Recording:
A person's vision determines their life. Why did the descendants of Jehonadab find favor in God's eyes, while the sons of Ahab perished? In this chapter, the teacher earnestly and emphatically presents the choice between life and death, blessings and curses. Will you choose to be infatuated with the world or to set your sights on eternal life?
Questions for Reflection:
What is the difference between worshipping the true God and worshipping idols?
Why did Jehu, who was raised up by God, ultimately lead the Israelites to worship idols?
Is there something you are trying to hold onto? How do you think you can keep yourself living on the path of life?
Those Who Love the World, Their End is Death
Until both the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were destroyed, the house of Jehonadab did not perish. What great grace! Although the people of Ahab's house heard the warnings of Elijah, they could not see beyond their own coffins. If there is a funeral, I encourage everyone to go and take a look, and you will find that many people only live to their forties or fifties, and then they die.
Therefore, if we can understand this matter of death, then the entanglements of this life, all things will be let go at once. The reason people cannot let go is because they love the world. The death of the three sons of Ahab described in this chapter proves this point. If one of the seventy sons of Ahab had been able to choose the vision of Jehonadab's family at this time or at any time before, he would not have been killed. The heads of these seventy sons were placed in baskets (see 2 Kings 10:7); their deaths were miserable. So we must know that those who love the world die miserably. Despite not wanting to die, they must die, which is truly a tragic story.
Those Who Love Life, Worship Only the True God
Next, it describes the priests of Baal. What drives people to worship Baal? It is also the love of the world! What kind of people worship the God of Wealth? People who love money. Then who comes to worship Jehovah God? People who love life! If you want to gain life, to gain eternal life, you will come to worship this eternal God. If you are a person who loves this present life, then you will worship Baal, the God of Wealth, Guan Gong, and other powerless idols. We really need to change our vision. If our vision is only focused on this present life, it will be very troublesome. These people who worship Baal, or those who serve Baal, basically do so to satisfy two needs: one is the stomach, and the other is the flesh, which is the lust of the flesh.
But can these two things give people life? No. In the Book of Judges, it is recorded that a man named Gideon cut down and burned the image of Baal, and the worshippers of Baal wanted to kill him. Then Gideon's father, Joash, facing these people who attacked him, said a very classic sentence: Are you contending for Baal? Will you deliver him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has torn down his altar! (Judges 6:31). As a result, Gideon lived well and was not killed. The true God will surely give life and will surely preserve us from this life into eternal life!
Those who worship Baal are shortsighted. They basically live by the instincts of the flesh, and the devil uses these instincts of the flesh to control and drive these people to worship Baal. Their end is also to be killed. This proves one thing: Baal is not God! Jehovah, who can lead us into eternal life, is God! If a person loves the world, loves this present life, and seeks benefits in the world with an idolatrous mindset, their end will be like the sons of Ahab and those who worshipped Baal, dying miserably, dying in their own shortsightedness. As we read from Genesis to the present, we will find that the people in the Bible are basically divided into two categories: one is those with a longer vision, who always look to eternal life; the other is those who look to this present life and live for this present life. Those who live for this present life all die; those who live for eternal life all return to God.
Start Changing Our Vision: From This Life to Eternal Life
We must begin to constantly change our vision. In the past, when I asked everyone to study the Bible, I would always have a little concern, which was Don't delay your work. Now I have no concerns at all. The key is that our vision has changed. We no longer live for this present life, but begin to live for returning to God's presence, for God. What is the result? When we set our minds on this, God truly shows grace to these blue-collar workers among us! When we change our vision, our lives become extraordinary!
From Genesis onwards, the visions of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob made them extraordinary people! What kind of person was Abraham? He was a person who had enough of living. He often thought, If people live and live and then return to dust and die, what is the point of living like this? At that time, Abraham began to seek in his heart, What am I living for? and to seek eternal life. Later, God chose him and promised: I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. (Genesis 22:17-18).
If a person does not believe in the Lord, upon hearing these words, they will have this reaction: My descendants are matters of hundreds of years later; I don't want to know! If a person believes in the Lord, they will have the vision of eternal life, seek eternal life like Abraham, and receive the grace that God gives him. This is the vision of man; how far a person's vision can see, that is how much they can obtain! So do not limit your entire life to a very small and narrow space: Why live? To have enough to eat. Why live? To have a place to live. What is the point of such a life? In Matthew, Jesus said, Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (Matthew 6:26). People like Jehonadab, are they not living by God's care? Is Jehonadab not living well? The birds neither sow nor reap, yet they live well. On the contrary, those who live only to have a better life in this life end up not living well. So we must especially change our vision.
In the days of Jacob, Jacob also had the vision of eternal life. Jacob should have thought from a young age: I must obtain the blessing that my grandfather Abraham spoke of, and I must enter into eternal life! Jacob loved life, but his brother Esau loved the world. God is pleased with people like Jacob, so although Jacob was the younger son, he obtained the birthright. Since the order of seniority can be reversed and overturned, it proves that a person with faith, a person who trusts in God, truly has nothing that cannot be overturned! Later, in the days of Joseph, it was even more wonderful, because Joseph was not living in this present life at all. Although he was sold by his brothers into Egypt as a slave, even as a slave, he did not love this world. Then he worked hard and diligently every day as a slave, hoping to enter into eternal life. As a result, he later became the prime minister of Egypt. He did not pursue it, yet he received it in full measure. Such a person will receive a hundredfold in this age and eternal life in the age to come (Luke 18:30). So we must change our vision. If our vision is different, we will become different people.
People Die from Shortsightedness
Jehu's vision still could not rise above this present life; he only lived to defend his throne. Therefore, he led the Israelites to worship golden calves (see 2 Kings 10:28-36)! We must know that worshipping golden calves was a political tactic. Jehu did not believe in that golden calf at all. Although Jehu knew that Jehovah was God, he thought this way: If my people all go to Jerusalem, from a political perspective, that is a very, very big problem. How can I manage this group of people? These people do not believe in me, but believe in the God of the country opposite me. This is really too risky. So in order to manage the Israelites, he created his own religion, which was the religion of the golden calf. As a result, he did not keep his kingdom. Jehu's reign was less than a hundred years. Later, God raised up King Hazael of Aram to attack Israel. The surrounding vassal states of Israel were lost one by one, and no one paid tribute to Israel anymore, and then the entire country was destroyed.
We must know one thing, which is verse 35: Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. This sentence is very heavy! Since people will leave this world, then why do we love this world in this place? Today we have God; we must not love this world! Living with love for the world and without love for the world is different: If you choose to live with love for the world, you will not gain anything; if you choose to live without love for the world, you can be raised up and become a powerful instrument that God can use! So those who love the world, whether you worship Baal or not, as long as you love the world, you will die. Including Jehu, who was once used by God. But this family that does not love the world and only looks to God, Jehonadab the son of Rechab, he and his descendants will forever stand before Jehovah God!
Scripture
2Ki 10:1 Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to them that brought up Ahab's children, saying,
2Ki 10:2 Now as soon as this letter cometh to you, seeing your master's sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, and a fenced city, and armour;
2Ki 10:3 Look even out the best and meetest of your master's sons, and set him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house:
2Ki 10:4 But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, Behold, two kings stood not before him: how then shall we stand?
2Ki 10:5 And he that was over the house, and he that was over the city, the elders also, and the bringers up of the children, sent to Jehu, saying, We are thy servants, and will do all that thou shalt bid us; we will not make any king: do thou that which is good in thine eyes.
2Ki 10:6 Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If ye be mine, and if ye will hearken unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men your master's sons, and come to me to Jezreel by to morrow this time. Now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought them up.
2Ki 10:7 And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slew them, even seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent him them to Jezreel.
2Ki 10:8 And there came a messenger, and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the king's sons. And he said, Lay ye them in two heaps at the entering in of the gate until the morning.
2Ki 10:9 And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, Ye be righteous: behold, I conspired against my master, and slew him; but who slew all these?
2Ki 10:10 Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the LORD, which the LORD spake concerning the house of Ahab: for the LORD hath done that which he spake by his servant Elijah.
2Ki 10:11 So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his kinsfolks, and his priests, until he left him none remaining.
2Ki 10:12 And he arose and departed, and came to Samaria. And as he was at the shearing house in the way,
2Ki 10:13 Jehu met with the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, Who are ye? And they answered, We are the brethren of Ahaziah; and we go down to salute the children of the king and the children of the queen.
2Ki 10:14 And he said, Take them alive. And they took them alive, and slew them at the pit of the shearing house, even two and forty men; neither left he any of them.
2Ki 10:15 And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him: and he saluted him, and said to him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot.
2Ki 10:16 And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD. So they made him ride in his chariot.
2Ki 10:17 And when he came to Samaria, he slew all that remained unto Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed him, according to the saying of the LORD, which he spake to Elijah.
2Ki 10:18 And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said unto them, Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu shall serve him much.
2Ki 10:19 Now therefore call unto me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests; let none be wanting: for I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal; whosoever shall be wanting, he shall not live. But Jehu did it in subtilty, to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal.
2Ki 10:20 And Jehu said, Proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal. And they proclaimed it.
2Ki 10:21 And Jehu sent through all Israel: and all the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that came not. And they came into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal was full from one end to another.
2Ki 10:22 And he said unto him that was over the vestry, Bring forth vestments for all the worshippers of Baal. And he brought forth vestments for them.
2Ki 10:23 And Jehu went, and Jehonadab the son of Rechab, into the house of Baal, and said unto the worshippers of Baal, Search, and look that there be here with you none of the servants of the LORD, but the worshippers of Baal only.
2Ki 10:24 And when they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings, Jehu appointed fourscore men without, and said, If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escape, he that letteth him go, his life shall be for the life of him.
2Ki 10:25 And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in, and slay them; let none come forth. And they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains cast them out, and went to the city of the house of Baal.
2Ki 10:26 And they brought forth the images out of the house of Baal, and burned them.
2Ki 10:27 And they brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day.
2Ki 10:28 Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.
2Ki 10:29 Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were at Bethel, and that were at Dan.
2Ki 10:30 And the LORD said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.
2Ki 10:31 But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.
2Ki 10:32 In those days the LORD began to cut Israel short: and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel;
2Ki 10:33 From Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan.
2Ki 10:34 Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
2Ki 10:35 And Jehu slept with his fathers: and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead.
2Ki 10:36 And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty and eight years.