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Tara Leigh Cobble
Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Leigh Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap. There were a lot of names in today's reading, but don't worry, you don't need to remember them all. What we're always looking for here is God, so keep your eyes peeled for him, especially on days when it's hard to keep all the relatives and enemies straight. When we open today, Jehu is prophesying against Jehoshaphat because of the alliance he made with wicked King Ahab yesterday. Jehoshaphat seems to receive this rebuke well, he sets a lot of things in motion in an effort to honor God and point the people back to God as well. He also appoints judges and commands them to judge righteously as God does. And he says God will help them in this task. After he starts out on the right path, a coalition comes to attack him. He has the whole country fast as they seek God's will and God's help. He worships God in the temple and prays a beautiful faith filled prayer. After he finishes, one of the temple worship leaders begins to prophesy in front of all the people. He says, the battle is not yours, but God's. You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, do not be afraid, and do not be dismayed. Wow. The king and all the people bow down to worship while the worship leaders sing and shout praises to God. And in the next verses, these worship leaders lead the army out to battle. I cannot imagine any country doing this today. You don't pull that kind of stunt unless you really trust God when he says you won't have to fight. When the worshipers begin worshiping, the enemy armies begin to fight each other. By the time the people of Judah arrive on the scene, everyone's dead. And they spend three days gathering the spoils of war from among the corpses. Just as God said they didn't have to fight, the only time they have to lift a finger is to carry home treasure. On day four, they gather to praise God for his goodness to them. Word of this battle reaches the surrounding nations and they're terrified of Judah because it's clear that God is with them. In the final days before his death, Jehoshaphat makes another alliance with an evil king. Just like he did with King Ahab. He didn't learn his lesson. This alliance is with Ahaziah, the new king in the northern kingdom. They decide to build some boats to go to Tarshish, which is on the coast of modern day Spain. They probably want to go there for the purpose of foreign trade, because according to 2 Chronicles 9, Tarshish has all kinds of gold, silver, ivory, and even highly coveted animals like apes and peacocks. We've previously mentioned that some commentators believe foreign trade is a sign of greed or of not trusting God. So that could be part of the problem. But according to Eliezer the Prophet, the primary issue at hand is that Jehoshaphat has joined himself to a king who doesn't know or worship Yahweh. As a consequence of his sin, God wrecks their ships. After Jehoshaphat dies, his oldest son, Jehoram takes over the throne. And we can already tell what kind of king he's going to be, because his first act is to kill his six brothers and a few other princes in the area who might be a threat to his reign. He follows more in the footsteps of his father in law than his father. And guess who his father in law is? Ahab, the wicked king of Israel. We saw yesterday in 2nd Chronicles 18 that part of Jehoshaphat's alliance with Ahab included this marriage alliance between their children. It seems like Jehoshaphat made a lot of unrighteous concessions in order to keep the peace. And his choices are partially to blame for the way his son Jehoram acts wickedly. Jehoram also seems to have a role in ruining an important alliance they have with their nearest relatives, the Edomites. They're the descendants of Esau. Edom had partnered with Judah at one point, but they revolt under Jehoram's leadership and authority, and Jehoram tries to kill a bunch of them. By the way, this will be important for our reading tomorrow. Not only does Jehoram not stop the evil practices in the land, he initiates them and God prompts Elijah the Prophet to send a letter confronting him. Elijah promises him that his family will be killed and that he will die a slow, painful death from a mysterious disease. Then an army comes and kills his entire family, except for one son, Jehoahaz, who also goes by the name Ahaziah, which is what we'll call him. Then Jehoram gets the mysterious disease, suffers for two years, and dies. No one is sad to see Jehoram go. He doesn't even get a royal burial. His legacy is worthless. His one remaining son, Ahaziah, takes over the throne in Judah. Next. And he's wicked too. Just like his father. He makes an alliance with the northern kingdom of Israel, whose name also happens to be Jehoram. Like his dad, they go to war with the Syrians and he gets wounded pretty badly. While he's trying to get treated for the wound, Jehu finds him and kills him. In fact, the text is very clear that God had appointed both this meeting and and his death. 227 says it was ordained by God that the downfall of Ahaziah should come about through his going to visit Joram. After he dies, there's no one left in his family except for his mom, Athaliah, so she takes over the throne. She's the first queen of Judah, but most people don't consider her reign to be legitimate because she's not from the line of David. She kills everyone who can threaten her reign. Except one of the sons is hidden away and raised in secret by the priest. The son's name is Joash and the priest's name is Jehoiada. The throne belongs to Joash even though he isn't on the throne at the time. It probably takes a lot of behind the scenes work, but Jehoiada the priest makes a covenant with all the commanders and brings all the Levites in Judah in on it and they appoint Joash as king. Jehoiada reminds all the people of God's covenant with the house of David so that they understand the importance of having Joash on the throne. He's the only legitimate heir at this point, but he's seven. So a lot of the reforms that take place are done by Jehoiada the priest. He has Athaliah put to death, likely for the murders she committed. And he re establishes temple worship and destroys the altars. And the priests of BAAL and the people of Judah rejoice. What was your God shot today? Mine was in the prayer of Jehoshaphat as he seeks God's help against the enemy armies. It's a gorgeous prayer. In chapter 20, verse 9, he says, if disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment or pestilence or famine, we will stand before this house and before you, for your name is in this house and cry out to you in our affliction and you will hear and save. He knows that no matter what terrible things may happen to them, they're in a relationship with a trustworthy God and he will ultimately rescue them. One of my favorite lines from this prayer is in 2012. It says, we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. Plan A is to trust God. There is no plan B. He's where the joy is. Tomorrow we'll be reading the book of Obadiah. We're linking to a short video overview in the Show Notes today, so check that out if you've got a few in minutes minutes to spare. And just a reminder, if you're using our plan in the Bible app, this video will also be linked for you tomorrow in the devotional portion above the chapters. 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