2 Chronicles 22 · a question people ask
Was Jehu doing the LORD's will?
2 Chronicles says Jehu was the one "whom the LORD had anointed to cut off Ahab’s house" (22:7), that he was "executing judgment on Ahab’s house" (22:8), and that "the destruction of Ahaziah was of God" (22:7). Beyond 22:8-9, it tells nothing more of what Jehu did. 2 Kings tells more. The LORD says to Jehu, "Because you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes, and have done to Ahab’s house according to all that was in my heart, your descendants shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation" (2 Kings 10:30), and the book adds, "But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart" (2 Kings 10:31). Years later the LORD tells Hosea to name his son Jezreel, "for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu" (Hosea 1:4). Christians read how these fit together in two main ways, each resting on its verses; 2 Kings 9's honest question sets out the same two. Both agree that the LORD anointed Jehu against Ahab's house (22:7), that 2 Kings 10:30 speaks well of what he did to it, and that 2 Kings 10:31 and Hosea 1:4 speak against him and his house.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Sent, and commended
Those who read it this way start from 22:7 and 2 Kings 10:30. The LORD had anointed Jehu "to cut off Ahab’s house" (22:7), and said of what he did, "you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes" (2 Kings 10:30); 2 Kings says he struck all who remained to Ahab in Samaria "according to the LORD’s word which he spoke to Elijah" (2 Kings 10:17). On this reading Hosea 1:4 doesn't call the commanded judgment wrong. The judgment on Jehu's own house comes because Jehu "didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat" (2 Kings 10:29) and "took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD" (2 Kings 10:31), and the blood shed at Jezreel is required of a house that went on in those sins.
2 Chronicles 22:7 · 2 Kings 10:30 · 2 Kings 10:17 · 2 Kings 10:29-31 · Hosea 1:4
Sent, and still held to account for the blood
Those who read it this way start from Hosea 1:4 and 2 Kings 10:31. The LORD speaks of avenging "the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu" (Hosea 1:4), and Jezreel is where Ahaziah went down to see Jehoram (22:6), and where Jehu drove (2 Kings 9:16). On this reading Jehu did the task he was given, but not with a heart set on the LORD's law (2 Kings 10:31), so the blood he shed counts against his house. They point to his words, "Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD" (2 Kings 10:16), and to "Jehu did deceptively" (2 Kings 10:19) in his plan against the worshipers of Baal.
Hosea 1:4 · 2 Kings 10:31 · 2 Chronicles 22:6 · 2 Kings 9:16 · 2 Kings 10:16 · 2 Kings 10:19
The verses
“Now the destruction of Ahaziah was of God, in that he went to Joram; for when he had come, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the LORD had anointed to cut off Ahab’s house. When Jehu was executing judgment on Ahab’s house, he found the princes of Judah and the sons of the brothers of Ahaziah serving Ahaziah, and killed them.”
“The LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes, and have done to Ahab’s house according to all that was in my heart, your descendants shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin.”
“The LORD said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.”