2 Kings 10:1-31
SUMMARY
The anointed of God pursues righteousness in a violent way.
ANALYSIS
This story will make even the most sympathetic of modern readers cringe. In it, JehuAnointed king by Elisha, Jehu overthrew the dynasty of Ahab and Jezebel. More, God’s newly anointed king of Israel, continues his ruthless purging of Israel’s throne. In an attempt to totally wipe out Ahab’s unrighteous line (and, coincidentally, any rival contenders for the throne), Jehu invites Ahab’s sons to battle him for the throne (verses 2-3). None of the princes’ guardians attempt to fight, so Jehu enacts the massacre of 70 of Ahab’s sons.
Three important questions arise from this text: first, were they actually children; second, were there actually 70 of them; and third, did God actually condone this violence? In response to the first question, AhabKing of Israel who opposed Elijah. More had at least two sons who were old enough to sit on the throne as grown adults. This reality suggests that at least some of them were of a mature age. In response to the second question, the number 70 is used in the Bible to show a complete totality. For example, when Joseph’s family comes to live with him in Egypt, the text says that “all of the persons of the house of JacobThe son of Isaac and Rebekah, renamed Israel, became the father of the twelve tribal families. More who came into Egypt were seventy” (Genesis 46:27), or in other words, all of them. Whether or not there were 70 sons is irrelevant to the text; what the author wants us to know is that Jehu got to all of them.
In response to the third question, verse 30 asserts that the house of Ahab was corrupt enough to warrant divine approval of Jehu’s violent housecleaning. Modern interpreters may flinch from the suggestion that God could condone such violence. In a society that was ruled by battle and not by politics, however, deities were not expected to be exempt from or above violence, as we see elsewhere in the Bible, in both Old and New Testaments.
