Jehu is the man! Why did I not recognize this before? "But [the surrounding kings] were terrified and said, 'If two kings could not resist him, how can we?'"
The nations shudder at the sound of his name. Just last chapter he yelled up to the servants in the tower to throw down their reigning queen and the servants did! After he rested for a while, he sent men back out to pick up her body, but she'd been devoured by dogs already. Oh well, he tried.
So now, when the surrounding officers want to join his team, he requires each of them to murder their masters and bring the heads in baskets to show their loyalty. Seventy heads later, he continues his rampage against the nation that had committed themselves to God and turned away.
The slaughtering in this chapter is not against just any group of people God didn't like. Israel and God had been intimate, and she cheated on Him, and "you wouldn't like Him when He's angry." Wayward kings are removed and idols are torn down. Not all of the death in the Bible makes a lot of sense to me, but I can get behind this particular mission.
Here's the fun part: Jehu declares his commitment to Baal, the major idol in Israel. "Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much. Now summon all the prophets of Baal, all his ministers and all his priests...Anyone who fails to come will no longer live." He gathers with the prophets of Baal, and completes the sacrifice. He walks out of the temple and tells his surrounding S.W.A.T. team of 80 men, "If anyone escapes the temple behind me alive, I'll kill you."
Sad ending though, Jehu didn't do the same for all the idols, so God half-blessed him for what he had done, but was heart-broken that Israel wouldn't be totally dedicated to Him. "In those days the Lord began to reduce the size of Israel."
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