The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 139, Ahab's Family Killed, Part Two

In yesterday's study we found Jehu sending letters to all the officials of Israel after they declared they would stand behind him. He asked them to bring him the heads of the seventy sons of Ahab in baskets.

The men do as he asks. "When the letter arrived, these men took the princes and slaughtered all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu in Jezreel. When the messenger arrived, he told Jehu, 'They have brought the heads of the princes.' Then Jehu ordered, 'Put them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning.'" (2 Kings 10:7-8) 

This is a gruesome scene but it was a common practice in ancient times to pile up the severed heads of one's enemies at the city gates for everyone going in and coming out to see. Such a sight was used as a victorious symbol of conquest and as a warning to anyone who might be thinking of rebelling against the victor. A similar example would be the practice of the Roman Empire of carrying out crucifixions on elevated ground along the main roadways into cities. They did this as a warning to everyone coming and going not to make themselves enemies of the state or else the same fate would befall them.

The heads must have arrived late in the evening because Jehu doesn't address the citizens by the city gates until morning. "The next morning Jehu went out. He stood before all the people and said, 'You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him, but who killed all these? Know, then, that not a word the Lord has spoken against the house of Ahab will fail. The Lord has done what He announced through His servant Elijah.' So Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his chief men, his close friends and his priests, leaving him no survivor." (2 Kings 10:9-11) Jehu finishes off those in Jezreel who had been close to the king and who had conspired with him in all his wickedness. 

Jehu appears to be telling the people that they cannot hold him accountable for those he has killed when they themselves did not stand up for the house of Ahab. No one resisted Jehu's entrance into the city or his taking over all that belonged to the house of Ahab. He even offered, in yesterday's passage, for them to choose a man of Ahab's family as their king. They refused this offer because they could not defend the dynasty of Ahab against Jehu and the army---and perhaps they did not want to even if they could have. Jehu says something like, "Yes, it's true: I did conspire against King Joram and I did take his life by shooting an arrow at him with my own bow. But I didn't kill these seventy males of the house of Ahab! I asked for their heads if you wanted to give your allegiance to me, but I did not force you to give these men up. You willingly chose to turn your backs on the dynasty of Ahab in favor of a new regime. So let's let bygones be bygones. You will not hold me accountable for causing anyone's death and I will not hold you accountable for causing anyone's death. We are at the gates of the city---in the place where cases are judged---and the only ones who have been judged guilty and executed are the family members of Ahab who were murderers and idolaterss and who forced people to refrain from practicing religious rites that serve the living God in favor of serving Baal. Only these men of the house of Ahab have been judged and put to death. As for the rest of us, let us go on into the future together."

Now that this matter has been dealt with, Jehu deals with those relatives of King Ahaziah of Judah who have traveled to the northern kingdom, just as Ahaziah himself did, to visit the home of King Joram of Israel and his mother Jezebel. "Jehu then set out and went toward Samaria. At Beth Eked of the Shepherds, he met some relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah and asked, 'Who are you?' They said, 'We are relatives of Ahaziah, and we have come down to greet the families of the king and the queen mother.' 'Take them alive!' he ordered. So they took them alive and slaughtered them by the well of Beth Eked---forty-two of them. He left no survivor." (2 Kings 10:12-14) 

What is his quarrel with the house of Ahaziah? It's because he also was related to Ahab. Ahaziah was the son of Athaliah, the daughter of King Ahab. His relatives who have come up from Judah to visit Joram and Jezebel haven't yet heard about what has taken place at Jezreel: the deaths of King Joram and of the queen mother, Jezebel. They haven't yet heard that their own king and kinsman, Ahaziah, is dead. Jehu and his men seize these visitors from Judah and put them to death to fulfill the prophecy of Elijah that no male of the house of Ahab would be left alive. 

"After he left there, he came upon Jehonadab son of Rekab, who was on his way to meet him. Jehu greeted him and said, 'Are you in accord with me, as I am with you?' 'I am,' Jehonadab answered. 'If so,' said Jehu, 'give me your hand.' So he did, and Jehu helped him up into the chariot. Jehu said, 'Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.' Then he had him ride along in his chariot. When Jehu came to Samaria, he killed all who were left there of Ahab's family; he destroyed them, according to the word of the Lord spoken to Elijah." (2 Kings 10:15-17) Jehonadab, who was the founder of a people called the "Rechabites" in the Bible, will be mentioned again later on by the prophet Jeremiah. 

Yesterday's and today's segments of Scripture have been bloody, difficult passages to study. But it was the Lord's will for all the family of Ahab to be removed from the earth: all of the family members in Israel and all of the family members who traveled up from Judah. Ahab was one of the most evil men of the Bible and was responsible for turning untold numbers of people away from the truth to the worship of false gods. The Lord doesn't take it lightly when someone interferes with the souls of others; in fact, according to the Scriptures He takes this type of sin more seriously than all others, for what is more important than the destiny of a person's eternal soul? It's hard for us to read passages like the ones we've been studying but the house of Ahab deeply harmed the people of Israel from a spiritual standpoint. The house of Ahab did a great deal of harm to the people from many other standpoints as well, such as the murder of Naboth for the petty reason of Ahab wanting his vineyard for a vegetable garden. As a result of the sins of this family, they receive the death penalty for their capital crimes.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 138, Ahab's Family Killed, Part One

In yesterday's study we looked at a shocking event that took place in the kingdom of Judah. Today the narrative switches back to what is going on in the kingdom of Israel at the same time. Jehu, who killed King Joram of Israel as well as King Ahaziah of Judah, begins wiping out all the male descendants of the house of Ahab, putting an end to that particular dynasty as was prophesied earlier in the Bible by Elijah. 

"Now there were in Samaria seventy sons of the house of Ahab. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria: to the officials of Jezreel, to the elders and to the guardians of Ahab's children. He said, 'You have your master's sons with you and you have chariots and horses, a fortified city and weapons. Now as soon as this letter reaches you, choose the best and most worthy of your master's sons and set him on your father's throne. Then fight for your master's house.'" (2 Kings 10:1-3) 

The Bible's use of the word "children" here does not have to mean that Ahab's sons are not all adults. Ahab has been dead for twelve years and scholars estimate he was eighty-three years old when he died, so most or all of his children are adults by now, although some may still be in their mid to late teens if he was still fathering children in his senior years. The "elders" are probably advisors to Ahab's grown children and the "guardians" may be something like today's Secret Service who are protecting the members of the royal family, but it could be that some of his children are not yet legal adults and have been placed in the care of "guardians" to make decisions for them until they reach the age of majority. The reason I'm belaboring this point is that it will be important later for us not to think of Ahab's children as infants, toddlers, or elementary-school aged kids. The very youngest any of them could be is twelve. 

You'll recall that way back in the book of 1 Kings the Lord instructed Elijah to anoint Jehu as the future king of Israel. We never read an account of Elijah doing so, but we did find Elisha sending an unnamed younger prophet to anoint Jehu.  Jehu is the rightful king now by the will of God. He has taken over the royal city of Jezreel and the palace. But since Ahab has so many descendants, Jehu knows there could be many challengers to his right to ascend to the throne. He wants to get these challenges out of the way immediately, so he sends letters to everyone who is in charge of guarding all the potential heirs to the throne. He says something like, "If you have a candidate you'd like to place on the throne, and if you are willing to fight to keep him on the throne, the time to do it is now."

No one wants to take him up on this offer. "But they were terrified and said, 'If two kings could not resist him, how can we?'" (2 Kings 10:4) This is a fight no one thinks they can win. Jehu was formerly the chief commander of Israel's army and he has a great deal of military support behind him. No one in the army opposed him when he led the charge against Jezreel and killed King Joram. No one in the army opposed him when he ordered soldiers to pursue and kill the fleeing King Ahaziah of Judah. The citizens of the city didn't mount a resistance against him either but instead he was able to boldly march into Jezreel. He was even able to order the death of the queen mother, Jezebel, by asking who in the city was on his side; the very men whose job it was to guard her threw her out of an upper window. 

Because the top officials of the nation don't think they can successfully oppose Jehu, they reply to his letters by promising him their allegiance. "So the palace administrator, the city governor, the elders and the guardians sent this message to Jehu: 'We are your servants and we will do anything you say. We will not appoint anyone as king; you do whatever you think best.'" (2 Kings 10:5) 

Jehu thinks it best to completely wipe out the family of Ahab. "Then Jehu wrote them a second letter, saying, 'If you are on my side and will obey me, take the heads of your master's sons and come to me in Jezreel by this time tomorrow.'" (2 Kings 10:6a) The prophet Elijah warned King Ahab that his entire dynasty would be cut off due to how exceedingly sinful he was and due to how much sin he led the people into. The Lord said to Ahab through Elijah: "I am going to bring disaster on you. I will wipe out your descendants and cut off every last male in Israel---slave or free. I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have aroused My anger and caused Israel to sin." (1 Kings 21:21-22) The Lord had cut off the dynasties of King Jeroboam and King Baasha, which Ahab well knew, and warned him He would do the same to his own dynasty. This is about to come to pass when all the sons of Ahab are killed. 

Scholars point out that when the Bible says "sons of Ahab" this could mean literal sons, grandsons, or sons and grandsons combined. But it's very possible that Ahab actually fathered seventy sons because it was typical for kings of that era to have large harems. If he lived to be eighty-three years old and he reigned for twenty-two years after he became king, this means he was already sixty-one when he was crowned king of Israel. He would already have had a wife or wives and a number of children by then.  He probably expanded his harem a great deal after he became king. During his long life he easily could have fathered seventy sons and an untold number of daughters. So when Jehu asks the leaders of Israel to bring him the heads of Ahab's sons in a basket, these are probably Ahab's actual sons. But it does seem likely he would have had grandsons too and I cannot discount the idea that some may have been minors at the time of their death. I do think the majority of Ahab's descendants who will be killed in tomorrow's text are grown men but I can't say that all of them are. 

In tomorrow's text we will find the officials of Israel carrying out Jehu's orders.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 137, A Tale Of Two Women

We have been studying the deaths of King Joram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah at the hands of Jehu, the army commander of Israel. Also the wicked Jezebel, mother of Joram, was killed. Jezebel typically gets the credit for being the most wicked woman in the Bible but her daughter will do something so unspeakable in today's passage of Scripture that I personally feel she is every bit as wicked as her mother, if not more so. 

You'll recall that the mother of King Ahaziah is Athaliah, the daughter of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. Athaliah became the wife of Jehoram, the son of King Jehoshaphat of Judah, in an arranged marriage earlier in the Bible in order to form an alliance between the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Athaliah is a Baal-worshiper just like her parents and she was a bad spiritual influence on her husband, who followed her into Baal-worship, and on her son, the now-deceased Ahaziah. When Ahaziah's servants bring his dead body back from Israel to bury it in his tomb in the City of David, Athaliah learns of his death and of the death of her brother, King Joram, and does not react in the manner we would expect a grieving mother or sister to react. She doesn't gather her fatherless grandchildren in her arms and comfort them over their father's death. She doesn't take steps to preserve the dynasty of her son and protect the security of the nation by having Ahaziah's eldest son crowned king of Judah. Instead she begins taking steps to secure the crown for herself. This is why the author of 2 Chronicles concludes the account of King Ahaziah's death and burial by saying, "So there was no one in the house of Ahaziah powerful enough to retain the kingdom." (2 Chronicles 22:9b)

Why was no one in the house of Ahaziah powerful enough to retain the kingdom? The Bible doesn't say but I believe the safest assumption is that none of Ahaziah's sons is old enough to oppose anyone who makes a claim to the throne.  Ahaziah came to the throne when he was twenty-two years old and he only reigned for one year. Even if his eldest son were declared king immediately upon the news of Ahaziah's death, a co-regent would have had to be appointed to guide him until he reached the age of majority. It is not likely that anyone in Judah would have wanted to appoint Athaliah as a co-regent, not with her being a woman and an idolater from the northern kingdom. She knows that if one of Ahaziah's sons is declared king, the officials and elders of Judah will appoint a man of their own choosing to serve as co-regent, and she will lose all of the power and influence she has enjoyed up until now. 

Athaliah is so power-hungry that she lacks the normal affection a grandmother should have for her grandchildren. Instead of wanting to see them succeed in life, she would rather have them taken out of this life so she can reign unopposed. "When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family of the house of Judah." (2 Chronicles 22:10)

This woman orders all of her grandsons killed! We don't know how many of them there were but in our passage today it sounds like there must have been at least three, for we will be told that the youngest is saved from extermination by being stolen away from the other "royal princes", plural. I believe that there were a number of royal princes because Ahaziah, like most kings, probably had a queen plus several other wives and perhaps many foreign concubines. But Athaliah's plan to wipe out all the males of her son's line is not successful because the Lord keeps the promise He made to David that there will always be a man of the direct line of David with the right to sit on the throne. "But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes who were about to be murdered and put him and his nurse in a bedroom." (2 Chronicles 22:11a)

Joash's life is saved by his aunt, Jehosheba, one of the daughters of the late King Jehoram, who was Athaliah's husband. This does not mean Jehosheba is Athaliah's daughter, since we would expect King Jehoram to have had multiple wives. Many scholars believe Jehosheba is Jehoram's daughter by one of his other wives, hence her willingness to oppose Athaliah. Another clue that Jehosheba is likely Jehoram's daughter by a different wife, and therefore only a half-sister to the late King Ahaziah, is that we will learn she is married to a priest---not a priest of Baal but a priest who serves the Lord. It's possible that a daughter of Athaliah would eschew Baal-worship and give her heart to the one true God, but it's not very likely. Athaliah's influence of Ahaziah was so great that he worshiped Baal wholeheartedly just as she did; Athaliah would have had even more influence on a daughter because a daughter would have grown up primarily in the company of the women of the royal household. A daughter would have spent more time with her than would a son. So I lean towards the opinion that Jehosheba is Jehoram's daughter by a different wife. 

Jehosheba manages to get Joash out of the nursery and hidden in a bedroom (the ancient historian Josephus says this was a bedroom that had been converted into a storage room for cast-off furniture) somewhere within the palace before the executioners carry out their abominable orders against the sons of Ahaziah. Then she spirits him away to the house of God where he is concealed for six years. "Because Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram and wife of the priest Jehoiada, was Ahaziah's sister, she hid the child from Athaliah so she could not kill him. He remained hidden with them at the temple of God for six years while Athaliah ruled the land." (2 Chronicles 22:11b-12) 

Joash is only about a year old when he is rescued by Jehosheba, hidden temporarily in an extra room of the palace, then smuggled to the temple where he is kept out of sight of the public. We know he is only a year old at the time of his rescue because later he will become king at age seven, six years after Athaliah assumed the throne herself. I believe he is the youngest of Ahaziah's sons and that, because of his small size, Athaliah's henchmen miss him in the panic and carnage that ensues when they enter the royal nursery with swords drawn. We can only imagine the horror that comes over the nursemaids and schoolteachers and servants when soldiers come bursting in and striking down anyone who tries to stand in their path. I think perhaps Jehosheba is already in the nursery when this attack commenced, maybe because she is doing what the king's mother Athaliah is not doing: comforting the boys in the loss of their father. If she is not already there, then because she is a member of the royal household she gets an inkling or a warning about what is going to happen and rushes to the nursery to pick up and conceal the only child small enough to conceal. The mission of the murderous soldiers is to kill all the male heirs, not a royal princess, so they do not focus on her. She may have snatched the child up, wrapped the voluminous layers of all her royal robes around him, and made her escape in the ensuing pandemonium without the swordsmen noticing the extra bulk beneath her clothing. 

Athaliah thinks she has been successful in eliminating any claims to the throne from among her grandsons. Scholars are divided in their opinions as to whether she believes she can continue to reign long term on her own or whether she intends to install one of her relatives from the northern kingdom of Israel as king over Judah, thus combining the two kingdoms and reviving the dynasty of her late father Ahab over a united twelve tribes. But while she is slaughtering her grandsons, the man who killed her son and her brother is busy slaughtering all the male relatives of Ahab, and any plan to install one of them on the throne of Judah is thwarted. Her hold on the crown is tenuous and will last only until enough of a resistance against her is built up to successfully reveal the existence of an heir to Ahaziah, to declare him king, and to defend his right to the crown.

Our study today is titled "A Tale Of Two Women" because it is a tale of an extremely evil woman and a tale of an extremely godly woman. It is a tale of a woman who tried to wipe out an entire dynasty of Judah---her own flesh and blood!---and it is a tale of a woman who allows herself to be used by the Lord to fulfill a promise He made to David---a promise He will not break. By one woman's courage a small child is saved from death and the royal line of Judah is preserved, ensuring that the Promised One of the Davidic dynasty will still come. 

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 136, The Death Of Jezebel

Jehu, the army commander of Israel, has slain King Joram of Israel by striking him with an arrow outside the gates of the royal city of Jezreel. Next Jehu and his men march on into the city and take control of it.

Word gets to Jezebel, the queen mother, that Jehu has killed her son and has gained access to the city. She doesn't react in grief when she hears of the death of her son, as we would expect a loving mother to react. She doesn't react in fear and hide herself or attempt to flee the city, as we would expect someone to do who knows the entire royal family is about to be wiped out. Instead she puts on a bold and unrepentant face. "Then Jehu went to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard about it, she put on eye makeup, arranged her hair and looked out of a window. As Jehu entered the gate, she asked, 'Have you come in peace, you Zimri, you murderer of your master?'" (2 Kings 9:30-31)

If Jezebel is going to her doom, she is going to go to her doom while looking her best. By the time Jehu nears the palace she is waiting for him at the open window. She calls down to him something like, "Have you come to kill me too or are you going to spare my life, you rebel? Only a man who is the scum of the earth---a man like Zimri---would rise up against his master as you have!" You may recall from 1 Kings 16 that Zimri was one of the chariot commanders of King Elah of Israel. Zimri conspired against his master and slew him while Elah was drinking in the home of his steward, then Zimri assumed the throne in Elah's place and slew the entire royal family. 

Jezebel's words to Jehu are insulting to his character, to be sure, but I think they are primarily intended as a curse. I think she is saying, "The same fate that befell the treacherous Zimri will befall you, you traitor! You may have stolen the crown of Israel but you won't wear it for long!" Zimri only reigned for seven days after he killed the king and took control of the palace. Upon hearing what he had done, the army of Israel elected the general of the army---Omri, the father of Jezebel's late husband Ahab---as their king. Omri and his troops marched to the capital city (which was in Tirzah at that time) and laid siege to the city and the palace. When Zimri saw that his efforts to rule the nation had come to nothing, he set the palace on fire around him and perished in the flames. In comparing Jehu to Zimri, Jezebel is threatening him that he can be sure judgment is coming. But she is wrong; her "gods" will not come to her aid or wreak vengeance upon Jehu. 

When Jehu hears her voice, he looks up and sees who it is and asks if he has any supporters in the palace. "He looked up at the window and called out, 'Who is on my side? Who?' Two or three eunuchs looked down at him. 'Throw her down!' Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot." (2 Kings 9:32-33) 

It was a common practice for eunuchs (castrated males) to be in charge of the women of the households of wealthy men. Husbands did not trust intact males to guard their women because those men might engage in sexual intercourse with the women of the harem. Males were needed to defend the women but only castrated males were trusted for this job. Eunuchs were usually young and strong foreigners who had been taken captive following victorious wars with other nations. These men were captured, taken to the nation of the victors, castrated, and put in charge of harems. They were basically slaves, though they lived in palatial luxury with the finest of clothing and food and wine provided for them. They had no hope of ever leaving their masters, no hope of ever marrying, no hope of ever fathering any children. I am sure many of them hated their masters and the women they guarded, but to rebel in any way would have meant certain death. But now the eunuchs of the household of King Joram have no fear of punishment for any actions they might take against the evil Jezebel. When Jehu calls out, "Who is with me?", these men seize their opportunity to take revenge against the woman who probably treated them cruelly whenever the mood struck her. They cast her out of an upper window. The horses of Jehu and his troops then trample her underfoot.

Jehu now has control of the palace. No one is going to stand against him. In fact, the slaves and many of the servants probably feel as if he is their hero and liberator. He is tired and hungry and thirsty, so he goes inside and helps himself to the food and drink that is on hand. "Jehu went in and ate and drank. 'Take care of that cursed woman,' he said, 'and bury her, for she was a king's daughter.' But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing except her skull, her feet and her hands. They went back and told Jehu, who said, 'This is the word of the Lord that He spoke through His servant Elijah the Tishbite: On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs will devour Jezebel's flesh. Jezebel's body will be like dung on the ground in the plot at Jezreel, so that no one will be able to say, 'This is Jezebel.'" (2 Kings 9:34-37) 

Elijah had predicted that Jezebel would be eaten by dogs and now this prophecy has come to pass. Also as Elijah predicted, Jezebel's body fell on the plot of land adjoining the palace complex at Jezreel---the plot of land her late husband Ahab wanted for a vegetable garden, only Naboth wouldn't sell it to him. Jezebel arranged to have Naboth falsely accused and executed, along with his sons and heirs so no one could lay claim to the land. (Many scholars believe Ahab was a first cousin to Naboth and that every heir of Naboth in between the two of them was killed so Ahab would be his surviving next of kin.) Because Jezebel had been a royal princess of the house of King Ethbaal of Sidon, Jehu had been going to allow her to be buried, but it was not the Lord's will for anyone to be able to visit her tomb and show her any respect in death. Jezebel lived a thoroughly dishonorable life and she is not awarded any respect in death.

Jezebel does have the dubious honor of being known as the most evil woman of the Bible. Her name has become synonymous with idolatry and immorality. Her name has become synonymous with blatant, over-the-top, unrepentant sin against the Lord and against everything that is considered holy and sacred. Her name has gone down in history, but not as a respected queen or as a loving wife and mother or as a godly woman. Her name is forever connected with everything a woman should not be. 

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 135, The Deaths Of King Joram And King Ahaziah, Part Three

Jehu, the army commander of Israel, has been anointed to be the next king of Israel. In yesterday's study we found him shooting King Joram of Israel with an arrow as Joram fled from him in his chariot. Difficult as it may be for us to understand him taking the life of the king, judgment had already been pronounced against the house of Ahab (Joram's father) by the Lord because of the extreme wickedness of this family. Joram died in his chariot on the plot of land adjoining the palace complex---the plot of land that his parents took from the innocent Naboth by taking Naboth's life and the lives of Naboth's sons. Joram may not have been complicit in Naboth's death but he has done his part in causing the citizens to turn away from the Lord. In his very short speech to Joram yesterday, Jehu charged the king with allowing and supporting the evil Queen Jezebel's cult of Baal. Jezebel persecuted the Lord's prophets and, with her state-sponsored religion, encouraged and possibly even forced the citizens to forsake the Lord in favor of Baal. 

Jehu orders one of his officers to remove the dead body of King Joram from his chariot and fling it onto the plot of ground that had so sinfully been taken from Naboth. "Jehu said to Bidkar, his chariot officer, 'Pick him up and throw him on the field that belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember how you and I were riding together in chariots behind Ahab his father when the Lord spoke this prophecy against him: 'Yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, declares the Lord, and I will surely make you pay for it on this plot of ground, declares the Lord.' Now then, pick him up and throw him on that plot, in accordance with the word of the Lord.'" (2 Kings 9:25-26) 

The incident Jehu refers to occurred in 1 Kings 21. Upon hearing that Queen Jezebel and King Ahab had arranged to have Naboth and his sons killed so Ahab could acquire his property for a vegetable garden, the prophet Elijah went out to meet Ahab and deliver a dreadful prophecy against Ahab's house. Elijah predicted the end of Ahab's dynasty and stated that all his male heirs would perish. In addition, he said that this would be the fate of the evil Jezebel: "Dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel." (1 Kings 21:23) We will see the prophecy concerning her coming true in tomorrow's study.

In our study today, King Ahaziah of Judah who was visiting Joram also loses his life. The author of 2 Chronicles says of this visit, "Through Ahaziah's visit to Joram, God brought about Ahaziah's downfall. When Ahaziah arrived, he went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab." (2 Chronicles 2:7) Jehu is anointed not only to become the next king of Israel but also to carry out justice for all the wicked things done by Ahab and his descendants. In addition, Jehu is the instrument of justice against Ahaziah and his house, for Ahaziah forsook the God of Israel and adopted Baal worship. We were told in 2 Chronicles 22:3-4a: "He too followed the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother encouraged him to act wickedly. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done." The Bible doesn't outline the evil deeds of Ahaziah for us but we can trust that the Lord would not have had him killed if he did not deserve it.

After seeing what happened to King Joram by the hand of Jehu, Ahaziah flees for his life. "When Ahaziah king of Judah saw what had happened, he fled up the road to Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him, shouting, 'Kill him too!' They wounded him in his chariot on the way up to Gur near Ibleam, but he escaped to Megiddo and died there." (2 Kings 9:27) The account of Ahaziah's death in 2 Chronicles differs somewhat from the account in 2 Kings. "While Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, he found the officials of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah's relatives, who had been attending Ahaziah, and he killed them. He then went in search of Ahaziah, and his men captured him while he was hiding in Samaria. He was brought to Jehu and put to death." (2 Chronicles 22:8-9a)

These two accounts do not represent a contradiction in the Scriptures. What has happened is that this tale is presented to us in far more detail in the book of 2 Kings than in the book of 2 Chronicles. If we read both accounts together, in chronological order, they go like this: King Joram realizes that Jehu is coming to Jezreel to kill him, then Joram shouts a warning to Ahaziah who doesn't have time to flee before seeing Joram shot by an arrow, then Ahaziah (who is riding in a separate chariot) sees Jehu's official throwing the dead body of Joram onto the ground. At that point Ahaziah begins to flee and catches the eye of Jehu. Realizing that this is the Baal-worshiping king of Judah, Jehu gives orders to his men to kill Ahaziah too. One of Jehu's men hits Ahaziah with an arrow and wounds him but Ahaziah still manages to get away. While this pursuit is happening, Jehu and many of his troops march into the royal city of Jezreel. (We will study this portion of Scripture tomorrow along with these next events I'm about to mention.) Jehu and his men begin executing Joram's heirs and top officials along with the family members and officials of Ahaziah who accompanied him to Jezreel. They also seize Jezebel and throw her from the window of a top floor of the palace. She is severely wounded by the fall, then is trampled underfoot by running horses, and then---as prophesied by Elijah---the dogs scavenge her remains. After this Jehu and his men go in search of Ahaziah who is hiding from them. He is found by some of Jehu's soldiers, brought to Jehu, and executed in Megiddo which lay in the Jezreel Valley. There is no contradiction between 2 Kings saying he dies in Megiddo and 2 Chronicles saying he was hiding in Samaria, for Megiddo lay within the northern kingdom of Israel and the words "Israel" and "Samaria" are often used interchangeably in the Bible. 

Ahaziah's body is taken back to Jerusalem for burial. "His servants took him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his ancestors in his tomb in the City of David." (2 Kings 9:28) It appears this was done with the permission and approval of Jehu, for the author of 2 Chronicles adds this information after saying that Ahaziah was brought to Jehu and put to death: "They buried him, for they said, 'He was a son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart.'" (2 Chronicles 22:9b) In verse 9b it's difficult to tell who "they" are and it almost seems as if "they" are Jehu's men. But since it's highly doubtful that Jehu's Israelite soldiers would have taken the king of Judah to Jerusalem and buried him, and since we are told that it was Ahaziah's servants who buried him, I believe Jehu's men turn the body of Ahaziah over to his servants for burial. For the sake of Ahaziah's grandfather Jehoshaphat, who was a faithful servant of the Lord, Jehu and his men have no objection to Ahaziah receiving a proper burial. It is clear that it is only out of respect for the godly Jehoshaphat that these men allow Ahaziah's body to be taken back to his hometown to be placed in a tomb. 

There will be no one among Ahaziah's descendants at this time who is capable of ascending to the throne and reigning in his stead. His mother, who is the daughter of the evil King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, will assume the throne herself and will be so power-hungry that she will stop at nothing to hold onto the throne. Upon her orders her own grandsons will be put to death so none of them can lay claim to the crown and it's only by the mercy of the Lord that the life of one of them is preserved. One of them will survive because the Lord made a promise to David that He will never break: there will always be a living male descendant of the direct line of David who will have the right to the throne.

 

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 134, The Deaths Of King Joram And King Ahaziah, Part Two

Jehu, the commander of Israel's army, is on his way to Jezreel where King Joram is recovering from a battle wound at his palace. King Ahaziah of Judah is there with him, visiting him out of concern for his injuries. Jehu has been anointed as the next king of Israel and he is about to take matters into his own hands to rid the nation of the idolatrous dynasty of the late King Ahab. 

As he races toward the palace in his chariot with his soldiers following, a watchman in the tower on the wall spots him coming from a long way off. "When the lookout standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu's troops approaching, he called out, 'I see some troops coming.' 'Get a horseman,' Joram ordered. 'Send him to meet them and ask, 'Do you come in peace?'" (2 Kings 9:17) From this distance neither the watchman nor the king can determine who these people are. No one is going to swing the gates open wide to admit them. No one is going to risk sending a large party out to meet them. A lone horseman will be sent out to ascertain the purpose of this visit.

"The horseman rode off to meet Jehu and said, 'This is what the king says: Do you come in peace?' 'What do you have to do with peace?' Jehu replied. 'Fall in behind me.' The lookout reported, 'The messenger has reached them, but he isn't coming back.'" (2 Kings 9:18) Jehu's answer comes across as enigmatic in the English translation but is believed to mean something like, "Is this a time for peace?" When he asks this question of the horseman and tells him to fall in behind him, the horseman apparently does so of his own free will. I believe he understands or suspects what is about to happen and is giving Jehu his blessing, so to speak. When the watchman on the wall sees the horseman falling in with the approaching group, he doesn't know what to make of it. Has the horseman been taken prisoner? Has the horseman been stunned by some sort of bad news and doesn't want to be the one to ride ahead of the group to deliver it? 

The king doesn't know what to make of this turn of events either and he continues to be cautious. "So the king sent out a second horseman. When he came to them he said, 'Do you come in peace?' Jehu replied, 'What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me.'" (2 Kings 9:19) The second horseman joins him just as the first horseman did, understanding---at least in part---what Jehu's words mean. As King Solomon would have put it: "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens...a time for war and a time for peace." (Ecclesiastes 3:1,8) Jehu is saying, "This is a time for war, not a time for peace." 

The watchman relays what he sees to the king. "The lookout reported, 'He has reached them, but he isn't coming back either. The driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi---he drives like a maniac.'" (2 Kings 9:20) Jehu and his party must have been spotted from a very great distance away or else there would not have been time to have sent out two horsemen to meet him. If Jehu were not still too far away to be recognizable by his face, the watchman would not state that he believes this is Jehu based on the way he drives his chariot. 

Upon hearing that this is his army commander, King Joram decides to go out to meet him in person. "'Hitch up my chariot,' Joram ordered. And when it was hitched up, Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah rode out, each in his own chariot, to meet Jehu. They met him at the plot of ground that had belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. When Joram saw Jehu he asked, 'Have you come in peace, Jehu?'" (2 Kings 9:21-22a) 

Joram would not expect his army commander to be in rebellion against him. When he sees Jehu rushing toward Jezreel with his troops behind him, Joram doesn't know whether they are bringing news of victory against the Arameans or whether they have been defeated in battle and are in full retreat from the enemy. Joram can't stand the suspense any longer and doesn't want to wait for the army to arrive at the gates; he goes out to meet the army instead. When he asks, "Have you come in peace?", he may mean, "Is all well? Are you bringing good tidings?" 

As soon as he hears Jehu's answer he knows his life is in grave danger. "'How can there be peace,' Jehu replied, 'as long as the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?' Joram turned about and fled, calling out to Ahaziah, 'Treachery, Ahaziah!' Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart and he slumped down in his chariot." (2 Kings 9:22b-24)

We were told earlier in our study of the kings that Joram spurned Baal worship in favor of the calf worship of the northern kingdom's first king, Jeroboam. But Joram did not put an end to the state-sponsored religion of Baal worship set in place by his mother Jezebel and his late father Ahab. Joram did nothing to curb the idolatry in Israel and he allowed the cult of Baal and Asherah to continue being supported from the royal treasury. The evil Jezebel had ordered many of the Lord's prophets killed, as we learned in the book of 1 Kings, and she arranged for false charges to be brought against Naboth so he could be executed and his land appropriated by Ahab. Joram knows how wicked his mother is but has never censured her for anything. He has allowed her to do as she pleases and, since he has become king, has done nothing to rectify the situation with Naboth's vineyard by restoring it to whoever would be Naboth's closest kinsman at this time. It is no coincidence that Joram is shot in the heart on the very plot of ground his parents murderously took from an innocent man.

Join us tomorrow as Joram dies, Ahaziah flees, and a prophecy spoken long ago about Jezebel comes true.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 133, The Deaths Of King Joram And King Ahaziah, Part One

In Monday's study, Jehu the commander of the army of Israel was anointed as king by an unnamed prophet who was sent to him by Elisha. Upon learning that he had been anointed as king, his officers spread their cloaks in his path as a sign of royal respect and blew their trumpets and declared him king in front of all the assembled soldiers at Ramoth Gilead. Jehu knows the army "has his back", so to speak. Knowing this, he is bold enough to conspire against King Joram of Israel. "So Jehuson of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram." (2 Kings 9:14a) 

We know that earlier in the Bible the Lord pronounced a judgment against the house of Ahab, the father of King Joram, because of the idolatry of Ahab and his family. Not only did these people make bad spiritual choices for themselves but they encouraged the citizens of Israel to do the same. They are responsible for influencing many people into idolatry by their wicked example, so the Lord said that the dynasty of Ahab would be cut off. 

Did He intend for someone to execute the family? Is Jehu doing what is right when he kills King Joram and his male descendants? Based on what the Lord will say to Jehu in Chapter 10 we must conclude that he was indeed carrying out divine retribution against the house of Ahab (and against the prophets of Baal who he will also put to death) and that the Lord was pleased with Jehu's obedience in this matter. 

Difficult as it may be for us to understand the slaughtering of the royal family being sanctioned by the Lord, we must keep in mind that the house of Ahab has committed capital crimes. First of all, they have forsaken the living God in favor of idols and have encouraged and even forced the citizens of Israel to do the same. This was a crime worthy of death according to the laws the Lord gave to Israel through Moses. (Deuteronomy 13 deals with this subject in quite a bit of detail.) 

Secondly, King Ahab and his wife Jezebel were responsible for the murders of innocent people. Murder was a capital crime as well, which is why a curse was placed upon the family. We don't know whether Joram ever murdered anyone but he didn't order anyone put to death for murder or for idolatry, which it was his duty as the king of Israel to do. (Jehu will read these charges to him farther on in the chapter this week.) Capital punishment for murder was to be carried out by human beings according to Genesis 9:6: "Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind." You'll recall that Ahab and Jezebel caused the innocent Naboth's death because Ahab had a hankering for a plot of land belonging to Naboth. Also we know that Jezebel ordered the prophets of the Lord put to death and Ahab was in agreement with this edict. There is literal blood on the hands of the members of the house of Ahab and there is spiritual blood on their hands too, for they have caused the spiritual downfall of a great number of their people. 

The Lord has a right to have the members of the house of Ahab put to death for their crimes against human lives and for their crimes against human souls. According to the laws He provided to the people through Moses, the Lord has a right to ask that Ahab's family be put to death by human hands. Jehu is the Lord's instrument in the carrying out of the death sentence upon the house of Ahab.

You'll recall that King Joram suffered a wound in the battle against the Arameans and had to return to his palace at Jezreel to recover. This is where he is now and King Ahaziah of Judah has come to visit him. "(Now Joram and all Israel had been defending Ramoth Gilead against Hazael king of Aram, but King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him in the battle with Hazael king of Aram.) Jehu said, 'If you desire to make me king, don't let anyone slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel.' Then he got into his chariot and rode to Jezreel, because Joram was resting there and Ahaziah of Judah had gone down to see him." (2 Kings 9:14b-16) 

Jehu instructs his officers not to allow anyone to slip away from Ramoth Gilead to get a warning to the king. He wants his attack to be a surprise attack. He has the support of his officers and probably the majority of his soldiers but he can't be certain he has the support of all of his soldiers. If one or more of them should manage to slip away or send an armorbearer or servant to Jezreel, the king will have time to bar the gates and place archers to shoot Jehu as he approaches.

In tomorrow's study the watchman on the tower of the wall of Jezreel will announce that he sees a chariot approaching. Two messengers will be sent out to ask Jehu if he's coming in peace but he will provide an answer that causes both men to join with him. Then the king himself will go out to meet him, going out to meet his doom.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 132, Jehu Anointed King Of Israel, Part Two

Elisha sent an unnamed prophet to Ramoth Gilead, where the army is camped, to anoint a man named Jehu as king over Israel. We originally heard of Jehu in the book of 1 Kings when the Lord told the prophet Elijah that this man would become king, but it isn't until 2 Kings 9 that the prophecy begins coming to pass.

"So the young prophet went to Ramoth Gilead. When he arrived, he found the army officers sitting together. 'I have a message for you, commander,' he said." (2 Kings 9:4-5a) In our last study session we discussed the opinion of many scholars that Jehu is currently the general of the entire army of the northern kingdom of Israel. All of these men seated together are commanders of companies of the army but Jehu is likely the highest ranking officer of them all. But the young prophet may not know for certain which of the men is Jehu. After all, he has never served in the army and may never have laid eyes on Jehu before. He may not know how to tell one officer from another. The reason I think he might not be sure which of them is Jehu is that he doesn't address him directly until Jehu speaks up, revealing his status as the highest ranking man in the group. 

"'For which of us?' asked Jehu. 'For you, commander,' he replied. Jehu got up and went into the house." (2 Kings 9:5b-6a) Elisha had instructed the younger prophet to take Jehu into "an inner room". This anointing is to be done secretly. No warning is to be given to the dynasty of Ahab (whose second born son Joram is now king) that change is coming. 

"Then the prophet poured the oil on Jehu's head and declared, 'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'I anoint you king over the Lord's people Israel. You are to destroy the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of My servants the prophets and the blood of all the Lord's servants shed by Jezebel. The whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel---slave or free. I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah. As for Jezebel, dogs will devour her on the plot of ground at Jezreel, and no one will bury her.' And he opened the door and ran." (2 Kings 9:6b-10) Elisha had told him to deliver the message and then run. I assume this was for the young man's safety, for prophets delivering messages weren't usually very welcome in the northern kingdom. 

Jehu is to be the instrument of the Lord's judgment upon the house of Ahab. The Lord pronounced this judgment through the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 21 when Elijah said to King Ahab, "You have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord. He says, 'I am going to bring disaster on you. I will wipe out your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel---slave or free. I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have aroused My anger and have caused Israel to sin.'" (1 Kings 21:20b-22) If Ahab had repented at these words, this might not have come to pass. If Ahab's first born son and successor, Ahaziah, had repented at these words, this might not have come to pass. If Ahab's second born son Joram, who ascended to the throne after the early death of the sonless Ahaziah, had repented at these words, this might not have come to pass. But the Lord knew everything these men would ever do. He knew they would not be godly kings and therefore He was able to say with certainty that judgment must come upon the house of Ahab.

He also knew that the wicked Queen Jezebel would never change her ways either, so He said to Ahab through Elijah, "And also concerning Jezebel the Lord says: 'Dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.'" (1 Kings 21:23)

The Lord compares the dynasty of Ahab to the dynasty of King Jeroboam, which is no more, and to the dynasty of King Baasha, which is no more. The time is at hand for the house of Ahab to fall. But Jehu is reluctant at first to tell his fellow officers what the prophet said to him. "When Jehu went out to his fellow officers, one of them asked him, 'Is everything all right? Why did this maniac come to you?' 'You know the man and the sort of things he says,' Jehu replied." (2 Kings 9:11) 

The prophets have come to be held in contempt by a great many people of the northern kingdom. Prophets are not revered as they were in former times. This is why the men refer to the young prophet as a "maniac". To idolaters, the messengers of the living God are babblers of nonsense. We can see why Jehu is reluctant to repeat the prophet's message to these men. I think he believes the message but I imagine it is difficult to repeat the words in the face of these men's mocking laughter, with them saying things like, "What did that crazy fellow have to say to you? He looked like a wild man, having run all the way here and then taking off and running all the way back home. Tell us what great wisdom he shared with you!" 

Another reason he may not want to share the news right away is because he wants some time to think about it. He wants some time to plan how to attack the house of Ahab. He may also be unsure how many of the men would be on his side and how many would rather retain Joram as king. But the men keep insisting on hearing the message and he finally shares it. I think the longer they insist, the more they notice the serious expression on his face. I think they begin to be convinced that the prophet told him something very important---something he believes and something they very much want to hear now. He keeps saying vaguely, "Oh, you know the kind of stuff these guys say. Always messages of doom and gloom.", as if they should just forget the prophet was ever there. But they can tell that Jehu is disturbed and deep in thought. They reject his protest that the message was just like all the others the prophets typically give. "'That's not true!' they said. 'Tell us.' Jehu said, 'Here is what he told me: This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.'" (2 Kings 9:12)

Do the officers believe that it is the will of God for Jehu to be king? Do they take the word of the Lord to heart for once? Or do they simply have more respect and admiration for their army general than for King Joram? Whatever their motivation may be, they waste no time declaring Jehu king. "They quickly took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, 'Jehu is king!'" (2 Kings 9:13) Considering their disdain for the prophet who came into their camp earlier in the day, I think these men are enthusiastically jumping on board the "King Jehu Train" not so much because they want to be within the will of God (they may care nothing about being obedient to His will at all), but because politically it suits them better to have General Jehu as king than to have Joram as king. They love the idea of their commander ascending to the throne. As a symbol of their loyal allegiance to him, they spread out their cloaks for him to walk on, blow the trumpets, and declare him king---their king. They have his back, so to speak, and he can count on them to help him attain the crown.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 131, Jehu Anointed King Of Israel, Part One

Yesterday we learned from the book of 2 Chronicles that King Joram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah were both killed by the man who was anointed to be king over Israel. The book of 2 Kings goes into more detail about this event. We are backing up in time a little bit to learn more about the man anointed to take King Joram's place. 

But first we need to reread a passage from 1 Kings. There we found the prophet Elijah desperately discouraged, hiding in a cave and asking the Lord to go ahead and take him out of this life. But the Lord had things for him to do instead. "The Lord said to him, 'Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu." (1 Kings 19:15-17) 

In our study of 1 Kings we read about Elijah anointing Elisha to take his place but the Bible hasn't told us of any meetings between Elijah and Hazael or between Elijah and Jehu. The Bible told us of a meeting between Hazael and Elisha in which he informed Hazael he would someday ascend to the throne of Aram. Hazael reacted to this news by not waiting for it to happen naturally but by taking matters into his own hands and killing the king of Aram. In today's study we will find Elisha, not Elijah, ordering Jehu anointed as king over Israel. He won't perform the anointing personally but through a proxy---through one of the other prophets of Israel. 

Does this mean Elijah never spoke with Hazael and Jehu? Did he not anoint them as the Lord told him to do? Did Elijah pass these duties on to his successor and, if so, was that the Lord's intention when He told Elijah to go to Abel Meholah to anoint Elisha to succeed him? I find it unlikely that Elijah would disobey the Lord. I also don't believe the Lord gave him instructions that he was prevented from obeying due to circumstances or time constraints. I can only conclude that there was more to the conversation between the Lord and Elijah than what was written in 1 Kings 19 and that, if Elijah did not personally anoint these two men, it was because the Lord intended him to prepare his successor to have it done at the right time. Even his successor doesn't anoint the man personally but sends a man of the school of prophets to do it. So when the Lord gave the order for Jehu to be anointed, I am not sure He meant for Elijah himself to literally do the anointing but that Elijah was to pass these orders along to Elisha who, in turn, passed these orders along to one of his subordinates. 

The Lord may not have been asking for a specific person to do the anointing but was making sure it got done by telling Elijah, who told Elisha, who told this unnamed younger prophet. To provide a modern example of what might be going on here, let's say the Lord tells the leader of a large company to donate a certain amount of money to a certain charity. The leader of the company would be obeying the Lord if he or she sent a subordinate to the charity's headquarters with a check or cash instead of going there in person. Or let's say He tells the church pastor there's a particular song that should be sung in Sunday's service. The pastor tells his secretary to inform the choir director instead of telling the choir director himself. In the scenarios of the company owner or the church pastor, the Lord is being obeyed even though neither of these people carried out every detail of His instructions themselves. In this same way, Elijah was told that Jehu must be anointed as king of Israel but the Lord may simply have intended for Elijah to make sure it was going to get done, not that Elijah was to go to Ramoth Gilead to anoint him personally. 

Now we look at the first portion of Chapter 9. "The prophet Elisha summoned a man from the company of the prophets and said to him, 'Tuck your cloak into your belt, take this flask of olive oil with you and go to Ramoth Gilead. When you get there, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go to him, get him away from his companions and take him to an inner room. Then take the flask and pour the oil on his head and declare, 'This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.' Then open the door and run; don't delay!'" (2 Kings 9:1-3) 

Scholars believe Jehu is commander over the army and that this is why he is currently at Ramoth Gilead. You'll recall from yesterday's study that King Joram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah combined forces in an attempt to retake the Israelite city of Ramoth Gilead from the nation of Aram. Ramoth Gilead was taken sometime in the past by the father of King Ben-Hadad of Aram. Ben-Hadad had promised to return all the cities taken by his father as part of his peace treaty with King Ahab of Israel but then failed to keep his word. Ramoth Gilead is still in Aramean control under Hazael, who killed Ben-Hadad and took his place as king. But when Joram and Ahaziah went up to fight against Hazael's troops, Joram was wounded in battle and forced to retreat to his palace at Jezreel to recover from his injuries. Ahaziah came to the palace to see how his recovery was coming along, as we learned yesterday, and agreed to accompany him to a meeting with Jehu. The author of 2 Chronicles informed us that this meeting led to Ahaziah's downfall, for Jehu was responsible for his death and for the death of Joram. We will be studying the deaths of these men in detail in the coming days.

My husband and I are going out of town for a couple of days for a mini-vacation so I won't be able to post a Bible study tomorrow but we will pick up on Monday with the remainder of the account of Jehu's anointing. I hope you have a blessed weekend.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 130, Ahaziah King Of Judah, Part Two

Ahaziah, son of Jehoram and grandson of Jehoshaphat, sits on the throne of Judah. But he will only reign for one year because he is a wicked man. He would have had no chance at the throne at all if his older brothers had not been killed by raiding parties of enemy nations. Because only his life was spared out of all of Jehoram's sons, and because Jehoram died in his thirties of a disease of the bowels, Ahaziah ascended to the throne at the age of twenty-two.

Like his father, Ahaziah worships Baal instead of the one true God. In yesterday's study we were told that Ahaziah's mother, Athaliah the daughter of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of the northern kingdom of Israel, does everything she can to encourage him to be cruel and wicked like her mother and her late father. Ahaziah's advisers, who were formerly officials of Ahab, also encourage him to live in sin. Today we will find their bad advice leading to his death.

"He also followed their counsel when he went with Joram son of Ahab king of Israel to wage war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead." (2 Chronicles 22:5a, 2 Kings 8:28a) Although Joram is one of the sons of Ahab, he is less wicked than King Ahaziah. Earlier in our study of the kings we were told that Joram eschewed the religion of his father and reverted back to the religious practices put in place by King Jeroboam. King Jeroboam's religious practices were a perversion of those commanded by the Lord (creating golden calf images to represent the Lord, worshiping at Dan and Bethel instead of at the temple in Jerusalem) but Jeroboam's state religion did not repudiate the Lord entirely or involve the reprehensible pagan rites of Baal worship. Nevertheless, Joram is not acting on good advice when he decides to try to retake the city of Ramoth Gilead from the hands of the Arameans. Ahaziah is not acting on good advice when he agrees to join him.

You'll recall that Hazael assassinated King Ben-Hadad of Aram and assumed the throne. We talked about how it is the opinion of many Bible scholars that Hazael was the chief commander of the Aramean army at the time when he took Ben-Hadad's life; if so, he is a formidable opponent. Not only do the Aramean forces outnumber the combined forces of Israel and Judah (as they also outnumbered them when King Ahab and King Jehoshaphat banded together against them) but this man is a skilled fighter and strategist. Joram is wounded in the battle and must retreat to his palace to recuperate. "The Arameans wounded Joram; so he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds they inflicted on him at Ramoth in his battle with Hazael king of Aram. Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to see Joram son of Ahab because he had been wounded." (2 Chronicles 22:6b, 2 Kings 8:28b-29) These two kings are related to each other, since Ahaziah's mother is the sister of Joram, which explains why the armies of the northern and southern kingdoms teamed up against a common enemy. This is also why Ahaziah is concerned about the health of Joram and visits him to see how he is recovering.

If Ahaziah had been a godly man---or even if he had sought godly counsel---he would not have gone to Jezreel to visit Joram. This visit is the means by which the Lord will remove him from the throne of Judah. Joram will also be removed from his throne by the man anointed by Elijah earlier in our study of the kings. "Through Ahaziah's visit to Joram, God brought about Ahaziah's downfall. When Ahaziah arrived, he went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab. While Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, he found the officials of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah's relatives, who had been attending Ahaziah, and he killed them. He then went in search of Ahaziah, and his men captured him while he was hiding in Samaria. He was brought to Jehu and put to death. They buried him, for they said, 'He was a son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart.' So there was no one in the house of Ahaziah powerful enough to retain the kingdom." (2 Chronicles 22:7-9) 

Tomorrow's text from 2 Kings will describe the deaths of Joram and Ahaziah in far more detail. But as we conclude our text from 2 Chronicles we find Ahaziah referred to as a "son of Jehoshaphat" although he was actually Jehoshaphat's grandson. The term "the son of" is used both literally and figuratively in the Bible: literally when it refers to someone's actual son, figuratively when it refers to someone's direct descendant. We are told that no one in the house of Ahaziah was powerful enough to retain the kingdom because before long we will find the queen mother, Athaliah, attempting to reign over the kingdom in her son's place. She will want so badly to reign over the nation that she will try to put all of Ahaziah's sons---her own grandsons!---to death so they can lay no claim to the throne. 

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 129, Ahaziah King Of Judah, Part One

King Jehoram of Judah is dead and he has only one heir to his throne, for Elijah's prophecy against him and his idolatrous household came true. Raiders came into the country and Jehoram's forces were not able to repel them. They took all the women of his harem (but did not take his chief wife and queen, Athaliah) and they took all of his sons with the exception of the youngest. Then they looted his palace of everything of value. Then Jehoram came down with a disease of the bowels, also predicted by Elijah, and was sick for two years before he passed away still unrepentant as far as we can tell. In today's study his only remaining son, Ahaziah, is king of Judah.

"The people of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, Jehoram's youngest son, king in his place, since the raiders, who came with the Arabs into the camp, had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign." (2 Chronicles 22:1) In yesterday's text we were only told that the raiders carried off Jehoram's sons but in today's study we learn that they were put to death after they were taken by the enemy. Since the author of 2 Chronicles mentions "the camp" I assume that Jehoram's older sons were in the army and that the army had gone out to try to repel the invaders and were defeated. Ahaziah was not taken captive and this may be because he wasn't in the battle. Or perhaps he was the only one of Jehoram's sons able to escape the battle, for our next verse tells us he was of an age old enough to serve in the army. It could also be that he was put in charge of hiding his mother and protecting her, since neither of them was taken by the enemy. 

"Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother's name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri." (2 Chronicles 22:2, 2 Kings 8:26) Athaliah is the granddaughter of King Omri of Israel, the father of King Ahab. She is the sister of the current king of Israel: Joram. Earlier in our study of the kings we were told that King Jehoshaphat of Judah made an alliance with King Ahab of Israel by marrying his son Jehoram to Athaliah.

Athaliah was a bad spiritual influence on her husband Jehoram and she is a bad influence on her son Ahaziah. "He too followed the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother encouraged him to act wickedly." (2 Chronicles 22:3) "He followed the ways of the house of Ahab and did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done, for he was related by marriage to Ahab's family." (2 Kings 8:7) 

Neither Athaliah nor any member of Ahab's family forced Ahaziah to be wicked. Wickedness was encouraged by them but Ahaziah is a grown man. He's not only a grown man but he's also a married man with children of his own, as we will see in tomorrow's study. Granted, he grew up in a household that did not honor the Lord and he has a lot of pressure on him to conform to the religious practices of his grandfather Ahab, but he is the leader of the nation and no one can force him to worship Baal. Being the king means that every day of his life he has to hear, carefully consider, and make rulings on legal cases. Every day of his life he has to make decisions regarding the running of the government and regarding national security. Every day of his life he has to be prepared to lead his army into battle if necessary. A grown man with this much power at his disposal is capable of telling his grandmother Athaliah "no" if he wants to reject her advice. But he doesn't want to say "no".

To look at this from another angle to further back up the point that he is old enough to make a decision capable of affecting the eternal destiny of his soul, I was the same age as Ahaziah when I gave my heart to Christ. I understood the gospel message, I believed the gospel message, and I made up my own mind and willingly chose to entrust my life on earth and the fate of my eternal soul to the Lord. In this same way, Ahaziah knew the truth about the Lord (his godly grandfather Jehoshaphat was still alive until Ahaziah was fourteen years old), and Ahaziah knew a great deal about the religion of Baal because of his parents who forsook the Lord. He made up his own mind whether he would serve the God of Israel---the God who brought his people out of Egypt and gave them a land of prosperity, or whether he would serve the Phoenician god of his grandmother Jezebel---a god that had never done anything for Ahaziah's people (or for anyone else, for that matter, since Baal does not exist). If I was old enough at twenty-two to understand the gospel and to make a decision for Christ, then Ahaziah was old enough at twenty-two to understand the decision he was making when he chose Baal over the Lord. 

Ahaziah is a legal adult in both ancient culture and in today's culture. Either then or now, he would be held legally responsible for any contracts he enters into and for any crimes he commits. He is old enough to get married, old enough to sire children, old enough to serve in the army (men in Israel and Judah were eligible for the army at age twenty), and old enough to be crowned king without needing a co-regent to make his decisions for him until adulthood. However, he allows himself to be guided by sinful men. His father murdered all of Jehoshaphat's top officials, who were probably men faithful to the Lord like Jehoshaphat was, and appointed advisers who would tell him what he wanted to hear. So now Ahaziah's advisers are sinful Baal worshipers who tell him what he wants to hear, which is that he must give in to every wicked inclination of his heart. His advisers are men of the house of Ahab, according to 2 Chronicles 22:4: "He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done, for after his father's death they became his advisers, to his undoing." Instead of choosing godly men of Judah to be his advisers, he listens to counsellors as wicked as Ahab was. 

These ungodly advisers will be Ahaziah's undoing. They will tell him to ally himself in war with King Joram of Israel. The battle will result in Joram being wounded and returning to his palace. While Ahaziah is visiting him to see how he's recovering, the man anointed by Elijah to become the next king of Israel will kill them both.

It's vitally important not to seek advice from those who aren't children of the Lord. Even when a believer tells us what they think we should do, we must verify this with the Lord Himself because human beings are capable of error---even godly human beings who have good intentions toward us. Ahaziah had no interest in godly counsel; he only wanted advisers who would tell him what he wanted to hear. He only wanted advisers who would encourage him to live the sinful lifestyle he wanted to live. This is why he will only reign for one year as king of Judah.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 128, Jehoram King Of Judah, Part Three

We have been studying the eight-year reign of Jehoram, the son and successor of King Jehoshaphat of Judah. The things the Bible has told us about him are not good: he adopted the Baal worship of his wife Athaliah, he ordered all six of his brothers killed after he ascended to the throne, and the majority of his people hate him. 

The land of Edom, which had been subject to Judah ever since the time of King David, rebelled against Jehoram and he took his army with him to take care of the matter in yesterday's study. Instead of victory he found himself surrounded by Edomite soldiers and only just barely managed to escape with his life. His soldiers fled the battle, leaving him with no choice but to give up, and the authors of 2 Kings and of 2 Chronicles told us that, "To this day Edom has been in rebellion against Judah." The authors also told us that the people of the town of Libnah, which was one of the cities of Judah allotted for the priests and Levites, rebelled against Jehoram as well, likely due to his sinful religious practices.

In today's text King Jehoram receives a very somber letter. This information is not included in 2 Kings but is found in 2 Chronicles and what's interesting is that the author of 2 Chronicles attributes the letter to Elijah. We have already seen Elijah taken up to heaven. Ever since Elijah's ascension Elisha has been the chief prophet of Israel. How can Jehoram receive a letter addressed to him by Elijah? This could be due to our backing up in time a bit to study the kings of Judah, for the past several chapters have concentrated on the kings of Israel. It could be due to the supposition of some scholars that Jehoram co-reigned with his father for a period of time before his father died, which was suggested by the wording of 2 Kings 8:16. If Jehoram was co-reigning with his father before Jehoshaphat died, Elijah may have still been on earth when Jehoram had his brothers killed because in the book of 1 Kings we learned of Jehoram's ascension to the throne before we were told of Elijah going to heaven. Another theory is that Elijah was given the message about Jehoram prophetically, before Jehoram's true wickedness became apparent to the entire nation, and that Elijah wrote of these things in a letter to be sent to Jehoram several years later---after he had committed the acts described in the letter.

"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. 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. So now the Lord is about to strike your people, your sons, your wives and everything that is yours, with a heavy blow. You yourself will be very ill with a lingering disease of the bowels, until the disease causes your bowels to come out.'" (2 Chronicles 21:12-15) 

Elijah's ministry was focused on the northern kingdom of Israel, where idolatry was the more rampant than it was in the southern kingdom of Judah. It makes sense that he would not go in person to see King Jehoram since his calling was to speak the truth of God's word to the northern kingdom and to teach at and minister to the schools of prophets in the northern kingdom. In addition, I highly doubt he would have been welcome at Jehoram's palace. Had Elijah journeyed to Jerusalem to request an audience with the king, his request would likely have been denied and his life might even have been in danger. Jehoram's father, Jehoshaphat, would have welcomed Elijah to the palace but Jehoram is a Baal-worshiper and would have had no interest in anything the prophet had to say. He still has no interest in anything the prophet has to say in the letter he receives; he does not take it to heart and repent. Had he repented, the terrible things in the letter would not have come true, but Elijah was able to state with certainty that these things would come true because he already knew by revelation from the Lord that Jehoram would not change and that these tragedies would befall him and his idolatrous household.

The fate that will befall Jehoram is especially gruesome. Out of curiosity I did a little research for a medical opinion on what may have caused his "bowels to come out". The majority of opinions seem to be that he had colon cancer of such severity (a tumor so massive) that it caused his colon to prolapse through the opening in his body. I have known several people with colon cancer but none of them had this symptom to occur in the final stages and it could be that Jehoram's condition was so dreadful because his sins were so dreadful. He influenced others to turn from the living God to the abominable false god Baal. He may have been the reason some people, who were considering giving their hearts to the Lord, followed his wicked example instead. I can't think of a more grievous sin with which to be charged on judgment day than having influenced someone not to come to the Lord for salvation! Jehoram's illness, though incredibly painful, could have led to his repentance if he had allowed his circumstances to minister to him in the right way. He could have repented and led others to repentance by his example. He might even have been healed of his disease so he could have had many more years in which to give his testimony and help others to come to a saving knowledge of the Lord. He could have led his whole family to the Lord! But instead he perished in his sins. 

We've already seen the Edomites rebelling against Jehoram and even people of his own tribe of Judah rebelling against him. His short reign is fraught with conflicts because the Lord cannot bless his sin. The rebellion of Edom didn't cause Jehoram to stop and consider his ways. Neither did the rebellion of the people of Libnah in Judah. Neither will attacks by enemy nations. "The Lord aroused against Jehoram the hostility of the Philistines and of the Arabs who lived near the Cushites. 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." (2 Chronicles 21:16-17) 

The prophecy contained in the letter of Elijah comes true. "After all this, the Lord afflicted Jehoram with an incurable disease of the bowels. 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. 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." (2 Chronicles 21:18-20) 

Did the Lord personally send this disease upon Jehoram or did the Lord just not prevent the disease from coming upon Jehoram? I am not certain that when something bad happens in the life of a believer it is because the Lord pointed a finger and made it happen; I think we could more accurately say the Lord allows hardships in the lives of believers from time to time because there is some spiritual purpose for these tribulations. But it could be that in the case of a person like Jehoram who repeatedly rejected every effort the Lord made to get him to repent, the Lord speaks the words that bring the affliction. The author of 2 Chronicles clearly connects Jehoram's affliction with his sins, as did the prophet Elijah in his letter, so whether or not the Lord pointed at Jehoram and spoke the words that caused his disease, the disease was a direct result of sin. It may even be that unclean religious practices associated with the worship of Baal set the stage for whatever began going wrong in Jehoram's intestines because people of ancient pagan religions ate all manner of filth and even drank blood. This exposed them to all sorts of pathogens and parasites. Had Jehoram repented of his idolatry at any time, the Lord might have prevented him from contracting a fatal disease. Even if Jehoram had repented after becoming ill (it took two years for him to die), the Lord might have healed him. But even while in unbearable pain Jehoram clung fiercely to his false religion and said "no" over and over again to the only One who could heal him in body or in soul.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 127, Jehoram King Of Judah, Part Two

Jehoram, the son of the late King Jehoshaphat, is not following in his father's footsteps. His father remained faithful to the Lord all his life but Jehoram is an idolater, following the religion of Baal worship. He's also a violent and evil man who ordered his six brothers put to death because he feared opposition from them. 

As we closed yesterday's study we learned that his sins were heinous enough to justify the Lord ending his life and cutting off his line of succession but the Lord intends to keep His promise to David. He promised David that he would never be without a direct descendant with the right to sit on the throne of Israel. If the Lord had cut off Jehoram and his sons, David would be without this direct line of succession because Jehoram murdered his brothers. This means that the line that came down from David down through time to Jehoshaphat would stop without male descendants. 

So the Lord allows Jehoram to reign for eight years but those eight years are not without trouble. "In the time of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against Judah and set up its own king." (2 Kings 8:20, 2 Chronicles 21:8) Edom had been subject to Judah ever since David was king but the Edomites must have considered Jehoram a weak king, with his ascension to the throne looking to them like a good time to revolt. 

I think the Edomites sensed that the civilians of Judah, the soldiers of the army, and the top officers and advisers aren't supportive of Jehoram the way they were of his father, particularly after he put all his brothers to death with no evidence provided by the Scriptures that they were planning a coup against him. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a common thing in ancient times for other nations to consider their options any time a powerful and prosperous king died. If the new king appeared to be immensely popular with his people and with the army, enemy nations would refrain from making a move. But if they sensed weakness in the new king and didn't believe his men would defend him to the death, they might rebel or even go on the offensive and invade. 

Edom is not allowed to have its own king while it is subject to the nation of Judah. But the people of Edom want to be a sovereign nation and to quit paying tribute to the king, so they appoint their own king and declare their independence. Jehoram takes action to keep hold of Edom. "So Jehoram went to Zair with all his chariots. The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but he rose up and broke through by night; his army, however, fled back home." (2 Kings 8:20-21) The Edomites were correct in their assessment that the army would not stand with Jehoram when the going got tough. Jehoram and his charioteers are able to break free of the surrounding enemy soldiers but then his entire army flees, leaving him with no choice but to return to Jerusalem. 

He was unable to quell the rebellion because he does not have the support of his men. The authors of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles says that because of the defeat here in Chapter 8, "To this day Edom has been in rebellion against Judah." (2 Kings 8:22a, 2 Chronicles 21:10a) It wasn't only an enemy nation that rebelled against him; a city in Judah---one of the cities given to the tribe of Levi---also revolts. "Libnah revolted at the same time." (2 Kings 8:22b, 2 Chronicles 21:10b) Scholars presume that this rebellion of a city of the priestly tribe was due to Jehoram's abominable idolatry which would have been a stark and unwelcome contrast to the godly reign of his father Jehoshaphat.

We cannot live in opposition to the Lord without bringing trouble into our lives. Jehoram has no respect for the authority of the Lord and as a result his people have no respect for his authority. He is reaping what he has sown but he doesn't allow these troubles to minister to him by acknowledging his sins and repenting of them. Not even some very disturbing words spoken to him by the prophet Elisha in tomorrow's text will persuade him to repent.

(In closing today, I wanted to let you know that I wasn't able to post the link to today's Bible study on any of my Facebook pages for you because I'm under a 24 hour restriction by Facebook because they feel I participated too often in a support group yesterday. The support group page had been especially busy yesterday so I had expressed sympathy to several new people in the group and had used the "heart" reaction a number of times and the Facebook algorithm flagged it as spam. The restrictions are supposed to end around 9pm tonight so hopefully I will be able to post links again on Facebook tomorrow.) 

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 126, Jehoram King Of Judah, Part One

For a while now the book of 2 Kings has been concentrating what is happening in the northern kingdom of Israel. Now the author switches to the southern kingdom of Judah to let us know what is happening there.

During the fifth year that Joram, the son of King Ahab, is on the throne of Israel, King Jehoshaphat of Judah passes away and his son, Jehoram, succeeds him. The names "Joram" and "Jehoram" are variations of the same name and in some translations of the Bible we can find both these men's names rendered as "Jehoram". But for the sake of clarity some translations, such as the NIV which we are using, have chosen to use the alternate spellings so as to avoid any confusion. 

"In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, when Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat began his reign as king of Judah." (2 Kings 8:16) Some scholars interpret this verse to mean that for a time Jehoshaphat and Jehoram were co-regents. The verse does not specifically say that Jehoram began his reign after the death of his father. If it's so that they reigned together for a time, it may mean that Jehoshaphat was in very ill health near the end of his reign and was unable to oversee all his duties as king. Another reason a man might appoint a co-regent was to firmly establish his choice of successor several years prior to his death. King David, for example, ordered Solomon to be anointed and declared king of Israel while David was still alive because one of David's other sons, Adonijah, was publicly declaring himself as David's successor. 

King Jehoshaphat did have other sons besides Jehoram and for that information we will need to look to the book of 2 Chronicles. "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 21:2-3) The author of 2 Chronicles has used the word "Israel" here instead of the more specific "Judah". Judah is the nation that is in view here because at this time the kingdom was split and Jehoram was king only over the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, along with most of the Levites who abandoned their settlements in the northern kingdom due to the sinful religious practices taking place there. 

King Jehoshaphat appears to have chosen Jehoram as his successor not because he was the best man for the job but "because he was his firstborn son". It was typical in ancient times for a kingship to pass on to the oldest son but in most cultures it wasn't the law that it had to be done this way. A firstborn son could be disinherited if his ways didn't please his father and I cannot imagine the godly Jehoshaphat being pleased with Jehoram's ways, spiritually speaking. Jehoram's idolatry should have disqualified him in his father's eyes to succeed him as king, but on the other hand we don't know whether any of Jehoshaphat's other sons were any more faithful to the Lord than Jehoram was. Jehoshaphat did Judah no favor by appointing Jehoram as king and he did Jehoram no favor by arranging a marriage for him with Athaliah, the idolatrous daughter of King Ahab of Israel. We were told of this marital alliance earlier in our study of the kings, and although we don't know whether Jehoram already had little regard for the Lord, marrying into one of the most heathen families in Israel's history pushed him the rest of the way into apostasy, as we will see shortly. 

The Bible doesn't tell us whether any of Jehoram's brothers presented a threat to his kingship but after the death of his father he took steps to make certain none of his brothers would ever lay claim to the throne. "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." (2 Chronicles 21:4) Again, the word "Israel" here should be understood to mean "Judah". Jehoram has such a depraved heart that he orders his brothers put to death! He also has some officials put to death and I assume these were men who had been close advisers of his late father---men he thought might back someone else's bid for the throne, men who had a lot of influence with the people. The Bible doesn't provide us with any evidence that there was any type of conspiracy against Jehoram. If he believed there was one, this belief may have been a figment of his imagination. It is not uncommon for a person who is living deep down in a pit of sin to struggle with feelings of paranoia (King Saul is a good example of this phenomena). Jehoram knows what the word of God says and he knows he is living in opposition to the word of God. Although he may not have been consciously aware of it he probably knows he deserves the judgment of God. He is afraid he will not be able to hold onto the kingdom and he immediately sets about removing from this world anyone who could potentially take it from him.

"He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. 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." (2 Kings 8:17-18, 2 Chronicles 21:5-6) We see here that Athaliah had a great deal of influence on him, for the authors of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles closely link his marriage to her with his idolatry. He is a worshiper of Baal like his wife Athaliah and like her parents Ahab and Jezebel. This means he is even more of a sinner than Ahab's own son, Joram, for we were told that Joram forsook the religion of Ahab and Jezebel and reverted back to the practices of King Jeroboam who placed golden calves at Dan and Bethel as substitute locations for worship of the Lord. Setting up the golden calves was a sin against God and worshiping at locations other than where the Lord commanded was wrong, but at least this religious system did not repudiate the Lord altogether as the worship of Baal did. 

King Jehoram of Judah is as much of a sinner as the late King Ahab of Israel was. The Lord pronounced a curse upon the house of Ahab, stating that in time his family line would be cut off. This wasn't the first time the Lord did such a thing in return for a king's extreme wickedness but although the last portion of Scripture we'll be looking at today indicates that Jehoram's sins were abominable enough to justify cutting off his family line, the Lord made a promise to David that He will not break. "Nevertheless, for the sake of His servant David, the Lord was not willing to destroy Judah. He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever." (2 Kings 8:19) 2 Chronicles 21:7 words this verse a little differently: "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." 

If the Lord had destroyed Jehoram and his sons, the Lord would have been destroying "the house of David", for Jehoram slaughtered all of his brothers---all the sons of King Jehoshaphat who was a direct descendant of the line of David. The line of succession has to pass down through Jehoram because he is the only son of Jehoshaphat left. The Lord promised to always keep David's direct family line going so that there would always be a man on the earth with the right to sit on the throne until the Messiah is born and until the day the Lord Jesus returns to reign forever over the earth from David's throne. The Lord won't break His word to David even though some of the kings between the time of David and the advent of Jesus Christ will not be godly men. This promise was not conditional upon what man would do but instead it was conditional upon God's faithfulness to His word. Because God cannot lie, He cannot break His word. 

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 125, The Murder Of King Ben-Hadad Of Aram

In today's text we will find a man named Hazael taking the life of the king of Aram. Hazael was mentioned earlier in our study of the kings, in 1 Kings 19, when the prophet Elijah was still on the earth. The Lord instructed Elijah to anoint three men: Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel, Elisha son of Shaphat to succeed Elijah as a prophet, and a man named Hazael as king over Aram. The Bible described for us the meeting between Elijah and Elisha but did not tell us anything about his meetings with Jehu and Hazael. So far only one of these men---Elisha---has assumed the role for which he was anointed.

"Elisha went to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad king of Aram was ill. When the king was told, 'The man of God has come all the way up here,' he said to Hazael, 'Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of God. Consult the Lord through him; ask him, 'Will I recover from this illness?'" (2 Kings 8:7-8) We don't know why Elisha is in Damascus but Ben-Hadad, like so many who have very little use for the Lord when things are going well for them, wants the Lord's counsel now that he fears for his life. 

Hazael is evidently one of Ben-Hadad's top officers. Some scholars believe Hazael replaced Naaman, who was formerly the general of the Aramean army, and they speculate that Naaman was replaced because he converted to the God of Israel. But it may be that by now Naaman has grown too old to go into battle and has retired, for other scholars propose that Elisha is in Damascus for the purpose of visiting Naaman because Naaman's testimony has been converting many others in Aram. I think the reason for Elisha's presence in Damascus may be simply be because the Lord has called him to be in this place at this time. In our last study session we looked at a case of "divine timing" and I think we may be looking at another example of "divine timing" today.

"Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him as a gift forty camel-loads of all the finest wares of Damascus. He went in and stood before him, and said, 'Your son Ben-Hadad son of Aram has sent me to ask, 'Will I recover from this illness?' Elisha answered, 'Go and say to him, 'You will surely recover.' Nevertheless, the Lord has revealed to me that he will in fact die.' He stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael was embarrassed. Then the man of God began to weep." (2 Kings 8:9-11) I don't believe Elisha is instructing Hazael to lie to the king. It's true that the king's illness would not have proven fatal; in time he would have recovered from it. The king will die, however, by the hand of the man standing before the prophet. I don't know whether the Lord has shown Elisha that Hazael will murder Ben-Hadad but the Lord has shown Elisha how cruelly Hazael will behave toward the nation of Israel. 

When Elisha begins to weep, Hazael is puzzled. "'Why is my lord weeping?' Hazael asked. 'Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites,' he answered. 'You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women.' Hazael said, 'How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such a feat?' 'The Lord has shown me that you will become king of Aram,' answered Elisha." (2 Kings 8:12-13) Hazael may be the commander of the army of Aram but Elisha speaks of these future atrocities as though Hazael is committing them by his own power and not under the authority of the king. In response, Hazael says something like, "How can you say these things of me? I am a nobody. I go where I am told and I do what I am told." Some commentators think he is protesting the idea that he would violently put women and children to death along with the soldiers of Israel but I am not so sure he's saying something like, "How could I do such things? Your servant is not an animal." It was actually very common in ancient times for armies of heathen nations to do the very things Elisha says Hazael and his soldiers will do and I have my doubts that these things would have seemed all that abominable to this man. 

Hazael reacts as though he had been unaware that he is to take Ben-Hadad's place as king of Aram. Did Elijah not go and anoint him as instructed by the Lord in 1 Kings 19? Did Elijah pass this duty on to Elisha, his successor, to perform? Does Elisha anoint Hazael before Hazael returns to Ben-Hadad's palace? The Bible doesn't provide us with the answers to these questions but we can be certain that Elisha is not giving Hazael permission to assassinate the king. Elisha does not approve of murder. He may not even know that murder is the means by which Hazael will ascend to the throne. In fact, if it's the Lord's will for Hazael to ascend to the throne, this could have been accomplished by other means, such as at the time when Ben-Hadad leaves the world due to natural causes. Many times in history an army commander was appointed to take the place of a dead king, especially if a king had no son or if the king's son was not well-liked or had some type of mental or physical disability. Also, army commanders were very popular among the people if they had led numerous successful battles, and if a nation was facing threats by other nations, choosing a general to be the king sometimes seemed like the best option in times of war or impending war. 

Hazael doesn't handle the news of his destiny in a godly manner. Unlike David, who didn't lift a finger against the wicked King Saul but waited approximately fifteen years for the Lord to bring to pass the kingship He promised him, Hazael takes matters into his own hands. "Then Hazael left Elisha and returned to his master. When Ben-Hadad asked, 'What did Elisha say to you?' Hazael replied, 'He told me that you would certainly recover.' But the next day he took a thick cloth, soaked it in water and spread it over the king's face, so that he died. Then Hazael succeeded him as king." (2 Kings 8:14-15) 

The author is careful to tell us that it is the next day when Hazael takes action against the king. This tells us that his actions are cold-blooded premeditated murder. I think that, after telling Ben-Hadad the good news that his illness won't result in death, Hazael went home and thought on the matter all evening, all night long, and all morning until he went back to the palace. He knew that if Ben-Hadad recovered from his current illness, it might be many years before the king either died in battle or contracted a different illness that would be terminal. Hazael doesn't want to wait. By the time he goes to the palace the next day, he has come to the conclusion that no one will question whether Ben-Hadad's death is a natural death if he perishes during this current illness. The message from Elisha that the illness is not terminal is a message likely known only by the king and Hazael. Hazael decides to make it look as if Ben-Hadad died in his sleep from his illness by making sure he smothers to death. The fact that the king doesn't wake up or struggle suggests that he might be under the influence of some type of medical potion concocted by his physicians or sorcerers. He passes away without knowing anything is even happening to him, then Hazael announces he has found the king dead, and is declared king either by himself or by the army (with whom he may be incredibly popular) or by the king's officials who may have been eyeing him for some time as a likely successor. 

Why does the Lord allow this to happen? Why does He allow Hazael to murder a man in cold blood, take his place, and eventually do the terrible things Elisha said he would do? I don't believe for one minute that the Lord caused Hazael to commit murder; He would have brought about Hazael's ascension to the throne in due time and in the right way. But the Lord didn't prevent Hazael from murdering the king. Ben-Hadad was marked for death much earlier in our study of the kings but King Ahab of Israel didn't kill him in battle as the Lord commanded but instead made a treaty with him. So although Hazael commits the sin of murder, Ben-Hadad is not a sympathetic character in the Bible and has committed many atrocities of his own. As far as we know, he may have committed some cold-blooded murders of his own. However, Hazael won't be any better. Elisha has already seen into the future and was horrified by what he saw concerning Hazael.