Context No. 2653 of 4322 · 2 Kings

2 Kings 10:29-36: in context

29However, Jehu didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin—the golden calves that were in Bethel and that were in Dan. 30The LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes, and have done to Ahab’s house according to all that was in my heart, your descendants shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” 31But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin. 32In those days the LORD began to cut away parts of Israel; and Hazael struck them in all the borders of Israel 33from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan. 34Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 35Jehu slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria. Jehoahaz his son reigned in his place. 36The time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.

Jehu had zealously carried out God's judgment, wiping out the house of Ahab and the worship of Baal, and God commends him for it: because you have done well in doing what is right in my eyes, your sons will sit on the throne to the fourth generation. But then the sober qualifier: Jehu did not turn from the golden calves of Jeroboam, and he took no care to walk in the law of the LORD with all his heart.

Jehu is a portrait of partial obedience. He was zealous, even violent, against one set of sins, the Baal worship of Ahab, and God rewarded that. But he kept another set, the convenient calves of Jeroboam, and did not follow God with his whole heart. His zeal in the dramatic area coexisted with an unrepented sin he found useful to keep. It is a familiar pattern. We can be genuinely, even fiercely, obedient in one visible area and quietly hold on to our own golden calf, the sin that serves us, telling ourselves the loud obedience covers the reserved corner. God commended what Jehu did right, and still saw the heart that was not wholly his.

Where am I zealous in one visible area of obedience while quietly keeping a convenient sin, my own golden calf, that I have no intention of giving up?

Sources

2 Kings 10:30: Because you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes... your descendants shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.
2 Kings 10:31: But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart.
2 Kings 10:29: However, Jehu didn't depart from the sins of Jeroboam... the golden calves that were in Bethel and that were in Dan.