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.
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