Jehoshaphat was one of four godly kings in the Southern Kingdom of Judah, taking the throne after his father, Asa, died of a foot disease. From Jehoshaphat on, we know the age of each king when they took the throne, giving us a better picture of their background and what conditions they grew up in. Katie Erickson’s summary of Jehoshaphat’s reign can be found here.
Jehoshaphat was 35 years old when he became king and reigned for 25 years, dying at age 60. He was born six years into Asa’s reign, which also gave him a chance to not be influenced by the queen mother, Naamah, whom Asa removed from her position due to her having an Asherah pole in her room. He walked with God his entire reign and though he was a contemporary of Elijah and Elisha, he had limited interactions with them. But Jehoshaphat was also not without sin, and there was one major problem he had: his alliances with the pagan kings of Israel, Ahab and his son Joram (also known as Jehoram, but to help avoid confusion, I’ll use Joram). That alliance was solidified when he had his own son, Jehoram, marry Ahab’s daughter Athaliah. More on that as the series progresses.
Jehoshaphat’s reign was marked for the following events: 1) tearing down high places 2) his battle against three nations together, 3) his alliance with Ahab in which he called for Micaiah to give the word from the Lord to go to battle against Syria, and 4) his alliance with two of Ahab’s sons. He was allied with Joram and both went to war with Moab and needed the help of Elisha to save them from the desert, and he was allied with Ahaziah in their attempt to build a fleet of ships to get gold only for them to be wrecked before setting sail. In all these events, Jehoshaphat sought the Lord and wanted to know the truth; his one fatal flaw was associating with Ahab and Jehoram of Israel. He was rebuked but not cursed. However, that fatal alliance nearly brought the end of the royal family.
So what set him up for his successful lifestyle and his bad choice of friends? What was Jehoshaphat’s backstory? As I mentioned, Jehoshaphat was born six years into Asa’s 41-year reign, and he never met his forefathers. So he never got to see the idolatry firsthand other than maybe as an infant early in Asa’s reign. He knew Asa destroyed the high places and considering that Jehoshaphat had to tear them down again, we can see how quickly they were rebuilt. One thing we can learn about the kings who tore down the high places is that idolators will rebuild them the next day. There must be a constant pressure to tear them down and keep tearing them down.
Jehoshaphat also got to see Asa’s wars against Ethiopia and against Baasha. Asa trusted the Lord against Ethiopia when they had an army of a million but did not against Baasha, and he bribed Syria to break their alliance with Israel to pull Baasha away. Jehoshaphat would have seen both battles and learned that God was indeed trustworthy because when Moab, Amon, and Mt Seir joined forces against him, Jehoshaphat chose to fast, taking a position of weakness, to show that God was his only hope. God sent a prophet to promise victory without raising a sword, and Jehoshaphat sent his singers in worship for his front line and walked to the battlefield to see the battle already won as the enemy defeated themselves. Jehoshaphat had a model for this course of action in his father Asa against Ethiopia and a much larger army, while also seeing the rebuke against his father for trusting in foreign nations against Baasha.
During this time, Jehoshaphat, through marriage, made an alliance with Ahab. Now this gets a little interesting. Jehoshaphat’s son, Jehoram was 32 when he became king. Jehoshaphat was 35 when he became king and ruled for 25 years. So this means that Jehoram was born seven years prior to Asa’s death. Jehoram’s son Ahaziah was 22 when he became king, after Jehoram’s 8-year reign. So this puts Ahaziah at 14 when Jehoshaphat died which puts his birth at 11 years into Jehoshaphat’s reign. This puts Jehoram fathering Ahaziah when he was just 18 years old (Jehoram was seven when his father become king and eleven years later, Ahaziah was born). So this political alliance between Jehoshaphat and Ahab had Jehoram marry Athaliah by age 17. This alliance was formed for about half of Jehoshaphat’s reign. We’ll see later that some of the kings married even younger.
Ahab’s war with Syria in which he summoned Jehoshaphat took place about five years before Jehoshaphat died. This meant that both Ahab’s and Jehoshaphat’s children were of age to rule. Ahab’s son, Ahaziah, did not yet have children, and Jehoshaphat’s son, Jehoram already had his son Ahaziah. Yes, we have a Jehoram and Ahaziah of both Israel and Judah in reverse order at the same time, and all four died in a short span of each other as well. That will make my next couple posts a bit confusing. Ahab died in this battle and Jehoshaphat escaped only to be rebuked for even being with Ahab.
In the next five years, Jehoshaphat worked with Ahaziah son of Ahab to get gold and because of that alliance, God wrecked the ships. Then Ahaziah died quickly, and his brother Joram took over. Jehoshaphat joined up with him in going to war with Moab, only to get lost in the desert. Elisha came to them and again rebuked Jehoshaphat for being with evil, idolatrous kings, and even said he wouldn’t talk with Joram if not for the respect he had for Jehoshaphat for being a Godly king. After this, Jehoshaphat died and he was followed by his son, grandson, and daughter-in-law, three straight evil rulers.
Another person that doesn’t join the scene until 15 years after Jehoshaphat’s death but was already involved in all these affairs is Jehoiada, the priest who raised Joash in hiding during Athaliah’s massacre. Jehoiada died at 130 not long into Joash’s adult life. Assuming Joash was 20 years into his reign when Jehoiada died, this put Jehoiada at 110 when he crowned Joash as king and 95 years old when Jehoshaphat died. Jehoiada was 9 years old when Solomon died and became a very influential priest. We do not know if he was the high priest of that time. He lived from Solomon through Joash – 9 kings. Though he is not mentioned during their reigns, he certainly would have been consulted on many different issues. He may have also played a factor into both Asa’s and Jehoshaphat’s reigns as a very influential priest, if not the high priest. He even may have played a role in Abijam’s turn to the Lord in his battle against Jeroboam. But we can only speculate on that.
What can we learn from Jehoshaphat? Even though Jehoshaphat followed in his father’s footsteps, he still had to make his own choices. One thing we must especially learn from him is the utter importance of understanding who we ally ourselves with. Jehoshaphat had his son marry the daughter of Ahab, the most wicked king of Israel, and that daughter became the most wicked ruler of Judah. Athaliah was just like her mother Jezebel, and she would destroy the entire royal line except for one, Joash, who was rescued as an infant. Jehoshaphat made many great choices, but he made three bad ones and all three were the same problem: his alliance with the pagan kings of Israel because of making Athaliah his daughter-in-law. I will say this: just because these alliances did not directly affect Jehoshaphat’s faith, they had devastating consequences for the next fifteen years. Don’t think your choices only affect you or that certain decisions won’t affect you. They will, and they will affect those who come after you.
The next couple weeks, we’ll look at the sons of Ahab, Ahaziah and Joram, and the son/grandson/daughter-in-law of Jehoshaphat: Jehoram, Ahaziah, and Athaliah.
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