WHY DID GOD PUNISH PEOPLE FOR CARRYING OUT HIS WILL?

This hard question comes up several times in the Bible. Here are three of those occasions together with ways in which commentators have explained them.

Jehu: II Kings 9:6-10; Hosea 1;4

Elisha sends a young prophet to Commander Jehu to anoint him King of Israel and instructs him that God wants him to totally wipe out King Ahab and his whole house. Jehu faithfully carries out this mission. But the passage concludes in II Kings 10:31 with the statement, “Jehu was not careful to follow the law of the LORD the God of Israel with all his heart.”

However, later on God tells the prophet Hosea (v. 1:4) to name his son Jezreel “for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.”

As to why God seemingly turned against the very tool he had chosen to carry out His will, here is how some scholars deal with the subject:

Provan points to the retaining of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan (vv. 29,31) as one example of Jehu's subsequent apostasy.

Hindley also asks why Jehu's house was to be punished if he had wiped out Ahab's evil house. His answer is: “Perhaps he exceeded his duty with misguided zeal (2 Ki. 10:16ff), when he killed a king of Judah or, more likely, his own heart was not right with God (2 Ki. 10:29,31).”

Kaiser elaborates on the first of these reasons: “Jehu showed unnecessary cruelty when he slew not only the house of Ahab at Jezreel, but also the visiting monarch from Judah, Ahaziah, and almost all the members of the Davidic family (2 Kings 9:27; 10:13-14). Jehu furthermore extended this massacre to all the friends of the ruling family (2 Kings 10:11). The point is most evident that divine approval for an act does not thereby carry with it indifference as to how that end is accomplished and how many others it may involve.”

Dearman adds, “Does this mean that Hosea opposes what is elsewhere described as a divine command? Possibly so, but it would not be because Hosea supported the policies of Ahab and Jezebel or because he believed that death was too harsh a judgment for faithlessness toward God...Thus, if the bloodshed in Jezreel of Hosea 1:4 is a reference to Jehu's purge, it could refer more precisely to the murderous excesses carried out by Jehu...”

And here are some comments made by Jacques Ellul regarding the person of Jehu: “Another point worth noting is that during the twenty-eight years of his reign Elisha does not seem to have stepped forth a single time to help and deliver Israel. The fact is that Jehu is no ally of the prophets. He scorns them. He doubts their political competence...He also aims at the throne of Judah after slaying the king of Judah...The real question in the case of Jehu is that of the heart...In fact Jehu is a man who, faithful to God and knowing his will, commandeers this will and makes it his own. He identifies his own cause with God's design. He thus sets out to shape history in the name of God but also in the place of God.”

Assyria: Isaiah 10:5-19

This is an extended poem pronouncing woes upon Assyria even though she was God's own instrument of punishment (“the rod of my anger”) to be inflicted on God's people. So again we are confronted with a party, a whole nation in this case, who has carried out God's will but is punished nevertheless.

D.F. Payne explains the reason for God's actions: “Assyria had been appointed by God as His agent to punish Israel and Judah (cf Is. 5:26, 7:18); but by c. 715 B.C. the arrogant attitude and behaviour of the Assyrians had become scarcely tolerable (10:12) and Isaiah here pronounces the woe upon them which God had declared.”

Wolf notes that a “similar shift in the object of divine punishment occurred in the case of the Babylonians. God raised up the Babylonian armies between 605 and 586 B.C. to punish Judah (Hab. 1:6-11), and then He announced judgment on Babylon (Hab. 2:6-17; Isa. 14:5).”

“The knowledge that the aggressors were wielded by God puts the question of wicked men's success in its proper context, but showing that it serves the ends of justice when it seems to defy them (vv. 6,7), and is neither impressive in itself (v. 15) nor ultimately unpunished (v. 12). Its hollowness is self-confessed, incidentally, in the samples of Assyrian thinking: the complacency of vv. 10,11, the pride of v. 13a, and the thief's mentality of vv. 13b,14.” (Kidner)

Blenkinsopp outlines the contents of this passage as follows: “Assyria in the person of its king is designated by Yahweh as an instrument for the punishment of his people Israel (5-7); the hubris that leads Assyria to go beyond its commission is expressed in a soliloquy spoken by the Assyrian king (8-11,13-14); there follows the prophetic response to the imperial ambitions expressed in the soliloquy (15-19).”

Judas (Mark 14:21; Luke 22:22)

The final example comes from the New Testament. These two parallel passages read as follows:

    Mark 14:21 – “For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for that on not to have been born.”

    Luke 22:22 – “For the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that one by whom he is betrayed!”

Regarding Mark's version, here are a few selected thoughts found in the literature:

    “Jesus added that although the traitor 's treachery was foretold in the Old Testament..., the traitor was not thereby absolved from personal responsibility for his deed (21).” (Short)

    “On the one hand, 'the Son of Man will go,' that is, He must die, in fulfillment of Scripture. His death was according to God's plan not simply because of the betrayer's action. But on the other hand, ...though he [Judas] acted within God's plan, the betrayer remained morally responsible (cf Mark 14:10-11).” (Grassmick)

And here are two comments on Luke 22:22:

    “Note that Jesus refers in 22:22 to the will of God (for the phrase 'as it has been determined'; see Acts 2:23; 10:42; 11:29; 17:26,31).” (Pao and Schnabel)

    “Judas' accountability and God's sovereign plan for Jesus' death are seen together (v. 22). Jesus had to die, for His death was the basis of salvation for all mankind and the only means for lifting the curse of sin. But the betrayer was accountable for his actions.” (J.A. Martin)

This example points to the sometimes mysterious interaction of human free will and God's foreknowledge and/or predestination.

Finally, the above cases may help explain why Jesus could say to those who had prophesied, carried out exorcisms, and done powerful deeds all in His name, “I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.” (Matthew 7:22-23) Merely accomplishing God's will is no guarantee of salvation. Our motives for doing so are also among the determining factors.