But the Edomites revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time from under his hand, because he had forsaken Jehovah the God of his fathers.
Jehoram took the throne after his father Jehoshaphat, and the kingdom began to break apart in his hands. This verse records two revolts, and then names one cause for both.
The loss of Edom and Libnah is not presented as bad luck or poor strategy. One writer puts both revolts under God's hand, next to the promise that kept David's line standing:
Yet despite Jehoram's wickedness, the Lord would not destroy the house of David because of His promise to David and to David's descendants (v. 7). So God's grace stands out as greater than judgment, though in righteous government God would bring serious suffering on Israel. We see this in verse 8, as Edom revolted against the rule of Judah. Jehoram attempted to bring Edom back under subjection, but could do nothing (vv. 9-10). Libnah also revolted, and the reason is simply given. The Lord allowed this because Jehoram had forsaken the Lord.
Commentators differ on how the night battle of verse 9 ended. Some read it as a failure, others as a partial win. Either way, verse 10 ends the same, and one writer draws out the sting:
So we find that when the Edomites revolted, and Jehoram went out, he struck them. Still, God disciplined him, for "at that time Libnah also revolted from his rule, because he had forsaken the LORD, the God of his fathers."
Edom was a nation on the border. Libnah was not. The second revolt came from inside Judah, and from the city where the priests lived:
Edom, which until now had a governor dependent on the throne of Judah, revolts and chooses a king for itself. The consequence is war. Jehoram has the advantage, but the revolt is not crushed, and this unsubdued enemy continues on "to this day." At the same time, Libnah revolted. Libnah was a city of Judah, a priestly city belonging to the sons of Aaron (Joshua 21:13; 1 Chr. 6:57). What a shame for Jehoram! Inside his own kingdom one of the morally most important cities broke away from him. The reason is given in verses 10 and 11. The sons of Aaron could not join themselves to a man who "had forsaken the LORD, the God of his fathers," and who pushed Judah into that path by his high places and his immorality. Some testimony was still left in Judah, and this testimony was to Jehoram's shame. The Lord separated a part of the priesthood from him — the one thing that could still keep Jehoram in relationship with Himself.
One writer reads the two place names as a picture of something that happens in a believer's life:
Edom was too strong, just as the flesh is too strong for mere human energy. So Judah regained no authority over Edom to the day of the writing of this report. Libnah also revolted at that time. Libnah means "whiteness." This teaches us that Judah lost control of moral purity at the very time they lost control of the flesh. This will always be true. If we do not keep the flesh in subjection, we will not keep moral purity.
Other writers treat Edom the same way, as the picture of what we are by nature. Edom's name is bound up with Adam's, and the enmity is not something that can be negotiated away:
Nor can you change this enmity into friendship; and so exactly with the flesh: "the mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."
Jehoram did not drift into this on his own. His father tied the family to Ahab's house by marriage, and this verse is part of the harvest:
But soon the sorrowful fruits of his league with Ahab ripen and bring Judah into distress. Jehoram, his son, Ahab's son-in-law, walks in the ways of the kings of Israel. The Edomites revolt, and Libnah, a city of Judah, does the same... It is His government which we see here; for He rules over those who are in covenant with Him, those who are His house.
- Forsaking first. Two revolts, one reason: Jehoram "had forsaken the LORD, the God of his fathers." The kingdom broke apart in public because the king had already turned away in private.
- Then the hand weakens. What a king has forsaken, he can no longer hold. Edom slips out of his hand and the loss stands "to this day" — his one advantage in battle never won the ground back.
- Then it spreads inward. Edom was a foreign nation; Libnah was his own, a city set apart for the priests. Rebellion that starts at the border ends up in the sanctuary.
- The pattern repeats. As pictures, Edom is the flesh, which human strength cannot subdue. Libnah means "whiteness." Lose your grip on the first and you will not keep the second.
- But one hand does not let go. God still spared the house of David. Not because Jehoram earned it, but because of the promise made to David. Grace runs alongside God's government, and proves greater than it.
Moreover he made high places on the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and compelled Judah [thereto].
Jehoram of Judah did not just drift from God. He built shrines across his own hills and pushed his people onto them. Two questions follow. What were these "high places" for? And how did one man drag a whole nation with him?
Jehoshaphat had spent his reign pulling Judah toward God. Then his son took the throne.
His attitude toward idolatry was the exact opposite of his father's. He "made Judah go astray" — a phrase also rendered "seduced Judah." He undid, as far as he was able, all the good work of his father Jehoshaphat.
The high places did not begin as open idol shrines. What they became is a warning about worship today.
Jehoshaphat had not done away with the high places, but Jehoram added to them. He led the people of Jerusalem into harlotry — that is, idolatry through the high places. At first they claimed the high places were for the worship of God. But this very soon developed into the worship of idols. In the same way, our desire for men to think highly of our outward worship will very easily become idolatry in practice. God will be displaced and Satan's counterfeit will take God's place.
Idol worship did not only change what Judah believed. It changed how they lived.
This was part of the wickedness of heathen religion. It made men more immoral than they would otherwise have been. And it did so on principle, as a way of honouring their gods.
Judah did not choose the high places. The king built them and forced the nation up the hill.
We see in all this history how much turns upon the king. It was no question of the people now, for they had completely failed long ago. There is a new trial. Suppose the blessing turns on a family instead of the people. It might be said that the odds were heavily against the people's faithfulness. So take the family of a faithful man. Take the family of the most faithful man in the deep distresses of evil: David, the ancestor of the Messiah. Perhaps, if it turns on that family, one faithful man might be found! Not so; there is unfaithfulness everywhere. There was only one faithful witness, and He had not yet come.
Jehoram's idolatry did not start with him. His father had already tied the royal house of Judah to the house of Ahab.
A prophet is sent and rebukes Jehoshaphat: "Should you help the wicked?" … This defiling connection produced its fruits. Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, walked in the ways of Ahab. He had married a daughter of Ahab. When a godly household makes friendship with an ungodly one, the consequences are very terrible. God resents the unholy intimacy, and allows the evil of the ungodly to appear in the once godly household. The nation followed in the steps of evil, and Judah became like Israel. Jehoshaphat did not intend this, but it was God's judgment in return.
Jehoram builds the high places. The next thing that reaches him is a letter from Elijah.
The king makes high places, and compels Judah to worship at them. The judgment of God is soon shown. God raised up Elijah as a witness against the sins of the house of Ahab. Elijah had already foreseen the fruit of those sins in Judah. Now a writing of his reaches the king, threatening him with the terrible judgments of God… This was of Jehovah. It is His government which we see here; for He rules over those who are in covenant with Him, those who are His house.
Jehoram tried to corrupt David's line, but God did not end it. The reason had nothing to do with Jehoram.
Yet in spite of Jehoram's wickedness, the Lord would not destroy the house of David because of His promise to David and to David's descendants. So the grace of God stands out as greater than judgment. Yet in righteous government God would still bring serious suffering.
- Compromise — Jehoshaphat tied his house to Ahab's. His son reaped the fruit, and the whole nation ate it.
- Counterfeit — The high places started as worship of the true God, then turned into worship of idols. The same drift threatens any worship built to impress people.
- Coercion — Jehoram did not only stray. He seduced Judah and forced it, and so much turned on the king that his sin became the nation's sin.
- Consequence — Elijah's letter came at once. This was God governing His own house, not bad luck.
- Covenant — David's line survived a king who tried to corrupt it. Grace rests on God's promise, and it proves greater than judgment.