37 lines
2.4 KiB
Markdown
37 lines
2.4 KiB
Markdown
|
+++
|
|||
|
|
title = "2 Chronicles 21:8–20"
|
|||
|
|
date = "2025-03-12"
|
|||
|
|
+++
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/2Chronicles21.8-20)
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Because of the evil deeds of King Jehoram, God brings about judgement on the land of Judah.
|
|||
|
|
His father Jehoshaphat had relied on the Lord when Edom attacked alongside Ammon and Moab.
|
|||
|
|
After the whole coalition army was destroyed, it appears that Judah made Edom a vassal state.
|
|||
|
|
During Jehoram's reign, Edom rebels and revolts, setting up their own king.
|
|||
|
|
Jehoram attempts to put a stop to it with his army, but is not successful.
|
|||
|
|
Verse 10 gives the reason explicitly that it is because he had forsaken the Lord.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
In large part, this forsaking took the form of idol worship, which he promoted among the people by setting up high places.
|
|||
|
|
His father and grandfather had worked to remove these religious sites so that the Lord would be worshiped in the way He had prescribed, and not any other god.
|
|||
|
|
Jehoram undid that work and led Judah astray into the idolatry that Israel had been committing for generations.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Most of the time when the Lord pronounces judgement on someone, He sends a prophet to confront the people in person, but this time Elijah sends a letter.
|
|||
|
|
Elijah's ministry was in the northern kingdom of Israel, mostly during Ahab's reign.
|
|||
|
|
The timing is hard to judge, but it may be possible that this letter was delivered after Elijah was taken up in to heaven.
|
|||
|
|
The judgement Elijah's letter pronounces is very severe.
|
|||
|
|
It calls out Jehoram for leading Judah into idolatry and also for the murder of his brothers "who were better" than himself. (_v. 13_)
|
|||
|
|
Because of these evil acts, a great plague will come on the people, including his own house and family, and furthermore his own body will be stricken with a terrible disease.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
And so it came to pass: the plague on the people came in the form of the Philistines and Arabians raiding and pillaging the country.
|
|||
|
|
They encroached even into Jerusalem to the king's house, taking captive his wives and all of his children except for the youngest.
|
|||
|
|
"After this" (_v. 18_), Jehoram is stricken with a disease in his bowels, suffering in agony for two years before he dies.
|
|||
|
|
And no one is sad to see him go.
|
|||
|
|
He is not given the same honorable burial that his forefathers were given.
|
|||
|
|
He isn't even buried in the tombs of the kings of Judah.
|
|||
|
|
The people of Judah are just relieved to have that chapter of their history behind them.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
* * *
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Even when our own ways seem so right to us, grant us the grace to follow You instead.
|