2 Kings 10 · a question people ask
How can 10:30 and 10:31 both be said of Jehu?
The chapter says both, one after the other. The LORD tells 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" (10:30). The next verse says, "But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart" (10:31), and the verse before says he "didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat" (10:29). 10:30 names what Jehu did "to Ahab’s house"; 10:31 speaks of walking "in the law of the LORD". The LORD had once said both of David, that he "followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in my eyes" (1 Kings 14:8); of Jehu the LORD speaks well of what he did to Ahab's house, and the book says he didn't walk in the law with all his heart. Later the LORD says through Hosea, "I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu" (Hosea 1:4), and how that fits beside 10:30 is read in more than one way. Chapter 9's honest question on whether Jehu was doing the LORD's will sets out the two main readings, each on its verses, without choosing. This chapter adds no word on Jehu beyond 10:29-31.
The verses
“However, Jehu didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin—the golden calves that were in Bethel and that were in Dan. 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.”
“and tore the kingdom away from David’s house, and gave it to you; and yet you have not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in my eyes,”
“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.”