A SON NOT LIKE HIS FATHER
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Opening Prayer
Father, please continue to use your Word to mold my life into one that is able to serve you in greater measure.
Read 2 CHRONICLES 21:4—20
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2 Chronicles
2 Chronicles 21
4 When Jehoram established himself firmly over his father’s kingdom, he put all his brothers to the sword along with some of the officials of Israel.
5 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years.
6 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD.
7 Nevertheless, because of the covenant the LORD had made with David, the LORD was not willing to destroy the house of David. He had promised to maintain a lamp for him and his descendants forever.
8 In the time of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against Judah and set up its own king.
9 So Jehoram went there with his officers and all his chariots. The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but he rose up and broke through by night.
10 To this day Edom has been in rebellion against Judah. Libnah revolted at the same time, because Jehoram had forsaken the LORD, the God of his ancestors.
11 He had also built high places on the hills of Judah and had caused the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves and had led Judah astray.
12 Jehoram received a letter from Elijah the prophet, which said: “This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘You have not followed the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or of Asa king of Judah.
13 But you have followed the ways of the kings of Israel, and you have led Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ahab did. You have also murdered your own brothers, members of your own family, men who were better than you.
14 So now the LORD is about to strike your people, your sons, your wives and everything that is yours, with a heavy blow.
15 You yourself will be very ill with a lingering disease of the bowels, until the disease causes your bowels to come out.’”
16 The LORD aroused against Jehoram the hostility of the Philistines and of the Arabs who lived near the Cushites.
17 They attacked Judah, invaded it and carried off all the goods found in the king’s palace, together with his sons and wives. Not a son was left to him except Ahaziah, the youngest.
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.
20 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
Reflect
‘Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father … thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not; / as thou hast been, thou forever wilt be.’1
Jehoshaphat appears to have been a good father, providing for all his sons, not just Jehoram, his heir.2 He might have been a good father, caring for all his children, but Jehoram was not a good brother! Sadly, throughout history and across the world, there are examples of those who, upon coming to power, immediately misuse that power by eliminating anyone they believe might have the means to oppose them. The chronicler seems to deliberately contrast the considerate, God-fearing, and people-consulting father with the power-hungry, God-forsaking son. The only way Jehoram did follow his father’s example was in allying with the northern kingdom and marrying into their royal family. It is interesting that it was the northern prophet Elijah who brought the devastating prediction of a terrible future for Jehoram, where he would lose not only the power he was so concerned about, but also his health and well-being (vv. 12—15). The final summary of his reign is, ‘He passed away, to no one’s regret’ (v. 20). He had clung to kingship but was buried in a way indicating that no one even recognized that he had been king.
The chronicler’s two main messages are both reinforced in this section. His king narratives are not just ‘this is what happened’; the clear lessons for the original readers apply equally significantly to us. The first of these messages, speaking of who God is and how he relates to us, has been clearly explained already: ‘The Lord is with you when you are with him … but if you forsake him, he will forsake you;’3 clearly, only the second half of this applies to Jehoram (vv. 12—14). The second related message is that how we act, in our use and abuse of power, matters to God. We have here a tool for assessing how our leaders, and we ourselves, use or misuse whatever power and influence we might have.
Apply
Leadership is sometimes viewed as taking control. How does this match the model Jesus gives us?4
Closing prayer
Thank you, Lord God, for those good leaders whose passing has been widely and deeply mourned. Thank you for their example and legacy.
1 ‘Great is Thy Faithfulness’, Thomas O. Chisholm, 1923 2 2 Chr 21:2, 3 3 2 Chr 15:2 4 Matt 23:1—12.
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