{"id":35564,"date":"2025-04-20T22:00:52","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T05:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=35564"},"modified":"2025-04-16T13:37:39","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T20:37:39","slug":"2-kings-10_18-36","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2-kings-10_18-36\/","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye Jehu. Hello Jesus."},"content":{"rendered":"

2 Kings 10:18-36 \u00a0(CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Kings 10:18-36.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

2 Kings 10:18-36 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Jehu brought all the people together and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now summon all the prophets of Baal, all his ministers and all his priests. See that no one is missing, because I am going to hold a great sacrifice for Baal. Anyone who fails to come will no longer live.” But Jehu was acting deceptively in order to destroy the ministers of Baal.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jehu said, “Call an assembly in honor of Baal.” So they proclaimed it.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then he sent word throughout Israel, and all the ministers of Baal came; not one stayed away. They crowded into the temple of Baal until it was full from one end to the other.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And Jehu said to the keeper of the wardrobe, “Bring robes for all the ministers of Baal.” So he brought out robes for them.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Jehu and Jehonadab son of Recab went into the temple of Baal. Jehu said to the ministers of Baal, “Look around and see that no servants of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0are here with you–only ministers of Baal.”
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So they went in to make sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had posted eighty men outside with this warning: “If one of you lets any of the men I am placing in your hands escape, it will be your life for his life.”
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As soon as Jehu had finished making the burnt offering, he ordered the guards and officers: “Go in and kill them; let no one escape.” So they cut them down with the sword. The guards and officers threw the bodies out and then entered the inner shrine of the temple of Baal.
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They brought the sacred stone out of the temple of Baal and burned it.
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They demolished the sacred stone of Baal and tore down the temple of Baal, and people have used it for a latrine to this day.
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Jehu destroyed Baal worship in Israel.
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0However, he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit–the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in accomplishing what is right in my eyes and have done to the house of Ahab all I had in mind to do, your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.”
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Yet Jehu was not careful to keep the law of the\u00a0LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to commit.
\n32\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In those days the\u00a0LORD\u00a0began to reduce the size of Israel. Hazael overpowered the Israelites throughout their territory
\n33\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0east of the Jordan in all the land of Gilead (the region of Gad, Reuben and Manasseh), from Aroer by the Arnon Gorge through Gilead to Bashan.
\n34\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As for the other events of Jehu’s reign, all he did, and all his achievements, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?
\n35\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jehu rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son succeeded him as king.
\n36\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 18-36:\u00a0 Having gotten rid of the house of Ahab along with a slew of others, Jehu now focuses on erasing the worship of the idol Baal in Israel. He invites all the prophets of Baal to the temple of Baal under the auspices that he is going to hold an assembly in honour of their god. Jehu even gives each prophet of Baal a special robe, which seems like a gift when in fact it just makes them an easier target (v22).\u00a0 As these prophets make their sacrifices to Baal, Jehu’s men ambush the prophets of Baal and cut them down with the sword inside the temple.\u00a0 They also destroy the temple of Baal and begin using it as a urinal (v27).<\/p>\n

Jehu’s legacy is that he destroyed the house of Ahab (which he did in accordance with God’s command) (v30) and destroyed Baal worship in Israel (v28).\u00a0 However, there were two forces that Jehu did not destroy.\u00a0 First, Jehu continued to support the worship of Jeroboam’s golden calves (v29, 31) and thus did not follow the Lord wholeheartedly.\u00a0 Second, Jehu could not defeat the nation of Aram led by their king Hazael.\u00a0 Rather, during Jehu’s reign, Aram took over more and more of Israel’s territory (v32-33).\u00a0 After a 28 year reign as king over Israel, Jehu dies and is succeeded by his son Jehoahaz (v35-36).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from all this?\u00a0 \u00a0The life of Jehu as recorded in\u00a02\u00a0Kings\u00a09-10\u00a0reads like a mature-rated third person shooter game.\u00a0 It’s full of violent, bloody, merciless killing of those who have done evil by turning away from the Lord.\u00a0 You might ask, “How could God approve of such violence?\u00a0 Does it please God for His people to kill this way?\u00a0 Does God support terrorism?”<\/p>\n

Here’s the problem:\u00a0 If God shows mercy to those who sin and lets them off the hook, people will accuse God of being unjust and indifferent to evil.\u00a0 But if God punishes those who sin (as he does through Jehu in\u00a02\u00a0Kings\u00a09-10), people will accuse God of being merciless and cruel.\u00a0 So what should God do?\u00a0 Amazingly,\u00a0centuries after Jehu destroyed the house of Ahab and the prophets of Baal, God did the unthinkable:\u00a0 He punished evildoers AND He showed them mercy at the same time.\u00a0 How?\u00a0 By sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross on behalf of every sinner.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the cross God condemned and punished all of our sins and placed them on Himself.\u00a0 At the same time at the cross God also showed us how incomparably merciful and loving God is, canceling our debt by paying it Himself.\u00a0 \u00a0T<\/strong>he cross where Jesus died is the intersection where God\u2019s justice and God\u2019s mercy meet<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

S<\/strong>ince Jesus died on the cross, God in the New Testament no longer commands that His people be modern day Jehu’s who go out and kill unbelievers for their idolatry.\u00a0 That’s because God has already dealt with all of our sins and idolatry at the cross.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Now God waits for us to respond and receive the mercy that God makes available through Jesus Christ alone.\u00a0 So instead of unleashing violence on people who don\u2019t believe in the Lord, God calls us to love them and to show them the same mercy and grace that God has shown to us, in hopes that they will turn to Jesus one day as well.\u00a0 Jehu is gone and Jesus has come, and we are called to follow Jesus.<\/p>\n

Lord Jesus, thank You for being the God who hates sin but who loves sinners.\u00a0 Thank You for the cross where Your justice and mercy meet.\u00a0 May we be Christ-like representatives in our world and lead others to You not through judgmental violence but through love and mercy.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Kings 10:18-36.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!\u00a0<\/p>\n

2 Kings 10:18-36 (NIV)
\n18\u00a0\u00a0Then Jehu brought all the people together and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much.
\n19\u00a0\u00a0Now summon all the prophets of Baal, all his ministers and all his priests. See that no one is missing, because I am going to hold a great sacrifice for Baal. Anyone who fails to come will no longer live.” But Jehu was acting deceptively in order to destroy the ministers of Baal.
\n20\u00a0\u00a0Jehu said, “Call an assembly in honor of Baal.” So they proclaimed it.<\/p>\n

On verses 18-36:\u00a0 Having gotten rid of the house of Ahab along with a slew of others, Jehu now focuses on erasing the worship of the idol Baal in Israel. He invites all the prophets of Baal to the temple of Baal under the auspices that he is going to hold an assembly in honour of their god. Jehu even gives each prophet of Baal a special robe, which seems like a gift when in fact it just makes them an easier target (v22).\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35566,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35564"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35567,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35564\/revisions\/35567"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}