2 Kings 10:29

Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(29-36) Jehu’s reign and death.

(29) Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam.—Comp. 1Kings 12:28, seq., 1Kings 15:26; 1Kings 15:30; 1Kings 15:34. Jehu maintained the worship at Bethel and Dan on the same grounds of state policy as the kings who preceded him.

Howbeit.—Only; the word constantly used by the redactor to qualify his estimate of the conduct of the kings. (Comp. 2Kings 12:3; 2Kings 14:4; 2Kings 15:4.) The verse is, therefore, a parenthetic qualification of the approval implied in 2Kings 10:28.

Benson Commentary

2 Kings 10:29. Jehu departed not from them — He was partial in his reformation, and did not put away all the evil, because his heart was not right with God. He departed from the sins of Ahab, but not from the sins of Jeroboam: discarded Baal, but adhered to the calves. The worship of Baal was indeed the greater evil, and more heinous in the sight of God, but the worship of the calves was a great evil; and true religion not only implies conversion from gross sin, but from all sin, and not only from false gods, but from false modes of worshipping the true God. The worship of Baal, being upheld by the house of Ahab, also contributed to uphold that house, the numerous ministers of that idolatry being, of course, engaged to support the family which supported them, and with which they must stand or fall; hence Jehu could easily part with that worship, and labour to destroy it; but the worship of the calves was a politic idolatry, begun and kept up for reasons of state, to prevent the return of the ten tribes to the house of David, and therefore Jehu clave to it. But true religion is not only a conversion from those sins which are hostile to our secular interests, but from those that appear to be friendly to them; in forsaking which is the great trial, whether we can deny ourselves For God, and trust in him.

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

To abolish the calf-worship was a thought which had probably never occurred to Jehu. He had religious feeling enough, and patriotism enough, to detest the utterly debasing Astarte worship; but the pure worship of Yahweh was altogether beyond and above him.

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

Jehu departed not from after them: herein he discovers his hypocrisy, that he follows God as far as his interest would permit; namely, in destroying the house of Ahab, and the worship of Baal, but no further; for he still resolves to keep up the worship of the calves; partly lest he should disoblige and irritate his own nobles and subjects, who had been long inured, and were heartily affected to it; and partly lest he should open a door for his people to return to their obedience to the house of David. And his sin and folly is the more inexcusable, both because he durst not trust that God with the keeping of his kingdom, of whose power, and faithfulness, and kindness to him he had such ample experience in his giving him the kingdom; and because he had so great and uncontrollable a power in the matters of religion; having first pretended, and seemed to set up, the worship of Baal with all his might, and then destroying it with no less vehemency, none daring to mutter against him in either case; and because the house of David, and kingdom of Judah, his competitor, now was, and was likely to be, in a feeble and declining condition, and much more likely to fall into his hands, than that his kingdom should come into theirs.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin,.... Which is the common character given of that king, a blot never to be wiped off:

Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan: he did not abstain from the worship of them, partly because he might not think it idolatry, because God was worshipped in them; hence he calls the worshippers of the calves the servants of the Lord, 2 Kings 10:23, and partly that he might not displease the princes of the people of Israel, who generally gave in to the worship of them; but chiefly lest the kingdom of Israel should return to the house of David, the worship of the calves being a piece of state policy, to keep them from going to Jerusalem to worship, lest thereby they should be drawn off from their allegiance to the king of Israel.

Geneva Study Bible

Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

29. who [R.V. wherewith he] made Israel to sin] See above on 2 Kings 2:3. The same change is to be made in verse 31.

golden calves that were] From 1 Kings 12:28-29, we see that only one image was in each place.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 29. - Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them. It was a crucial test of Jehu's faithfulness to Jehovah; would he maintain the calf-worship of Jeroboam or not? With whatever intent the worship had been set up by its author, the curse of God had been pronounced against it by the chief prophet of the time (1 Kings 13:2), and his word had been attired as from heaven by two miracles (1 Kings 13:4, 5). Jehu ought to have known that the calf-worship, if not as hateful to God as the Baal-worship, at any rate was hateful, was a standing act of rebellion against Jehovah, and laid the nation under his displeasure. But, while his own interests were entirely detached from the one, they were, or at least would seem to him to be, bound up with the other. The calf-worship was thought to be essential to the matureance of the divided kingdom. Abolish it, and all Israel would "return to the house of David" (1 Kings 12:26-30). Jehu was not prepared to risk this result. His "zeal for Jehovah" did not reach so far. Thus his "reformation of religion" was but a half-reformation, a partial turning to Jehovah, which brought no permanent blessing upon the nation. To wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan. The erection of the calves (1 Kings 12:29) was the initial sin, their worship the persistent one. (On the nature of the calf-worship, see the comment on 1 Kings 12:28, and compare the 'Speaker's Commentary' on the same passage.) 2 Kings 10:29

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Jehu exterminated the worship of Baal from Israel; but the sins of Jeroboam, the golden calves at Bethel and Dan, that is to say, the idolatrous worship of Jehovah, he allowed to remain. "The golden calves, etc.:" this is a supplementary and explanatory apposition to "the sins of Jeroboam."