2 KIngs 9-10 (21 July 2024)
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It is – I think – one of the most horrific scandals we’ve experienced in this country over my lifetime.
Jimmy Savile was a BBC icon.
A national treasure.
A superstar.
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Over a period of decades he hosted some of the biggest shows on TV – Top of the Tops, Jim’ll Fix It.
His charitable work was legendary. He raised over £40 million for charity by running marathons and the like. They called him Saint Jimmy!
And he was recognised for his work . He got an OBE, a Knighthood, even a papal knighthood from Pope John Paul II.
He was a hero – in the eyes of the nation.
And yet within days of his death in 2011, the first investigation began. The first of many. And as they pieced everything together, it turned out that Jimmy Savile had been ruthlessly exploiting that glowing reputation of his to gain access to vulnerable individuals whom he could abuse sexually. He had managed to get living quarters in two NHS institutions and access to a host of others. He had the keys, literally. And he used them. And then when any questions or allegations were raised, the power of his name and reputation meant they were swiftly dropped.
In the end 44 investigations into his activities were made. He was found to have abused 33 patients at one hospital alone, aged between 5 and 75. Scotland Yard counted 214 criminal offences committed by him which took place across 28 different police force areas. The NSPCC numbered the reports of abuse that had been received at over 500. They took place – astonishingly – over a period of 60 years - in hospitals, children’s homes, BBC premises, his tour caravan and other places.
To call him a prolific abuser would be an understatement. You think of the number of lives he devastated.
And yet here’s the thing. He went to his grave without a single charge sticking to his name. Not one.
Talk about injustice!
This kind of thing – it makes our blood boil, doesn’t it? We long to see justice in the world! We want to see right and wrong acknowledged. So when someone who is manifestly guilty manages to evade their proper deserts for their entire life, it’s deeply frustrating. It’s maddening.
#3
Why do good things happen to bad people?
And how long must we wait for them to be put right?
We want to cry out with the Psalmist:
Rise up, judge of the earth! Pay back to the proud what they deserve! How long, O lord will the wicked, How long will the wicked be jubilant? … (Ps 94:2-3)
We want to see justice done, do we not? We insist on it!
Well if that’s right, if we really do care about this stuff, then our frustration level should be turned up to 11 as we open up 2 Kings chapter 9.
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Exactly a year ago we hit the pause button on a Sunday morning series looking at the life and times of the prophet Elisha. Not to be confused with Elijah, who was his predecessor. Elisha. And today we’re picking up where we left off in that book, just as Elisha signs off.
We’re in the 800s BC. In the Book of the Kings. Which - in our English versions - is 2 books, but was originally one very long one.
It tells the story
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of the collapse of Israel from the high point of Solomon’s reign – with all his wealth and his wisdom, and his military conquests and his building of the temple and the palace.
to
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the crisis moment where the people of God were split apart into two kingdoms – Judah in the south and Israel in the north–
and then after a long slow unwinding period,
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both of those nations, north and south, being overrun by foreign powers, and their peoples being deported to distant lands. And Jerusalem itself – along with its temple and everything else – being destroyed.
It's quite a depressing book, in many ways.
But there is a reason why the people of God came unstuck. And it’s no secret what it is.
Right at the start, at the high point, under the reign of Solomon, when the newly built temple was first dedicated to God, God had spoken to Solomon with a promise and a warning:
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4 …if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, 5 I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’
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6 “But if you or your descendants turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 8 This temple will become a heap of rubble
In other words spiritual unfaithfulness on the part of God’s people would have disastrous consequences for them.
And it’s in that context that in the middle of the two books we meet the prophets Elijah and Elisha. Their role is to call people in the northern split of the kingdom, Israel, away from Baal worship and back to the Lord. Put them back on the path of spiritual faithfulness. But as we rejoin the story in 2 Kings 9, the very last appearance of Elisha, the last prophet, we find there are a couple of bits of unfinished business to be cleared up.
First is that back in the days of Elijah, an instruction was given for a man called Jehu to be anointed king.
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He will be responsible for stamping out Baal worship in Israel.
As an extra part of that operation, the family King Ahab, the Baal-worshipping king leading Israel to worship Baal with him, were to be dealt with.
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The whole dynasty must come to an end, which means every male descendant is to be wiped out (1 Ki 21)
And then there was Ahab’s murderous, wicked, idolatrous queen: Jezebel. Who was still alive.
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After she arranged for the murder of Naboth so that Ahab could seize his vineyard, she too was to be dealt with.
Three wrongs that have not yet been righted. For whatever reasons, Elijah just didn’t get to it. And Elijah’s successor Elisha – who is also about to disappear – he hasn’t got to it either. So perhaps Ahab’s family and Jezebel have got away with their sins? Maybe they’ve dodged the bullet. Maybe wickedness and evil won’t be punished after all? It’s certainly beginning to look that way.
Until now. Because now, as Elisha’s final recorded act, before he steps off the stage for good, he does indeed ensure Jehu gets anointed king, and with that anointing, the rest of it turns out to be as good as done.
We’re going to see what happens when God’s enemy – God’s enemies plural in fact – meet God’s agent.
Let’s read from the start of 1 Kings 9.
[READ]
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So here is our introduction to one of the most extraordinary dynomos of the Bible. He really is a character, this Jehu. What do we learn about him. The first thing is – maybe a bit surprising: it is that he is a maniac driver.
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You don’t necessarily expect to open your Bible and find a critique of how someone is beyond the wheel. But I’m sure you’ve noticed that how someone drives can be a bit of a clue to their character - not always, but quite often. And that certainly seems to be true of Jehu.
Chapter 9 begins with the anointing itself. One of Elisha’s MTs, his ministry trainees, is sent off with quite a scary brief: he is to initiate a coup d’etat. A regime change. He is to anoint a new king while another is still on the throne, and to give this new king his marching orders.
Well the MT does the job.
Verse 6: pours the oil on Jehu’s head and explains this is divine anointing for kingship. Verse 7: gives him the instructions about destroying Ahab’s dynasty and – verse 10 -bringing justice to Jezebel.
But what does he do next? Quite simple: just as he was advised to do, he turns around and sprints off. End of verse 10 ‘he opened the door and ran’.
Much as you might run if you’d just lit the fuse for your fireworks. He got out fast!
Which does suggest that Jehu is an unpredictable man. He’s what we’d call ‘too hot to handle’.
And he’s a man in a hurry.
Barely has he trodden the red carpet than he sets about the first of 4 major operations - getting rid of the son of Ahab who’s currently on the throne.
End of verse 15:
don’t let anyone slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel.” 16 Then he got into his chariot and rode to Jezreel, because Joram was resting there
And he rides fast.
Joram’s lookouts spot him in a cloud of dust a way off. And messengers are sent out to determine the intentions of whoever it is. They don’t come back, which is a worry.
And before long, the lookout is starting to develop a theory about who it might be.
End of verse 20.
The driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi—he drives like a maniac.”
So this is not the first time Jehu has been getting around in a hurry. This is his style. It’s what he’s known for. It’s a part of who he is.
And there is a question there already, isn’t there? Yes, he’s getting on with the job he’s been commissioned to do, but is he actually in control of himself? Is this just wholehearted commitment we’re seeing here? Or is it obsessive, blinkered impatience? It’s hard to know at this stage. But you see what I mean about there being a question there. There’s an ambiguity.
And that ambiguity is all over Jehu.
I mean: consider this: Jehu is the only King of Israel (as opposed to Judah) who is in fact anointed king. He’s the only Messiah of that kingdom. Messiah means anointed king. And he’s the only one who gets that. In fact, he’s the only king of Israel – the northern kingdom – who is even vaguely commended in the Bible. The only one.
And yet, he is never mentioned again in the whole Bible, after today’s passage. Not even once.
What’s going on there?
Well, let’s read on and see what else we learn about Jehu.
A second thing it’s hard to miss is that he’s a magnetic leader. People just respond to him instantly.
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We’ve already seen hints of this in the first part of the chapter. We saw it when he was anointed. As soon as they hear what the young MT had said, it’s like someone’s pressed a button. The banter among his mates stops in an instant.
Verse 13:
They quickly took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, “Jehu is king!”
No other Old Testament King gets this red carpet, cloak-on-the-ground treatment. But of course there would be someone who did. As he entered Jerusalem, riding on a colt, and the people spread their cloaks on the ground before him.
You know who I’m talking about, don’t you?
And we saw it when he got to Jezreel where Joram was, with those messengers who were sent out to take his temperature. What happens then?
Verse 18.
The horseman rode off to meet Jehu and said, “This is what the king says: ‘Do you come in peace?’”
“What do you have to do with peace?” Jehu replied. “Fall in behind me.”
And he does. And it’s the same with the next horseman after him.
Jehu is making a massive demand here. Her’s saying: give up your current loyalty and join me.
And instantly they do.
Again it’s not hard, is it, to see echoes of another king hundreds of years later who just had to say ‘Come, follow me’ for people to leave their nets or whatever they were doing, and attach themselves to him from that day on.
And, you know what? It happens again in this last bit of chapter. The second operation of Jehu: dealing with of Jezebel.
Jezebel thinks she can protect herself by playing the venerable queen mother card.
Verse 30:
she put on eye makeup, arranged her hair and looked out of a window.
I doubt she’s going for the seductive look at her age. I think she’s just establishing her presence, in a way that’s no doubt worked for her many times before.
But look what Jehu does. He doesn’t even go inside! He just looks at her servants at the window with her. And says: if you’re with me, you’ll do my bidding. Verse 33.
“Throw her down!” Jehu said. So they threw her down.’
You see what I mean by a magnetic leader. One who can stamp his authority on anyone, anywhere. Just issue a command – and it’s as good as done.
But again, there is a nagging question here. And it comes into relief when you compare Jehu with some of the other great ones of the Bible.
Elijah and Elisha were all about calling people to the Lord.
But look again at Jehu’s instructions to the horsemen. ‘Fall in behind me’.
Moses’ famous question was: ‘who is on the Lord’s side?’
But Jehu’s repeated question is: ‘who is on my side’?
That’s what he asked Jezebel’s servants in v.32: ‘Who’s on my side?’ We’ll see that question again just a few verses later, in chapter 10 verse 6.
Again: it’s just a question that nags.
But let’s look to see what else strikes us about Jehu.
The third and perhaps most obvious thing is that he is a merciless avenger.
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So far, Jehu has killed - or had killed - 3 people: Joram, the descendant of Ahab who was currently king of Israel; Ahaziah, another descendant of Ahab who was king of Judah. And Jezebel, Ahab’s widow. All as high-profile as you could get, but as I say, it’s just the 3 of them. In chapter 10, things get a lot messier. As we move from targetted executions to massacres.
The chapter starts with two letters written by Jehu to the governors of Samaria. The first is a challenge: let’s see what you’ve got! Put up your best man of Ahab’s descendants and make him king and then come and fight me. They refuse, perhaps quite sensibly, so back comes a second letter: in that case, kill every last one of Ahab’s descendants. All 70 of them. And they do. I won’t read chapter 10:7, for the sake of some of the younger people we have in with us this morning. But you’ll see it’s not pretty.
The slaughter continues with some travellers on the way to see Ahaziah.
And then again, with a clear-up operation in Samaria, to complete the job – verse 17.
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.
He is merciless, isn’t he?
But you see what’s motivating him.
He is avenging the honour of the Lord.
At least that’s what he sees in himself!
When he bumps into another passer-by and discovers he’s loyal, he invites him to take a ride with him in his chariot as he heads for that operation in Samaria. Presumably this man knows about Jehu’s driving habits, but doesn’t have much choice but to go along. But look at the invitation.
Verse 16: “Come with me and see my zeal for the LORD.’
He sees himself as doing the avenging work of the Lord himself.
So see what he says back in verse 10 to those governors of Samaria about this operation he’s leading.
Know, then, that not a word the LORD has spoken against the house of Ahab will fail. The LORD has done what he announced through his servant Elijah.”
It’s a good reminder, that God’s justice must be enacted.
And yet once again, there are questions:
• Why kill the passing travellers off to see Ahaziah (who’s already either fatally wounded or dead by this stage)? Why? That’s not in the brief!
• In fact why kill Ahaziah himself? Yes he did have some of Ahab’s blood in him. But he was the King of Judah. He was a Son of David.
According to Hosea 1:4, God would hold Jehu responsible for what he did at Jezreel, presumably meaning the death of Ahaziah.
He went beyond the brief. Not just the bringer of God’s justice. There was a bit more of him in it too.
And we see that even more sharply in the final operation, which shows Jehu as a manipulative butcher.
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I’ll just give you the bare bones of operation number 4 here.
Jehu is keen to see an end of Baal worship. After all, that was part of the expectation for him. So he comes up with a bit of a ruse. He pretends to be massively into Baal worship himself.
Verse 19: let’s get everyone together who’s into Baal, and we can all have a whopping great Baal-fest.
So they do. Big sacrifice. But meanwhile Jehu’s got 80 officers at the doors. And as soon as he’s done, he gets the officers to come in with a simple instruction: kill them all.
And that’s what happens. They’re all killed. The temple to Baal is destroyed. Job done.
Well it was effective.
Verse 28:
So Jehu destroyed Baal worship in Israel.
But yet again, there are questions, aren’t there?
Does the end justify the means? Is it OK to lie to people, if it’s a means to doing God’s work? Is it OK to take part in a sacrifice to Baal, if it’s all so that a good outcome can be got?
It’s hard not to think Paul’s comments about the work of the gospel in 2 Corinthians 4v1
we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God
The work of God is not just about achieving God-hnouring fruit; it’s about doing it in a godly way.
So lot’s of questions about this dynamo of a character.
But let’s draw our thoughts to a close with two observations on the story of Jehu as a whole. What do we have before us here?
Well, one the one hand, the story is just an example of a flawed individual being used in the service of God.
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Which is actually deeply encouraging isn’t it? Most of us are more aware of our flaws than anything else about us, aren’t we? I certainly am. We feel totally unqualified to be servants of God. And yet the truth is: God delights to use weak people, because it just points to his power and glory all the more.
So be encouraged. People who are spiritually rough round the edges routinely find themselves being of service to the Kingdom of God. Do you need to hear that this morning? I’m sure some of us do!
But actually this isn’t just about us!
You see, Jehu isn’t just any old flawed individual. He’s a flawed Christ. A flawed anointed king of Israel. And so he has a particular form of service. And it’s a service to us, those who read about him. Because in him we see the promise of one who will reign as God’s king. Bringing God’s justice. Doing God’s will. We can almost taste the sense of a Messiah!
But we also see his failures: his impatience, his self-interest, his deviousness. And so we’re driven forward in the pages of the Bible until we see one who is truly the Son of God, but also gentle and lowly; one who is destined for glory, but has come to serve and give his life. One who has come to further the cause of justice, but to do so by absorbing the justice of God in himself so that we could know mercy.
That is the service of this flawed individual.
And I hope Jehu has served you in this way. Drawn your eyes to Jesus. Made you celebrate and revel in the beauty and perfection of who he is. Has he done that?
And one more observation on this story as a whole.
It is of course the story too of a rebellious family being confronted with God’s justice.
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This is where we started, isn’t it? That nagging question: ‘how Long O Lord’. That frustration of good things happening to bad people. Bad people never seeming to get their comeuppance. Justice never being served.
Well if this story is anything, it’s presumably a reminder that, just because it may sometimes look that way, it is not the case.
15 years have passed since Elijah was given those 3 instructions about Jehu and Ahab and Jezebel. 15 years. But God doesn’t confirm to our timescales. We care about the minutes. He works in millennia. ‘A day is like a thousand years’.
Justice will come. Nobody will evade it. And in fact it will come from the hand of Jesus himself. When our great Messiah returns in glory and majesty.
So be encouraged. There will be no dodging of the bullet in the big scheme of things. Justice will be done. And God will be glorified.