Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Leonard Jayawardena <leonardj AT live.com>]

In yesterday's post I presented an analysis of Hosea 1:4-5 and adduced 
further reasons for the interpretation of "the blood of Jezreel" I have 
advocated in this series of posts. In this and the next post I propose to 
show the remarkable connection between Exodus 20:3-5, 2 Kings 10:30 and Hosea 
1:4-5, which affords a further line of argument in favour of my view.  First, 
let us look at 2 Kings 10:30, reproduced below with the preceding and 
following verses to get the context (KJV used):
29Howbeit 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 in 
Bethel, and that were in Dan. 30And 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 upon the throne of Israel. 31But 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 Nebat, which made Israel to sin. [KJV] Most 
readers of 2 Kings 10:30 do not see anything more than God's commendation of 
Jehu for destroying the house of Ahab in obedience to his command, but there 
is more to it below the surface. Look at the context of 2 Kings 10:30 
carefully. In the immediately preceding verse (v.29), the writer says that 
Jehu "departed not" from the sins of Jeroboam. Then, in v.31, he again says: 
"But he took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God with all his heart: 
for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin." 
Verse 30 is sandwiched between two verses concerning Jehu's idolatry, which 
the writer obviously views negatively, and so, unless the writer meant 
something more than just a commendation of Jehu in v. 30, its placement would 
be most incongruous. But what exactly was his intention? There can be two 
possibilities: 
 (1) On the interpretation that v. 30 was purely meant to be a statement 
recording God's commendation and rewarding of Jehu for having executed his 
command to destroy the house of Ahab, the basic purpose of this passage would 
be to show what an ingrate Jehu was and v. 31 would be saying in effect, "In 
spite of God's promise to preserve his dynasty unto the fourth generation, 
idolatrous Jehu did not show any gratitude to God by departing from the sins 
of Jeroboam." But this interpretation has two weaknesses: 
 (a) It fails to explain the use of the Hebrew word shâmar in v. 31, which is 
translated as "took ... heed" in that verse and is so translated in the KJV 
more than thirty times and has meanings which include "beware, be 
circumspect, take heed [to self]." When so translated, it means taking care 
to do or not do something to avoid some negative consequence. For example, 
see Genesis 31:24, where God says to Laban, "Take heed that thou speak not to 
Jacob either good or bad [lest I punish thee if thou do so]"; and Deuteronomy 
11:16: "Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn 
aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; and then the Lord's wrath be 
kindled against you..." If no divine threat is contained in v. 30, what 
negative consequence did Jehu fail to avoid?  (b) The limitation of God's 
blessing of Jehu's dynasty only until "the fourth generation" prompts the 
question "Why?" and invites a contrast between the divine promise to Jehu 
with that given to king David that *his* house would continue "forever" (2 
Samuel 7:11-16). Why only until the *fourth generation* and not *forever* 
like the house of David?  (2) A better interpretation is that which sees a 
hidden punishment underlying the commendation in v. 30. To show this it is 
necessary to expand v. 30 to read as follows: "And the Lord said to Jehu, 
'Thou shouldest be punished for committing the sins of Jeroboam, but 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 upon the throne of Israel, in 
which I will punish thine house." With the expanded form of v.30, the entire 
passage would read as follows:
29Howbeit 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 in 
Bethel, and that were in Dan. 30And the Lord said unto Jehu, [Thou shouldest 
be punished for committing the sins of Jeroboam, but] 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 upon the throne of Israel[, in which I will 
punish thine house]. 31But 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 Nebat, 
which made Israel to sin. 
Doesn't the passage make more sense now? In v.29 the writer is setting out 
the basis for the punishment implied in v.30, then in v.31 saying, in effect: 
'In spite of the prophecy of punishment pronounced against his house, Jehu 
took no preventive action to avert the future tragedy to befall the fourth 
generation of his descendants by departing from the sins of Jeroboam.' It is 
implied that if Jehu had given up calf worship and been wholly true to God, 
his house would have escaped punishment. This interpretation explains the use 
of the Hebrew word shâmar in v. 31 and the limitation of Jehu's dynasty to 
the fourth generation. The promise to Jehu that his dynasty would continue 
until the fourth generation is lenience shown in what is otherwise a 
punishment. There is therefore both good news and bad news for Jehu in 2 
Kings 10:30: the bad news, which is not specifically mentioned but implied, 
is that his house is to be punished for continuing in the sins of Jeroboam; 
the good news is that the punishment is postponed to the fourth generation as 
a "reward" for serving God in destroying the house of Ahab.  Note that the 
negativity of 2 Kings 10:29-31 in spite of the commendation in v. 30 is 
confirmed by the immediately following account of the conquests of Hazael in 
Israel (vv. 32-33), the placement of which is not coincidental. The Bible 
writers always saw idolatry as the downfall of both Judah and Israel, and 
reports of attacks by enemy nations often follow reports of the idolatry of 
the two nations. A clear link is made between the two as a perusal of the 
historical books of the OT will confirm (e.g., see Judges 2:11-15, which 
summarises the constant refrain of the book of Israel's apostasy followed by 
God delivering them to their enemies as a punishment). There are other 
examples of deferred punishment in the OT which parallel 2 Kings 10:30. 
 
1 Kings 21:29: "And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 
'Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled 
himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days; but in his son's 
days I will bring the evil upon his house'" (1 Kings 21:29, RSV). This 
statement followed the repentance of Ahab upon hearing the divine judgment 
pronounced by Elijah on his house because of all the evil he had perpetrated. 
Compare the above with 2 Kings 10:30: "Because thou hast done well in 
executing that which is right in Mine eyes..., thy children of the fourth 
generation shall sit upon the throne of Israel."
 
1 Kings 11:11-13: The Lord said to Solomon, 'Since this has been your mind 
and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes which I commanded you, I 
will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant 
[Jeroboam]. Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your 
days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However I will not tear 
away all the kingdom...'
In my next post I will show how 2 Kings 10:30 ties up with Exodus 20:3-5 and 
Hosea 1:4-5, although I am sure at least some readers who have followed me so 
far would have already seen the connection. Leonard JayawardenaSri Lanka
_________________________________________________________________
News, entertainment and everything you care about at Live.com. Get it now!
http://www.live.com/getstarted.aspx