2 Kings 8:16 – 29 “In the fifth year of the reign of Joram son of Ahab over Israel, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat succeeded his father as king of Judah. Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years.
And Jehoram walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done. For he married a daughter of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the LORD.
Yet for the sake of His servant David, the LORD was unwilling to destroy Judah, since He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever.
In the days of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against the hand of Judah and appointed their own king. So Jehoram crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. When the Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, he rose up and attacked by night. His troops, however, fled to their homes.
So to this day Edom has been in rebellion against the hand of Judah. Likewise, Libnah rebelled at the same time. As for the rest of the acts of Jehoram, along with all his accomplishments, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
And Jehoram rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. And his son Ahaziah reigned in his place.
In the twelfth year of the reign of Joram son of Ahab over Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah. Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri king of Israel. And Ahaziah walked in the ways of the house of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the LORD like the house of Ahab, for he was a son-in-law of the house of Ahab.
Then Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to fight against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead, and the Arameans wounded Joram. So King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to visit Joram son of Ahab, because Joram had been wounded.
THE BAD INFLUENCE OF JEZEBEL AND AHAB IS LIKE A PERSISTENT LP GAS LEAK! THE ODOR NEVER GOES AWAY!
Jehoshaphat was a righteous man; however, his son Jehoram is not. Lacking a firm spiritual foundation, Jehoram compounds his problems by marrying Athaliah, one of Ahab and Jezebel’s daughters. Jezebel is a priestess of Baal, so her daughter would copy her. At this point, the nations of Edom and Libnah both have rebelled against Judah, and when Jehoram tries to bring Edom back under his control, his own troops desert him! God is punishing Jehoram and Judah; however, they are too spiritually dense to realize that God has removed His hand of protection from them.
Jehoram only reigns 8 years, after which his son Ahaziah reigns for one short year. Ahaziah’s mother is Ahab’s daughter and Omri’s granddaughter and is a vile woman. To compound problems, Ahaziah also marries one of his cousins from Ahab’s family and follows her horrible example, doing evil in the sight of the Lord. Ahaziah teams up with King Joram of Israel to fight Hazael, the king of Syria; however, Joram gets wounded and returns to Jezreel to recover. Ahaziah, king of Judah, goes to visit Joram, putting two descendants of Ahab in the same place.
Even though Jehoram, king of Judah, was evil, God has allowed him to die a natural death and to be buried with his fathers for the sake of the promises God had made to David. But Ahaziah king of Judah and Joram king of Israel are both Ahab’s grandsons. Remember that God has cursed Ahab’s descendants. 1 Kings 21: 24 “Anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and anyone who dies in the field will be eaten by the birds of the air.” As we will see in the next chapter, those curses are about to come true for both kings.
APPLICATION: Demons transfer through sex and your choice of a mate can bless or blight your family for generations to come! When Ahab chose to marry Jezebel, a Sidonian princess and a priestess of Baal, he brought in bloodlines that had no place in an Israelite kingdom. The Law of Moses specifically forbade marrying outside the faith; however, King Solomon had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, many of whom were from pagan idol – worshiping tribes. It was these women who lured Solomon away from truly worshiping God. Not only did Solomon set a horrible example, but he also introduced foreign blood into the royal bloodlines. Any king who married outside Israel after that could use Solomon as their excuse. Once Ahab and Jezebel established their evil household, their descendants would bring spiritual confusion to anyone who married them.
Here in Ghana, on several occasions we have seen the results of Christian young men marrying young women from fetish families. (Fetish families are families that serve traditional gods, making blood sacrifices to them.) In every case of which we are aware, the results have been confusion and despair for the young men. Even when they have continued to attend church, they have been badly affected by the demonic influence from their wives.
In America, one Christian speaker who got caught up in witchcraft as a teen described how his coven employed sex to lure in the unwary and get them to commit to witchcraft. There is an old saying, “You lie down with dogs; you get up with fleas.” The same thing could be said for demons.
Spiritual compromise is deadly! We might feel superior because we have never engaged in any idolatrous practices….we think. But what is playing on the video screen of your mind? Once internet cafes caught on in Ghana, the owners soon realized that they had to put controls on their machines and monitor things in addition; otherwise, young men were accessing pornographic videos online. These days with cell phones rampant, cell phone users themselves must monitor their own viewing.
Proverbs 5:1 – 14 describes the plight of a man who follows a forbidden woman. Here is the conclusion:
“7 So now, my sons, listen to me, and do not turn aside from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep your path far from her; do not go near the door of her house,
9 lest you concede your vigor to others, and your years to one who is cruel;
10 lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner.
11 At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent,
12 and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!
13 I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my mentors.
14 I am on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly.”
Proverbs 4:23 tells us “Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life.” Ahab never guarded his heart, and the results remain obvious. The next few chapters will tell us of the horrible outcome of that deplorable decision.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to truly love You and worthily magnify You. Help us to follow hard after You and to follow Your leading when we are choosing a mate. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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