“As soon as Jehu had finished sacrificing the burnt offering, he commanded his guards and officers, “Go in and kill all of them. Don’t let a single one escape!” So they killed them all with their swords, and the guards and officers dragged their bodies outside. Then Jehu’s men went into the innermost fortress of the temple of Baal. They dragged out the sacred pillar used in the worship of Baal and burned it. They smashed the sacred pillar and wrecked the temple of Baal, converting it into a public toilet, as it remains to this day. In this way, Jehu destroyed every trace of Baal worship from Israel. He did not, however, destroy the gold calves at Bethel and Dan, with which Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to sin. Nonetheless the Lord said to Jehu, “You have done well in following my instructions to destroy the family of Ahab. Therefore, your descendants will be kings of Israel down to the fourth generation.” But Jehu did not obey the Law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He refused to turn from the sins that Jeroboam had led Israel to commit.”
2 Kings 10:25-31 NLT
Jehu was a hard man. He was vicious in his approach and deadly in his aim. He was a great tactician, no doubt honed as one of Israel’s commanders before becoming king. He was appointed with the task of assassination, not simply of one man, but of his ties and influences. This was a patient thread of God’s wrath. He carried it out with extreme prejudice. Yet he did not fully worship the Lord. He did not eradicate the true enemy of God, idolatry. He chose to stop at Baal, but not idolatry. Sometimes in our zeal, we can become shortsighted. Jehu took a very thorough, but ultimately lackluster, “good enough,” approach to devotion to god. He was less concerned with the future and more concerned with the past and paying back debt. For all the good this did for himself and his descendants, it made no real impact upon the coming judgment of Israel. Their hearts still grew into rebellion. They still ran toward their exile. We should seek more than accuracy of fulfilling God’s plan. We should seek devotion to his character and seek to fulfill the desires of his heart. If Jehu had done this, God’s favor would undoubtedly extended beyond the fourth generation of his descendants and into eternity.
JOSH McGARY. COM 