1. Now there were in Samaria seventy sons of the house of Ahab.
   So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria:
   to the officials of Jezreel, to the elders and to the guardians of Ahab's children. He said,
2. "As soon as this letter reaches you, since your master's sons are with you
   and you have chariots and horses, a fortified city and weapons,
3. choose the best and most worthy of your master's sons and set him on his father's throne.
   Then fight for your master's house."
4. But they were terrified and said, "If two kings could not resist him, how can we?"
5. So the palace administrator, the city governor, the elders and the guardians sent this message to Jehu:
   "We are your servants and we will do anything you say.
   We will not appoint anyone as king; you do whatever you think best."
6. Then Jehu wrote them a second letter, saying,
   "If you are on my side and will obey me, take the heads of your master's sons
   and come to me in Jezreel by this time tomorrow."
   Now the royal princes, seventy of them, were with the leading men of the city, who were rearing them.
7. When the letter arrived, these men took the princes and slaughtered all seventy of them.
   They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu in Jezreel.
8. When the messenger arrived, he told Jehu, "They have brought the heads of the princes."
   Then Jehu ordered, "Put them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning."
9. The next morning Jehu went out. He stood before all the people and said, "You are innocent.
    It was I who conspired against my master and killed him, but who killed all these?
10. Know then, that not a word the LORD has spoken against the house of Ahab will fail.
   The LORD has done what he promised through his servant Elijah."
11. So Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab,
   as well as all his chief men, his close friends and his priests, leaving him no survivor.
12. Jehu then set out and went toward Samaria. At Beth Eked of the Shepherds,
13. he met some relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah and asked, "Who are you?"
   They said, "We are relatives of Ahaziah, and we have come down to greet the families of the king and of the queen mother."
14. "Take them alive!" he ordered. So they took them alive and slaughtered them
   by the well of Beth Eked--forty-two men. He left no survivor.
15. After he left there, he came upon Jehonadab son of Recab, who was on his way to meet him.
   Jehu greeted him and said, "Are you in accord with me, as I am with you?" "I am," Jehonadab answered.
   "If so," said Jehu, "give me your hand." So he did, and Jehu helped him up into the chariot.
16. Jehu said, "Come with me and see my zeal for the LORD." Then he had him ride along in his chariot.
17. When Jehu came to Samaria, he killed all who were left there of Ahab's family;
   he destroyed them, according to the word of the LORD spoken to Elijah.
18. Then Jehu brought all the people together and said to them,
   "Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much.
19. Now summon all the prophets of Baal, all his ministers and all his priests.
   See that no one is missing, because I am going to hold a great sacrifice for Baal.
   Anyone who fails to come will no longer live."
   But Jehu was acting deceptively in order to destroy the ministers of Baal.
20. Jehu said, "Call an assembly in honor of Baal." So they proclaimed it.
21. Then he sent word throughout Israel, and all the ministers of Baal came; not one stayed away.
   They crowded into the temple of Baal until it was full from one end to the other.
22. And Jehu said to the keeper of the wardrobe,
   "Bring robes for all the ministers of Baal." So he brought out robes for them.
23. Then Jehu and Jehonadab son of Recab went into the temple of Baal.
   Jehu said to the ministers of Baal,
   "Look around and see that no servants of the LORD are here with you--only ministers of Baal."
24. So they went in to make sacrifices and burnt offerings.
   Now Jehu had posted eighty men outside with this warning:
   "If one of you lets any of the men I am placing in your hands escape, it will be your life for his life."
25. As soon as Jehu had finished making the burnt offering,
   he ordered the guards and officers:
   "Go in and kill them; let no one escape."
   So they cut them down with the sword.
   The guards and officers threw the bodies out and then entered the inner shrine of the temple of Baal.
26. They brought the sacred stone out of the temple of Baal and burned it.
27. They demolished the sacred stone of Baal and tore down the temple of Baal,
   and people have used it for a latrine to this day.
28. So Jehu destroyed Baal worship in Israel.
29. However, he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat,
   which he had caused Israel to commit--the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.
30. The LORD said to Jehu,
   "Because you have done well in accomplishing what is right in my eyes
   and have done to the house of Ahab all I had in mind to do,
   your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation."
31. Yet Jehu was not careful to keep the law of the LORD, the God of Israel,
   with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to commit.
32. In those days the LORD began to reduce the size of Israel.
   Hazael overpowered the Israelites throughout their territory
33. east of the Jordan in all the land of Gilead (the region of Gad, Reuben and Manasseh),
   from Aroer by the Arnon Gorge through Gilead to Bashan.
34. As for the other events of Jehu's reign, all he did, and all his achievements,
   are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?
35. Jehu rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria.
   And Jehoahaz his son succeeded him as king.
36. The time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.




예후를 통한 하나님의 심판

하나님은 예후를 통하여 아합의 집을 심판하신다.
하나님의 명령을 따라 신실하게
하나님의 심판을 집행하는 예후의 모습은
하나님을 향한 열심이 특심해 보인다.

그는 아주 치밀하고도 신실하게
아합의 온 집을 멸절하고
그의 자손과 죄악을 멸하고 있다.

나아가 그는 그들의 섬기는 바알도 없이하는데
그 모든 선지자들과
바알을 섬기는 일들을 한번에
몴히 죽이고 멸절함으로
온 이스라엘을 향하여
바알을 섬기는 일의 죄악됨을 드러내고 있다.
하나님의 바라시는 일을 예후는 하고 있는 것이다.

그러나 그는 그의 섬김을 여기에서 그치고 만다.
하나님의 바라시는 온전함에서 조금 부족한 것을 보인다.
하나님이 가증히 여기시는
금송아지의 산당을 없애지 못하는 것이다.

금송아지가 있는 산당은
어떤 의미에서 종교적인 죄이기도 하지만
그 근원에는 정치적인 의도가 있는 죄안인 것이다.
이스라엘은 하나님의 백성이며 하나님의 통치아래 있는 민족이다.
그러나 북쪽 이스라엘을 다스리는 왕들은
여로보암이 행했던 정치적인 이유를
그대로 받아들이고 나아가 그 이유를 가지고
께속해서 산당에서
금송아지를 하나님으로 섬기며 예배하는 일을 멈추지 않은 것이다.

그들의 무지가 그러했든지
그들의 인간적인 욕심과 우려가 그러했든지
그들은 하나님이 이스라엘의 통치자이시며
하나님의 주권이 허락지 않으면 이스라엘의 왕으로 사는
그들의 삶이 아무런 의미가 없음을 알지 못한 것이다.

하나님은 그들을 오래 참으신다.
28년을 이스라엘의 왕으로 다스리는 예후에게
하나님은 끊임없이 동아오기를 기다리셨으리라
그러나 그는 그 돌이킴을 하지 못하고 만다.
하나님은우리를 향하여
어김없이 오늘도 기다리시고
우리의 삶을 지켜보신다.
그러나 얼마나 우리는 그 하나님의 기다림을 무시하는가?


하나님의 말슴을 듣고
그 음성과 말씀에 반응하는 것은
참으로 쉽고도 단순하다

그러나 우리의 삶은 그 단순함을 잊고
너무도 자의적으로 살고 있을 뿐이다.

오늘도 기다리시며
당신의 말씀을 들려주시는 하나님을 기억할 수 있기를.....