Judah #4 Jehoshaphat. 2 Chronicles 17-20 Reigned 25 years. Good

After returning from the foolish alliance with King Ahab of Israel (2 Chronicles 18), rejecting Micaiah’s prediction that the battle would be lost, Ahab is killed in the battle. 2 Crhonicles 19:1 Then Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned in safety to his house in Jerusalem. ² Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord and so bring wrath on yourself from the Lord? ³ But there is some good in you, for you have removed the Asheroth from the land and you have set your heart to seek God.” Hanani the prophet (seer) summed up Jehoshaphat really well. “Your weakness is making alliance with wicked people who hate the Lord, but there is a lot of good in you and God will bless your reign.” Don’t we all have some weakenss that keeps popping up in our lives? You might be doing well spiritually but then you are out with friends and they suggest doing something that you know is sinful and you compromise your values and join them in sin. Down deep in your heart you know that your fiance is not the type of spiritual person that you want to spend your whole life with but you marry anyway for various reasons. Paul gave a warning to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 6:¹⁴ Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? ¹⁵ Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols?” 1 Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals“. AI: “Human beings naturally absorb the attitudes, speech, and behaviors of the people they spend the most time with. Even strong principles can wear down over time through constant exposure to negative influences.” (Borrowdale Community Church) Christians are the salt of the earth and salt must come in contact with meat to give it flavor or preserve it, but be careful that your constact with sinners is helping influence them for good instead of them influencing you for bad. Jehoshaphat then began more reforms, espeically judicial reforms demand that judges judge fairly without prejudice or taking bribes.

2 Chronicles 20 The Moabites and Ammonites attack Judah with a very large army and Jehoshaphat is afraid. He then leads a very humble prayer trusting to Yahweh to give Judah the victory. 19:12 For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.” 3 parts to that closing of the prayer: 1) Acknowledge that we are powerless. 2) Appeal to God wisdom, to know what to do. 3) Eyes on God, trusting Him, waiting on Him to do give the victory. That’s a pretty good prayer thought isn’t it? Jahaziel the prophet then told Jehoshaphat and Judah “Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s.” The battle belongs to the Lord (a song). Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the Lord is with you.” I wish I could have such courage and trust to face my battles in life. Everyone fell to the ground and worshipped God even before the battle began. A strange battle ensued. The Lord intrervened to set ambuses in some way among the enemy. The Moabites and Ammonites attacked the Edomites and slaughtered them. And then the Moabites and Ammonites started fighting each other and destroyed each other. By the time Jehoshaphat got to the battle field, there was nothing but corpses and no battle to fight. Judah never had to even fight and spent 3 days collecting the spoil. Our battles are no always won so easily, but many of our battles could be won like that if we fully trust God and seek him in prayer. He might decide that we need a break from constant battle fatigue and gives us a victory with little or no effort on our part.

Unfortunately, we tend to fall back into bad habits. Toward the end of his reign in the 17th year, he made another alliance will an evil king of Israel, Azariah the son of King Ahab. They planned a shipping venture to get gold from Tarshish. Eliezar the prophet condemned the venture and the ships were destroyed by a storm before they ever set sail. When Ahaziah later asked for a second attempt with a combined crew, to his credit Jehoshaphat refused. But again, Jehoshaphat’s weakness popped up, making alliances with evil people. You would think that he would finally get it, but he didn’t. Don’t we repeat the same mistakes over and over?

Judah #5 Jehoram. 2 Chronicles 21 Reigned 8 years. Bad

The first thing Jehoram did was kill all his brothers! He married Athaliah, daughter of King Ahab and Jezebel of Israel. AI: “The marriage was arranged as a political alliance between King Jehoshaphat of Judah and King Ahab of Israel to end decades of war between the two rival kingdoms. Jehoram of Judah began his co-regency and rule in the mid-9th century BCE (approximately 853–841 BCE), meaning the marriage took place prior to or near the beginning of his rise to power as part of the diplomatic pact forged by his father Jehoshaphat and Ahab. Athaliah brought the religious influences of the northern house of Ahab and Jezebel into Judah, notably promoting the worship of Baal. Here is a great chart showing the influence of Jezebel and her daughter Athaliah even on the sourthern kingdom of Judah.

Elijah the prophet cursed him b/c of killing his brothers and all the evil he had done and told him “21:¹⁵ You yourself will be very ill with a lingering disease of the bowels, until the disease causes your bowels to come out.’”¹⁸ After all this, the Lord afflicted Jehoram with an incurable disease of the bowels. ¹⁹ In the course of time, at the end of the second year, his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in great pain. His people made no funeral fire in his honor, as they had for his predecessors. He passed away, to no one’s regret.” That’s a sad commentary: “he died and no one regretted it! everyone was glad he died”. I hope I don’t end like that!

Judah #6 Ahaziah. 2 Chronicles 22:1-9 Reigned 1 year. Bad

His mother’s name was Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, who encouraged him to act wickedly. Like his father Jehoram, he allied with King Joram of Israel, son of Ahab, to go into battle with Hazael King of Aram (Syria). Joram was wounded in the battle and Ahaziah went to Jezreel to check on him. The God appointed assassin Jehu tracked him down and killed him.

Judah #7 Athaliah. 2 Chronicles 2 Chronicles 22:10 – 23:21. Reigned 6 years. Bad

As soon as Ahaziah died, Athaliah killed all the royal descendants except Joash, Ahaziah’s son, who was rescued and kept hidden from Athaliah for 6 years in the temple by Jehosheba, Ahaziah’s sister, the daughter of King Jehoram and wife of the priest Jehoiada. After 6 years, Jehoiada anointed Joash king as Athaliah cried “Treason”. They tracked Athaliah down and killed her. They then destroyed all the Baals. Jehoiada led the people in many reforms, tearing down Baal idols.

Good stopping place with the death of Athaliah and anointing of Joash.