Such Brutality

2 Kings 9-10
          The reign of Jehu is marked by brutality and bloodshed.  On the one hand, we might see Jehu as the Lord's executioner.  The Lord had said that the house of Ahab would be destroyed, that Jezebel would not be buried, and so forth.  However, we have to leave open the question about whether the Lord's words merely described what would happen (that is, that He know the brutality of Jehu's heart) or whether His words caused the brutality.  So, the possibility exists that the Lord appointed Jehu as the successor of Ahab's house, but that Jehu got 'carried away.'
          The deaths of Joram, Ahaziah, and Jezebel are the least troubling.  They were rulers; they had led Israel astray to false gods; and they were only one generation (or less, in Jezebel's case!) removed from Ahab.  Nevertheless, the manner of Jezebel's death is particularly gruesome, even for someone so involved in Ahab's wickedness.  The deaths of the 'sons of the house of Ahab,' though, are hard to stomach.  We should be careful, but it seems as if these were not the adult children of Ahab so much as his grandchildren.  (Note that verse 6 talks of those who were rearing them!)  With that wrinkle, the beheading of 70 becomes even harder to fathom.  (Contrast this violence with David's attempts to care for the remnants of the house of Saul.)  Finally, the manner of execution for the prophets of Baal is troubling, too.  When Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal, it was in an open contest:  Yahweh of Israel versus Baal of Canaan.  In Jehu's case, they are deceptively lured into a death trap.
          Does the Lord condone such brutality?  The Lord did indeed command the extermination of whole populations of Canaanites, especially in the era of the Conquest.  I have written different times about why that may have been the case, namely, that the Lord knew His promise would be in danger if it were surrounded by Canaanite idolatry.  On the other hand, the reign of Jehu seems to be as much about his own brutality as about the Lord's desire to punish the house of Ahab.
          I'm thinking about Elijah's protest that he had been very zealous for the Lord (1 Kings 19), and I'm thinking that zeal for the Lord is a good thing.  However, I'm also thinking that the boundary between zeal for the Lord and zeal for our own glory is very fine.  I think Elijah's protest reveals what he thought about himself, namely, that he deserved some recognition.  I think Jehu's zeal may have been motivated in part by a desire to secure his own reign.  And I think that we need to be careful that our zeal for the Lord doesn't mask a desire to enlarge our own reputations.
          "For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men.  We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored" (NIV; 1 Corinthians 4:9-10)!