We saw in our last study that Jehoshaphat went out of his way to restore the worship of the one true God.
Read 2 Chronicles 20:31-34
31 So Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king of Judah, and he reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-five years. His mother’s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi. 32 He followed the ways of his father Asa and did not stray from them; he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. 33 The high places, however, were not removed, and the people still had not set their hearts on the God of their ancestors. 34 The other events of Jehoshaphat’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the annals of Jehu son of Hanani, which are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel.
Look at verse 33 again. Jehoshaphat had done all he could, people could be led, taught and instructed – but when it comes to matters of belief and faith, that has to be the responsibility of the individuals themselves.
Jehoshaphat was a Godly king; but as we have seen, we are all human, and the best of us make mistakes.
Read 2 Chronicles 20:35-37
35 Later, Jehoshaphat king of Judah made an alliance with Ahaziah king of Israel, whose ways were wicked. 36 He agreed with him to construct a fleet of trading ships. After these were built at Ezion Geber, 37 Eliezer son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, ‘Because you have made an alliance with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy what you have made.’ The ships were wrecked and were not able to set sail to trade.
Oh dear. Why did the Chronicler need to adds that as a p.s.? Possibly because, like me when writing these notes, the Lord will trouble me about what I have just written and I have to go back and make corrections! Obviously to present a complete picture of this king, he had to be portrayed ‘warts and all’. Actually the writer also completely left out another episode, which we will have to read about in 2 Kings:
As we have seen, 2 Kings was written with a focus on Israel, and the ‘Elijah’ series covered the death of Ahab and his son Ahaziah. Now a new king, Ahaziah’s younger brother, is on the throne.
Read 2 Kings 3:1-3
1 Joram son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned for twelve years. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not as his father and mother had done. He got rid of the sacred stone of Baal that his father had made. 3 Nevertheless he clung to the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit; he did not turn away from them.
Being generous, it seems that the new king, having seen what happened to the kings before him, wanted to distance himself from the worship of Baal. So far so good, but he really hadn’t understood that the worship of God via the calf images erected by Jeroboam was also sinful.
Read 2 Kings 3:4-7
4 Now Mesha king of Moab raised sheep, and he had to pay the king of Israel a tribute of a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams. 5 But after Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. 6 So at that time King Joram set out from Samaria and mobilised all Israel. 7 He also sent this message to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: ‘The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?’
‘I will go with you,’ he replied. ‘I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.’
(Display or hand out copies of this map from HERE)
Moab’s attack would obviously be direct around the north end of the Dead Sea. Joram’s intention was not to meet the Moabites at their heavily defended front line; but to travel through Judah, cross the Jordan south of the dead sea, and catch them unawares from the rear. But that would be impossible without the agreement, and hopefully help, of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. But also it would need the agreement of the king of Edom too.
Jehoshaphat continued:
Read 2 Kings 3:8-10
8 ‘By what route shall we attack?’ he asked.
‘Through the Desert of Edom,’ he answered.
9 So the king of Israel set out with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. After a roundabout march of seven days, the army had no more water for themselves or for the animals with them.
10 ‘What!’ exclaimed the king of Israel. ‘Has the Lord called us three kings together only to deliver us into the hands of Moab?’
Obviously they had just set out without any real plans or provisions, and after wandering in an unknown desert area (remember there were no maps then), they were lost, and out of provisions. Joram seemed to be at a loss what to do.
Read 2 Kings 3:11-13a
11 But Jehoshaphat asked, ‘Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may enquire of the Lord?’
An officer of the king of Israel answered, ‘Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.’
12 Jehoshaphat said, ‘The word of the Lord is with him.’ So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, ‘Why do you want to involve me? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.’
Joram’s father and mother, Ahab and Jezebel, had the prophets of Baal and Asherah. I think by now that everyone knew that asking them would be pointless!
Read 2 Kings 3:13b
‘No,’ the king of Israel answered, ‘because it was the Lord who called us three kings together to deliver us into the hands of Moab.’
It seems that Joram was now convinced that the Lord had it in for him too, and that the Lord had directed him into this battle deliberately in order to kill him. Turning to Baal or Asherah now would probably seal his fate.
Read 2 Kings 3:14-20
14 Elisha said, ‘As surely as the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, if I did not have respect for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not pay any attention to you. 15 But now bring me a harpist.’
While the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came on Elisha 16 and he said, ‘This is what the Lord says: I will fill this valley with pools of water. 17 For this is what the Lord says: you will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink. 18 This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord; he will also deliver Moab into your hands. 19 You will overthrow every fortified city and every major town. You will cut down every good tree, block up all the springs, and ruin every good field with stones.’
20 The next morning, about the time for offering the sacrifice, there it was – water flowing from the direction of Edom! And the land was filled with water.
Again Jehoshaphat saw the hand of the Lord at work. Even more – it was a salutary lesson for Joram and the king of Edom
Read 2 Kings 3:21-27
21 Now all the Moabites had heard that the kings had come to fight against them; so every man, young and old, who could bear arms was called up and stationed on the border. 22 When they got up early in the morning, the sun was shining on the water. To the Moabites across the way, the water looked red – like blood. 23 ‘That’s blood!’ they said. ‘Those kings must have fought and slaughtered each other. Now to the plunder, Moab!’
24 But when the Moabites came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and fought them until they fled. And the Israelites invaded the land and slaughtered the Moabites. 25 They destroyed the towns, and each man threw a stone on every good field until it was covered. They stopped up all the springs and cut down every good tree. Only Kir Hareseth was left with its stones in place, but men armed with slings surrounded it and attacked it.
26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle had gone against him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they failed. 27 Then he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him as a sacrifice on the city wall. The fury against Israel was great; they withdrew and returned to their own land.
Destruction, pollution, slings, swords, the sacrifice of a child . . . . it gives an insight into a different age. But have we changed so much?
Staying with the kings of Judah for a little longer,
Read 2 Chronicles 21:1-3
1 Then Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. And Jehoram his son succeeded him as king. 2 Jehoram’s brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat, were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael and Shephatiah. All these were sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel (Judah). 3 Their father had given them many gifts of silver and gold and articles of value, as well as fortified cities in Judah, but he had given the kingdom to Jehoram because he was his firstborn son.
That seems to have been a peaceful transition of power. I wonder what the new king will be like?
Read 2 Chronicles 21:4-6
4 When Jehoram established himself firmly over his father’s kingdom, he put all his brothers to the sword along with some of the officials of Israel. 5 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for eight years.
I find it hard to know how to comment on this. Killing any threat to your kingship was not an uncommon occurrence, but this does seem to be an unnecessary excess. Then verse 6 further explains his character.
6 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord.
That strikes me as a deliberate, rebellious act.
Now read 2 Chronicles 21:7
7 Nevertheless, because of the covenant the Lord had made with David, the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David. He had promised to maintain a lamp for him and his descendants for ever.
But he wasn’t going to sit back and let Jehoram behave like this.
Read 2 Chronicles 21:8-10
8 In the time of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against Judah and set up its own king. 9 So Jehoram went there with his officers and all his chariots. The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but he rose up and broke through by night. 10 To this day Edom has been in rebellion against Judah.
Libnah revolted at the same time, because Jehoram had forsaken the Lord, the God of his ancestors.
Looking at the second part of verse 10 it seems that the attacks from Edom and Libnah were at least permitted, if not inspired by the Lord. But still they had no effect
Read 2 Chronicles 21:11
11 He had also built high places on the hills of Judah and had caused the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves and had led Judah astray.
But God hadn’t finished with him so
Read 2 Chronicles 21:12-20
12 Jehoram received a letter from Elijah the prophet, which said:
‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: “You have not followed the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or of Asa king of Judah. 13 But you have followed the ways of the kings of Israel, and you have led Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ahab did. You have also murdered your own brothers, members of your own family, men who were better than you. 14 So now the Lord is about to strike your people, your sons, your wives and everything that is yours, with a heavy blow. 15 You yourself will be very ill with a lingering disease of the bowels, until the disease causes your bowels to come out.”’
16 The Lord aroused against Jehoram the hostility of the Philistines and of the Arabs who lived near the Cushites. 17 They attacked Judah, invaded it and carried off all the goods found in the king’s palace, together with his sons and wives. Not a son was left to him except Ahaziah, the youngest.
When you look at this raid does anything strike you as odd?
Jehoram himself was not killed.
His wives and children were specifically targeted, and his sons killed. (2 Chronicles 22:1).
Jehoram’s own belongings and valuables were taken – but the Temple next door and its treasures were left intact.
To me it seems that this ‘heavy blow’ (Verse 14) had been choreographed by the Lord!
And as Elijah had prophesied he also had a specific punishment planned for Jehoram.
Read 2 Chronicles 21:18-20
18 After all this, the Lord afflicted Jehoram with an incurable disease of the bowels. 19 In the course of time, at the end of the second year, his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in great pain. His people made no funeral fire in his honour, as they had for his predecessors.
20 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for eight years. He passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
I don’t think I need to add any more.
