Today we will be looking at the end of Jehoshaphat's life. After his death his son, Jehoram, succeeded him as king of Judah.
"So Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king of Judah, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-five years." (2 Chronicles 20:31a) Jehoshaphat was middle-aged by the time he became king because his father, Asa, reigned for forty-one years. Although the Bible does not provide us with Asa's age when he came to the throne, it's generally assumed he was about eighteen to twenty-one, which means he only lived to be in his early sixties. Jehoshaphat also lives only into his early sixties. But during their reigns both of these kings remained faithful to the Lord and never turned to idolatry. They both made some mistakes, as we have seen, but even the most faithful servant of the Lord makes mistakes in their human weakness while living in this fallen world.
"His mother's name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi." (2 Chronicles 20:31b) It's worth noting that Jehoshaphat's mother and maternal grandfather have Hebrew names. We don't know whether Jehoshaphat's father had more than one wife but I think it's doubtful he had any foreign wives because Asa despised idolatrous religious practices. I think we can safely assume that Jehoshaphat's mother served the Lord and that having two God-fearing parents contributed heavily to Jehoshaphat's faithfulness to the Lord.
The author says of Jehoshaphat, "He followed the ways of his father Asa and did not stray from them; he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. The high places, however, were not removed, and the people still had not set their hearts on the God of their ancestors." (2 Chronicles 20:32-33) Earlier in our study of Jehoshaphat we found the Scriptures telling us that he did remove the high places and we discussed how this is not a contradiction. I believe that he did the same thing as his father Asa, who removed all the foreign high places in Judah but left the hilltop altars that had been used for offerings to the Lord. It would have been best if both these kings had removed every high place in Judah because the Lord commanded offerings and sacrifices to be brought to the temple now, and the temple is in Jerusalem within the kingdom of Judah. Having hilltop altars is a temptation to the people to blend pagan practices with the true worship of the Lord---or to abandon true worship altogether. This is why the author of our text today must share with us the sad news that not all the people's hearts were faithful to the God of their ancestors. Far more of them would have been faithful to Him if they didn't have these other altars where they did as they pleased.
"The other events of Jehoshaphat's reign, from beginning to end, are written in the annals of Jehu son of Hanani, which are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel." (2 Chronicles 21:34) Jehu is mentioned in the Bible several times as being a prophet. "Then Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the city of David. And Jehoram his son succeeded him as king. Jehoram's brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat, were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael and Shephatiah. All these were sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel. Their father had given them many gifts of silver and gold and articles of value, as well as fortified cities in Judah, but he had given the kingdom to Jehoram because he was his firstborn son." (2 Chronicles 21:1-3) Jehoram may have been Jehoshaphat's firstborn son but he was not the best choice to succeed his father as king. We will learn that Jehoram is a very wicked man. When he dies after only eight years as king, the Bible will tell us that he dies "to no one's regret".
I don't know what went wrong with Jehoram's character but it could not have helped that his father made a political alliance with King Ahab of Israel by arranging a marriage between Jehoram and Ahab's idolatrous daughter Athaliah. Jehoram, who may or may not have had idolatrous leanings before he married this woman, will reject the God of his forefathers and give himself wholeheartedly to idolatry and will be a bad influence on the nation of Judah. The eight years of Jehoram's reign will be eight dark years and he will not even be honored by being entombed in the same area of Jerusalem as men like Jehoshaphat, Asa, and David. I think King Jehoshaphat would have been heartbroken to know what a terrible, ungodly king his son was. We will study Jehoram's reign before long but first we will switch back to study the king who came to power in Israel after the death of Ahab.
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