10:15-36

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End of Jezebel’s Baalism in Israel (2Ki 10:15-36)

Jehu next put into operation a plan to rid Israel of all Jezebel’s Baal-worshipping followers. In this he had the cooperation of Jehonadab, a man who had led his people to give up the agricultural life (possibly because of its tendencies to Baal worship) and go back to the simple way of life followed by Abraham and the early Israelites (2Ki 10:15-17; cf. Jer 35:6-10).

Through deceit and butchery, Jehu wiped out Jezebel’s Baal worshippers (2Ki 10:18-27).

However, Jehu did not remove the idol worship established earlier by Jeroboam. This gives further indication that his anti-Baal campaign resulted from political, rather than religious, motives. Nevertheless, he destroyed the dynasty of Omri along with its particular form of Baal worship, and for this God rewarded him. His dynasty would last longer than any other in the northern kingdom (2Ki 10:28-31).

As the story in Kings shows, Jehu went far beyond what was necessary to bring God’s judgment on the dynasty of Omri. His needless butchery, still talked about a century later, would be the reason why his own dynasty would come to a bloody end (Hosea 1:4).

Jehu’s massacre of all the nation’s leading administrators left the nation’s internal government weak and unstable (see 2Ki 10:11).

The slaughter of Jezebel’s descendants brought the long-standing treaty with Tyre and Sidon in the north to a sudden end. The murder of Judah’s king and his relatives lost Israel the support of her sister nation to the south. Jehu’s withdrawal of Israel’s troops from Ramoth-gilead to support his revolution weakened Israel’s eastern border (see 2Ki 9:4-5,11-14).

Syria’s king Hazael was quick to attack, and over a time seized most of Israel’s territory east of Jordan. Elisha’s prophecy was coming true (2Ki 10:32-36; cf. 2Ki 8:12).