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Prophets and Kings
does He regard those who, having still greater light, choose to follow
a similar course?
Those who give themselves up to the sorcery of Satan, may boast
of great benefit received; but does this prove their course to be wise
or safe? What if life should be prolonged? What if temporal gain
should be secured? Will it pay in the end to have disregarded the will
of God? All such apparent gain will prove at last an irrecoverable loss.
We cannot with impunity break down a single barrier which God has
erected to guard His people from Satan’s power.
As Ahaziah had no son, he was succeeded by Jehoram, his brother,
who reigned over the ten tribes for twelve years. Throughout these
years his mother, Jezebel, was still living, and she continued to exer-
cise her evil influence over the affairs of the nation. Idolatrous customs
were still practiced by many of the people. Jehoram himself “wrought
evil in the sight of the Lord; but not like his father, and like his mother:
for he put away the image of Baal that his father had made. Never-
theless he cleaved unto the sins of Jereboam the son of Nebat, which
made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom.”
2 Kings 3:2, 3
.
It was during Jehoram’s reign over Israel that Jehoshaphat died,
and Jehoshaphat’s son, also named Jehoram, ascended the throne of
the kingdom of Judah. By his marriage with the daughter of Ahab
and Jezebel, Jehoram of Judah was closely connected with the king of
Israel; and in his reign he followed after Baal, “like as did the house
of Ahab.” “Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah,
and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and
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compelled Judah thereto.”
2 Chronicles 21:6, 11
.
The king of Judah was not permitted to continue his terrible apos-
tasy unreproved. The prophet Elijah had not yet been translated, and
he could not remain silent while the kingdom of Judah was pursuing
the same course that had brought the northern kingdom to the verge of
ruin. The prophet sent to Jehoram of Judah a written communication,
in which the wicked king read the awful words:
“Thus saith the Lord God of David thy father, Because thou hast
not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of
Asa king of Judah, but hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel,
and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring,
like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy
brethren of thy father’s house, which were better than thyself: behold,