2 Kings 10:29 - Exposition

Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them. It was a crucial test of Jehu's faithfulness to Jehovah; would he maintain the calf-worship of Jeroboam or not? With whatever intent the worship had been set up by its author, the curse of God had been pronounced against it by the chief prophet of the time ( 1 Kings 13:2 ), and his word had been attired as from heaven by two miracles ( 1 Kings 13:4 , 1 Kings 13:5 ). Jehu ought to have known that the calf-worship, if not as hateful to God as the Baal-worship, at any rate was hateful, was a standing act of rebellion against Jehovah, and laid the nation under his displeasure. But, while his own interests were entirely detached from the one, they were, or at least would seem to him to be, bound up with the other. The calf-worship was thought to be essential to the matureance of the divided kingdom. Abolish it, and all Israel would "return to the house of David" ( 1 Kings 12:26-30 ). Jehu was not prepared to risk this result. His "zeal for Jehovah" did not reach so far. Thus his "reformation of religion" was but a half-reformation, a partial turning to Jehovah, which brought no permanent blessing upon the nation. To wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan. The erection of the calves ( 1 Kings 12:29 ) was the initial sin, their worship the persistent one. (On the nature of the calf-worship, see the comment on 1 Kings 12:28 , and compare the 'Speaker's Commentary' on the same passage.)