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.
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