2 Kings 9:6-10: a reflection

6He arose, and went into the house. Then he poured the oil on his head, and said to him, “The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘I have anointed you king over the people of the LORD, even over Israel. 7You must strike your master Ahab’s house, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel. 8For the whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab everyone who urinates against a wall, both him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel. 9I will make Ahab’s house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. 10The dogs will eat Jezebel on the plot of ground of Jezreel, and there shall be no one to bury her.’” Then he opened the door and fled.

Jehu is anointed and commissioned to carry out a judgment long in coming: the end of the house of Ahab, whose king and queen, Ahab and Jezebel, had led Israel into deep evil, murdered the innocent, and killed the prophets of God. Now, years later, the judgment God had spoken against that house is set in motion. The blood of the prophets and of God's servants, shed by Jezebel, is to be avenged; the wickedness that had seemed to go unpunished for so long is finally answered.

Notice the timing. Ahab and Jezebel's evil had flourished for years; they had seemed to get away with it, prospering in their wickedness while the faithful suffered. It could have looked, for a long time, as though there would be no reckoning, as though their evil would simply go unpunished. But God had not forgotten. His justice, long delayed, was not abandoned; in his time, the reckoning came. The delay was not indifference; it was patience, and it had a limit.

That is a sober but steadying truth for a world where evil often seems to prosper unpunished. When the wicked flourish and justice seems absent, when it looks as though wrongdoing will simply go unanswered, remember the house of Ahab. God's justice may be long delayed, but it is not abandoned; his patience has a limit, and in his time the reckoning comes. We are not to take vengeance ourselves or grow bitter, but we can rest in the assurance that God's justice is real and, however delayed, is not finally escaped. Leave the reckoning to God, who does not forget.

Lord, the evil of Ahab and Jezebel flourished for years and seemed to go unpunished, but your justice, long delayed, was not abandoned, and in your time the reckoning came. When I see evil prosper and justice seem absent, keep me from bitterness and from taking vengeance myself. Remind me that your justice is real, that your patience has a limit, and that no wrongdoing is finally escaped. Help me leave the reckoning to you, who do not forget, and trust that you judge rightly in your time.