#500 Almost

And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to them that brought up Ahab's children, saying,

2 Now as soon as this letter cometh to you, seeing your master's sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, a fenced city also, and armour;

3 Look even out the best and meetest of your master's sons, and 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 stood not before him: how then shall we stand?

5 And he that was over the house, and he that was over the city, the elders also, and the bringers up of the children, sent to Jehu, saying, We are thy servants, and will do all that thou shalt bid us; we will not make any king: do thou that which is good in thine eyes.

6 Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If ye be mine, and if ye will hearken unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men your master's sons, and come to me to Jezreel by to morrow this time. Now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought them up.

7 And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent him them to Jezreel.

8 And there came a messenger, and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the king's sons. And he said, Lay ye them in two heaps at the entering in of the gate until the morning.

9 And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, Ye be righteous: behold, I conspired against my master, and slew him: but who slew all these?

10 Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spake concerning the house of Ahab: for the Lord hath done that which he spake by his servant Elijah.

11 So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his kinsfolks, and his priests, until he left him none remaining.

12 And he arose and departed, and came to Samaria. And as he was at the shearing house in the way,

13 Jehu met with the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, Who are ye? And they answered, We are the brethren of Ahaziah; and we go 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 slew them at the pit of the shearing house, even two and forty men; neither left he any of them.

15 And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him: and he saluted him, and said to him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thine 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 slew all that remained unto Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed him, according to the saying of the Lord, which he spake to Elijah.

18 And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said unto them, Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu shall serve him much.

19 Now therefore call unto me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests; let none be wanting: for I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal; whosoever shall be wanting, he shall not live. But Jehu did it in subtilty, to the intent 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 came not. And they came into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal was full from one end to another.

22 And he said unto him that was over the vestry, Bring forth vestments for all the worshippers of Baal. And he brought them forth vestments.

23 And Jehu went, and Jehonadab the son of Rechab, into the house of Baal, and said unto the worshippers of Baal, Search, and look that there be here with you none of the servants of the Lord, but the worshippers of Baal only.

24 And when they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings, Jehu appointed fourscore men without, and said, If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escape, he that letteth him go, his life shall be for the life of him.

25 And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in, and slay them; let none come forth. And they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains cast them out, and went to the city of the house of Baal.

26 And they brought forth the images out of the house of Baal, and burned them.

27 And they brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day.

28 Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.

29 Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan.

30 And the Lord said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.

31 But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.

32 In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short: and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel;

33 From Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and 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 stead.

36 And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty and eight years. 2 Kings 10 KJV

At the surface we have a man that has just breeched the present line, now calling out his possible challengers. We have already been told that these things are presented to us for our growth and edification, so we must look also for the spirit behind the letters. Now we have also seen before that God's anointing of a man, does not cause all others to see themselves as unqualified, on the contrary, we have seen it contested many times. Jehu would put this to rest now, even 70 times, but it is not necessary, for those who have the kings sons among them do not find them worth the effort. They take their heads instead and send them in baskets, that this cluster of grapes may sit in a pile, I imagine looking out upon Naboth's vineyard. He faces the people openly, that yes, I cut down the vine but you have also pressed the fruit, and I do not apologize for this, so don't pretend at being appalled now. You should have been appalled when Jezebel murdered an innocent man, when Ahab allowed it for his own gain. You should have been appalled when the God that brought you here was replaced with a foreign god, and before that when you acknowledged God, but not in truth.

Now I can agree that God has set him about this work, that Jehu comes to reform this kingdom, but I cannot agree with some of his methods. Let us lie if by such means we may overcome, or should we continue in sin that grace may abound? He is fast and efficient I admit, but those that worship God must do so in Spirit and in Truth. If he is here to reform then he has only gone as far as Baal and then stopped. He brings a respected man into his chariot, ride with me, for I should like such an endorsement and enjoy your approval. I have punished Ahab, his family, extended and the priest of Baal, and won the admiration of the pious. Come see my zeal for the Lord, look at what I have done, but I will not challenge the calves in our land. There is a precedent there, a tradition, it is preferred that the people worship here and in this way, rather than go to the temple at Jerusalem. I have defeated those who defy God in saying that there is this Baal, but I will not challenge those who say they worship the God of Abraham, but in the way that He has not condoned. If you say that you love Christ, that you are a Christian, then Jehu wouldn't challenge you. You may be in a cult that misrepresents Who God is, but if you are behind Jehu, then that is enough. He will not go unrewarded either, and people that read this will come to think, look, you see, his line will go on 4 fold. His kingdom will reach past the time of his own rule. There are benefits to some of what he's done, these things work to good, like working produces more than not, but he will accept the pay of a mercenary rather than that of a son. He will receive his reward, but his heart will be deceived for he has cleaned around it but not looked so deep as in it. It is the place that so few go, the place of God's honor and his hate of sin. Shall we continue, oh God You ask way too much, call it good enough. I tore down that idol, that altar, that temple that You hated, but I am afraid to ask what else? How did we get to this? There is now where we are happy at the surface, but to go beneath, to seek Him while He may be found, just take the tangible reward. You have a quail in your hand, Saul is sleeping, you have been granted sonship by Pharaoh's daughter, but if you dive beneath the surface, there is already the hint of a place you will not like. Without the mirror of the surface, that you can so easily disturb, you may see the hypocrisy of a judge who does not judge himself, who glorifies himself instead. There is a cross down there and you will drown trying to take it up. Take the money, the honor of a position, look at those sins that you can get others behind, but don't look too deep, or you will only see your insufficiency, your need, your disaster.  

Now argue it all you want, that the proof of it being enough was his legacy, but in the end it says he did not depart from the sin which got them to Baal in the first place. Israel began to be cut short, their land began to shrink down to the size of her heart. She was easily misled, and her boundaries were lost. Lord, forgive me for the pride of effort, that I have somehow won myself. Thank you that I am not dead in my trespasses, please bring me to hate my own sin more than that which is so obvious in others. It is easy to go only part way, to move the bar low, to look only so far, and to miss the mark all together while we are celebrating before the battle is won. It is so gratifying to us who are so immature in spirit to find the worst in others, but spin ourselves as great. I should always be the hero in my own stories, the saint in my own book, but the Scriptures belong to God, and there, in there, it tells me that I am a sinner like everyone else. It tells me that none seek the truth, though I insisted that I knew it better than God. It tells me from beginning to end that there is only one answer to this and that is Jesus Christ, He can show you beneath the surface, forgive you for what you will find, and empower you to walk away from death, into His glorious light. 

“To the angel[a] of the church in Ephesus write:

These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Revelation 2: 1-7