". The English Standard Version translates this as "latrine".  Verse 28: "Thus Jehu destroyed Baal from Israel".  As a result of what he did, God promised that Jehu's sons would sit on the throne of Israel.

Jehu reigned over Israel for twenty-eight years.  There are two little words that take issue with Jehu's "righteousness"--these words are "however" and "but".  "However Jehu did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam", and in verse 31: "But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart".  He evidently only had a zeal for God in the area of destroying Baal worship.  Jehu, like the rest of us, needed a new heart.  In today's reading in John 19, Jesus' crucifixion prepares the way for "whosoever will" to receive the righteousness of Christ in place of the limited zeal for the Lord exhibited by Jehu in 2 Kings.

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart."  Deuteronomy 6:4-6.