READINGS ON 2 KINGS (5) (SUMMARY)
[p. 375] READINGS ON 2 KINGS (5) (SUMMARY)
JT We saw in chapter 8 the remnant of Israel returning in the last days, and claiming their land, then Ben-hadad dies, and Hazael comes on the scene, foreshadowing antichrist in his persecution of the Jews, causing Elisha to weep (verse 11). Other features of evil come out in the chapter, Edom revolts and Ahaziah is introduced, son of Athaliah.
Ques What does Athaliah set forth?
JT She destroyed the seed royal, whereas Jezebel destroyed the prophets: two features of Christ, royalty and prophecy. This is the end of Jezebel as we have to consider what this chapter signifies; the antitypical teaching is plain enough. Jehu is anointed to cut off the house of Ahab. He was one of the men Elijah was instructed to anoint, though actually he did not anoint either Hazael or Jehu. This came more under Elisha’s service continuing, as he did, Elijah’s ministry, being the vessel of grace. He would anoint them in relation to grace; they would thus have great advantage in being brought into the testimony by Elisha. As to the history, Ahab comes into the Thyatira assembly; the next enquiry is, Where does Jehu come in, in the antitypical teaching? In the dark ages, the error was met in the Reformation, certain men being taken up to meet what obtained.
Chapter 8 is one line, the history of the Jews, developing into the remnant coming back to their own land; then certain elements come in in relation to the king of Syria dealing with the last days. Chapter 9 is church history, so you get Jezebel and all her [p. 376] affiliations.
Ques What is the thought in the anointing?
JT Elijah was told to anoint Jehu, though he did not do it. Elisha goes into the gentile world and meets Hazael, it is a gentile position in the last days in relation to the Jews. All three were to persecute the Jews, Hazael, Jehu and Elisha; those whom one did not slay, the others would. It was all judgment as stated to Elijah, but in result it was all grace. Hazael represents antichrist in the last days. So cruel to the Jews, and then Jehu is brought in to cut off the house of Ahab. The address to Thyatira brings in Jezebel. Elisha plainly intimates that Hazael is a ruthless man; he slays his master and Jehu displaces him. Hazael is not anointed formally at all, but the principle runs into the facts.
Rem Jezebel is overthrown.
JT She represents the Romish system more in its religious seductive energies. Her guilt is in relation to responsibility. Babylon is destroyed ultimately, the worldly power; the darkest period preceded the Reformation, when Jezebel was dealt with.
Ques What about the powers that be?
JT That is a more general thought in relation to the carrying on of God’s government, while Jehovah hides His face from the house of Jacob. In the four empires and ten kings we read of, God provides the means of carrying on His government. Many treat the powers that be as if they were just the world, whereas government is of God. So we have the “four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth”, Zechariah 6: 5. They “go forth” to carry on the government of the world.
If we think of Jehu again, he marks a new dynasty in Israel, and he is anointed to destroy the house of Ahab, particularly Jezebel; so we ought to link this chapter up with the allusion to Jezebel in Revelation, for wherever you get an Old Testament scripture carried into the New, you are sure to get the key to it.
[p. 377] We want to see what is set forth in Jehu; have we a judgment as to him? He represents a good deal, that exists since the Reformation, yet that which God has used. On the divine side it is all grace, and yet grace using a man like this! It is not a man that we might choose to do a given work yet he is doing it, and we may judge what he does by that fact. He made a poor finish, we have to take note of his character and end. It is a mistake to judge of a thing done by the person who does it; we might invalidate the whole ministry of Christ by what Judas did if we went on this line! Joab was the leading man under David’s regime, yet he was a murderer! If we do not see this we might even invalidate the testimony of christianity as the Bible was for years in the custody of men not equal to it and yet it has come down to us. It is a question of the thing that is done. So if we think of Luther and the leading reformers, we would hardly allow them to break bread today, with the light we have, yet God was using them and what they did stood. Paul says, “Lest after having preached to others I should be myself rejected”. If we do not understand this, we shall wonder how the truth came down to us. The Vatican has a Bible, one of the best versions, and that came down to us; the Roman Empire would have destroyed it. You could not speak of many of the men used in this way as characteristically God’s servants. The man who was sent to anoint Jehu is called a madman. Much is beclouded by human innovations, but what has been revived is always there in principle. The Holy Spirit gets scope and brings the whole truth round.
We are brought into the economy of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; the Father conveying the objective thought, the Son what is administrative and the Spirit what is operative. If an unconverted man preaches, the Holy Spirit might come upon him just as the ass with man’s voice conveyed the word of God to Balaam. The Holy Spirit coming upon a man is not the same as sealing. It speaks in Hebrews of those who “have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit”. Many of these would be preaching the truth from the Bible, and the Holy Spirit gives them power for the moment. God might use the Pope, or the Archbishop of Canterbury. Caiaphas prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, yet there is no evidence that he was a believer. The “old prophet” of 1 Kings 13 prophesied for the moment, in order to bring God in. The thing is right whoever does it. Judas was selected that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. It indicates a very low state of things that God has to use a man like this. We read God humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth. As humbling Himself, He is still there, though things are low, and He has to use what there is. If He takes up a man on lower ground, I am not to question what such an one does, because of what he is. One must judge by the thing itself, even if there is discrepancy. One might be “saved ... so as by fire”, and yet used for conversion. You value what is right in him. Jehu is not in keeping with Elisha. This man Jehonadab, too (chapter 10) is more spiritual than Jehu, yet Jehu is in the front.
Rem God will expose everything ultimately.
JT That is very clear. He will not let us pass. Shimei came down to meet David, bringing a thousand men, and David forgave him. Abishai said it was not right, but the point is David is king and has power to forgive. Shimei came into judgment all the same. On the one hand the dispensation must be maintained though other things may come in governmentally. So Peter is found among the eleven in the early part of Acts though he had previously denied the Lord. What have I to say? I dare not question it. The Lord is Head of the dispensation.
[p. 379] So this man who anoints Jehu is called a madman, and yet he is a prophet. Elijah and Elisha are with God, the former over against antichrist like Enoch. Then Elisha is in Elijah’s room, carrying on on the highest level, whereas Jehu is the sort of man needed now. Normally servants ought to be what they say, but it is a question here of what God is; He is working in a drastic way to deal with evil. Elisha would not be the man to do this work. God is obliged to take up men today not breaking bread, but what is right is right and it stands. We could not say Luther led to the assembly position at all. He said the epistle of James was an epistle of straw! There are hundreds of men like Jehu carrying on a certain work, whereas Elisha is maintaining a high level, he is the prophet. The fulfilment of judgment is very drastic, but God is not resting on what Jehu is doing. He has Elisha beside Jehu. The young prophet says more than he is told to; you may get a thought from the Lord and either enlarge on it or compress it in your ministry. It may be either comprehensive or very small. Moses’ instruction from God in Exodus 12 is embodied in twenty verses, but what he is told to say is reduced to seven, when he addresses the people. This is the result of levitical instinct. Then with Paul — the Lord tells him He has much people at Corinth, but there is no record that he was told to remain eighteen months, or to limit himself to the cross in his early ministry there. The Lord confides something to you either in a small or a large way, and you enlarge or compress when granted an audience later.
The Holy Spirit is obviously helping Jehu here. He gets a definite judgment as to Ahab’s conduct, as he comes into contact with these two kings, and that in the very place of the inheritance of Naboth (verse 21). In ministry something comes up often which is quite unexpected. Why should Jehu meet these kings there? What a disadvantage to the enemy, but what [p. 380] an advantage to the truth! Jehu is equal to the occasion, too. He calls attention to the murder of Naboth. Something comes up in ministry that you never thought of, certain conditions in the town or what not. You arrive at the thing. Jehu comes to Jizreel where there is all this show — chariots, paint, and so on. He says, Who is on my side? He is victorious: “This plot” helped him. How could you expect these men to do what he wishes (verse 33)? But they did it. Jezebel is done with, and Jehu is in charge, and in liberty in the palace, master of the situation. The Lord may bring out things you may never have thought of before. Putting himself over against Jezebel, Jehu becomes a gathering centre.