Gold for the heart - 2 Kings 9-11

2 Kings 9

1 And Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, Gird up your loins, take this box of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead: 2 And when you arrive there, find Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, and go in, and take from among his brothers, and bring him to an inner chamber; 3 Then take the box of oil, and pour it on his head and say, The LORD says this, I have anointed you king over Israel. Then open the door and run, do not wait. 4 So the young man, the young man, the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. 5 And when he came, behold, the captains of the army were sitting; and he said, I have a word for you, O captain. And Jehu said, To which of all of us? And he said, To you, O captain. 6 And he arose, and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head and said to him, The LORD God of Israel says, I have anointed you king over the people of the LORD, over Israel.

Daniel 2:21cAnd he changes the times and the seasons: he removes kings, and sets up kings: he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

God avenges the blood of His servants

7 And you will strike the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants, the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel. 8 The whole house of Ahab will perish: and I will cut off from Ahab him that pisses against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel: 9 And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha, the son of Ahijah: 10 And the dogs will eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there will be nothing left of her to bury. And he opened the door, and fled.

God always tells why He does things.
He is truth and wants us to understand.
Jeroboam and Baasha were evil kings whose dynasties God cut off.

1Kings 18:13 Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the LORD, how I hid a hundred men of the LORD’s prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?

Romans 12:19 Dearly beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.

11 Then Jehu came out to the servants of his lord: and someone said to him, Is everything all right? Why did this crazy man come to you? And he said to them, You know the man, and his babbling. 12 And they said, It’s a lie; tell us now. And he said, He said this and this to me, The LORD says this, I have anointed you king over Israel. 13 Then they hurried and every man took his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew with trumpets saying, Jehu is king. 14 So Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram had kept Ramoth-gilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria. 15 But king Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds the Syrians had given him when he fought with Hazael, king of Syria.) And Jehu said, If this is your mind, let no one leave the city to go to tell it in Jezreel. 16 So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram. 17 And a watchman stood on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the troop of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company of men. And Joram said, Take a rider, send to meet them, and let him say, Is there peace? 18 So a rider went on horseback to meet him, and said, The king says, Is there peace? And Jehu said, What do you have to do with peace? Get behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he did not return.

Jezreel was the capital.
Joram was Ahab’s son.
In 1 Kings 21:29 God delayed judgment against Ahab’s evil until this time.
No one was allowed to leak the news that God had made Jehu king in Joram’s place.
Peace begins in the heart when we humble ourselves before God.

Isaiah 57:21 There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you: not as the world gives, I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled; neither let it be afraid.

19 Then he sent out a second on horseback, who came to them and said, The king says, Is there peace? And Jehu answered, What do you have to do with peace? Get behind me. 20 And the watchman reported saying, He came to them, and does not return: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; he drives furiously. 21 And Joram said, Harness up. So his chariot was harnessed. And Joram, king of Israel, and Ahaziah, king of Judah, went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. 22 And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, Is there peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of your mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?

There are only two choices—God’s way, and evil.
If we do not obey God, we are following evil.
We are following God’s enemy, Satan, and his hosts of evil spirits.
Evil spirits imitate God.
They copy His ways, but leave Him out.
Any good that leaves out God is from evil.

Judges 5:8 They chose false gods and war was in the gates.

23 And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah. 24 And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and struck Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went through his heart, and he sank down in his chariot. 25 Then Jehu said to Bidkar his captain, Take him up, and throw him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember when you and I rode together after Ahab, his father, the LORD laid this burden on him;

God sees the blood that is shed

26 Surely yesterday I have seen the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, says the LORD; and I will repay you in this spot, says the LORD. So take him now and throw him into that plot of ground, according to the word of the LORD.

God foretold this in 1 Kings 21:19. Notice that Jehu knew the word of God.

Psalm 9:12 When he makes inquisition for blood, he remembers them: he does not forget the cry of the humble.

Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

27 But when Ahaziah, the king of Judah, saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. And Jehu followed after him and said, Strike him in the chariot. And they did, at the going up to Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there. 28 And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his grave with his fathers in the city of David. 29 And in the eleventh year of Joram, the son of Ahab, Ahaziah began to reign over Judah. 30 And when Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, adorned her head, and looked out at a window. 31 And as Jehu entered in at the gate she said, Did Zimri have peace, who killed his master? 32 And he lifted up his face to the window and said, Who is on my side? Who? And two or three eunuchs looked out to him. 33 And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and some of her blood was splattered on the wall, and on the horses: and he trampled her under foot. 34 And when he came in (to the palace), he ate and drank, and said, Go, see to that cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a king’s daughter. 35 So they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, the feet, and the palms of her hands. 36 So they returned and told him. And he said, This is the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel dogs will eat the flesh of Jezebel: 37 And the carcass of Jezebel will be like dung on the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they will not say, This is Jezebel.

God has given many strong warnings in His word.
Our sinful nature needs to hear these warnings.
God wants to keep us on the right path.

Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that is what he will reap.

2 Kings 10

1 Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, to the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to those that brought up Ahab’s children saying, 2 As soon as this letter comes to you, since your master’s sons are with you, and you have chariots and horses with you, also a fenced city, and armor; 3 Select the best and fittest of your master’s sons, set him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s house. 4 But they were exceedingly afraid and said, Behold, two kings could not stand before him: how then can we stand? 5 And he that was over the house, and he that was over the city, the elders, and the guardians of the children sent to Jehu saying, We are your servants, and will do all that you tell us; we will not make any king: you do what is good in your eyes. 6 Then he wrote a letter the second time to them saying, If you are for me, and if you will listen to my voice, take the heads of the men your master’s sons, and come to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow. Now the king’s sons, seventy persons, were with the great men of the city who raised them. 7 And when the letter came to them they took the king’s sons, killed seventy persons, put their heads in baskets, and sent him them to Jezreel.

This was God’s judgment against Ahab for massive, longstanding idolatry.

1Kings 21:21 Behold, I will bring evil on you, and will take away your posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisses against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, 25 But there was none like Ahab, who sold himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.

8 And a messenger came and told him saying, They have brought the heads of the king’s sons. And he said, Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until morning. 9 And in the morning he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, You are righteous: behold, I conspired against my master, and killed him: but who killed all these? 10 Now know that nothing of the word of the LORD will fall to the earth which the LORD spoke concerning the house of Ahab: for the LORD has done what he spoke by his servant Elijah.

None of God’s words fall to the earth.

Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

11 So Jehu killed all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all his great men, his relatives, and his priests, until he left none remaining. 12 And he got up, departed, and came to Samaria. And as he was at the shearing house in the way, 13 Jehu met with the brothers of Ahaziah, king of Judah, and said, Who are you? And they answered, We are the brothers of Ahaziah; we are going down to salute the children of the king and the children of the queen. 14 And he said, Take them alive. And they took them alive, and killed them at the pit of the shearing house, 42 men; he left none of them.

God used Jehu to remove an evil ruler.
Not many rulers lead their people to God as well as lead the nation wisely.
David was one of the few men in history who did this.

Daniel 2:21 (The LORD) he changes the times and the seasons: he removes kings, and sets up kings: he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

15 And when he departed from there, he met Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, coming to meet him: and he saluted/blessed him and said to him, Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it is, give me your hand. And he gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot. 16 And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD. So they made him ride in his chariot. 17 And when he came to Samaria, he killed all that remained to Ahab in Samaria, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke to Elijah. 18 And Jehu gathered all the people together and said to them, Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu will serve him much. 19 Now therefore, call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests; let none be missing: for I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal; anyone who is lacking, he will not live. But Jehu was tricking them so that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal. 20 And Jehu said, Proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal. And they proclaimed it. 21 And Jehu sent through all Israel: and all the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that did not come. They came into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal was full from one end to another.

Baal was the god that the people placed their children upon the burning arms of, and fornicated to the sound of their screams.
God, in His word, has spared us many of the gruesome details of the hideous things that false worship leads to.

Habakkuk 1:13 You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity.

22 And he said to him that was over the wardrobe, Bring out clothing for all the worshippers of Baal. And he brought out their garments. 23 And Jehu went, and Jehonadab the son of Rechab, into the house of Baal, and said to the worshippers of Baal, Search, and see that there are no servants of the LORD here with you, but only the worshippers of Baal. 24 And when they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings, Jehu positioned 80 men outside and said, If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escape, he that lets him go, his life will be for the life of him. 25 And as soon as he ended offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in, and kill them; let none come out. And they struck them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains threw them out, and went to the inner room of the house of Baal. 26 And they brought out the images out of the house of Baal, and burned them. 27 And they broke down the image of Baal, and broke down the house of Baal, and made it an outhouse to this day.

God had shown them His love and patience for many years, but they would not return to him.
So, through Jehu, He cut out the cancer of evil that was leading many to eternal death.

28 By this, Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel. 29 However, Jehu did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, that is, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan. 30 And the LORD said to Jehu, Because you have done well in executing what is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your children of the fourth generation will sit on the throne of Israel. 31 But Jehu did not guard himself to walk in the law of the LORD God of Israel with all his heart: he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel sin.

God rewarded Jehu’s obedience with a promise of four reigning kings, though Jehu did not follow the Lord.

God downsized His disobedient nation

32 In those days the LORD began to cut Israel short: and Hazael struck them in all the borders of Israel; 33 From Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan. 34 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? 35 And Jehu slept with his fathers: and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz, his son, reigned in his place. 36 The time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was 28 years.

God’s first choice is always to bless man.
Man usually makes that impossible because God is holy.
He is righteous and just.
When people repeatedly choose hurt and destruction, He must act.

Judges 5:8 They chose new gods; then was war in the gates…
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any perish, but that all come to repentance.

2 Kings 11

1 But king Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; 2 Of the nations concerning which the LORD said to the children of Israel, You are not to go in to them, neither they come in to you: for they will definitely turn your heart away after their gods: Solomon clung to these in love.

Genesis 2:24 Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and cling to his wife: and they will be one flesh.

Acts 11:23, and exhorted …that with purpose of heart they would cling to the Lord.

3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. 4 When Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, like the heart of David his father. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom/Molech the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not wholly follow the LORD, as his father David did. 7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. 8 And he did the same for all his foreign wives who burnt incense and sacrificed to their gods.

God had forbid marriage to foreign women to prevent idolatry.
God also forbid multiplying wives.
Solomon shows us that even many wives do not bring happiness. Even though he had everything, he wasn’t happy (whole book of Ecclesiastes).

Deuteronomy 17:17 Neither is he to multiply wives to himself, so that his heart not turn away: neither is he to greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

Psalm 16:11 You will show me the path of life: in Your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

The Lord stirred up enemies against him

9 And the LORD was angry with Solomon because his heart turned from the LORD God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, 10 And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he not go after other gods: but he did not keep what the LORD commanded. 11 Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, Because you have done this, you have not kept my covenant and my statutes, that I commanded you, I will definitely tear the kingdom from you, and give it to your servant. 12 However I will not do it in your days for David your father’s sake: but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 I will not tear away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to your son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen. 14 And the LORD stirred up an adversary to Solomon, Hadad the Edomite: he was of the king’s seed in Edom. 15 For when David was in Edom, and Joab the captain of the army had gone to bury the dead, after he had struck every male in Edom; 16 (For six months Joab remained there with all Israel, until he had cut off every male in Edom:) 17 That Hadad fled, he and certain Edomites of his father’s servants with him, to go into Egypt; Hadad being a little child. 18 And they arose out of Midian, and came to Paran: and they took men with them out of Paran, and they came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt; who gave him a house, apportioned him food, and gave him land. 19 Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him as a wife the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes, the queen. 20 And the sister of Tahpenes bore him his son Genubath, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house: Genubath was in Pharaoh’s household among the sons of Pharaoh. 21 And when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the captain of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, Let me leave to go to my own country. 22 Then Pharaoh said to him, But what have you lacked with me, that behold, you seek to go to your own country? And he answered, Nothing: however let me go in anyway.

Judges 5:8 They chose new gods; then was war in the gates.

Psalm 96:5 For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.

1Corinthians 8:4 …we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one.

The Lord gave the kingdom to Solomon’s servant

23 And God stirred up another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah, who fled from his lord, Hadadezer, king of Zobah, 24 He gathered men to himself, and became captain over a band, when David killed those of Zobah: they went to Damascus, lived there, and reigned in Damascus. 25 He was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, beside the evil that Hadad did: he abhorred Israel and reigned over Syria. 26 And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zereda, Solomon’s servant, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow woman, even he lifted up his hand against the king. 27 And this was the reason that he lifted up his hand against the king: Solomon built Millo, and repaired the breaks of the city of David his father. 28 And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor: and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious, he made him ruler over all the duty of the house of Joseph. 29 At that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clothed himself with a new garment; and the two were alone in the field: 30 And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and tore it in twelve pieces: 31 And he said to Jeroboam, You take ten pieces: for the LORD, the God of Israel says, Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to you: 32 (But he will have one tribe for my servant David’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:) 33 Because they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do what is right in my eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as his father David did. 34 However I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him prince all the days of his life for my servant David’s sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes: 35 But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand, and will give it to you, even ten tribes. 36 But to his son I will give one tribe, so that my servant David may always have a light before me in Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen for myself to put my name there. 37 And I will take you, and you will reign according to all that your soul desires, and will be king over Israel. 38 And if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do that is right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did; then I will be with you, and build you a lasting dynasty, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you.

Solomon’s worship of false gods led the people into idolatry.
Idolatry is a source of life's suffering and leads to eternal death.
God promised to stay with Solomon’s servant Jeroboam and make a secure dynasty for him if he remained obedient to God.

39 And I will afflict the seed of David for this, but not forever. 40 Therefore Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam. And Jeroboam arose, and fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon. 41 And the rest of the acts of Solomon, all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon? 42 Solomon reigned over all Israel in Jerusalem forty years. 43 And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

God has always been looking for men who will reign according to His rules.
God afflicted out of love, to correct.
His Son will reign rightly forever.

Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. 7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chastens not?

Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

Daniel 2:44 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom, which will never be destroyed: and the kingdom will not be left to other people, but it will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it will stand for ever.

Psalm 2: 7 I will declare the decree: the LORD has said to me, You are my Son; this day have I begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will give you the heathen for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.

SUMMARY: 2 Kings 9-11

God sees the blood that is shed
He avenges the blood of His servants
He downsized His disobedient nation
He preserved one child in the royal family
He desires us to be His people