Bible in 365 Days

2 Kings 9-11

2 Kings 9

The hour had come to carry out the sentence of God on the house of Ahab. The prophet sent one of the sons of the prophets to anoint Jehu. This Jehu, as his history reveals, was a fitting instrument for swift and relentless judgment. He was a furious driver, which was symbolic of his character. He halted at nothing, but swept like a whirlwind from point to point until the things he desired were accomplished. This is startlingly manifest in this chapter.

On tde way, having been anointed directly to his work, he slew Joram with his own hands, and, quickly moving back, encompassed the death of Ahaziah, and then proceeded to where Jezebel was still living. Pronouncing upon her the very doom of God, he carried out in detail the sentence pronounced long ago.

It is indeed a terrible chapter in which the truth of the divine government is written no longer in the gentle words of patient mercy, but in flames of fire. At last the day of God's patience had passed, and the devouring sword fell on the chief persons in the household of Ahab, who had done so much to encompass the ruin of His ancient people.

2 Kings 10

Here begins the second section of the Book, that which deals with the rapid and fearful corruption of the whole nation. The story alternates between Israel and Judah, and both sections of the nation sink deeper and ever deeper into sin and decay. Jehu is still to the front as a veritable scourge of God. First he was occupied in the work of sweeping out Ahab's posterity, and it was done with terrific speed. He then turned himself against Baalism, and with a thoroughness that is nothing short of terrible he broke and destroyed it.

Yet the story of Jehu is one of personal failure. When proceeding against Baal worship, his words to Jehonadab, "Come with me, and see my zeal for Jehovah," are in themselves a revelation of a proud spirit. While he was an instrument in the hand of God, nevertheless, strange as it may appear, he was in private life corrupt. "He departed not from the sins of Jeroboam"; he "took no heed to walk in the law of Jehovah." How terrible a warning is the story of this man-that it is possible to be an instrument in the hand of God and yet never be in fellowship with Him.

2 Kings 11

The story now turns to Judah. When Jehu had slain Ahaziah, his mother Athaliah, the sister of Ahab and of his very nature, seized the throne by killing all the seed royal, and for six years swayed the scepter of her terrible power over the kingdom of Judah.

In this wholesale massacre Jehosheba, the daughter of Athaliah, saved Joash. The fact is stated as an incident. How much romance lies behind the six years during which this woman nursed and cared for the young life hidden in the Temple! He must have been but a year old when she fled there with him, for he was but seven when he came to the throne. Jehoiada, the priest, at last took careful measures to ensure the death of Athaliah and the crowning of Joash.

And still the same great truth of the divine overruling flames on the page. Selfish ambition and all evil passions are at work, but over all these God presides and moves still onward toward the consummation.