2 Chronicles 21:8–20
Read the passage.
Because of the evil deeds of King Jehoram, God brings about judgement on the land of Judah. His father Jehoshaphat had relied on the Lord when Edom attacked alongside Ammon and Moab. After the whole coalition army was destroyed, it appears that Judah made Edom a vassal state. During Jehoram’s reign, Edom rebels and revolts, setting up their own king. Jehoram attempts to put a stop to it with his army, but is not successful. Verse 10 gives the reason explicitly that it is because he had forsaken the Lord.
In large part, this forsaking took the form of idol worship, which he promoted among the people by setting up high places. His father and grandfather had worked to remove these religious sites so that the Lord would be worshiped in the way He had prescribed, and not any other god. Jehoram undid that work and led Judah astray into the idolatry that Israel had been committing for generations.
Most of the time when the Lord pronounces judgement on someone, He sends a prophet to confront the people in person, but this time Elijah sends a letter. Elijah’s ministry was in the northern kingdom of Israel, mostly during Ahab’s reign. The timing is hard to judge, but it may be possible that this letter was delivered after Elijah was taken up in to heaven. The judgement Elijah’s letter pronounces is very severe. It calls out Jehoram for leading Judah into idolatry and also for the murder of his brothers “who were better” than himself. (v. 13) Because of these evil acts, a great plague will come on the people, including his own house and family, and furthermore his own body will be stricken with a terrible disease.
And so it came to pass: the plague on the people came in the form of the Philistines and Arabians raiding and pillaging the country. They encroached even into Jerusalem to the king’s house, taking captive his wives and all of his children except for the youngest. “After this” (v. 18), Jehoram is stricken with a disease in his bowels, suffering in agony for two years before he dies. And no one is sad to see him go. He is not given the same honorable burial that his forefathers were given. He isn’t even buried in the tombs of the kings of Judah. The people of Judah are just relieved to have that chapter of their history behind them.
Even when our own ways seem so right to us, grant us the grace to follow You instead.