9:3 - Why are they told to flee immediately? Because there is already a king ruling Israel (Joram). It's dangerous work to be anointing kings on top of other kings. Remember what Saul did to the priests that helped David, when David was a king on the run? (He slaughtered them) So these guys anoint and run.
9:11 - Again we see how tenuous the situation is. Jehu doesn't even feel that he can share his new found kingship with his fellow soldiers, because he doesn't know how they are going to react. He tells them, "Oh you know...he said a little this...said a little that...prophet stuff." The other men don't accept his answer and so he tells them the truth. God has anointed him the king, so everything works out for Jehu.
9:22 - I love his answer to their question of his intentions. He tells them that there can be no pace in Israel when thy continue to prostitute themselves to false gods. They are waging war against the Most High God and their hope for peace is an impossibility. Kinda like people who cannot find personal peace with Gd who have not yet quelled their own rebellion against His will.
9:24 - That verse is just cool - Jehu is one bad dude!
9:26 - I like that Jehu, the military man, has all of Elijah's prophecies memorized. He immediately knows what he must do to partner with Go in bringing the prophecy to life.
9:32 - I find it interesting that throughout this story, Jehu never tries to use deception to get the advantage. They always ask if he has come to make peace, and he always shoots straight. He doesn't even acknowledge Jezebel here, he simply asks fr faithful servants of God and those men step up and promptly throw her out the window. Jehu knows what God has called him to do and h is unrelenting and aggressive in his pursuit of God's will.
9:36 - The prophecy of Jezebel is fulfilled. Her legacy of rebellion and idol worship that has led multiple generations of Israelite people away from God has finally caught up to her. She is thrown from a window, trampled by horses and eaten by dogs.
10:9-10 - Jehu makes sure that the people understand that they are not guilty of rebellion against God's anointed king. Joram was not God's king. Jehu is the anointed king. Everything that has happened is God's will. Jehu says that not a single word from the Lord will fall to the ground unfulfilled.
10:16ff - Great leadership! He calls on the people to follow him and witness his passion for the Name of the Lord. Jehu is willing to go to any extreme to bring honor to God's Name. There is a fine line between zeal and arrogance, but we need more Christians who are willing to live passionately to bring honor to the name of God.
10:27 - They make the house of Baal into a toilet. The men of Israel finally give the false god Baal an offering that s worthy of his name - excrement.
10:31 - NOOOOOOOOOO! After all of that passion and zeal for the Name of the Lord...after calling people to follow him and act immediately to purge the country of idol worship...Jehu turns away from God! You can see this happen all the time. A God follower sets up the sins of others as more vile than any of his own and focuses so much on other peoples' sin that he doesn't see the hidden sin in his own life slowly destroying him. Heartbreaking.
11:1 - That is one opportunistic lady - she sees the power vacuum and kills all her own kin to take power as the first sole ruling queen in Judah. Very grandmotherly behavior, huh?
11:17ff - They renewed the covenant with God, offered themselves completely to His will and immediately took steps to remove the unrighteousness from there lives. Sounds like the picture of repentance to me.
11:20 - All the people were quiet at the death of Athaliah - meaning they were happy to see her go...there was no weeping in the country for her.
2 comments:
Ch. 9.
There is a part of our human nature that likes to see justice served. Jezebel got hers for the heart she chose to have. But sometimes it bothers me that I like to see justice served. I now that if justice were served to me, it wouldn't be nice, but thanks be to Jesus Christ for taking that punishment in my place.
Ch. 10.
It never changes. This is why I would never want power or wealth and shy away from leadership. It is so evident in our world today. Someone decideds to make a difference based on solid moral agendas, they get in power and to stay in power they begin to compromise until one day they forget what they originally stood for.
Ch. 11
That is the first time I remember someone being taken into the temple to be executed. Was that a first?
No Mr. T - she was taken out of the temple to be executed...that's why the priest says, "Not in the house of the Lord."
In 1st Kings 2:28 - Joab goes in and grabs the horns of the altar and gets killed there (But that was when it was still a tent, not a temple). That's close.
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