Those who received the letters were afraid, seeing that Jehu had already killed two kings. So, they wrote him a letter back saying, "We don't want to fight you. We will let you rule over us as King. We will be your servants."
So Jehu wrote them back and said, "If what you say is true, then I want the heads of all seventy of Ahab's sons in Jezreel by this time tomorrow."
So they took Ahab's sons and cut off their heads and sent them to Jezreel. A messenger went to Jehu and said, "The heads have arrived." Jehu told him to put them at the gate of the city in two heaps until in the morning.
In the morning, Jehu went to the gate of the city, where the heads were and said to all who were standing there, "You be the judge: Yes, I conspired against my king and slew him. But, I didn't kill these. Who did? God told Elijah that these things would happen. Nothing God says ever fails to come to pass."
Then Jehu killed all that remained, the servants and priests including, that were a part of Ahab's house there in Jezreel. Then, he left to go to Samaria. On his way, at a shearing house, he met up with two-hundred and forty of Ahaziah's brothers who were going to see the king and his family in Samaria. Jehu ordered them taken alive, then killed them at the pit near the shearing house.
When he left there, Jehu met up with Jehonadab. Jehu asked, "Are you still my friend?" To which Jehonadab answered, "Yes." Jehu took him by the hand and pulled him into his chariot and said, "If that is true, come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord." So, Jehonadab, having no choice, rode along.
When he got to Samaria, he killed everyone who was anything to Ahab.
Then, Jehu gathered all the people together, and in trickery, he said, "Ahab served Baal a little. I want to show you how a king REALLY serves Baal! I have a great sacrifice to make. I want everyone who follows Baal at the temple of Baal for a solemn assembly." So everyone throughout the kingdom who served Baal came to the temple. Jehu ordered that all the uniforms and supplies for serving Baal be brought to him. Then he set forty men outside the temple and ordered them not to let anyone leave or escape, or it would be their heads. Then after the sacrifices were made, he killed everyone in the temple. Then he took all the images and things that pertained to Baal and destroyed and burned them, and tore the temple down.
But, Jehu left the golden calves that Jeroboam had built.
God was happy with Jehu for what he had done, and told him that his seed would sit on the throne up until the fourth generation. But, Jehu followed Jeroboam in his sin with the golden calves, and God began to cut Israel short because of it.
Jehu ruled for twenty-eight years, then his son, Jehoahaz, took the throne. They buried Jehu in Samaria.
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What we have learned
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I have always wondered how it is that someone can give God credit for events and victories, yet refuse to keep following Him. It doesn't make sense why anyone who knows the power of God would not let God be the King of their lives.
In verse 10, Jehu says, "Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spake concerning the house of Ahab: for the Lord hath done that which He spake by His servant Elijah." (KJV) And yet, in verse 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." (KJV)
Perhaps, if he had followed God with his whole heart, God would have given him the same promise he gave to David, that his seed would forever rule the throne, that there would always be a place for him in His kingdom.
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