Jehu has killed King Joram, the son of the late King Ahab of Israel, and has killed all the male descendants of Ahab just as it was prophesied by Elijah. The Lord had said to Ahab through Elijah: "I will wipe out your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel---slave or free." (1 Kings 21:21)
Now Jehu sets his sights on taking down the state-sponsored Baal religion of Ahab. He orchestrates a ruse to trick the officials of Ahab's sinful religious system into assembling together at the same time and in the same place so he can slaughter them. "Then Jehu brought all the people together and said to them, 'Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much.'" (2 Kings 10:18) This is hyperbole, for Ahab served Baal enthusiastically and wholeheartedly, but Jehu is saying something like, "You ain't seen nothing yet! If you think Ahab loved and served Baal, wait until you see how I'm going to love and serve him!"
Jehu begins setting the scene that will lead to the deaths of the leaders of the Baal-worshiping community. He orders the people, "Now summon all the prophets of Baal, all his servants and all his priests." (2 Kings 10:19a) The authority held by these people being called together could be compared to the authority of the priests and Levites, as far as the type of offices they hold. Spiritually, of course, the officials of Baal couldn't be more different than the men who serve the Lord at His temple in Jerusalem.
Jehu wants to make certain no high-ranking man of Ahab's idolatrous religious system fails to appear at the meeting. "See that no one is missing, because I am going to hold a great sacrifice for Baal. Anyone who fails to come will no longer live." (2 Kings 10:19b) In case anyone doesn't want to obey the summons of the man who cut off the family that instituted Baal worship in Israel in the first place, Jehu warns them that to refuse to obey his summons is a death sentence. So whether or not these men support him as the new king, they will show up out of fear of being executed.
The new king doesn't want any innocent persons to become "collateral damage", to use a modern term. He wants only the servants of Baal struck down at this meeting. He arranges for them to be dressed in special clothing and then orders them to check and see that no one is present who is not one of them. "But Jehu was acting deceptively in order to destroy the servants of Baal. Jehu said, 'Call an assembly in honor of Baal.' So they proclaimed it. Then he sent word throughout Israel, and all the servants of Baal came; not one stayed away. They crowded into the temple of Baal until it was full from one end to the other. Jehu said to the keeper of the wardrobe, 'Bring robes for all the servants of Baal.' So he brought out robes for them. Then Jehu and Jehonadab son of Rekab went into the temple of Baal. Jehu said to the servants of Baal, 'Look around and see that no one who serves the Lord is here with you---only servants of Baal.'" (2 Kings 10:19c-23)
In case anyone who is not a Baal worshiper has infiltrated the meeting to find out what is going on, Jehu orders these men to verify that everyone in the crowd is one of them. They must make sure they know and recognize each person there. After these men have checked out everyone in the crowd to verify that no one is among them who shouldn't be, Jehu is ready to carry out his plan. He and Jehonadab (a very well-respected man who joined Jehu's caravan in yesterday's text) are inside the temple with these men while guards are posted outside awaiting Jehu's command.
"So they went in to make sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had posted eighty men outside with this warning: 'If one of you lets any of the men I am placing in your hands escape, it will be your life for his life.' As soon as Jehu had finished making the burnt offering, he ordered the guards and officers: 'Go in and kill them; let no one escape.' So they cut them down with the sword. The guards and officers threw the bodies out and then entered the inner shrine of the temple of Baal. They brought the sacred stone out of the temple of Baal and tore down the temple of Baal, and people have used it for a latrine to this day. So Jehu destroyed Baal worship in Israel." (2 Kings 10:24-28)
I believe that when the author says the men entered the "inner shrine" they are referring to a portion of the temple that could be compared to the "most holy place" within the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem. I believe that the "sacred stone" is an object upon which the high priest of Baal would sprinkle blood from their unholy sacrifices, similar to how the high priest of Israel would go into the most holy place in the temple once a year to sprinkle the blood from the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement upon the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant. Satan has always wanted to be like God and to be worshiped in place of God; it is no wonder that the false religions of the world have included rituals in their services that mimic the rituals used in the worship of the one true God. If Satan cannot compel people to worship him openly, he wants to prevent people from worshiping the Lord. In a sense, idolatry actually is the worship of Satan because it is the worship of everything that opposes the Lord, so even though idolaters don't think they are worshiping the evil one, they are doing his bidding.
After destroying the dynasty of Ahab in the preceding chapters, in today's passage Jehu destroys the temple that Ahab built when he married Jezebel of Sidon and adopted her nation's religion. Ahab made Baal worship the state-sponsored religion of Israel, causing many who were weak in the faith to turn from the Lord to idolatry and causing many who had not yet given their hearts to the Lord to refrain from ever considering coming to Him for salvation. Jehu did a good thing when he "destroyed Baal worship in Israel" but the remainder of his reign won't be all that it should be, spiritually speaking. We will study more about his reign and about his dynasty in the coming days.
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