2 Kings — Chapter 10

So Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel. Lapide: Jehu destroyed the worship of Baal by stratagem, gathering all its priests under pretence of a solemn sacrifice, then slaughtering them and demolishing the temple. Yet he did not depart from the golden calves of Jeroboam. This is a lasting warning: partial zeal is not pleasing to God. Jehu punished others' idolatry but retained his own; consequently, the dynasty God promised him for four generations ended after four kings, and the northern kingdom fell.

The Lord said to Jehu: Because thou hast diligently executed that which was right and pleasing in my eyes, and hast done to the house of Achab according to all that was in my heart, thy children shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation. Lapide: God rewarded Jehu with four generations of dynastic succession for his destruction of Baal worship, even though Jehu himself continued in the sins of Jeroboam. Lapide notes the principle: God may reward an exterior good act even in an imperfect agent, to encourage obedience to His commands in the temporal order, without necessarily granting the doer eternal life for an act done without pure charity.