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by Charlie Wolcott

While Ahaziah and Joram of Israel were active, on Judah’s side we have Jehoram and Ahaziah followed by Athaliah, who will complete the dynasty of Omri and Ahab before Jehu’s purge and the coronation of Joash. As I mentioned in my post on Jehoshaphat, Jehoram was 32 years old when he became king and reigned for 8 years, some overlapping with Jehoshaphat according to some scholars. Jehoram’s son Ahaziah was 22 when he became king and he barely lasted one year. Jehoram’s wife was Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. This means that both Ahaziah and Joram of Israel were brothers of Athaliah, raised by the controlling hand and mind of Jezebel. Jehoram also married young. If there was no overlap between Jehoram’s and Jehoshaphat’s reigns, then Jehoram was married when he was 17 or younger, and Ahaziah was born when he was 18.

Jehoram is not given a lot of attention but he is noted for several things 1) He murdered all his brothers to remove any rivals to the throne. 2) He walked in the ways of Ahab, which means he engaged in the idolatry of Ahab, and his wife Athaliah played a pivotal role in that. 3) He died of a disease that would make his bowels come out. 2 Chronicles even states that no one missed him, and they did not even give Jehoram a king’s burial.

Ahaziah was 22 when he became king and lasted one year. He listened to his mother and her counselors to his destruction and joined forces with Joram of Israel. 2 Kings covers this account in greater detail, but Joram was wounded in battle and Ahaziah came to see him, his uncle. Jehu came with fury and assassinated both Joram and Ahaziah.

Then came Athaliah. She was Ahab and Jezebel’s daughter. She likely advised Jehoram to kill his brothers to protect his throne and directed Ahaziah in idolatrous practices as well. But when Ahaziah was killed and Jezebel with him, Athaliah moved to kill the entire royal family, leaving only her to rule for six years. But one child of Ahaziah survived – Joash because he was hidden in the temple. When the high priest Jehoiada could take it no longer, and when he believed Joash was old enough to make at least some decisions, he led a coup to make Joash king at a mere seven years old, and he executed Athaliah.

All three of these rulers had something in common: Jehoshaphat and Ahab. Jehoshaphat walked in the ways of the Lord, but Athaliah did not. Jehoshaphat’s biggest mistake was having his son marry her because she destroyed both of their lives. Athaliah was a carbon copy of her mother Jezebel. She was just as controlling, just as wicked, just as idolatrous, and did whatever it took to get her way. The comments about Jehoram’s and Ahaziah’s reign point to Athaliah, Ahab’s daughter, as being the catalyst to why they did what they did. The idolatry of Ahab and Jezebel corrupted all three of them. Because they did not listen to the warnings and rebukes of the prophets, they became part of the curse against Ahab in which the whole line would be wiped out. The only exception was Joash, grandson of Athaliah.

Someone else was working behind the scenes during all this time too: Jehoiada the priest. It is not clear if he was the high priest or not, but he most certainly had a very prominent position. He noticed the decadence over the 15 years of Jehoram’s, Ahaziah’s, and Athaliah’s reigns, and he began to hatch a plan. When Athaliah began her purge, Joash came into Jehoiada’s care and was hidden in the temple. Jehoiada would have seen and lived through the purging of idolatry of Asa and Jehoshaphat, and in 15 years these three rulers’ idolatry was so bad that the temple fell into disrepair. Joash would be the first king to seek its restoration.

Jehoshaphat was loyal enough to God that he would have taught Jehoram and Ahaziah the ways of the Lord, but once Athaliah entered the picture, nothing stuck. So what can we learn from this? You must be careful about what you allow to influence you. Bad company corrupts, and in those days marriages were arranged. So Jehoram would have trusted his father that Athaliah would be fine for him, and it brought him his death. Jehoram was responsible for his own choices and like Ahab with Jezebel, he let Athaliah control him. But because he was the man, he was held responsible. Ahaziah was the same way; he let his mother control him. And when both were gone, Athaliah went to wipe out the royal family, which Satan used as an attempt to end the promises of the Messiah who would crush his head. But God let one boy escape, Joash, who we’ll look at in two weeks.

Jehoshaphat brought doom upon his own nation because of his foolishness in allying himself with Ahab. Being attached to false doctrines and idolatry always brings destruction. Jehoshaphat was nearly judged himself multiple times for this, but the only thing that saved him was his refusal to worship the idols himself and destroying them. I don’t know what he saw in allying himself with Ahab, but he didn’t listen to the rebuke because he aligned with Ahaziah and Joram, brothers to his daughter-in-law. And behind all that was Ahab who married Jezebel, the lynchpin in all this and whose name became synonymous with adulterous false teachings. We MUST be careful about whom we marry and whom we associate with. Even if we have good intentions and even if we are faithfully walking with the Lord, a bad alliance can tear us down; if not us, it can tear down the next generation that follows us. Jehoram and Ahaziah are good examples of that. Be careful and choose your associations wisely.

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