READINGS ON 2 KINGS (6) (SUMMARY)
[p. 381] READINGS ON 2 KINGS (6) (SUMMARY)
JT The service under Jehu’s administration is marked by persons upon whom he executed judgment. First Jehoram king of Israel, which is recorded in chapter 9: 24, and then Ahaziah, king of Judah and Jezebel, afterwards Ahab’s seventy sons, and in chapter 10: 11, “all that remained of the house of Ahab”. Then in verse 13 the brethren of Ahaziah are slain, and later all the prophets of Baal. We must note these items if we are to get the full instruction contained in these chapters. Eight items are mentioned of persons executed. Then in verse 30, “Jehovah said to Jehu, Because thou hast executed well that which is right in my sight, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel”.
It is remarkable the carefulness with which each detail is mentioned in verses 26 and 27. The Spirit of God would have us to name these things as to their present application, as we have to judge these evils. The house of Ahab was positively identified with Baal, whereas Jeroboam was connected with the calves of Dan and Bethel. Jeroboam’s evil was not inaugurated by Ahab or Jezebel; Baal described particular evil, which came over from Tyre. The sin of Jeroboam was more general, it is the sin of christendom, involving clerisy. Jehu accepted that, whereas Ahab’s sin would be Rome in character. Luther never dealt with the clerical principle. The episcopalian system would go back to a period anterior to Rome, to the first, second and third centuries, and the evil of Rome developed there too.
[p. 382] Clericalism has continued on to the present day. Jehu did not deal with that.
Rem Jeroboam set up the calves in his day.
JT It was a political matter with him. Satan had idolatry in mind with Jehu; the impulse came from the anointing; he had remarkable courage and intelligence. Verse 15 conveys a spiritual touch, Jehonadab coming in. It is a heart matter in Jehu’s thought; there is a certain amount of uprightness with him.
Rem Jehonadab is mentioned and perpetuated by Jeremiah (chapter 35). Jehu was promised that his children to the fourth generation should sit on the throne of Israel.
JT He was honoured of God peculiarly; verse 15 is a relieving feature in his administration. This man, Jehonadab, came to meet him; it is a sort of confirmatory thing. God always furnishes that so as to give character to what has been done. Exciting things were to be refused by the house of Rechab. It indicates a spiritual element that joins in with what is of God. There were more spiritual men in the Reformation movement than the prominent leaders, Luther and others, men of more depth, such as Zwingli, John Huss and Wycliffe. There were persons also who were unnamed, who were thoroughly in sympathy with what was taking place, but who would not commit themselves. The prophetic word is governing what is to be done here.
Ques Do you refer to Elisha?
JT The ministry of Elijah is in mind. He was commissioned to anoint Jehu, he had strong punitive powers, and was marked by wonderful and outstanding exploits. Elisha continued in his room; he gives the collateral side. Elijah describes what is authoritative. He appears before Ahab, and says, “As Jehovah the God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except by my word”. He asserts the authority with [p. 383] which God has invested him. Authority is there, and it speaks for itself. He had wonderful courage and the anointing carried this through to Jehu, but the grace side is in Elisha. Jehu never judged what Jeroboam inaugurated, but he judged something more serious. Balaam is marked out as one of the greatest sinners, and yet God held him, and made him say the most wonderful things as to His people.
Ques. What about Ahaziah?
JT The first thing is this man Joram who represents the house of Ahab (chapter 9: 22). His mother is Jezebel, mentioned, as has been said, in the letter to Thyatira. Joram is responsible as he is the king; he is allowing these things though not committing them. That is the first item. And then Ahaziah: he is a king of Judah but affiliated with the king of Israel, so he is not saved. Then there is Jezebel herself, “Behold, I cast her into a bed ... and her children will I kill with death”, Revelation 2: 22. Compare with this verse 12, “And as he was at the shepherds’ meeting-place on the way, Jehu found the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, Who are ye? And they said, We are the brethren of Ahaziah; and have come down to salute the children of the king and the children of the queen”. These ‘children’ are affiliated with the children of Jezebel; the “meeting-place” is like the plain of Ono; they were coming down to have a good time. It is the social side, a Moabitish thing.
With the seventy sons of Ahab it was a head matter (verses 6, 7) as with Goliath. The thinking faculty is in mind; the palms of the hands in relation to Jezebel would speak of what is active or the moving faculty. The whole world is taxed to make Rome a masterpiece. If the palms of the hands are separated from the body, what can Jezebel do now? The skull had been the agent of evil. Jehu is in charge now. He eats and drinks, feasting where Jezebel used [p. 384] to be, while she disappears, never to appear again. Jehonadab, as was said, is the spiritual side of the matter, he is thoroughly with the overthrow of Ahab’s house in Jezebel. History would make much of the leaders, but the real spiritual element is there. Thyatira is the general profession, the last works to be more than the first, as if a remnant would come in there, so what was of God in the middle ages is striking. Take the hymns composed then. There was no assembly formation, but there was piety and love to Christ. They may have been further on than their words convey.
Rem The eunuchs would be a vital element here.
JT Yes. Isaiah 56 refers to “the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me”. They obey Jehu at once.
There is more opportunity of putting things together, as we meet in the light of the assembly. One can transpose the words of J.N.D.’s hymns, but the substance is all there. The “chief musician” can put things together. The last works in Thyatira are more than the first. The Lord furnished His people especially for suffering. How many there are whom we have never heard of! The Lord is thinking of all those, “To you I say, the rest who are in Thyatira”. The light of the coming of the Lord must have broken in upon them.
Rem I will give to him the morning star.
JT The overcomer in Philadelphia would have more understanding than the one in Thyatira. “I will write upon him the name of my God, ...” There is the light of relationship with God, and the temple. So the seventy sons are slain, then the brethren of Ahaziah, the king and queen having been slain. They have no judgment about anything. How often you find no judgment about anything which has come on the social side. How solemn! One wants to analyse these items, and avoid mere social thoughts. The word here is, “Take them alive!”, and they are [p. 385] slain at the well of the meeting-place. All that is social has to be watched, the purely worldly thing in the midst of profession.