The History of the Old Testament Methodized, Chapter 5 · Section 19 · Concurrent kings · Isreal · Jehu – Jehoahaz
JEHƲ being thus come to the Crown, The 10th. King of Iſrael, JEHU.and having already executed his Commiſſion on Jehoram, Ahaziah, and Jezebel, he now proceeds on to root out the houſe of Ahab. It ſeems Ahab had many Sons born to him of ſeveral wives, and many grand-children, (in all about ſeventy) who were bred up under ſeveral great men (and ſome of them Rulers in Jezreel) who upon theſe diſtractions fled with them to Samaria (a well fortified City) to ſecure them there. Jehu underſtanding this, wrote a Letter to thoſe who had the tuition of theſe children, and to the Elders of Samaria which ſpake after this manner, Seeing your Maſters Sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horſes, and you are in a fenced City, and have arms; look out therefore the beſt and meeteſt of your Maſters Sons, and ſet him on his Fathers Throne, and fight for your Maſters houſe. This he wrote in an Ironical way, but gave them thereby an intimation that if they ſtood out againſt him, or offered to oppoſe him, he doubted not but he ſhould eaſily ſubdue them. And indeed the Lord having appointed him to deſtroy the whole ſtock of Ahab, did in order therēunto put ſuch a fear into the hearts of theſe Rulers, that they ſaid among themſelves, Behold two Kings could not ſtand before him, how then ſhall we be able to deal with him? Hereupon he that was chief over all thoſe that appertained to Ahabs houſe, and the chief Magiſtrate of Samaria, and the Senators of the City, and the Governours of the Kings childre… returned this tame anſwer to Jehu, we are thy ſervants, and will do whatever thou commandeſt us, (they interpoſe no ſuch condition as this, if the thing be honeſt and juſt, or the like, ſo ſlaviſh does fear make men) we will make no King, nor ſet up any to oppoſe thee; thou maiſt do what thou pleaſeſt as for us, we are ready to obey thee in every thing. Jehu then wrote another Letter wherein he told them that if they were his ſervants in reality, and would be obedient to him, (as they profeſſed) then he required them forthwith to cut off the heads of thoſe ſeventy Sons and Grandchildren of Ahab, and to bring them to him to Jezreel the next day. This was indeed a very ſevere command, and 'tis ſtrange they did not utterly refuſe to obey it, but they …garding more their own ſafety then either humanity or the charge and truſt committed to them, without any more ado complied with it, and cutting off the heads of theſe young Princes put them in baskets, and ſent them to Jezreel, and followed after them themſelves. When they were come thither a meſſenger acquainted Jehu that theſe Rulers of Samaria had brought the heads of the Kings Sons unto him according to his command. It being (as it ſeems) late, Jehu ordered that they ſhould be laid in two heaps at the entring of the Gate till the morning; certainly a moſt ſad and ruful ſpectacle it was to ſee ſo many young Princes heads lying on heaps together; but this ſeems ſo ordered by Providence that all the people might ſee the dreadful judgment of God upon the houſe of Ahab for his cruelty and Idolatry, and might be deterred from going on in it. In the morning Jehu went out himſelf to ſee theſe heads, and abundance of people being gathered together to gaze on this lamentable ſpectacle, he there took occaſion before them all to juſtifie himſelf and his proceedings, ſpeaking to them after this manner: As for you (ſays he) that are here ſpectators of this woful ſpectacle, I do pronounce you all clear and innocent touching the death of theſe Sons of Ahab. But poſſibly you will ſay that I my ſelf am not innocent, and that I have conſpired againſt the King my Maſter, and have ſlain him, and you will ſay alſo tha I have ſlain all theſe whoſe heads lye here; for who elſe hath ſlain them but my ſelf, ſeeing they were put to death by my command. I do therefore declare before you all that all theſe ſtrange things which I have done, I have not done them on my own head, but by the command of God, and only to execute what he had determin'd ſhould be done againſt the houſe of Ahab, and which he threatned againſt it openly and publickly by his Prophet Elijah, 1 King. 21.21. And you may plainly ſee that theſe ſeventy perſons could not ſo eaſily have loſt their lives, nor thoſe that have cut off their heads been ſo eaſily drawn to do it (ſeeing they had many ways to have avoided it) if there had not been an extraordinary hand of God therein to accompliſh his own purpoſes. Therefore neither they nor I have done ought herein but what God would have done, and that is abundantly ſufficient to excuſe both them and me. 2 King. 10. from 1, to 11.
Jehu in the next place falls upon Ahab's great men in Jezreel, that is, ſuch as he had raiſed to great places and offices, and upon his kinsfolk, and his houſhold-Prieſts, and cut them off, v. 11. Having ſetled things at Jezreel, he goes now to Samaria, and in the way unexpectedly meets forty two Sons of the brethren of Ahaziah, whom he ſlew becauſe they were of the curſed ſtock of Ahab, v. 12, 13, 14. See more hereof in the life of Ahaziah. When he was gone a little further he met Jehonadab Son of Rhecab who was coming to meet him. This Jehonadab was a Kenite of the ſtock of Jethro, [1 Chron. 2.55.] and either now or afterwards impos'd upon his Sons an auſtere rule of life as we read Jer. 35.6. viz. That they ſhould drink no wine, nor build houſes, nor ſow ſeed, nor plant vineyards, nor have any; and that they ſhould all their days dwell in tents; and that (as 'tis probable) the better to ſecure them from being corrupted with the growing luxury of thoſe times, and to inure them beforehand to hardneſs, that they might be the better able to endure the miſery he foreſaw the ſins of the people would bring upon them. This pious and good man coming to meet him, he kindly ſaluted him and bleſſed him; for Jehu was now the greater man, and the leſs was to be bleſſed of the greater, Heb. 7.7. He asks him, Is thy heart right as my heart is with thy heart; that is, Is thy heart faithful towards me as mine is towards thee? Jehonadab anſwers, It was. If it be (ſays Jehu) give me thy hand, and he gave him his hand as a further aſſurance thereof. Then Jehu (to teſtifie his high eſteem of him as a perſon of great piety and prudence) took him up into his chariot, and ſaid to him, Come along with me, and ſee my zeal for the Lord, and when he came to Samaria he ſlew all that he found were allied, or any way appertained to Ahab, and deſtroyed all that might be any way accounted his, according to the ſaying of the Lord which he ſpake to Elijah, v. 15, 16, 17. Jehu having thus deſtroyed the poſterity of Ahab (who had been always the great promoters of the Idolatry of Baal) 'tis like the Baalites in all places began to ſhift for themſelves, and to hide their heads in corners as fearing what he would do to them; therefore that he might catch them all in a trap together he now pretends himſelf to be altered in his judgment from what he was lately, and to be for the worſhip of Baal *Mendacium hoc erat pernicioſum quia erat ſimulatio & profeſſio Idololatriae ideoque ſcandalum publicum. A Lapide., yea to be very zealous for it, declaring that Ahab ſerved Baal but a little to what he would do, and that he would ſerve him much more; and knowing the people to be much addicted to this Idolatry, he called them together to make this profeſſion before them. His end might poſſibly be good to deſtroy the worſhippers of Baal, but his lying and diſſembling was very evil, for he ought not to have done evil that good might come thereby. After this he proclaimed a ſolemn Aſſembly for the worſhip of Baal, and required all the Prieſts and Prophets of Baal to be preſent at it, and that none ſhould be abſent upon pain of death. Hereupon they all came, (apprehending no cauſe to diſtruſt the reality of the Kings intentions†As for his cutting off the Prieſts of Ahabs family before, poſſibly they thought that the cauſe of that was their special relation to that family.) ſo that Baals houſe or Temple in Samaria was full from one end to the other, God ſuffering them thus to be beguiled that they might be deſtroyed for their Idolatry. Jehu now gave order to him that had the keeping of all ſuch things as appertained to the worſhip of Baal, that he ſhould bring forth veſtments for all the worſhippers of Baal, which was accordingly done. Then Jehu and Jehonadab went into the houſe of Baal, and bad them ſearch diligently whether there were none there that called themſelves Prophets of the Lord, for he would not have the worſhip of Baal prophaned (as he pretended) by the preſence of any that were not cordial to his ſervice. Theſe things being done when the Prieſts of Baal were gone in to offer ſacrifice, Jehu appointed fourſcore of his Souldiers to ſtand at the doors of Baals houſe and charged them to keep them all in, and declared that he whoever let any man among them eſcape, his life ſhould go for his that eſcaped. As ſoon as Baals chief Prieſt had made an end of offering the burnt-offerings to Baal, Jehu commanded thoſe Officers and Souldiers to enter in immediately into the houſe of Baal and to deſtroy all they found there, and not to ſpare a man; which they did accordingly, and then caſt out their dead bodies out of the houſe, that it might be ſeen what a ſlaughter they had made. Then this guard went to ſome City near Samaria (which was particularly dedicated to Baal, and where his chief Temple was) and brought forth the Images out of it and burnt them, and broke down the Image of Baal, and brake down this houſe of Baal, and made it a draught-houſe or jakes, thereby to expreſs their great deteſtation of that vile Idolatry wherewith the Kingdom of Iſrael had been ſo long defiled.
Thus Jehu deſtroyed the worſhip of Baal out of all the Ten Tribes; but though he overthrow this Idolatry yet he departed not from the Idolatry of Jeroboam, viz. that of the Golden Calves of Dan and Bethel. He alſo rooted out the houſe of Ahab, yet it ſeems he had a greater zeal for the eſtabliſhing the Kingdom to himſelf, than purely to execute the command of God; therefore Hoſ. 1.4. God threatens to revenge the blood of Jezreel on the houſe of Jehu. However for theſe acts God ſends a Prophet to him to tell them that becauſe he had done well as to the matter of what he had done, (though not as to the manner) his ſeed to the fourth generation ſhould ſit on that Throne; which accordingly they did as we ſhall ſee afterwards. But Jehu took no heed to walk in the Law of the Lord God of Iſrael ſincerely and with all his heart, but followed the Idolatry of Ieroboam, by which God was ſo provoked that even in his days he did begin to cut Iſrael ſhort, that is, to abate their power by Hazael King of Syria, eſpecially in the two Tribes and an half beyond Iordan. For Hazael made ſore havock among the people there, and 'tis like he did then or afterwards (in the days of Iehoahaz) exerciſe thoſe inhumane cruelties upon the Iſraelites which Eliſha had foretold, 2 King. 8.12.
Jehu reigned twenty and eight years (which was the longeſt time that any of the Kings of Iſrael had hitherto reigned) whereof ſix years Contemporary with Athaliah, and the remaining twenty two with Ioaſh Son of Ahaziah; and they buried him in Samaria, and Iehoahaz his Son reigned in his ſtead.
2 King. 10. from 11, to the end.
IEHOAHAZ Son of Iehu, The 11th. King of Iſrael, JEHOAHAZ.(and firſt of his race) reigned ſeventeen years. All which time Ioaſh the Son of Ahaziah reigned in Iudah. He did evil in the ſight of the Lord, and he and his people followed the Idolatry of Ieroboam, and continued the Grove in Samaria (which Ahab had planted, 1 King. 16.33.) and did not deſtroy it as he ſhould have done. Hereupon the Lords anger was kindled againſt Iſrael, and he delivered them into the hands of Hazael King of Syria, and into the hands of Benhadad his Son all the days that Iehoahaz reigned alone; for two years before his death he took his ſon Ioaſh into copartnerſhip with him in the Government. Hazael had invaded and deſtroyed Iſrael beyond Iordan before, and threſhed Gilead with threſhing inſtruments of iron, ſee Amos 1.3. And now he cometh on this ſide Iordan and oppreſſeth the Iſraelites ſo ſore there that he left them but fifty horſemen, and ten chariots, and ten thouſand footmen; and broke them to pieces, and ſcattered them (as corn is ſcattered with overmuch threſhing) inſomuch that they had ſcarce any where an army together, and they were brought to be a people of no power or eſteem. And though Iehoahaz reſiſted them with all the valour and might he could, yet ſtill they prevail'd againſt him. Which is the rather noted to make it appear that the calamities that befell the Iſraelites in his time were rather from Gods hand and juſt judgment becauſe of their ſins, than from any want of courage or conduct in their King.
Jehoahaz in theſe diſtreſſes ſeeks to the Lord for help, and God afterwards gave Iſrael a Saviour, to wit, Joaſh his Son, (who in his time mightily prevailed againſt the Syrians.) And after him he raiſed up Jeroboam his Son [Chap. 14.27.] who was alſo very ſucceſsful againſt them. So that afterwards the children of Iſrael dwelt in their houſes quietly and peaceably as in former times. Jehoahaz dies, and is buried in Samaria, and Ioaſh his Son ſucceeds him.
2 King. 13. from v. 1, to 10.