2 Kings 10:31

But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(31) But Jehu took no heed.—Or, Now Jehu had not been careful. This verse, rather than the next, begins a new paragraph.

To walk in the law—i.e., the Mosaic law, which forbids the use of images, such as the “calves.”

With all his heart.—This is explained by the next sentence. He had done honour to Jehovah by extirpating the foreign Baal-worship, but he supported the irregular mode of worshipping Jehovah established by Jeroboam as the state religion of the Northern kingdom.

For.—Not in the Hebrew.

Benson Commentary

2 Kings 10:31. But Jehu took no care to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel — He abolished the worship of Baal, but did not keep up the worship of God, nor walk in his law. He showed great zeal and care for the rooting out of a false religion; but in the true religion he showed no care, took no heed: was not solicitous to please God and do his duty. With all his heart — His heart, his whole heart, was not engaged in, nor influenced by religion; nor was he truly zealous for the glory of God, and the advancement of true and genuine piety in himself and others. It is evident his own religion was very superficial, and yet God made use of him as an instrument of effecting some reformation in Israel. It is a pity that those who do good to others, are not always good themselves.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:29-36 It is justly questionable whether Jehu acted from a good principle, and whether he did not take some false steps in doing it; yet no services done for God shall go unrewarded. But true conversion is not only from gross sin, but from all sin; not only from false gods, but from false worships. True conversion is not only from wasteful sins, but from gainful sins; not only from sins which hurt our worldly interests, but from those that support and befriend them; in forsaking which is the great trial whether we can deny ourselves and trust God. Jehu showed great care and zeal for rooting out a false religion, but in the true religion he cared not, took no heed to please God and do his duty. Those that are heedless, it is to be feared, are graceless. The people were also careless, therefore it is not strange that in those days the Lord began to cut Israel short. They were short in their duty to God, therefore God cut them short in their extent, wealth, and power.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the Lord said unto Jehu - Probably by the mouth of Elisha. To a certain extent Jehu's measures were acts of obedience, for which God might see fit to assign him a temporal reward.

Thy children ... - This was accomplished in the persons of Jehoahaz, Joash, Jeroboam, and Zachariah, the son, grandson, great-grandson, and great-great-grandson of Jehu (compare the marginal references). No other family sat upon the throne of Israel so long. The house of Omri, which furnished four kings, held the crown for three generations only and for less than 50 years - that of Jehu reigned for five generations and for more than 100 years.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

29. Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam … Jehu departed not from after them—Jehu had no intention of carrying his zeal for the Lord beyond a certain point, and as he considered it impolitic to encourage his subjects to travel to Jerusalem, he re-established the symbolic worship of the calves.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

With all his heart: His obedience wanted three necessary properties, care or heedfulness, universality, and sincerity.

He departed not from the sins of Jeroboam; his resolved continuance in one single course is justly alleged as an argument of his false-heartedness in all his other actions.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart,.... As to his moral conversation, he was not careful that it was according to the law of God, and what he did agreeable to it, it was not sincerely, and from the right principle:

for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin; which he would, if he had had a cordial respect to all the commandments of the law.

Geneva Study Bible

But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

31. with all his heart] He only went partially on the right way, and probably personal ambition had much to do with his zeal against Baal. With the calves it was another matter. They formed, as it were, the emblems of Israel’s independence, and so the king’s feeling would be enlisted on their side.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 31. - But Jehu took no heed to walk in the Law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart. Jehu's character is thus summed up by Dean Stanley: "The character of Jehu is not difficult to understand, if we take it as a whole, and consider the general impression left upon us by the biblical account. He is exactly one of those men whom we are compelled to recognize, not for what is good or great in themselves, but as instruments for destroying evil, and preparing the way for good; such as Augustus Caesar at Rome, Sultan Mahmoud II. in Turkey, or one closer at hand in the revolutions of our own time and neighborhood. A destiny, long kept in view by himself or ethers - inscrutable secrecy and reserve in carrying out his plans - a union of cold, remorseless tenacity with occasional bursts of furious, wayward, almost fanatical zeal; - this is Jehu, as he is set before us in the historical narrative, the worst type of a son of Jacob - the 'supplanter'...without the noble and princely qualities of Israel; the most unlovely and the most coldly commended of all the heroes of his country" ('Lectures on the Jewish Church,' vol. 2. p. 289). The estimate is lower than that formed by most other writers; but it is not far from the truth. For he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin (comp. ver. 29). 2 Kings 10:31

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Jehu is promised the possession of the throne to the fourth generation of his sons for having exterminated the godless royal house of Ahab (vid., 2 Kings 15:12). The divine sentence, "because thou hast acted well to do right in mine eyes. (because thou) hast done as it was in my heart to the house of Ahab," refers to the deed as such, and not to the subjective motives by which Jehu had been actuated. For it is obvious that it had not sprung from pure zeal for the honour of the Lord, from the limitation added in 2 Kings 10:31 : "but Jehu did not take heed to walk in the law of Jehovah with all his heart, and did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam."