Jehoshaphat’s Problem is Ours

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

In 2 Chronicles 17, Jehoshaphat takes the throne of Judah. Setting aside the fact that he was a king, the reign of Jehoshaphat provides us with a few warnings that often parallels our own life. Let’s take a look.

³ Now the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the former ways of his father David; he did not seek the Baals, ⁴ but sought the God of his father, and walked in His commandments and not according to the acts of Israel. ⁵ Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah gave presents to Jehoshaphat, and he had riches and honor in abundance. ⁶ And his heart took delight in the ways of the Lord; moreover he removed the high places and wooden images from Judah. (2 Chronicles 17:3-6 NKJV)

We learn that Jehoshaphat walked as his father David had walked. In essence, he lived a life that pleased the Lord and isn’t this what each Christian should be focused on doing? The text explains what he did.

• he did not seek the Baals
• he sought the God of his father
• he walked in God’s commands and not according to the acts of Israel

Because King Jehoshaphat avoided idolatry and sought God instead, God established the kingdom. The people of Judah also appreciated King Jehoshaphat and showed it by giving presents to him. Moreover, God increased Jehoshaphat’s riches and honor throughout the land. The bottom line for Jehoshaphat is that “his heart took delight in the ways of the Lord” (v 6).

Due to his zeal for the Lord, King Jehoshaphat sent leaders and Levites to teach the people throughout Judah from the book of the Law of the Lord. Because of this, the fear of the Lord fell on neighboring nations and cities so that they were afraid to attack Judah.

Everything so far, seems good and right in the land and with Jehoshaphat. It makes me realize that regardless of whether I feel like it or not, pursuing God and godliness is the only real way to approach life. The problem remains my sin nature that always seeks to interrupt my efforts.

When we get to 2 Chronicles 18, things begin to go a bit south for Jehoshaphat. We learn in the very first verse that King Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance and that he was also connected with Israel’s King Ahab through marriage to Ahab’s daughter.

1 Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance; and by marriage he allied himself with Ahab. 2 After some years he went down to visit Ahab in Samaria; and Ahab killed sheep and oxen in abundance for him and the people who were with him, and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramoth Gilead. 3 So Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me against Ramoth Gilead?” (2 Chronicles 18:1-3)

So Jehoshaphat goes to visit King Ahab, who was notorious for his rebellion and sin against God. Ahab’s own wife – Jezebel – essentially made a living out of chasing down prophets of the God of Israel, replacing them with prophets of Baal in the palace. King Jehoshaphat surely knew this. How could he have not known?

When Jehoshaphat arrives to King Ahab’s palace, Ahab celebrates by killing an abundance of sheep and oxen. He then asks Jehoshaphat to help him fight an enemy of Israel. Of course, Jehoshaphat agrees immediately and then asks Ahab to inquire of the Lord about the upcoming military campaign.

Ahab gathers his prophets of Baal and they readily gave their consent to Ahab (v 5b). But King Jehoshaphat seems not to be taken in by this and wants to know, “Is there not still a prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of Him?” (v 6).

There’s a back and forth with Ahab moaning about Micaiah who “never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil,” (v 7b). Then again, this same King Ahab called Elijah the “troubler of Israel” at one point (1 Kings 18:17). In short, Ahab was simply opposed to God at every turn, aligning himself with Satan instead.

But rather than taking this as a cue to leave quietly and gracefully, Jehoshaphat stayed on, heard what Micaiah had to say about King Ahab’s upcoming death on the battlefield, and continued to join in with Ahab on the battlefield in spite of the prophet’s foretelling of the future. This, unfortunately, showed a clear lack of discernment on Jehoshaphat’s part. We are all capable of making this type of poor decision.

King Ahab was seriously wounded during the battle just as Micaiah said and eventually succumbed to his wounds in death. King Jehoshaphat escaped death because God protected him after the king cried out to Him (2 Chronicles 18:31). However, God was not done dealing with King Jehoshaphat. After Jehoshaphat returned to his own palace in Judah, God sent Jehu the son of Hanani the seer and told the king, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Therefore the wrath of the Lord is upon you. Nevertheless good things are found in you, in that you have removed the wooden images from the land, and have prepared your heart to seek God.” (2 Chronicles 18:2-3). This emphasized that Jehoshaphat had not used spiritual discernment and God took it as a serious affront.

While God rebuked Jehoshaphat, He also included praise. King Jehoshaphat had made a mistake by aligning himself with Ahab. Because of that, Jehoshaphat almost lost his life and please notice, he did absolutely nothing to help Ahab see the wickedness of his ways either. Ahab did what he did and nothing changed his outlook or character. He almost dragged Jehoshaphat down with him. Is this why the NT tells us repeatedly to avoid wicked people (2 Timothy 3:1-5 as one example)?

Jehu’s words to King Jehoshaphat were wise because though the first portion was a rebuke, it helped the king understand that he had erred by siding with the king of Israel, who stood against the Lord. Because of that misstep by King Jehoshaphat, Jehu announced that “the wrath of the Lord is upon you.” In other words, God’s discipline, however, Jehu also pointed out several things that were good that God had also noticed. King Jehoshaphat had removed the wooden images from the land of Judah and had conditioned his own heart to seek God. These are good things, but in and of themselves, they are not guarantees that a person will always do the right thing. It requires a constant effort on our part and this is what makes living the Christian life so difficult. We have to continually make decisions that consistently deny Self. That is difficult to do all the time.

The effort that we put in after we become Christians does not result in our salvation because salvation is a free gift of God, made available to us through the horrendously painful death of Jesus on Calvary’s cross. That part is the free gift. Yet, it is in the actual day to day living our life that we learn what it means to actually be a Christian where the rubber meets the road. This is our service to God, again not for salvation, but for God’s glory and honor and our growth.

Because our sin nature remains with us until we leave this life, we must always be on our guard and that can get tiring. We must always use discernment God provides and sometimes our energy fails us. Sometimes, we end up taking the easy way that leads to dishonoring God. Sometimes, our energy fails us and we cave into the urges of our flesh (Self).

King Jehoshaphat did many things that honored God and in doing so, pleased Him overall. God rewarded the king’s actions and behavior accordingly. At the same time, when King Jehoshaphat ignored the obvious and aligned himself with Ahab for whatever reason, Jehoshaphat clearly made a mistake because he ended up taking Ahab’s side against God.

After hearing what Micaiah had to say, Jehoshaphat should have taken that to heart and even tried to dissuade Ahab from entering the battle. In fact, when we consider the text, King Ahab states to King Jehoshaphat that he (Ahab), was going into battle undercover of disguise, but he told Jehoshaphat to wear his royal robes in battle (2 Chronicles 18:29). To me, this smacks of a set up and Jehoshaphat should have realized it. Maybe he did but didn’t know what else to do because quite possibly, King Ahab’s personality may have been much more domineering than Jehoshaphat’s. Who knows?

All in all, I doubt that King Jehoshaphat went to visit King Ahab intending to be dragged into a battle with him and nearly dying, in disobedience to the Lord. Nonetheless, he was dragged into it and only by God’s grace, was he saved from death or even wounding.

The lessons here in Jehoshaphat’s life are good for us as well. If we are not careful and allow our guard to drop, we could easily be dragged into a battle that we are unprepared for because we didn’t see it coming. Notice that King Jehoshaphat was not out riding one day and was attacked. He was on “vacation” visiting his father-in-law and was suddenly expected to join his father-in-law’s fight against another kingdom that God was using to destroy King Ahab for his evil and idolatry.

King Jehoshaphat should not have given Ahab any answer until they both learned from God what God wanted done. But it’s not as though Ahab’s reputation was not known. Certainly, Jehoshaphat knew how rebellious Ahab was, and how Ahab persecuted true prophets of God, favoring instead prophets of Baal (Satan). If Jehoshaphat knew this, then he should have been on his highest alert when he came around Ahab, knowing that something might happen.

That something did happen and almost got Jehoshaphat killed. Think of that. All for a lack of discernment and willingness to do what God wanted him to do. Is that a lesson for us? Sometimes it is and we are 100% responsible for our lack of discernment when we allow our guard to drop for whatever reason.

This is not to say that what Jehoshaphat failed to do was beyond repair because it wasn’t. He made a mistake that almost cost him his life, but God spared him. In fact, even though Jehu, delivering the words God wanted said to Jehoshaphat, reprimanded the king, Jehoshaphat seemed to have taken the words delivered by Jehu as a warning and adjusted his life accordingly. He then went about to continue to make reforms throughout the land of Judah (2 Chronicles 19:4-11). In essence, that warning strengthened his resolve toward God.

So Jehoshaphat learned from his mistake and used it as a reminder to do even more for God and His people of Judah. The king seemed determined to please God even more. 2 Chronicles 20 highlights how King Jehoshaphat committed himself even further to God’s mercies as numerous people from outside Judah came against Judah. Unlike King Asa previously, who had looked to other armies to help him defeat an enemy (instead of relying solely on God alone), King Jehoshaphat stood before the people of Judah and prayed to the God of Israel in a way that proved the king loved God and relied on Him more than anyone else.

6 O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? 7 Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? 8 And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying, 9 ‘If disaster comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.’ 10 And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir—whom You would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them— 11 here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit. 12 O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You. (2 Chronicles 20:6-12)

Jehoshaphat obviously learned from his past mistake and did not want to repeat it. He threw himself on God and waited for God to respond and intervene. Because of King Jehoshaphat’s faith in God, God spoke to the king and the people of Judah telling them that the battle was the Lord’s, not theirs. God would deal with it. He would be victorious and the people of Judah would see it.

The response of both King Jehoshaphat and the people was seen in praise and worship of God for His response to them (2 Chronicles 20:18-19). God turned the tables on the attackers and they wound up killing each other. It was a great and powerful victory.

Yet, Jehoshaphat made another similar error that he had made with Ahab toward the end of his life. He allied himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who was also very wicked.

Folks, as difficult as it is, we Christians must guard ourselves against the constant possibility of falling. Though we cannot fall to the point of losing our salvation, we can make costly mistakes if we are not careful. Who among us can honestly say that living the Christian life is easy? Who can say that it is automatic? Depending upon your personality, it can almost be too easy to allow laziness to overtake us so that we give ourselves permission to stop seeking God consistently and intently.

We will make mistakes in this life. The best thing we can do when this happens is to admit our mistakes and throw ourselves on God’s mercy, seeking His forgiveness, as quickly as possible. He will lift us up and restore us. While He might not remove consequences of our actions (depending upon how severe our actions were), He will never remove His love or forgiveness from us.

God knows our frame. He is most certainly aware of just how difficult it is for us to maintain a constant awareness of His Presence in us. We fight against many things; fatigue, illness, lack of energy, age, preoccupation with things that are of little value, temptation, sin, sometimes feelings of hopelessness, growing darkness and so much more.

One day, we will be completely free of our sin nature. After this life, we will then worship God in complete truth and freedom of spirit. Now, as Paul says, we see through a glass darkly, but then, when we see Him after this life, we will see Him face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12). Not sure about you, but I certainly look forward to that day!

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective