Every once in a while there is a text of scripture that
makes me stop and reread it, just to be sure I understood what happened. Sometime, these texts are powerful and incredibly
challenging or encouraging. Other times
there are passages that just seem confusing and it takes some thought to figure
out the authors intended meaning. But,
still other times there are just strange passages that make perfect sense, only
they make me chuckle or think, “why would God do that?” Today, we have one of those passages.J
Background:
·
The book of 2 Chronicles recounts the history of
the kings of Judah and Israel between the death of King David and the exile to
Babylon (about 450 years)
·
There was a lot of drama in those days with some
kings seeking God, other rebelling and worshiping idols, there were wars
between Judah and Israel, wars with Syria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Philistine, and
much more. There were marriage treaties,
revenge, backstabbing, murder, and a lot of other crazy, but fun to read,
incidents. If Hollywood made a movie of
this time period our kids would not be allowed to see it.
·
In the middle of all of this I was reading about
King Jehoram in chapter 21. His father
was Jehoshaphat, a good king that everyone liked and who sought the Lord. But, Jehoram was not like his father. Let’s read what happens at the end of his
life and then look back and why God treated him in such a way.
2 Chronicles 21:16-20
16 And the Lord stirred up
against Jehoram the anger of the Philistines and of the Arabians who are
near the Ethiopians. 17 And they came up against
Judah and invaded it and carried away all the possessions they found that
belonged to the king's house, and also his sons and his wives, so that no son
was left to him except Jehoahaz, his youngest son.
18 And after all this the Lord struck
him in his bowels with an incurable disease.19 In
the course of time, at the end of two years, his bowels came out because of the
disease, and he died in great agony. His people made no fire in his honor, like
the fires made for his fathers. 20 He was
thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in
Jerusalem. And he departed with no one's regret. They buried him in the
city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
Things to think
about:
·
Wow! Talk
about a bad ending. Is it me or did I
just read that God gave King Jehoram the worst case of hemorrhoids for two
years until finally he died from it?
Maybe there is some other medical term or disease that causes your
bowels to come out of your body, but whatever you call it the Bible is clear it
did not feel very good!
·
Look at those lines again in verses 19 and 20, “His
people made no fire in his honor, like the fires made for his fathers…and he
departed with no one’s regret.” It’s
like a funeral where people are relieved you’re gone instead of sad to see you
go. Ouch, that hurts.
·
Interesting question to think about – what are
people going to think/say at your funeral?
·
What could have caused people to think of the
King in such a way? What did he do for
God to treat him this way?
2 Chronicles 21:4-15
4 When Jehoram had ascended the
throne of his father and was established, he killed all his brothers with the
sword, and also some of the princes of Israel. 5 Jehoram
was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years
in Jerusalem. 6 And he walked in the way of the
kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab
was his wife. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 7 Yet
the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David, because of
the covenant that he had made with David, and since he had promised to give a
lamp to him and to his sons forever.
8 In his days Edom revolted from the rule
of Judah and set up a king of their own. 9 Then
Jehoram passed over with his commanders and all his chariots, and he rose by
night and struck the Edomites who had surrounded him and his chariot
commanders. 10 So Edom revolted from the rule
of Judah to this day. At that time Libnah also revolted from his rule, because
he had forsaken the Lord, the God of his fathers.
11 Moreover, he made high places in
the hill country of Judah and led the inhabitants of Jerusalem into
whoredom and made Judah go astray. 12 And a letter
came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God
of David your father, ‘Because you have not walked in the ways of
Jehoshaphat your father, or in the ways of Asa king of Judah, 13 but
have walked in the way of the kings of Israel and have enticed Judah and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem into whoredom, as the house of Ahab led
Israel into whoredom, and also you have killed your brothers, of your
father's house, who were better than you, 14 behold,
the Lord will bring a great plague on your people, your children,
your wives, and all your possessions, 15 and you
yourself will have a severe sickness with a disease of your bowels, until
your bowels come out because of the disease, day by day.’”
More things to think
about:
·
I have had a few disagreements (fights) with my
brothers, but I have never gone out and murdered them all. Talk about a family crisis. Our insecurities often cause us to do things
that we otherwise would not do. In what
areas of your life are you feeling insecure?
Have you compromised your integrity or character in some way because of
those insecurities? (I hope you haven’t
murdered your whole family, but maybe something less drastic)
·
Notice verse 7 again – God kept his promise to
David. God could have just destroyed
them all, but he remembered his promise to always have a descendent of David on
the throne…theology question for the day – who is the promised descendent of
David who reigns as king today?
·
I have always thought it interesting that the
people were so easily influenced. The
people were led astray by this crazy murdering king to worship false gods, set
up false temples, break God’s commandments, etc. A crazy king says to worship a new god and
you are like, “oh okay sounds good, what is the new god’s name and what am I supposed
to do to worship him?” We are like sheep
– so easily led astray! How are you
influenced by people in authority over you?
How are you influenced by the people around you? How are you at influencing them in a positive
way?
·
Some of us may look at this story and think, “wow,
what an evil person and way to go God for taking him out…” but think about
it. We are all like Jehoram in one way
or another. His major sin was not
killing his brothers, bad as that was. His
biggest grievance was forsaking the Lord and seeking false gods…we do the same
all the time. We forsake the Lord and go
our own way and often set up ourselves as god in His place. God has just as much right and authority to
judge us the way he judged Jehoram, but thanks be to God He sent Jesus Christ
His Son to die in our place and pay for our sins of forsaking the Lord. Through Jesus’ death on the cross we can
obtain forgiveness and be free of all wrath and judgment from God. Praise God for His Mercy and Grace!
