Page 36 - No Apologies

II Kings 9:6-10
“Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘I have anointed you king over the people of
Yahweh, even over Israel. You shall strike the house of Ahab your master, that I may
avenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of
Yahweh, at the hand of Jezebel. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will
cut off from Ahab every male person both bond and free in Israel. I will make the
house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of
Baasha the son of Ahijah. The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and
none shall bury her.’”

Jehu accepted this commission, and set his heart to fulfill it with zeal. As he was on
the way to remove Ahab’s son from the throne, Jehu encountered the godly man Jonadab
and said to him, “Come with me and see my zeal for Yahweh" (2 Kings 10:16). Yahweh
attested to the fact that Jehu had done well in carrying out His commands.

II Kings 10:30
Yahweh said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in executing what is right in My
eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in My heart, your
sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel."

Jezebel’s words were not right when she compared Jehu to Zimri. It is possible for
men to perform outwardly identical acts, yet one man be approved by God and the other
man condemned. From outward appearances, Zimri and Jehu did similar works. Of Zimri
we read.

I Kings 16:10-13
Then Zimri went in and struck [Elah, son of Baasha] and put him to death in the
twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and became king in his place. It came
about when he became king, as soon as he sat on his throne, that he killed all the
household of Baasha; he did not leave a single male, neither of his relatives nor of his
friends. Thus Zimri destroyed all the household of Baasha, according to the word of
Yahweh, which He spoke against Baasha through Jehu the prophet, for all the sins
of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned and which they made Israel
sin, provoking Yahweh God of Israel to anger with their idols.

Zimri slew an idolatrous king, and so did Jehu. Zimri destroyed the entire household
of the king, as well as the close friends of the king, and so did Jehu. Outwardly their works
were the same. They both slew kings that had defiled the land and people of Yahweh
through idolatry. Yahweh had prophesied that both kings and their households would be
destroyed, yet Zimri did not perform his acts out of obedience to a command of God, nor
was he zealous for Yahweh. Zimri’s actions were selfishly motivated. His actions were those
of a covetous and rebellious man who sought to elevate himself.
Zimri ruled only seven days after slaying Elah, son of Baasha. Omri, another army
commander raised a force against him. When Zimri saw he was defeated he entered into the
king’s house and set it afire with himself inside. He perished by his own hand in the fire, a
fitting tribute to one who had acted by his own hand to usurp the position of the king.