2 Chronicles 21:2-11 - Homilies By T. Whitelaw

The character of Jehoram.

I. A DEGENERATE SON .

1. The advantages Jehoram possessed.

2 . The disadvantages under which he laboured.

II. AN UNNATURAL BROTHER .

1 . The names of Jehoram ' s brothers. Six in number; they had excellent names.

2 . The ranks of Jehoram ' s brothers. Princes of the blood royal, they were well provided for and well placed by their father, whose crown fell to Jehoram as heir-apparent. Great gifts of silver, gold, and other precious things were bestowed upon them, while they were appointed, as Rehoboam's sons had been ( 2 Chronicles 11:23 ), commandants of fortresses in the different fenced cities of Judah. Thus they had no need to be discontented with their lot, and most likely were not.

3 . The characters of Jehoram ' s brethren. They were better than he (verse 13). Presumably in every way—physically, mentally, morally, religiously. This last, perhaps, specially intended. Jehoshaphat's piety had exercised upon them more influence than upon him; they disapproved of the idolatrous behaviour and wicked policy generally of him and his wife.

4 . The murder of Jehoram ' s brethren. Whatever the motive—cupidity or a desire to appropriate their wealth, fear or a dread of being insecure upon his throne while they lived, or hatred of their persons because they shunned his evil ways—it was a hideous deed of blood, which has seldom been paralleled amongst Oriental kings. "Upon the death of Selimus II .. Amurah III ; succeeding to the Turkish empire, caused his five brothers—Mustapha, Solymon, Abdalla, Osman, and Sinagar—without pity or commiseration, to be strangled in his presence and burned with his dead father". Along with his brethren, he put to death a number of the princes of Israel, and for probably a similar reason, because they disapproved of his conduct and sympathized with his brethren.

III. A WORTHLESS KING .

1 . An apostate in religion. To be sure, he never had religion in reality. Yet, as Judah's sovereign and Jehoshaphat's son, he ought to have upheld the true worship of Jehovah. But instead he became a devotee of Baal, a favourer of the false gods his half-heathen wife patronized, building high places for them in the mountains of Judah—thus practically reversing the work of his devout father ( 2 Chronicles 17:6 ) and grandfather ( 2 Chronicles 14:2 ), and causing the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, i.e. to practise idolatry ( Isaiah 23:17 ; Ezekiel 16:29 ; Revelation 19:2 ); yea, compelling Judah by violence to go astray ( Deuteronomy 13:6 , Deuteronomy 13:11 ).

2 . A weakling in government. Udder him the Edomites, who had in Jehoshaphat's reign been tributary to Judah ( 2 Kings 3:9 ), becoming restive, achieved their independence. According to Josephus ('Ant.,' 9.5. 1), they first slew their king, who had yielded to Jehoshaphat, and afterwards elected one who raised the standard of revolt. A feeble attempt to reduce them to subjection proved abortive. At Zair, on the way to Edom—not to be identified with Zoar (Ewald), which belonged to Moab, but perhaps with the modern ruin Zueirah, on the south-west of the Dead Sea (Conder)—he, with all his princes and chariots, encountered the rebels; but whether he defeated them (Jamieson), or only cut his way through them when they had encompassed him (Keil), is obscure, though even on the former supposition his success was not permanent or decisive. Either then or soon afterwards the Edomites completely renounced the yoke of Judah. About the same period also, Libnah—a city in the district of Eleutheropolis (Eusebius), though as yet unknown—succeeded in establishing its freedom.

3 . A pigmy in manhood. Apart from the plague which struck him in his last days, while yet in middle life (verse 15) he was obviously a poor and contemptible creature. When he died nobody lamented him—at least, nobody among his subjects. "He departed without being desired" (verse 20). Men were glad to see the last of him. They would not burn a burning for him, as they did for his good father and pious grandfather when they died. His rotten carcase they buried in the city of David; they would not desecrate with it the sepulchres of the kings.

Learn:

1 . The necessity of personal religion—no man may trade upon his father's piety.

2 . The duty of parents to provide for their children—exemplified by Jehoshaphat's donations to his sons.

3 . The bitterness of sin's fruit when fully developed: "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" in its worst forms—murder, fratricide, etc.

4 . The value of a good wife—inferred from the calamity of a bad one.

5 . The mercy of God to great sinners, even when they do not repent—illustrated by God's tolerance of Jehoram.

6 . The essential weakness of sin—as shown by the Edomite revolt against Judah.

7 . The pestilential influence of sin in high places: "One sinner destroyeth much good."—W.