Jehu Again
The story
continues in its bloody tradition of Jehu killing more and more people.
I do have
to confess that I personally just don’t like Jehu. Yes, he killed Ahab’s family. Yes, he purged a great evil from the face of
the earth. Yes, he also tore down a king
who was leading Judah astray. And yes,
he did kill many of the prophets of Ba’al.
All of these things are good things for the world – as bloody and
gruesome as they might be.
The
problem is that I just don’t like his motivation. Yesterday I spent a long time talking about
the Lord being able to accomplish good even if our hearts are evil. In this chapter it feels as though Jehu has
an insatiable bloodlust and simply happens to be lucky in that he is able to
focus his destructive passion on the mutual enemies of the Lord.
Perhaps a
comparison might work. Let’s take the
story of Jehu’s killing of the priests of Ba’al and hold it up against Elijah’s
killing of the priests of Ba’al. (See 1
Kings 18:20-40)
Elijah’s
story tells us that as many as 450 priests of Ba’al were slaughtered under his
command. We’re not told how many priests
of Ba’al Jehu killed, but as they were able to meet within a “house of Ba’al”
I’ll assume for a moment that it was no more than were killed under
Elijah. I make this point to illustrate
that my issue with Jehu has nothing to do with how many people die.
The
difference in the stories is that the priests of Ba’al knew they were up
against a man of God with Elijah. They
came knowing that it was going to be a fight.
Elijah was honest about his service to the Lord. Jehu, on the other hand, tricks the
people. Jehu claims to be a follower of
Ba’al in order to get them to gather together.
Yes, the people that die were enemies of God; but they died in a manner
that involved deceit, lies, and treachery.
With
Elijah, we get a sense that God’s will is done in the way God desires it. God’s will is done in a way that honors God’s
character. With Jehu we get a sense that
God’s will is done, but it is done in a way that is contrary to God’s
ways. God’s will is done in a way that
does not promote God’s character.
In a way,
I have the same feeling about Jehu as I have about Solomon. Solomon was clearly blessed by God. Certainly Solomon started out by doing things
that seemed to honor God. But in the end
we get a glimpse of his motivation and we are told that Solomon just couldn’t
live according to God’s ways. We hear
that Solomon turned from the Lord and worshipped the gods of his harem. It is no different here with Jehu. Yes, the enemies of the Lord are slain, but
in the end we hear that Jehu could not follow God’s ways. He might not worship Ba’al, but instead he
worships the golden calves erected in Dan and Bethel.
Lessons for Myself
I am
saddened because of this – as I was saddened with the story of Solomon. Perhaps my being sad comes out of a fear of
the future. Life is long, and many of my
challenges are left to be faced. It
concerns me to hear how many people in the Bible just aren’t able to maintain/sustain
faith in God for their whole life. They
have glimmers of moments where God’s will is done, but they just aren’t able to
muster faith for their whole life. That
element of humanity concerns me – whether it is in my future, the future of my
friends and people close to me, or simply in the person down the street.
I am
pained by the possibility of people unable to sustain faith in God and unable
to follow Him throughout their life. I
am pained because it shows just how willing the human heart is to believe it is
“following God,” but in the end the human heart does not “follow God” because the
human was never following Him for the right reasons. It shows the human ability to convince
ourselves that we are doing right while we never in truth are doing right. It is troubling to me this day.
Jehu’s
story is a sad story of grief for me.
Like Solomon, Jehu had such potential – even as gruesome as many of the
events in his life happened to be. But
like Solomon, the story ends tragically.
I see too much of this in the world to do anything but grieve over this
story.
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I think you may have missed a chance to make this even more vexing.... God was clearly please with what happened... So much so, the he rewards him to the fourth generation. How does this work in spirit to the law? There is lying abound, but by rewarding Jehu, it is pretty clear God's onboard with what he did. God even knows Jehu's heart, and what he will do regarding the golden calves.
ReplyDeleteI don't list all of the above to make it harder on you, but perhaps on us. I agree jehu's approach is distasteful, and in the Christian sense what "fruit" does he produce? The fruit we see is deceit and murder. But, God is pleased and rewards him. Is Jehu the missing I think and pray so much about? Does God see things in Jehu we don't, perhaps knows better what is in his heart than his actions show? I really wonder... This is a rough chapter to understand (as was the last).
Very thought provoking today john, which I always appreciate!
LOL! Just what I need - another opportunity to let this passage vex me!
ReplyDeleteI do hear the tension in the words. How is it that God can reward the doing of His will when His will seems to be done in such an obviously ungodly way? As you say, this is a tough enough question to pose of a human subject with limited ability to see the future. But God is omniscient. He knows what Jehu will do with respect to the golden calves.
It is possible that God sees in Jehu something I cannot in the written word. When put that way, I am certain of it! But as you say it does remain a difficult text because it seems to be easy to use this chapter in an "ends justify the means" approach to spirituality - and I loathe that kind of approach.
Well, the hard stuff is worth wrestling too. I don't have any good answer, cause it really does read like that.
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