All too often, even spiritual zeal can coexist with lingering compromise.
“However, as for the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin, from these Jehu did not depart, even the golden calves that were at Bethel and that were at Dan.” (v.29) This verse highlights that despite Jehu’s zeal in removing the evil practices of Ahab, he persisted in the idolatrous ways initiated by Jeroboam. Jeroboam, who ruled the Northern Kingdom of Israel from around 930 to 910 BC, introduced calf worship to the Israelites to keep them from traveling to Jerusalem in the Southern Kingdom. By referencing these “golden calves,” the text reminds readers that Jehu failed to fully eradicate false worship and settle Israel back into exclusive devotion to the LORD, despite his earlier acts of reform.
Bethel was a significant religious site located roughly 19 miles north of Jerusalem, near the southern boundary of the Northern Kingdom. Many Israelites flocked there instead of embarking on pilgrimages to Jerusalem, resulting in an alternative cultic center that strayed from the Mosaic covenant (Exodus 20:3-5). Another site mentioned, Dan, was situated near the northern border of Israel, close to the headwaters of the Jordan River, thereby encompassing the entire span of the kingdom with these false altars. The geographic detail underscores how deeply embedded these idols were among the people—an infiltration that affected worship from one end of Israel to the other.
This underlying disobedience in Jehu’s reign shows that while a leader might address obvious evils, the heart’s sincere devotion to the LORD can still be laced with compromise. This passage echoes a continuous scriptural theme that without wholehearted dependence on and obedience to Him, God's people drift toward what is convenient or comfortable. In the New Testament, Jesus speaks of worship “in spirit and truth” (John 4:24), suggesting that the outward abandonment of some sin without inward transformation is ultimately incomplete.
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2 Kings 10:29 meaning
“However, as for the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin, from these Jehu did not depart, even the golden calves that were at Bethel and that were at Dan.” (v.29) This verse highlights that despite Jehu’s zeal in removing the evil practices of Ahab, he persisted in the idolatrous ways initiated by Jeroboam. Jeroboam, who ruled the Northern Kingdom of Israel from around 930 to 910 BC, introduced calf worship to the Israelites to keep them from traveling to Jerusalem in the Southern Kingdom. By referencing these “golden calves,” the text reminds readers that Jehu failed to fully eradicate false worship and settle Israel back into exclusive devotion to the LORD, despite his earlier acts of reform.
Bethel was a significant religious site located roughly 19 miles north of Jerusalem, near the southern boundary of the Northern Kingdom. Many Israelites flocked there instead of embarking on pilgrimages to Jerusalem, resulting in an alternative cultic center that strayed from the Mosaic covenant (Exodus 20:3-5). Another site mentioned, Dan, was situated near the northern border of Israel, close to the headwaters of the Jordan River, thereby encompassing the entire span of the kingdom with these false altars. The geographic detail underscores how deeply embedded these idols were among the people—an infiltration that affected worship from one end of Israel to the other.
This underlying disobedience in Jehu’s reign shows that while a leader might address obvious evils, the heart’s sincere devotion to the LORD can still be laced with compromise. This passage echoes a continuous scriptural theme that without wholehearted dependence on and obedience to Him, God's people drift toward what is convenient or comfortable. In the New Testament, Jesus speaks of worship “in spirit and truth” (John 4:24), suggesting that the outward abandonment of some sin without inward transformation is ultimately incomplete.