Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 21:1
Now Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And Jehoram his son reigned in his stead.
Ch. 2Ch 21:1 (= 1Ki 22:50). Jehoshaphat succeeded by Jehoram
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Jehorams sole reign now began. (See 2Ki 8:16 note). His eight years 2Ch 21:5 must be counted from the time of his association, in his fathers 23rd year.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER XXI
Jehoram succeeds his father Jehoshaphat; and commences his
reign with the murder of his brethren, and of several of
the princes of Israel, 1-5.
He walks in the way of Ahab, whose bad daughter, Athaliah,
he had married, 6.
God remembers his covenant with David, and does not destroy
the nation, 7.
The Edomites revolt, 8-10.
Jehoram restores the high places in the mountains of Judah,
and greatly corrupts the morals of the people, 11.
A letter comes to him from Elijah, 12-15.
The Philistines and Arabians come up against him, pillage his
house, and take away his wives, with all his sons except
Jehoahaz, 16, 17.
He is smitten with an incurable disease in his bowels; of
which, in two years, he dies miserably, after a profligate
reign of eight years, 18-20.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXI
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
1-4. Jehoshaphat slept with hisfathers . . . Jehoram . . . reignedThe late king left sevensons; two of them are in our version named Azariah; but in the Hebrewthey appear considerably different, the one being spelt “Azariah,”and the other “Azariahu.” Though Jehoshaphat had made hisfamily arrangements with prudent precaution, and while he divided thefunctions of royalty in his lifetime (compare 2Ki8:16), as well as fixed the succession to the throne in hisoldest son, he appointed each of the others to the government of afenced city, thus providing them with an honorable independence. Butthis good intentions were frustrated; for no sooner did Jehoram findhimself in the sole possession of sovereign power than, fromjealousy, or on account of their connections, he murdered all hisbrothers, together with some leading influential persons who, hesuspected, were attached to their interest, or would avenge theirdeaths. Similar tragedies have been sadly frequent in Eastern courts,where the heir of the crown looks upon his brothers as his mostformidable enemies, and is therefore tempted to secure his power bytheir death.
2Ch21:5-7. HIS WICKEDREIGN.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers,….
[See comments on 1Ki 22:50].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2Ch 21:1-3 Jehoshaphat’s death, and the slaughter of his sons by Joram. – 2Ch 21:2, 2Ch 21:3. Joram had six brothers, whom their father had plentifully supplied with means of subsistence – presents in silver, gold, and precious things – “in the fenced cities of Judah;” i.e., he had made them, as Rehoboam also had made his sons, commandants of fortresses, with ample revenues; but the kingdom he gave to Joram as the first-born. Among the six names two Azariah’s occur, – the one written Azarjah, the other Azarjahu. Jehoshaphat is called king of Israel instead of king of Judah, because he as king walked in the footsteps of Israel, Jacob the wrestler with God, and was a true king of God’s people.
2Ch 21:4 Now when Joram ascended (raised himself to) the throne of his father, and attained to power ( as in 2Ch 1:1), he slew all his brethren with the sword, and also some of the princes of Israel, i.e., the tribal princes of his kingdom. It could hardly be from avarice that he slew his brothers, merely to get possession of their property; probably it was because they did not sympathize with the political course which he was entering upon, and disapproved of the idolatrous conduct of Joram and his wife Athaliah. This may be gathered from the fact that in 2Ch 21:13 they are called better than Joram. The princes probably drew down upon themselves the wrath of Joram, or of his heathen consort, by disapproving of the slaughter of the royal princes, or by giving other signs of discontent with the spirit of their reign.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Jehoram’s Wicked Reign. | B. C. 889. |
1 Now Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And Jehoram his son reigned in his stead. 2 And he had brethren the sons of Jehoshaphat, Azariah, and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephatiah: all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel. 3 And their father gave them great gifts of silver, and of gold, and of precious things, with fenced cities in Judah: but the kingdom gave he to Jehoram; because he was the firstborn. 4 Now when Jehoram was risen up to the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself, and slew all his brethren with the sword, and divers also of the princes of Israel. 5 Jehoram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 6 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like as did the house of Ahab: for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife: and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD. 7 Howbeit the LORD would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a light to him and to his sons for ever. 8 In his days the Edomites revolted from under the dominion of Judah, and made themselves a king. 9 Then Jehoram went forth with his princes, and all his chariots with him: and he rose up by night, and smote the Edomites which compassed him in, and the captains of the chariots. 10 So the Edomites revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. The same time also did Libnah revolt from under his hand; because he had forsaken the LORD God of his fathers. 11 Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and compelled Judah thereto.
We find here,
I. That Jehoshaphat was a very careful indulgent father to Jehoram. He had many sons, who are here named (v. 2), and it is said (v. 13) that they were better than Jehoram, had a great deal more wisdom and virtue, and lived up to their education, which he went counter to. They were very hopeful, and any of them more fit for the crown than he; and yet, because he was the first-born (v. 3), his father secured the kingdom to him, and portioned his brethren and disposed of them so as that they would be easy and give him no disturbance; as Abraham, when he made Isaac his heir, dismissed his other children with gifts. Herein Jehoshaphat was very kind and fair to his son, which might have obliged him to be respectful to him, and tread in the steps of so good a father. But it is no new thing for the children that have been most indulged by their parents to be least dutiful to them. Whether in doing this he acted wisely and well for his people, and was just to them, I cannot say. His birthright entitled him to a double portion of his father’s estate, Deut. xxi. 17. But if he appeared utterly unfit for government (the end of which is the good of the people), and likely to undo all that his father had done, it would have been better perhaps to have set him aside, and taken the next that was hopeful, and not inclined as he was to idolatry. Power is a sacred thing, with which men may either do much good or much hurt; and therefore Detur digniori—Let him that deserves it have it. Salus populi suprema lex—The security of the people is the first consideration.
II. That Jehoram was a most barbarous brother to his father’s sons. As soon as he had settled himself in the throne he slew all his brethren with the sword, either by false accusation, under colour of law, or rather by assassination. By some wicked hand or other he got them all murdered, pretending (it is likely) that he could not think himself safe in the government till they were taken out of the way. Those that mean ill themselves are commonly, without cause, jealous of those about them. The wicked fear where no fear is, or pretend to do so, in order to conceal their malice. Jehoram, it is likely, hated his brethren and slew them for the same reason that Cain hated Abel and slew him, because their piety condemned his impiety and won them that esteem with the people which he had lost. With them he slew divers of the princes of Israel, who adhered to them, or were likely to avenge their death. The princes of Judah, those who had taught the good knowledge of the Lord (ch. xvii. 7), are here called princes of Israel, as before fathers of Israel (ch. xix. 8), because they were Israelites indeed, men of integrity. The sword which the good father had put into their hands this wicked son sheathed in their bowels. Woe unto him that thus foundeth a kingdom in blood (Hab. ii. 12); it will prove a foundation that will sink the superstructure.
III. That Jehoram was a most wicked king, who corrupted and debauched his kingdom, and ruined the reformation that his good father and grandfather had carried on: He walked in the way of the house of Ahab (v. 6), made high places, which the people were of themselves too forward to make, and did his utmost to set up idolatry again, v. 11. 1. As for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, where he kept his court, he easily drew them into his spiritual whoredom: He caused them to commit fornication, seducing them to eat things sacrificed to idols, Rev. ii. 20. 2. The country people seem to have been brought to it with more difficulty; but those that would not be corrupted by flatteries were driven by force to partake in his abominable idolatries: He compelled Judah thereto. He used that power for the destruction of the church which was given him for the edification of it.
IV. That when he forsook God and his worship his subjects withdrew from their allegiance to him. 1. Some of the provinces abroad that were tributaries to him did so. The Edomites revolted (v. 8), and, though he chastised them (v. 9), yet he could not reduce them, v. 10. 2. One of the cities of his own kingdom did so. Libnah revolted (v. 10) and set up for a free state, as of old it had a king of its own, Josh. xii. 15. And the reason is here given, not only why God permitted it, but why they did it; they shook off his government because he had forsaken the Lord God of his fathers, had become an idolater and a worshipper of false gods, and they could not continue subject to him without some danger of being themselves also drawn away from God and their duty. While he adhered to God they adhered to him; but, when he cast God off, they cast him off. Whether this reason will justify them in their revolt of no, it will justify God’s providence which ordered it so.
V. That yet God was tender of his covenant with the house of David, and therefore would not destroy the royal family, though it was so wretchedly corrupted and degenerated, v. 7. These things we had before, 2 Kings viii. 19-22. The tenour of the covenant was that David’s seed should be visited for their transgressions, but the covenant should never be broken, Ps. lxxxix. 30, &c.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
See note on 2Ki 8:16
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES
IN discussing the First Book of Chronicles we called attention to the fact that according to Usshers chronology, the two Books, not reckoning the table of genealogy, covered a space of 468 years of history; the First Book only 41 of these, and this second, 427. As to the authorship of these Books, Ezra is commonly accepted.
The analysis of any book is largely the presentation of a personal view. One man divides this Second Book of Chronicles into two portions: The Reign of Solomon, chapters 1 to 9, and The Kings of Judah, chapters 10 to 36.
Scofield in his reference Bible, says of this Book: It falls into eighteen divisions, by reigns, from Solomon to the captivities; records the division of the kingdom of David under Jeroboam and Rehoboam, and is marked by an ever growing apostasy, broken temporarily by reformations under Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Hezekiah, and Josiah.
It is our purpose to follow neither of these divisions, however natural they may be, but to discuss the volume under three heads: Solomon and the Temple; Rehoboam and the Division, and the History of Judah.
SOLOMON AND THE TEMPLE
The Book opens with a declaration concerning the new king, And Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly (2Ch 1:1).
The history that follows gives occasion to say several things concerning this marvelous man of immortal reputation:
First, Solomons kingship enjoyed an auspicious beginning. The man who ascends the throne under the favor of the Lord necessarily begins a reign of promise. If, as in Solomons case, he sensibly recognizes his responsibility and seeks wisdom from the only sufficient source, he adds greater certainty to his success. When, in addition to this, his objectives are high and God-honoring, the glory of his kingdom advances accordingly. Certainly, Solomons preparation to build the temple was not only a noble objective, but one in line with his kingly fathers purpose and prayers, and the great Heavenly Fathers will for him.
The interesting history here of gathering materials and appointing men for this marvelous construction is made more interesting still by the kings personal supervision and spiritual interest. It takes some courage to conduct war, and we believe it takes almost more courage and even a clearer sense of God, to build sanctuaries, make their appointments according to the Divine pleasure, and call the people to worship within the spacious rooms of the same. Yet, when you have read but five chapters of this Book, you find such a work complete, and are not in the least amazed or even surprised to read, The glory of the Lord had filled the house of God (2Ch 5:14).
It is doubtful whether any company of men have done more for the establishment of spirituality in the earth and for the strengthening of the souls of their fellows, than have those who brought sanctuaries into existence and led congregations of people to a genuine worship of the most high God.
The on-going of this Book reveals Solomons conscious dependence. When the altar was erected he stood by it with outstretched hands (2Ch 6:12). That is the attitude of prayer and possibly of adoration. When his lips parted to speak, he says,
O Lord God of Israel, there is no God tike Thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy unto Thy servants that walk before Thee with all their hearts:
Thou which hast kept with Thy servant David my father that which Thou hast promised him; and spakest with Thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with Thine hand, as it is this day.
Now therefore, O Lord God of Israel, keep with Thy servant David my father that which Thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in My sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in My Law, as Thou hast walked before Me (2Ch 6:14-16).
Now then, O Lord God of Israel, let Thy Word be verified, which Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant David (2Ch 6:17).
Then follows an appeal that Gods eyes should be open upon their house day and night; that His ears should hearken to the prayers made in that place, and if sin were committed, that forgiveness should be granted, and if the people fail before the face of the enemy because of sin that they also should be pardoned; that if heaven be shut up on the same ground, upon repentance the dearth should end.
Then he concludes in a more personal petition to Him:
Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all Thy people Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house:
Then hear Thou from Heaven Thy dwelling place, and forgive (2Ch 6:29-30).
These are only samples of the long petition that followed the dedicatory sermon. They wind up with a sentence like this: O Lord God, turn not away the face of Thine anointed: remember the mercies of David Thy servant (2Ch 6:42). It is a model prayer; it is the petition of a sincere soul; it is the cry of one who knows that the mercy and love of God are the only grounds of hope.
The further text records Solomons fame and death. That fame was based upon Solomons wisdom, accentuated doubtless by the magnificence of the temple, but made more honorable still in the extent of his organization, the luxury of his court and the wealth of his treasury.
Evidently, among the rulers of the earth, the queen of Sheba held conspicuous place, and when the fame of Solomon reached her, she came to prove him with her questions, and impress him with her own riches and glory. The difficult questions were satisfactorily answered, the temple was adequately shown, the table of the king groaned with its good meats, the apparel of the servants was profoundly impressive, and the queen said to the king,
It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom:
Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard.
Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, winch stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.
Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the Lord thy God (2Ch 9:5-8).
The compliment to the king is followed with a statement of Solomons annual income, the magnificence of his throne, the rich appointments of the palace, the extensive commercial importance of his kingdom, and the willing tributes of the earths lesser lords.
Then, as if the task of telling all was too great, we have this record,
Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the Prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat?
And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.
And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead (2Ch 9:29-31).
It is a surprising end, and yet strangely true to human history. How many men spend all their days in preparing to live, and when the preparation seems almost complete, proceed to die? The last enemy is no respecter of persons. His bow is drawn against the great as well as the humble, the rich as well as the poor, the wise as well as the ignorant. Death respects neither thrones nor kings; he holds the key to the palace room, and even to the throne room. Kings may command their humbler fellows, and even counsel their equals; but where death calls, they also obey.
REHOBOAM AND THE DIVISION
The emptying of a throne is forever fraught with perils. The eternal and pertinent question is this, Who shall come after the king? The tenth chapter answered that concerning the throne of Israel. The answer was an ill omen! Rehoboams tyrannical spirit split the kingdom. When Jeroboam and all Israel came to him, saying, Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore ease thou somewhat the grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve thee (2Ch 10:4), they delicately referred to the increased taxation to which the luxurious court and the personal orgies of Solomon had given rise. They thought, as people commonly do, that the new rule would prove the peoples friend. Their hope was in vain.
The old men, former counselors of Solomon, advised kindness and compassion; but the young bloods, spoiled by their fellowship with royalty, counseled increased oppression; and under their influence he said,
My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add thereto: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions (2Ch 10:14).
It was enough. The war was on; and that war has never ended until this day, for Israel and Judah are not yet one. A man who divides brethren and sets them to battle, little understands the infinite reach of his mischief. The father of Modernism in America, when he fell asleep at a comparatively early age, little dreamed that he had set influences to work that would divide every denomination on the continent, destroy the fellowship of men who loved one another as twins are commonly supposed to love, wreck schools and churches by the thousand, and start a war that may easily exceed the famous Hundred Year War of history.
Israel and Judahblood brothersbecame the bitterest of enemies. For some reason Second Chronicles pays little attention to Israel, but proceeds to trace Judahs history to the year of Cyrus, king of Persia, or through a period of almost a half millennium. The family feud occasionally projects itself into the record, but for the most part, Israel is forgotten, and the doings of Judah are recorded in detail.
The explanation of this is found in the circumstance that Jeroboam rejected the worship of Jehovah (2Ch 11:14-15). When God is once put away, when Gods priest is disposed of, and His minister is heard no more, then degeneracy compels a declining record.
Unitarianism three quarters of a century ago denied the Lord. Its history has amounted to little; and if it were recorded, it would simply prove, as the Jeroboam movement, a breeding place of apostasy; and yet this record regards not one apostasy only, but two.
The man of many favors may forget God.
When Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the Law of the Lord, and all Israel with him (2Ch 12:1).
What a sad commentary on the uncertainty and unstability of human nature! The explanation of Rehoboams failure has fitted thousands, yea millions of cases. He did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord (2Ch 12:14). Of all disappointments, none exceed thisto begin well and end badly; to give promise and create disappointment; to be the subject of Divine favor, and become the slave of Gods adversary.
THE HISTORY OF JUDAH
Chapters 11 to 36 contain the roster of kings. The fortunes of the country answer accurately and inevitably to the characters of their rulers. On the whole, the history is a down-grade. In that respect, it runs true to form. The doctrine of evolution may find an illustration in national life if it goes from the simple to the complex, but in so far as it contends for improvement, history fails to illustrate it. Degeneracy of nations has more often taken place than has social and moral progress.
The foundations of Judah were laid under David; the kingdoms glory appeared under Solomon. From that moment until this, one word expresses Judahs coursedecline.
Africa was once an advanced nation, now a heathen one; Italy once ruled the world, now she holds an inconspicuous place; Greece once represented the climax of physical and mental accomplishment, now she boasts neither. The reasons for decline are varied, but in Judah they were one the God who had made her great was too often forgotten, too willingly offended. When the nations neglect the source of their strength, weakness naturally ensues. Judahs strength was in the Lord, and when her kings forgot Him, despised His Word, entered into unholy alliances that were followed by the people, her fame declined, and her land fainted.
The mixed social condition manifested her sinfulness. We have a phrase, Like people, like priest. We can paraphrase that, Like princes, like people. The study of these kings results in no compliment to human nature. Some of them were utterly evil; most of them were a mixture of the good and bad; two or three of them were sound. Among the utterly evil ones, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah, Manasseh, Amon and Jehoiakin held first place. The ones that represent a mixture of good and bad were Jeroboam, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jehoiakim; while the truly good consisted of Jotham, Hezekiah and Josiah. In all probability the reign of each of these good kings was profoundly affected and made spiritually fruitful by the ministry of Isaiah, the greatest preacher among Old Testament Prophets. It is perhaps a fact of history that no rulers have ever proven faithful to God without the stimulating and salutary influence of the Gospel ministry.
The judgments and mercies of Second Chronicles alike vindicate Jehovah. In this record wickedness does not go unpunished; and yet it is a marvelous revelation of Divine mercy.
There is never the least sign of penitence on the part of the ruler and the people without an immediate and generous response from Jehovah.
When Jehoshaphat declined in his loyalty and effected a sinful coalition with Ahab, judgment fell; but instantly upon his repentance, mercy was shown. Judgment is always and everywhere Gods strange work, the work in which He takes no pleasure. As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Eze 33:11).
Mercy is His nature, His essential character, for to the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy (Pro 28:13).
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL NOTES.] This chapter corresponds with 2Ki. 8:16-24; contains Jehoshaphats family arrangements (2Ch. 21:1-4); beginning and character of Jehorams reign (2Ch. 21:5-11); the writing of Elijah to Jehoram (2Ch. 21:12-15); the end of Jehorams reign (2Ch. 21:16-20).
2Ch. 21:1-4.Family arrangements of J. Six sons, towards whom he pursued the same policy as Rehoboam (ch. 2Ch. 11:23). This probably provoked the jealousy of Jehoram and induced him to put them to death. J. firstborn (2Ch. 21:3), whose natural right to succeed was carried out (Deu. 21:15). Divers, Jehorams brothers, supported by some chief men in country; or suspected of disloyalty.
2Ch. 21:5-11.Character of J.s reign. 2Ch. 21:5. Eight years. According to 2Ki. 8:16, began in fifth year of Joram, K. of Isa., therefore in twenty-second year of Jehoshaphat. Four of his eight years coincided nearly with the last four years of his fathers reign, and after his fathers death he reigned four years [cf. Murphy]. 2Ch. 21:6. Daughter, i.e., the grand-daughter of Omri (2Ki. 8:26). 2Ch. 21:7. The promise to David and an explanation of Gods patience to Jehoram. 2Ch. 21:8. Edom. Flourishing kingdom of Jehoshaphat dwindling away. Edomites governed since time of David (1Ki. 22:47; 2Ki. 3:9) revolted. Defeated in first, they made another attempt, succeeded, and Libnah, on south frontier towards Edom, followed example. 2Ch. 21:11. Fornication, signifying unfaithfulness in following other gods (cf. 2Ki. 9:22).
2Ch. 21:12-15.Elijahs writing to J. The document in question is not called a letter (iggereth or sepher), but a writing (micetab), Words. The only notice of E. in Chronicles. As prophet of northern kingdom, natural that he should engage but slightly the historian of southern one. Notice one of considerable interest. Shows that E. did not confine attention to affairs of his own state, but looked beyond its borders, to check progress of idolatry in Judah. It proves that the prophet was upon earth after the death of Jehoshaphat (2Ch. 21:13), whence it follows
(1) that the account of his translation occurs in Kings out of its chronological order, and that
(2) Elisha, who prophesied in the time of Jehoshaphat (2Ki. 3:11-19), commenced his public ministry before his masters translation [Speak. Com.]. Some think this was not E. the Tishbite, but one distinct from him; others that this should be Elisha. 2Ch. 21:13. Way, extreme measures which dishonoured God; better, not idolators, as thou art. 2Ch. 21:14. Plague, stroke, invasion of Philistines (2Ch. 21:16-17). 2Ch. 21:15. Disease, a chronic and incurable dysentery. 2Ch. 21:17. Brake, i.e., wasted it (Vulg., vastaverunt), applied to cities (cf. ch. 2Ch. 22:1; Jer. 29:2; Eze. 30:16).
2Ch. 21:18-20.End of Jehorams reign. Out off by his malady in two years. No burning, not honoured by his subjects; desired, unregretted. Custom of giving or withholding funeral honours introduced from Egypt into Juda.
HOMILETICS
THE SUCCESSION OF JEHORAM.2Ch. 21:1-20
I. The cruelty by which he entered upon his reign. Slew all his brethren. In covetousness for their positions, or jealous at their authority. Pretending he was not secure, or under false accusation. Grievous sin to cut off kindred because better than ourselves (2Ch. 21:13). Fratricide common. Kings filled with maliciousness, envy, murder (Rom. 1:29).
Base envy withers at anothers joy,
And hates the excellence it cannot reach [Thomson].
II. The wickedness which dishonoured his reign. He began wrong and went on to worse.
1. He walked in idolatrous ways. Like as did the house of Ahab (2Ch. 21:6). The husband of a wicked woman, he became corrupt, idolatrous, and vile.
2. He drew his people into the same snare. He encouraged whoredom in high places. By counsel and example, by force and penalties, compelled Judah thereto (2Ch. 21:11). In a land where the true God resided, the sad spectacle beheld of king and people forsaking his service and giving themselves to excesses and abominations of heathen gods!
III. The calamities to which wickedness exposed his reign. God forsaken, subjects withdrew allegiance, no defence.
1. Tributary provinces rebelled. Edom revolted and made themselves a king (2Ch. 21:8). Lebnah, a city in his own kingdom, threw off his yoke (2Ch. 21:10). Arabians encouraged to rebellion (2Ch. 21:16). Thus,
2. The kingdom almost politically extinguished. By destruction of his army, capture of Jerusalem, and plunder of royal palace; by devastation of the country and deportation of royal family (2Ch. 21:17). Wicked men insecure in business, position, and prospects. A man shall not be established by wickedness.
IV. The sad events which terminated his reign through wickedness. Sins great and retribution grievous, a great stroke (2Ch. 21:14).
1. Loathsome disease in his person.
2. Unregretted in his life.
3. Dishonoured in death. At the early age of 40 smitten with disease, a nuisance to himself and others. The palace turned into a hospital and a tomb. Not loved in life, not lamented in death. Denied a royal, sepulchre, and only out of respect allowed interment in the city of David! Sad picture, awful moral!
JEHOSHAPHATS FAMILY ARRANGEMENTS.2Ch. 21:1-4
I. Prudent in plan. The eldest son appointed to succeed, the others governors of cities and enriched with gifts of silver and of gold. This very arrangement might provoke jealousy. Look further than time and higher than worldly prudence.
II. Difficult in execution. Jehoram not established without struggle; slew his brothers, with princes attached to their interest or ready to avenge their deaths. Thus he disappointed the good intentions of his father, and, like many, founded his kingdom in blood (Hab. 2:12).
III. Frustrated in purpose. We arrange, others upset. Things excellently designed, says Cicero, have often a very ill event. Often special trial to leave the fruits of labour, the treasures of home and empire, unto the man that shall be after us. Will they be devoted to perpetuate a godly name or desecrated to the world? And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? (Ecc. 2:18-19; cf. Psa. 49:10; Psa. 39:6).
THE LAMP OF DAVIDS HOUSE.2Ch. 21:7
Apostasy would have led to entire extinction of royal family, but for the divine promise to David to give alway a light (candle or lamp) to his children (2Ki. 8:24).
I. How the lamp was kindled. A divine gift. All rights from God. None can create a family, build a kingdom without him. I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed.
II. How the lamp was preserved from extinction. The same power that lit, kept the light burning. Wickedness of the king, abominations of the people and surrounding darkness of idolatry almost destroyed it. God remembered and fulfilled his promise. For thou wilt light my lamp; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness (Psa. 18:29).
III. How the lamp will permanently shine. The dynasty of David the source of light to all generationsraised from degradation and persecution to honour and prosperity. The past a pledge for future. In Christ the light shall shine for ever, can never be darkened nor extinguished. Unto his (Solomons) son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light (lamp) alway before me in Jerusalem? (1Ki. 11:36).
JEHORAM A WARNING HISTORY
I. In marriage neutralising effect of religious education. Good influences and pious training of early days neutralised. Association with wicked made him an idolator, worldling, and profligate. A wedding-day may be a wrong start and turn the joy of life into mourning.
II. In Conduct entailing sufferings upon himself and descendants. His example pernicious, transmitted poison to successive generations, brought terrible retribution upon himself and his kingdom. Achan perished not alone in his iniquity.
III. In life a fearful warning to all. To parents not to marry their children for policy or profit; to guard their associations, friendships, and alliances; above all, to set a good example, lest folly in them becomes sin in their offspring. To young people to shun evil companions and never forget the claims of truth and God. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
2Ch. 21:6-11. The unfaithful king. Calamities which befel Jehoram appended because he had forsaken the Lord God of his father.
1. Seduced by his wife. Athaliah, daughter of Ahab, a worshipper of Baal. There needs no more than a bad wife to undo a family (Bp. Patrick).
2. Encouraged idolatrous practice. Established altars in high places; set up groves, images, and pillars, and filled the country with heathen abominations.
3. Forced the people to follow his example. Compelled Judah (2Ch. 21:11). This was the worse, because in Jerusalem, the holy city; and because he caused them to do it, partly by his allurements and partly by affrightments, as did Julian also the apostate, qui persudendo persectus est [Trapp].
2Ch. 21:12-15. Elijahs writing. When written? how sent? for what purpose? Learn the word of God sent to correct, if despised may become our worst enemy. This letter foretold the doom of the king, but unheeded and sad prediction fulfilled. Why is he not then better believed? If some astrologer had once or twice prognosticated, and it proved true, he should be much carried up and credited. And shall not Gods prophets be so? Believe the prophets and ye shall prosper. But many believe them no otherwise than they do the predictions of an almanack, if so much [Trapp].
2Ch. 21:19-20. No burning. Dishonoured by his subjects. On account of
(1) sins he committed,
(2) calamities of his reign,
(3) humiliating nature of his death. J. died in bloom of manhood, but lived long enough to teach that he that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
5. THE REIGN OF JEHOSHAPHAT (1721:3)
TEXT
2Ch. 17:1. And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead, and strengthened himself against Israel. 2. And he placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken. 3. And Jehovah was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto the Baalim, 4. but sought to the God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel. 5. Therefore Jehovah established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat tribute; and he had riches and honor in abundance. 6. And his heart was lifted up in the ways of Jehovah: and furthermore he took away the high places and the Asherim out of Judah.
7. Also in the third year of his reign he sent his princes, even Ben-hail, and Obadiah, and Zechariah, and Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah; 8. and with them the Levites, even Shemaiah, and Nethaniah, and Zebadiah, and Asahel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehonathan, and Adonijah, and Tobijah, and Tobadonijah, the Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the priests. 9. And they taught in Judah, having the book of the law of Jehovah with them; and they went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught among the people.
10. And the fear of Jehovah fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat. 11. And some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents, and silver for tribute; the Arabians also brought him flocks, seven thousand and seven hundred rams, and seven thousand and seven hundred he-goats. 12. And Jehoshaphat waxed great exceedingly; and he built in Judah castles and cities of store. 13. And he had many works in the cities of Judah; and men of war, mighty men of valor, in Jerusalem. 14. And this was the numbering of them according to their fathers houses: Of Judah, the captains of thousands: Adnah the captain, and with him mighty men of valor three hundred thousand; 15. and next to him Jehohanan the captian, and with him two hundred and fourscore thousand; 16. and next to him Amasiah the son of Zichri, who willingly offered himself unto Jehovah; and with him two hundred thousand mighty men of valor. 17. And of Benjamin: Eliada a mighty man of valor, and with him two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield; 18. and next to him Jehozabad, and with him a hundred and fourscore thousand ready prepared for war. 19. These were they that waited on the king, besides those whom the king put in the fortified cities throughout all Judah.
2Ch. 18:1. Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance; and he joined affinity with Ahab. 2. And after certain years he went down to Ahab to Samaria. And Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance, and for the people that were with him, and moved him to go up with him to Ramoth-gilead. 3. And Ahab king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat king of Judah. Wilt thou go with me to Ramoth-gilead? And he answered him, I am as thou art, and my people as thy people; and we will be with thee in the war.
4, And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Inquire first, I pray thee, for the word of Jehovah. 5. Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for God will deliver it into the hand of the king. 6. But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah besides, that we may inquire of him? 7. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of Jehovah: but I hate him; for he never prophesieth good concerning me, but always evil: the same is Micaiah the son of Imla. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so. 8. Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, Fetch quickly Micaiah the son of Imla. 9. Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, arrayed in their robes, and they were sitting in an open place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them. 10. And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron and said, Thus saith Jehovah, With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until they be consumed. 11. And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and prosper; for Jehovah will deliver it into the hand of the king.
12. And the messenger that went to call Micaiah spake to him, saying, Behold, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one mouth: let thy word therefore, I pray thee, be like one of theirs, and speak thou good. 13. And Micaiah said, As Jehovah liveth, what my God saith, that will I speak. 14. And when he was come to the king, the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And he said, Go ye up, and prosper; and they shall be delivered into your hand. 15. And the king said to him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou speak unto me nothing but the truth in the name of Jehovah; 16. And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd: and Jehovah said, These have no master; let them return every man to his house in peace. 17. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil? 18. And Micaiah said, Therefore hear ye the word of Jehovah: I saw Jehovah sitting upon his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left. 19. And Jehovah said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one spake saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner. 20. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before Jehovah, and said, I will entice him. And Jehovah said unto him. Wherewith? 21. And he said, I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt entice him, and shalt prevail also: go forth, and do so. 22. Now therefore, behold, Jehovah hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets; and Jehovah hath spoken evil concerning thee.
23. Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and smote Micaiah upon the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of Jehovah from me to speak unto thee? 24. And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see on that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself. 25. And the king of Israel said, Take ye Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the kings son; 26. and say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I return in peace. 27. And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, Jehovah hath not spoken by me. And he said, Hear, ye peoples, all of you.
28. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead. 29. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and go into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. So the king of Israel disguised himself; and they went into the battle. 30. Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel. 31. And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, It is the king of Israel. Therefore they turned about to fight against him: but Jehoshaphat cried out, and Jehovah helped him; and God moved them to depart from him. 32. And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him. 33. And a certain man drew his bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the armor: wherefore he said to the driver of the chariot, Turn thy hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am sore wounded. 34. And the battle increased that day? howbeit the king of Israel stayed himself up in his chariot against the Syrians until the even; and about the time of the going down of the sun he died.
2Ch. 19:1. And Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem. 2. And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the wicked, and love them that hate Jehovah? for this thing wrath is upon thee from before Jehovah. 3. Nevertheless there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast put away the Asheroth out of the land, and hast set thy heart to seek God.
4. And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem: and he went out again among the people from Beer-sheba to the hill-country of Ephraim, and brought them back unto Jehovah, the God of their fathers. 5. And he set judges in the land throughtout all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city, 6. and said to the judges, Consider what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for Jehovah; and he is with you in the judgment. 7. Now therefore let the fear of Jehovah be upon you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with Jehovah our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of bribes.
8. Moreover in Jerusalem did Jehoshaphat set of the Levites and the priests, and of the heads of the fathers houses of Israel, for the judgment of Jehovah, and for controversies. And they returned to Jerusalem. 9. And he charged them, saying, Thus shall ye do in the fear of Jehovah, faithfully, and with a perfect heart. 10. And whensoever any controversy shall come to you from your brethren that dwell in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and ordinances, ye shall warn them, that they be not guilty towards Jehovah, and so wrath come upon you and upon your brethren: this do, and ye shall not be guilty. 11. And, behold, Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of Jehovah; and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the ruler of the house of Judah, in all the kings matters: also the Levites shall be officers before you. Deal courageously, and Jehovah be with the good.
2Ch. 20:1. And it came to pass after this, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them some of the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. 2. Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea from Syria; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar (the same is En-gedi). 3. And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek unto Jehovah; and he proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4. And Judah gathered themselves together, to seek help of Jehovah: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek Jehovah.
5. And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of Jehovah, before the new court; 6. and he said, O Jehovah, the God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and art not thou ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? and in thy hand is power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee. 7. Didst not thou, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and give it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever? 8. And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, 9. If evil come upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before thee (for thy name is in this house), and cry unto thee in our affliction, and thou wilt hear and save. 10. And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir. whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned aside from them, and destroyed them not; 11. behold, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. 12. O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee. 13. And all Judah stood before Jehovah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.
14. Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite, of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of Jehovah in the midst of the assembly; 15. and he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king of Jehoshaphat: Thus saith Jehovah unto you, Fear not ye, neither be dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but Gods. 16. To-morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the ascent of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel. 17. Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of Jehovah with you, O Judah and Jerusalem; fear not, nor be dismayed: to-morrow go out against them; for Jehovah is with you. 18. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before Jehovah, worshipping Jehovah. 19. And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites, stood up to praise Jehovah, the God of Israel, with an exceeding loud voice.
20. And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem: believe in Jehovah your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. 21. And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed them that should sing unto Jehovah, and give praise in holy array, as they went out before the army, and say, Give thanks unto Jehovah; for his lovingkindness endureth for ever. 22. And when they began to sing and to praise, Jehovah set liers-in-wait against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, that were come against Judah; and they were smitten. 23. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.
24. And when Judah came to the watch-tower of the wilderness, they looked upon the multitude; and behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and there were none that escaped. 25. And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches and dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in taking the spoil, it was so much. 26. And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berach; for there they blessed Jehovah: therefore the name of that place was called The valley of Berach unto this day. 27. Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for Jehovah had made them to rejoice over their enemies. 28. And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the house of Jehovah. 29. And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of the countries, when they heard that Jehovah fought against the enemies of Israel. 30. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet; for his God gave him rest round about.
31. And Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah: he was thirty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem: and his mothers name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. 32. And he walked in the way of Asa his father, and turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah. 33. Howbeit the high places were not taken away; neither as yet had the people set their hearts unto the God of their fathers. 34. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the history of Jehu the son of Hanani, which is inserted in the book of the kings of Israel.
35. And after this did Jehoshaphat king of Judah join himself with Ahaziah king of Israel; the same did very wickedly: 36. and he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish; and they made the ships in Ezion-geber. 37. Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, Jehovah hath destroyed thy works. And the ships were broken, so that they were not able to go to Tarshish.
2Ch. 21:1. And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Jehoram his son reigned in his stead. 2. And he had brethren, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephatiah; all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel. 3. And their father gave them great gifts, of silver, and of gold, and of precious things, with fortified cities in Judah: but the kingdom gave he to Jehoram, because he was the first-born.
PARAPHRASE
2Ch. 17:1. Then his son Jehoshaphat became the king and mobilized for war against Israel. 2. He placed garrisons in all of the fortified cities of Judah, in various other places throughout the country, and in the cities of Ephraim that his father had conquered. 3. The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed in the good footsteps of his fathers early years, and did not worship idols. 4. He obeyed the commandments of his fathers Godquite unlike the people across the border in the land of Israel. 5. So the Lord strengthened his position as king of Judah. All the people of Judah cooperated by paying their taxes, so he became very wealthy as well as being very popular. 6. He boldly followed the paths of Godeven knocking down the heathen altars on the hills, and destroying the Asherim idols.
7, 8, 9. In the third year of his reign he began a nationwide religious education program. He sent out top government officials as teachers in all the cities of Judah. These men included Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah. He also used the Levites for this purpose, including Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah; also the priest Elishama and Jehoram. They took copies of The Book of the Law of the Lord to all the cities of Judah, to teach the Scriptures to the people.
10. The fear of the Lord fell upon all the surrounding kingdoms so that none of them declared war on King Jehoshaphat. 11. Even some of the Philistines brought him presents and annual tribute, and the Arabs donated 7,700 rams and 7,700 male goats. 12. So Jehoshaphat became very strong, and built fortresses and supply cities throughout Judah. 13. His public works program was also extensive, and he had a huge army stationed at Jerusalem, his capital. 14, 15. Three hundred thousand Judean troops were there under General Adnah. Next in command was Jeho-hanan with an army of 280,000 men. 16. Next was Amasiah (son of Zichri), a man of unusual piety, with 200,000 troops. 17. Benjamin supplied 200,000 men equipped with bows and shields under the command of Eliada, a great general. 18. His second in command was Jehozabad, with 180,000 trained men. 19. These were the troops in Jerusalem in addition to those placed by the king in the fortified cities throughout the nation.
2Ch. 18:1. But rich, popular King Jehoshaphat of Judah made a marriage alliance (for his son) with (the daughter of) King Ahab of Israel. 2. A few years later he went down to Samaria to visit King Ahab, and King Ahab gave a great party for him and his aides, butchering great numbers of sheep and oxen for the feast. Then he asked King Jehoshaphat to join forces with him against Ramoth-gilead.
3, 4, 5. Why, of course! King Jehoshaphat replied. Im with you all the way. My troops are at your command! However, lets check with the Lord first. So King Ahab summoned 400 of his heathen prophets and asked them, Shall we go to war with Ramoth-gilead or not? And they replied, Go ahead, for God will give you a great victory! 6, 7. But Jehoshaphat wasnt satisfied. Isnt there some prophet of the Lord around here too? he asked. Id like to ask him the same question. Well, Ahab told him, there is one, but I hate him, for he never prophesies anything but evil! His name is Micaiah (son of Imlah). Oh, come now, dont talk like that! Jehoshaphat exclaimed. Lets hear what he has to say. 8. So the king of Israel called one of his aides. Quick! Go and get Micaiah (son of Imlah), he ordered. 9. The two kings were sitting on thrones in full regalia at an open place near the Samaria gate, and all the prophets were prophesying before them. 10. One of them, Zedekiah (son of Chenaanah), made some iron horns for the occasion and proclaimed, The Lord says you will gore the Syrians to death with these! 11. And all the others agreed. Yes, they chorused, go up to Ramoth-gilead and prosper, for the Lord will cause you to conquer.
12. The man who went to Micaiah told him what was happening, and what all the prophets were sayingthat the war would end in triumph for the king. I hope you will agree with them and give the king a favorable reading, the man ventured. 13. But Micaiah replied, I vow by God that whatever God says is what I will say. 14. When he arrived before the king, the king asked him, Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth-gilead or not? And Micaiah replied, Sure, go ahead! It will be a glorious victory! 15. Look here, the king said sharply, how many times must I tell you to speak nothing except what the Lord tells you to? 16. Then Micaiah told him, In my vision I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountain as sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord said, Their master has been killed. Send them home. 17. Didnt I tell you? the king of Israel exclaimed to Jehoshaphat. He does it every time. He never prophesies anything but evil against me. 18. Listen to what else the Lord has told me, Micaiah continued, I saw him upon his throne surrounded by vast throngs of angels. 19, 20. And the Lord said, Who can get King Ahab to go to battle against Ramoth-gilead and be killed there? There were many suggestions, but finally a spirit stepped forward before the Lord and said, I can do it! How? the Lord asked him. 21. He replied, I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all of the kings prophets! It will work, the Lord said; go and do it. 22. So you see, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these prophets of yours, when actually he has determined just the opposite of what they are telling you!
23. Then Zedekiah (son of Chenaanah) walked up to Micaiah and slapped him across the face. You liar! he yelled. When did the Spirit of the Lord leave me and enter you? 24. Youll find out soon enough, Micaiah replied, when you are hiding in an inner room! 25. Arrest this man and take him back to Governor Amon and to my son Joash, the king of Israel ordered. 26. Tell them, The king says to put this fellow in prison and feed him with bread and water until I return safely from the battle! 27. Micaiah replied, If you return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me. Then, turning to those around them, he remarked, Take note of what I have said.
28. So the king of Israel and the king of Judah led their armies to Ramoth-gilead. 29. The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Ill disguise myself so that no one will recognize me, but you put on your royal robes! So that is what they did. 30. Now the king of Syria had issued these instructions to his charioteers: Ignore everyone but the king of Israel! 31. So when the Syrian charioteers saw King Jehoshaphat of Judah in his royal robes, they went for him, supposing that he was the man they were after. But Jehoshaphat cried out to the Lord to save him, and the Lord made the charioteers see their mistake and leave him. 32. For as soon as they realized he was not the king of Israel, they stopped chasing him. 33. But one of the Syrian soldiers shot an arrow haphazardly at the Israeli troops, and it struck the king of Israel at the opening where the lower armor and the breastplate meet. Get me out of here, he groaned to the driver of his chariot, for I am badly wounded. 34. The battle grew hotter and hotter all that day and King Ahab went back in, propped up in his chariot, to fight the Syrians, but just as the sun sank into the western skies, he died.
2Ch. 19:1. As King Jehoshaphat of Judah returned home, uninjured. 2. the prophet Jehu (son of Hanani) went out to meet him. Should you be helping the wicked, and loving those who hate the Lord? he asked him. Because of what you have done, Gods wrath is upon you. 3. But there are some good things about you, in that you got rid of the shame-idols throughout the land, and you have tried to be faithful to God.
4. So Jehoshaphat made no more trips to Israel after that, but remained quietly at Jerusalem. Later he went out again among the people, traveling from Beer-sheba to the hill country of Ephraim to encourage them to worship the God of their ancestors. 5. He appointed judges throughout the nation in all the larger cities, 6. and instructed them: Watch your stepI have not appointed youGod has; and he will stand beside you and help you give justice in each case that comes before you. 7. Be very much afraid to give any other decision than what God tells you to. For there must be no injustice among Gods judges, no partiality, no taking of bribes.
8. Jehoshaphat set up courts in Jerusalem, too, with the Levites and priests and clan leaders and Judges 9. These were his instructions to them: You are to act always in the fear of God, with honest hearts. 10. Whenever a case is referred to you by the judges out in the provinces, whether murder cases or other violations of the laws and ordinances of God, you are to clarify the evidence for them and help them to decide justly, lest the wrath of God come down upon you and them; if you do this, you will discharge your responsibility. 11. Then he appointed Amariah, the High Priest, to be the court of final appeal in cases involving violation of sacred affairs; and Zebadiah (son of Ishmael), a ruler in Judah, as the court of final appeal in all civil cases; with the Levites as their assistants. Be fearless in your stand for truth and honesty. And may God use you to defend the innocent, was his final word to them.
2Ch. 20:1. Later on, the armies of the kings of Moab, Ammon, and of the Meunites declared war on Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah. 2. Word reached Jehoshaphat that a vast army is marching against you from beyond the Salt Sea, from Syria. It is already at Hazazon-tamar (also called Engedi). 3. Jehoshaphat was badly shaken by this news and determined to beg for help from the Lord; so he announced that all the people of Judah should go without food for a time, in penitence and intercession before God. 4. People from all across the nation came to Jerusalem to plead unitedly with him.
5. Jehoshaphat stood among them as they gathered at the new court of the Temple, and prayed this prayer: 6. O Lord God of our fathersthe only God in all the heavens, the Ruler of all the kingdoms of the earthyou are so powerful, so mighty. Who can stand against you? 7. O our God, didnt you drive out the heathen who lived in this land when your people arrived? And didnt you give this land forever to the descendants of your friend Abraham? 8. Your people settled here and built this Temple for you, 9. truly believing that in a time like thiswhenever we are faced with any calamity such as war, disease, or faminewe can stand here before this Temple and before youfor you are here in this Templeand cry out to you to save us; and that you will hear us and rescue us. 10. And now see what the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir are doing. You wouldnt let our ancestors invade those nations when Israel left Egypt, so we went around and didnt destroy them. 11. Now see how they reward us! For they have come to throw us out of your land which you have given us. 12. O our God, wont you stop them? We have no way to protect ourselves against this mighty army. We dont know what to do, but we are looking to you. 13. As the people from every part of Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, wives, and children,
14. the Spirit of the Lord came upon one of the men standing thereJahaziel (son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Je-iel, son of Mattaniah the Levite, who was one of the sons of Asaph). 15. Listen to me, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem, and you, O king Jehoshaphat! he exclaimed. The Lord says, Dont be afraid! Dont be paralyzed by this mighty army! For the battle is not yours, but Gods! 16. Tomorrow, go down and attack them! You will find them coming up the slopes of Ziz at the end of the valley that opens into the wilderness of Jeruel. 17. But you will not need to fight! Take your places; stand quietly and see the incredible rescue operation God will perform for you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem! Dont be afraid or discouraged! Go out there tomorrow, for the Lord is with you! 18. Then king Jehoshaphat fell to the ground with his face to the earth, and all the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem did the same, worshiping the Lord. 19. Then the Levites of the Kohath clan and the Korah clan stood to praise the Lord God of Israel with songs of praise that rang out strong and clear.
20. Early the next morning the army of Judah went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. On the way Jehoshaphat stopped and called them to attention. Listen to me, O people of Judah and Jerusalem, he said. Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall have success! Believe his prophets, and everything will be all right! 21. After consultation with the leaders of the people, he determined that there should be a choir leading the march, clothed in sanctified garments and singing the song His Lovingkindness Is Forever as they walked along praising and thanking the Lord! 22. And at the moment they began to sing and to praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to begin fighting among themselves, and they destroyed each other! 23. For the Ammonites and Moabites turned against their allies from Mount Seir and killed every one of them. And when they had finished that job, they turned against each other!
24. So, when the army of Judah arrived at the watchtower that looks out over the wilderness, as far as they could look there were dead bodies lying on the groundnot a single one of the enemy had escaped. 25. King Jehoshaphat and his people went out to plunder the bodies and came away loaded with money, garments, and jewels stripped from the corpsesso much that it took them three days to cart it all away! 26. On the fourth day they gathered in the Valley of Blessing, as it is called today, and how they praised the Lord! 27. Then they returned to Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat leading them, full of joy that the Lord had given them this marvelous rescue from their enemies. 28. They marched into Jerusalem accompanied by a band of harps, lyres, and trumpets and proceeded to the Temple. 29. And as had happened before, when the surrounding kingdoms heard that the Lord himself had fought against the enemies of Israel, the fear of God fell upon them. 30. So Jehoshaphats kingdom was quiet, for his God had given him rest.
31. A thumbnail sketch of King jehoshaphat: He became king of Judah when he was thirty-five years old, and reigned twenty-five years, in Jerusalem. His mothers name was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi. 32. He was a good king, just as his father Asa was. He continually tried to follow the Lord, 33. with the exception that he did not destroy the idol shrines on the hills, nor had the people as yet really decided to follow the God of their ancestors. 34. The details of Jehoshaphats reign from first to last are written in the history of Jehu the son of Hanani, which is inserted in The Annals of the Kings of Israel.
35. But at the close of his life, Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, went into partnership with Ahaziah, king of Israel, who was a very wicked man. 36. They made ships in Ezion-geber to sail to Tarshish. 37. Then Eliezer, son of Dodavahu from Mareshah, prophesied against Jehoshaphat, telling him, Because you have allied yourself with King Ahaziah, the Lord has destroyed your work. So the ships met disaster and never arrived at Tarshish.
2Ch. 21:1. When Jehoshaphat died, he was buried in the cemetery of the kings in Jerusalem, and his son Jehoram became the new ruler of Judah. 2. His brothersother sons of Jehoshaphatwere Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah. 3, 4. Their father had given each of them valuable gifts of money and jewels, also the ownership of some of the fortified cities of Judah. However, he gave the kingship to Jehoram because he was the oldest. But when Jehoram had become solidly established as king, he killed all of his brothers and many other leaders of Israel.
COMMENTARY
Asas son, Jehoshaphat, sat on the throne in Judah. Jehoshaphats name means Jehovah is judge. He was one of the best kings of the southern kingdom.[60] A continual condition of civil strife persisted between Judah and Israel. Jehoshaphat concerned himself with necessary fortifications to protect the territory of Judah. This involved strengthening several villages in Judah and in the territory on the border of Ephraim. Judahs king opposed every form of Baalism. In every matter pertaining to the kingdom he sought Jehovahs counsel. Jehovah was with him. The southern kingdom enjoyed a period of prosperity and Jehoshaphat was held in high honor as king. The lifting up of the heart sometimes meant boastful and foolish pride; however, Jehoshaphat boasted in Jehovah and gave his people strong spiritual leadership.
[60] Oehler, Grustave F., Theology of the Old Testament, p. 403
Jehoshaphat was deeply concerned that his people be trained in the word of God. He appointed princes, Levites, and priests to travel throughout the borders of Judah to teach the people out of the book of the law of Jehovah. He wanted all of his people to be involved in religious education. In this matter he approximated the ideal in Deu. 17:18-19 which stated that the king should rule by the law of God. This is the only mention in the Bible of these particular princes of the Levites. They filled an important place of service in the days of Jehoshaphat.
This course of action chosen by Judahs king brought great blessings upon the king and the people. Judah enjoyed an era of comparative peace. The Philistines brought tribute. Arab tribes in the environs of Judah brought great numbers of rams and goats. Store cities were built throughout the kingdom and much attention was given to improving social conditions. In addition to all of his peaceful pursuits, Jehoshaphat maintained a standing army of considerable proportions. Seven hundred eighty thousand warriors were numbered in Judah and three hundred eighty thousand warriors were numbered in Benjamin. They manned the fortified cities and helped the king in any assigned tasks. We do not know anything else about the captains or mighty men who are named in connection with Jehoshaphats army.
LESSON NINETEEN 1820
JEHOSHAPHAT AND AHAB WAR WITH MOAB AND AMMON
5. THE REIGN OF JEHOSHAPHATContinued (1721:3)
INTRODUCTION
Judahs alliance with Ahab of Israel displeased Jehovah. The prophets were mistreated. Jehoshaphat worked diligently to bring his people back to God. He activated the priestly high court. The Moabites and Ammonites were defeated in Jehoshaphats day.
TEXT
(Scripture text in Lesson Eighteen)
PARAPHRASE
(Scripture text in Lesson Eighteen)
COMMENTARY
Jehoshaphats relation with the northern kingdom was not entered into with a view to weakening the southern kingdom. The king of Judah probably wanted to share some of the prosperity of his kingdom with Ahab. Jehoshaphats reign extended over a period of twenty five years. His peaceful overtures toward the northern kingdom probably came during the first half of his reign. The affinity with Ahab was effected in the marriage of Jehoshaphats son, Jehoram, with Athaliah, daughter of Ahab. As there had been a Jezebel in Samaria, there would be an Athaliah in Jerusalem. There were state visits between the royal houses. On such an occasion Ahab made lavish provisions for Jehoshaphat. The Syrians had set a great army against Ramoth-gilead, a village thirty miles southeast of the southern tip of the Sea of Chinnereth. Ahab needed military assistance. Jehoshaphat agreed to bring Judahs army into this conflict. Certainly in these matters Judahs king failed to seek Jehovahs will.
Jehoshaphat knew that Ahab did not serve Jehovah. On the occasion when Judahs king agreed to go to battle against Syria with Ahabs army, Jehoshaphat suggested that they determine Jehovahs will in this matter. Ahab proceeded to ask counsel of the four hundred heathen prophets of Israel.[61] They advised him to go to war and assured him of victory through God (Elohim). Jeroboam had set up calf worship in convenient places in the northern kingdom at the beginning of his reign. His successors to the throne maintained these centers of worship. Ahab had married Jezebel, the Phoenician princess. She had brought Baalism out of her country into the northern kingdom. Ahab had completely committed himself to this heathen worship and had forsaken Jehovah. We marvel that these heathen prophets would presume to speak for Israels God. Jehoshaphat loved Jehovah. He was not satisfied with the word of Ahabs false prophets. Upon inquiring as to whether or not a prophet of Jehovah was available, the king of Judah was informed about a man named Micaiah. This true prophet had declared Jehovahs word to Ahab on previous occasion and had condemned Ahab for his heathenism. Ahab told Jehoshaphat that he hated Micaiah. The king of Judah urged Jehoshaphat to weigh his words. Micaiahs location wasnt exactly known. He may have been imprisoned at the time. While the officer was sent to bring Micaiah to the court, the two kings held court at the gate of Sainaria. Ahabs prophets continued their formal worship and stoutly maintained that Ahab should go to battle. One of the false prophets, Zedekiah, put on a mask fashioned like the head of a bull and equipped with iron horns. He moved among his fellow prophets and before Ahab and Jehoshaphat like an attacking animal. Zedekiah claimed that Jehovah had told him that Israel would be victorious. Whenever Zedekiah spoke, he was fully supported by the four hundred Baalists.
[61] Beecher, Willis, J., The Prophets and the Promise, p. 55
The officer who was sent to bring Micaiah tried to condition the prophet to say an agreeable word when he stood before the kings. Micaiah asserted his independency in relation to other prophets and his dependency upon God. He said, What my God saith, that will I speak. In the presence of the kings in a sarcastic manner Micaiah told Ahab to join the battle and anticipate victory. Ahabs own conscience convicted him in this matter. Micaiahs attitude and manner of expression revealed to Ahab that the prophet had a true message from Jehovah. Since Micaiah had bound himself by Jehovahs name to declare Gods will and since Ahab bound Micaiah under oath to reveal the truth, Micaiah said that Israel was a scattered flock without a shepherd. Ahabs army should be dismissed. In wrath Ahab interrupted Micaiah and contended that Micaiah ought not to have been called for advice. Micaiah described his vision of Jehovah. Ahab had hardened his heart. A lying spirit from Jehovah moved the false prophets to advise Ahab to go to battle.
Zedekiah humiliated Micaiah by striking him in the face and challenging him to identify the spirit that had prompted this insulting gesture. Zedekiah was informed that his own life would be in jeopardy at the hands of Israels enemies (most likely, the Syrians). Ahab consigned Micaiah to prison where he would be sustained only by bread and water. The kings order was that Micaiah should be imprisoned until he returned from the battle front in peace. He may have intended to kill the prophet at that time. Even though he was under this sentence, Micaiah insisted that Ahab would not return in peace. Ahab, himself, was under the sentence of death.
This would have been the proper time for Jehoshaphat to withdraw himself and his army from the northern kingdom. In spite of this demonstration of Jehovahs will, the two kings went to war with Syria at Ramoth-gilead. Ahab was so confident that he could win the battle that he had no hesitancy to join the ranks of the fighting men. He knew that as king of Israel, he would be a special prize to the enemy. So he disguised himself. Jehoshaphat was especially vulnerable because he wore robes identifying himself as a king. In the heat of the battle when the king of Judah was recognized by the enemy, he was miraculously spared. Somewhere on the battle-field a Syrian soldier shot an arrow toward the army of Israel.[62] He did not aim at any particular Hebrew soldier. Jehovah guided that Syrian arrow in its flight and it penetrated Ahabs armor striking a vital organ in the kings body. In mortal pain Ahab withdrew from the battle and died at the close of the day.
[62] Spence, H. D. M., The Pulpit Commentary, II Chronicles, p. 216
After these tragic experiences with Ahab, Jehoshaphat returned to Jerusalem. His alliance with wicked Ahab did not go unrebuked. A prophet named Jehu stood in Jehoshaphats presence and condemned him. Judahs king was also informed that Jehovah approved his efforts to rid his land of Baalism. With renewed determination Jehoshaphat visited all of his people from Beersheba in the south to Ephraim in the north encouraging them to worship Jehovah. He set up a system of judges and courts throughout his kingdom charging these officials to fear the Lord and not respect persons or accept bribes. He also re-established the high court at the Temple in Jerusalem in which the priests passed judgment on very serious matters which the lesser courts could not handle (Deu. 17:8-13). Amariah, the high priest, was in charge of the Temple court and all of the matters of business that were associated with Gods House. Jehoshaphats alliance with Ahab had not completely turned him from Jehovah.
Later in Jehoshaphats reign the Moabites, Ammonites, and some Edomites (Meunim) rebelled against the southern kingdom. Reports were brought to Judahs king to the effect that a great army was moving around the southern end of the Dead Sea and organizing for attack at Hazazon-tamar or Engedi on the west coast of the Dead Sea. In this crisis once more Jehoshaphat turned to Jehovah. He asked all of his people to fast and to pray for Gods help. The people were called to Jerusalem. There in the court of the priests the king plead with Jehovah for mercy and deliverance. The content of Jehoshaphats prayer is worth careful study. Jehovah is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is ruler over all kingdoms. He gave Palestine to Abrahams seed. The Temple is in Jerusalem. As Solomon had said in his prayer (1 Kings 8), if the Hebrews would pray toward this house, Jehovah would hear. Jehoshaphat reminded God that Israel had been prohibited from attacking Moab and Ammon when Moses brought Israel through that territory. Now, these very people who were spared rise up to attack Jehovahs people. Jehoshaphat said that he and his people were not able to defend themselves, so they cast themselves completely upon Gods mercyour eyes are upon Thee.
When the king had prayed, Jahaziel, a Levite, was filled with the Spirit of Jehovah. He declared the word that the people longed to hear. Dont be afraid of the enemy. The battle is not your concern; it is Gods. The army of Jehoshaphat was to be drawn up against Moab, Ammon, and Edom. The place called Ziz is difficult to locate, but it is believed to have been in the vicinity of Engedi. The Hebrews were told that they would not have to fight. They were to come to the battle-field, stand still, and wait for Jehovah to act. Jehoshaphat and his people received the news gladly and they worshipped God.
The next morning the king of Judah moved his army toward Tekoa, southeast of Bethlehem about six miles. As the army moved, the king encouraged his people. Believe in Jehovah. Believe His prophets. The soldiers sang as they marched, Give thanks unto Jehovah (Psa. 106:1; Psa. 136:1). The ancient strategy of ambush was used. Jehovah was in complete control. The result of the ambush was that the Ammonites and Moabites supposed that the Edomites had turned upon them. So the enemies of Israel fought among themselves. The complete overthrow of the enemy is described in 2Ch. 20:24-30. Somewhere beyond Tekoa in the vicinity of the Dead Sea the battlefield was covered with the corpses of the fallen enemy soldiers. Jehoshaphats warriors stripped the dead and carried off much booty. They called the place Beracah, which means blessing. Jehoshaphats people returned to Jerusalem praising Jehovah for this miraculous deliverance.
The total picture of Jehoshaphats reign leaves a good impression. His reign extended through twenty five years. The leadership provided by this king is compared with that of his father, Asa. In the days of the Judges every man did that which was right in his own eyes (Jdg. 21:25). Judahs king did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah (2Ch. 20:32). The reforms of Jehoshaphat were not complete, probably because idolatry had been rooted so deeply in the southern kingdom. In spite of the kings devotion to Jehovah, it was difficult to secure the same commitment on the part of his people. The prophet Jehu (1Ki. 16:1) was used by Jehovah as a writer of history. An account of Jehoshaphats reign was written by Jehu and incorporated in a larger book.
Sometime after Jehoshaphat had been humiliated in his alliance with Ahab he covenanted with Ahaziah, son of Ahab and king of Israel. This venture involved building and equipping ships like those used on the Mediterranean by the Phoenicians for the Tarshish trade. Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah intended to use Ezion-geber at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba for their home port. They would send the vessels to Ophir which was far to the South and from there extend their trade to the East. The project was disastrous because Jehovah sent a prophet named Eliezer to condemn Jehoshaphat for his renewed alliance with Israel. The ships were ruined by a terrible storm before they ever left the home port.
LESSON TWENTY 2123
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JEHORAM
THE REIGN OF AHAZIAH.
ATALIAHS DEATH. THE CORONATION OF JOASH.
5. THE REIGN OF JEHOSHAPHAT-Continued (17:121:3)
INTRODUCTION
Jehorams marriage to Athaliah brought serious trouble to Judah. Ahaziahs death at the hands of Jehu led Athaliah to murder all possible candidates for Judahs throne. Joashs rescue and Athaliahs death proved that Jehovah still directed affairs in Judah.
TEXT
(Scripture text in Lesson Eighteen)
PARAPHRASE
(Scripture text in Lesson Eighteen)
COMMENTARY
A brief summary note on Jehoshaphats life is added in chapter 2Ch. 21:1-3. Upon his death he was accorded a very honorable burial in the royal cemetery in Jerusalem. The sons of Jehoshaphat were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah. Two of these sons were called by the same name, Azariah. The Hebrew names show a slight variation. One son is called Azarihu. In addition to these six sons, Jehoram is named as successor to his fathers position. Jehoram is identified as the first-born son. These princes received splendid gifts from their father and held positions of authority in the kingdom.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XXI.
(1) Now.And.
Slept.Lay down. The verse is literally the same as 1Ki. 22:50.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
The Wickedness of Jehoram
v. 1. Now, Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David, v. 2. And he had brethren, the sons of Jehoshaphat, Azariah, and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah v. 3. And their father gave them, v. 4. Now, when Jehoram was risen up to the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself, v. 5. Jehoram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
v. 6. And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, v. 7. Howbeit, the Lord would not destroy the house of David, v. 8. In his days the Edomites v. 9. Then Jehoram went forth with his princes, v. 10. So the Edomites revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day, v. 11. Moreover, he made high places in the mountains of Judah,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
The matter of this chapter may be divided into four parts. The death and burial of Jehoshaphat, and the number, names, and position of his sons (2Ch 21:1-3). The accession and wicked course of Jehoram, the eldest son (2Ch 21:4-11). The written warning and denunciation of Elijah, and the very practical warning of the Philistines, etc. (2Ch 21:12-17). The disease, death, and burial of Jehoram (2Ch 21:18-20).
2Ch 21:1
The parallel for this verse is 1Ki 22:50; and, with the exception of one word, it is an exact parallel. To understand the questions set in motion by the last clause of the verse, comparison must be made of 2Ki 1:17; 2Ki 3:1; 2Ki 8:16. For anything that appears here, we should take for granted that Jehoram now first began to exercise any royal authority and enjoy any royal dignity. But the first of the just-quoted passages says Jehoram (of Israel) succeeded his wicked brother Ahaziah in the second year of Jehoram (of Judah), son of Jehoshaphat. In the second of the above-quoted passages, however, we are told that the same Jehoram (of Israel) succeeded to the throne in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat, which date tallies with our parallel of last chapter (1Ki 22:41), to the effect that Jehoshaphat himself began to reign in Ahab’s fourth year, and Ahaziah in Jeho-saphat’s seventeenth year. While, lastly, the third of the above-quoted references says that in the fifth year of Joram (of Israel), “Jehoshaphat being then King of Judah” (which, however, is itself an unfaithful rendering of what must be a corrupt text), his son Jehoram “began to reign.” It has therefore been conjectured that the royal name was given Jehoram (of Judah) by his father in his father’s sixteenth year, and that in his twenty-third year he further invested him with some royal power (our 2Ki 8:3 gives some plausibility to this conjecture), from which last date Jehoram’s “eight years” (2Ki 8:17; 2Ch 21:5, 2Ch 21:20) must be reckoned; this was not less than two years before the death of Jehoshaphat. Were it not for the countenance that our third verse (describing the cut-and-dried arrangements that the father made for his sons) gives to the tenableness of the above conjectures, we should prefer the conjecture that the passages commented upon are so much corrupt text.
2Ch 21:2
Though in our version two Azariahs appear among the six sons of Jehoshaphat here given, the Hebrew text shows in the one place and in the other. Nothing is known of the previous history of these six, now so cruelly murdered by their eldest brother. It will be observed that Jehoshaphat is styled King of Israel, probably merely generically. Into this way the writer of Chronicles would run, at any rate, more easily than the writer of Kings.
2Ch 21:3
The father’s foreseeing care issued very differently from what he had thought, waking now the greed and murderous intent of Jehoram. Jehoshaphat, nevertheless, was but following in the wake of the head of the separated kingdom of Judah, Rehoboam (2Ch 11:22, 2Ch 11:23), wherein he is said to have “dealt wisely;” even the parallel (in the matter of one son Abijah, sen of Maachah, the favourite wife, being appointed king) obtaining there in an aggravated form, as he was not the eldest son. This case, with those of Solomon and Jehoahaz (by the favour not of the parent but of the people, 2Ki 23:30), formed the exceptions to the usual observance of and honour done to the principle of primogeniture (Deu 21:15-17).
2Ch 21:4
Slew all his brethren and also of the princes of Israel. It may be, as suggested by the genius of the last clause of our yet. 13, that Jehoram’s wicked heart prompted him the rather because his own works were evil and his brothers’ righteous. He may have thought their practical witness against him, and that of the “princes” who shared their fate, would be growingly inconvenient, and would work in them a necessary disloyalty (Jdg 9:1-5). On the ether showing, the “princes” now cut down may have shown partiality and affection to the six brothers, one or other of them.
2Ch 21:5
He reigned eight years. This rejoin dates to begin with the twenty-second or twenty-third year of the reign of his father Jehoshaphat, according to note on 2Ch 21:1, above. The parallel of 2Ki 8:17-21 may be consulted for our 2Ki 8:5-11; our 2Ki 8:11, 2Ki 8:13 expound in clearer detail the “evil” that Jehoram wrought than the narrative of Kings.
2Ch 21:6
The daughter of Ahab to wife. That is, Athaliah, called (2Ch 22:2; 2Ki 8:26) the daughter, that is, granddaughter, of Omri.
2Ch 21:7
The covenant a light his sons for ever (so 2Sa 7:12, 2Sa 7:13, 2Sa 7:15, 2Sa 7:16; 2Sa 23:5; 1Ki 8:20, 1Ki 8:24, 1Ki 8:25; 1Ch 22:10; Psa 132:11, Psa 132:12; Isa 55:3; Act 13:34).
2Ch 21:8
In his days the Edomites revolted made themselves a king. The expression, “in his days,” scarcely fails intending to accentuate the mournful change now as compared with the state of things depicted in our 2Ch 17:5-11.
2Ch 21:9
With his princes. The parallel, 2Ki 8:21, reads, “to Zair.” Of any such place nothing is known, and it has been proposed to supersede the word there by “Self,” which a certain amount of similarity of the Hebrew characters might countenance. Possibly by some mishap, not so readily explainable by misoccurrence of characters simply, our words, “with his princes,” should stand in place of “to Zair.” It must be noted that the two first clauses of the verse in the parallel become something inconsequential (which is not the ease with the reading of our text), in that it says, “The king and chariots went forth to a place, and rose up by night,” etc. The dislocation is, perhaps, not serious, but our text avoids it in reading, “The king, princes, and chariots went forth, and rose up by night and smote,” etc.
2Ch 21:10
Libnah because he had forsaken. The parallel states the revolt of Libnah also, but does not make the closing remark of our verse.
2Ch 21:11Caused to commit fornication. Perhaps the meaning is exclusively here the infidelity of idolatry, but at any rate it includes this.
2Ch 21:12
A writing. The Hebrew is , noun, from verb . This noun does not occur very frequently, but is found in the following passages, viz.: Exo 32:16; Exo 39:30; Deu 10:4; 2Ch 35:4; 2Ch 36:22; Ezr 1:1; Isa 38:8. A note in Grove’s interesting article, “Elijah”, says that the word is almost identical with the Arabic word of the present day, while the ordinary Hebrew word for a “letter” is oftener rendered “book.” There came. That this is the precise language used rather helps the persuasion that it was the well-known Prophet Elijah of Israel, who, not resident in Judah, and perhaps very near the end of his life, and in sight of his translation, was taught and directed divinely to send this message of rebuke and terror for Jehoram. Elijah the prophet. Some hold that it certainly was not the well-known prophet of the northern kingdom who is hero intended. “Time, place, and circumstance,” says Professor Dr. James G. Murphy, of Belfast, difference him “from the Tishbite.” And he confidently considers him (with Cajetan) another Elijah (Ezr 10:21), or Eliah (1Ch 8:27; Ezr 10:26; for the form rendered so), or Eliyahu, in which form the Hebrew name appears (. or , being the forms of the name found), on the grounds that the Tishbite was translated in the time of Jehoram’s father Jehoshaphat (2Ki 3:11); that his sphere was in the northern kingdom, and himself more of one who wrought mighty works and spoke otherwise than as a prophet; and that the designation “the prophet” need by no means denote him exclusively. He adds that a “writing” from a prophet is nothing strange, which may be easily conceded but poorly instanced by 1Ch 28:19; better by Jer 36:1, Jer 36:2, Jer 36:6. On the other hand, Grove (in article above quoted) and others find no invincible difficulty in accepting this Elijah for the famous prophet. His mention here is, of course, exceedingly interesting. as the only mention of him in Chroniclesa fact which very remarkably falls in with the abstinence as well as the fulness of the compiler of Chronicles. Josephus pronounces that the letter was sent during Elijah’s life (‘Ant.,’ 9.5. 2), surmises to the contrary having been made. While Elijah’s translation seems to have taken place before Jehoshaphat’s death, from what we read of Elisha (2Ki 3:11), we may well account that Elisha had begun his ministry before his master’s translation. Not only the ether passages that confirm, but in especial the passage (2Ki 1:17) which tells of Jehoram’s being, before his father’s death, on the throne of Judah at the time of Elijah’s interview with Ahaziah (a passage that occurs immediately preceding the account of Eiijah’s last acts), might have led us to suppose that Elijah’s letter was before Jehoshaphat’s death, during the joint reign, but for the mention of the slaying of his sons. Bertheau, in our text in his ‘Chronik,’ points out the resemblance which the “writing” shows to the matter of the speeches of Elijah, while in certain respects of style, and the very insulated sort of introduction it has here, it greatly differs from the narrative in which it is now set. Although the calculation may seem rather a fine one, the circumstances described accurately point to the “writing” of Elijah reaching Jehoram before the chronologically misplaced translation of Elijah as given in 2Ki 2:1-11. This question may be instanced as one of the interesting moot points by no means compassed with insuperable difficulty, but challenging careful study and patient comparison of chronological and historical passages.
2Ch 21:13
See note in previous verse on Jehoram’s slaying of his brethren, and the conclusive proof this statement allows that Elijah’s letter must have been subsequent to the death of Jehoshaphat. The better thin thyself probably points to the fact that they had not fallen into idolatrous practices.
2Ch 21:14
A great plague; Hebrew, , Out of the twenty-six occurrences of this word, it is rendered (Authorized Version) twenty-three times by the word “plague,” twice by the word “slaughter” (2Sa 17:9; 2Sa 18:7), and once “stroke” (Eze 24:16). It is not the word () which about sixty times (chiefly in Leviticus)describes the physical plague, but both of the words are applied to the plagues, e.g. of Pharaoh, and to the suffering that came of any severe smiting of the people. As no physical affliction in the shape of disease visited, so far as we know, the people, wives, and children of the king, and as his goods are reckoned in for the great plague, the general opinion is probably the correct one, that the invasions spoken of (2Ch 21:16, 2Ch 21:17) fulfilled the punishment now announced.
2Ch 21:15
Therefore against Jehoram and Judas Iscariot and Herod was it decreed that their very bowels should bear witness.
2Ch 21:16
The moreover of this verse is simply the conjunction “and;” it is not the m of 2Ch 21:11, for instance. Our Authorized Version “moreover” obscures the purport of the verse. Better the simple “and,” as in the Revised Version. The Lord stirred up. Reference may again be made to 2Ch 17:10-12. The things then gained are now being lost. The Arabians near the Ethiopians. The Ethiopians, i.e. Cushites, fully fifteen centuries before the date of those original treatises from which the writers of Kings and Chronicles respectively borrowed their materials, or some of them, are recorded both genealogically and geographically in Gen 10:6-8. They had their location very early in the south of Arabia, as also to the south of Egypt, speaking generally, with the Red Sea on the east, the Libyan desert on the west, and Abyssinia on the south, whilst Syene marked conspicuously a site on the line of the northern bounds between them and Egypt (Eze 29:9-11; Isa 18:1, Isa 18:2; Isa 45:14; Zep 3:10). They are almost invariably connected with Africa, from whence it is now that stress is laid upon those of them to whom the Arabians, on the other side of the Red Sea, were contiguous.
2Ch 21:17
Brake into it; Hebrew, kal future of (compare the other four significant and expressive occurrences of this exact form, Jdg 15:19; 2Sa 23:16; 1Ch 11:18; Isa 48:21). The elementary idea of the root is to divide; and it occurs in one conjugation or another fifty-one times, there being no more typical occurrence than that of Gen 7:11. Carried away. The Hebrew uses the word “carried captive” (); possibly the order of Gen 7:14 is inadvertently neglected, which puts the living beings before all the substance, or, goods (). His sons also. From 2Ch 24:7 we note that the sons were not punished for their father’s sins alone, but for their own. Jehoahaz. This person is called Ahaziah in 2Ch 22:1 (the syllables of the name being reversed) and Azariah in 2Ch 22:6, which cannot be explained, but must be supposed an error. The Jehoiachin of 2Ch 36:9 is written Jeconiah, or Jechoniah, in 1Ch 3:16, 1Ch 3:17; Coniah in Jer 22:24, etc.; and Jechoniah in 2Ch 24:1, etc. The two parts of the word combined in either order make the same meaning. On account of the express mention of the camp in 2Ch 22:1, some think that the slaughter and the plunder were all such as might have been wrought in the royal quarters there; others that we are to infer the taking by assault of Jerusalem itself and what was therein.
2Ch 21:18
An incurable disease; i.e. it was so severe that it was in this case incurable.
2Ch 21:19
After the end of two years. That “two years'” space began at the end of nearly two years after his father’s death. Two years’ warning and space for repentance subsequent Jehoram had turned to no account, and even affliction and suffering brought him no ‘amendment. No burning (see our note on 2Ch 16:14).
2Ch 21:20
Departed without being desired; literally, without desire. The closing commentary, so quietly written, becomes the more pathetically mournful The “desire” spoken of is the desiderium of Horace, of nearly nine centuries later (‘Odes,’ 1. 24). But there was now no “desiderium tam cari capitis,” for want of room for this latter description. They buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.
HOMILETICS
2Ch 21:1-20
A reign of unmitigated shame.
To the career of Jehoshaphat of almost exemplary excellence, that of Jehoram, his son, forms a contrast most humiliating. Obviously it is not the least painful feature of this latter that it so inevitably forces into our memory the parental fault, which, if it were not the cause and very foundation of an eldest son s abandoned character and course of conduct, could not fail to have given opportunity for it, and could not fail to incur the responsibility before all the world of having lent the occasion. This chapter teaches us significantly
I. THE RARE VANITY OF HUMAN ENDEAVOUR TO PROVIDE BY ANY CONTRIVANCES AGAINST THE CONSEQUENCES OF ITS OWN FAULTS AND SINS. No disposition in his will, no disposition of the gifts of his property on the part of Jehoshaphat, sufficed to avert these in this instance (2Ch 21:3, 2Ch 21:4).
II. THE IMMENSE ADDITION OF PAIN AND PUNISHMENT FOR SIN THAT ARE INVOLVED HEREIN IN EVEN SUCH POOR MEASURE OF FORESIGHT AS BELONGS TO HUMAN NATURE. This is an indication of the great mercy that lies in the limited measure of the powers of human nature. To be hunted and goaded by the forces of memory from behind, and at the same time terrified by the only too just apparitions of anticipation, and the pictures of what awaits us in front, even in this life,how dreadfully might they at times add to the misery of life! How often might they induce remorse, and the despair that comes of remorse!
III. THE SPECIAL ROYAL HUMILIATION AND PUNISHMENT WHICH CONSIST IN VICTORY, POSSIBLY VICTORY ON VICTORY, WITHOUT CONQUEST. (2Ch 21:8, 2Ch 21:10, 2Ch 21:16,2Ch 21:17.) It is the Sisyphus of kings and rulers and nations, and Jehoram was the Sisyphus of this time and history. But it involves also misery and a scourge for the nation cursed with such rulers.
IV. THE ACCUMULATION OF RETRIBUTION THAT COVERED AND CROWDED THE END FOR JEHORAM. Forewarned by the great Prophet Elijah, perhaps the very last, certainly among the very last, of the acts of his ministry, a horror of a bodily disease; a plague for his people, his children, his wives, and his goods; the slaughter of all his sons save onethe one necessary to carrying on the line of Judah; an unhonoured death, and the forfeiting of a place in the ancestral sepulchres of the kings;these were “the portion of his cup,” and the filling up of its bitternessthe retribution of an iniquitous and godless career, apparently unrelieved by a single virtue or single good deed! It was impossible, indeed, that his father could learn from notice and experience of the son; but “all these things were written for our admonition” for all succeeding generations, and tell their gravest lessons, and offer their most fearful warnings for many another father.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
2Ch 21:1-11
A life spent in undoing.
For the quarter of a century Jehoshaphat spent all his individual power and devoted all the weight of his royal office to the work of establishing piety, justice, and (in consequence) real prosperity throughout his kingdom. And right well he succeeded. When he died he left Judah much purer, stronger, and richer than he found it. Then came his firstborn son in succession to him. And what came with him? What else but a baneful and lamentable undoing of all that he himself had doneall, at least, that his son had it in his power to overturn?
I. THE COURSE OF ONE EVIL LIFE.
1. Jehoram’s reign began in selfish cruelty. To secure his own position, he murdered his six brethren; to avert a contingent evil to himself, he wrought the last and worst evil to his own mother’s sons (2Ch 21:4).
2. It went on to personal apostasy. (2Ch 21:6.) He turned away from the God of his fathers, from the worship of the God to whom he might and, indeed, must have known that his throne was due, to serve Baal; and in so doing he forsook the way of wisdom and of purity for paths of error and iniquity.
3. It led down to the abuse of royal power. For he not only made Jerusalem to be partaker of his sin, but he tyrannically compelled Judah to do the same (2Ch 21:11). He employed his royal authority (and probably his standing army) to constrain his people to depart from the way of holiness, from spiritual and moral integrity.
4. It issued in national disaster. In the loss of the Divine favour; in the consequent defeat of his troops and loss of a dependency; in the revolt of an important city (2Ch 21:8-11).
5. It closed in an early and miserable death.
II. ITS MOST STRIKING CHARACTERISTIC. It went far to undo all that a long and devoted life, all that a useful and brilliant reign, had done. It pulled down a large part of that which had been so carefully, so laboriously, so wisely constructed. How easily, and in how short a time, can a bad man undo what his predecessor, with infinite effort, has accomplished! The striking and the holding of a lucifer match may bring the stateliest structure to a heap of ruin. The deflection from the way of rectitude on the part of one prominent life, the wandering from God of one strong human spirit, may have the effect of bringing to nought the labour of more than one lifetime. How true the proverb, “One sinner destroyeth much good”! There are amongst us the names of men who have reached that poor and most pitiful notoriety of not having attempted to do any good, but of having dragged down with themselves their family, their Church, their community, to a dark depth of shame and ruin.
III. THE EXPLANATION OF IT. Two factors were concerned in it and account for it.
1. The unwisdom of his father. Jehoshaphat made one of his serious mistakesand he made more than onewhen he married his son to Ahab’s daughter (2Ch 18:1; 2Ch 18:6). He could not conceivably have taken a more dangerous step; it was the very last thing a faithful servant of Jehovah should have done. What was likely to happen when the daughter of Jezebel was presiding at the court of Jerusalem? Thus Jehoram’s father, with a fatuity at which we can but wonder, introduced a blighting influence into the home and so into the heart of his son.
2. His own evil choice. These two thingsunhealthy forces acting upon us from without and our own false resolvesdetermine our character, our course, our destiny. Let us be thankful for all holy influences; let us be most solicitous to bring all and only good ones to bear on those for whom we care. Let those who are young set before them the honourable ambition of confirming the good work of their fathers; let them beware lest a bad and selfish commencement lead down to a miserable and disgraceful end.C.
2Ch 21:19 (latter part), 20
The trouble that is worse than sorrow.
“His people made no burning for him;” he “departed without being desired.” It is wise for us all not only to enjoy the present appreciation of our friends, which may be an expression of their desire to stand well with us, but also to consider what will be
I. THE AFTER–ESTIMATE THAT WILL BE FORMED OF US. Jehoram probably comforted himself while he lived with the approval of many of his courtiers. There are always found men mean enough to compliment the man in power, however they may despise him. But probably he did not foresee that his body would hardly be cold before he would receive marks of general dishonour, and that not one week would elapse before it would be signified to all the land that he was held unworthy to sleep with his fathers. It is surely the mark of a very narrow and earthly mind not to care what men will think of us when we are departed because it will make no difference to us then. That is not quite certain; but if it were, it surely behoves us, as upright spiritual intelligences, to care much for our reputation when we have left these scenes. Shall we not desire to enjoy “the memory of the just”? Shall it not be a matter of moment to us that, when we are no longer here, those who remember us will think and speak kindly of us, as of men that played their part bravely and faithfully, as of men that loved and helped their kind? If this be so, since this is so, let us reflect that after a while our character will stand in its true colours; that all our pretences will disappear; that men will know us to have been just what we are; that after death disguises fail away, and the man himself stands forth in his virtue or in his guilt, in his manliness or in his meanness, in his large-mindedness or in his selfishness and smallness. We must be right if we would be so regarded when death takes off the veil from our character. But we see here another thing worthy of our consideration.
II. THE TROUBLE THAT IS WORSE THAN SORROW.
1. It is sad enough when a good man dies and is regretted. When some great gap is left; when from the home, or from the Church, or from the state there is taken one who had loved and been beloved, who had served well and been highly honoured;when such a one is borne to his burial, amid the tears and lamentations of many hearts, we feel that a great affliction has befallen us, and we must bow in subjection to the Father of spirits.
2. But it is sadder far when a bad man dies unlamented; when, as with Jehoram, no one cares to pay him funeral honours; when the Chronicler has to say about him that he “departed without being desired.” For of what does it speak?
(1) Usually it speaks of the Divine condemnation. The indignation of a people, especially of a nation that has received instruction from God himself, is commonly a reflection of the judgment of Heaven; it signifies that “the departed” is a man whose life the Holy One has condemned.
(2) Always it speaks of the deliberate reprobation of man. For when a man dies, there is a disposition to be lenient in judgment, to overlook offences and to magnify service and virtue; when, therefore, the dead are distinctly dishonoured, when there is no one to pronounce a eulogium or even to feel a lament, it is clear that their contemporaries have decidedly and seriously condemned them.
(3) It speaks of a deplorable failure. Excepting in those comparatively rare cases of the very best and greatest men, who have been before their age in understanding and in action, and have therefore been misunderstood, when men die dishonoured and without regret it may be taken that their lives have been unworthy; that they have been marked by evil; that they have been fruitful of folly and of wrong. And what can he sadder than that? That God should give us our powers and our lives in order that we may spend them for his honour, to promote the real well-being of our fellow-men, and to cultivate in ourselves wisdom and worth that will fit us for higher spheres; and that we should degrade our priceless opportunity by scattering seeds of error, by diffusing unholy principles, by doing our utmost to injure the spirits and to lower the lives of men, thus starting influences for evil which will spread far and wide, and will go down from generation to generation;there is nothing we can conceive of which is more deplorable than this.
(4) It is a painful and pitiable thing in itself. To depart unregretted by any one! To go for ever and to be missed and mourned by none! To leave no hearts that will be saddened by our absence, that will wish to see us and speak to us again! To be borne away, not like the fair and noble tree, whose fruit has been a treasure, whose form has been a perpetual joy all the year round, whose shadow has been a kindly shelter to old and young, with a sincere if not affectionate regret; hut like an unsightly and cumbersome log, that has been an offence to the eye and an obstruction in the way, with a sense of relief and satisfaction;who of us would like to be so regarded when we die? Who of us would not infinitely rather be bathed in a pure and holy sorrow as we mourn some departed friend that has lived in love and died in honour, than leave in the grave one for whom no tear is shed, whose departure no soul regrets? Let us be such men and live such lives that if our survivors and successors do not “make a great burning for us,” as was done for Jehoram’s grandfather (2Ch 16:14), they will lose us with a genuine regret, and mourn for us with a sorrow that will hallow their own hearts, while it testifies to the worth that has found a home beneath other skies.C.
HOMILIES BY T. WHITELAW
2Ch 21:2-11
The character of Jehoram.
I. A DEGENERATE SON.
1. The advantages Jehoram possessed.
(1) A good father, Jehoshaphat, whose example should have led him, whose instructions should have taught him (Pro 1:8), whose prayers should have won him to walk in wisdom’s ways. But they did not. Piety is not hereditary. Example often fails to impress, instruction to convince, prayer to save, the children of godly parents. Numerous instances in Scripture (1Sa 2:12; 1Sa 8:3; 1Sa 15:1, etc.) and in ordinary life.
(2) A good estate. As Jehoshaphat’s firstborn, he succeededwhether during his father’s lifetime (Keil) or at his father’s death (Bahr) uncertainto an exalted throne and a peaceful realm, became ruler of a promising people and a growing empire. He had much to make him contented with his lot and thankful for his mercies, to lead him to think of God and devote himself to the practice of religion, as well as to consecrate his talents to advancing the moral and material interests of his subjects. Nevertheless, he neglected both his own and his people’s salvation.
(3) A good God, who had kept him alive for thirty-two years, when many better men than he had been cut off in youth (2Ch 21:5); who had allowed him time to mature in wisdom before calling him to assume the burdensome responsibilities of the throne; who had promoted him to his father’s crown, which might easily have been given to another (2Ch 21:3); who bore with him in his wickedness for his servant David’s sake (2Ch 21:7); who punished him by suffering the Edomites to revolt (2Ch 21:8), stirring up the Philistines and Arabians against him (2Ch 21:15), and afflicting him with a mortal malady (2Ch 21:18), of which he was forewarned by a letter from Elijah (2Ch 21:12). Yet for all this Jehoram walked not in the ways of Jehoshaphat his father, or in the ways of Asa his grandfather, but in the ways of Ahab, the King of Israel (2Ch 21:6, 2Ch 21:12, 2Ch 21:13).
2. The disadvantages under which he laboured.
(1) A bad heart. That Jehoram, though belonging to Judah and a son of Jehoshaphat, was not a child of grace, his whole subsequent career attested. , All are not Israel, that are of Israel: neither, because they are Abraham’s seed, are they all children” (Rom 9:6, Rom 9:7); “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly” (Rom 2:28, Rom 2:29). That Jehoram was not born good was no excuse, since Jehovah’s grace was ready to assist him in overcoming his natural corruption (Deu 30:6; 1Ki 8:58; Psa 110:3).
(2) A bad wife. Athaliah, though a king’s daughter (2Ch 21:6), was a wicked woman. Exalted in station, beautiful in person, gifted with high mental endowments, she may have been; nevertheless, she was inwardly, essentially, and radically of depraved instincts. Like her mother Jezebel, she was superstitious, profligate, bloodthirsty, imperious, and resolute. She belonged to the type of woman of which Herodias and perhaps Drusilla and Bernice were New Testament examples, and to which should be assigned the Shakespearean creations of Lady Macbeth and Cleopatra In the hands of such women even strong men find it difficult to resist the fatal influence of their superior natures, while feeble creatures like Ahab and Jehoram are dragged like captives at their chariot-wheels. The most dreadful calamity that can befall a weakling is to wed such a spouse. A woman leagued with the devil will drag her husband to perdition with a certainty and celerity that hardly even the grace of God can prevent. In such plight was Jehoram.
(3) A bad environment. Though not everything, a man’s surroundings are something. They help to make or mar him. If good, they will at least hinder his deterioration; if bad, they will hasten it. Perhaps nothing could have been worse for Jehoram than to have Ahab’s daughter for a wife; it was no amelioration of his hard fate to have Ahab for a father-in-law, Jezebel for a mother-in-law, Ahaziah and Jehoram for brothers-in-law, and the house of Omri generally as relatives and friends. It was hardly surprising that in after-years Jehoram, the King of Judah, had no moral resemblance to Jehoshaphat’s son.
II. AN UNNATURAL BROTHER.
1. The names of Jehoram‘s brothers. Six in number; they had excellent names.
(1) Azariah, “whom Jehovah helps.” “Happy is the man that hath the God of Jacob for his Help” (Psa 146:5). This name may have been given by Jehoshaphat to his second and his filth sonsdistinguished slightly by the spelling, Azarjah and Azarjahuto emphasize that all hope for stability in his house and prosperity in his kingdom depended on and proceeded from the assistance of Heaven.
(2) Jehiel, “God liveth.” Perhaps this truth was impressed upon Jehosha- phat’s heart by the birth of his third son (Psa 127:3), as it was upon David’s, by his continued preservation from the hand of Saul (2Sa 22:47; Psa 18:46).
(3) Zechariah, “whom Jehovah remembers.” Probably given by Jehoshaphat to his son after Zechariah, the father of Jahaziel, who predicted the overthrow of the Moabites (2Ch 20:14). Or, Jehoshaphat may have counted his fourth son a happy proof that Jehovah had not forgotten him, but was still mindful of his covenant.
(4) Azariah (see above).
(5) Michael, “who is like unto God?” A great thought for a young man to carry about with him on life’s journey, and one that might stir him to noble deeds as well as lead him into pleasant ways. This thought was familiar to Moses (Exo 8:10), to David (Psa 86:8), to Ethan the Ezrahite (Psa 89:6), and to Isaiah (Isa 40:18).
(6) Shephatiah, “whom Jehovah defends.” The name of one of David’s sons (2Sa 3:4), and probably for this reason bestowed upon Jehoshaphat’s.
2. The ranks of Jehoram‘s brothers. Princes of the blood royal, they were well provided for and well placed by their father, whose crown fell to Jehoram as heir-apparent. Great gifts of silver, gold, and other precious things were bestowed upon them, while they were appointed, as Rehoboam’s sons had been (2Ch 11:23), commandants of fortresses in the different fenced cities of Judah. Thus they had no need to be discontented with their lot, and most likely were not.
3. The characters of Jehoram‘s brethren. They were better than he (verse 13). Presumably in every wayphysically, mentally, morally, religiously. This last, perhaps, specially intended. Jehoshaphat’s piety had exercised upon them more influence than upon him; they disapproved of the idolatrous behaviour and wicked policy generally of him and his wife.
4. The murder of Jehoram‘s brethren. Whatever the motivecupidity or a desire to appropriate their wealth, fear or a dread of being insecure upon his throne while they lived, or hatred of their persons because they shunned his evil waysit was a hideous deed of blood, which has seldom been paralleled amongst Oriental kings. “Upon the death of Selimus II.. Amurah III; succeeding to the Turkish empire, caused his five brothersMustapha, Solymon, Abdalla, Osman, and Sinagarwithout pity or commiseration, to be strangled in his presence and burned with his dead father”. Along with his brethren, he put to death a number of the princes of Israel, and for probably a similar reason, because they disapproved of his conduct and sympathized with his brethren.
III. A WORTHLESS KING.
1. An apostate in religion. To be sure, he never had religion in reality. Yet, as Judah’s sovereign and Jehoshaphat’s son, he ought to have upheld the true worship of Jehovah. But instead he became a devotee of Baal, a favourer of the false gods his half-heathen wife patronized, building high places for them in the mountains of Judahthus practically reversing the work of his devout father (2Ch 17:6) and grandfather (2Ch 14:2), and causing the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, i.e. to practise idolatry (Isa 23:17; Eze 16:29; Rev 19:2); yea, compelling Judah by violence to go astray (Deu 13:6, Deu 13:11).
2. A weakling in government. Udder him the Edomites, who had in Jehoshaphat’s reign been tributary to Judah (2Ki 3:9), becoming restive, achieved their independence. According to Josephus (‘Ant.,’ 9.5. 1), they first slew their king, who had yielded to Jehoshaphat, and afterwards elected one who raised the standard of revolt. A feeble attempt to reduce them to subjection proved abortive. At Zair, on the way to Edomnot to be identified with Zoar (Ewald), which belonged to Moab, but perhaps with the modern ruin Zueirah, on the south-west of the Dead Sea (Conder)he, with all his princes and chariots, encountered the rebels; but whether he defeated them (Jamieson), or only cut his way through them when they had encompassed him (Keil), is obscure, though even on the former supposition his success was not permanent or decisive. Either then or soon afterwards the Edomites completely renounced the yoke of Judah. About the same period also, Libnaha city in the district of Eleutheropolis (Eusebius), though as yet unknownsucceeded in establishing its freedom.
3. A pigmy in manhood. Apart from the plague which struck him in his last days, while yet in middle life (verse 15) he was obviously a poor and contemptible creature. When he died nobody lamented himat least, nobody among his subjects. “He departed without being desired” (verse 20). Men were glad to see the last of him. They would not burn a burning for him, as they did for his good father and pious grandfather when they died. His rotten carcase they buried in the city of David; they would not desecrate with it the sepulchres of the kings.
Learn:
1. The necessity of personal religionno man may trade upon his father’s piety.
2. The duty of parents to provide for their childrenexemplified by Jehoshaphat’s donations to his sons.
3. The bitterness of sin’s fruit when fully developed: “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” in its worst formsmurder, fratricide, etc.
4. The value of a good wifeinferred from the calamity of a bad one.
5. The mercy of God to great sinners, even when they do not repentillustrated by God’s tolerance of Jehoram.
6. The essential weakness of sinas shown by the Edomite revolt against Judah.
7. The pestilential influence of sin in high places: “One sinner destroyeth much good.”W.
2Ch 21:12-15
The letter of Elijah.
I. THE AUTHOR OF THE WRITING. Various suggestions.
1. Elisha, who entered on the duties of his calling before the death of Jehoshaphat (2Ki 3:11), and who accordingly would be the most likely party from whom should proceed such a communication as Jehoram received. In this case the name of Elijah must have been substituted in the text for that of Elisha (Kennicott, Jamieson).
2. A later historian, “who describes the relation of Elijah to Joram in few words, and according to his conception of it as a whole” (Bertheau); but “this judgment rests on dogmatic grounds, and flows from a principle which refuses to recognize any supernatural prediction in the prophetic utterances” (Keil).
3. Elijah, the author named in the text. Besides being in the text, the word occurs in all existing Hebrew manuscripts and in all the Oriental versions.
II. THE DATE OF THE WRITING. Again different explanations.
1. After Elijah‘s translation. The notions that either Elijah sent the letter from heaven by an angel (Grotius), or spoke it from the clouds (Menken), may be discarded as conjectures wanting in support from any intelligible analogies (Keil).
2. Before Elijah‘s translation. Here two views emerge.
(1) After Jehoram had ascended the throne (Keil, Rawlinson). This assumes that Elijah was alive at the commencement of Jehoram’s reign (2Ki 1:17), and may have learnt of the assassination of Jehoshaphat’s sonsthe knowledge of which crime may have moved him to send its perpetrator the divinely given announcement of his death this letter contains. The fact that Elisha accompanied Jehoshaphat to the Moabitish war (2Ki 3:11) does not prove that Elijah had then been translated, since Elijah was alive in the second year of the conjoint reign of Jehoram and Jehoshaphat his father (2Ki 1:17; 2Ki 3:1).
(2) Before Jehoram had ascended the throne (Buddaeus, Clarke). Nothing impossible in the suggestion that Elijah had the wickedness of Jehoram revealed to him before it occurred, as previously he had been informed of the elevation of Jehu to the throne of Israel, and of the accession of Hazael to that of Syria, before these events happened (1Ki 19:16, 1Ki 19:17). Either explanation is admissible, though the latter is probably more correct.
III. THE CONTENTS OF THE WRITING.
1. A twofold accusation.
(1) A charge of aggravated idolatry. Not only had Jehoram himself forsaken the way of Jehoshaphat and of Asa, i.e. the worship of Jehovah, and turned aside into the way of the kings of Israel, i.e. worship of Baal and other idols, but he had corrupted the whole house of Judah, and caused them to commit spiritual whoredom, like the house of Ahab.
(2) An indictment of infamous murder. He had slain all his brethren, the children of his father’s house, who were better than himself.
2. A twofold retribution.
(1) A great stroke upon his people, upon his house (his wives and children), upon his property (his goods or substance). As prosperity was a usual concomitant of piety, so adversity was wont, under Jehovah’s government of Israel, to dog the heels of impiety.
(2) A greater stroke upon himself, in the shape of a slow, but sure, loathsome and mortal disease which should seize upon his bowels. That it should continue for two years before terminating fatally (Bertheau) can hardly be made out from the expressions “day by day,” or “days upon days.” The prophet could speak with confidence, since diseases are God’s messengers who come and go at his command (Exo 15:26; Deu 28:60; Psa 103:3).
IV. THE FULFILMENT OF THE WRITING.
1. The invasion of Jehoram‘s kingdom. (2Ch 21:16.)
(1) The prime mover was Jehovah, as Elijah’s letter predicted. “The Lord stirred up the spirit of the Philistines,” as formerly, on two several occasions, he had stirred up an adversary to Solomon (1Ki 11:14, 1Ki 11:23), and afterwards stirred up Pul (Tiglath-Pileser) King of Assyria, against Pekah King of Israel (2Ki 15:29; 1Ch 5:26). God is said to do what, for the accomplishment of his own wise and sovereign purposes, he permits to be done, and hence is represented as working all things according to the counsel of his will (Job 9:12; Psa 66:7; Psa 115:3; Dan 4:35; Eph 1:11).
(2) The acting instruments were the Philistines, an ancient enemy of Israel (Jdg 10:7; 1Sa 4:1) on the west; and the Arabians near the Ethiopians, i.e. the middle Arabians, exactly south of Palestine (Schurer). This juxtaposition of the Philistines and Arabians occurs in two more places in this book (2Ch 17:11; 2Ch 26:7).
(3) The extent is indicated by the details given. The savage hordes broke into Judah. That they captured the capital seems a natural inference from the plunder they carried off (Bertheau), though, had Jerusalem been sacked, “the treasures of the palace as well as of the temple would have been mentioned” (Keil). In any case, they carried off “all the substance found in the king’s house,” which may signify all the property of the palace (Bertheau), or all the king’s property found in the country, in the cities, villages, and castles of Judah (Keil). Along with this, they made prisoners of the king’s wives and. sons, except Jehoahaz, or Ahaziah. What they did with the former is not recorded; the latter they slew (2Ch 22:1).
2. The affliction of Jehoram‘s body. Whatever the malady, a violent dysentery, or some disease of the intestines, it was
(1) sudden”Jehovah struck him,” pointing to a mysterious and inexplicable infliction difficult to trace to any immediate physical cause, and therefore ordinarily ascribed to a supernatural origin (2Ch 26:20; Act 12:23);
(2) painfulthe diseases were sore;
(3) protractedhis sickness continued two years;
(4) loathsomehis bowels fell out towards the end of that period;
(5) mortalhe succumbed beneath his ailment, and “died.”
Learn:
1. God’s knowledge of the histories, characters, and actions of men (Pro 15:3).
2. God’s ability to foresee and reveal to men the nature and tendency of their or others’ acts (Gen 18:17; Gen 41:28; 1Sa 9:15).
3. God’s determination to be avenged of them that do wickedly without respect of persons (Psa 34:16; Psa 37:38).
4. God’s resources for executing his purposes of judgment or mercy.W.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
e. Joram: The Letter of the Prophet Elijah.Ch. 21
2Ch 21:1.And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Joram his son reigned in his stead.
2And he had brethren, sons of Jehoshaphat, Azariah and Jehiel, and Zechariah and Azariah, and Michael and Shephatiah: all these were sons of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. 3And their father gave them many gifts of silver and of gold and of precious things, with fenced cities in Judah; but 4the kingdom gave he to Joram, because he was the first-born. And Joram went up to the kingdom of his father, and strengthened himself, and slew all his brethren with the sword, and also some of the princes of Israel.
5Joram was thirty and two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 6And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab did; for he had a daughter of Ahab to wife: and he 7did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord. And the Lord would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that He had made with David, and as He had promised to give a light to him and his sons for ever.8In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made themselves 9a king. And Joram went over with his princes, and all the chariots with him; and he rose up by night, and smote Edom, who compassed him, 10and the captains of the chariots. And Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. Then Libnah revolted at that time from under his 11hand, because he had forsaken the Lord God of his fathers. He also made high places in the mountains1 of Judah, and he debauched the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and perverted Judah.
12And there came to him a writing from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah. 13And didst walk in the way of the kings of Israel, and didst debauch Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem after the whoredom of the house of Ahab; and hast also slain thy brethren, the house of thy father, who were better 14than thou. Behold, the Lord will bring a great plague on thy people, and thy sons, and thy wives, and all thy goods. 15And thou shalt be in great sickness by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out from the sickness in a year and a day.
16And the Lord stirred up against Joram the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabs, that were near the Ethiopians. 17And they came up into Judah, and brake into it, and took away all the substance that was found in the kings house, and his sons, and his wives; and not a son was left him but Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons. 18And after all this the Lord smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease. 19And it came to pass after many days, namely, about the time of the end of two years, his bowels fell out with his sickness, and he died with sore pains; and his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers. 20Thirty and two years old was he when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem; and he departed without regret;2 and they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.
f. Ahaziah.2Ch 22:1-9
2Ch 22:1.And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his youngest son, king in his stead; for the troop that came with the Arabs to the camp had slain all the eldest: and Ahaziah son of Joram king of Judah became king. 2Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he became king;3 and he reigned one year in Jerusalem: and his mothers name was Athaliah, daughter of Omri. 3He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab; for his mother 4was his counsellor to do wickedly. And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, like the house of Ahab; for they were his counsellors after the death of his 5father, to his destruction. He also walked in their counsel, and went with Joram son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead: and the Syrians smote Joram. 6And he returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds4 which they had given him at Ramah, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria: and Ahaziah5 son of Joram king of Judah 7went down to see Joram son of Ahab at Jezreel; for he was sick. And the downfall of Ahaziah was from God, in coming to Joram; and when he came, he went out with Joram against Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab. 8And it came to pass, when Jehu executed judgment upon the house of Ahab, he found also the princes of Judah, and the sons of the brethren6 of Ahaziah, that ministered to Ahaziah, and slew them. 9And he sought Ahaziah; and they caught him when he was hiding in Samaria, and brought him to Jehu, and slew him, and buried him; for they said, He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart: and the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for the kingdom.
g. Athaliahs Reign and FallCh 22:1023:20
10And Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, and she 11arose and destroyed7 all the seed of the kingdom of the house of Judah. And Jehoshabath daughter of the king took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the kings sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bed – chamber: and Jehoshabath, daughter of King Joram, wife of Jehoiada the priest,for she was Ahaziahs sister,hid him from the sight of Athaliah: and she slew him not. 12And he was with them in the house of God hidden six years; and Athaliah reigned over the land.
2Ch 23:1.And in the seventh year Jehoiada was encouraged, and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah son of Jeroham, and Ishmael son of Johanan, and Azariah son of Oded, and Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zichri, into covenant with him. 2And they went about in Judah, and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the chiefs of the fathers of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. 3And all the congregation made a covenant in the house of God with the king; and he said unto them, Behold, the kings son shall reign, as the Lord hath spoken of the sons of David. 4This is the thing that ye shall do: a third of you, who enter on the sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites, shall be porters at the thresholds. 5And a third shall be at the kings house; and a third at the gate Jesod; and all the 6people shall be in the courts of the house of the Lord. And none shall enter the house of the Lord, but the priests, and they that minister of the Levites; they may go in, for they are holy; and all the people shall keep the ward of the Lord. 7And the Levites shall surround the king, every man with his weapons in his hand: and whosoever goeth into the house shall be put to death; and ye shall be with the king, when he goeth in and when he cometh 8out. And the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded, and took every one his men that went in on the sabbath with those that came out on the sabbath: for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed 9the courses. And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds spears and shields and arms, that had been King Davids, which were in the house of God. 10And he set all the people, every man with his weapon in his hand, from the right to the left side of the house, by the altar and by the 11house, round about the king. And they brought out the kings son, and gave unto him the crown and the testimony, and made him king: and Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, Long live the king.
12And Athaliah heard the cry of the people running and praising the king, and she came to the people to the house of the Lord. 13And she looked, and, behold, the king stood at his place in the entrance, and the princes and the trumpets by the king; and all the people of the land were glad, and blew on the trumpets; and the singers with instruments of song, and the leaders of praise: and Athaliah rent her clothes, and said, Conspiracy, 14conspiracy! And Jehoiada the priest brought out8 the captains of hundreds, the officers of the host, and said unto them, Bring her out from within the ranges, and whoso followeth her shall be slain with the sword: for the priest 15had said, Slay her not in the house of the Lord. And they gave her space, and she went to the entrance of the horse gate9 by the kings house, and they slew her there.
16And Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, and between all the 17people, and between the king, that they should be the Lords people. And all the people went to the house of Baal, and pulled it down, and brake its altars and its images; and Matthan the priest of Baal they slew before the 18altars. And Jehoiada appointed the offices of the house of the Lord by the hand of the priests, the Levites, whom David had distributed in the house of the Lord, to offer the burnt-offerings of the Lord, as it is written in the law of Moses, with gladness and with song, in the manner of David. 19And he set the porters at the gates of the house of the Lord, that the unclean might not enter. 20And he took the captains of hundreds, and the nobles, and the rulers of the people, and all people of the land, and brought down the king from the house of the Lord: and they went through the high gate into the kings house, and set the king on the royal throne. 21And all the people of the land were glad; and the city was quiet, and they had put Athaliah to death by the sword.
EXEGETICAL
Irrespective of the letter of the prophet Elijah (and its accompanying notices concerning the punishment of Joram therein predicted, 21:1219), we are here presented with parallel texts to the accounts of the book of Kings, but certainly parallels to which the special Levitical standpoint of the narrator has often, especially in the description of the fall of Athaliah by the conspiracy conducted by the high priest Jehoiada, imparted a characteristic colouring, involving many deviations from the older text.
1. Joram: a. His Beginnings, and his Misgovernment: 2Ch 21:1-11.And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers. This report of Jehoshaphats death and burial is carried, according to the usual division of chapters, to the history of Joram, because the first deed of Joram, the general murder of his kindred, is closely connected with the decease of his father, and serves to soil with blood the solemn rites of his funeral (his being buried with his fathers), a mode of division corresponding well with the pragmatical turn of the Chronist.
2Ch 21:2-4. Jorams Sixfold Fratricide.Azariah and Jehiel, etc. It is against the identity, asserted by Jewish expositors, of Jehiel with the Hiel mentioned in 1Ki 16:34, that the latter, who is called a Bethelite (an inhabitant of Bethel), was neither a kings son nor a member of the southern kingdom.All these were sons of Jehoshaphat, king of Israel. On the designation of the southern kingdom by the name of Israel, comp. 12:1, 6, also 2Ch 21:4; 2Ch 28:19; 2Ch 28:27, etc.
2Ch 21:3. And their father gave them many gifts. Comp. what Rehoboam did to his sons, 11:22 f.
2Ch 21:4. And Joram went up; comp. Exo 1:8, and on the following phrase, strengthened himself, 2Ch 1:1. That the chief motive for the murder of his brothers was their non-concurrence with Jorams and his mothers idolatry, is clear from 2Ch 21:13, where they are said to be better than he: this must have applied also to the princes of Israel who fell with them as victims in the massacre. Moreover, oriental rulers are wont still in modern times to inaugurate the beginning of their reign with such general murder of their kindred; and Abimelech had already acted the tyrant by the practice of a similar but still more wicked slaughter, Jdg 9:5. 2Ch 21:5-11 agree in all essentials with 2Ki 8:17-22.
2Ch 21:6. For he had a daughter of Ahab to wife. This quite definite statement excludes the hypothesis of Hitzig, based upon 2Ki 8:26 and 2Ch 22:2, that Athaliah was rather the sister of Ahab. She is there called Omris daughter, because the spirit of Omri, the founder of the dynasty, displayed itself most characteristically and powerfully in this his grand-daughter. Grandsons and grand-daughters are not seldom called children of their grandfather, especially if he was celebrated and influential; comp. for example, 11:20, Maachah the daughter (grand-daughter) of Absalom.
2Ch 21:7. And the Lord would not destroy the house of David. Somewhat different, but coinciding in sense with the present passage, is 2Ki 8:19 (see Bhr). In particular, To give him a light for his sons (or in his sons) stands there, for which here: to give a light to him and his sons. The of our author, inserted before , appears, moreover, to be neither superfluous nor. unsuitable, if it be taken explicatively = and certainly (so correctly Keil, against Berth.).
2Ch 21:8. In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, changed the condition of vassalage to Judah, in which it was held from David to Jehoshaphat (comp. 1Ki 22:48 and above on 2Ch 20:35), into that of a fully independent state.
2Ch 21:9. And Joram went over with his princes. is possibly corrupted from , to Seir (as should be read 2Ki 8:21, instead of ). At the end of the verse are wanting the words there forming the close: and the people fled to their tents, from which it is evident that the battle was not particularly fortunate for the Jewish king, but simply consisted in cutting his way through the surrounding force.
2Ch 21:10. Unto this day, that is, merely unto the time of the older narrator, used as a source by the Chronist (comp. Introd. 5, II. p. 19). But this is to be regarded as a writer belonging to the period immediately before the captivity; and therefore it is to be presumed that the re-conquest of the Edomites by Amaziah, 25:14 f., was only transient.Then Libnah revolted at that time, probably the present Tell es Safieh (not far from Eleutheropolis, Robinson, Pal. ii. 622). The neighbouring Philistines took an essential part in rending it from Joram, in which they were aided also by the Phnicians (according to Hitzig, Gesch. p. 201); comp. Joel 4:4 f.; Amo 1:9.Because he had forsaken the Lord God of his fathers,a pragmatic reflection of the Chronist, which is wanting in 2 Kings.
2Ch 21:11. He also made high places, which Asa and Jehoshaphat had removed, 14:2 ff., 17:6. The following phrase: debauched, is to be understood of the spiritual whoredom of the worship of Baal; comp. 2Ch 21:13. On , and perverted, comp. Deu 13:6; Deu 13:11; Deu 13:14, and Pro 7:21.
2. b. The Letter of the Prophet Elijah, and the Fulfilment of its Evil Forebodings: 2Ch 21:12-19.And there came to him a writing from Elijah the prophet, saying (or containing, ). is not properly a letter, but a writing, a threatening prophecy in a written form; whether written or at least dictated by Elijah is, from the indefiniteness of the phrase , doubtful; a merely indirect origin from Elijah is obviously reconcilable with this phrase; and as, according to 2Ki 2:1 ff; 2Ki 3:11, Elijah appears to have been no longer in the land of the living in the reign of Joram (for the inquiry of Jehoshaphat after a prophet during the campaign against Mesha, 2Ki 3:11, is answered by pointing, not to Elijah, but only to Elisha, who poured water on the hands of Elijah), it is most natural to suppose the oracle to have been spoken by Elijah against Joram, or rather against Athaliah and her idolatrous house, but first noted down and reduced to its present form by a scholar of Elijah. Comp. Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 2.
2Ch 21:13. After the whoredom of the house of Ahab; comp. on 2Ch 21:11.And hast also slain thy brethren; comp. on 2Ch 21:4. Even this reference to the murderous deed practised on his not idolatrously disposed brothers, may Elijah have uttered by virtue of his divinely-illuminated prophetic sagacity, at a time when Joram was not yet king, in connection with the other thoughts of the present prediction.
2Ch 21:14. Behold, the Lord will bring a great plague, the devastating invasion of the Philistines and the Arabs, 2Ch 21:16 f.
2Ch 21:15. Until thy bowels fall out from the sickness in a year and a day, literally, days upon days, that is, during many days; comp. , Isa 29:1 and Psa 61:7; Jdg 17:10. The present determination of time is popular and proverbial, but indefinite. he duration of the malady is given more exactly, 2Ch 21:19, in the account of the fulfilment of the oracle.
2Ch 21:16. And the Lord stirred up, in conformity with the prediction communicated. On , comp. 1Ch 5:26. The Arabs that were near the Ethiopians are naturally tribes of Southern Arabia (as the Sabans, Job 1:15; see on this passage). We know nothing of the causes which lay at the ground of the combination of these tribes with the Philistines to lay waste Judea. Moreover, the Arabs mentioned 22:1 are the same as those here designated.
2Ch 21:17. And brake into it, literally, cleft it, forced their way into it; comp. 32:1; 2Sa 23:16; 2Ki 25:4.And took away all the substance that was found in the kings house. According to this, Jerusalem must have been conquered by these plundering hordes; yet may also be rendered belonging to the kings house (royal domains), as certainly signifies something else than , namely, possessed by (comp. Deu 21:17; Jos 17:16), and, besides, the absence of any mention of plundering the temple or its treasures must seem trange, if Jerusalem had been actually taken. We learn, moreover, from the later reference to the occurrence here mentioned, 22:1, that only the royal camp was surprised and plundered, not the royal palace in Jerusalem. Comp. Kuhlmey, Alttestamentl. Studien (Zeitschrift fr luth. Theologie und Kirche, 1844, iii. 82 ff.), as well as Keil on this passage.And not a son was left him but Jehoahaz. Not merely capture, but also slaughter, of all the older sons is recorded 22:1. The only remaining one is here called Jehoahaz, but there Ahaziah, a name perhaps assumed on ascending the throne; see on this passage.
2Ch 21:18. Smote him (, corresponding to the , 2Ch 21:14) in his bowels with an incurable, disease, literally, a disease with no healing; comp. 20:21, 25, 36:16.
2Ch 21:19. And it came to pass after many days, literally, to days from days, for which is usual the briefer from days (), Jdg 11:4; Jdg 14:8. The next words: namely, about the time of the end of two years, fix more exactly this somewhat indefinite date. stands here, as in 2Ch 21:15, in the sense of year; the indefinite phrase, denoting properly, times, periods, receives through the context the same meaning as the Chald. , often in Daniel; for example, Dan 4:13; Dan 4:20; Dan 4:22; Dan 7:25; comp. also Vulg. and Syr., which render it directly: years. Unnecessary and yielding too harsh a sense is Keils proposal, to take the words by themselves, and render: about the time of the end (of his life), about two days (before death).His bowels fell out with his sickness. , during his painful malady (see the close: and he died with sore pains). The disease consisted probably in a very violent dysentery or chronic diarrha, whereby the nerve-cuticle of the whole great gut was inflamed, and parts of the mucous tunicle occasionally came off in the form of gut or pipe (resembling a falling out of the bowels); comp. Trusen, Sitten, Gebruche und Krankheiten der alten Hebrer, p. 212, and Friedreich, Zur Bibel, p. 270 (where also other literature).And his people made no burning for him, gave him not the honour of a magnificent funeral; comp. 16:14. The same is indicated by that which is related in the following verse, that he departed without regret, (sine desiderio, a nemine desideratus), and that he was not buried in the sepulchres of the kings; comp. 24:25, 26:23. On Luthers and the Vulgates conception of , see Crit. Note.
3. Ahaziahs Reign: 2Ch 22:1-9; comp. 2Ki 8:26-29, and with regard to the downfall of Ahaziah, 9, 10, a copious narrative of the revolution effected by Jehu, of which only a brief abstract (2Ch 22:6-9) is given here, omitting all that refers to the extirpation of the lsraelitish branch of the house of Ahab.And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king, the same who was called, 21:17, Jehoahaz (in the Sept. cod. Al. even as here: ). That he was made king by the inhabitants of Jerusalem, indicates that the succession to the throne was disputed, and therefore that a party (the Levites and priests under Jehoiada) was opposed to him, but without prevailing at first against the adherents of Athaliah.Had slain all the eldest. Comp. the remarks on 21:17; for this refers to no other fact than that there described.
2Ch 22:2. Forty and two years old was Ahaziah; obviously an erroneous statement, apparently arising from the exchange of the numeral letters and ; twenty-two must certainly be read for forty-two, for Joram was thirty-two years old when he ascended the throne, and reigned in all only eight years: he could not have a son forty-two years old: indeed, as the youngest son of Joram, Ahaziah could not well be over twenty-two years of age, as his father must have begotten him in his eighteenth year, and his elder brothers at a still earlier age, against which assumption no serious objection arises, as it was the well-known custom of the East to marry in early youth, and as a kings son, he will have had no small number of concubines. Only we need not fix the number of his elder brothers at forty-two, to which 2Ki 10:13 rightly understood does not bind us; see on 2Ch 22:8. For the last words: Athaliah daughter of Omri, comp. on 21:6.
2Ch 22:3. For his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly, in her devotion to the idolatry of the house of Ahab; comp. 20:35, 21:6 ff.
2Ch 22:4. Like the house of Ahab; for they, the members of this house. At the close: to his destruction, as in 20:23.
2Ch 22:5. Walked in their counsel, and went with Joram, Psa 1:1; these words are wanting in 2Ki 8:28. On Hazael, Benhadads former general, and then successor, see Bhr on 2Ki 8:8 ff.And the Syrians smote Joram; , contracted for , 2Ki 8:28 (as , Ecc 4:14, from ; comp. also Eze 20:30).
2Ch 22:6. And he returned to be healed of the wounds. So it is to be read instead of: for the wounds, which is unmeaning, and only to be cured by explanatory additions; see Crit. Note.And Ahaziah . . . (see Crit. Note) went down to see Joram in Jezreel. This going down was probably from Ramoth, not from Jerusalem; comp. 2Ki 9:14 f. (from which, however, nothing very certain on this point is to be inferred).
2Ch 22:7. And the downfall of Ahaziah was from God; the down-treading (, occurring only here; comp. , Isa 22:5). Instead of against Jehu, the text has properly: to Jehu (), 2Ki 9:21, more definitely to meet Jehu (); and for son of Nimshi, Jehu is there (2Ki 9:2) more precisely called son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. With the history of Jehus call and anointment by Elijah and Elisha (1Ki 19:16; 2Ki 9:2 ff.) our author here proves himself to be acquainted, but does not enter into particulars, because the fate of the Jewish royal house was his immediate concern.
2Ch 22:8. When Jehu executed judgment; , execute judgment,otherwise with (Eze 17:20; Eze 38:22) or with (Jer 25:31), here with ; comp. Joel 4:2.Sons of the brethren of Ahaziah. As the brethren of Ahaziah named in 2Ki 10:12 ff. from their great number (42) could only be his brethren in the wider sense (kinsmen, cousins), so the Sept. is wrong in making brethren out of these brethrens sons; and it is not less wrong in Bertheau to affirm two different traditions concerning the fact, according to one of which the Jewish princes put to death between Jezreel and Samaria, at Jehus command, were brothers; according to the other, brothers sons of Ahaziah; see, on the contrary, Mov. p. 258, Ew. in Der Isr. Gesch.; also Bhr, and especially Keil, who sees no difficulty in the partly very youthful age (between five and eight or nine years) of these princes.That ministered to Ahaziah, were invested with offices in his court, the youngest as pages, as, for example, Daniel and his friends in the court of the Babylonish king, Dan 1:4 ff.
2Ch 22:6. And he sought Ahaziah. The fuller accounts of the death of Ahaziah in 2Ki 9:27-28 deviate in several respects, in which Ahaziah is mortally wounded, not in Samaria, but in fleeing from Jezreel to Megiddo, and dies at Megiddo. See Bhr on the passage, who rightly rejects Keils attempt to make up the difference of the two accounts as too artificial.And the house of Ahaziah had none to retain strength for the kingdom , as in 13:20: to be fit for the kingdom. On the whole sentence, comp. Dan 9:26 ( ).
4. Athaliahs Reign of Six Years; Deliverance of Joash: 2Ch 22:10-12; comp. 2Ki 11:1-3.And Athaliah . . . destroyed all the seed. On the emendation necessary here, according to 2 Kings, see Crit. Note. The seed of the kingdom of the house of Judah (the royal seed) embraces naturally the cousins and other remote kinsmen of Ahaziah, the male descendants of Jehoshaphat yet surviving after the catastrophes already mentioned (21:17, 22:8).
2Ch 22:11. Jehoshabath daughter of the king; in 2 Kings with name slightly changed: Jehosheba; according to the close of our verse, a sister of Ahaziah, a daughter of Joram, perhaps, by another wife than Athaliah. That Jehoiada the husband of Jehoshabath was perhaps only a priest, not the high priest, see on 23:8.That were slain, or that should have been slain ().
2Ch 22:12. And he was with them in the house of God hidden. Thither was he brought from his first hiding-place, the bed-chamber of the royal palace, as soon as the first favourable opportunity presented itself. With them, with Jehoshabath, her priestly spouse and his nurse (2Ch 22:11). For is, moreover, in 2Ki 11:3, the simpler , with her. Comp. for the rest, Bhr on the parallel passage.
5. Athaliahs Fall through the Revolution effected by Jehoiada: 2 Chronicles 23.According to the parallel in 2Ki 11:4-20, Jehoiada employed in his enterprise the royal runners or guards, according to our passage, the Levites and priests, without, however, excluding the former (for in 2Ch 23:1, five captains of hundreds, that is, of the life-guards, are expressly named), or betraying any design to transform the narrative of the author of Kings into his Levitical sense in an unhistorical way. He stands much more (as is immediately evident from 2Ch 23:1) on independent older reports, which he takes in the main from the same sources from which 2Ki 11:4-20 is derived; only that he finds these sources richer, and by the addition of still other reports, produces a more complete account of the fact, filling up the parallel in various ways, and even deviating from it in some respects. Here and there his statements are less clear than those of the older texts, and show plainly enough the peculiar colouring of his Levitical standpoint, but without warranting the charge of biassed invention, which de Wette, Thenius, Bertheau, Hitzig (p. 204 ff.), and nearly Movers (p. 307 ff.), here bring against the Chronist. Comp. Bhr on Kings, p. 343, and Keil, pp. 305310; also Neteler, p. 236 ff.In the seventh year Jehoiada . . . took the captains of hundreds, the centurions of the royal life-guards, as appears from 2Ki 11:4 ff. Five of these captains are then named, a guarantee of the well-grounded accuracy of the present narrative. Before the first three of these names stands the introductory (as 17:7; 1Ch 5:26), and before the last two .
2Ch 23:2. And they went about in Judah, , as 17:9; comp. Son 3:3; on the following , tribechiefs, heads of families, for , comp. 1Ch 8:6.
2Ch 23:3. And all the congregation made a covenant. means, not the whole Israelitish community (Berth.), but according to the context, the congregation of Levites and heads of families appointed by Jehoiada at Jerusalem in the temple. What is related of the covenant made with the king, the young Joash, is merely completive of the report in 2Ki 11:4, not contradictory (against Berth., etc., comp. Bahr on this passage).As the Lord hath spoken of the sons of David, in the oracle of Nathan, 2 Samuel 7. (comp. 21:7).
2Ch 23:4. A third of you (properly, the third part of you, 2Ch 27:1) who enter on the Sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites. According to this, the first of the three posts is to be occupied by persons who enter on the Sabbath ( ), who are expressly described as belonging to the priests and Levites. In 2Ki 11:5 also the first third is so designated, which seems to indicate that there also priests and Levites are regarded as standing under the command of the five captains of hundreds; comp. moreover, the corresponding coming out on the Sabbath, 2Ch 23:7; 2Ch 23:9. Keil justly observes (Apol. Vers. p. 362 ff., and Comm. p. 309 f.), that the priests and Levites in courses performed the temple service from one Sabbath to another is known from Luk 1:5; comp. with 1 Chronicles 24; whereas nothing is said of such an arrangement on the part of the prtorians, so that by the phrases: entering on the Sabbath (resuming service), and coming out on the Sabbath (retiring from it), we must understand the Levites. If the prtorians (life-guards) were thus intended in 2 Kings 11 this should have been clearly affirmed. From the words spoken of the centurions of the life-guards: the third part of you, this no more follows than from the fact that in 2Ki 11:11 the appointed posts are called , the runners, guards. If we assume that for this extraordinary occasion the Levitical attendants were placed under the command of some centurions of the royal guards who were in concert with the high priest, the designation of the men whom they commanded as , guards, is fully explained, after these men (on account of the priestly and Levitical elements assigned to them) were described as those entering and coming out on the Sabbath. Accordingly, if 2 Kings and Chronicles agree in this, that they presuppose the troops employed by Jehoiada to be composed of Levites, life-guards, and other Jews, they do not essentially differ with regard to the localities which the three divisions of the troops had to occupy. For, according to 2Ki 11:5-6, the first third was to take the watch of the kings house, the second that at the gate of Sur, the third that at the gate behind the runners; besides, those coming out on the Sabbath were to occupy the temple in two divisions, and so protect the young king (2Ch 23:7-8). According to our verses, on the contrary, the first third was to be porters at the thresholds, and so (1Ch 9:19; 1Ch 9:22) guard the entrance to the temple, the second, was to stand (2Ch 23:5) in the house of the king, the third at the gate Jesod, while all the people were to fill the court of the house of God. Two of these statements appear quite reconcilable; for the occupying of the kings house is by both texts assigned to a third, and the gate Jesod (foundation-gate) should be the same as the gate (the latter is probably miswritten for the former, or it denotes a gate of retreat, a side gate [?]; comp. Bhr). But with regard to the third, an incurable contradiction appears to exist between the two texts; the gate behind the runners must apparently, according to 2Ki 11:19, be sought not in the temple but in the royal palace, whereas our author assigns to the corresponding division its post, not here, at one of the palace gates, but at the thresholds of the temple gate. The only possible arrangement would be that proposed as a hint by Keil, that the runners gate was placed where the passage, mentioned 1Ki 10:5, 2Ki 16:18, from the palace to the temple was situated, and therefore the division in question was conceived to be guarding at the same time the palace and the temple. It is easier to reconcile that which is said in both passages concerning the employment of the rest of the armed men (in our text, 2Ch 23:5 : all the people) to occupy the temple (or in particular its court). Yet here also in the two reporters somewhat diverse conceptions of the event seem to have existed, and in such a way that the author of 2 Kings conceived and represented the whole as a military, the Chronist as a Levitical, measure. Comp. especially in this respect, 2Ch 23:6-8.
2Ch 23:6 And all the people shall keep the ward of the Lord, behave in a legal manner, and beware of entering the inner temple chambers, the proper sanctuary. For the phrase, comp. 13:11.
2Ch 23:7. And the Levites shall surround the king, not form a dense and close circle around him, but occupy all the entrances to the temple around the chamber of the king.
2Ch 23:8. And the Levites and all Judah. For this 2 Kings has: and the captains of hundreds. But this is not a real contradiction; in 2 Kings the commanders are named, in our passage the commanded, as the executors of Jehoiadas directions.All that Jehoiada the priest commanded. Neither here nor 22:11, nor generally in the accounts of the Chronist, does Jehoiada bear the title of high priest; but even in the book of Kings he is not so called, but either simply Jehoiada, without addition, or Jehoiada the priest (2Ki 11:15; 2Ki 12:3; 2Ki 12:8; 2Ki 12:10); that he is identical with the named 2Ki 12:11 is as improbable as that in the parallel 2Ch 24:6; 2Ch 24:11 (see on the passage) the designation refers to him as high priest. Contrary, therefore, to the usual view, which makes Jehoiada high priest, Neteler appears justly to assume that he was the leading chief of the priesthood (), but not the high priest proper, but that one of his sons was invested with this dignity; with which assumption the absence of Jehoiadas name in the list of the high priests, 1 Chron. 5:30 ff., admirably agrees. That the Azariah named 1 Chron. 5:36, the son of Johanan, who ministered as priest in the house built by Solomon, was the son of our Jehoiada, and thus the high priest acting in his time and under his paternal guidance (2Ki 12:11), is a wholly arbitrary conjecture of this learned man, which fails on this account, that, 1 Chron. 5:37, an Amariah is named as son of this Azariah, who can scarcely be different from the high priest Amariah named, 2Ch 19:11, as the contemporary of Jehoshaphat.For Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the courses. , the priestly divisions for performing the temple service according to the order made by David, 1 Chronicles 24-26. The dismissal () of these divisions as well as their summoning was the business of the high priest, 1Ch 24:6; 1Ch 24:19; but Jehoiada may have acted for his son (possibly a minor), just as if he had been high priest himself; comp. as a New Testament parallel, the relation of Annas to his son-in-law Caiaphas, Luk 3:2; Joh 18:12 ff.
2Ch 23:9. And Jehoiada the priest gave spears, and shields, and arms., here probably in the more general sense of weapons, arms, as in Son 4:4, where, likewise, precedes; yet it might also signify targets (along with shields of another kind); comp. 2Ki 11:10 and 2Sa 8:7; Eze 27:11 On the captured arms deposited by David as a dedicated gift in the house of God, comp. 1Ch 18:7 ff. and 2Ch 9:24; 2Ch 12:10.
2Ch 23:10. Every man with his weapon in his hand. , properly, his missile; comp. 32:5; Job 33:18. The setting round about the king is to be understood as the surrounding (2Ch 23:7).
2Ch 23:11. And they brought out the kings son. This account of the crowning of Joash agrees in substance with 2Ki 11:12, only that the clapping of the hands as the outward expression of the peoples joy is here omitted as unessential.
2Ch 23:12 ff. Athaliahs Execution, the Renewal of the Covenant, and the Solemn Procession of the King to his Palace,all this related essentially as in 2Ki 11:13-20.
2Ch 23:13. And the singers with instruments of song. This more copious description, corresponding with the favourite manner of the Chronist, of the musical demonstrations of the joyful multitude (comp. 1Ch 15:16; 1Ch 16:42) is wanting in 2 Kings.
2Ch 23:14. Brought out; comp. the Crit. Note.
2Ch 23:15. And she went to the entrance of the horse gate. For this is in 2 Kings: And she went the way in which the horses entered the kings house. The redundant of our passage, beside , which the old versions do not express, came into the text perhaps by an unsuitable reference to Neh 3:28. The horse gate there mentioned, which was a city gate, is not to he thought of here, although Josephus here confuses them.
2Ch 23:16. And Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and between all the people. Instead of between himself () stands in 2 Kings: between Jehovah, an unimportant difference, for the priest causing the covenant to be made represented Jehovah. That he was the high priest in particular follows no more from this than from 2Ch 23:8; comp. on 24:11.
2Ch 23:17. And all the people went to the house of Baal. On the conjectural site of this temple of Baal, comp. Bhr on 2Ki 11:18.
2Ch 23:18-19 form an enlargement peculiar to our author of the brief statement in 2 Kings: And the priest appointed officers (offices) over the house of the Lord, wherein, again, the singers and the porters are specially mentioned.Whom David had distributed, had determined to minister before God in certain regularly succeeding divisions; comp. 1Ch 23:6, and for the following, Ezr 3:2; Ezr 3:10.And he set the porters at the gates, properly, over the gates; comp. 1Ch 9:23.That the unclean might not enter, literally, one unclean in respect of anything; comp. Lev 5:2-3; Isa 35:8.
2Ch 23:20. And he took the captains of hundreds, and the nobles (, Jer 14:3, Psa 16:3), and the rulers of the people (literally, those ruling among the people; comp. Isa 28:14). Instead of this, in 2 Kings: the captains of hundreds, and the life-guards, and the runners. In the following part also, our author with singular constancy avoids the mention of the runners; for instead of: and came by the way of the gate of the runners to the kings house (2Ki 11:19), he puts: and went through the high gate, etc. This high gate appears from 27:3 (comp. also 2Ki 15:35) to have been a gate in the temple, not, as probably the runners gate, in the kings house; but as it might have been situated over against the royal palace (perhaps over the bridge leading from Moriah to Zion), its name involves neither a topographical impossibility nor a contradiction of 2 Kings (comp. Keil on 2 Kings, p. 271).
evangelical and ethical reflections and apologetic remarks, on Ch. 2123
1. The bad seed sown by Jehoshaphat through the unfortunate affinity with the house of Ahab springs up only too soon, and bears corrupt fruit to the royal house and people of Judah. With the malignity of a fury or a demon, Athaliah the daughter of Jezebel proceeds, during the two reigns of her husband Joram and her son Ahaziah that were guided by her, and during the six years of her sole sovereignty, to gloat over the blood of every, member of the unfortunate house of David from which the least resistance to her idolatrous course might be apprehended. The all too close connection, no longer, as with Solomon and Hiram, amounting to mere friendship, with the Tyrian princely family, into which Judah, also following the bad example of the house of Omri, had thoughtlessly entered, fearfully avenges itself. The worst Sultanism is transplanted thence into the royal castle on Zion.10 And as the severe punishment inflicted by Jehu on the house of Omri took place in Jezreel, and swept away at the same time the Jewish king Ahaziah and his male kinsmen in the northern kingdom (884 according to the usual reckoning, 880 according to Hitzig; according to Schrader and Neteler, certainly after 850, as follows from the synchronism of the Assyrian history; see under), the cruel scourge is not yet taken from Judahs back, but continues to lacerate it full six years more. And to all this is added for this kingdom the humiliating and disgraceful circumstance that it is a woman, and even a foreign woman, who usurps the sole sovereignty, and maintains it for those years by the forcible setting aside of the male heir of the house of David. So much the more beneficent appears the manner in which the reform, rendered necessary by this temporary degeneracy of the Jewish royal house and state, was finally executed. No blood-dripping Jehu, spreading terror and amazement around, no tempestuous desolating form of the fanatical zealots in Roman or Herodian times, proves necessary to effect the return from the worship of Baal to that of Jehovah, and the restoration of the theocratic character of the community. The mild, not terrible, but venerable form of a pious priest, closely related by family ties to the royal house of David, accomplishes almost without blood the necessary revolution. The single sacrifice that is needed for this end is the tyrannical and idolatrous stranger who has been the origin of the evil that has broken over the land for the last twenty years. With the slaying, or rather execution, for nothing is said of wild revenge or tumultuary massacre, of her and her Baal-priest Matthan, the judgment on the disturbers of the theocratic order seems to be executed, and peace restored. That our author, by his peculiar mode of elevating the Levitical and priestly element into the factors of the revolution, places in a peculiarly clear light this eminently peaceful course of the same; that he, in harmony, again, with his often otherwise manifested historical tendency, represents the whole in some measure as a revolution carried on with music and song, as a transference, accomplished with ringing notes and flying banners, of the whole people into the camp of the legitimate party (comp. 2Ch 23:13; 2Ch 23:18),this lends to his representation a peculiar charm, in contrast with the more concise and jejune description, only relating that which is of political or military importance, in the book of Kings. In this narrative, also, the circumstance that the whole people of Judah and Benjamin rises up as one man to shake off the long enough borne and already sufficiently hated foreign yoke by one powerful movement of its neck, stands forth conspicuous in the light of day. It is shown more clearly than in the parallel account of the older history, how slightly the foreign and idolatrous lust had struck its roots into the consciousness and life of the people, and with what comparative rapidity and ease it could be set aside again. A conjecture, to which we must have come on receiving exclusively the narrative of the book of Kings, that a prominent part in the revolution effected by Jehoiada must have been due to the numerically strong Levitical element in the population of the Jewish state,this conjecture is strikingly confirmed by the Chronists narrative, with its emphatic marking of the priestly and Levitical character of the catastrophe, and its almost unseemly depreciation of the share of the runners in it (comp. especially on 2Ch 23:20 f.), without being under the necessity of charging the narrator with any bias in moulding the narrative after his Levitical standpoint. For it would be strange if an event such as this shrewd and bold political stroke of the priest Jehoiada were conducted in so exclusively political and military a way, and with so little participation of the clergy, as appears in 2 Kings.
2. In an apologetic respect, with regard to the account of the fall of Athaliah by means of Jehoiada, we have to refer partly to what has been just observed, and partly to the detail of the exposition. On the contrary, the ill-foreboding writing of Elijah to Joram (2Ch 21:12-15) needs a more special elucidation in the evangelical and apologetic interest. This remarkable document, the only definite proof of the acquaintance of our author with the existence of the greatest and most powerful prophet of the time of the divided kingdom, presents to the expositor the not unimportant chronological difficulty, that, if actually composed by Elijah, and addressed to Joram as already reigning king of Judah, it necessitates the assumption of an extension of the activity of Elijah far into the twelve years of the reign of the Israelitish Joram (896884 in the usual reckoning, 857846 in that of Schrader and Neteler), whereas, according to 2 Kings 2, the taking up of the prophet into heaven seems to have occurred at the latest in the beginning of this reign, thus all events under Jehoshaphat ( 890 or 889 in the usual chronology, 850 or 849 in the modern Assyriologic chronology). Various ways have been taken of removing this difficulty. Older Jewish and Roman Catholic expositors (of the latter, for example, Estius, Malvenda, Tirinus, Calmet), and some evangelical moderns (especially Menken, and Dchsel in his Bibelw.), make Elijah write after his ascent into paradise, and send it by an angel to Elisha, or a still surviving disciple of the prophet, to forward to Joram. This overstrained supra-naturalistic solution of the problem is equally void of exegetical warrant11 with the superficial purely natural assumption, that the writer of the letter was not Elijah the Tishbite, but another prophet of the same name (Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. on Luk 1:17, or with the no less arbitrary and text-defying attempt to change the name Elijah (2Ch 21:12) into that of Elisha (Cleric, Saurin, disc. tom. ii. p. 344) Joram (890 or 889884), that he might thus have directed the writing shortly before his departure to the latter king as his contemporary (Seb. Schmid, Lightf. Op. t. i. p. 85; Usher, Mai, Burmann, etc., and recently Keil, p. 298, at least tentatively), could only be maintained with difficulty, and only by the assumption of an inaccurate statement on the part of the author of the book of Kings, as the position of that which is related, 2Ki 2:1 ff., of the ascension of Elijah is such that it appears to have happened either under the reign of Ahaziah of Israel, the predecessor of Joram, or immediately after his death (896, or eventually 857). There remains after all this only the twofold possibility, that either1. Elijah wrote the letter some time before his ascension, and left it behind him to one of his disciples, with the charge to hand it to the later King Joram of Judah (Starke, Buddeus, Rambach, etc., and recently Keil, as well as Hengstenberg, Gesch. ii. 2, 243), or that, 2. Elijah merely made over by word of mouth the contents of the letter some time before his ascension to one of his disciples, perhaps to Elisha, with the charge to make it known to Joram by a writing composed in his name (Witsius, Grtler, Hackspan, Not. philol. on 2 Chronicles 21; S. Schmid, De literis Eli ad Joramum, Argentor. 1717; Wilisch, etc.). The latter assumption, or that of an only ideal authorship of Elijah in relation to the writing, a composition of it (Luk 1:17), but certainly on the ground of an actual prediction of Elijah, has most in its favour. It avoids the inherently improbable supposition, that Elijah wrote with his own hand a letter, which he knew could only be delivered in the course of at least five or six years after his ascension to God (for the writing appears directed to the king, not to the crown prince). On the other hand, it is reconcilable with the indefinite designation of the writing as coming from Elijah (see on 2Ch 21:12), and excludes the suspicion of pseudepigraphic fiction after the manner of so many apocryphal writings of later times, bearing the names of celebrated sages or men of God.12 It recognises the genuine prophetic content and character of the writing; for it discerns actual prediction, true action of prophetic foresight in it, without overlooking the difference between the author of this prophetic kernel, and the later composer or redactor. Comp. on the possibility or even probability of a divine disclosure being made to Elijah of the future destiny of Joram, the husband of the daughter of Jezebel, as well as of a charge to Elisha to announce afterwards the contents of such a revelation to Joram, on the one hand, Hengstenberg as quoted: Elijah had (1 Kings 19) foreseen the elevation of Jehu to the throne of Israel, and the extirpation of the family of Ahab by him; also the accession of Hazael, and the heavy misfortune brought by him on the kingdom of Israel. If the future was in this respect disclosed to him, the greatest of all the prophets of the Old Testament, why might not this also have been revealed to him, that Joram, who had already before his decease connected himself with the abominable Athaliah, will, by his grievous sins, bring upon himself the judgment of the Lord? on the other hand, Keil, p. 299: To whom God revealed the elevation of Jehu to the throne of Israel, the accession of Hazael, etc., events which took place after the death of Joram of Judah, to whom God already, under Ahab, committed the anointing of Jehu to be king of Israel (1Ki 19:16), which, fourteen years after the death of Ahab, Elisha performed by a scholar of the prophets (2Ki 9:1 ff.)to him the Lord might also in the second year of Ahaziah of Israel, when he announced to this king his death, about seven years before Jehoshaphats death, reveal the wickedness of his successor Joram, and commit the announcement of the divine punishment. But if Elijah made over the anointing as well of Hazael as of Jehu to his servant Elisha, why might he not also have entrusted to him the handing of the written prediction of woe to Joram? We find this statement so far completely suitable and convincing, but cannot agree with the two learned men from whom it proceeds in this, that they hold Elijah to be the writer (composer) of the letter in its extant form. We find it much more satisfactory for the establishment of the essential authenticity of the document, if the mediate origin of it from Elijah (the powerful prophet of deed, who was no man of the pen, and of whose action as a writer nothing is said) is maintained. With this also agree the generally acknowledged contents and tone of the writing, quite irrespective of the personal position of the prophet, which, however, is not on this .account to be held (with Berth, and other recent critics) to be an idealizing composition of a later historian; for in that case it would be different only in degree (as a pseudepigraphon within the canon) from the products of the post-canonical literature, above which it seems exalted by its genuine prophetic contents.
Footnotes:
[1]For , on the mountains, the Sept. and Vulg. read , in the cities.
[2] the Sept. translates ; but the Vulg: non recte (ambulavitque non recte). So Luther: and walked as was not right.
[3]Instead of forty-two, not only the parallel 2Ki 8:26, but also the Syr. and Arab. versions (as well as some later mss. and the Ald. edit. of the Sept.), give twenty-two years; but the Vulg., as the Masoretic text and Sept. (Al and vat.): .
[4]For is to be read, with various better MSS., also with the Sept. and 2Ki 8:29 : , Peculiar is the decision of Neteler (p 325): is to be retained and rendered by puncture (puncture of the wounds).
[5]This is certainly to be read instead of , which seems to be simply an error of the pen.
[6]Instead of sons of the brethren, , the Sept., in accordance with 2Ki 10:12 : . But see the Exeg. Expl.
[7] is without doubt, according to 2Ki 9:1, to be changed into . (Sept.: ; Vulg: interfecit.)
[8] is possibly a mistake for (2Ki 11:15), which latter the Syr. and Arab. also read in our passage.
[9] , besides being superfluous after , is wanting as well in 2Ki 11:6 as in all old versions of our passage, and should be erased.
[10]Compare the remark of J. H. Michaelis: Tyrian, Israelitish, Jewish history here coincide. Tyre brought by marriage her then prevalent spirit and misfortune into the Israelitish history. Contemporary with Joram is Pygmalion king of Tyre, who murdered the husband of his sister Dido merely to possess himself of his treasure. Joram likewise after Jehoshaphats death (2 Chronicles 21) murdered all his brothers, as it appears, for no other cause (?) but to possess himself of the treasures which their father had bequeathed to them (?), etc. This latter assumption, though one-sided and exegetically unfounded (comp. on 21:4), is yet on the whole very striking.
[11]And theological warrant; for as A. Calov. aptly says: Non triumphantium in clis est erudire out ad pnitentiam revocare mortales in terra. Habent Mosen et prophetas; si illos non audiant, neque si quis ex mortuis resurrexerit, nedum si quis ex clis literas perscripserit, credent (Luk 14:31) Likewise J. J. Rambach on our passage, who declares it inconceivable: Deum in gratiam impii regis ejusmodi quid fecisse, cujus nullum aliud exemplum extat immo quod nec necessarium erat. quum plures ali essent rationes, quibus Deus volutatem suam ei manifestare poterat (Luk 14:27; Luk 14:29). Comp. also the remarks of Keil, p. 298, against Menken.
[12]The Apocrypha of Jewish-Hellenistic literature bearing the name of Elijah belong to a pretty late period, as the Apocalypsis Eli, from which, according to Origen and the Church-fathers, the quotation in 1Co 2:9 is to be taken; comp. Fabr. Cod pseudepigr. V T. vol. i. p. 1072. Concerning the Elias of the Jewish-Christian fables or legends, comp. the reports of Epiphanius. Dorotheus of Tyre, Isidore of Seville, and in the Talmud. There are still Mahommedan or Christian (at least half-Christian) nations in the East, for example in the Caucasus, who worship in Elias (on account of 1Ki 17:1 f.) a kind of run-god or Jupiter pluvius (see Ausland, 1872, No. 29. p. 679). What a contrast between this Elijah of the fable and that of Old Testament history, as well, according to 1 and 2 Kings, as our documents preserved in Chronicles!
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
This Chapter opens with the history of the commencement of the reign of Jehoram, who succeeded Jehoshaphat. A melancholy history it contains of his wicked reign. Here is recorded his awful disease, death, and burial.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
One of the first thoughts which seems to strike my mind, in the review of what is here recorded in the sad picture of Jehoram, so contrasted to his pious father, is the degeneracy of our fallen nature. Grace is not hereditary. That the children of God in Christ are not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, is most evident in all generations. Reader! mark this as an observation, for the church of God confirms it from the beginning. Abraham had an Ishmael, and Isaac an Esau, as well as Jehoshaphat a Jehoram. Do not fail to observe also, how the Holy Ghost hath marked one cause of Jehoram’s transgressions; for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife. Oh! that the alliances among gracious persons were more regarded in their descendants!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Ch 21
1. Now [And] Jehoshaphat slept [lay down] with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And Jehoram his son reigned [Jehoram’s sole reign now began. He had previously been associated in the kingdom with his father] in his stead.
2. And he had brethren the sons of Jehoshaphat, Azariah, and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephatiah: all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.
3. And their father gave them great gifts of silver, and of gold, and of precious things [such as jewels, robes, and spices ( Gen 24:53 )], with fenced cities in Judah: but the kingdom gave he to Jehoram; because he was the firstborn. [This was the rule (comp. Deu 21:15-17 ). For exceptions, see 1Ch 28:5 ; 2Ch 11:22 ; 2Ch 36:1 ].
4. Now when Jehoram was risen up to the kingdom of his father [ lit. “And Jehoram arose over the kingdom,” etc., a peculiar expression only found here. It seems to mean, “established himself on the throne.” See a similar phrase Exo 1:8 ], he strengthened himself [secured his hold of power], and slew all his brethren with the sword [in order to prevent intrigues against himself. Such ruthless crimes have been customary at Oriental accessions, and are one of the natural results of polygamy: comp. the conduct of Abimelech ( Jdg 9:5 ) and of Athaliah (chap. 2Ch 22:10 ). It was thus Jehoram “strengthened himself”], and divers also of the princes of Israel.
5. Jehoram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
6. And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like as did the house of Ahab: for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife: and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord.
7. Howbeit the Lord would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a light to him and to his sons for ever.
Jehoram
“For he [Jehoram] had the daughter of Ahab to wife” ( 2Ch 21:6 ).
THIS is not given as a fact, but is stated as an explanation. Such an explanation fills the heart with shame. Here is a man who did wickedly in the sight of the Lord, and when we begin to ask why he deported himself so viciously, we are told that “he had the daughter of Ahab to wife.” What can there be in such an explanation to bring upon the cheek the blush of shame, and fill the heart with the fire of horror and resentment? He had the daughter of a bad man as his companion. How can some men be good when they must needs drink daily of an evil fountain, and come into association day by day with a breath hot and malarious as a pestilence? This woman makes no great demonstration of herself; we cannot say that to-day or tomorrow she will figure in some great tragedy, and show how terrible a thing it is to be the slave of sin. She may have been a silent woman; she may never have spoken above a whisper; but her whole life was set in a wrong direction. Every comment she made was discouraging to goodness, every attitude she assumed was inconsistent with the posture of prayer. We are not special pleaders on behalf of Jehoram, but we are bound to recognise that which is set down as one of the key-facts of his life. He was not bound to marry the daughter of Ahab; he selected her to be his life-companion. Men must reap the harvests which they themselves have sown. No man is at liberty to fall back upon secondary explanations, saying, Had I been better related, more comfortably situated; had my circumstances been more favourable, all such reasoning is tainted with the vice of selfishness. First let us settle how far we ourselves are responsible for the circumstances. A man must not light a fire and then complain of the heat. No man is at liberty to drink poison and then say that he is in pain, and ask for the pity of those who are round about him. Cause and effect must go together: “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” On the other hand, we are to recognise facts as we find them. How can some women be good? for they have no joy at home; when they open the window, the sun seems to pass by on the other side without blessing it; when they speak a generous word, they meet with no response; when they propose to begin a larger and nobler life, their suggestions are received with resentment or disdain. So again we ask, How can some men be good? How can a man lay hold with sense of security upon an inclined plane, so steep that he can hardly hold his own for a moment? Why ask the man to come upward, to advance, when the very geometry of life seems to be set against him? Still, we go back to origins and say, Who began this? There must be no mere exchange of denunciation, but a common penitence, a common sorrow, a mutual amnesty, and a united recommencement. How musically these words might read! “For he had the daughter of Ahab to wife,” need not have explained a vicious spirit, and an unpatriotic and unholy policy; such words would rhyme well with wisdom, progress, patriotism, philanthropy: “For he had the daughter of Ahab to wife,” a woman who cheered him, understood him, supported him by her sympathy, and led the way to the brighter worlds which she wished him to claim and to enjoy. The words are right; it is the context that gives them blackness, and sting, and tincture of hell.
“The Lord smote him [Jehoram] in his bowels with an incurable disease” ( 2Ch 21:18 ).
But how can any disease be incurable, when there are students of science and physicians of eminence, and men so full of knowledge of everything else that they have no knowledge of God? Do not understand that such men are empty tanks in which there is no water; but rather say they are overflowing reservoirs, and because they are overflowing with knowledge of continuity, and persistence, and phenomena, they have no room for God. How can there be any incurable disease whilst these men are living? Is disease curable up to a given point, and then does the physician retire from the fray, saying that he can do no more? How many are the resources of the Almighty? At how many points can he smite a man fatally? The house of the body is but a little house, and yet God can find ten thousand points at which he can overturn the health, strength, pith, ambition, purpose, and whole resolution of mind. A man may die by the feet, rotting at the extremities, and out of those putrid mouths the whole stream of life may run, as a coward runs by some back way. Or God can touch a man’s brain, the pinnacle of the whole life, so that the man cannot find his own house, though he be within one inch of its threshold. God can so touch a man’s eyes that the man shall not know his own child, but shall talk to that child as to a stranger, and ask foolish questions of his own son. How many are the chariots of God in which he goes forth to war? How many swords has the Almighty? Is not his name the Lord of hosts? and who can tell what the word “hosts” means in that connection? If God had but one way, if his were a monotonous providence, if death could only walk up one broad road visible to the naked eye, we might do a good deal towards foiling even him. No man can tell how death may come to him at the head, the heart, the bowels, the bones, the feet, the mind: enough that God smote him. Does God sometimes smite without utterly overthrowing? This certainly is the most penal and disastrous part of his providence. Sudden death is nothing to lingering dissolution. How long will it take this disease to work its cruel way? The physician cannot tell, love can only speculate, grief can only cry in despairing prayer. We must accustom ourselves to this aspect of providence, or we shall play a fool’s part in the reading of the literature of life. He is not a man, but an ostrich, who thrusts his head into the sand and says there is no danger. Let us face the whole difficulty, and consider the whole problem of life. God has never dispensed with the element of fear in his administration of the affairs of the universe: let us take care lest we dispense with it only to lay up wrath against the day of wrath. All our cures are temporary at the best; we do but help men to live a few days longer. The cordon of doctors around the royal patient may help him for a few days or weeks: though the fee be an empire they cannot stave off the insidious, irresistible monster. There is a time when the physician gives up the patient to the mother. Can man be more humiliated than when with a whole panoply of diplomas he says to the mother or the nurse, “I can do no more”? Then why does he not tear off his diplomas and burn them? For they are mockeries, empty decorations, only certificates that legalise a fee. Who has not seen the physician turning away, giving up the battle, and handing the patient over to the doctor that never gives up, the mother? She does not give up when death has taken place; that is only another form of life: it may be superstitious, but it helps the good old soul to live better. There is a point at which science will leave a man. If Christianity does not stay with you then, you will be very lonely. But Christianity never goes away. That is the distinction of Jesus Christ. All other men retire, but Jesus Christ says, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” It is a grand word, whether he were a carpenter’s son, or the incarnate Logos. Whatever he was, whoever he was, when he said he would not leave the house till the trouble left it, he became God by that very word. Do not rest the deity of your Lord on some Greek preposition: rest it on his eternal pathos, his majestic humanity. It is a pitiable spectacle to see a man left at the very moment when he ought not to be left. How many came out of doors with us because the morning was so fine! That was their reason, they said so; they were sun-lured, the sky was so blue they could not stay inside, and they thought to get credit for bearing us companionship, while in reality they were going to enjoy themselves; the cloud came, the trouble of life came, and friend after friend fell off; the disease was seen to be incurable, and was given up with a sigh that had no heart in it. Who is that Figure still with the suffering one?
I beheld, and lo, it was one like unto the Son of man. Never did we go into a sick-house and hear the patient say, Jesus left me last night because he could do nothing more for me. It is at that point we know who is Saviour and who is pretender. If it be superstition, it warms the heart; if it be hallucination, it bridges the gulf; if it be a dream, it touches heaven. There is but one disease really incurable, and that is the disease of sin. No man can cure that. God cannot cure sin: “The wages of sin is death,” and God cannot alter that law. He would cease to be God if he could conjure with morality. Then must man die under his weight of sin? Yes: but he may die in one of two ways; in a way that is hopeless, or in a way that prepares for the incoming of the Son of man with all the pathos, the majesty, and the glory of his cross. God does not cure sin, he destroys it: God cannot change the nature of sin, he can burn it. Only life can conquer death, only the vitalising touch can raise the devitalised soul of man. Here is a mystery, the sublimest of all mysteries that death shall come by blood, that life shall come by death, and that death shall be so handled as to be the womb and fountain of immortality. With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. To understand this is beyond us; intellectually to master it and theorise it is not within our province; but to see it with the heart, to feel it in the soul and with the soul, and to receive it in the moment of agony and hunger, this is possible to all men, this is the gift of God. If we are waiting to understand the process of curing the incurable we shall never be healed; the soul must rise into the exercise of spiritual faith and trust, self-obliteration and self-detestation, and cast itself upon the living Christ. Are we prepared for this? Other salvation there is none; there is no name given under heaven among men whereby we can be saved but that of Jesus Christ. Great is the mystery of godliness: if it were a matter of speculation, intellectual exposition, and intellectual reception, then salvation would be of works and not of faith, for cleverness is but an attribute of intellectuality; there is no cleverness in faith, it is the climax and glorification of self-distrust.
16. Moreover the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, that were near the Ethiopians:
17. And they came up into Judah, and brake into [wasted] it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king’s house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.
18. And after all this the Lord smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease [a violent dysentery].
19. And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years [his sufferings continued to the last], his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning for him [because of their discontent with his evil reign] like the burning of his fathers.
20. Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being desired [ i.e. unregretted]. Howbeit they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings [another circumstance of dishonour].
No man wanted him to live one day longer; no heart said, It will be a dark day when the king dies. Is there infamy equal to such an issue? It is possible for us to live so that people will be glad when we die. They may be decent enough not to express their joy hilariously; indeed, a tear full of pensiveness may moisten the eye; but underneath all that is decent and courteous there will be a feeling of relief. We know what men feel who have been relieved of a burden which has been too heavy for them; we know what travellers feel when the darkness vanishes because the light has come. A man may so live in his own house that the house will be the happier for his absence. Sad that it should be so! Sad beyond all power of fancy to realise that a man’s own children should attend their father’s funeral with a joy befitting a festival. On the other hand, men may so live that many will die when they expire! they will say, “When such friends part, ’tis the survivor dies.” Blessed is that sorrow, and right sweet, yea, sweet as the honey and the honeycomb! although it is sorrow, bitter at first tasting, but sweetening day by day, as distance mitigates immediate pain, and throws into perspective a beneficent life. When men of such character die, they change the whole outlook of those who live after them; they clothe the soul as with a vesture of pensiveness. That pensiveness is not real grief, unmitigated sorrow, despair, but quite a holy melancholy, the very ripeness of joy. But joy does not come to its autumnal bloom and flush of maturity at first; so to say, it is not born so; at the beginning it may be boisterous elation, almost flippant, stronger in emotion than in reason, but when some great bereavement comes, when some tremendous stroke is delivered on the life, from that moment joy begins to consolidate, to ripen, to increase in all the richest elements of gladness, so much so, that many men not understanding human life think it sadness at the very moment when the joy is about to burst into singing and triumph. Fools do not know what joy is. Passing by those who are laughing loudly, they call such hilarious tempest gladness; whereas there is no gladness in it. Gladness does not come until the plough of sorrow has ripped the heart up, and made way for such processes and ministries as grow the true joy of harvest. How are we going to die? Like this man, who “departed without being desired”? We can live so that people will miss us, cry after us “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!” Or we can so live that when we die the air will be lighter, and Sabbath will have come when our grave has been filled. Yet what a line of mercy is in this very declaration! The word “Howbeit” begins the concluding sentence in the verse. After “Howbeit” there may be some break in the cloud. Blessed be God for these words adverbs, conjunctions, little auxiliary words that seem to turn the current of the history as the helm turns the vessel. After this “Howbeit” what follows? “They buried him in the city of David.” So he was not an exile altogether in his death. Other kings had been buried in unconsecrated ground. That ground is unconsecrated that never was moistened with human tear and that never will be visited with human solicitude; though all the priests in whitest linen and finest vesture have blessed the sod, it was damned by a diviner prelacy. Here is a man who is just within the line, just on the right side of the threshold, barely saved from being wrapped in the snow of eternal solitude. Then comes another word decisive, disjunctive, but needful.
After “Howbeit” there comes a ray of light; after “but” there comes this significant clause “not in the sepulchres of the kings.” Justice will have some claim on which it will insist at the very last. We must not spoil all the music of the universe. There is a fitness of things in sepulture. The bad man must not lie in the good man’s place. Character must be marked by the burial of the flesh. To this end moral processes always come namely, to separation, judgment, execration. How pitiful is the whole case! Unhappy at home, viciously married, living a life of wickedness, stricken in the bowels with an incurable disease, his bowels at the end of two years falling out by reason of his sickness; no burning made for him like the burning of his fathers, leaving the world without any soul’s tender au revoir ; we shall meet again on the other side of the stream: adieu . He departed without being desired, without any one saying, Let us save him another day, let us keep him over tomorrow. Yet, poor soul, he must be buried in the city of David, so much is due to official position “but not in the sepulchres of the kings”: a king without kingliness; he has fouled his crown, he must not sleep with the brothers that should have owned him. Thus again the practical inquiry comes, and seizes us with solemn right, What is our end to be? Who will miss us when we die?
Note
Jehoram I. was the eldest son and successor of Jehoshaphat, and fifth king of Judah. He unhappily married Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel; and her influence seems to have neutralised all the good he might have derived from the example of his father. One of the first acts of his reign was to put his brothers to death and seize the valuable appanages which their father had in his lifetime bestowed upon them. After this we are not surprised to find him giving way to the gross idolatries of that new and strange kind the Phoenician which had been brought into Israel by Jezebel, and into Judah by her daughter Athaliah. For these atrocities the Lord let forth his anger against Jehoram and his kingdom. The Edomites revolted, and, according to old prophecies ( Gen 27:40 ), shook off the yoke of Judah. The Philistines on one side, and the Arabians and Cushites on the other, also grew bold against a king forsaken of God, and in repeated invasions spoiled the land of all its substance; they even ravaged the royal palaces, and took away the wives and children of the king, leaving him only one son, Ahaziah. Nor was this all; Jehoram was in his last days afflicted with a frightful disease in his bowels, which, from the terms employed in describing it, appears to have been malignant dysentery in its most shocking and tormenting form. After a disgraceful reign, and a most painful death, public opinion inflicted the posthumous dishonour of refusing him a place in the sepulchre of the kings. Jehoram was by far the most impious and cruel tyrant that had as yet occupied the throne of Judah, though he was rivalled or surpassed by some of his successors. (2Ki 8:16-24 ; 2Ch 21 ).
Prayer
Almighty God, may we listen evermore for the voice divine, and heed no other. The sheep of Jesus know his voice, and a stranger will they not follow: may we be found in that obedient flock, following the Saviour everywhere, until we are safe enfolded on the mountains of heaven. Many voices assail our ears and seek to tempt our confidence by varied music; may we instantly detect all that is wrong, hollow, selfish, worldly, and turn with the longing of hunger and the desire of thirst to him who is the living One, and who alone has the bread of life. We know thy goodness, we have tasted thy mercy, we live in thy compassion, we owe our continued being to thy tears. Thou didst love the world, and save it by the shedding of blood; thou didst yearn over that which had gone astray, and thou didst send thy Son to find it and bring it home again, and because of his mighty, wondrous, all-sacrificial work we are found upon ground that is not forsaken of mercy. Continue thy blessing to us, then we shall never die; give us understanding of ourselves, give us the self-reverence which sees God in man, the image divine upon the image that is human and mortal; then shall we recognise in ourselves the temple of the Holy Ghost, and shall know that the Holy Ghost liveth in us, to enlighten, and rule, and sanctify. O thou all-claiming God, Father to whom all souls belong, give us confidence in thy nearness, thy goodness, thy pity, and thy love; and because we are assured of all these we shall be strong, and carry the battle to triumph. Ease our load a little, for the burden is heavy and the road is long. Help us through the night that is not shortened by sleep; may our meditation of thee then be sweet; then shall we think the morning too soon in coming. Thus be with us on the mountain-top and in the deep valley, in the hot summer and in the snowy winter, and bring us through all life’s variety to the calm, the peace, the joy, the security of heaven. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
IX
ELISHA, THE SUCCESSOR OF ELIJAH
2Ki 2:13-13:21
For the sake of unity, this chapter, like the one on Elijah, will be confined to a single person, Elisha, who was the minister, the disciple, and the successor of the prophet Elijah. “Minister” means an attendant who serves another generally a younger man accompanying and helping an older man. A passage illustrating this service 2Ki 3:11 : “Elisha, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.” We may here recall a situation when no wash basin was convenient, and the water was poured on our hands for our morning ablutions. A corresponding New Testament passage is Act 13:5 : “Paul and Barnabas had John Mark to their minister,” that is, the young man, John Mark, attended the two older preachers, and rendered what service he could. Elisha was also a disciple of Elijah. A disciple is a student studying under a teacher. In the Latin we call the teacher magister. Elijah was Elisha’s teacher in holy things. Then Elisha was a successor to Elijah. Elijah held the great office of prophet to Israel, and in view of his speedy departure, God told him to anoint Elisha to be his successor, that is, successor as prophet to the ten tribes.
About four years before the death of Ahab, 800 B.C., Elijah, acting under a commission from God, found Elisha plowing, and the record says, “with twelve yoke of oxen.” I heard a cowman once say that it was sufficient evidence of a man’s fitness to preach when he could plow twelve yoke of oxen and not swear. But the text may mean that Elisha himself plowed with one yoke, and superintended eleven other plowmen. Anyhow, Elijah approached him and dropped his mantle around him. That was a symbolic action, signifying, “When I pass away you must take my mantle and be my successor.” Elisha asked permission to attend to a few household affairs. He called together all the family, and announced that God had called him to a work so life-filling he must give up the farm life and devote himself to the higher business. To symbolize the great change in vocation he killed his own yoke of oxen and roasted them with his implements of husbandry; and had a feast of the family to celebrate his going into the ministry. It is a great thing when the preacher knows how to burn the bridges behind him, and when the family of the preacher recognizes the fulness and completeness of the call to the service of God.
The lesson of this and other calls is that no man can anticipate whom God will call to be his preacher. He called this man from the plow handles. He called Amos from the gathering of sycomore fruit; he called Matthew from the receipt of custom; he called the fishermen from their nets; he called a doctor in the person of Luke. We cannot foretell; the whole matter must be left to God and to God alone, for he alone may put a man into the ministry. I heard Dr. Broadus preach a great sermon on that once: “I thank Christ Jesus, my Lord, for that he hath enabled me and counted me faithful, putting me into this ministry, who was before a blasphemer.”
Elijah served as a prophet fifty-five years. That is a long ministry. There were six kings of Israel before he passed away, as follows: Ahab, Ahaziah, Jehoram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, and Joash. There were five sovereigns of Judah, to wit: Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah (this one a woman) and Joash. Athaliah was queen by usurpation.
God said to Elijah, “Anoint Elisha to be thy successor; anoint Jehu to be king of Israel, and anoint Hazael to be king of Syria.” Now here were two men God-appointed to the position of king, as this man was to the position of prophet, and we distinguish them in this way: It does not follow that because the providence of God makes a man to be king, that the man is conscious of his divine call, like the one who is called to be a preacher. For instance, he says, “I called Cyrus to do what I wanted done: I know him, though he does not know me.” The lesson is that God’s rule is supreme over all offices. Even the most wicked are overruled to serve his general purposes in the government of the world.
The biblical material for a sketch of Elisha’s life 1Ki 19:16 to 2Ki 13:21 . Elisha means, “God the Saviour.” The Greek form is Elisaios; we find it in the Greek text of Luk 4:27 , where our Lord says, “There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elisaios. ” “Elijah” is Hebrew, and “Elias” is the corresponding Greek word; “Elisha” is Hebrew, and “Elisaios” is the corresponding Greek form.
We will now distinguish between the work of Elijah and Elisha, giving some likenesses and some unlikenesses. In the chapter on Elijah attention has already been called to the one great unlikeness, viz: that Elijah did not live in public sight; he appeared only occasionally for a very short time. Elisha’s whole life was in the sight of the public; he had a residence in the city of Samaria, and a residence at Gilgal; he was continually passing from one theological seminary to another; he was in the palaces of the kings, and they always knew where to find him. He had a great deal to do with the home life of the people, with the public life of the people and with the governmental life of the people. There were some points of likeness in their work, so obvious I need not now stop to enumerate them. Elijah’s life was more ascetic, and his ministry was mainly a ministry of judgment, while Elisha’s was one of mercy.
The New Testament likenesses of these two prophets are as follows: Elijah corresponds to John the Baptist, and Elisha’s ministry is very much like the ministry of Jesus in many respects.
There were many schools of the prophets in the days of Elijah and Elisha. Commencing with Jericho we have one; the next was at Bethel; the third at Gilgal not the Gilgal near Jericho but the one in the hill country of Ephraim and there was one at Mount Carmel. These stretched across the whole width of the country four theological seminaries. The history shows us that Elijah, just before his translation, visited every one of them in order, and that Elisha, as soon as Elijah was translated, visited the same ones in reverse order, and there is one passage in the text that tells us that he was continually doing this.
I think the greatest work of Elisha’s life was this instruction work; it was the most far-reaching; it provided a great number of men to take up the work after he passed away. Indeed the schools of the prophets were the great bulwarks of the kingdom of God for 500 years during the Hebrew monarchy. We cannot put the finger on a reformation, except one, in that five hundred years that the prophets did not start. One priest carried on a reformation we will come to it later. But the historians, the poets, the orators, the reformers, and the revivalists, all came from the prophets. Every book in the Bible is written by a man that had the prophetic spirit. Elisha was the voice of God to the conscience of the kings and the people, and when we study the details of his life we will see that as the government heard and obeyed Elisha it prospered, and as it went against his counsel it met disaster.
We have two beautiful stories that show his work in the homes. One of them is the greatest lesson on hospitality that I know of in the Bible. A wealthy family lived right on the path between the Gilgal seminary and the Mount Carmel seminary. The woman of the house called her husband’s attention to the fact that the man of God, Elisha, was continually passing to and fro by their house; that he was a good man, and that they should build a little chamber on the wall to be the prophet’s chamber. “We will put a little table in it, and a chair, and a bed, and we will say to him, Let this be your home when you are passing through.” Elisha was very much impressed with this woman’s thoughtfulness, and the reason for it. He asked her what he could do for her. But she lived among her own people, wanted no favor from the king nor the general of the army. Elisha’s servant suggested that she was childless, so he prophesied to her that within a year she would be the mother of a son. The son was born and grew up to be a bright boy, and, like other boys, followed his father to the field. One hot day when they were reaping and it was very hot in reaping time over there he had a sunstroke and said, “My head! My head!” The father told his servant to take him to his mother as usual, let a child get sick and the daddy is sure to say, “Take him to his mother.” I don’t know what would become of the children if the mothers did not take care of them when they are sick. But the boy died. The woman had a beast saddled and went to the seminary at Mount Carmel. She knew Elisha was there for he had not passed back. It was a very touching story. Anyhow, Elisha restored the boy to life, and to show how it lingered in his mind, years afterward he sent word to her that there would be a famine of seven years, and she had better migrate until the famine was over. She went away for seven years, and when she came back a land-grabber had captured her home and her inheritance. She appealed the case to Elisha, and Elisha appealed the case to the king, and then the kin said, “Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done.” When he had heard the full story of this man’s work he said, “Let this woman have her home back again, and interest for all the time it has been used by another.” This is a very sweet story of family life.
There is another story. One of the “theologs ” I do not know how young he was, for he had married and had children the famine pressed so debt was incurred, and they had a law then we find it in the Mosaic code that they might make a bondman of the one who would not pay his debts. The wife of this “theolog” came to Elisha and said, “My husband is one of the prophets; the famine has brought very hard times, and my boys are about to be enslaved because we cannot pay the debt.” Then he wrought the miracle that we will consider a little later, and provided for the payment of the debt of that wife of the prophet and for the sustenance of them until the famine passed away.
These two stories show how this man in going through the country affected the family life of the people; there may have been hundreds of others. I want to say that I have traveled around a good deal in my days, over every county in this state. It may be God’s particular providence, but I have never been anywhere that I did not find good people. In the retrospect of every trip of my life there is a precious memory of godly men that I met on the trip. I found one in the brush in Parker County, where it looked like a “razor-back” hog could not make a living, and they were very poor. I was on my way to an association, and must needs pass through this jungle, and stopped about noon at a small house in the brush, where I received the kindest hospitality in my life. They were God’s children. They fixed the best they had to eat, and it was good, too the best sausage I ever did eat. So this work of Elisha among the families pleases me. I have been over such ground, and I do know that the preacher who is unable to find good, homes and good people, and who is unable to leave a blessing behind him in the homes, is a very poor preacher. I have been entertained by the great governors of the state and the generals of armies, but I have never enjoyed any hospitality anywhere more precious than in that log cabin in the jungle.
The next great work of Elisha was the miracles wrought by him. There were two miracles of judgment. One was when he cursed the lads of Bethel that place of idolatry and turned two she-bears loose that tore up about forty of them. That is one judgment) and I will discuss that in the next chapter. Just now I am simply outlining the man’s whole life for the sake of unity.
The second miracle of judgment was the inflicting on Gehazi the leprosy of Naaman. The rest of his miracles were miracles of patriotism or of mercy. The following is a list (not of every one, for every time he prophesied it was a miracle): 2Ki 2:14 tells us that he divided the Jordan with the mantle of Elijah; 2Ki 2:19 , that he healed the bad springs of Jericho, the water that made the people sick and made the land barren, which was evidently a miracle of mercy. The third miracle recorded is in 2Ki 2:23 , his sending of the she-bears (referred to above) ; the fourth is recorded in 2Ki 3:16 , the miracle of the waters. Three armies led by three kings were in the mountains of Edom, on their way to attack Moab. There was no water, and they were about to perish, and they appealed to Elisha. He told them to go out to the dry torrent bed and dig trenches saying, “To-morrow all of those trenches will be full of water, and you won’t see a cloud nor hear it thunder.” It was a miracle in the sense that he foresaw how that water would come from rain in the mountains. I have seen that very thing happen. Away off in the mountains there may be rain one can’t see it nor hear it from where he is in the valley. The river bed is as dry as a powder horn, and it looks as if there never will be any rain. I was standing in a river bed in West Texas once, heard a roaring, looked up and saw a wave coming down that looked to me to be about ten feet high the first wave and it was carrying rocks before it that seemed as big as a house, and rolling them just as one would roll a marble.. So his miracle consisted in his knowledge of that storm which they could not see nor hear. If they had not dug the trenches they would have still had no water for a mountain torrent is very swift to fall. In that place where I was, in fifteen minutes there was a river, and in two or three hours it had all passed away. But the trenches of Elisha were filled from the passing flood.
The fifth miracle is recorded in 2Ki 4:2-7 , the multiplying of the widow’s oil, that prophet’s wife that I have already referred to. The sixth miracle is recorded in 2Ki 4:8-37 , first the giving and then the restoring to life of the son of the Shunamite. The seventh is given in 2Ki 4:38 , the healing of the poisonous porridge: “Ah, man of God! there is death in the pot,” or “theological seminaries and wild gourds.” The eighth miracle is found in 2Ki 5:1-4 , the multiplying of the twenty loaves so as to feed 100 men. The ninth, 2Ki 5:1-4 , the healing of Naaman’s leprosy, and the tenth, 2Ki 5:26-27 , the inflicting on Gehazi the leprosy of which Naaman was healed.
The eleventh miracle is found in 2Ki 6:1-7 , his making the ax to swim. One of the prophets borrowed an ax to increase the quarters; the seminary was growing and the place was too straight for them, and they had to enlarge it. They did not have axes enough, and one of them borrowed an ax. In going down to the stream to cut the wood, the head of the ax slipped off and fell into the water and there is a text: “Alas, my master, for it was borrowed.” The miracle in this case was his suspension of the law of gravity, and making that ax head to swim, so that the man who lost it could just reach out and get it.
Twelfth, 2Ki 6:8-12 , the revealing of the secret thought of the Syrian king, even the thoughts of his bedchamber. No matter what, at night, the Syrian king thought out for the next day, Elisha knew it by the time he thought it, and would safeguard the attack at that point.
Thirteenth, 2Ki 6:15 , his giving vision to his doubtful servant when the great host came to capture them. The servant was scared. Elisha said, “Open this young man’s eyes, and let him see that they who are for us are more than those who are against us.” What a text! His eyes were opened, and he saw that hilltop guarded with the chariots of God and his angels. We need these eye openers when we get scared.
Fourteenth, the blinding of that Syrian host that came to take him. He took them and prayed to the Lord to open their eyes again. An Irishman reported at the first battle of Manasseh, thus: “I surrounded six Yankees and captured them.” Well, Elisha surrounded a little army and led them into captivity.
Fifteenth, 2Ki 7:6 , a mighty host of Syrians was besieging Samaria, until the women were eating their own children, the famine was so great. Elisha took the case to God, and that night, right over the Syrian camp was heard the sound of bugles and shouting, and the racing of chariots, and it scared them nearly to death. They thought a great army had been brought up, and a panic seized them, as a stampede seizes a herd of cattle, and they fled. They left their tents and their baggage: their provisions, their jewels, and the further they went the more things they dropped, all the way to the Jordan River, until they left a trail behind them of the cast-off incumbrances. The word “panic” comes from the heathen god, “Pan,” and the conception is that these sudden demoralizations must come from deity. I once saw sixteen steers put an army of 4,000 to flight, and I was one of the men. We were in a lane with a high fence on one side and a bayou on the other side, and suddenly, up the lane we heard the most awful clatter, and saw the biggest cloud of dust, and one of the men shouted, “The cavalry is on us! The cavalry is on us!” and without thinking everybody got scared. A lot of the men were found standing in the bayou up to their necks, others had gone over the fence and clear across the field without stopping. I did not get that far, but I got over the fence.
Sixteenth, 2Ki 8:2-6 , the foreseeing and foretelling of the seven years of famine.
Seventeenth, 2Ki 8:11 , the revelation of the very heart of Hazael to himself. He did not believe himself to be so bad a man. Elisha just looked at him and commenced weeping. Hazael could not understand. Elisha says, “I see how you are going to sweep over my country with fire and sword; I see the children that you will slay; I see the bloody trail behind you.” Hazael says, “Am I a dog, that I should do these things?” But Elisha under inspiration read the real man) and saw what there was in the man. One of the best sermons that I ever heard was by a distinguished English clergyman on this subject.
Eighteenth, 2Ki 13:14 , his dying prophecy.
Nineteenth, the miracle from his bones after he was buried. We will discuss that more particularly later.
We have thus seen his great teaching work, his relation to the government, and his miracles.
Now, let us consider some of his miracles more particularly. The Romanists misuse the miracle of the bones of Elisha, and that passage in Act 19:11-12 , where Paul sent out handkerchiefs and aprons, and miracles were wrought by them. On these two passages they found all their teachings of the relics of the saints, attributing miraculous power to a bit of the cross, and they have splinters enough of that “true cross” now scattered about to make a forest of crosses. In New Orleans an’ auctioneer said, “Today I have sold to seventeen men the cannon ball that killed Sir Edward Packenham.” The greatest superstition and fraud of the ages is the Romanist theory of the miracle working power of the reputed relics of the saints. Some of Elisha’s miracles were like some of our Lord’s. The enlargement of the twenty loaves to suffice for 100 men reminds us of two miracles of our Lord, and his curing a case of leprosy reminds us of many miracles of our Lord like that. In the Bible, miracles are always numerous in the great religious crises, where credentials are needed for God’s people, such as the great series of miracles in Egypt by Moses, the series of miracles in the days of Elisha and the miracles in the days of our Lord.
The greatest of Elisha’s work is his teaching work, greater than his work in relation to the government, his work in the families, or his miracles. I think the more far-reaching power of his work was in his teaching. There were spoken similar words at the exodus of Elijah and Elisha. When Elijah went up, Elisha said, “My Father! My Father! The chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof!” The same words are used when Elisha died. What does it mean? It pays the greatest compliment to the departed: that they alone were worth more to Israel than all its chariots, and its cavalry; that they were the real defenders of the nation.
At one point his work touched the Southern Kingdom, viz: When Moab was invaded, and he wrought that miracle of the waters, filled the trenches and supplied the thirsty armies. Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah was along, and for his sake Elisha saved them.
There are many great pulpit themes in connection with Elisha’s history. I suggest merely a few: First, “Let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me” that was his prayer when Elijah was leaving him; second, “The chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof”; third, when he came to the Jordan he did not say, “Where is Elijah?” but he smote the Jordan and said, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” for it made no difference if Elijah was gone, God was there yet; fourth, “The oil stayed” not as long as the woman has a vessel to put it in; fifth, the little chamber on the wall; sixth, “Ah, man of God! There is death in the pot” or “theological seminaries and wild gourds” radical criticism, for instance there is death in the pot whenever preachers are fed on that sort of food; seventh, “Is it well with thy husband?” “Is it well?” and I will have frequently commenced a meeting with that text; eighth, Elisha’s staff in the hands of Gehazi, who was an unworthy man and the unworthy cannot wield the staff of the prophets; ninth, “Alas, my master, it was borrowed!”; tenth, the Growing Seminary “The place is too straight for us”; eleventh, “Make this valley full of trenches,” that is, the Lord will send the water, but there is something for us to do; let us have a place for it when it comes; twelfth, the secret thoughts of the bedchamber are known to God; thirteenth, “They that be with us are more than those that be against us”; fourteenth, “Tell me, I pray thee, all the great works done by Elisha.”
These are just a few in the great mine of Elijah or Elisha where we may dig down for sermons. The sermons ought to be full of meat; that is why we preach to feed the hungry. We should let our buckets down often into the well of salvation, for we cannot lower the well, and we may draw up a fresh sermon every Sunday. We should not keep on preaching the same sermon; it is first a dinner roast, then we give it cold for supper, then hash its fragments for breakfast, and make soup out of the bones for the next dinner, and next time we hold it over the pot and boil the shadow, and so the diet gets thinner and thinner. Let’s get a fresh one every time.
QUESTIONS
1. Who was Elisha?
2. What is the meaning of “minister to Elijah”? Illustrate and give corresponding passage in the New Testament.
3. What is the meaning of “Elisha, a disciple of Elijah”?
4. What is the meaning of “Elisha, a successor to Elijah”?
5. Give the date, author, manner, and nature of Elisha’s call, his response and how he celebrated the event.
6. What is the lesson of this and other calls? Illustrate.
7. How long his prophetic term of office and what kings of Israel and Judah were his contemporaries?
8. What secular calls accompanied his, how do you distinguish between his and the call of the others and what is the lesson therefrom?
9. What is the biblical material for a sketch of Elisha’s life?
10. What is the meaning of his name?
11. What is the Greek and Hebrew forms of his name? Give other examples.
12. What likenesses and unlikenesses of the work of Elijah and Elisha?
13. What New Testament likenesses of these two prophets?
14. How many schools of the prophets in the days of Elijah and Elisha, and where were they located?
15. What was Elisha’s great teaching work in the seminaries? Discuss.
16. What was Elisha’s part in governmental affairs?
17. What of his work in the families? Illustrate.
18. What two classes of his miracles and what miracles of each class?
19. What is the Romanist misuse of the miracle of Elisha’s bones and Act 19:11-12 ?
20. What miracles were like some of our Lord’s?
21. When and why were Bible miracles numerous?
22. Which of Elisha’s works was the greatest?
23. What words spoken at the exodus of Elijah and Elisha and what their meaning?
24. At what point did Elisha’s work touch the Southern Kingdom?
25. What New Testament lesson from the life of Elisha?
26. Give several pulpit themes from this section not given by the
27. What is the author’s exhortation relative to preaching growing out of this discussion of Elisha?
X
GATHERING UP THE FRAGMENTS THAT NOTHING BE LOST
The title of this chapter is a New Testament text for an Old Testament discussion. For the sake of unity the last two chapters were devoted exclusively to Elijah and Elisha. It is the purpose of this discussion to call attention to some matters worthy of note that could not very well be incorporated in those personal matters, and yet should not be omitted altogether.
It is true, however, that the heart of the history is in the lives of these two great prophets of the Northern Kingdom. In bringing up the record we will follow the chronological order of the scriptures calling for exposition.
Jehoshaphat’s Shipping Alliance with Ahaziah. We have two accounts of this: first, in 1Ki 22:47-49 , and second, in 2Ch 20:35-37 . I wish to explain, first of all, the locality of certain places named in these accounts. Tarshish, as a place, is in Spain. About that there can be no question. About Ophir, no man can be so confident. There was an Ophir in the southern part of Arabia; a man named Ophir settled there, but I do not think that to be the Ophir of this section. The Ophir referred to here is distinguished for the abundance and fine quality of its gold. Several books in the Bible refer to the excellency of “the gold of Ophir,” and to the abundance of it. Quite a number of distinguished scholars would locate it in the eastern part of Africa. Some others would locate it in India, and still others as the Arabian Ophir. My own opinion is, and I give it as more than probable, that the southeastern coast of Africa is the right place for Ophir. Many traditions put it there, the romance of Rider Haggard, “King Solomon’s Mines,” follows the traditions. The now well-known conditions of the Transvaal would meet the case in some respects.
Ezion-geber is a seaport at the head of the Gulf of Akaba, which is a projection of the Red Sea. What is here attempted by these men is to re-establish the famous commerce of Solomon. I cite the passages in the history of Solomon that tell about this commerce. In 1Ki 9:26 we have this record: “And King Solomon made a navy of ships in Eziongeber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. And Hiram (king of Tyre) sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to King Solomon.” Now, 1Ki 10:11 reads: “And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of Almug trees and precious stones.” This “almug-trees” is supposed to be the famous sweet-scented sandalwood. The precious stones would agree particularly with the diamond mines at Kimberly in the Transvaal.
Then1Ki_10:22 reads: “For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram: Once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.” The ivory and apes would fit very well with the African coast, but we would have to go to India to get the spices, which are mentioned elsewhere, and the peacocks. A three years’ voyage for this traffic seems to forbid the near-by Arabian Ophir, and does make it reasonable that the merchant fleet touched many points Arabia, Africa, and the East Indies. It is, therefore, not necessary to find one place notable for all these products gold, jewels, sandalwood, ivory, apes, spices, and peacocks. Solomon, then, established as his only seaport on the south Eziongeber, a navy, manned partly by experienced seamen of Tyre, and these ships would make a voyage every three years. That is a long voyage and they might well go to Africa and to India to get these varied products, some at one point and some at another.
Now Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah (king of Israel) made an alliance to re-establish that commerce. The first difficulty, however, is that the Chronicles account says that these ships were to go to Tarshish, and the Kings account says that they were ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir. My explanation of that difficulty is this: It is quite evident that no navy established at Eziongeber would try to reach Spain by circumnavigating Africa, when it would be so much easier to go from Joppa, Tyre, or Sidon over the Mediterranean Sea to Spain. “Tarshish ships” refers, not to the destination of the ships, but to the kind of ships, that is, the trade of the Mediterranean had given that name to a kind of merchant vessel, called “Ships of Tarshish.” And the ships built for the Tarshish trade, as the name “lndianman” was rather loosely applied to certain great English and Dutch merchant vessels. It is an error in the text of Chronicles that these ships were to go to Tarshish. They were Tarshish ships, that is, built after the model of Tarshish ships, but these ships were built at Eziongeber for trade with Ophir, Africa, and India.
1Ki 22:47 of the Kings account needs explanation: “And there was no king in Edom; a deputy was king.” The relevancy of that verse is very pointed. If Edom had been free and had its own king, inasmuch as Eziongeber was in Edom, Judah never could have gone there to build a navy. But Edom at this time was subject to Judah, and a Judean deputy ruled over it. That explains why they could come to Eziongeber.
One other matter needs explanation. The account in Kings says, “Then said Ahaziah the son of Ahab unto Jehoshaphat, Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships. But Jehoshaphat would not.” Ahaziah attributed the shipwreck of that fleet to the incompetency of the Judean seamen. He did not believe that there would have been a shipwreck if he had been allowed to furnish experienced mariners, as Hiram did. So Kings gives us what seems to be the human account of that shipwreck, viz: the incompetency of the mariners; but Chronicles gives us the divine account, thus: “Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath destroyed thy works. And the ships were broken.” How often do we see these two things: the human explanation of the thing, and the divine explanation of the same thing. Ahaziah had no true conception of God, and he would at once attribute that shipwreck to human incompetency, but Jehoshaphat knew better; he knew that shipwreck came because he had done wickedly in keeping up this alliance with the idolatrous kings of the ten tribes.
THE TRANSLATION OF ELIJAH Let us consider several important matters in connection with the translation of Elijah, 2Ki 2:1-18 . First, why the course followed by Elijah? Why does he go from Carmel to Gilgal and try to leave Elisha there, and from Gilgal to Bethel and try to leave Elisha there, and from Bethel to Jericho and try to leave Elisha there? The explanation is that the old prophet, having been warned of God that his ministry was ended and that the time of his exodus was at hand, wished to revisit in succession all of these seminaries. These were his stopping places, and he goes from one seminary to another. It must have been a very solemn thing for each of these schools of the prophets, when Elisha and Elijah came up to them, for by the inspiration of God as we see from the record, each school of the prophets knew what was going to happen. At two different places they say to Elisha, “Do you know that your master will be taken away to-day?” Now, the same Spirit of God that notified Elijah that his time of departure was at hand, also notified Elisha, also notified each school of the prophets; they knew.
But why keep saying to Elisha, “You stay here at Gilgal; the Lord hath sent me to Bethel,” and, “You stay here at Bethel; the Lord hath sent me to Jericho,” and “You stay here at Jericho; the Lord hath sent me to the Jordan”? It was a test of the faith of Elisha. Ruth said to Naomi, “Entreat me not to leave thee, nor to forsake thee; for where thou goest, I will go; and God do so to me, if thy God be my God, and thy people my people, and where thou diest there will I die also.” With such spirit as that, Elisha, as the minister to Elijah, and as the disciple of Elijah, and wishing to qualify himself to be the successor of Elijah, steadfastly replied: “As the Lord liveth and thy soul liveth, I will not forsake thee.” “I am going with you just as far as I can go; we may come to a point of separation, but I will go with you to that point.” All of us, when we leave this world, find a place where the departing soul must be without human companionship. Friends may attend us to that border line but they cannot pass over with us.
We have already discussed the miracle of the crossing of the Jordan. Elijah smote the Jordan with his mantle and it divided; that was doubtless his lesson to Elisha, and we will see that he learned the lesson. I heard a Methodist preacher once, taking that as a text, say, “We oftentimes complain that our cross is too heavy for us, and groan under it, and wish to be relieved from it.” “But,” says he, “brethren, when we come to the Jordan of death, with that cross that we groaned under we will smite that river, and we will pass over dry-shod, and leave the cross behind forever, and go home to a crown to wear.”
The next notable thing in this account is Elijah’s question to Elisha: “Have you anything to ask from me?” “Now, this is the last time; what do you want me to do for you?” And he says, “I pray thee leave a double portion of thy spirit on me.” We see that he is seeking qualification to be the successor. “Double” here does not mean twice as much as Elijah had, but the reference is probably to the first-born share of an inheritance. The first-born always gets a double share, and Elisha means by asking a double portion of his spirit that it may accredit him as successor. Or possibly “double” may be rendered “duplicate,” for the same purpose of attenuation. The other prophets would get one share, but Elisha asks for the first-born portion. Elijah suggests a difficulty, not in himself, but in Elisha ; he said, “You ask a hard thing of me, yet if you see me when I go away, you will get the double portion of my spirit,” that is, it was a matter depending on the faith of the petitioner, his power of personal perception. “When I go up, if your eyes are open enough to see my transit from this world to a higher, that will show that you are qualified to have this double portion of my spirit.” We have something similar in the life of our Lord. The father of the demoniac boy says to our Lord, “If thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus replied, “If thou canst! All things are possible to him that believeth.” It was not a question of Christ’s ability, but of the supplicant’s faith.
The next thing is the translation itself. What is meant by it? In the Old Testament history two men never died; they passed into the other world, soul and body without death: Enoch and Elijah. And at the second coming of Christ every Christian living at that time will do the same thing. “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, they shall be changed.” Now, what is that change of the body by virtue of which without death, it may ascend into heaven? It is a spiritualization of the body eliminating its mortality, equivalent to what takes place in the resurrection and glorification of the dead bodies. I preached a sermon once on “How Death [personified] Was Twice Startled.” In the account of Adam it is said, “And he died” and so of every other man, “and he died.” Methuselah lived 969 years, but he died. And death pursuing all the members of the race, strikes them down, whether king or pauper, whether prophet or priest. But when he comes to Enoch his dart missed the mark and he did not get him. And when he came to Elijah he missed again. Now the translations of Enoch and Elijah are an absolute demonstration of two things: First, the immortality of the soul, the continuance of life; that death makes no break in the continuity of being. Second, that God intended from the beginning to save the body. The tree of life was put in the garden of Eden, that by eating of it the mortality of the body might be eliminated. Sin separated man from that tree of life, but it is the purpose of God that the normal man, soul and body, shall be saved. The tradition of the Jews is very rich on the spiritual significance of the translation of Enoch and Elijah. In Enoch’s case it is said, “He was not found because God took him,” and in this case fifty of the sons of the prophets went out to see if when Elijah went to heaven his body was not left behind, and they looked all over the country to find his body. Elisha knew; he saw the body go up.
Now, in Revelation we have the Cherubim as the chariot of God. This chariot that met Elijah at the death station was the chariot of God, the Cherubim. Just as the angels met Lazarus and took his soul up to heaven, and it is to this wonderful passage that the Negro hymn belongs: “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.”
Elisha cried as the great prophet ascended, “My Father! My rather I The chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof,” the meaning of which is that thus had gone up to heaven he who in his life had been the defense of Israel, worth more than all of its chariots and all of its cavalry. Now these very words “were used when Elisha died. “My Father! My Father! The chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof,” signifying that he had been the bulwark of the nation as Elijah had been before him.
ELISHA’S MINISTRY, 2Ki 2:19-25 As Elijah went up something dropped not his body, but just his mantle his mantle fell, and it fell on Elisha, symbolic of the transfer of prophetic leadership from one to the other. Now, he wants to test it, a test that will accredit him; so he goes back to the same Jordan, folds that same mantle up just as Elijah had done, and smites the Jordan. But, mark you, he did not say, “Where is Elijah” the man, Elijah, was gone, but, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” and the waters divided and he came over. There he stood accredited with a repetition of the miracle just a little before performed by Elijah, which demonstrated that he was to be to the people what Elijah had been. And this was so evident that the sons of the prophets recognized it and remarked on it: “The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha.” It is a touching thing to me, this account of more than fifty of these prophets, as the president of their seminary is about to disappear, came down the last hill that overlooks the Jordan, watching to see what became of him. And they witness the passage of the Jordan they may have seen the illumination of the descent of the chariot of fire. They wanted to go and get the body the idea of his body going up they had not taken in, and they could not be content until Elisha, grieved at their persistence) finally let them go and find out for themselves that the body had gone to heaven.
I have just two things to say on the healing of the noxious waters at Jericho. The first is that neither the new cruse nor the salt put in it healed the water. It was a symbolic act to indicate that the healing would be by the power of God. Just as when Moses cast a branch into the bitter waters of Marah, as a symbolic act. The healing power comes from God. The other re-mark is on that expression, “unto this day,” which we so frequently meet in these books. Its frequent recurrence is positive proof that the compiler of Kings and the compiler of Chronicles are quoting from the original documents. “Unto this day” means the day of the original writer. It does not mean unto the day of Ezra wherever it appears in Chronicles, but it means unto the day of the writer of the part of history that he is quoting from. More than one great conservative scholar has called attention to this as proof that whoever compiled these histories is quoting the inspired documents of the prophets.
THE CHILDREN OF BETHEL AND THE SHE-BEARS Perhaps a thousand infidels have referred Elisha’s curse to vindictiveness and inhumanity. The word rendered “little children” is precisely the word Solomon uses in his prayer at Gibeon when he says, “I am a little child” he was then a grown man. Childhood with the Hebrews extended over a much greater period of time than it does with us. The word may signify “young men” in our modern use of the term. And notice the place was Bethel, the place of calf worship, where the spirit of the city was against the schools of the prophets, and these young fellows call them “street Arabs,” “toughs,” whom it suited to follow this man and mock him: “Go up, thou bald bead; go up, thou bald head.” Elisha did not resent an indignity against himself, but here is the point: these hostile idolaters at Bethel, through their children are challenging the act of God in making Elisha the head of the prophetic line. He turned and looked at them and he saw the spirit that animated them saw that it was an issue between Bethel calf worship and Bethel, the school of the prophets, and that the parents of these children doubtless sympathized in the mockery, and saw it to be necessary that they should learn that sacrilege and blasphemy against God should not go unpunished. So, in the name of the Lord he pronounces a curse on them had it been his curse, no result would have followed. One man asks, “What were these she-bears doing so close to Bethel?” The answer is that in several places in the history is noted the prevalence of wild animals in Israel. We have seen how the old prophet who went to this very Bethel to rebuke Jeroboam and turned back to visit the other prophet, was killed by a lion close to the city.
Another infidel question is, “How could God make a she bear obey him?” Well, let the infidel answer how God’s Spirit could influence a single pair of all the animals to go into the ark. Over and over again in the Bible the dominance of the Spirit of God over inanimate things and over the brute creation is repeatedly affirmed. The bears could not understand, but they would follow an impulse of their own anger without attempting to account for it.
THE INCREASE IN THE WIDOW’S OIL, 2Ki 4:1-7
We have already considered this miracle somewhat in the chapter on Elisha, and now note particularly:
1. It often happens that the widow of a man of God, whether prophet or preacher, is left in destitution. Sometimes the fault lies in the imprudence of the preacher or in the extravagance of his family, but more frequently, perhaps, in the inadequate provision for ministerial support. This destitution is greatly aggravated if there be debt. The influence of a preacher is handicapped to a painful degree, when, from any cause, he fails to meet his financial obligations promptly. In a commercial age this handicap becomes much more serious.
2. The Mosaic Law (Lev 25:39-41 ; see allusion, Mat 18:25 ) permitted a creditor to make bond-servant of a debtor and his children. For a long time the English law permitted imprisonment for debt. This widow of a prophet appeals to Elisha, the head of the prophetic school, for relief, affirming that her husband did fear God. In other words, he was faultless in the matter of debt. The enforcement of the law by the creditor under such circumstances indicates a merciless heart.
3. The one great lesson of the miracle is that the flow of the increased oil never stayed as long as there was a vessel to receive it. God wastes not his grace if we have no place to put it: according to our faith in preparation is his blessing. He will fill all the vessels we set before him.
DEATH IN THE POT, 2Ki 4:38-41 We recall this miracle to deepen a lesson barely alluded to in the chapter on Elisha. The seminaries at that time lived a much more simple life than the seminaries of the present time; it did not take such a large fund to keep them up. Elisha said, “Set on the great pot,” and one of the sons of the prophets went out to gather vegetables. He got some wild vegetables he knew nothing about here called wild gourd and shred them into the pot, not knowing they were poisonous. Hence the text: “O man of God, there is death in the pot.” I once took that as the text for a sermon on “Theological Seminaries and Wild Gourds,” showing that the power of seminaries depends much on the kind of food the teachers give them. If they teach them that the story of Adam and Eve is an allegory, then they might just as well make the second Adam an allegory, for his mission is dependent on the failure of the first. If they teach them the radical criticism; if they teach anything that takes away from inspiration and infallibility of the divine Word of God or from any of its great doctrines then, “O man of God, there is death in the pot” that will be a sick seminary.
In a conversation once with a radical critic I submitted for his criticism, without naming the author, the exact words of Tom Paine in his “Age of Reason,” denying that the story of Adam and Eve was history. He accepted it as eminently correct. Then I gave the author, and inquired if it would be well for preachers and commentators to revert to such authorities on biblical interpretation. He made no reply. We find Paine’s words not only in the first part of the “Age of Reason,” written in a French prison without a Bible before him, but repeated in the second part after he was free and had access to Bibles. I gave this man a practical illustration, saying, “You may take the three thousand published sermons of Spurgeon, two sets of them, and arrange them, one set according to the books from which the texts are taken Gen 1:2 , Gen 1:3 , etc., and make a commentary on the Bible. By arranging the other set of them in topical order, you have a body of systematic theology.” Now this man Spurgeon believed in the historical integrity and infallibility of the Bible, in its inspiration of God, and he preached that, just that. As the old saying goes, “The proof of the pudding is in the chewing of the bag.” He preached just that, and what was the result? Thousands and thousands of converts wherever he preached, no matter what part of the Bible he was preaching from; preachers felt called to enter the ministry, orphan homes rose up, almshouses for aged widows, colportage systems established, missionaries sent out, and all over the wide world his missionaries die in the cause. One man was found in the Alps, frozen to death, with a sermon of Spurgeon in his hand. One man was found shot through the heart by bush rangers of Australia, and the bullet passed through Spurgeon’s sermon on “The Blood of Jesus.” Now, I said to this man, “Get all your radical critics together, and let them preach three thousand sermons on your line of teaching. How many will be converted? How many backsliders will be reclaimed? How many almshouses and orphanages will be opened? How many colportage systems established? Ah! the proof of the pudding is in the chewing of the bag. If what you say is the best thing to teach about the Bible is true, then when you preach, it will have the best results. But does it?”
We have considered Elisha’s miracle for providing water for the allied armies of Israel, Judah, and Edom, when invading Moab (2Ki 3:10-19 ). We revert to it to note partakelarly this passage: “And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew sword, to break through unto the king of Edom: but they could not. Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there was great wrath against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land” (2Ki 3:26-27 ). On this passage I submit two observations:
1. Not long after this time the prophet Micah indignantly inquires, “Shall I give my firstborn for my transgressions, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” The context is a strong denunciation of the offering of human sacrifices to appease an angry deity. The Mosaic law strongly condemned the heathen custom of causing their children to pass through the fire of Molech. Both this book of Kings and Jeremiah denounce judgment on those guilty of this horrible practice. The Greek and Roman classics, and the histories of Egypt and Phoenicia, show how widespread was this awful custom.
2. But our chief difficulty is to expound the words, “There was great wrath against Israel.” But what was its connection with the impious sacrifice of the king of Moab? Whose the wrath? The questions are not easy to answer. It is probable that the armies of Edom and Judah were angry at Israel for pressing the king of Moab to such dire extremity, and so horrified at the sacrifice that they refused longer to co-operate in the campaign. This explanation, while not altogether satisfactory, is preferred to others more improbable. It cannot mean the wrath of God, nor the wrath of the Moabites against Israel. It must mean, therefore, the wrath of the men of Judah and Edom against Israel for pressing Mesha to such an extent that he would offer his own son as a sacrifice.
QUESTIONS
I. On the two accounts of Jehoshaphat’s shipping alliance with Ahaziah, 2Ki 22 ; 2Ch 20 , answer:
1. Where is Tarshish?
2. Where is Ophir?
3. Where is Ezion-geber?
4. What is the relevance of 1Ki 22:47 ?
5. Explain “ships of Tarshish” in Kings, and “to go to Tarshish” in Chronicles.
6. What commerce were they seeking to revive, and what passage from 1 Kings bearing thereon?
7. How does the book of Kings seem to account for the wreck of the fleet, and how does Chronicles give a better reason?
II. On the account of Elijah’s translation (2Ki 2:1-18 ) answer:
1. Why the course taken by Elijah by way of Gilgal, Bethel, and Jericho?
2. How did both Elisha and the schools of the prophets know about the impending event?
3. What was the object of Elijah in telling Elisha to tarry at each stopping place while he went on?
4. What was the meaning of Elisha’s request for “a double portion” of Elijah’s spirit and why was this a hard thing to ask, i.e., wherein the difficulty? Illustrate by a New Testament lesson.
5. What was the meaning of Elijah’s translation, and what other cases, past or prospective?
6. What was the meaning of Elisha’s expression, “My Father! My Father! The chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof,” and who and when applied the same language to Elisha?
7. How does Elisha seek a test of his succession to Elijah and how do others recognize the credentials?
III. How do you explain the seeming inhumanity of Elisha’s cursing the children of Bethel?
IV. On the widow’s oil (2Ki 4:1-7 ), answer:
1. What often happens to the widow of a prophet or preacher, and what circumstance greatly aggravates the trouble?
2. What is the Mosaic law relative to debtors and creditors?
3. What one great lesson of the miracle?
V. On “Death in the Pot” answer:
1. What the incident of the wild gourds?
2. What application does the author make of this?
3. What comparison does the author make between Spurgeon and the Radical Critics?
VI. On Elisha’s miracle, the water supply, answer:
1. What is the allusion in Micah’s words, “Shall I give my first-born,” etc.?
2. What the meaning of “There was great wrath against Israel”?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
2Ch 21:1 Now Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And Jehoram his son reigned in his stead.
Ver. 1. And Jehoram his son reigned. ] Than whom a worse could hardly be found: but as the Constantinopolitans were told, that for their wickedness they were justly plagued with a Phocas; so were these perverse Hierosolymitans with a Jehoram.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2 Chronicles Chapter 21
We have seen, then, the sad fruits of a pious man’s joining himself with one who is untrue to God – a union which always turns to God’s dishonour and the injury of him who loves God, as we find in Jehoshaphat himself. And this, too, not merely that he united with Ahaziah, but where he united even for commercial purposes – one of the most important points for a saint, not only for a Christian, but for a saint before Christianity, where his testimony was separation to God. But the separation of a Christian is of another order – higher and deeper and closer – yet not so external as the Jews’. We might even feel at liberty – as we know the Apostle puts the case – to dine with an infidel. “If thou be disposed to go” – we must take care how we go, and why. Now this might, to the outward eye, seem the very contrary of separateness, and many mistakes are often made in the thoughts of men who judge by outward appearance. But the separation of a Christian is really deeper, although it may not strike the eye as a Jew’s. We shall see further proofs of the same evil, for it is a growing one, as the state of Judah became worse and worse before its judgment.
Jehoshaphat’s son, Jehoram, reigns in his father’s stead. “Now when Jehoram was risen up to the kingdom, he strengthened himself, and slew all his brethren with the sword.” 2Ch 21:4 . Such did not Jehoshaphat. Howbeit, although he went even farther than his father in alliance with evil – “for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife: for he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of Jehovah” – yet, “Jehovah would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that He had made with David.” Hence, therefore, we find that when the Edomites revolted, and Jehoram went forth, he smote them. Nevertheless, God chastised him, for “the same time did Libnah revolt under his hand, because he had forsaken Jehovah God of his fathers.”
We see in all this history how much turns upon the king. It was no question of the people now, for they had completely failed long ago. There is a new trial. Suppose the blessing turns upon – not the people, for, it might be said, there are enormous probabilities against their fidelity; but take the family of a faithful man, take the family of the most faithful man in the deep distresses of evil, David, the progenitor of the Messiah – perhaps, if it turns upon that family, one might be found faithful! Not so; there is unfaithfulness everywhere. There was only one faithful witness, and He was not yet come; but those who preceded Him, and who ought to have been the witnesses of the coming Messiah in truth, only precipitated the downfall, first, of Israel as a whole, then of Judah that remained. Hence, Jehoram, we find, “made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and compelled Judah [thereto].” For this was part of the wickedness of heathenism – that it made men more immoral than they would have been on principle and as a matter of honour to their gods.
God sent him now a writing from Elijah the prophet, saying, “Thus saith Jehovah God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah, but hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father’s house, which were better than thyself: behold, with a great plague will Jehovah smite thy people and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy goods: and thou [shalt have] great sickness.” And so he was to die, and outward troubles came upon him. “Jehovah stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and of the Arabians.” In fine, “Jehovah smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease,” and thus he died. “And his people made no burning for him like the burning of his fathers.” He had gone on in sin, and he died in sorrow and shame. Such was the end of a son of David, really and literally the son of Jehoshaphat (“Jehovah is judge”).
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
-. slept with his fathers. See note on Deu 31:16; and contrast his ally’s end (2Ch 18:34).
-1 Jehoram. He was designated to be king in the seventeenth year of his father, but crowned in his father’s twenty-third year. He reigned eight years in Jerusalem: two with his father, and six after his father’s death (compare 2Ki 1:17; 2Ki 8:16).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 21
Now Jehoshaphat died, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And Jehoram his son reigned in his stead. And he had brothers who were also sons of Jehoshaphat [and it names several of the brothers]. And Jehoshaphat had given to his sons great gifts of silver, gold, and precious things, and he gave them cities: but the kingdom he gave to Jehoram; because he was [his oldest,] the firstborn. Now when Jehoram was risen up to the kingdom of his father [verse 2Ch 21:4 ], he strengthened himself, and killed all of his brothers with the sword, and also many of the princes of Israel. And Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. He walked in the way of the kings of Israel [that is, the northern kings who were wicked], like as did the house of Ahab: for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife: and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD ( 2Ch 21:1-6 ).
Now here is where Jehoshaphat’s seeking to become friends and joining affinity with the kings of Israel got him into trouble. For, no doubt, on some of his ventures up to the kingdom of Israel and visiting Ahab, he took his oldest son with him, Jehoram, who saw the daughter of Ahab and fell in love with her. And of course, because he was seeking to make an affinity with the kings, they arranged the marriage and his oldest son married the daughter of wicked Ahab, who was also the daughter of Jezebel. And thus, she had the same kind of an influence upon her husband Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, as did Jezebel upon Ahab, a very wicked influence in the kingdom.
Now this is where the dad may say, “Well, I can go and it won’t bother me. I know how to handle myself and I won’t be touched by the thing.” But yet, his son going with him was the one that was affected and hurt by the relationship. And so we need to be careful of the relationships that we develop, not only for our own sake. You may be able to handle it. But it can have disastrous results in your family, your children. They may not be able to handle those pressures.
And so had he not been going up and seeking to make these kinds of friendship ventures towards Ahab, no doubt his son would never have met this Athaliah and married her, and thus, this horrible thing would not have transpired. It cost him the rest of his sons. All of the rest of the sons were killed by this one boy who was given the kingdom. He was influenced for evil by the wife that he married who was the daughter of that wicked king Ahab. And she had an evil influence in Judah for a period of time.
Howbeit the LORD would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David ( 2Ch 21:7 ),
Now during the days of this…and remember he only reigned for eight years. But as he began to reign, first of all, the Edomites rebelled from under their dominion. And then the people of Libnah rebelled against them.
And there came to him a writing from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa the king of Judah, But you’ve walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and you have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and you’ve also slain your brothers of your father’s house, which were better than you: Behold, with a great plague will the LORD smite your people, and your children, and your wives, and all of your goods: and you will have a great sickness by the disease of your bowels, until your bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day ( 2Ch 21:12-15 ).
“You’re going to die a slow death as your bowels fall out.” So God’s disease that He was going to bring upon him because of his wickedness. And he was only about forty years old at the time of his death. So died at a relatively young age, but because of that wickedness, this message from Elijah the prophet. Now some people see difficulty here, because if you go back to II Kings it would seem that Elijah died while Jehoshaphat was still king. Elijah basically was not a prophet to Judah; he was a prophet to Israel. And he was a prophet during the time of Ahab in the northern kingdom. It was Ahab and Jezebel that Elijah was really chiding for their wickedness, and he was a real thorn unto Ahab.
But as you go back to Kings where the recording of the death of Elijah takes place there in the second chapter, it would just appear that the writer of II Kings just throws in the account of his death because he’s going to move now to the southern kingdom and talk about it for a while. So he doesn’t follow a chronological order. There would seem to be about a six-year difference here, but it was only that he recorded the death of Elijah out of a chronological sequence in II Kings. And so Elijah wrote this message of rebuke and of judgment that is going to come upon the son of Jehoshaphat because of his evil.
And the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and the Arabians, that were near the Ethiopians: and they came up into Judah, they broke into it, they carried away the substance that was found in the king’s house, his sons also, and his wives; and there was never a son left, save Jehoahaz, his youngest of his sons ( 2Ch 21:16-17 ).
So the Arabians and the Philistines also began to attack. I mean the kingdom went so quickly. In eight years just deteriorated down to nothing. The Edomites revolted, the people of Libnah revolted, and now the Philistines, the Arabians, they come in and take everything. They took all of his wives, took all of his children. Left only one, his youngest son Jehoahaz.
And after this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease. And it came to pass, that in process of time, at the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of sore diseases ( 2Ch 21:18-19 ).
And here the declaration:
They made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers ( 2Ch 21:19 ).
Now that was a time of mourning where they would mourn people and build fires. Stay up all night in mourning. But not for him.
Thirty-two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in eight years, and he departed without being desired ( 2Ch 21:20 ).
The story of a wicked man. He departed without. No one mourned his going. “He departed without being desired.”
Howbeit they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchre of the kings ( 2Ch 21:20 ).
“
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
2Ch 21:1-3
Introduction
JEHORAM; WICKED SON-IN-LAW OF AHAB; RULES JUDAH
JEHORAM (949-942 B.C.)
“This chapter is a commentary on the man who married the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, and who walked in their ways (2Ch 21:6). It describes his viciousness and his apostasy (2Ch 21:1-11), and God’s condemnation of him through the prophet Elijah, and the failures both national and personal that overwhelmed him as a result (2Ch 21:12-20).”
His evil wife was Athaliah who in time also became a ruler of Judah. She attempted to destroy completely the house of David and almost, but not quite, succeeded in doing so. She was, in many respects, a carbon copy of her evil mother Jezebel. Athaliah was never accepted by Judah, and her name was never included in the list of Judah’s legitimate rulers.
2Ch 21:1-3
THE DEATH OF JEHOSHAPHAT AND SUCCESSION OF JEHORAM
“And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Jehoram his son reigned in his stead. And he had brethren, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephaliah; all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel. And their father gave them great girls, of silver, and of gold, and of precious things, with fortified cities in Judah: but the kingdom gave he to Jehoram, because he was the first-born.”
“Azariah … Azariah” (2Ch 21:2). “These names are written differently in the Hebrew: Azarjah and Azarjahu.” It is not clear why the translators rendered the two names alike. On the strange identification of Jehoshaphat as king of Israel (2Ch 21:2), this designation was correct, because Judah was indeed the true Israel; and those northern tribes who called themselves Israel were no longer part of God’s true Israel.
E.M. Zerr:
2Ch 21:1. Slept with his fathers is explained at 1Ki 2:10. The city of David was a burg or department in Jerusalem of great importance. It was called Mount Zion also, and was the location of David’s house.
2Ch 21:2. All of these brethren of Jehoram were younger than he, hence not regularly entitled to the throne.
2Ch 21:3. Their father gave them; refers to a time before the date of 2Ch 21:1. The statement is made to show us that the younger brothers of Jehoram had not been encouraged by their father to expect the kingdom, although they were given much consideration otherwise. They received large bounties of precious metal, also the possession of fenced or walled cities. But the seniority of Jehoram entitled him to the throne, and his father had appointed him as his successor before he died.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
With the passing of Jehoshaphat another period of degeneracy and darkness set in for the kingdom of Judah. He was succeeded by his first-born, Jehoram, who seems to have been a man of utterly evil nature. He attempted to secure the throne by the murder of his brothers. Perhaps the secret of his evil courses lay in the fact that he took to wife the daughter of Ahab. That would seem to be the thought of the chronicler expressed in the words, “He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab; for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife.” Trouble fell on his kingdom in the revolt of Edom and invasion by the Philistines and the Ethiopians.
In the midst of his wickedness a message came to him by writing from Elijah the prophet of fire, who had exercised so powerful an influence against Ahab in the kingdom of Israel. It contained a terrible message of judgment, which was fully carried out after eight years of reign. So evil were his courses that the nation loathed him, and the tragic words were written concerning his death, “he departed without being desired.”
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
2Ch 21:20
I. Notice, first, a lesson for parents, which is this: Folly in fathers may become sin in their sons. The pious king Jehoshaphat showed his children a good example, so far as we know, in everything but his love for the society of the ungodly and worldly. He was friendly with Ahab. The children of Jehoshaphat did not leave off where their father did. As Jehoram was not content to be merely on visiting terms with Ahab, but married his daughter, so, if we are not careful, we may take our children where they may choose to stop, instead of going back with us.
II. Another lesson taught by the history of this bad man is this: Our wedding day may be the worst day’s work we ever did. It was so with Jehoram. “He had the daughter of Ahab to wife.” We cannot marry the houses of Jehoshaphat and Ahab together without bringing new sorrows into the world.
III. He who rebels against God must expect his inferiors to rebel against him. Jehoram died in the bloom of manhood, but he lived long enough to see that “he that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity.”
IV. The word of God may become our worst enemy. Elijah wrote a letter to the king, in which he foretold his doom. The sermon we have heard and despised may knot the lash which conscience uses to whip the heart.
T. Champness, New Coins from Old Gold, p. 128.
References: 2Ch 21:20.-A. K. H. B., Towards the Sunset, p. 67. 2Ch 24:2.-E. H. Plumptre, King’s College Sermons, p. 20.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
3. Decline and Apostasy under Jehoram, Ahaziah and Athaliah
CHAPTER 21 The Reign of Jehoram
1. Jehorams wicked reign (2Ch 21:1-7)
2. Revolt of Edom (2Ch 21:8-9)
3. Revolt of Libnah (2Ch 21:10-11)
4. The message of Elijah (2Ch 21:12-15)
5. Judah invaded (2Ch 21:16-17)
6. Jehorams sickness and death (2Ch 21:18-20)
Jehoram was Jehoshaphats firstborn. Jehoshaphat had six other sons to whom he gave great riches, but the kingdom was given to Jehoram. He walked in wickedness. For he had the daughter of Ahab to wife and he wrought that which was evil in the sight of the LORD. When Jehoram was in power, he slew all his brethren with the sword and also princes in Israel. The daughter of the murderer Ahab may have instigated the horrible crime. Jehoshaphat had joined affinity with Ahab (2Ch 18:1), and married his son Jehoram to Athaliah. What a man sows that will he reap. His unholy alliance began to bear fruit. And how often have Christian parents seen their children depart from God and follow altogether the wicked ways of the world, because they themselves had set the example. Then the enemies of Judah came and different revolts took place.
The writing which came to Jehoram from the prophet Elijah is interesting and presents some difficulties. Elijah had been translated a number of years before. To solve the difficulty some say that the name Elijah should be Elisha, who was then living and ministering in connection with Samaria. There is no need of doing this. It does not say that Elijah sent that writing, but it says: There came a writing from Elijah the prophet. Elijah knew Jehoshaphat and he knew his son Jehoram, who was for several years the co-regent of his father. The Lord showed him beforehand the evil course Jehoram would take, and how he would follow the wicked ways of Ahab, Elijah knew so well. Then he received the message exposing the wickedness of Jehoram, like to the whoredoms of Ahab, and announcing the judgment to come upon Jehoram. This message was probably intrusted by Elijah to Elisha, and when the proper moment had come this man of God delivered the writing to Jehoram, telling him at the same time that it was from Elijah.
Fearful was the end of this murderous and idolatrous king. He died of sore diseases, unrepenting, and thus as a lost soul passed into the blackness of darkness forever (Jud 1:13). And his people made no burning for him (burning incense) like the burning of his fathers; neither was he buried in the sepulchres of the kings.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Jehoram
Jehoram reigned for a time as co-king with his father. 2Ki 8:16.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
am 3115, bc 889
Jehoshaphat: 1Ki 22:50
was buried: 2Ch 21:20, 2Ch 9:31, 2Ch 12:16
Jehoram: 2Ki 8:16, 2Ki 8:17
reigned: “Alone.
Reciprocal: 2Sa 2:32 – buried 2Ki 8:24 – Ahaziah 1Ch 3:11 – Joram Mat 1:8 – Joram Act 13:36 – and was
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
JEHORAM TO HEZEHIAH
JEHORAM (2 Chronicles 21)
Jehoshaphat followed Rehoboams example in arranging for his sons (2Ch 21:3), but without the hoped-for result (2Ch 21:4). Such a brother as Jehoram proved might be expected to act in his kingly capacity as verses five to seven testify. Elijah (2Ch 21:12) may be mistaken of the transcribers for Elisha, as the former died earlier (2 Kings 2); unless we take the view in the margin that this was a writing he left behind him. For the fulfillment of this writing read the rest of the chapter. We had a much fuller account of this reign in 2 Kings.
AHAZIAH (2 Chronicles 22)
This king is called Jehoahaz in the preceding chapter (2Ch 21:17). The peculiarity in the figures (2Ch 22:2) was noticed in 2Ki 8:26, and the fact that his mother was the grand-daughter of Omri (2Ch 22:2). Note her influence (2Ch 22:3) like that of the mother of what other king recently considered?
In the story of 2Ch 22:5-9, it is of interest to know that archaeological research has found the names of Hazael and Jehu on Assyrian sculptures.
Athaliahs motive (v. 10) may have been inspired partly by anger at the destruction of her own house of Ahab, partly by the necessity of self- defense against Jehu, and partly by pride and ambition, since if any of the young princes became king his mother would supersede her in power and dignity.
Verse 12 means that the priests and their families, some of them at least, were privileged to dwell in the buildings in the outer wall of the temple.
JOASH (2 Chronicles 23-24)
Chief of the fathers of Israel (2Ch 23:2), means Judah and Benjamin only, the name usually employed in this book for all that remained of Israel. 1Ch 24:15-22 has no parallel in Kings. It mentions the honor shown Jehoiada. Burial in cities, except Jerusalem, was prohibited, and in that case only allowed to kings. What request did the princes make to the king after the death of the faithful priest (2Ch 24:17)? Does the next verse indicate its character? And was the king himself guilty (2Ch 24:21)? Compare Mat 23:29-35. In this last passage Christ speaks of the slain prophet as the son of Barachias instead of Jehoiada, but possibly he was the latters grandson. In his death the prophet said, The Lord shall see and require (2Ch 24:22), and for the fulfillment of the warning read the chapter to the end.
AMAZIAH (2 Chronicles 25)
This history is divided into three parts: (1) the general account of the reign, and its spirit, especially at the beginning (2Ch 25:1-4); (2) the conquest of the Edomites (2Ch 25:5-13); and (3) the idolatry of the king and its punishment at the hands of Israel (2Ch 25:14-28). The second of these events is given with detail not found in the earlier record, and is valuable for the reply of Gods servant to the king (2Ch 25:9), the lesson of which should not be disregarded. The third event also contains new matter (2Ch 25:14-16), explaining why the calamity of the following verses was permitted.
UZZIAH (2 Chronicles 26)
Two periods suggest themselves in this case: early obedience and prosperity (2Ch 26:1-15), then pride and punishment (2Ch 26:16-23). A comparison of the record of the first period with 2 Kings 14-15 shows new matter illustrating Uzziahs prosperity, who is there called Azariah. This latter name is that of the Assyrian inscriptions also. Do not let verse five escape. He sought God in the days of the Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God. How valuable the prophets in the history of Gods people, and especially those who understand the visions of God! There is a difference in prophets. Some understand what others do not. How necessary, therefore, that the Scripture interpreter should fear the Lord that he may possess his secrets.
Uzziah desired to exercise regal and sacerdotal functions at the same time, as in the case of pagan kings and emperors, but which was contrary to the divine law (Exodus 30, Numbers 18). For the sin, compare 1 Samuel 13, and the punishment, Numbers 12, 2 Kings 5.
JOTHAM AND AHAZ (2 Chronicles 27-28)
Of Jothams reign little need be said except to call attention to the lesson in verse six. The story of Ahaz is divided into four parts: (1) his general character and reign (2Ch 27:1-5); (2) the invasions by Syria and Israel (2Ch 27:6-9); (3) the alliance with Assyria (2 Chron. 27:16-21); and (4) the summary (2 Chron. 27:22-27).
There is much that is new as compared with Kings, but the prophetic intercession for Judah with their brethren of Israel is particularly interesting (2Ch 28:9-15). Was it their power, or Gods judicial sentence that caused Israel to be victorious (2Ch 28:9)? How had they abused their opportunity? What should make them cautious and merciful (2Ch 28:10)? 2Ch 28:12-15 accord with the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10), and Christ may have drawn upon this episode.
Ahazs alliance with Assyria is attested by the Assyrian monuments. In the summary of the close of his reign, what language (2Ch 28:24) indicates the suspension of the worship of God in his time?
HEZEKIAH (2 Chronicles 29-32)
After the beginning of Hezekiahs history, in chapter 29 we have the cleansing and consecration of the temple. In 30, the great passover. In 31, the religious reforms following. In 32, we have Sennacheribs expedition, Hezekiahs sickness, and the close of the reign. In Kings the military and political side of the reign is given more fully, but not the inner religious and theocratic side, as we see by comparing chapters 29-31 with the introductory verses of 2 Kings 18.
Noting a few outstanding points, all the uncleanness (2Ch 29:16) means probably the sacrificial vessels formerly employed in idolatry, and possibly the remains of idolatrous offerings. Ye have filled your hand unto the Lord (2Ch 29:31 margin), means they had consecrated themselves to God (Exo 28:41) after offering the expiatory sacrifices which preceded such consecration. Keep in mind that God accepts nothing from us as either gift or service until He accepts us. And we can be accepted only on the ground of the expiatory sacrifice of Christ. Note the last word of this chapter in the light of its context. That is the way a revival comes. O, that God would now surprise us with one!
Why could they not keep the passover in the appointed first month (2Ch 30:2-4)? Was change ever permissible (Num 9:6-13)? Note the breadth of the invitation (2Ch 30:5-9), and the reception it met from Israel (2Ch 30:10-11). See the difficulty in the case of Judah and the cause of it (2Ch 30:12). Healed the people (2Ch 30:20) means forgave their guilt. That they might be encouraged (steadfast) in the law of the Lord (2Ch 31:4), means that they might live carefree while performing their official duties.
Note that Hezekiah was a man of prayer and faith, who did not neglect means (2Ch 32:1-8). To understand he repaid not (2Ch 32:25), compare 1Ki 20:12. How disappointing this is in so good a man. What a lesson it teaches as to the need of prayer and watchfulness to the end of our lives (2Ch 32:31).
QUESTIONS
1. Count the fulfillments of prophecy in this lesson.
2. What warning for mothers is found in it?
3. How is it corroborated by archaeology?
4. How may Athaliahs conduct be explained?
5. Recite the story of the reign of Joash.
6. Name the divisions of chapter 25.
7. What was Uzziahs sin?
8. Where is the parable of the Good Samaritan suggested here?
9. What comes first in the divine order, salvation or consecration?
10. What lesson is taught by the latter part of Hezekiahs life?
Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary
2Ch 21:2. Jehoshaphat king of Israel. Many think that Israel is here put for Judah; but many of the ten tribes now placed themselves under Jehoshaphat; the text may therefore be correct, God having made the house of David the real kings of Israel. Ezra also repeats the word kings of Israel, 2Ch 28:19; 2Ch 28:27.
2Ch 21:3. Their father gave them great giftswith fenced cities of Judah. He made them lieutenants, and military princes of districts.
2Ch 21:10. Libnah was a strong city in the time of David. It fell by lot to the priests; and being a frontier town, was strongly fortified. The cause of the revolt is supposed to be Jehorams attempts to enforce idolatry, and to oppress his people.
2Ch 21:12. There came a writing to him from Elijah. The chronology of those times seems to suggest that Elijah had now ascended to heaven; but as the time of his ascension is not exactly noted, he might yet be on earth. The supposition of Josephus, that Elijah wrote this letter by an angel from heaven, is a rabbinical legend, utterly dissimilar to the way of providence in its intercourse with man.
2Ch 21:16. The Lord stirred up against Jehoram the Arabians that were near the Ethiopians. Cushim, the Cushites, who had possessions on both sides of the Red sea. This seems to be the only reason why the wife of Moses should be reproachfully called an Ethiopian woman.
2Ch 21:18. The Lord smote himwith an incurable disease. Not a dysentery, for that would have killed him in less than two years: but from the eruption of the bowels, scrophulous abscesses seem more likely to have been his complaint.
2Ch 21:20. They buried himnot in the sepulchres of the kings. The elders had a little power between the demise of one monarch and the accession of another; and they laid this punishment on the deceased Jehoram. A monarchy seems to have been for Israel the best form of government, when the throne was filled with eminent men; and the worst, when the king was a bad man. Happy art thou, oh England, in a mixed monarchy!
REFLECTIONS.
Jehoshaphat having attained his sixty first year, and having walked from his youth in the ways of the Lord, died in glory and in peace. His country, conscious of his worth, paid his memory all the honours due to his birth; and they had cause to weep, for in him every man lost a father. His virtues were many, and his actions great; in piety he was peculiarly distinguished; and all his faults may be resolved to a single point, a connection with Ahabs house. The taking of Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, a princess for Jehoram his son, was an error which went within a single step of exterminating the whole house of David. See 2 Kings 11. The statesman would indeed applaud the match as highly advantageous to the nation. It would be deemed a preventive of all future wars with Israel, and it would strengthen Judah by a powerful ally. But was Ahab more than God? Was the defence of JEHOVAH insufficient? No sooner did the prince take this woman to his bosom, this woman initiated into all her mothers crimes, than she made him as wicked as herself, and controlled him in council: 2Ch 22:3. On coming to the throne he slew all his brethren, ruled as a tyrant, and revolted the hearts of all his people. God forsook him, and nothing prospered under his reign. Elijahs awful letter had no effect in checking his career of impiety and vice; and in that view he was more hardened than Ahab. God therefore in compassion to his people, shortened his life by long afflictions and an early death. Come hither then, ye lukewarm professors, who in marrying your children give riches the preference to virtue. That lady of fortune and family, that lady accomplished for the assembly and the theatre, will corrupt your son; she will seduce his heart, destroy his soul, and cause the memory of grace, and the blessings of the covenant, like the daughters of Heth, for ever to depart from your house.
Jehoram thus corrupted in principle and practice by his wife, forced on Judah the superstition and idolatrous practices of Jezebel and Athaliah. This was an insult to the memory of his pious fathers, and exposed both him and his people to the vengeance of his fathers God. Having forfeited the divine protection, his subjects were the less solicitous to pay him homage. Moab, unable to support his tyranny, and availing itself of his embarrassments, made a successful revolt. The priests, and best friends of his fathers house, were driven to rebellion: and to complete his calamities, while the Philistines fought him on the west, the Arabians from the south came up, plundered Jerusalem, slaughtered his sons, and took his household captive. And it may not be reckoned the least of his calamities that Athaliah escaped on this occasion. Here are the fruits of leaving his fathers God, and of indulging in every crime. What a melancholy example for dissipated youths, who having had a religious education, forsake the ways of righteousness and truth.
Let us now follow him to the two last years of a life curtailed by vice. While his body was assailed with hopeless and acute pains, what must have been his anguish of mind when he reflected on the departed glory of his house, and the encreasing disasters of his kingdom. Surely his conscience would tell him terrible things, and convert his chamber into a tragic stage, the most instructive to humankind. He saw his treasures plundered, his wives in captivity, his sons slain, as he had slain his brethren, and nothing left of Solomons glory but the wreck of crimes. If he looked toward the sanctuary, the only refuge and comfort of a dying man, he saw both priests and prophets degraded, persecuted, and oppressed. If he turned his eyes, as is most likely, to the ministers and the idols of superstition, there was no mitigation of his calamities, for the gods were unmoved by his curses, and unsoftened by his cries. In physicians he had neither hope nor help. Though promised great rewards, or menaced with immediate death, they could do nothing against the hand of God. Ah, no: he was arrested by divine justice, and conformably to Elijahs sentence. Having despised the warning, God, it would now seem, denied him repentance; for he neither retraced his religious errors, nor repaired a single fault. Thus having help neither in God nor in man, to whom could he look, but to the infernal divinities! With whom could he imagine himself surrounded but with the ghosts of his murdered brothers, and of his massacred subjects. Surely then, in the torments of his body and in the anguish of his mind, hopeless in every view, hell in this man was begun on earth. Consider this, ye that forget God, lest he tear you to pieces, and there be none to deliver.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ch 21:1-20. The Reign of Jehoram (see notes on 1Ki 22:50, 2Ki 8:17-22).A large part of this section has nothing corresponding to it in 1 and 2 K.
2Ch 21:1. Cf. 1Ki 22:50.
2Ch 21:5-7. Cf. 2Ki 8:17-22.
2Ch 21:7. a lamp to him and . . . : the lamp is an expression symbolic of a mans life commemorated and thus continued in his posterity; cf. the torch of life illustrated by the Lampadephoria of the Greeks.
2Ch 21:8-10. Cf. 2Ki 8:20-22; in 2Ch 21:9 the Chronicler omits the words of 2Ki 8:21 b, and the people fled to their tents, which refer to Jehorams army.
2Ch 21:11-15. This supposed letter of Elijah can scarcely be historical; he was a prophet of the northern kingdom. It is probably due to the Chronicler, who wished to emphasize the fact that Jehorams disease was the work of Yahweh (2Ch 21:18) by making the prophet of Yahweh foretell it; cf. the case of Ahaziah (2Ki 1:4).
2Ch 21:16 f. the Arabians . . . : cf. notes on 2Ch 14:9 ff.Jehoahaz: Ahaziah (see. 2Ch 22:1).the burning: see note on 2Ch 16:14.without being desired: for the idea see Jer 22:18.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
THE REIGN OF JEHORAM
(vv.1-20)
Though verse 1 speaks of Jehoram’s reigning when Jehoshaphat died, it is made clear in 2Ki 8:16 that Jehoram began to reign before Jehoshaphat’s death, for it reads, “In the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah, Jehoram. the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, began to reign” (JND Trans.). Evidently Jehoshaphat gave his son the place of reigning along with himself, or as regent.
Jehoshaphat had seven sons, but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram. the firstborn, though giving also great gifts to each of his six brothers, including fortified cities in Judah. But Jehoram was a far different character than his father, and soon expressed the wickedness of his character by killing all his brothers as soon as he was established over the kingdom, and killing also other princes of Israel whom he might suspect of having any aspirations of reigning.
Why did he not follow the godliness of his father? One reason is that his father had left him the bad example of having bad friends. Since Jehoshaphat was friendly with Ahab, his son Jehoram married Ahab’s daughter Athaliah, who was no less wicked than her parents (v.6).
Yet in spite of Jehoram’s wickedness, the Lord would not destroy the house of David because of his promise to David and to David’s descendants (v.7). Thus the grace of God is emphasised as greater than judgment, though in righteous government God would bring serious suffering on Israel. This is seen in verse 8, as Edom revolted against the rule of Judah. Jehoram attempted to bring Edom back under subjection, but could do nothing (vv.9-10). Libnah also revolted, and the reason is simply given. The Lord allowed this because Jehoram had forsaken the Lord.
Jehoshaphat had not done away with the high places, but Jehoram added to these, causing the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit harlotry, that is, idolatry by means of the high places, for though at first they claimed to have the high places for the worship of God, this very soon developed into the worship of idols. Similarly, our desire for high recognition by men in our outward worship of God will very easily become virtual idolatry. God will be displaced and Satan’s counterfeit will take God’s place.
God had anticipated the evil of Jehoram, however, in having before inspired Elijah (previous to his translation) to write a letter of solemn reproof to Jehoram. Verses 12-15 record this message from “the Lord God of your father, David.” On the one hand, Jehoram. had the example of Asa, his grandfather and that of Jehoshaphat his father, who sought the honour of the Lord (v.12). But on the other hand, the kings of Israel had left an example of ungodly rebellion against the truth, and it was these whom Jehoram followed. He was guilty of making Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot, just as Ahab did in Israel. Also, Elijah wrote that Jehoram had killed his brothers who were better than himself (v.13).
Therefore, he added that God would judge Jehoram severely for this, bringing a serious affliction on his people, his children, his wives and all his possessions, but that he would also personally suffer the infliction of a dreadful disease of his intestines, so severe that his intestines would come out, “day by day” (v.15). This would mean protracted suffering. This solemn message, written before Jehoram was born, ought to have had specially profound effect upon the wicked king, for it came to him in a most unusual way which was clear evidence that it was a message from the all knowing God of creation.
The message of God by the writing of Elijah apparently did not at all turn Jehoram. to the Lord, as it ought to have, and the Lord stirred up his enemies against him. If one’s ways please the Lord, He would make his enemies to be at peace with him, but it was just the reverse with Jehoram. The Philistines and Arabians invaded Judah, and Judah had not enough defence to keep them from plundering the king’s house. They carried away his possessions, his sons and his wives, though leaving his youngest son, Jehoahaz (v.17).
Did Jehoram not reflect on the great contrast between his reign and the peaceful reign of his father? Since there is no record of his turning from his evil way, surely he could have nothing but utter remorse as his reign drew to a close. The Lord then struck him with an incurable disease of the intestines, which afflicted him for two years before his intestines came out and he died in severe pain. Thus God allowed him an extra two years for repentance, but he had evidently sold himself to do evil, as Ahab had done (1Ki 21:25), so that to the end be resisted the goodness of God that might have led him to repentance.
The people made no burning for him as they had for his fathers, for they were not sorry for his death. He reigned from the age of 32 until he was 40, a brief eight years, and died with no one to mourn for him. Though he was buried in Jerusalem, his grave was not with the kings. How sad an end for the son of the faithful King Jehoshaphat!
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
E. Jehoram ch. 21
The events from Jehoram’s reign that the Chronicler selected present a classic example of the consequences that follow departing from Yahweh. The king violated God’s will by murdering his brothers (2Ch 21:4) and practicing idolatry (2Ch 21:6).
"Jehoram is the first king of the Davidic line of whom the Chronicler’s judgment is totally negative." [Note: Williamson, 1 and 2 . . ., p. 303.]
"There is both irony and retributive justice in that Jehoram sets in motion events that would ultimately lead to the near obliteration of his own line (2Ch 22:10; 2Ki 11:1)." [Note: Dillard, 2 Chronicles, p. 165.]
The retributions Yahweh brought for these sins were the rebellion of and invasion by his neighbor nations (2Ch 21:8-10; 2Ch 21:16-17), his own painful death (2Ch 21:18-19), and death with no one’s regret (2Ch 21:19).
"It cannot be said too often that the tracing of cause and effect which so typifies Chr. does not imply that all suffering is the result of specific sin. The central point here relates rather to the folly and wickedness of usurping the place of God. Jehoram did not merely aim to exercise authority. He sought to control destinies. The same urge is not absent from the twentieth century." [Note: McConville, pp. 198-99.]
Even though Jehoram apostatized, largely through the influence of his wife and in-laws in Israel (2Ch 21:6), God did not cut off the Davidic line. This was because He had promised David He would never do that (2Ch 21:7).
It is significant that the prophet God sent to announce judgment on Jehoram was Elijah (2Ch 21:12). Elijah’s ministry was to condemn Baalism in Israel, but God sent him to Jehoram because Jehoram shared the same guilt as the kings of Ahab’s house. This is the only record we have of a prophet from the Northern Kingdom rebuking a king of the Southern Kingdom. All the other prophets God sent to the Davidic kings were from Judah.
"As with most illnesses mentioned in the Old Testament, we are left to conjecture about the clinically imprecise vocabulary. Ulcers, colitis, chronic diarrhea, and dysentery have been proposed." [Note: Thompson, p. 300.]
The reference to Jehoshaphat having been the king of Israel (2Ch 21:2) is not an error. As we have already noted, the Chronicler regarded Judah as the true Israel and sometimes referred to Judah as Israel (cf. 2Ch 12:6; 2Ch 23:2; et al.).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
JEHORAM, AHAZIAH, AND ATHALIAH: THE CONSEQUENCES OF A FOREIGN MARRIAGE
2Ch 21:1-20; 2Ch 22:1-12; 2Ch 23:1-21
THE accession of Jehoram is one of the instances in which a wicked son succeeded to a conspicuously pious father, but in this case there is no difficulty in explaining the phenomenon: the depraved character and evil deeds of Jehoram, Ahaziah, and Athaliah are at once accounted for when we remember that they were respectively the son-in-law, grandson, and daughter of Ahab, and possibly of Jezebel. If, however, Jezebel were really the mother of Athaliah, it is difficult to believe that the chronicler understood or at any rate realized the fact. In the books of Ezra and Nehemiah the chronicler lays great stress upon the iniquity and inexpediency of marriage with strange wives, and he has been careful to insert a note into the history of Jehoshaphat to call attention to the fact that the king of Judah had joined affinity with Ahab. If he had understood that this implied joining affinity with a Phoenician devotee of Baal, this significant fact would not have been passed over in silence. Moreover, the names Athaliah and Ahaziah are both compounded with the sacred name Jehovah. A Phoenician Baal-worshipper may very well have been sufficiently eclectic to make such use of the name sacred to the family into which she married, but on the whole those names rather tell against the descent of their owners from Jezebel and her Zidonian ancestors.
We have seen that, after giving the concluding formula for the reign of Jehoshaphat, the chronicler adds a postscript narrating an incident discreditable to the king. Similarly he prefaces the introductory formula for the reign of Jehoram by inserting a cruel deed of the new king. Before telling us Jehorams age at his accession and the length of his reign, the chronicler relates the steps taken by Jehoram to secure himself upon his throne. Jehoshaphat, like Rehoboam, had disposed of his numerous sons in the fenced cities of Judah, and had sought to make them quiet and contented by providing largely for their material welfare: “Their father gave them great gifts: silver, gold, and precious things, with fenced cities in Judah.” The sanguine judgment of paternal affection might expect that these gifts would make his younger sons loyal and devoted subjects of their elder brother; but Jehoram, not without reason, feared that treasure and cities might supply the means for a revolt, or that Judah might be split up into a number of small principalities. Accordingly when he had strengthened himself he slew all his brethren with the sword, and with them those princes of Israel whom he suspected of attachment to his other victims. He was following the precedent set by Solomon when he ordered the execution of Adonijah; and, indeed, the slaughter by a new sovereign of all those near relations who might possibly dispute his claim to the throne has usually been considered in the East to be a painful but necessary and perfectly justifiable act, being, in fact, regarded in much the same light as the drowning of superfluous kittens in domestic circles. Probably this episode is placed before the introductory formula for the reign because until these possible rivals were removed Jehorams tenure of the throne was altogether unsafe.
For the next few verses {2Ch 21:5-10; Cf. 2Ki 8:17-22} the narrative follows the book of Kings with scarcely any alteration, and states the evil character of the new reign, accounting for Jehorams depravity by his marriage with a daughter of Ahab. The successful revolt of Edom from Judah is next given, and the chronicler adds a note of his own to the effect that Jehoram experienced these reverses because he had forsaken Jehovah, the God of his fathers.
Then the chronicler proceeds to describe further sins and misfortunes of Jehoram. He mentions definitely, what is doubtless implied by the book of Kings, that Jehoram made high places in the cities of Judah and seduced the people into taking part in a corrupt worship. The Divine condemnation of the kings wrong-doing came from an unexpected quarter and in an unusual fashion. The other prophetic messages specially recorded by the chronicler were uttered by prophets of Judah, some apparently receiving their inspiration for one particular occasion. The prophet who rebuked Jehoram was no less distinguished a personage than the great Israelite Elijah, who, according to the book of Kings, had long since been translated to heaven. In the older narrative Elijahs work is exclusively confined to the Northern Kingdom. But the chronicler entirely ignores Elijah, except when his history becomes connected for a moment with that of the house of David.
The other prophets of Judah delivered their messages by word of mouth, but this communication is made by means of “a writing.” This, however, is not without parallel: Jeremiah sent a letter to the captives in Babylon, and also sent a written collection of his prophecies to Jehoiakim. {Jer 29:1-32, Jer 36:1-32} In the latter case, however, the prophecies had been originally promulgated by word of mouth.
Elijah writes in the name of Jehovah, the God of David, and condemns Jehoram because he was not walking in the ways of Asa and Jehoshaphat, but in the ways of the kings of Israel and the house of Ahab. It is pleasant to find that, in spite of the sins which marked the latter days of Asa and Jehoshaphat, their “ways” were as a whole such as could be held up as an example by the prophet of Jehovah. Here and elsewhere God appeals to the better feelings that spring from pride of birth. Noblesse oblige. Jehoram held his throne as representative of the house of David, and was proud to trace his descent to the founder of the Israelite monarchy and to inherit the glory of the great reigns of Asa and Jehoshaphat; but this pride of race implied that to depart from their ways was dishonorable apostasy. There is no more pitiful spectacle than an effeminate libertine pluming himself on his noble ancestry.
Elijah further rebukes Jehoram for the massacre of his brethren, who were better than himself. They had all grown up at their fathers court, and till the other brethren were put in possession of their fenced cities had been under the same influences. It is the husband of Ahabs daughter who is worse than all the rest; the influence of an unsuitable marriage has already begun to show itself. Indeed, in view of Athaliahs subsequent history, we do her no injustice by supposing that, like Jezebel and Lady Macbeth, she had suggested her husbands crime. The fact that Jerohams brethren were better men than himself adds to his guilt morally, but this undesirable superiority of the other princes of the blood to the reigning sovereign would seem to Jehoram and his advisers an additional reason for putting them out of the way; the massacre was an urgent political necessity.-
“Truly the tender mercies of the weak, As of the wicked, are but cruel.”
There is nothing so cruel as the terror of a selfish man. The Inquisition is the measure not only of the inhumanity, but also of the weakness, of the mediaeval Church; and the massacre of St. Bartholomew was due to the feebleness of Charles IX, as well as to the “revenge or the blind instinct of self-preservation” of Mary de Medici.
The chroniclers condemnation of Jehorams massacre marks the superiority of the standard of later Judaism to the current Oriental morality. For his sins Jehoram was to be punished by sore disease and by a great “plague” which would fall upon his people, and his wives, and his children, and all his substance. From the following verses we see that “plague,” here as in the case of some of the plagues of Egypt, has the sense of calamity generally, and not the narrower meaning of pestilence. This plague took the form of an invasion of the Philistines and of the Arabians “which are beside the Ethiopians.” Divine inspiration prompted them to attack Judah; Jehovah stirred up their spirit against Jehoram. Probably here, as in the story of Zerah, the term Ethiopians is used loosely for the Egyptians, in which case the Arabs in question would be inhabitants of the desert between the south of Palestine and Egypt, and would thus be neighbors of their Philistine allies.
These marauding bands succeeded where the huge hosts of Zerah had failed; they broke into Judah, and carried off all the kings treasure, together with his sons and his wives, only leaving him his youngest son: Jehoahaz or Ahaziah. They afterwards slew the princes they had taken captive. The common people would scarcely suffer less severely than their king. Jehoram himself was reserved for special personal punishment: Jehovah smote him with a sore disease; and, like Asa, he lingered for two years and then died. The people were so impressed by his wickedness that “they made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers,” whereas they had made a very great burning for Asa.
The chroniclers account of the reign of Ahaziah does not differ materially from that given by the book of Kings, though it is considerably abridged, and there are other minor alterations. The chronicler sets forth even more emphatically than the earlier history the evil influence of Athaliah and her Israelite kinsfolk over Ahaziahs short reign of one year. The story of his visit to Jehoram, king of Israel, and the murder of the two kings by Jehu, is very much abridged. The chronicler carefully omits all reference to Elisha, according to his usual principle of ignoring the religions life of Northern Israel; but he expressly tells us that, like Jehoshaphat, Ahaziah suffered for consorting with the house of Omri: “His destruction or treading down was of God in that he went unto Jehoram.” Our English versions have carefully reproduced an ambiguity in the original; but it seems probable that the chronicler does not mean that visiting Jehoram in his illness was a flagrant offense which God punished with death, but rather that, to punish Ahaziah for his imitation of the evil-doings of the house of Omri. God allowed him to visit Jehoram in order that he might share the fate of the Israelite king.
The book of Kings had stated that Jehu slew forty-two brethren of Ahaziah. It is, of course, perfectly allowable to take “brethren” in the general sense of “kinsmen”; but as the chronicler had recently mentioned the massacre of all Ahaziahs brethren, he avoids even the appearance of a contradiction by substituting “sons of the brethren of Ahaziah” for brethren. This alteration introduces new difficulties, but these difficulties simply illustrate the general confusion of numbers and ages which characterizes the narrative at this point. In connection with the burial of Ahaziah, it may be noted that the popular recollection of Jehoshaphat endorsed the favorable judgment contained in the “writing of Elijah”: “They said” of Ahaziah, “he is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought Jehovah with all his heart.” The chronicler next narrates Athaliahs murder of the seed royal of Judah and her usurpation of the throne of David, in terms almost identical with those of the narrative in the book of Kings. But his previous additions and modifications are hard to reconcile with the account he here borrows from his ancient authority. According to the chronicler, Jehoram had massacred all the other sons of Jehoshaphat, and the Arabians had slain all Jehorams sons except Ahaziah, and Jehu had slain their sons; so that Ahaziah was the only living descendant in the male line of his grandfather Jehoshaphat; he himself apparently died at the age of twenty-three. It is intelligible enough that he should have a son Joash and possibly other sons; but still it is difficult to understand where Athaliah found “all the seed royal” and “the kings sons” whom she put to death. It is at any rate clear that Jehorams slaughter of his brethren met with an appropriate punishment: all his own sons and grandsons were similarly slain, except the child Joash. The chroniclers narrative of the revolution by which Athaliah was slain, and the throne recovered for the house of David in the person of Joash, follows substantially the earlier history, the chief difference being, as we have already noticed, that the chronicler substitutes the Levitical guard of the second Temple for the bodyguard of foreign mercenaries who were the actual agents in this revolution. A distinguished authority on European history is fond of pointing to the evil effects of royal marriages as one of the chief drawbacks to the monarchical system of government. A crown may at any time devolve upon a woman, and by her marriage with a powerful reigning prince her country may virtually be subjected to a foreign yoke. If it happens that the new sovereign professes a different religion from that of his wifes subjects, the evils arising from the marriage are seriously aggravated. Some such fate befell the Netherlands as the result of the marriage of Mary of Burgundy with the Emperor Maximilian, and England was only saved from the danger of transference to Catholic dominion by the caution and patriotism of Queen Elizabeth. Athaliahs usurpation was a bold attempt to reverse the usual process and transfer the husbands dominions to the authority and faith of the wifes family. It is probable that Athaliahs permanent success would have led to the absorption of Judah in the Northern Kingdom. This last misfortune was averted by the energy and courage of Jehoiada, but in the meantime the half-heathen queen had succeeded in causing untold harm and suffering to her adopted country. Our own history furnishes numerous illustrations of the evil influences that come in the train of foreign queens. Edward II suffered grievously at the hands of his French queen; Henry VIs wife, Margaret of Anjou, contributed considerably to the prolonged bitterness of the struggle between York and Lancaster; and to Henry VIIIs marriage with Catherine of Aragon the country owed the miseries and persecutions inflicted by Mary Tudor. But, on the other hand, many of the foreign princesses who have shared the English throne have won the lasting gratitude of the nation. A French queen of Kent, for instance, opened the way for Augustines mission to England.
But no foreign queen of England has had the opportunities for mischief that were enjoyed and fully utilized by Athaliah. She corrupted her husband and her son, and she was probably at once the instigator of their crimes and the instrument of their punishment. By corrupting the rulers of Judah and by her own misgovernment, she exercised an evil influence over the nation; and as the people suffered, not for their sins only, but also for those of their kings, Athaliah brought misfortunes and calamity upon Judah. Unfortunately such experiences are not confined to royal families; the peace and honor, and prosperity of godly families in all ranks of life have been disturbed and often destroyed by the marriage of one of their members with a woman of alien spirit and temperament. Here is a very general and practical application of the chroniclers objection to intercourse with the house of Omri.