The Gruesome Judgment of Jehu | 2 Kings 10 Explained | The Bible Guys

Show Notes

Episode 621:
In this episode, we delve into the dramatic and violent narrative found in 2 Kings chapter 10. The chapter recounts the story of Jehu, who is tasked with executing God's judgment on Ahab's family. We explore the shocking details of Jehu's actions, including the beheading of Ahab's 70 sons and the subsequent display of their heads in baskets at the city gate. This gruesome imagery serves as a stark reminder of the severity of God's judgment and the fulfillment of prophecy.

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You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Well, good morning, morning, we're starting. We talked good morning, good morning to you and you and you. What a way to start the week, Chris, I don't think I've ever done it on the mone I mean just have Do you remember a Monday starting never? Never? Never? So you just shot us in distress. I can't imagine this week getting much better. Yeah, we just shot an adrenaline shot. Everybody's we reached the pinnacle of the week in the first fifteen seconds. We have. Good morning. Yeah wow, So hey, well, hey, good morning. We are the Bible Guys and we are here to talk about the Bible. Oh okay, and how about that in fun and practical way? How about that? Who would have thought, you know, some guys toning and say, oh I thought this was a sports scores right right? Not not not the way we roll? Yeah, okay, Well, hey this is one of your favorite one of your favorite, is it? Yeah? You like this and that's this or that one. It's kind of what it is. Yeah, you like these, so this is the one must go. Well, I like I like that. Would you rather? Would you rather? Oh? Okay, okay, what I like? Okay, But but you know this does it's very similar. It gives your choice. This is called one must go, and it says, hey, one one, which one stays, and which one goes away forever? And the thing that we can never decide is is this for the world or. Just for ourselves? Yeah, it's for the world for people who cares about yours. What we like setting ourselves up is kings of the universe. Anyways, that's right, that's right, that's right, all right. Here's the first one. Would you pineapple on pizza or mushrooms on pizza? Which which one goes away forever? For the world, it have to be pineapple on pizza. Although I love both, I do. I do too. Yeah. I always forget how much I like pineapple and pizza until I have a pizza with pineapple, and then I'm like, why don't we order this more? Right? Right? But it has to be that way because pineapple on pizza is sort of a thing that people don't like. Yeah, yeah, so if I agree, I agree. Well, people don't like mushrooms either. There's a lot of people. But the difference is pizza is in it is fundamentally an Italian yes, right, and there is no pineapple and right, yeah, so that doesn't open pineapple on pizza. It's not really a pizza. My ancestors are rolling in their ridge. Okay, go for it. Number two candy corn goes Away Forever or black licorice. I'm going candy corn, candy corn without even thinking twice, I'm. Gonna go black licorice. Really yeah, really, So you don't like lickorice. Well, here's the thing. I think that a lot of people. Hate candy corn absolutely, and I personally think black licorice is from the devil. See, I was gonna say, whoever invented candy corn. You know, we've taken some strong stands the last few weeks, and I was gonna say, whoever invented candy cork can't go to heaven. There was a guy that just was that the baptism, sir, it's just on Monday, and he goes. I started listen to the Bible, guys. He goes, and I'm nude heritage. He goes and I didn't feel welcome, And I go, what do you mean? I was in that bathroom. He was changing. You get baptized, and he goes because he goes, uh, he goes. I was told that if I owned an android, I wasn't going. Well, okay, we'll make an exception for him. Okay, right right, but yeah, candy corn is my thing, man. Okay, well, then both they have to they have to both go. I'm not gonna be mad about it. I'm not mad about that. Okay, all right, all right, go ahead. Oh is it me? No, it's me. Peanut butter and jelly or grilled cheese sandwiches. These are two. Phenomenal options, and people bailed to these as easy sandwiches that are faced. Oh, so I promise you my last two meals. Yes. Last night I got home from the airport and I had grilled cheese. Wow. This morning, I got up at four something in the morning. Yeah, my clock is off, you know, from traveling, and I was crazy hungry. So I went on and made two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Those are my last two meals. Are you kidding? I promise you? Wow? I don't know. Hey, since we kicked out Candy Corner Black Licors, can we keep both of these? Oh? I like it. I like it. We're breaking the rules. We were on fire wild, we are wild. Take that desert ray. But which one would you get rid of it if you had to? I don't know that I can choose one. I don't know if I literally, I literally my last two meals, I've chosen those two things. Okay, here's what I would say. I would say, uh, peanut butter and jelly. You got to keep that for the kids, though, grilled cheeses for the kids. Cheese, I know that's tough. So I have a recipe. I'm gonna keep peanut butter and jelly. I have a recipe for grilled cheese sandwich. It's it's phenomenal. Uh and it has also has uh like sauteed pears and bacon. Whoa, let me tell you how wow? So good? Wow? Okay, I put one keep grilled cheese anyway. Yeah, I like them both. But yeah, I'd probably keep grilled cheese. But I love peanut butter. Okay, anyways, all right, so how about this one? Butterscotch goes away forever. I'm taking the whole flavor or hazel nut flavors. Yeah, okay, So all the grandmothers in the world or all of the Swiss one of the other. Yeah, and there they're listening right now, they're going, don't. Okay, I would say butterscotchest too. I love hazel Yeah, hazel on nut is it's more universal, right yeah? Yeah, because you can't get rid of the teller. There you go. It's or ferrochetes. Oh those little candies. Yeah, that's the ones I didn't. I know, you didn't know them. I love them. Yeah, yeah, okay, no, it's yours. Uh, that's you. Okay. Banana split or classic ice cream cone? Oh well, I'd have to do ban outa split just because it's not as popular as the classic ice cream cone. Right, me too. I would get rid of the banana, but it would be difficult, right Yeah. When was the last time you had a good ice cream cone? Uh? Two days ago? Really? Wow? Mine was last week, the day before I left for going overseas. So it was what seven days ago? We stepped a cold Stone. It was like twenty degrees outside, fifteen degrees outside. We stopped the cold Stone price cream. Yeah, hey, hey, I got to tell you something. That segment was a basket of fun. Oh good. And speaking of baskets, huh. This story has a basket full of severed heads. Oh my goodness, okay, a basket of fun okay, seven, okay, okay, very good. Come on, that is a good one. That is a horrible, horrible transition, transition, a basket full of heads. Yes, it's true, well true. Good job, Chris, thank you. I'm so proud of you. Thank you. Yeah, you know what. Your family's gonna be proud of you. I'm also proud of me. Yeah, yeah, Okay. My wife watched the Bible Guys this morning, as she always does, getting ready, and I get up and we're, you know, fiddling around in the bathroom, and she looks at me and she goes, are you going in for a taping of the Bible Guys? I said yeah, and she goes, stop yawning. I said, I can't. I said, it's low lighting, Jeff. It's just the most boring person I've ever had to sit next. Not about boredom, yawn from boredom. Oh okay, all right, okay, Well here we are. We're in Second King's chapter ten, and as you mentioned, there's a basket of heads and Jay Hugh kills Aheb's family is what happens here. So if this is a good morning and you're having devotions and you're sitting there sipping your tear you're coffee and looking out into the woods at the deer walking by, we just thought we'd read this story to kind of kick off the day, no doubt, and hey, maybe maybe maybe this is the indication that when they go into work today, the heads are going to roll or some ooh that there you go. That's a double. That's a double. Right, there's a two verse puns everywhere. Okay, Second King's chapter ten, Verse one says Ahab had seventy sons. Let me say, I met a guy this week who has fifty four sons. Fifty four kids? Are you kidding me? No, No, I'm not joking. Wow. Yeah. We were on a donor at one of those banks. We were on the border of Kenya and South Sudan. Yeah, And we were in the village and one of the chiefs asked me, or elders asked me how many kids I have. So I started to pull out my phone and show my three kids, and he goes, he stops me, and so he was just wanting to make a point. He says, I have fifty four kids. Yeah, he also has like eight wives or something. But yeah, wow, that is anyway. So Abahab had seventy seventy sons. Wow uh so not just seventy kids. Dude had seventy sons. Which means he had daughters somewhere. That's a couple of NFL football teams right. Anyways, Yeah, living in the city of Samaria. So Jay who wrote letters and sent them to Samaria to the elders and officials of the city and to the guardians the king and have sons. He said, the king's sons are with you and you have at your disposal chariots, horses, a fortified city, and weapons. As soon as you receive this letter, select the best qualified of your master's sons to be your king and be prepared to fight for Ahab's dynasty. But they were paralyzed with fear, and they said, we've seen that two kings can't stand against this man. What can we do? So the palace and city administrators, together with the elders and guardians of the king's sons, sent this message to Jaehu. We are your servants and will do anything you tell us. We will not make anyone King, do whatever you think is best. Jayhu responded with a second letter. If you are on my side and are going to obey me, bring the heads of your master's sons to me at Jezreel. By this time tomorrow now the seventy sons of the king were being cared for by the leaders of Samaria, where they had been raised since childhood. When the letter arrived, the leaders killed all seventy of the king's sons. They placed their heads in baskets and presented them to jay Hu at Jezreel. A messenger went to jay Hu and said, they have brought the heads of the king's sons. So Jayhu ordered pile. Theymitted two heaps at the entry of the city gate and leave them there till morning. In the morning, he went out and spoke to the crowd that had gathered around them. You are not to blame, he told him. I am the one who conspired against my master and killed him. But who killed all these, you can be sure that the message of the Lord that was spoken concerning Ahab's family will not fail. The Lord declared through his servant Elijah that this would happen. Then Jayhu killed all who were left of Ahab's relatives living in Jessro and all his important officials, his personal friends, and his priests. So Ahab was left without a single survivor. Then Jayhu set out for Samaria. Along the way, while he was at beth Eked of the Shepherds, he met some relatives of King Ahaziah of Judah. Who are you, he asked them, and they replied, we are relatives of King Aziah. We're going to visit the sons of King Ahab and the sons of the Queen Mother. Take them alive, Jayhu shouted to his men, and they captured all forty two of them and killed them at the well of beth Ekid. None of them escaped. When Jayhu left there, he met Johannadab's son of Jack Rekab, who had been coming to meet him. After they had greeted each other, jay who said to him, are you as loyal to me as I am to you? Yes, i am. Johanna dabs It replied if you are, Ja who said, then give me your hand. So Johanna Dad put out his head and jay who helped him into the chariot. Then jay who said, now come with me and see how devoted I am to the Lord. So Johanna Dad rode along with him. When Jay who arrived in Samaria, he killed everyone who was left there from maybe Ahab's family, just the Lord had promised through Elijah. Well, yeah, you wont think good morning again, yeah right, good morning morning. Yeah, that's that's pretty crazy. That's a crazy one man. Yeah, so I was. I was actually just glancing at this note. We actually love the Life Application study Bible absolutely, and there's a note. On here on verse number eleven, uh, which. By the way, I guess we should start with the fact that this was prophesied by Elijah. Yes, right, I mean I. Mentioned it in the scripture, right right, But like back in like first Kings. I think it was something like that Elijah had said to Ahab because he was it the vineyard? Was it was? Was it in Ahebb's vineyard? What was it? Yeah? Yeah, right, yeah, that's what his name is, all these goofy names. But because he had uh and Jezebel had killed him to steal his property in his vineyard. Basically, God had said he was going to wipe him out and wipe out everybody his whole He said, none. Of your sons will sit on the throne. And then and then uh A have repented a little bit and said, you're so sorry. And so then God made a proclamation and said, okay, the prophecy will come true. No, Elijah said this, He said, the prophecy will come true, but it won't come true in your lifetime. He said, it'll come true, but it'll it'll come later. And so here it is now, it's it's it's later. And uh and and so A have had sons, and uh and uh and and so they're they're definitely being killed to satisfy the prophecy. Anyway, But here's what verse number eleven says, you ready for this? Yes, And by the way, you could easily overlook this because of all the slaughtering that's happening. But it says then Jay I had noticed. Right then, Jay who killed all who were left of Ahab's relatives in living in Jezreel, and all his important ready for this, all his important officials that wasn't in the prophecy, right his personal friends Comma and his priests. So Ahab was left it without a single survivor. Is so Jay who definitely fulfilled what God said? But he went too far, and so in two King's chapter ten, verse eleven, it says this the note in his zeal Jay who went far beyond the Lord's command with the bloodshed or the bloodbath. The prophet Hoseiah later announced punishment upon jay Who's dynasty for this senseless slaughter, as recorded in Hosea chapter one, verses four and five. Many times in history, religious people quote unquote religious have been mixed faith, have mixed faith with personal ambition, power, or cruelty without God's. Consent or blessing. To use God or the by to condone oppression is wrong when people attack Christianity because of atrocities that Christians carried out helped them see that these men and women were using faith for their own political ends and they were not falling christ. So it's it's a great note, by the way, isn't They're great? Yeah, it's really good. Because you could easily, I mean, think about all the sense, I mean, think about all the slaughter that's happening. You've got baskets of heads being dumped out in two piles by the city gates, and then you've got people from the south coming up wanting to see the King's sons and he's like, kill them all right, and it's just a senseless slaughter. Yeah. So so executing the seventy that was part of the judgment of God. It was declared, you know, and sometimes we talk about, you know, there's difference between the Old Testament God and New Testament God kind of a thing. But Paul affirms this idea in Glacier chapter six, where he says, don't be misled. You cannot mock God's justice. Right. Whatever a person soows, that's what he's going to read. Whatever you plan, that's what you're going to harvest. And what Ahab had planted was only evil, continually had raised his sons to do the same, had funded all the priests of bail and of Astrooth. He had only done evil. And God was able to look into time and go, hey, it's never going to get better. We got a rid of all of them, right, So he's going to wipe them out, and this is the justice of God. And Jay, who was ordered to do it right, God had told him in this hey I'm going to make you king, but you've got to wipe out these kings. Yeah. It was literally an assignment, right, It. Was an assignment from God. And so in that situation, then he went and did his job. The problem is he went way beyond and senseless take the senseless taking of a life. Now he's breaking the commandments of God. The commandment was as a government leader, as the head of your government, I want you to go and execute these these evil people. Okay, that's a part of the government, the role of government. But then you can see it's almost like a vendetta here. He's just go and after everybody that might like Ahab. And that's a different thing. He killed his friends, His friends didn't do those things, right, he he he went after other people. And certainly there's an even debta there. I think that was a fabulous note. So great note, And don't use God's words to justify your bad behaviors. And and and remember back then people ruled by fear so and. The world still rules that way mostly right. Right and so uh and so he and so it could be that jay Hu said, Hey, I'm not just going to take out, you know, Ahab's relatives, but I'm going to let everybody know that that even if you side with Ahab, if you're if you know his best friends, obviously were loyal to Ahab, right, so you know, even if you have a loyalty or an allegiance, let it be known right that that that it's not going to be tolerated. So he executes his own personal agenda, uh, you know, because he's been given this assignment, so you know, yeah. So so politically it makes sense to me a little bit in that environment where you know, you seized thrones if you didn't inherit a throne, the only way to get a throne is he to seize the throne. So just before this, he kills Joram and a Haziah, two other kings, so he has an opportunity here to unify Israel, bring Judah back in, and he's taken over Ahab's world as well. So then he wipes out a Haziah's sons, which wasn't part of the command, right. He's he's just he's on a slaughter fest of his own ambition here at this moment, and it's it's pretty horrible stuff. But you know, I think that there is something to this idea that you know, the roosters do come home to roost, right, the chickens come home to roost. God said, ahab, it's going to cost you everything, not just you, your sons, and you know, we can make decisions that wind up going generations deep good or bad. I don't know the phrase roosters come home to the roost. What does that mean? You don't know. The phrase was chicken chickens home, always come home to roost. I don't know that phrase. You can let chickens out in the yard without a fence and they'll just walk around and eat all day long. They'll scratch up bugs and you know, stuff like that. But then when the sun starts to set, they'll always come back to wherever it is they like to roost. So if you have jinku from they'll come. Usually the door open, they'll come back in, get up in the roost and go to bed where they go. If they a lot of places, they roost up in the trees, and so they'll have a tree that they always come back to the same place to roost in. Huh. So, yeah, it's you can let it all go. You can let your life go, you can do all the things, but eventually it's all going to come back to you. And that's the Yeah, you didn't know that phrase. No, I always come home with chickens like you yeah yeah yeah, or a dad who used all those weird phrases, right. Yeah, yeah, my dad used certain phrases, but not. Exactly. So there's a sermon in there somewhere. There's a lot of sermons, but. It always comes back to you, is what I'm saying. It comes back way worse. Yeah, the Galatians six to seven that he just quoted. But there's another sermon in there, which is, you know, so God gives us his law and we need to pay attention. You know, we have commandments, we have promises, right, we have guidelines in our lives, and we should learn to pay attention to exactly what God said. You know. It reminds me of just two days ago we were, you know, preaching at our church Heritage, and I was included in the scripture was the Fall of Adam and Eve member and and the Satan, the serpent. Satan said to Eve, did God really say that you can't eat of any of the trees of the fruit of the garden? And he's trying to make God to say something that he didn't say, you know, because you know obviously that God didn't say that you can eat everything except. For one fruit, right. And then Eve comes back and she says, no, no, no, God said that we're allowed to eat of all the fruit. But it's just the tree in the middle of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that we cannot eat from it. And then she adds to it and she says, he said that you may not eat it or even touch it, or less less will die. Well, God never said that, because we just had looked at it in Genesis chapter two, when God gave the commandment to add him, he just said, don't eat of it, you'll surely die. And then here's Eve adding to what God said. You know you're not gonna eat it. You don't. You can't even touch it, or else you're gonna die. And I thought to myself, that is so funny. It's the same thing that Jay's doing here. God says, Hey, here's the assignment. Jay was like, I'll do that, and I'll add to it. Watch watch this right, hold my ring, juice whatever. And so it's just interesting how we do the same thing. And so even though this story is out landish and crazy, and it's like it seems completely unrelatable, like when's the last time you killed seventy people and put their baskets and or you know, heads and baskets. Your chances are you never going to do that, right, But there is a relatable principle which is, don't add to what God says. Don't don't add to what we think that you know, God says this and that. And that could be in the form of like legalism, like you know, like adding rules upon rules. Right, you know, here's here's a rule to make sure that you don't break the rule that God gave. That's that's legalism, that's pharasevical and and or it could be, uh that we decide to justify God's law, and so we do, we do what we want to do, and we attach it to uh, you know, something that God says, but we want to do it, so we just attached to it. You know, we do this stuff all the time. I think. So tomorrow we're going to talk about Jay, who keeps going right and he's he's really clean in house. Yeah, So. It mentions here that he kills all of the sons of Ahab and Jezebel and then he kills all of the friends that that's inappropriate, and then he kills all the priests, which goes back to being appropriate again in the same way that Elijah killed all the prophets of bail right. So so tomorrow he's going to pick that up and he's going to keep cleaning house. And there is something to be said about going all the way on a thing right right now, what he did was illegal, what he did was immoral with the friends of the king, but in cleaning house, there's something to be said about saying, you know what, I'm not going to go halfway. I'm not going to be partly in with God. I'm going all the way with what God has to say. And you know, so, I can appreciate his zeal, I can appreciate his enthusiasm, but even when you're excited, you have to make sure that what you're doing alliance with what God's words say, right right, And that's that's where the danger comes. So this is one of the reasons why I think again and we commend our listeners, and it's not because you're listening to us, but because you're choosing to spend twenty twenty five minutes just contemplating God's words and what God has to say, and then you're wondering, how does this supply in my life? And the more you take in God's words and even in the zeal or in the excitement of the moment, you're able to filter that just a little bit more and make wiser choices, right, hopefully that you would do. God's never going to ask you to do something against what He's already said in his word. Right, So, as a as a governor, as a king, hey, I need you to go wipe out this this other king's family. That sounds horrible to us. It's responsibility of the government leader to do that, right, But he doesn't say, go wipe out his friends and family. That's just murder. And so how do you filter those? How do you know? How do you know which is right or which is wrong? It's it's the It's in God's word. So God has said kings must follow me or they're going to be wiped out. God had declared, through God's man Elijah, this king's family is going to be wiped out. You could see the words of God were very precise. And then he went beyond the words of God. And I think there's there's so much danger in that that we don't go beyond what God's words. And because we're in the middle of this series of highlighting, you know, things from the Old Testament, we can go all all the way back when Israel first demanded a king. Yeah, and then and who was it Samuel who said, Okay, here's what God says if you choose to go with kings. Here's how the kings are going to behave, here's what's going to happen, here's what they're going to do, here's what they're not going to do. And then he listed out basically all the things that they're living out currently right now. And the and the people heard everything, and then would they say he was the king? They heard how bad it was going to be, and then they're gonna do it anyway. Yeah, we want what we want regardless, right, So okay, well, hey, that is our time. And so we will definitely pick up tomorrow with Jehu and hopefully we'll see that on the Bible. Guys. Mhm h