2BC BIBLE STUDY NOTES
Wednesday in the Word
Second Baptist Church
January 4, 2023
2nd Chronicles Chapter 21 through Chapter 22:9
Verses 1-3. King Jehoshaphat has passed away and now one of his sons, Jehoram, will take over as king. The mistakes that King Jehoshaphat made with Ahab will come back to haunt him. The worst things Jehoshaphat ever did was to arrange the marriage of his son Jehoram to Athaliah, the daughter of the evil King Ahab and his wife Jezebel (2 Kings 8:16-18; 8:26). Instead of serving God and following God like his father Jehoshaphat did, Jehoram will follow the example of his father-in-law Ahab. Jehoshaphat had many sons. These sons were treated like royalty. Jehoshaphat gave them great gifts...with fortified cities: Jehoshaphat followed the same wise policy with his sons that Rehoboam had previously followed (2 Chronicles 11:18-23) to scatter them throughout the kingdom and away from the capital so they would not be a concentrated threat to his one son to succeed him, Jehoram. The idea was that he gave all of his sons enough so they wouldn't be jealous of their brother. The only problem was that their brother Jehoram was afraid of them.
Verses 4-7. Jehoram came to power at the age of 32. As soon as Jehoram established himself and secured power over the military, he had his brothers and their descendants killed. Many scholars think that this was due to the influence that Ahab’s daughter had on him. This is the kind of thing Ahab was known for doing. Jehoram wasn't just a murderer, but he also led the nation in rebellion against God. God was not pleased, and would soon send judgement on the king.
Verses 8-11. Judgment would come by way of neighboring countries rising up against Israel. For some time, Edom was essentially a vassal to Judah and owed them tribute (taxes). Under the reign of Jehoram, the leaders of Edom sensed weakness in Judah and their opportunity to free themselves. As long as the kings of Judah remained true to their allegiance to God, they were at peace with the surrounding nations; but just as soon as they revolted from God these people revolted from them. One of the signs God would give as his favor on a nation was peace on all sides. Jehoram is about to get chaos on all sides. Another country revolted at the same time. Libnah went to war with Israel and forced them to defend the western portion of the country. We get the impression that revolts were happening because the King allowed high places and idol altars to be built all over Judah. In the city Jerusalem and in the outskirts called the hills. Their idolatry was likened to prostitution for two reasons. First, the worship of these pagan sex/fertility gods and goddesses often involved immorality with a pagan priestess or priest. Second, since Israel was obligated to be faithful to God as a wife is obligated to be faithful to her husband, their idolatry was like harlotry in a spiritual sense.
Verses 12-15. The same prophet that spoke against Ahab in the North sent Jehoram a letter in the south. Elijah told the king in his letter that the Lord was against him and that he would suffer greatly for his sin. Jehoram would suffer for leading the people in idol worship and for the murders of his brothers. God would bring judgment on the people; his family and the king would watch the suffering while experiencing the pain of a severe disease of his intestines.
Verses 16-17. The Lord used the enemy of Israel to bring judgment on Judah. God used the Philistines to bring wrath on Judah. The Philistines and some Arabs living near north Africa came and attacked and plundered Judah. The entire royal family was carried away except for one son. God allowed one son to remain because God said that there would always be a son of Judah on the throne.
Verses 18-20. After the invasion of the Philistines and the Arabs, the king suffered with the intestinal disease and died a horrific death with his bowels coming out of his body. Because he was such an evil king, they didn't give him a funeral. He was treated in death the way he treated his brothers. He died with no honor whatsoever. He reigned for 8 years and most of those years were in suffering because of his disobedience to God. The text says he passed away with “no one’s regrets.” Everyone was glad he was dead.
Chapter 22:1-4. Upon the death of Jehoram, the people made his only remaining son Ahaziah king. Ahaziah was 22 when he became king, but he only served as king for one year. Ahaziah's mother was the wicked Athaliah, who was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel of the northern kingdom of Israel and she was given in marriage to Jehoram, the king of Judah. She brought her influence to bear upon her son and made him more of a son of Ahab and Jezebel than a son of David and his godly descendants. Just like his father, he followed in the ways of Ahab. These kings had a better example in Jehoshaphat to follow, but they followed Ahab. Verse 3 says his mother guided him to follow the ways of Ahab.
Verses 5-9. King Ahaziah was so connected to the house of Ahab that he joined Ahab’s son in battle where they both were injured. At some point Ahaziah decides to go see Joram, Ahab’s son in the north. Unbeknownst to Ahaziah, God had pronounced judgment on the house of Ahab. God had empowered Jehu (1 Kings 19:15-17 & 2 Kings 1:1-18) to destroy the house of Ahab so when Ahaziah arrives in the north to see Joram he gets killed by Jehu.
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