Survivor, the game played with cunning and manipulation to rise as leader by avoiding being voted off by the other players, has been popular for years!  Many seasons, the audience watches to see how alliances are formed purely through manipulation and deceit. Human behaviors are studied by millions who root for their favorite while booing for their least favorite in this game to survive.  Tests are included to see who can stand the stress and stay in the group.

But what if, at the end of the show, no survivors were declared and all were defeated and sent home empty handed!  That seems to be the case in our passage today as we watch and learn how Jehu is zealous in his work for the Lord, but uses deceit and manipulation in the accomplishment of the work.  Jehu’s zealousness in the work of God portrays his heart for God after the work is done his way.  Does that still happen today?  Read, watch what happens, and learn…

2 Kings 10

Ahab’s Family Killed

Now there were in Samaria seventy sons of the house of Ahab. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria: to the officials of Jezreel, to the elders and to the guardians of Ahab’s children. He said, ² “You have your master’s sons with you and you have chariots and horses, a fortified city and weapons. Now as soon as this letter reaches you, ³ choose the best and most worthy of your master’s sons and set him on his father’s throne. Then fight for your master’s house.”

⁴ But they were terrified and said, “If two kings could not resist him, how can we?”

⁵ So the palace administrator, the city governor, the elders and the guardians sent this message to Jehu: “We are your servants and we will do anything you say. We will not appoint anyone as king; you do whatever you think best.”

⁶ Then Jehu wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are on my side and will obey me, take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel by this time tomorrow.”

Now the royal princes, seventy of them, were with the leading men of the city, who were rearing them. ⁷ When the letter arrived, these men took the princes and slaughtered all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu in Jezreel. ⁸ When the messenger arrived, he told Jehu, “They have brought the heads of the princes.”

Then Jehu ordered, “Put them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning.”

⁹ The next morning Jehu went out. He stood before all the people and said, “You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him, but who killed all these? ¹⁰ Know, then, that not a word the Lord has spoken against the house of Ahab will fail. The Lord has done what he announced through his servant Elijah.” ¹¹ So Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his chief men, his close friends and his priests, leaving him no survivor.

¹² Jehu then set out and went toward Samaria. At Beth Eked of the Shepherds, ¹³ he met some relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah and asked, “Who are you?”

They said, “We are relatives of Ahaziah, and we have come down to greet the families of the king and of the queen mother.”

¹⁴ “Take them alive!” he ordered. So they took them alive and slaughtered them by the well of Beth Eked—forty-two of them. He left no survivor.

¹⁵ After he left there, he came upon Jehonadab son of Rekab, who was on his way to meet him. Jehu greeted him and said, “Are you in accord with me, as I am with you?”

“I am,” Jehonadab answered.

“If so,” said Jehu, “give me your hand.” So he did, and Jehu helped him up into the chariot. ¹⁶ Jehu said, “Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.” Then he had him ride along in his chariot.

¹⁷ When Jehu came to Samaria, he killed all who were left there of Ahab’s family; he destroyed them, according to the word of the Lord spoken to Elijah.

Servants of Baal Killed

¹⁸ Then Jehu brought all the people together and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much. ¹⁹ Now summon all the prophets of Baal, all his servants and all his priests. See that no one is missing, because I am going to hold a great sacrifice for Baal. Anyone who fails to come will no longer live.” But Jehu was acting deceptively in order to destroy the servants of Baal.

²⁰ Jehu said, “Call an assembly in honor of Baal.” So they proclaimed it. ²¹ Then he sent word throughout Israel, and all the servants of Baal came; not one stayed away. They crowded into the temple of Baal until it was full from one end to the other. ²² And Jehu said to the keeper of the wardrobe, “Bring robes for all the servants of Baal.” So he brought out robes for them.

²³ Then Jehu and Jehonadab son of Rekab went into the temple of Baal. Jehu said to the servants of Baal, “Look around and see that no one who serves the Lord is here with you—only servants of Baal.” ²⁴ So they went in to make sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had posted eighty men outside with this warning: “If one of you lets any of the men I am placing in your hands escape, it will be your life for his life.”

²⁵ As soon as Jehu had finished making the burnt offering, he ordered the guards and officers: “Go in and kill them; let no one escape.” So they cut them down with the sword. The guards and officers threw the bodies out and then entered the inner shrine of the temple of Baal. ²⁶ They brought the sacred stone out of the temple of Baal and burned it. ²⁷ They demolished the sacred stone of Baal and tore down the temple of Baal, and people have used it for a latrine to this day.

²⁸ So Jehu destroyed Baal worship in Israel. ²⁹ However, he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit—the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.

³⁰ The Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in accomplishing what is right in my eyes and have done to the house of Ahab all I had in mind to do, your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” ³¹ Yet Jehu was not careful to keep the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to commit.

³² In those days the Lord began to reduce the size of Israel. Hazael overpowered the Israelites throughout their territory ³³ east of the Jordan in all the land of Gilead (the region of Gad, Reuben and Manasseh), from Aroer by the Arnon Gorge through Gilead to Bashan.

³⁴ As for the other events of Jehu’s reign, all he did, and all his achievements, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?

³⁵ Jehu rested with his ancestors and was buried in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son succeeded him as king. ³⁶ The time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

In a desperate effort to “go and make disciples” without consulting God first; some church leaders will use the world’s methods of marketing and commercialism to bring people to their buildings.  They zealously count “bodies in the seats” more than the numbers of lives changed as disciples of Jesus as their measure of success.  In fact, we  hear numbers more than God’s Word from the platform along with the consistent plea to come to the next big thing so that the numbers of people will increase for success!

Years ago, I attended and served a church like that for a while and was even invited to sit on the staff. What I saw and heard behind the platform in meetings broke my heart.  My love and zeal for the Lord was used more for a way to build attendance with less talk and funds going to “making disciples.” There’s more but you get the picture.  What I thought were leaders who loved Jesus first and wanted others to love Jesus, too was merely a show to proclaim their own “goodness” to build their popularity. People were used, spiritually abused, and cast aside when they did not produce the outcome wished for in the count. I stayed to tell people the truth of who God is, why Jesus came, while working under a “yoke” of stress. I thought of all the stressed but zealous disciples who did exactly as Jesus told them to be and do—“go and make disciples, baptizing them in My Name, and teaching them to obey all I have commanded…” and I praised God for the time on task I had to show people the love of God through Jesus. I have no regrets.

When we keep it simple and do exactly what God says, we will always have opposition. Count on it! Our enemy does not want us to succeed in going and making disciples! But we must not fall for his tricks! Sometimes we think we must be like the marketing, manipulative world, telling people what they want to hear so they will come to our church; but that’s just falling for the Deceiver himself, who leads us into thinking that way.  Follow The Way to God who is Jesus His Son who reconciles us to God!

Enthusiastically love others like He loves us, faithfully and without conditions for worth but see all people as His created.  It is God at work bringing people to find Him where He is! Jesus, Word made flesh, drew multitudes of people because He was their hope of salvation in an oppressive world without hope!  Yes, Jesus is our Hope! Hope of eternal life, hope that tomorrow might be troublesome but knowing God is with us always with a plan and purpose!  Hope is the One who saved us and set us free from all our sins.  Jesus is Hope. Jesus is the Way, Truth, and the Life we so desperately seek.

“Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much. This deceit got the job done to rid the world of the worship of Baal and detestable sins committed as a result. Jehu cleaned up the mess others left behind.  However, Jehu’s heart for God was not pure. Jehu did God’s work his way and followed his own heart when it came to living his life as king. God said it Himself; “Yet Jehu was not careful to keep the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to commit.”

It seems it was Jehu who served God only “a little,” just enough to leave no survivors of Baal but with a divided, deceiving heart who still worshiped golden calves!  God sees our hearts and knows our intentions.  Nothing is hidden from God. Why do we think we can hide our real intentions for service in His church? “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 But, remember, we have a Savior and Lord to lead us out of sin and to a new way to live God’s way!  Go to Jesus now!

Join me as we pray the prayer of David;

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place,  when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with you.

If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.
Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.       

See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139

To God, In Jesus Name, Amen