Chapter 10 of Sefer Melachim B is the chapter of the great purge: Jehu son of Nimshi completes the destruction of the house of Ahab, and then turns to eradicate the worship of Baal from Israel. At the end of the chapter, the other side of the coin is revealed: this same Jehu, who was zealous for Hashem and cut down the Baal, does not remove the golden calves of Jeroboam, and thereby seals his fate and the fate of his dynasty. Let us follow the pesukim in light of the Malbim's explanations, and draw ethical lessons from them that resonate to this day.
וַיִּקְבֹּץ יֵהוּא אֶת־כָּל־הָעָם וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם אַחְאָב עָבַד אֶת־הַבַּעַל מְעָט יֵהוּא יַעַבְדֶנּוּ הַרְבֵּה׃ - And Jehu gathered all the people, and said to them: "Ahab served the Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him much."
Jehu now seeks retribution against all the worshippers of Baal as well. He knows full well that if he openly summons them to execute them, many of them will simply not show up. Therefore, the proper course in his eyes is to invite them to a grand celebration, mislead them, and thus ensnare them in a trap. Note his phrasing: Ahab died because the Baal was exacting with him, as it were, since he served him only a little and was not sufficiently "righteous" in his devotion to Baal. Whereas I, Jehu proclaims, will serve him properly.
Pay close attention to his precise wording: he did not say, "Jehu will serve the Baal much," but rather, "Jehu will serve *him* much" - serve whom? The Holy One, blessed be He. He did not explicitly state whom he intended to serve. They understood this to refer back to the Baal, whereas his inner intent was directed toward the service of Hashem. Later, we will see that this double meaning did not entirely work in his favor.
וְעַתָּה כָל־נְבִיאֵי הַבַּעַל כָּל־עֹבְדָיו וְכָל־כֹּהֲנָיו קִרְאוּ אֵלַי אִישׁ אַל־יִפָּקֵד כִּי זֶבַח גָּדוֹל לִי לַבַּעַל כֹּל אֲשֶׁר־יִפָּקֵד לֹא יִחְיֶה וְיֵהוּא עָשָׂה בְעָקְבָּה לְמַעַן הַאֲבִיד אֶת־עֹבְדֵי הַבָּעַל׃ - "And now, summon to me all the prophets of Baal, all his worshippers, and all his priests; let no one be missing, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal; whoever is missing shall not live." But Jehu acted with cunning, in order to destroy the worshippers of Baal.
Jehu summons everyone without exception: the prophets of Baal, his worshippers, and his priests. "Let no one be missing" - let not a single person fail to attend the great sacrifice, for whoever is absent shall not live. The text itself reveals to us that it was all an act of deception: "And Jehu acted with cunning (be'okbah)" - an expression of subterfuge, as in "he has outwitted me (vaya'keveni) these two times" - and all of this was done to destroy the worshippers of Baal.
Here too lies a double meaning. On the surface, he is saying: I wish to offer a great sacrifice to the Baal. But his inward intention was entirely different: a great sacrifice, a massive slaughter, do I have in store for Baal - that is, for the worshippers of Baal. They understood it as an offering brought to Baal, while he intended to sacrifice and slaughter Baal's worshippers, which is precisely what he did.
וַיֹּאמֶר יֵהוּא קַדְּשׁוּ עֲצָרָה לַבַּעַל וַיִּקְרָאוּ׃ - And Jehu said: "Proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal," and they proclaimed it.
He commands that an appointed festival day be established, an atzeret - a day upon which work is forbidden, much like a Yom Tov - and that it be announced across every city square: a day of solemn assembly for Baal.
וַיִּשְׁלַח יֵהוּא בְּכָל־יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיָּבֹאוּ כָּל־עֹבְדֵי הַבַּעַל וְלֹא־נִשְׁאַר אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר לֹא־בָא וַיָּבֹאוּ בֵּית הַבַּעַל וַיִּמָּלֵא בֵית־הַבַּעַל פֶּה לָפֶה׃ - And Jehu sent throughout all Israel, and all the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left who did not come; and they entered the temple of Baal, and the temple of Baal was filled from end to end.
Everyone heard about such an event and everyone arrived. "From mouth to mouth" (peh la-feh) - "mouth" refers to the opening of the house, meaning the temple was filled from entrance to entrance.
וַיֹּאמֶר לַאֲשֶׁר עַל־הַמֶּלְתָּחָה הוֹצֵא לְבוּשׁ לְכֹל עֹבְדֵי הַבָּעַל וַיֹּצֵא לָהֶם הַמַּלְבּוּשׁ׃ - And he said to the one in charge of the wardrobe, "Bring out garments for all the worshipers of the Baal." And he brought out garments for them.
The word meltachah refers to the place where garments are kept. Targum Yonatan translates it as "the one appointed over the wardrobe," meaning the vestry where clothes were stored, akin to what is called a wardrobe today. Yehu requested that all worshipers of the Baal be given special attire, and he had good reason: he was concerned that onlookers who merely came to watch might mingle with the crowd, leading to the death of innocent people as well. Through this uniform attire, he would know their exact number, and it would also ensure that none of them could escape, for if anyone fled, he would immediately be recognized by his clothing.
וַיָּבֹא יֵהוּא וִיהוֹנָדָב בֶּן־רֵכָב בֵּית הַבָּעַל וַיֹּאמֶר לְעֹבְדֵי הַבַּעַל חַפְּשׂוּ וּרְאוּ פֶּן־יֶשׁ פֹּה עִמָּכֶם מֵעַבְדֵי ה' כִּי אִם־עֹבְדֵי הַבַּעַל לְבַדָּם׃ - And Yehu and Yehonadav son of Rechav entered the house of the Baal, and he said to the worshipers of the Baal, "Search and see, lest there be here with you any of the servants of Hashem, but only the worshipers of the Baal alone."
Outwardly, the claim was understandable: I do not want any of the servants of Hashem to be here, lest the Baal be offended and our sacrifice not be accepted favorably. Therefore, he asked them to search thoroughly and uncover if any servant of Hashem was hiding among them. In truth, however, his real intention was the exact opposite: to ensure that, Heaven forbid, no righteous person would be killed there.
וַיָּבֹאוּ לַעֲשׂוֹת זְבָחִים וְעֹלוֹת וְיֵהוּא שָׂם־לוֹ בַחוּץ שְׁמֹנִים אִישׁ וַיֹּאמֶר הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר־יִמָּלֵט מִן־הָאֲנָשִׁים אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי מֵבִיא עַל־יְדֵיכֶם נַפְשׁוֹ תַּחַת נַפְשׁוֹ׃ - And they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings, and Yehu had stationed eighty men outside, and he said, "If any of the men whom I bring into your hands escapes, his life shall be for his life."
Why was it necessary for them to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings first? Because there had to be an absolute halachic justification for their execution. The moment they offered a burnt offering to the Baal, their legal status was clear: one who offers a sacrifice to an idol is liable to the death penalty. Only after it was established that all those present were legally liable to death did he command to strike them down according to the law. Outside, he stationed eighty guards and warned them: if anyone escapes from the men I deliver into your hands, the life of the guard will be forfeit for the life of the escapee.
There is something very intriguing here. How many people could this hall actually hold? A thousand people, perhaps two thousand at most. Yet these were all the worshipers of the Baal, his priests, and his prophets from all of Israel, from all ten tribes! When we read the historical account, we tend to imagine that the entire nation of Israel was worshiping idols. Yet here it turns out that Yehu brought all of them into a single hall, without a single one remaining outside. Another proof: how many men did he need to kill them? Eighty men. One does not bring eighty men to confront three thousand. Eighty men are brought, at most, to handle a few hundred. While armed men can overpower larger numbers, they cannot easily subdue thousands; thousands would surely have managed to break through and escape. This implies that the active worshipers of the Baal, his prophets, and his priests, were not numerous at all.
On the other hand, this raises a difficulty, which was once posed to Rabbi Neugroschel: After all, there is another source indicating that those who did not bow to the Baal were few - a mere seven thousand, "all the knees that have not bowed to the Baal." Thus, on the one hand, only seven thousand were completely innocent, yet on the other hand, our chapter suggests that the worshipers of the Baal numbered only one or two thousand at most. How can this be reconciled?
The answer is that they were "halting between two opinions." The seven thousand were those whose hearts were complete with Hashem, who never bowed to Baal, and in whose minds not even a shred of thought of idolatry ever arose - the righteous of Israel. In contrast, those whom Yehu gathered were the worshippers of Baal, its priests, and its prophets, who belonged one hundred percent to Baal and had no leaning toward Hashem, blessed be He. And all the rest, as Eliyahu said on Mount Carmel, were halting between two opinions: somewhere in the middle, at times with Baal and at times with Hashem, their hearts divided within them. Thus, there is no contradiction at all, because both extremes were few, while the vast majority were simply astray.
Today as well, one can see this reality. The extremists who hate religion are very few; they make a lot of noise, but they are few. The God-fearing who are meticulous in mitzvos are also not many; they are growing, thank God, but they are still not a vast number. And the rest of the public is somewhere in the middle: over ninety percent of Jews fast on Yom Kippur, yet on the other hand, look at what Shabbat looks like - may Hashem have mercy. We too find ourselves today in a state of halting between two opinions, and may Hashem return us all in complete teshuvah, amen.
וַיְהִי כְּכַלֹּתוֹ לַעֲשׂוֹת הָעֹלָה וַיֹּאמֶר יֵהוּא לָרָצִים וְלַשָּׁלִשִׁים בֹּאוּ הַכּוּם אִישׁ אַל־יֵצֵא וַיַּכּוּם לְפִי־חָרֶב וַיַּשְׁלִכוּ הָרָצִים וְהַשָּׁלִשִׁים וַיֵּלְכוּ עַד־עִיר בֵּית־הַבָּעַל׃ - And it came to pass, as soon as he had finished offering the burnt-offering, that Yehu said to the runners and to the officers, "Come in and strike them down, let no one escape!" And they struck them with the edge of the sword, and the runners and the officers cast them out, and went as far as the inner city of the house of Baal.
As soon as they finished offering the burnt-offering - since, as mentioned, there had to be a sufficient reason to execute them - Yehu commanded the runners and officers, those guards whose task was to prevent escape: "Come in and strike them down, let no one escape!" Pandemonium broke out, people tried to flee, and anyone who went out was struck down at the entrance. "And they cast them out" - they cast out the corpses of the Baal worshippers. And some began to flee, and they pursued them as far as the inner city of the house of Baal to kill them; or they reached the inner city of the house of Baal in order to smash the pillars of Baal.
וַיֹּצִאוּ אֶת־מַצְּבוֹת בֵּית־הַבַּעַל וַיִּשְׂרְפוּהָ׃ - And they brought out the pillars of the house of Baal, and burned them.
The Malbim explains: this pillar was made of wood, and therefore the easiest way to destroy it was by burning.
וַיִּתְּצוּ אֵת מַצְּבַת הַבָּעַל וַיִּתְּצוּ אֶת־בֵּית הַבַּעַל וַיְשִׂמֻהוּ לְמוֹצָאוֹת עַד־הַיּוֹם׃ - And they smashed the pillar of Baal, and smashed the house of Baal, and made it into latrines to this day.
This pillar of Baal, the Malbim explains, was made of stone; therefore, the proper way to obliterate it completely was by smashing it, and likewise for the house of Baal, which was built of stone. "And made it" - the written text (ketiv) is lemachara'ot and the read version (keri) is lemotza'ot, which is a scribal euphemism. Machara'ot is related to excrement, that which exits the openings, which is a less refined expression; therefore, the keri is lemotza'ot, which also refers to bodily emissions. They turned the site into a garbage dump and a latrine.
The Gemara relates that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korchah would say: "We read it as lemachara'ot" - he would pronounce it by its crude name. And why? For Rav Nachman said: All mockery is forbidden, except for mockery of idolatry. Mockery is inherently flawed and harmful, but to mock matters of futility, idolatry, and things belonging to the Sitra Achra (the side of impurity) - that is commendable mockery.
And here it is worth recounting: when Rav Shalom Shwadron, of blessed memory, delivered his discourses, his custom was to mock sinners and everything contrary to the Torah and mitzvos, making a mockery of it. Once, people came and complained to the Chazon Ish: there is a rav here who gives drashos and uses mockery, and this is not an accepted approach - one goes to hear words of mussar, but mockery? The Chazon Ish summoned him, as Rav Shwadron himself related, and asked him to give a discourse just as he delivered it in Zichron Moshe in Jerusalem. Rav Shwadron wondered, "What can I possibly speak before the Rav?" But the Chazon Ish told him, "Yes, speak just as you are accustomed to deliver it." He then spoke precisely in his usual style, with his stories and sharp mockery, while the Chazon Ish sat with closed eyes, listening. When he finished, the Chazon Ish told him, "This is how one must speak nowadays." From here we see: all mockery is forbidden except for mockery of idolatry. When a person looks at something with awe and admiration, and you make a mockery of it, showing that it is vanity and nonsense and reducing it to mere dust of the earth - that is the true way for a person to nullify its appeal in his heart.
וַיַּשְׁמֵד יֵהוּא אֶת־הַבַּעַל מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל׃ רַק חֲטָאֵי יָרָבְעָם בֶּן־נְבָט אֲשֶׁר הֶחֱטִיא אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל לֹא־סָר יֵהוּא מֵאַחֲרֵיהֶם עֶגְלֵי הַזָּהָב אֲשֶׁר בֵּית־אֵל וַאֲשֶׁר בְּדָן׃ - Thus Jehu eradicated the Baal from Israel. However, from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nevat, who caused Israel to sin, Jehu did not turn away - the golden calves that were in Beit El and in Dan.
Jeroboam ben Nevat had set up two calves to serve as substitutes for the service in the Beit HaMikdash, so that the people would not have to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and this was one of the hardest practices for the kings of Israel to abolish. Jehu succeeded in eradicating the Baal and killed all its devotees, yet he did not abolish the calves established by Jeroboam. Why? Because this practice had already become habitual to them, seeming right and proper in their eyes. And some explain: because initially, they worshiped the calves for the sake of Hashem, and a lingering sense remained that there was nothing flawed or deficient about it.
The Gemara in Sanhedrin (102a) asks: *Veha Yehu tzaddika rabba hava* - yet was not Jehu a great tzaddik? How could it be that he retained the calves? On one hand, it is written, "Because you have acted well in doing that which is right in My eyes," and on the other hand, "But Jehu took no heed to walk in the Torah of Hashem... he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam." What brought this upon him? Abaye said: A covenant is made with the lips, as it says, "Ahab served the Baal a little, Jehu shall serve him much." You said "shall serve him much" - in the end, you will serve him much.
One sees how vigilant a person must be not to utter a negative or derogatory statement. We find the very same with Moshe Rabbeinu: all his merit did not shield him from this. What did Moshe say to Yitro regarding his firstborn son to be born? That he would be a priest to idolatry. And who became the "priest" for the idol of Michah? Yehonatan ben Gershom ben Moshe, the grandson of Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe had spoken that his son would belong to idolatry - a covenant is made with the lips - and it came to pass. Therefore, a person must be exceptionally careful never to speak ill of himself, nor say "if such-and-such happens to me." Even when interpreting a dream, one must always interpret it favorably. A person might remark, "It seems to me that such-and-such will happen," and the Gemara sometimes notes, "Like an error proceeding from a ruler" - once he voiced it, Heaven forbid, the words materialize and become reality.
Rava said: He saw the seal of Ahijah the Shilonite. As will be recalled, Ahijah the Shilonite was misled by Jeroboam. When Ahijah informed him that Hashem had made him king, Jeroboam asked: "And will the people accept whatever I say?" He replied: "Yes." Jeroboam said: "Put your seal to that." Jeroboam asked: "Even if I tell them to worship idols?" Ahijah replied: "Yes," and signed a document stating that the people must obey him even if he tells them to worship idols. How could Ahijah the Shilonite sign such a thing? Rather, Ahijah thought: Would a man as great as Jeroboam actually worship idols?! This was a man chosen by the Holy One, Blessed be He, of whom it was said that all the sages of Israel were like grass of the field before him - a giant of giants. Imagine the Chafetz Chaim coming to ask for such a signature; who would suspect the Chafetz Chaim of going to worship idols? And the Chafetz Chaim is nothing and not even a dot compared to Jeroboam ben Nevat. If so, Ahijah thought, I need not doubt him in the least; he surely means royal service (*avodat hamelech*), even labor that feels foreign to them (*avodah zarah*), burdensome labor - and he signed it. Jeroboam took this document, framed it, set up the calves, and showed the people: "Look, Ahijah the Shilonite wrote that even if I instruct you to perform *avodah zarah*, you must obey." According to Rava, Jehu also saw this seal and was misled, believing that he was permitted to mislead the people and perpetuate the idolatry.
In Tanna Dvei Eliyahu Zuta (chapter 7), it is taught: They said of Jehu son of Nimshi that he was God-fearing and did not follow the golden calves made by Jeroboam ben Nevat; but once he attained greatness and kingship, his deeds were corrupted. Notice what caused his downfall: greatness and royalty. When a person is lowly, it is easy for him to serve Hashem. But when he wields power, and people come to praise him, glorify him, and bow before him, he is led into places he never would have reached had he retained humility and lowliness. Thus he drifted all the way to idolatry and ruined his deeds.
Yehonadav ben Rechav, whom we saw Jehu encounter on the road and who helped him destroy the wicked, drew a lasting lesson from this and warned his children not to stumble similarly: Do not pursue greatness, for if you do not aspire to greatness, you will not become corrupted. Jeremiah recounts this in chapter 35: "Go to the house of the Rechabites" - not an auto shop (*mosach*, punning on rechav/rechev), but the children of Yehonadav ben Rechav, the family of Rechav - "and speak to them, and bring them into the house of Hashem, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink." Jeremiah brought them into the chamber of the sons of Chanan the son of Yigdaliahu, a man of God, set before them goblets full of wine and cups, and said to them: Drink wine. "And they said: We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying: You shall drink no wine, neither you nor your sons forever. Neither shall you build a house, nor sow seed, nor plant a vineyard, nor have any; but in tents you shall dwell all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you are sojourners." And they testify: "And we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he charged us... and we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us."
The meaning is clear: Yehonadav saw what greatness and the ambition for royalty had done to Jehu, and he said: I will not allow my children to be corrupted as he was. Therefore he instructed them not to build houses, not to plant vineyards, and not to drink wine, for all of these can bring a person close to sin. Indeed, their descendants were great and righteous, preserved in their holiness by virtue of that legacy. Furthermore, it is written that he knew they were destined to be exiled from the land, and he did not want exile to fall heavily upon them: when a person must leave a settled dwelling - a house, a field, and a vineyard - he sometimes lingers until it is too late, and even when he wishes to flee, he no longer can.
וַיֹּאמֶר ה' אֶל־יֵהוּא יַעַן אֲשֶׁר־הֱטִיבֹתָ לַעֲשׂוֹת הַיָּשָׁר בְּעֵינַי כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר בִּלְבָבִי עָשִׂיתָ לְבֵית אַחְאָב בְּנֵי רְבִעִים יֵשְׁבוּ לְךָ עַל־כִּסֵּא יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - And the Lord said to Jehu: Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in My eyes, doing to the house of Ahab according to all that was in My heart, sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel for you.
The Holy One, blessed be He, promises him kingship for up to four generations, because he dealt with the house of Ahab precisely according to the command: I commanded to destroy the house of Ahab, and you destroyed it as commanded.
וְיֵהוּא לֹא שָׁמַר לָלֶכֶת בְּתוֹרַת־ה' אֱלֹהֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּכָל־לְבָבוֹ לֹא סָר מֵעַל חַטֹּאות יָרָבְעָם אֲשֶׁר הֶחֱטִיא אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - But Jehu was not careful to walk in the Torah of the Lord, God of Israel, with all his heart; he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, with which he caused Israel to sin.
He does not walk in the Torah of Hashem with all his heart, continuing in the sins of Jeroboam and preserving the golden calves. As it were, the Holy One, blessed be He, is in a dilemma: He cannot destroy him, for He already promised him four generations. On the other hand, the Malbim explains, the promise itself worked to his detriment. How so? Had the kingship not been promised to you, you might still have had a pretext: I kept the calves out of the very fear that Jeroboam feared - lest the people make pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and the king of Judah draw them close, and they no longer return to accept my reign. But if the kingship was guaranteed to you and to four generations after you, what fear could there possibly be? The Holy One, blessed be He, guaranteed you four generations, so why did you need the calves? Thus, the promise itself only intensified the claim against him: normally he could have claimed that he acted under duress, out of fear of losing the throne, but here there was no fear whatsoever. Therefore, the anger of Hashem flared against him.
בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם הֵחֵל ה' לְקַצּוֹת בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל וַיַּכֵּם חֲזָאֵל בְּכָל־גְּבוּל יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - In those days the Lord began to cut away at Israel, and Hazael struck them in all the borders of Israel.
"Lekatzot" (to cut away) is an expression of cutting off and lopping off, like "vekatzotah et kapah" ("and you shall cut off her hand"). He began to strike those living at the edge (katzeh) of the Land of Israel, on the eastern side of the Jordan.
מִן־הַיַּרְדֵּן מִזְרַח הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ אֵת כָּל־אֶרֶץ הַגִּלְעָד הַגָּדִי וְהָראוּבֵנִי וְהַמְנַשִּׁי מֵעֲרֹעֵר אֲשֶׁר־עַל־נַחַל אַרְנֹן וְהַגִּלְעָד וְהַבָּשָׁן׃ - From the Jordan toward the sunrise, all the land of Gilead, of the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer which is by the Arnon Valley, both Gilead and the Bashan.
וְיֶתֶר דִּבְרֵי יֵהוּא וְכָל־אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה וְכָל־גְּבוּרָתוֹ הֲלוֹא־הֵם כְּתוּבִים עַל־סֵפֶר דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים לְמַלְכֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ וַיִּשְׁכַּב יֵהוּא עִם־אֲבֹתָיו וַיִּקְבְּרוּ אֹתוֹ בְּשֹׁמְרוֹן וַיִּמְלֹךְ יְהוֹאָחָז בְּנוֹ תַּחְתָּיו׃ וְהַיָּמִים אֲשֶׁר מָלַךְ יֵהוּא עַל־יִשְׂרָאֵל עֶשְׂרִים וּשְׁמֹנֶה שָׁנָה בְּשֹׁמְרוֹן׃ - And the rest of the deeds of Jehu, all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? And Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria; and Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead. And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel was twenty-eight years in Samaria.
Regarding the house of Jehu, we have a prophecy in the Book of Hosea, chapter 1: "The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri... 'Go, take for yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land goes astray from following the Lord.' So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. And the Lord said to him, 'Call his name Jezreel, for in a little while I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel'" (the details of this matter will be explained, God willing, when we arrive there).
Who was in Jezreel? Ahab. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I will eventually punish Jehu for killing the house of Ahab. But how can this be? After all, it was the Holy One, blessed be He, who commanded through prophecy to destroy the house of Ahab, and Jehu acted exactly in accordance with what was told to Elijah the Prophet!
Rather, the explanation is this: Had you slain the house of Ahab because you were righteous and could not bear idolaters, and went out to fulfill the command of Hashem - you would have received a reward for it. But if you killed them because they were idolaters, and then you yourself turn around and worship idols, what does that reveal? That you did not act for the sake of Heaven, but rather to seize the throne. If idolatry troubled you so deeply that you killed over it, how could you later turn around and practice it yourself? What was considered a mitzvah until now turns into an entirely different reckoning. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: "And I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel."
The underlying principle here is that one who pursues a pursuer must be clean of the pursuer's sin. If someone pursues his fellow to kill him, any person is permitted to strike the pursuer to save the pursued. But if the one pursuing the pursuer is tainted by sin himself, and he pursues not to save the pursued but because he has an old score to settle with him, and has only now found a halachic pretext to exact retribution - he does not have the status of a rescuer, but is himself judged as a pursuer and a murderer. And so it was here. From this we learn that whenever a person acts, he must direct his intention for the sake of Heaven, for at times even a necessary and proper deed, if not done for the sake of Heaven, will result in a person being held accountable in Heaven for the very deed itself.
Yehu opens the chapter with holy cunning: double-meaning expressions, "will serve him much" and "I have a great sacrifice for the Baal," in order to gather all the worshippers of the Baal into one place, clothe them in identifying garments, wait until they become liable to execution through their sacrificial offerings, cut them down, demolish the temple of the Baal, and turn it into a refuse site. From this we learned that the extremes are always few while the majority limps between two opinions, and that mockery of idolatry is permitted and even desirable. Yet for all his greatness, Yehu stumbled: he did not remove the golden calves of Yeravam, whether by force of the principle that "a covenant is made with the lips" in his own words, or because of the seal of Achiyah HaShiloni, and primarily because greatness and royalty corrupted his deeds - so much so that Yehonadav ben Rechav warned his descendants to flee from greatness and possessions. The promise of four generations granted to him became an indictment against him, and ultimately the Holy One, Blessed is He, exacted retribution from him for the bloodshed of Yizre'el, to teach us that even the most correct deed is measured by the intention behind it: if it is not for the sake of Heaven, one will ultimately be held accountable for it.