2 Kings 10:25

THE RUTHLESS MURDER OF BAAL'S WORSHIPPERS

"And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt-offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in, and slay them; let none come forth. And they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains cast them out, and went to the city of the house of Baal. And they brought forth the pillars that were in the house of Baal, and burned them. And they brake down the pillar of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught-house, unto this day. Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel."

"As soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt-offering" (2 Kings 10:25). If Jehu had been a man of integrity, he would have finished that tragedy before he offered the burnt-offering to Baal. "But to a man of no religion (as was Jehu), the worship of Baal and Jehovah were alike. If he preferred either, it was merely for political reasons."[14]

Some scholars are confused about the number of pillars mentioned here, plural in 2 Kings 10:26 and singular in 2 Kings 10:27. There were probably a number of these, the one being called "the pillar of Baal," was probably of stone;[15] and it was not burned as were the wooden pillars, but broken into pieces. Some scholars insist that the stone pillar was "burned" also and have expressed disapproval of such a statement; but one of the quickest ways to destroy a stone image is to heat it in an intense fire until it is very hot and then cast buckets of water upon it.[16] That shatters it completely. So they may have "burned the pillar" also. (See the RSV on this passage).

"The captains ... went to the city of the house of Baal" (2 Kings 10:25). It is evident from the context here that wherever the captains went it was inside the temple of Baal; and therefore the RSV must be correct, which reads, "They went into the inner room of the house of Baal."

"They ... made it a draught-house unto this day" (2 Kings 10:27). The RSV makes draught-house here `a latrine.' Dentan rendered the words, "A public privy."[17] It must not be thought, however, that Jehu really exterminated the worship of Baal in Israel. The immorality connected with the worship of that pagan deity and vigorously promoted by their multitudes of religious prostitutes, the Kadesha, as they were called, proved very effective; and within a hundred years, Israel was more pagan than ever. (See Hosea 1:1-9).

Furthermore, Jehu himself was no genuine believer in Jehovah, because he continued the sinful worship of the golden calves at Dan and at Bethel, the very sins which Jeroboam had introduced when the kingdom divided,

Yet, the bloody purge of Jehu was not all bad, terrible and unscrupulous as it was. Dentan has an excellent word concerning the work of Jehu.

"There can be no doubt that the right side won. Jehu is just as ugly a figure as was Jezebel, but the principles he stood for, perhaps accidentally as far as he was concerned, were the only principles that could endure. The religion which Jezebel represented had no real understanding either of God or men; it was totally deficient of any true morality. It had absolutely nothing to offer mankind and was void of all hope for the future."[18]

On the other hand, the ancient religion of Israel, the worship of the One True God was virile, carrying with it the germ of universal morality, having also a profound view of God. Also, the salvation of all mankind through the promised "Seed of Woman," "The Shiloh" promised through the patriarchs, namely that "Seed (singular) of Abraham," through whom all mankind would be blessed - all of that priceless hope depended upon the continuity within the posterity of Abraham of a people who would remain true to Jehovah. That was the all-important issue that made the work of the wicked Jehu important and, evil as it was, acceptable to God!