The Divine Hitman

The Death of Jezebel
Courtesy Orientalism in Art

Truth may not always be stranger than fiction, but it can be as dramatic.

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.”
   The lookout reported, “The messenger has reached them, but he isn’t coming back.”  2 Kings 9:18

As I am reading through the Bible, I am constantly amazed at how many great stories exist in the Old Testament.  Those who neglect that portion of the Scriptures miss out on many stories involving colorful characters.  Jehu is one such character.  There are two Jehus in the Bible, the first one, Jehu son of Hanani, was a prophet, and while I'm sure that he had an interesting life, the one I'm talking about is Jehu the son of Nimshi, who was a military leader who became king of Israel.

Jehu son of Nimshi comes onto the scene during the time when Elijah was the main prophet in Israel.  Shortly after the Mount Carmel experience, God gives Elijah a "to do" list which involves anointing two kings and his prophetic successor.  Apparently, Elijah didn't complete the list before being taken to heaven, so we find Elisha being the one to set Jehu's reign in motion.

I'm not going to retell Jehu's entire story (which you can read in 2 Kings 9-10), but I will say that his story reads like some sort of action movie (hence the provocative title for this post).  After being anointed king by an anonymous young prophet described as a "maniac", Jehu, formerly a military commander, becomes the leader of what amounts to a death squad hunting down and eliminating all those connected with the now-deceased evil king Ahab and the worshipers of the false god Baal.

One of my favorite parts of this story shows that there was something special about Jehu (if I was making a movie, this clip would be in the trailer).  As he was approaching the hideout for number one on his hit list, Ahab's son Joram, Joram sends out a messenger to see if Jehu has come in peace, and as all good action-movie stars go, he has definitely not come in peace.  Jehu had such a way about him (I would compare him to Leonidas of Spartan fame), that with two short sentences (see text above), he convinces not one, but two of Joram's messengers to switch sides and fight against their former leader.

After eliminating Joram and Ahaziah, Jehu goes after the prophet-killer Jezebel, Ahab's widow.  What happens next says something about both Jehu and Jezebel.  When Jezebel heard that Jehu was on his way, she did her hair and put on makeup, and stood by a window waiting for him.  When he arrived she asked him if he came in peace (you know the answer to that question), and once again, with a few words, Jehu was able to convince some on the other side to do his bidding.

The remainder of the story involves more action as Jehu makes his way through his divine hit list (incidentally, nobody after this point asks if he came in peace), and God commends him of his services even though Jehu didn't get everything right.  While I am not advocating the glorification of bloodshed, I'm writing about Jehu's story for the purpose of getting people to pay more attention to the entire Bible.

So if you take the time and read some of the great stories of the Old Testament, you will find that the truth in the Bible can be as interesting as the fiction you'd find elsewhere.

A Consecrated Ministry

We are responsible for the spiritual welfare of others.

This chapter deals with many different aspects of how a gospel minister should act and what they should do. I will not focus on every aspect, so as to not rewrite the chapter. However, it would be a great idea for you to read as you will get more out of it than what I can write here.

The aspect I will focus on today is the one regarding spiritual guardianship. To illustrate this point, E.G. White compared spiritual leaders to watchmen on the wall. She puts it this way.

"The words of the prophet declare the solemn responsibility of those who are appointed as guardians of the church of God, stewards of the mysteries of God. They are to stand as watchmen on the walls of Zion, to sound the note of alarm at the approach of the enemy. Souls are in danger of falling under temptation, and they will perish unless God's ministers are faithful to their trust. If for any reason their spiritual senses become so benumbed that they are unable to discern danger, and through their failure to give warning the people perish, God will require at their hands the blood of those who are lost." pg 361

 Aside from the point that we are be in constant prayer for those in leadership position, we are still responsible for the spiritual welfare of others. To use the watchmen illustration, if a citizen of the city were to see impending danger would it not be their responsibility to tell others about it? They would not say, "Oh, that's the watchmen's job. I'll let them take care of it." If we see something that we believe to be wrong, we should let other people know about it.

At the same time, we need to be careful as to exactly how we let others know about impending danger. To do it in an unconsecrated manner would simply be aiding the enemy. Instead of drawing people to Christ, we would be driving them away from Him into enemy territory. This practice is a cause of many problems in God's church. People worry so much about warning that they neglect consecration. So our goal should be greater consecration, greater spiritual growth, greater character development. Then the discernment and warning will take care of themselves.

So let us remember that we are responsible for the spiritual welfare of others, but we are useless if we neglect our own.