Thursday, May 22, 2014

Yehu Almost Finishes the Job, but Not Quite

At the end of Yehu’s (Jehu’s,) “Housecleaning,” ending the reign of the House of Achav (Ahab) and the worship of the Ba’al idol in Melachim B (Kings II) 10, Yehu leaves the golden calf idols in Beit El and in Dan standing. God speaks to Yehu saying, “You did well by executing what was proper in My eyes; according to all that was in My heart you have done to the house of Achav (Ahab.)”  A personal take on this apparent contradiction: The golden calves were actually a perverted idolatry-like form of worship, but still directed at the God of Israel.  Perhaps Yehu has the status of an ignoramous, who was unintentionally leaving de-idolatrization unfinished, and was judged as such rather than being judged as a willful idolator.  Also note that God does not praise him for wiping out idol worship, only for ending the house of Achav’s hold on the Kingdom of Israel.

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