2 kings 9-10

Read 2 Kings 9-10 at Bible Gateway.

And the LORD said to Jehu, “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 sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” 2 Kin 10:30

Jehu killed over 100 people, even hundreds and hundreds of people including the worshipers of Baal. He killed the king of Judah because Ahab and Jezebel were his grandparents on his mother’s side, and he killed all the brothers of the king of Judah for the same reason. So how can the LORD say, Because you have done well in doing what is right?

We learned from Torah, that what is prohibited is murder. Death that is brought about because it preserves justice, is not murder. So Torah commands that murderers be put to death, in order to preserve justice. Adulterers are to be put to death, in order to preserve justice, because adultery is also murder in a way – it is the murder of a family and a home. Kidnappers are to be put to death, in order to preserve justice. Idolaters are to be put to death, because as we have seen, an entire nation can be led astray through the example of one influential person.

Certain acts of unrighteousness and wickedness call for the death penalty in order to preserve righteousness in a community and a nation. Preserving righteousness and justice actually saves more lives in the long run, because whatever promotes righteousness and justice promotes the peace and prosperity of the nation. It is an act of love, in other words, to refuse to allow certain kinds of wickedness to flourish.

Now we just learned from Luk 9:51-56 that the spirit that seeks to destroy men’s lives is not the Spirit of God. I believe that Ahab and Jezebel are types of the antichrist to come, who turns the hearts of the LORD’s people from following and serving Him, and who murders the LORD’s prophets and witnesses, who are proclaiming the word of the LORD in the land.

2 Kin 9 opens with the servant of the prophet anointing Jehu to be king of Israel. It is Jehu, the anointed one, who destroys the idolaters and idolatry in the land, to bring the people’s hearts back to the LORD. This is also prophetic, as Messiah is the Anointed One who will overthrow the antichrist and return His people’s hearts to the LORD our God. So many times when we see judgment for sin in the Hebrew Scriptures, we are seeing a prophetic picture being played out in the history of Israel, of the gospel, the Messiah, and His millennial reign, which begins with wrath poured out on the enemies of God.

Until that day, the Spirit of  God in the earth is seeking to turn the hearts of men from enmity to love toward God, in that while we were yet enemies, Messiah Yeshua died for us (Rom 5:10)!