The brothers, Moab and
Ammon, and the people of Mount Seir, were left alone when Israel exited the
Wilderness. God told his people not to meddle with them.
Joshua also left them
alone and so did subsequent leaders.
Yet, without real provocation they rose
against God’s people, notably Judah, the southern nation that bordered their
lands.
Jehoshaphat proclaimed
a national time of fasting and petitioned God to be with them against an enemy they
had never provoked.
The prophet Jahaziel then stood
up and prophesied that Israel would "stand and see the salvation of God" (vs 15-17). He stated too, "this battle is not yours but God's".
It
would be like Jericho and so many other great moments in Jewish history.
So they went out to the
valley of Tekoa to sing praises and watch. They saw the vast numbers
assembled against them, but also watched them lay into each other.
Perhaps it was just a
case of thieves falling out, or a disagreement that got out of hand, who knows,
but God sowed great confusion into their ranks.
At some stage in every
struggle, God will fight for you and you will stand and see his salvation. He
allows our struggles to a point, then he breaks the yoke on his own terms.
It marked the end of a
long unfinished saga in their history and whatever long history you have will know a similar breakthrough. Jehoshaphat sacrificed and offered up
songs of praise and deliverance to God as he led the people back to Jerusalem.
His reign was peaceful and all the nations around them feared God and
respected his people.
But he also desired the reunification of Israel and entered into a league with Ahab’s
wicked son Ahaziah. So the prophet Eliezer
spoke against him and thus his ships, made to go to Tarshish, for trade, all
broke down and they never put to sea.
Even so Jehoshaphat
saw out his reign of 25 years, having ascended the throne at the age of 35. He
was only 60 when he breathed his last, to be remembered as a great king.
His son Jehoram
reigned in his stead. But he was a bad king, who slew all his brothers, made
many enemies, followed in the ways of Ahab and only ruled for 8 years.
Ahaziah battled to get out of bed (2 Kings 1
& 2 Chronicles 21)
In the second year of
Jehoram’s reign (all the reigns were dated relative to each other), Ahaziah
faced a backlash from Moab who came against the northern kingdom.
It was such a shock to
the king that he fell through the lattice in his upper bed chamber.
Such was his heart
that he turned to Baalzebub, god of his mother Jezebel (she was still
pulling strings), to inquire about his health, but his messenger was waylaid by
Elijah.
Elijah’s word was “you
will not rise from that bed of yours. You will die”.
The king was angered
and sent a company of 50 under a captain, to fetch Elijah from his hilltop.
But when he shouted, “Oh man of God ….” Elijah replied “if I am a man of God
let fire come down from God and consume all of you”. And so it happened, and
again.
A third company
commander pleaded for his life and humbled himself before Elijah, so God spared
him and told Elijah to go to the king.
But when Elijah got
there he simply repeated his message “you will not rise from your bed”.
Thus
Ahaziah died. His own son Jehoram reigned. That made two Jehoram’s. Equally
bad. The name means “God is
exalted”, but they perverted that by exalting themselves.
Jehoram of Judah undid all the good work of Jehoshaphat
(1 Kings 2)
His first act of
office was to wipe out the line of Jehoshaphat by killing all his brothers.
What a perverse thing to do. He may have been the firstborn and his father
honored him as such, but clearly his insecurity suggested that he was not
chosen by God or the people.
He then went and upset
the Edomites (Esau’s descendants). They rebelled and broke their allegiance to the
throne of Jerusalem, so Jehoram ambushed them at night and killed many.
From then on there was
a perpetual enmity between Edom and Judah. We think that enmity
traces back to the enmity between Sarah and Hagar, but that was healed. The
longer-term damage was avoidable and totally thanks to Jehoram’s buffoonery.
Other nations also
rebelled. He may have “legitimized” his throne by removing his opponents, but
no one was willing to follow him.
Beware those who
promote themselves and presume to rule without a
legitimate right.
Never assume that title equals legitimacy. “Positional
leadership” is the weakest of all forms of leadership.
Personally, I despise titles, like pastor or bishop or whatever men prefer. So did Jesus in Matthew 23:8-12. God prefers roles not titles. Never seek a
title, seek a role of value.
Well, Elijah didn’t
care who he thought he was and invoked a great plague against the house of
Judah. In a great act of irony, given how the ark once plagued them, the Philistines
seemingly had immunity to that plague and marched in to plunder the temple and the
palace.
Jehoram did not suffer
the same fate but a personal sickness hit his bowels. Two years later, his bowels erupted and he died. He was 32 when he started to
reign and was dead by 40.
The end of Elijah (2 Kings 2)
It was also time for
one of the greatest biblical men to leave the stage, not because of old age,
but because his time was up and God was calling him home.
In contrast to the
illegitimacy of the kings, Elisha as the heir apparent to Elijah, refused to
stay behind as the great man went to Bethel and then to Jericho. Then he
followed as Elijah parted the waters of the Jordan where Israel once parted the
same waters.
The symbolism is
notable. Israel crossed the Jordan, but left the true promise behind. Elijah
thus went back to join Moses on the far side to await that promise.
Eons later, the two
would meet that promised seed, the true promise, not of many as in peoples
but as of one (Galatians 3:16), namely Jesus.
They met him on the mount
of transfiguration (Matthew 17) and deferred to Jesus, as the disciples
watched. In that moment God, having once spoken through Moses (the law) and
Elijah (the prophets), said, “Now hear him”. It is reflected in Hebrews 1.
Elijah saw the
chariots of God coming for him as Elisha asked the one thing that mattered: to
receive his anointing. It was granted as Elijah cast his mantle down to Elisha,
just as Jesus in ascending to heaven cast the holy spirit on the church. For
now he speaks through us.
Elisha then parted the
waters and returned to Jericho, or the town adjacent to the ruins once cursed by Joshua – it still stands today.
There the people
invited him to stay but complained of their lack of potable water. Elisha took
some salt and cast it into their spring, to ensure good water from then on. It brought
the past full circle and restored Jericho to the kingdom.
(c) Peter Missing @
