Israel #9 Jehoram continued. 2 Kings 3:1-9:25 Reigned 12 years.

1 Kings 8 Let’s give the evil Jehoram a little credit. Elisha told the Shunammite woman whose son Elisha raised from he dead to go to Philistia for 7 years during the famine. When she came back to Israel, she requested that she be given her house and land back that she had left. Let’s give leprous Gehazi a little credit also. He told Jehoram about the woman and the miracle, and Jehoram gave the women her house and land. Kudos to Jerhoram and Gehazi!

Elisha later came to Damascus when Ben-hadad was sick. Ben-hadad sent Hazael to ask Elisha if he would recover. Elisha wept as he told Hazel that Ben-hadad would die. Hazael asked why he wept. Elisha wept b/c he knew that Hazael would be the next king of Syria and would kill many of the Israelites in the future. Hazael went back to Ben-hadad and told him that Elisha had said that he would recover (which was a lie). On the next day Hazael suffocated Ben-hadad and became king.

Judah #5 Jehoram 2 Kings 8:16-24 Reigned 8 years. He did evil b/c he was married to Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. 2 Chronicles 21 tells us that he killed all his brothers when he became king. He died of diseased bowels b/c of all the evil he did. Notice this is another Jehoram other than the Jehoram king of Israel. A little confusing when reading.

Judah #6 Ahaziah. 2 Kings 8:24-9:29 Reigned 1 year. His mother was the evil. Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel.

Here is a great slide showing the intermarriage of Athaliah with Jehoram king of Judah, the son of Jehoshaphat, and her interaction with Jehoram’s descendants.

Israel #10 Jehu. 2 Kings 9:1-10:36 Reigned 28 years. Elisha had Jehu anointed as king specifically to kill Ahab, wipe out the house of Ahab, and kill Jezebel. Jehu began a series of assassinations just as God commanded him.

He chased down Jezebel. She painted her eyes and adorned her head before Jehu had her thrown out a window and she died. The dogs all all of her except her skull, feet, and palms of her hand just as Elijah had predicted. God rewarded Jehu with 4 of his sons later becoming kings of Israel. All of the kings of Israel were bad but at least he obeyed God in those assassinations.

Judah #7 Athaliah. 2 Kings 11:1-20 Reigned as queen 6 years. She was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. She was a usurper of the throne and obviously not on the line of Judah kings as were the other kings of Judah. Summary: 1. She counseled her son Ahaziah (6th king of Judah) to do wickedly and he was killed by Jehu.2. When Ahaziah died, Athaliah seized the throne and destroyed all the royal offspring of Judah. 3. Jehoshaba, king Jehoram’s (5th king of Judah) daughter hid Joash the infant son of Ahaziah for 6 years and in the 7th year Jehoida the priest (Jehoshaba’s husband) overthrew and killed Athaliah. She “reigned” 6 years.

Judah #7 Joash. 2 Kings 11:1-12:21 Reigned 40 years. More details are given in 2 Chronicles 22-24.
1. Joash began reigning at age 7 and with the guidance of Jehoida the priest he repaired the temple. 2. But when Jehoida died at 130 years old, Joash gave in to the officials of Judah and the people worshipped the Asheriim and idols. 3. God sent prophets but the people would not listen (24:19). 4. Zechariah (Mt 23:35) the son of Jehoida rebuked Joash, but Joash murdered him 5. His own servants assassinated him. Joel the prophet probably prophesied during the reign of King Joash of Judah. He predicted the locust plague as punishment for Judah’ sins but also predicted the pouring out of the miraculous Spirit in the last days of the Jewish nation (30-70 AD).

I hope you like the format I am using for the divided kingdom. If you pay attention to the years in which each king began to reign, you will see that pattern that I described for reading the divided kingdom.