Daily Devotional | A Squandered Opportunity

Have you ever missed an opportunity and regretted it later? Maybe fear led you to hesitate, or an established habit led you to resist a change. Jehu, a general in Israel’s army, fell into that trap. Jehu was selected by God to be the next king of Israel. What is more, God used Jehu to discipline the nation by killing Jezebel; Joram, king of Israel; Ahaziah, king of Judah; their descendants; and all the prophets of Baal!

Although many died in 2 Kings 10, God presented Jehu and Israel with an opportunity to repent! Elijah had longed for this day. But when it arrived, Jehu squandered it. He rejected Baal, but he did not reject the sin of Jeroboam: worshiping the golden calves at Dan and Bethel.

Recall from 1 Kings that Jeroboam set up these idols to prevent Israel and Judah from joining back together. This was a grievous sin which caused the nation to stray from faithful worship for generations. Now Jehu turned back to Israel’s original sin. This moment illustrated the power of ungodly cultural habits. For Jehu failed to remember that Israel was not founded upon cultural practice, but upon the covenant God made with them at Mt. Sinai. That covenant set the boundaries for the relationship. First among God’s instructions? You shall have no other gods before me. Second, you shall not make for yourselves a graven image! Jehu fell into the trap of assuming that historic practices were good enough.

The cost for him was the loss of an enduring dynasty. His children would sit on the throne of Israel only for four generations. What’s more, since the nation remained unfaithful, God began to take away territory from Israel and give it to Israel’s enemies (vv. 32–33).