YEAR 2, WEEK 41, Day 4, Thursday, 9 October 2025

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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Thursday, 9 October 2025:

2 Kings 10:1-3 — Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the rulers of the city, to the elders, and to the guardians of the sons of Ahab, saying, “Now then, as soon as this letter comes to you, seeing your master’s sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, fortified cities also, and weapons, select the best and fittest of your master’s sons and set him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s house.”

Jehu’s letter was a test. He challenged the leaders of Samaria to demonstrate their loyalty to Ahab’s line by crowning a successor and preparing for war. Yet his words also exposed their fear and opportunism. They had the means to resist, seventy royal sons, chariots, and fortified cities, but no faith, courage, or conviction. Like so many political leaders today, they bowed to expediency rather than integrity. God uses moments of crisis to expose what truly governs human hearts, fear of man or fear of God (Proverbs 29:25).

In this case, the leadership’s fear and lack of faith were directly tied to their own awareness of moral compromise and divine judgment. The leaders of Samaria were not ignorant of God’s word or His dealings with Ahab’s house. The judgment against Ahab had been publicly declared years earlier by Elijah (1 Kings 21:21–24) and reaffirmed by Elisha’s prophetic commission to anoint Jehu for that very purpose (2 Kings 9:6–10). These city rulers and elders had participated in or at least tolerated the idolatry, bloodshed, and injustice that characterized Ahab and Jezebel’s reign. When Jehu’s letter arrived, it struck their consciences as much as their fears. They knew that Jehu’s uprising was not merely a political coup, it was the hand of divine retribution.

People who have hardened themselves in rebellion instinctively sense when judgment is at their door. Just as Belshazzar trembled when the hand wrote on the wall (Daniel 5:6), and just as the Pharisees feared the parables that condemned them (Matthew 21:45–46), these leaders felt the weight of their guilt. Their lack of courage was not just a failure of nerve, it was the fruit of a guilty conscience.

When men stand on the wrong side of God’s will, faith cannot rise within them because faith is built on trust in His righteousness. These men could not call upon God for deliverance, for they knew they stood under His displeasure. Their spiritual bankruptcy led to moral cowardice and spiraling sin. They feared Jehu because they feared judgment, and deep down, they knew they deserved it.

This dynamic plays out repeatedly in Scripture: Saul, after disobeying God, feared David because “the Lord had departed from him” (1 Samuel 18:12). Pilate, though in authority, was terrified to condemn Jesus because he knew he was condemning the innocent (John 19:8). Adam and Eve hid in the garden, not because God had changed, but because they had (Genesis 3:8–10).

When a person lives in alignment with God, courage flows naturally, because righteousness emboldens (Proverbs 28:1). But when one’s heart is compromised, fear takes the throne. These elders of Samaria knew they had no moral ground to stand on; their fortresses and chariots could not defend them against the God they had defied. In short, their cowardice was not merely political, it was theological. They were men without conviction because they were men without communion with God. Their fear of Jehu was the echo of their fear of judgment.

2 Kings 10:4-5 — But they were exceedingly afraid and said, “Behold, the two kings could not stand before him. How then can we stand?” So he who was over the palace, and he who was over the city, together with the elders and the guardians, sent to Jehu, saying, “We are your servants, and we will do all that you tell us. We will not make anyone king; do whatever is good in your eyes.”

Their words reveal the cowardice that often hides beneath political pragmatism. They feared Jehu more than they feared the Lord. When people lose moral conviction, they inevitably serve whoever they percieve holds power. Like Pilate before the crowd, they declared their allegiance to the victor rather than to what was right (John 19:15). But the fear of man always enslaves; only the fear of the Lord brings freedom.

2 Kings 10:6-7 — Then he wrote to them a second letter, saying, “If you are on my side, and if you are ready to obey me, take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me at Jezreel tomorrow at this time.” Now the king’s sons, seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who were bringing them up. And as soon as the letter came to them, they took the king’s sons and slaughtered them, seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel.

The leaders’ compliance with such disloyalty and cruelty shows the depth of their moral decay. They killed the royal sons, their wards, to protect themselves. When self-preservation becomes one’s god, there is no evil too great to commit. They justified murder as obedience. This echoes Saul’s partial obedience (1 Samuel 15:9-23) and the religious leaders who conspired to kill Christ “for the good of the nation” (John 11:50). Jehu’s purge fulfilled Elijah’s prophecy (1 Kings 21:21), but the instruments were wicked men acting from fear, not faith. Again, a theme throughout the Bible is, just because God uses it (or someone) doesn’t mean He approves of it. These leaders were used by God but not approved by God.

2 Kings 10:8-11 — When the messenger came and told him, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons,” he said, “Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning.” Then in the morning, when he went out, he stood and said to all the people, “You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him, but who struck down all these? Know then that there shall fall to the earth nothing of the word of the LORD, which the LORD spoke concerning the house of Ahab, for the LORD has done what he said by his servant Elijah.”

Jehu’s life reflects the dangers of contaminating divine authorization with human motivations, wielding the gifts of the Spirit without the fruit of the Spirit, boldness without holiness. The prophet Elisha had Jehu anointed king with the explicit command to “strike down the house of Ahab” and avenge the deaths of God’s prophets. God himself will later praised Jehu for accomplishing this task and rewarded him with a four-generation dynasty (2 Kings 10:30). However, the text also indicates that Jehu’s heart was not fully committed to the Lord (2 Kings 10:29) and was partly motivated by his own political ambition to secure the throne. Even today, scholars debate about Jehu’s means to God’s end. Today, we might praise certain political leaders who fight for a noble cause, but we must be cautious not to approve of, or overlook, ungodly methods in the process.

Jehu publicly justified the slaughter as divine fulfillment, though he did not grieve over the bloodshed. While he correctly recognized God’s sovereignty, he used it to excuse his violence. God’s prophecy was indeed being fulfilled, but Jehu’s motives were mixed — zeal without mercy. The Lord’s purposes are never a license for human cruelty. Romans 12:19 reminds us, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” Even when carrying out judgment, the righteous heart weeps. Elisha wept over Hazael’s violence (2 Kings 8:11–12); Jehu gloried in his success. God can use men who are not entirely His, but He never approves of hearts that act without compassion or humility. Zeal without love becomes destruction.

2 Kings 10:12-14 — Then he set out and went to Samaria. On the way, when he was at Beth-eked of the Shepherds, Jehu met the relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah, and he said, “Who are you?” And they answered, “We are the relatives of Ahaziah, and we came down to visit the royal princes and the sons of the queen mother.” He said, “Take them alive.” And they took them alive and slaughtered them at the pit of Beth-eked, forty-two persons; and he spared none of them.

Here Jehu goes beyond God’s command. The Lord had decreed judgment on Ahab’s house, not Judah’s. But Jehu, emboldened by power, extended his violence to those who were only tangentially connected. His lack of discernment shows how quickly zeal for righteousness can turn into self-righteous aggression. When men forget to temper obedience with mercy and humility, they begin to act as if they themselves were the standard of judgment. Micah 6:8 gives the true balance — “to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”

2 Kings 10:15-17 — And when he departed from there, he met Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him. And he blessed him and said to him, “Is your heart true to my heart as mine is to yours?” And Jehonadab answered, “It is.” Jehu said, “If it is, give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand. And Jehu took him up with him into the chariot. And he said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD.” So he had him ride in his chariot. And when he came to Samaria, he struck down all who remained to Ahab till he had wiped him out, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke to Elijah.

Jehonadab was a faithful man, the ancestor of the Rechabites who later would be commended for their obedience (Jeremiah 35:6–19). Jehu wanted Jehonadab’s approval to lend legitimacy to his campaign — “Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord.” But true zeal doesn’t boast or seek validation; it burns quietly before God. This is reminiscent of the Pharisee who proclaimed his righteousness before others (Luke 18:11). Jehu’s zeal was real but incomplete — it was more about pride than devotion.

2 Kings 10:18-28 — Then Jehu assembled all the people and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him much. Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his worshipers and all his priests. Let none be missing, for I have a great sacrifice to offer to Baal. Whoever is missing shall not live.” But Jehu did it with cunning in order to destroy the worshipers of Baal. And Jehu ordered, “Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal.” So they proclaimed it. And Jehu sent throughout all Israel, and all the worshipers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left who did not come. … Then they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed eighty men outside and said, “The man who allows any of those whom I give into your hands to escape shall forfeit his life.” So they struck them down with the edge of the sword, and the guards and officers cast them out, and went into the inner room of the house of Baal, and they brought out the pillar that was in the house of Baal and burned it. And they demolished the pillar of Baal and demolished the house of Baal and made it a latrine to this day. Thus Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel.

Jehu’s deception in calling together all the prophets and worshipers of Baal presents one of Scripture’s most complex moral tensions — where divine purpose and human motives intertwine, and where obedience in deed does not necessarily equate to purity of heart. Jehu was indeed divinely appointed by Elisha to execute judgment upon the house of Ahab, a dynasty steeped in violence and idolatry. God Himself commended Jehu for fulfilling this charge, promising him a dynasty lasting four generations (2 Kings 10:30). Yet, though Jehu carried out the external command of God, his internal disposition and methods betrayed something lesser — a zeal that was more political than spiritual, more self-justifying than God-glorifying. It is entirely possible to do the right thing in the wrong spirit. The line between divine authorization and human ambition often blurs when a person begins to act for God without walking with God.

Jehu’s ruse, to pretend greater devotion to Baal in order to gather and destroy its followers, was tactically brilliant but morally ambiguous. Scripture records that “Jehu did it with cunning,” explicitly acknowledging the deceit involved. The moral question, then, is not whether God can use deceit, for He certainly can and does employ even the lies of men to accomplish His will (as in the case of the “lying spirit” sent to Ahab’s prophets in 1 Kings 22:19–23). Rather, the question is whether such deceit reflects God’s own heart and character when performed by His servants. Here, the tension lies between divine sovereignty, which can employ any instrument to fulfill His justice, and human responsibility, which must still act according to His revealed nature of truth and holiness. God may work through sin, but He never blesses it as righteousness.

Some interpreters suggest Jehu’s deceit was more akin to a strategic military tactic, a “ruse of war,” rather than a personal lie. Indeed, there are biblical precedents for such holy stratagems — Joshua’s ambush of Ai (Joshua 8), Gideon’s deceptive torches (Judges 7), or David’s feigned madness before Achish (1 Samuel 21:13). In each case, the goal was not personal gain but the protection or preservation of God’s covenant people. Yet, Jehu’s case differs in that his deceit carried an air of religious pretense, feigning worship of Baal in the name of God. Such duplicity risks misrepresenting the very nature of the One he served. The ends, even if divinely commanded, never justify means that distort the truth or dishonor the divine character. Paul condemned this logic directly: “And why not do evil that good may come?” (Romans 3:8). The Lord who commands truth cannot be glorified by lies, even if those lies advance His purpose.

Jehu’s heart, Scripture says, “was not careful to walk in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart” (2 Kings 10:31). He eliminated Baal worship, but he left untouched the golden calves at Bethel and Dan, the politically convenient idols that preserved his control over Israel. This selective obedience revealed a dangerous spiritual principle: zeal without humility, power without purity, gifts without fruit. Jehu had the authority and anointing of the Spirit for a task, but he lacked the Spirit’s transforming fruit in his heart. Samson had a similar problem – gifts without fruit, resulting in reckless destruction. Many desire the gifts of God, power, insight, success, but neglect the fruits of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22–23). Yet Jesus made clear that true discipleship is measured not by spiritual achievements but by abiding fruitfulness. Without abiding in the Vine, even the most zealous works risk becoming self-serving branches detached from the life of God.

In Jehu, we see the peril of mistaking divine appointment for divine approval. God used Jehu’s zeal to purge idolatry, but Jehu’s incomplete devotion ultimately led to his dynasty’s decline. Hosea later declared God’s judgment on “the blood of Jezreel” (Hosea 1:4), condemning Jehu’s excessive violence and impure motives. His life stands as a warning that one can be an instrument of God’s justice yet remain far from His heart. The lesson for us is sobering: doing God’s work without God’s heart always leads to distortion. The believer’s task is not only to accomplish divine purposes but to reflect divine character in doing so. We are called to overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21), to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), and to wage spiritual war with weapons “not of the flesh but of divine power” (2 Corinthians 10:4).

The line between righteous zeal and self-righteous ambition is thin, discerned only by the Spirit in a surrendered heart. Jehu reminds us that discernment is not measured by effectiveness, but by faithfulness to the truth and character of Christ. For it is possible to destroy idols with one hand while building new ones with the other, to wield divine authority while losing divine intimacy. The Spirit of God empowers not merely to accomplish great works but to bear the likeness of Christ in every motive, method, and moment. Without that likeness, our victories can become defeats in disguise.

Jehu’s purge fulfilled God’s purpose to eradicate Baal worship, yet it was not driven by personal holiness. Outwardly he destroyed idols; inwardly he remained idolatrous. Many today likewise destroy the visible sins of others while nurturing private idols of pride, greed, or self-importance. The demolition of Baal’s temple was right, but the spirit of Baal, self-serving religion, still lived in Jehu’s heart.

2 Kings 10:28-31 — Thus Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel. But Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin — that is, the golden calves that were in Bethel and in Dan. And the LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin.

Once again, here lies the tragedy of Jehu’s life — partial obedience. He destroyed one form of idolatry but kept another. He opposed Baal yet retained the golden calves, the counterfeit religion of convenience. This selective obedience mirrors many believers who renounce obvious sins but cling to hidden ones. God commended Jehu’s external obedience yet grieved his divided heart. The Lord desires complete, loving devotion, not prideful partial compliance. As 2 Chronicles 25:2 says of King Amaziah, “He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not with a whole heart.”

Jehu lived a compromised life and, therefore, limited the impact his life could have and should have had on the world. Today, for us to live the lives of impact God would have us live, we must be very “careful to walk in the law of the LORD… with all [our] heart[s].” To do so, we must be careful not to accept the sins of our culture which have been widely accepted as ‘normal’ or ‘expected.’ Follow God’s law, not social norms. What are the socially acceptable sins you have allowed to remain standing in your life? Don’t allow you epitaph to have a “but” in it like Jehu’s.

2 Kings 10:32-36 — In those days the LORD began to cut off parts of Israel. Hazael defeated them throughout the territory of Israel…. Now the rest of the acts of Jehu and all that he did and all his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? So Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his place. The time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.

Despite Jehu’s might, his partial obedience led to national decline. Outward reform without inward renewal cannot sustain blessing. God began to cut off Israel’s strength. Just as Jesus warned the Ephesian church, “You have left your first love…. Remember from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first” (Revelation 2:4–5). Jehu’s story ends as a cautionary tale: zeal without surrender leads to temporary success but spiritual decay. God does not just want reformation — He wants transformation.

”When we compare Jehu to the other kings of Israel, we see that he was the best of a bad group. No other king in Israel fought against idolatry as much as Jehu did; sadly, even he did not fight against it with all his heart. By not taking heed to walk in the law of the LORD God, Jehu showed that he did not live a life of fellowship with God. He was a success in one regard, but a successful failure. ‘How terrible a warning is the story of this man — that it is possible to be an instrument in the hand of God and yet never be in fellowship with Him. (Morgan) “Jehu’s zeal… consumed and destroyed everybody and everything that stood in the way of his own advantage or aggrandizement, but never touched himself. He appears to have been a total stranger to real exercise of soul.” (Knapp) ‘Hating one sin he loved another, and thus proved that the fear of the Most High did not reign in his breast. He was merely a hired servant, and received the throne as his wages, but a child of God he never was.’ (Spurgeon)” (David Guzik)

“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 9 October 2025: This chapter reveals that partial obedience is disobedience. Jehu was zealous, courageous, and even divinely appointed, yet he never gave God his whole heart. He executed judgment but not justice, eradicated idols but not idolatry, and sought approval more than purity. God can use such a person for His purposes, but He cannot bless such a heart with His fullness. Zeal without love is not holiness. External obedience without inner surrender leads only to corruption. God desires worshipers who “worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). If Jehu had torn down the golden calves within as he did the Baal altars without, his reign might have brought revival instead of ruin. Today, examine your heart for hidden idols, the “golden calves” of pride, comfort, or fear that remain even after public victories. Let God’s Spirit reveal them and destroy them completely. Remember, the same power that calls you to obedience also empowers you to obey. Christ has given you His Spirit to make holiness possible. Walk in full-hearted surrender.

Pray: “Lord, search me and know me. Expose every hidden idol that competes for my heart. Don’t allow me to be content with being the best of the bad like Jehu. Thank You for showing me that zeal and obedience are empty without love and humility. Forgive me for the times I have done Your work for my own glory or settled for partial obedience. Teach me to worship You in spirit and in truth, to tear down every altar that exalts itself against You. Fill me with the compassion of Christ, the purity of Your Spirit, and the courage to follow You completely. Let my obedience flow not from pride but from love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”