And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet saying, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of David thy father Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah,
Jehoram killed his own brothers and married into Ahab's family. Now a letter reaches him from a prophet who had already left the earth, and it names the family road he refused to walk.
How could a letter come from Elijah at all? One writer answers from the wording of the text itself:
Elijah had been taken to heaven a number of years before this. To solve the difficulty, some say the name Elijah should be Elisha, who was alive at that time and serving in connection with Samaria. There is no need for that. It does not say that Elijah sent that letter. It says: "A letter came to him from Elijah the prophet." Elijah knew Jehoshaphat and he knew his son Jehoram, who ruled alongside his father for several years. The Lord showed him beforehand the evil course Jehoram would take, and how he would follow the wicked ways of Ahab, which Elijah knew so well... Elijah probably entrusted this message to Elisha, and when the right moment came this man of God delivered the writing to Jehoram, telling him at the same time that it was from Elijah.
Why did the letter come so late? One writer points to God's hand on the timing:
In a remarkable way a prophetic writing comes to the king from Elijah. God's over-ruling hand held it back until the right moment, after the prophet's death, when the threat in it might — humanly speaking — have greater effect on him. But it does not appear to have brought about any change in him.
Jehoram had two examples in front of him, and the letter asks which one he followed:
On one side, Jehoram had the example of his grandfather Asa and of his father Jehoshaphat, who sought the honor of the Lord (v. 12). On the other side, the kings of Israel had left an example of ungodly rebellion against the truth. Jehoram followed them.
Why does God name Himself "the God of David your father" here? One writer finds the answer in what David did when God judged him:
Most of David's life showed how God supported and cared for His servant in all kinds of circumstances. Twice He judged His servant for his sins: first over Bathsheba, with real consequences for David's house; second over his pride in counting the people, and the sorrow that brought on Israel. At both of these sad blots on David's honourable life for God, David repented bitterly of his folly. David's God was a righteous and holy God. Did Jehoram follow David's example? It would not seem so from the narrative. There was no repentance and the threatened judgment followed.
Jehoram's marriage tied his house to Ahab's. One writer says what such a link costs:
Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, walked in the ways of Ahab. He had married a daughter of Ahab. When a godly household makes friends with an ungodly one, the results are terrible. God resents that unholy closeness, and He lets the evil of the ungodly appear in the once godly household.
Judgment followed, and one writer names the hand behind it:
God raised up Elijah as a witness against the sins of the house of Ahab, and he has foreseen their fruits in Judah. A writing of Elijah's comes to the king, threatening him with the terrible judgments of God. Enemies also attack Judah. They plunder the land, lay waste even the king's house, and kill all his sons except one. This was from the Lord. What we see here is His government, for He rules over those who are in covenant with Him, those who are His house.
The letter said how this would end. It ended exactly so:
And so he was to die, and outward troubles came upon him... His people made no funeral fire for him, like the fires made for his fathers. He had gone on in sin, and he died in sorrow and shame. Such was the end of a son of David, really and literally the son of Jehoshaphat ("Jehovah is judge").
- Seed — Jehoshaphat's friendship with Ahab was the seed. Tie a godly home to an ungodly one, and the evil of the ungodly shows up in the godly home.
- Choice — Jehoram had Asa and Jehoshaphat on one side and the kings of Israel on the other, and he chose Ahab's road.
- Warning — The letter came from a prophet already gone. God held it back until the moment it would tell most.
- Name — God signs it "the God of David your father." David sinned and repented. Jehoram had the same door open and would not walk through it.
- Government — Judgment fell because God rules those in covenant with Him. Jehoram never repented, so the writing came true, and he died in sorrow and shame.
but hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, like the fornications of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren, thy father's house who were better than thyself
Elijah's letter reaches King Jehoram of Judah like a charge sheet: he copied the wrong family, he pulled a whole nation into idolatry, and he killed his own brothers. Why is his sin measured against his father and grandfather, and why does the letter call it whoredom?
Jehoram did not lack good examples. The letter points to his own family before it names his crime.
On the one hand, Jehoram had the example of his grandfather Asa and of his father Jehoshaphat. They sought the honour of the Lord (v. 12). On the other hand, the kings of Israel had left an example of godless rebellion against the truth. These were the ones Jehoram followed. He was guilty of making Judah and the people of Jerusalem play the harlot, just as Ahab did in Israel. Elijah also wrote that Jehoram had killed his brothers, who were better than himself (v. 13).
The letter calls what Jehoram did whoredom. That word points to Judah's worship, and the trouble started with something that looked harmless.
Jehoshaphat had not removed the high places. Jehoram added to them, and so he led the people of Jerusalem into harlotry — that is, into idolatry through the high places. It was idolatry because, although at first they claimed to have the high places for the worship of God, this very soon developed into the worship of idols. In the same way, our desire for high recognition from men in our outward worship of God will very easily become virtual idolatry. This pushes God aside, and Satan's counterfeit takes His place.
The harlotry was not only a figure of speech. False worship dragged real behaviour down with it.
Jehoram "made high places in the mountains of Judah and led the inhabitants of Jerusalem into whoredom, and made Judah go astray." This was part of the wickedness of the pagan religions. It made men more immoral than they would otherwise have been, and it did so on principle, as a matter of honour to their gods.
The comparison to Ahab is not just an insult. Jehoram had tied himself to that house by marriage.
We see the cruel policy of a tyrant: he killed all his brothers and some of the princes. Is he a son of the house of David? Yes; but he married Ahab's daughter, and he liked Ahab's court better than his father's. See what Jehoshaphat's marriage tie with Ahab led to. For the first time we read of Judah's king following Ahab's wickedness and bringing it into the court of Judah.
Jehoram killed his brothers to secure the throne. In the end that throne cost him everything.
Jehoram, king of Judah, was incredibly cruel. To strengthen his position as king he killed all his own brothers and some of the princes of Israel (2 Chr. 21:4)... His evil ways exhausted the patience of God with him, and God sent Elijah the prophet to him with a message of condemnation. There would be no pause for the king to repent. The judgment was righteous, and it could not be reversed... There was no repentance and the threatened judgment followed. Jehoram lost all — his wives, his sons (except the youngest), his health, and at last his life. No one mourned when he died.
Elijah had been taken up years before this letter arrived. One writer explains how the message still reached the king.
The Lord showed him beforehand the evil course Jehoram would take, and how he would follow the wicked ways of Ahab, which Elijah knew so well. Then Elijah received the message. It exposed Jehoram's wickedness, like the whoredom of Ahab's house, and announced the judgment coming on him. Elijah probably entrusted this message to Elisha. When the right moment came, this man of God delivered the writing to Jehoram, and told him it was from Elijah.
The judgment came just as the letter said, and God meant others to see it.
What a terrible recompense for his murders and idolatries! God made him a striking example, so that his successors would "see it and fear."
- Pattern — Two family lines stood before Jehoram. Asa and Jehoshaphat sought the Lord's honour; the kings of Israel rebelled. He chose the rebels.
- Marriage — He married Ahab's daughter and preferred Ahab's court to his father's. For the first time, Ahab's wickedness entered the court of Judah.
- Drift — The high places began as worship of God and ended as worship of idols. The same slide starts whenever we want men's praise for how we worship.
- Reach — One king's choice spread to a whole nation. He led Jerusalem into idolatry, and that false worship dragged real morals down with it.
- Recompense — He killed brothers better than himself and never repented. He lost wives, sons, health and life, and God made him an example, so that those who came after him would see it and fear.
behold, Jehovah will smite with a great stroke thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy substance,
Jehoram of Judah murdered his own brothers and pushed his kingdom into idolatry. Now a letter arrives, names his crimes and passes sentence. The blow falls on more than the king. It reaches his people, his children, his wives and all he owned. That raises a hard question: why does a man's household pay for his sin?
How could a letter come from Elijah? One writer answers from the wording of the text itself:
The letter that came to Jehoram from the prophet Elijah presents some difficulties. Elijah had been taken up to heaven many years before. To solve the difficulty some say the name Elijah should be Elisha, who was then living and ministering near Samaria. There is no need for that. It does not say that Elijah sent that letter; it says a letter came from Elijah the prophet. Elijah knew Jehoshaphat, and he knew his son Jehoram, who was co-regent with his father for several years. The Lord showed him beforehand the evil course Jehoram would take.
Another writer points to the timing of the letter:
God's over-ruling hand kept this writing back until the right moment, after the prophet's death, when the threat in it might, humanly speaking, have greater effect on him. But it does not appear to have changed him at all.
The verse names four things: his people, his children, his wives, his goods. Invading enemies stripped away every one:
Elijah's ministry and field of work had been, it seems, only among the ten tribes, the kingdom of Israel. But God uses His servant here to send a message to the king of Judah. And what the prophecy said came true. "The LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and of the Arabians who are near the Ethiopians. 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." ... What a terrible repayment for his murders and idolatries! God made a clear example of him, so that his successors might see it and fear.
That "your children" is not arbitrary. It answers, blow for blow, what Jehoram had done to his own family:
A letter from Elijah foretold the doom of Jehoram, who "walked in the way of the kings of Israel." The government of God also overtook him. The man who killed all his brothers had his own sons killed by the Arabians.
The plague is not random misfortune. It is God ruling over people who stand in a relationship with Him:
But soon the sorrowful fruits of Jehoshaphat's alliance with Ahab ripen and bring Judah into distress. Jehoram, his son, is Ahab's son-in-law, and he walks in the ways of the kings of Israel... God raised up Elijah as a witness against the sins of the house of Ahab, and Elijah has foreseen their fruits in Judah. So a letter of his comes to the king, threatening him with the terrible judgments of God. Judah's enemies attack as well. They plunder the land, laying waste even the king's house, and they kill all his sons except one. This was of the LORD. It is His government which we see here; for He rules over those who are in covenant with Him, those who are His house.
One writer marks the limit of this principle:
In the government of God, children have to suffer for the sins of their parents. Nations suffer for the sins of their rulers. Men may complain about this and call it injustice. But the fact remains. If a man squanders his inheritance and abuses his body, his children will suffer for it in want and weakness. But this does not extend beyond the present life, and the sorrows here on earth are short-lived. God will never make anyone undergo the judgment of hell for the sins of others, but only for the sins he has committed himself.
Everything threatened here fell. Yet the line of David survived, and the reason lies outside Jehoram:
A murderer of his brothers, an idolater of the worst kind, he died just as Elijah's letter predicted. And again we may ask: is he a descendant of the house of David? Yes — and therefore he and his are not destroyed beyond repair. "Yet the LORD was not willing to destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that He had made with David."
- Sown. Jehoshaphat allied with Ahab, and his son married into Ahab's family. This plague is the harvest of that friendship.
- Sealed. A prophet long dead wrote the sentence. God held it back until it would weigh most heavily on the king.
- Struck. People, children, wives, goods — the Philistines and Arabians carried off every item named in the threat.
- Squared. The man who killed his brothers lost his own sons. God repaid him in his own currency, and made him a warning to later kings.
- Spared. Judgment fell, yet one son survived. God's covenant with David held firm where Jehoram did not. And no earthly loss settles anyone's eternity.
and thyself with sore sicknesses, with a disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day.
Jehoram of Judah murdered his brothers and pulled the nation into idolatry. A letter from Elijah named both crimes and their punishment. This verse is its last line: the punishment falls on the king's own body, a wasting illness that drags on "day by day" until it kills him.
Elijah had gone to heaven years before this letter arrived. So where did it come from? One writer answers without altering the text:
The letter that came to Jehoram from the prophet Elijah is interesting, and it raises some difficulties. Elijah had been taken up to heaven many years before. To solve the difficulty, some say the name should be Elisha, who was alive at the time and serving in connection with Samaria. There is no need for that. The text does not say that Elijah sent the letter. It says: "A letter came to him from Elijah the prophet." Elijah knew Jehoshaphat, and he knew his son Jehoram, who ruled for several years alongside his father. The Lord showed Elijah beforehand the evil course Jehoram would take.
Another writer, who speaks of Elijah's departure as his death, reads the delay as deliberate: God held the message back until it would land hardest.
In a remarkable way a prophetic letter comes to the king from Elijah. God's overruling hand held it back until the right moment, after the prophet's death, when the threat in it might (humanly speaking) have greater effect on him. But it does not appear to have changed him at all.
The illness is not random. It is the last item in a list of charges. The letter sets Jehoram's record against the better example in his own family.
On one side, Jehoram had the example of his grandfather Asa and of his father Jehoshaphat, who sought the honour of the Lord (v. 12). On the other side, the kings of Israel had left an example of godless rebellion against the truth, and it was these whom Jehoram followed. He was guilty of leading Judah and the people of Jerusalem into unfaithfulness to God, just as Ahab did in Israel. Elijah also wrote that Jehoram had killed his brothers, who were better than he was (v. 13).
The verse gives more than a diagnosis. It names the part of the body — the bowels, or intestines — and the slow pace of the death.
So he added that God would judge Jehoram severely for this. A serious affliction would fall on his people, his children, his wives and everything he owned. Jehoram himself would also suffer a dreadful disease of his intestines, so severe that his intestines would come out, "day by day" (v. 15). This would mean long, drawn-out suffering. This solemn message was written before Jehoram was born. It ought to have had a deep effect on the wicked king, because it reached him in a most unusual way. That was clear evidence that the message came from the all-knowing God of creation.
A quick death leaves no room for a change of mind. This illness left two years of room, and the king used none of it.
The Lord then struck him with an incurable disease of the intestines. It afflicted him for two years, until his intestines came out and he died in severe pain. So God gave him two extra years to repent. But he had clearly sold himself to do evil, as Ahab had done (1 Kings 21:25). To the end he resisted the goodness of God that might have led him to repentance.
Jehoram did not start this rot on his own. His father Jehoshaphat tied the family to Ahab's house, and Jehoram's marriage into that house grew out of the tie.
Jehoshaphat made an alliance with Jehoram, Ahab's son. This defiling link bore its fruit. Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, walked in the ways of Ahab. He had married a daughter of Ahab. When a godly household makes friends with a godless one, the results are very terrible. God resents the unholy closeness, and He lets the evil of the godless show up in the once godly household.
The verse promised a death no one would envy. His burial matched the promise.
He is one of the least attractive of all the kings of Judah. His name means "Exalted by the Lord," yet his wickedness pushed him down to a dishonoured grave. He took over the kingdom at its highest glory since the days of Solomon. After a reign of only eight years he left it with "Ichabod" — the glory has departed — written large across it.
- Seed — Jehoshaphat tied his family to Ahab's house. Ahab's evil then grew inside a godly family, and Jehoram married into it.
- Warning — God showed Elijah the evil course Jehoram would take, then held the letter back until the right moment. It named the crimes and the illness in advance.
- Sentence — Not a quick death, but a wasting disease "day by day" — long suffering, spelled out before the man was born.
- Space — Two years of illness were two years of room to repent. He resisted the goodness of God that was meant to lead him there.
- End — Eight years on the throne, a death no one mourned, a grave outside the kings' tombs. He inherited the kingdom at its height and left it with the glory gone.