"Jehu"

Ellul, Jacques The Politics of God and the Politics of Man

(William B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Mi) 92-118.

Allen Johnson

Rt. 1, Box 119-B

Dunmore, West Virginia 24934

Theology of the Minor Prophets

Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary

Dr. Tom McDaniel

Fall, 1994

PREFACE

My review of this work was inspired by Dr. Tom McDaniel's class discussion involving the seeming contradiction between the narrative of apparent approval of Jehu's bloody extirpation of the House of Ahab (2 Kings 10:30) and the denunciation of Hosea for the same deeds (Hosea 1:4,5). I recalled my impact of reading Jacques Ellul's treatise on Jehu many years ago, and have since this class discussion (heard on tape) been eager to re-read this piece written by the recently deceased eminent French lay theologian and social analyst, to whom much of my own personal theological journey owes debt.

"The real question in the case of Jehu is that of the heart....Jehu is a man who, faithful to God and knowing his will, commandeers this will and makes it his own. He identifies his own cause with God's design. He thus sets out to shape history in the name of God but also in the place of God" (p. 112).

In II Kings 9, 10, the story of Jehu initiates through the spark of a prophetic word—Elisha instructs a helper to privately and with surprise anoint Jehu king over Israel, and then to flee. The helper, perhaps a student-in-training, performs this task but with an embellishment added whereby Jehu is to destroy the house of Ahab. The true prophetic word has power to set things into movement, to break through paralysis and anomie. But that word, given forth into the realm of humankind, can be seized and co-opted. Elisha's intermediary tacks on to Elisha's word an Elijahan prophecy that Ahab's house would fall. Jehu sets out on his bloody course.

Jacques Ellul writes on this point: "Now this very employment of an intermediary has a result one might expect. The message is changed. In the same way the Word spoken by God in Christ is undoubtedly modified by the church, and not for the better" (p. 98). In matters pertaining to power, the temptation to seize God's word and make it ones own for ones own purposes looms large. Perhaps Jehu has political ambition. Perhaps he has a bloodthirsty temperament. The word of God dovetails into his own personal scheme, and now he sees himself justified to ignite his actions.

That men and women perform God's purpose does not necessarily mean they share God's heart. The Assyrians were agents of judgment and wrath, but not to their own credit; they were evil in intent and eventually judged themselves. Likewise Elijah appointed Ahab's house to destruction, but this did not imply God would approve the hearts of those agents who would carry forth this task. According to Ellul, "prophecy will often (though not always) be the announcing of what will happen ... as a kind of description of a chain of historical events, but without implying either the express will of God in the event or God's approval of the [agent's]" (p. 101). Jehu seizes the prophecy to make it his own will. To self-fulfill prophecies is always an alluring temptation to religious zealotry; the church take heed!

Ellul points to a well-known phenomenon that yet plagues our world today, the combination of political ambition coupled with religious zeal. When Jehonadab the Rechabite steps into the chariot of Jehu, all power and means seems justified. The Rechabites were ascetics who sought the way of God in the desert, heralding back to a time when Israel was presumably loyal and unadulterated. Having a recognized "holy one" with him only fueled Jehu's confidence and intent. Modern politicians know this ploy well. I am reminded of Billy Graham in the White House the night Desert Storm ignited.

Yet does Jehonadab the Rechabite have the word of God, or does he have but an ideology? The ideologue, to be certain, wants to accomplish a goal, but does the "ends" justify the "means"? Ellul teaches throughout all his writings that the living word of God cannot be captured, otherwise it transforms to a false prophecy that perverts the witness that although God is a God of judgment He also is a God of love. Upon Himself in Christ Jesus He has subsumed judgment to deliver mercy. "When Jehu fulfilled the prophecy, it was on God himself that his violence fell" (p. 110).

Throughout the reign of Jehu the prophet Elisha is silent. There is no endorsement from the true man of God who unlike Jehonadab is no ideologue. To be sure, Jehu is given a commendation for fulfilling the prophecy (II Kings 10:30) but it is cold and detached, couched between statements of Jehu's rebuke and disgrace. "Jehu is one of those in the Bible who want to fulfill and accomplish of themselves what God has said" (p. 113). Abraham, as an example of this, attempted through Hagar to fulfill prophecy. On the other hand Jesus consistently refused all such temptations (such as in the wilderness) to seize prophesied power.

In this most insightful commentary, Jacques Ellul demonstrates the power of the prophetic word to set into motion activity that will accomplish the purpose of God. But that word is given into the hands of human agents who then have the opportunity to comply within the means and heart of God or in self-aggrandizement and power lust co-opt the word to their own agenda. Let us today be aware!