Innocent By-Standers

“Come…and see my zeal for the Lord.” Looks can be deceiving. This man was not what he passed himself off to be. If anyone thinks this man’s zeal was for the Lord, then their thinking is not “according to knowledge.” When we put this man under the microscope of God’s Word, we find him to be ambitious, calculating, ruthless, stern, and passionless. Great leaders are not always great men. True, he was commissioned to exterminate all of Ahab’s bloodline, but, in his misguided zeal, he killed forty-two innocent men who were the descendants of David, and only because they were associated with Ahab— guilty by association, you know. And what’s worse, he made it look like it was all for the Lord.

His zeal originated more from Jehu than Jehovah. God was only a means to an end for him. We see this today in many, so-called, soul winners. Another convert simply means another notch on their Bibles. This is the type who leaves the dust on the knees of their trousers for all to see they are men of prayer.

The pitiful thing about Jehu’s is that good people are taken in by them. Jehonadab was a Rechabite, a respected and spiritual people among the Jews. Jehu persuaded him to join his endeavor, because he needed such a person to add respectability and credence to his ambitions and to help him sell his policies and practices to the public. Let’s make sure we are not one of those sincere puppets.

A man’s motive is God’s primary concern.