2 Kings 10:18-29
"18 Then Jehu assembled all the people 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 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.20 And Jehu ordered, “Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal.” So they proclaimed it. 21 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. And they entered the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was filled from one end to the other. 22 He said to him who was in charge of the wardrobe, “Bring out the vestments for all the worshipers of Baal.” So he brought out the vestments for them. 23 Then Jehu went into the house of Baal with Jehonadab the son of Rechab, and he said to the worshipers of Baal, “Search, and see that there is no servant of the Lord here among you, but only the worshipers of Baal.” 24 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.”25 So as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guard and to the officers, “Go in and strike them down; let not a man escape.” So when they put them to the sword, the guard and the officers cast them out and went into the inner room of the house of Baal,26 and they brought out the pillar that was in the house of Baal and burned it. 27 And they demolished the pillar of Baal, and demolished the house of Baal, and made it a latrine to this day.
28 Thus Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel. 29 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."
There is something almost Elijah like in this encounter Jehu had with the prophets of Baal. This seems to have been the climax of all his work of judgment and cleansing. We can learn a great deal from the thoroughness and dedication which he showed in this work. There were no half measures with him - whatsoever he did, he did with all his might, in zeal for the Lord of hosts. The Church is in sore need of such a single-minded devotion to duty today - the trouble with us so often is that we give only a token allegiance to the word and will of God, and serve Him with a miserable half-heartedness which is useless to Him and soul-destroying for us. Again, we see something of Jehu's discrimination in seeking out and separating the servants of the Lord from the worshippers of Baal - as the instrument of the Lord's justice he accurately sifted the good and the evil in a way reminiscent of our Lord's parables of judgment where He speaks of the separation of sheep and goats, wheat and tares. Even in the midst of His wrath God judges righteously.
And yet, with all this, Jehu did not go far enough (29). He stopped short. How often we read this of the good kings in the Old Testament. They were fired by zeal for the Lord, and yet a lingering desire for evil things, or lack of courage to go to all lengths for God, kept them from being all they might have been. Is there not much food for thought here in relation to Christian service. Is our eye single? Are there lingering desires for forbidden things in our hearts? Have we the courage to be utterly for God, whatever the cost?
