Israel’s Last Days: With the death of Jeroboam II, we have reached the “fourth generation” of the divine promise to Jehu (2 Kgs. 10:30). We expect a return to the unstable government, implied by 1 Kings 14:15 and illustrated in 1 Kings 14–16, that preceded the houses of Omri and Jehu. That is what we now find. Reigns change in quick succession, as Israel plunges speedily towards its doom. All deliverance has ceased, and judgment lies just around the corner.

15:8–12  Scarcely has Jeroboam’s son Zechariah sat on his throne and repeated the evil of his fathers when he is assassinated. The promise has run its course (v. 12; cf. 2 Kgs. 10:30), and before even one more regnal year has passed, the LORD removes Jehu’s house from government. We have the impression of accumulated wrath, ready to burs…