Year 6, Day 320: 2 Chronicles 21

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from our Father.

Jehoram comes into power after Jehoshaphat dies.  As is the custom of the Chronicler, we are told about his reign upfront.  Jehoram was an evil man.  He was not obedient to God.  In fact, he was instead obedient to the was of the kings of Israel.

What is it that brings about this change from the perspective of Jehoram?  After all, Jehoshaphat was a pretty good guy, with only a few flaws for which he seemed genuinely repentant?  What does Jehoram in is his marriage to a foreign princess.  In fact, he marries into the house of the kings of Israel!  When he brings down a wife from Israel, he opens the door for taint to come into his life.  Clearly, this is disobedience in its best.

Furthermore, do you see how he tries to manipulate God’s hand?  Jehoram has all of his brothers killed.  Some might think this is shrewd.  After all, if God has promised that there will always be a descendant of David on the throne, what better way to ensure that your line stays strong than to kill all of the other eligible men!  However, what some may think of as shrewd I find despicable.  In this act we don’t see a humble trust in God.  We don’t see relationship with God.  What we see is a human being trying to manipulate the hand of God.  This is sinfulness at its worst.

However, take a look at how God deals with Jehoram’s disobedience.  As Jehoram had all of his brothers killed, God killed all but one of his sons.  God brings up oppression because of his disobedience in the form of the Philistines.  They plunder the land.

I find it sad to see how the disobedience of one person can cause so much hardship in the lives of the people around him. Jehoram’s disobedience resulted in the death of nearly everyone that was meaningful to him.  It resulted in his people having to fend of rebellions and war.

Of course, I am not much different.  I may not have a nation underneath me, but that doesn’t mean that my places of sin and disobedience don’t mar the community around me.  It certainly does.

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