Old/New Testament

21 When Jehoshaphat joined his ancestors in death and was laid to rest with his fathers in the city of David, Jerusalem, his son Jehoram succeeded him to the throne. ² Jehoshaphat, king of the true Israel,^[a] had a number of sons in addition to Jehoram: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azaryahu, Michael, and Shephatiah. ³ Jehoshaphat made each one a wealthy governor with silver, gold, and costly gifts over his own fortified cities in Judah and appointed Jehoram as the future king since he was the firstborn. ⁴ Once Jehoram had taken over his father’s kingdom and had established himself, he killed all his brothers and some rulers of Israel so they could not challenge his right to rule.

⁵ Jehoram was 32 years old when he ascended to the throne, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ⁶ But he was not a righteous king as his father was before him. He married Ahab’s daughter and was tempted to worship her pagan gods as the kings of the Northern Kingdom did. He did evil instead of following the Eternal; ⁷ now despite this the Eternal upheld His promise to David. In His covenant with David, He promised David’s family would guide Israel forever, so He would not destroy Jehoram or his government. But God punished him with revolts by Edom and Libnah.

⁸ Instead of following Jehoram’s rule, the people of Edom revolted and elected their own king. ⁹ Jehoram responded to their disobedience by attacking the Edomites with all of his officers and chariots. But the Edomites surrounded Jehoram with his army of commanders and chariots. Then Jehoram went out in the dark of night and struck down the Edomite rebellion. ¹⁰ Edom has continually rebelled against the rule of Judah until this day. Likewise, Libnah (a Levitical city in southwestern Judah) revolted against Jehoram’s rule at the same time because Jehoram had abandoned the Eternal One, the True God of his ancestors, in favor of worshiping foreign gods. ¹¹ He even built high places in the mountains of Judah to honor those gods, leading the citizens of Jerusalem and Judah to prostitute themselves spiritually to other gods.

¹² Having heard about Jehoram’s actions, Elijah the prophet sent a letter to the king.

¹⁶ Fulfilling His promise, the Eternal incited the Philistines and the Arabs who bordered the Cushites to attack Jehoram ¹⁷ and Judah. They invaded the nation and plundered the palace, taking all the possessions including the king’s children and wives. When they had finished, all that remained was Jehoahaz,^[b] Jehoram’s youngest son. ¹⁸ Then the Eternal infected the king with a terminal intestinal illness. ¹⁹ He died painfully two years later with the prolapse of his intestines. After he died, the people did not honor his memory by lighting a fire for him as they had done for his ancestors. ²⁰ He was 32 years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eight years. No one was sorry when he died. They buried him in the city of David, Jerusalem, but not in the tombs with the other kings and his ancestors.

22 Since the Philistines and Arabs had killed all of Jehoram’s older sons when they plundered the palace, the citizens of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his youngest son, king. ² Ahaziah was 22 years old^[c] when he became king, and he ruled for only one year in Jerusalem.

Ahaziah was the son of Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri and daughter of Ahab. ^3-4 Since his mother and her relatives were his counselors during his reign, Ahaziah followed the gods worshiped by the Northern Kingdom, and performed evil deeds before the Eternal as the house of Ahab did. By following this bad advice, Ahaziah ensured his destruction. ^5-6 He repeated the mistake of Jehoshaphat and followed Jehoram, the son of Ahab king of the Northern Kingdom, to fight Hazael, king of Aram, at Ramoth-gilead. When the Arameans wounded Joram, he returned to Jezreel to heal his wounds and Ahaziah went to visit him there.

⁷ Ahaziah’s destruction by the True God was decided when he visited Joram because his visit coincided with the attack Jehu, the son of Nimshi, executed on Jezreel. (The Eternal had incited Jehu to destroy the house of Ahab.) ⁸ During his assault, Jehu found Ahaziah’s sons and nephews who served him and killed them. ⁹ Then Jehu looked for Ahaziah and found him cowering in Samaria. Jehu’s forces brought Ahaziah to Jehu, killed him, and buried him.^[d] He was given a burial only because of his descent from Jehoshaphat, who looked for the Eternal and followed His commands. Because of Jehu’s slaughter, no one from Ahaziah’s immediate family lived to inherit the kingdom.

¹⁰ When Athaliah realized that her son Ahaziah had died along with all of the royal line, she decided to kill her opponents—the remaining royal offspring of the Southern Kingdom.

¹¹ But little did she know that Jehoshabeath, King Jehoram’s daughter, had stolen Ahaziah’s son Joash from among the king’s sons when Jehu’s soldiers were killing them. She hid Joash and his nurse in a bedroom. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram and the sister of King Ahaziah, saved the Davidic line by protecting him from Athaliah’s murderous rage. Since she was the wife of Jehoiada the priest, Jehoshabeath ¹² was able to hide Joash and his nurse in the temple of the True God during the six years of Athaliah’s reign.