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Chapter 10 continues the work of Jehu in doing the work that he was commissioned to do. It seems that there was still 70 of Ahab's sons still living. They lived in the city of Samaria, the capitol city of Israel. They had been raised by the leading citizens of the city. Jehu sent a letter to the leaders of the city, he told them to select one of Ahab's sons and make him King, then prepare to defend the city. The City Fathers knew that they were no match for Jehu, so they sent a letter to Jehu saying, "We do not want any trouble." "We will do whatever you ask." Jehu asked them to bring the heads of the 70 sons of Ahab to Jezreel the next day and pile them in two piles at the cities gate. They did as they were asked and put their heads in two piles at the cities gate. Then Jehu killed all the remaining members of the House of Ahab.
A little side story is then told. Jehu, on his way to Samaria, stopped at an Inn along the way. While he was there, he met the brothers of Ahaziah, who had been King of Judah and whom Jehu had ordered killed. They had come to visit the sons of Ahab and their mother Jezebel. There were 42 of them in the group and Jehu had them all killed. As Jehu was leaving the Inn, he met a man by the name of Jehonadab, here called the "son of Rechab". Actually the Rechabites were the orthodox Jews of the day who, from the time they entered the Promise Land, continued to live in tents, protested the pagan influences, refrained from all wine, protested the worship of Baal and were devote followers of Yahweh. They had been thus for 400 years and Jehonadab was a Rechabite and Jehu recognized him as such.
Jehu and the Rechabite exchange loyalties and Jehu takes him up into his chariot and together they go into the city of Samaria. There they kill all of Ahab's friends and relatives. Then Jehu plans the destruction of the prophets of Baal. He sends out the word that he is going to have a big worship service for Baal. He wants all who worship Baal to attend along with all the prophets of Baal. They all gather together in one Temple. He gives them all like robes and after the priests have offered sacrifices to Baal, he orders his men to go into the building and kill everyone that was there. They remove all the bodies and convert the building into a public toilet.
Jehu destroyed every trace of Baal in Israel, however, he did not destroy the altars to the golden calves at Bethel and Dan and eventually this led to all of Israel sinning against God. Then the Lord said to Jehu, "You have done well in destroying the House of Ahab, for this I will allow your son, your grandson, and your great grandson to be kings of Israel. But Jehu did not follow the Lord. He continued the worship of the golden calves, so the Lord began the destruction of Israel. He allowed King Hazael of Syria to conquer the land east of the Jordan. Jehu died and was buried in Samaria. His son, Jehoahaz became the 11th. King of Israel. Jehu had reigned for 28 years.
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