2 Chron 21 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: 2 Chron 21:1-20

Then Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. And Jehoram his son succeeded him as king. 2 Jehoram’s brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat, were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael and Shephatiah. All these were sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel. 3 Their father had given them many gifts of silver and gold and articles of value, as well as fortified cities in Judah, but he had given the kingdom to Jehoram because he was his firstborn son.

4 When Jehoram established himself firmly over his father’s kingdom, he put all his brothers to the sword along with some of the officials of Israel. 5 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for eight years. 6 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. 7 Nevertheless, because of the covenant the Lord had made with David, the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David. He had promised to maintain a lamp for him and his descendants for ever.

8 In the time of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against Judah and set up its own king. 9 So Jehoram went there with his officers and all his chariots. The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but he rose up and broke through by night. 10 To this day Edom has been in rebellion against Judah.

Libnah revolted at the same time, because Jehoram had forsaken the Lord, the God of his ancestors. 11 He had also built high places on the hills of Judah and had caused the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves and had led Judah astray.

12 Jehoram received a letter from Elijah the prophet, which said:

‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: “You have not followed the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or of Asa king of Judah. 13 But you have followed the ways of the kings of Israel, and you have led Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ahab did. You have also murdered your own brothers, members of your own family, men who were better than you. 14 So now the Lord is about to strike your people, your sons, your wives and everything that is yours, with a heavy blow. 15 You yourself will be very ill with a lingering disease of the bowels, until the disease causes your bowels to come out.”’

16 The Lord aroused against Jehoram the hostility of the Philistines and of the Arabs who lived near the Cushites. 17 They attacked Judah, invaded it and carried off all the goods found in the king’s palace, together with his sons and wives. Not a son was left to him except Ahaziah, the youngest.

18 After all this, the Lord afflicted Jehoram with an incurable disease of the bowels. 19 In the course of time, at the end of the second year, his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in great pain. His people made no funeral fire in his honour, as they had for his predecessors.

20 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for eight years. He passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

A. Find Out:    

1. What happened at the start of the next reign? v.1-4
2. What are we told about Jehoram? v.5-7
3. Who rebelled and what happened? v.8-10
4. What did Jehoram do that was bad? v.11
5. How did the Lord respond to this? v.12-14
6. So what happened? v.15-20

B. Think:

1. What was the wrong that Jehoram did?
2. What were the immediate signs of the Lord’s disfavour?
3. What was the final sign of the Lord’s disfavour?

C. Comment:

      If you consider the kings of Israel , you will have noted that one of the amazing things about those dynasties was that the Lord mostly allowed them to carry on a long time even though they were doing wrong. When it comes to the house of David and the southern kingdom based upon Jerusalem , that does not seem so.

     We have already observed in these studies that when a king sought the Lord and sought to put the nation on a right footing with Him, then they had the Lord’s blessing in the form of peace with all surrounding nations.

     This new king starts his reign and immediately acts unrighteously by wiping out the rest of the family so that there are no possible contenders against him. He is obviously a very insecure man, but then he doesn’t have a relationship with the Lord. He also encourages false idol worship and immediately the Lord’s hand of protection is lifted off Judah , and Edom and Libnah revolt. The king goes to deal with this revolt and only just manages to escape with his life. Then comes a stern rebuke from Elijah which is a death sentence. This foolish king does not repent and so the sentence falls upon him and he dies. The illness was lingering so he had plenty of time to call on the Lord, but his folly was so deeply ingrained that he never did. He died!

D. Application:

1. A spiritual father doesn’t mean a spiritual son. Wisdom is individual.
2. The Lord always gives time for repentance.