Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
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, "As soon as this letter reaches you, since your master's sons are with you and you have chariots and horses, a fortified city and weapons, 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."
But they were terrified and said, "If two kings could not resist him, how can we?"
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."
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. 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. 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."
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? Know then, that not a word the Lord has spoken against the house of Ahab will fail. The Lord has done what he promised through his servant Elijah." 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.
Jehu then set out and went toward Samaria.
At Beth Eked of the Shepherds, 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."
"Take them alive!" he ordered. So they took them alive and slaughtered them by the well of Beth Eked—forty-two men. He left no survivor.
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.
2 Kings 10:1-14, 17
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Each and every day, thousands upon thousands of people fall victim to manipulation…taken advantage of by someone who is able to influence them to think, talk or act as the manipulator wishes. Maybe you have been a victim of this act at some time or another. Worse yet, maybe you have been a perpetrator.
So how does manipulation happen? How does one fall into the adverse influence of another?
The answer is pretty simple.
Because if a person doesn’t allow God to be the Lord of their life, then they allow themselves to be vulnerable for someone else to be.
Many of the people of Israel had fallen into this trap, especially during the reign of King Ahab. You’ll recall that Ahab had done great evil in the eyes of the Lord and established Baal worship as the primary worship option under his reign. And unfortunately, the people followed the lead of their king, allowing him to be the lord of their lives and lead them into worship that was forbidden by God who commanded that there would be no other gods before Him.
Well, as we already know, this angered God who rendered a terrible judgment against Ahab…and not just him…but all those who were in his house. And as we saw in Chapter 9, Jehu was selected and anointed by the Lord to not only be Israel’s future king but to serve as an instrument of judgment on those in Ahab’s house that were still alive. He started with the son Joram, who had been the current king of Israel; Ahaziah, the king of Judah who had married one of Ahab’s daughters; and Jezebel, another daughter of Ahab who had taken great pleasure in murdering the Lord’s prophets. And so she ended up thrown from an upper window of a home and devoured by dogs to where there wasn’t anything left except a few of her bones.
As Chapter 10 opens, Jehu has some unfinished business. For there were still some survivors in Ahab’s house remaining with the first mentioned being “seventy sons” located in Jezreel.
Did Jehu ride into Jezreel and carry out the execution on his own?
No…he didn’t have to because he used the gullibility of the Israelites to have them do the job for him. Just as the people of Israel had allowed themselves to be manipulated against the Lord, now the Lord was going to use Jehu to manipulate them to carry out His wishes.
Friends, this could easily happen to anyone today…and rest assured that it does on a large scale. For so many decide to not follow the Lord and allow others to manipulate them to the point where it’s so easy for Satan to step in and end up being the master manipulator in their lives…driving them consistently into sin.
As God’s word tells us…we can’t serve two masters. For there’s only One Master and Hs is the Lord.
Back to the scriptures where we read that “Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria…to the officials of Jezreel, to the elders and to the guardians of Ahab's children”. His letter was threatening in nature as he led the recipients to believe that a conflict was soon to happen. Given this, they were to “choose the best and most worthy of your master's sons and set him on his father's throne” before heading out to “fight for your master's house." The thought of battle left them terrified as they thought about how two kings, Joram and Ahaziah, had already died attempting to fight Jehu…and if they couldn’t resist Jehu then how could they possibly do so.
The manipulation worked perfectly. For the people never turned to the Lord and asked what they should do. No…instead, “the palace administrator, the city governor, the elders and the guardians” sent the following reply back 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."
Hmmm…did you pick up on the tone of submission in that reply?
The palace administrator, city governor, elders and guardians all proclaimed their servitude to Jehu. He was their master at that point and they were ready to serve him in whatever way he wanted and ready to do anything he said…whatever he thought was best.
Indeed, Jehu had them right where he, and the Lord, wanted them.
So “Jehu wrote them a second letter” and said:
“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."
This was the ultimate test to see if the people had actually hit the bottom of the manipulation barrel. For if they would follow an order to kill the seventy royal princes that they had been entrusted to lead, then they could be used to do anything.
So what happened?
After receiving the second letter, the leading men of the city “took the princes and slaughtered all seventy of them”, putting “their heads in baskets” before sending them to “Jehu in Jezreel” who had the heads placed into “two piles at the entrance of the city gate."
Friends, this is the kind of destruction Satan brings as well each and every day. He takes those who have hit the bottom of the manipulation barrel and uses them as instruments of his evil doing. And know he won’t stop until he destroys every good and perfect thing that God has made.
Back to the passage where we find Jehu addressing the people the morning after the slaughter. There, he admits to conspiring against Joram and killing him but refused to take credit for the slaughter of the seventy princes in Ahab’s house. No…the judgment on the princes was carried out by those who were supposed to protect them. The leading men were so afraid of losing their own lives in battle that they were willing to do anything…even kill others to save themselves. And so they did.
What would be their penalty?
Jehu passed it on when he said to them:
“Know then, that not a word the Lord has spoken against the house of Ahab will fail. The Lord has done what he promised through his servant Elijah."
And with that, 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”. Then he set out for Samaria.
Along the way, Jehu encountered “some relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah” at “Beth Eked of the Shepherds”. And they, like those in Jezreel who were related to Ahab, suffered the same fate as Jehu slaughtered the forty-two men “by the well of Beth Eked”, leaving no survivors before heading into Samaria and destroying “all who were left there of Ahab’s family…according to the “word of the Lord spoken to Elijah”.
Who was Jehu’s master?
It was the Lord.
Who did he follow?
The Lord.
Who’s will was his will?
The Lord’s.
Indeed, the Lord was Jehu’s guide and key advisor. Jehu had done what the Lord asked him to do. He wasn’t swayed or deterred from carrying out the Lord’s plan.
In sum, he wasn’t easily manipulated.
So why is he in the scriptures?
Because the Lord expects that we follow his example.
If we don’t, expect that Satan will have his way with us…and the Lord will make an example out of us…just as he did with the leading men of Jezreel.
Believe it.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com
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