2nd Chronicles 21 A HOPELESS FAILURE None of us live without making some mistakes and yet, when the bent of a person's life is to please God and bless His people, they can die in peace. What a hope, what a blessing, what a joy the servant of God has when they are taken home! "Absent from the body and present with the Lord" is a comfort when near the "valley of death," both to the one leaving and the ones left behind. Jehoshaphat was a good ruler even though he made some serious blunders and the consequences remained behind him. He had given his sons wealth and responsibility in local authority. He must have known the kind of person Jehoram was and the kind of wife he had arranged for him to marry. Why he would designate such a person to lead God's people is hard to understand. It seemed to be only because Jehoram was the oldest son.
We all leave a legacy of some sort behind us. It is important for us to consider the objective of leadership, not just the person who will take the place as a leader. Not everyone is suited to lead even though it may seem culturally or socially correct. Jehoshaphat had the authority, as did David, to designate the leader who would take his place. He apparently did it without much thought or consultation with the Lord. He should have known his other sons were better men than Jehoram. The most suitable leader of the saints of God will be one who has a care for the Lord's people; understands the qualifications given in scripture of those who lead and does not ignore them; is raised up by the Holy Spirit so the people of God know he has been appointed by God and does not take the responsibility given him lightly or proudly.
It is likely Athaliah pushed Jehoram to kill his brothers who would have been considered potential rivals for his place as king. The consequences of an unequal yoke may not be obvious until a crisis time or there begins to be an undercurrent of dissatisfaction. The murder of all of Jehoshaphat's sons who were local administrators in various cities, would not have been taken well by the local citizens over who they had a measure of authority. A hidden resentment may not be known at first but the undercurrent of dissatisfaction will not easily go away. The royal line of David was preserved, but just barely.
A man often will yield to his wife in order to have domestic peace at the moment, rather then taking time to look ahead and considering the consequences of his actions. A quick, rash evil decision made by an ungodly man leads to ungodly actions that have results over which we have no control. It is to be expected that payday will come for evil actions as well as those that are good. Under the leadership of Jehoram all the good that had been done by those who ruled before him, was undone in a few short years. It resulted in Judah being no different than the northern tribes of Israel. Idolatry was encouraged and spiritual fornication and darkness descended on the nation. If we turn away from the Lord by either not doing what He wants us to do, or doing what He doesn't want us to do, we are already on a downward course that will lead us farther and farther away from God.
God removed His protection from Judah and they were exposed to their neighbors without divine power to call on nor the ability to protect themselves. God allowed the revolt of Edom and Libnah to be successful, and Jehoram and his leaders, and army barely escaped. "Because he had forsaken the Lord God of his fathers," he was left on his own. You would think he would have stopped to consider why, but instead he continued to promote wrong among the people. If he had any fear of God at all, God was still where He had always been. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord and He will mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." instead of learning from his mistakes, Jehoram went farther, and took others with him. Punishment for sin may not happen immediately or dramatically, but it will come. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." We will suffer the consequences of sin in one way or another. The letter from Elijah should have really shaken up Jehoram. It was plainly told him in condemning words that his evil ways would bring severe punishment both to the nation and to him personally. To link up with the world in an unequal yoke is bad. To promote evil and idolatry is worse even though it usually is inevitable when one is in an unequal yoke. That kind of friendship with the world, is "enmity with God." The omnipotence of God will remain unused even in desperate straits or disaster and disease.
Prophecies given by faithful prophets of God were as authoritative as the word of God. What they said will actually take place. God allowed the enemies around Judah to fulfill the prophecy Elijah gave. The nation was brought down to poverty spiritually and Jehoram had a long time of physical pain and suffering to consider the "wages of sin." A matter may not seem all that important to us when all around us people of the world engage in it without a blush. Some say, "Don't knock it until you try it," but that does not make a thing or an action right. When people are used to a thing long enough, it becomes acceptable. That can even happen with believers if we are not careful. Ecclesiastical sin is as real, and as wrong, as any other kind of sin.
When Jehoram died after a long siege of painful illness and a humiliating end, nobody really cared. They didn't have any national mourning for him. They did not have a fire in his honor. He died probably unloved, unneeded and unwanted. What an awful legacy to leave to one's family. Even his family was almost nonexistent, and would have been if his evil wife had her way. Never, ever let us forget the principle in the words of scripture, "Then that honor Me, I will honor, they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed."