Deurpost

TEXT: 2 Chronicles 17:1 – 21:1
PREACHER: Marc La Porte
DATE: May 17 and 24, 2009

Who is King Jehoshaphat? Quick Facts

• Jehoshaphat’s story can be read in 2 Chronicles 17 – 21, with an overlap of chapter 18 in 1 Kings 22;
• The Kingdom of Judah is the southern kingdom, and was initially an alliance between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The split of the kingdom of Israel happened after the death of Solomon when the ten northern tribes refused to accept Solomon’s son Rehoboam as their king and chose their own king (who was not of the Davidic line)
• The northern kingdom claimed Israel as the name for their kingdom, with Samaria as their capitol
• The southern kingdom called themselves Judah, with Jerusalem as their capitol
• Jehoshaphat’s 25 years of reign of the southern kingdom overlapped with King Ahab’s reign in the southern kingdom and the crossing of their paths as kings will be the center piece of our time together
• The story of Jehoshaphat starts 61 years after the split up of the two kingdoms

READ: 2 Chronicles 17:1-13:

• He walks in the ways of David; He sought God; He ways courageous
• He strengthens the nation’s military capabilities (The next couple of verses mention that the mighty men of valor sum up to a total of 1,160,000 soldiers!)
• He also carries out a national program of education of God’s Word by sending out officials, Levites and priests to instruct the nation in the Law of Moses
• The result was that the Lord was with him (v3), that the Lord establishes his kingdom (v5), that he had great riches and honor, and that all of Judah and surrounding peoples like the Philistines and the Arabians brought him many gifts
• It is said that the kingdom prospered most under the reign of Jehoshaphat

Jehoshaphat is off to a good start. Will he screw it up? Despite his high standing, Jehoshaphat ultimately made some unfortunate choices that blemished his otherwise good legacy. How? By cozying up to the evil king Ahab.

Jehoshaphat’s Alliance with Ahab

READ: 2 Chronicles 18:1-3

• Ahab was the evilest king Israel ever had, and was king of Israel while Jehoshaphat was king of Judah
• Why would Jehoshaphat make a marriage alliance with Ahab? Jehoshaphat agreed for political reasons though he should not have done so for spiritual reasons
• The marriage between Jehoram, Jehoshaphat’s son, and Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel had disastrous effects on the kingdom of Judah, and it’s only due to God’s faithfulness to His promise to preserve the house of David that Judah survives
• But, for now, Jehoshaphat is at peace with Ahab and the northern kingdom
• Main thing is that Ahab enticed Jehoshaphat to go into battle with him
• READ: 2 Chronicles 18:4-27

READ: 2 Chronicles 18:28-34

• Ahab is enticed into battle, as the spirit had promised (v. 20)
• Jehoshaphat is delivered in battle as a consequence of his desperate prayer (v. 31)
• The irony of the situation is that Ahab is told the truth but does not recognize it as such, even though he had insisted that Micaiah the prophet tell him the truth

So What Is the Point?
What can we learn from Jehoshaphat’s life so far?

• It seems that overall Jehoshaphat was a pretty good guy. At the end of the story it is even said that he was “doing what was right in the sight of the Lord.” (2 Chronicles 20:32)
• From his point of view, helping out Ahab was just an honest mistake, motivated by his desire for peace. He was not trying to be rebellious or do evil;
• But was it “just” a mistake?
  • He was forgetting that his dependence needed to be on God
  • Jehoshaphat not only willingly helped his pagan friend Ahab in war
  • He even arranged for his own son to marry one of the daughters of Ahab and Jezebel
  • And for what?! Political gain; an artificial peace which is little more than the absence of hostility

Key verse of Jehoshaphat’s story (READ: 2 Chronicles 19:1-2)
Here’s the point I want to make: Jehoshaphat went too far in developing a friendship with his buddy Ahab, whose lifestyle and faith opposed everything he stood for. And in that he crossed the line of legitimate tolerance into an unacceptable endorsement or approval. It is okay to be tolerant, but endorsing it, supporting it (like Jehoshaphat did) is quite another thing.

Where do we draw the line before our tolerance goes too far? I think the answer to that question is: where Jesus draws the line.

• We should be tolerant where Jesus is tolerant
• We should be intolerant where Jesus is intolerant

Jesus’ View on Tolerance
Now, Jesus was very tolerant when it came to sinners. He was actively engaged with (and loved) tax collectors, sexually-immoral people, and foreigners. His grace and mercy are evidence of His tolerance. And I love Jesus’ tolerance, because I am a sinner. We all are sinners. But Jesus still loves me. Jesus still loves us, but He is also intolerant towards a number of things:

• Jesus was intolerant about the way of salvation (Matthew 7:13-14)
• Jesus was intolerant toward hypocrisy (Matthew 23)
• Jesus was intolerant toward selfishness (Matthew 19:21-22; Matthew 16:24-25)
• Jesus was intolerant toward sin (John 8:11; 1 Corinthians 15:34; 1 John 3:4-10)

What Does This Mean for Us?
As Christians we owe it to each other in love to correct on another, to rebuke each other when it is necessary, and to encourage one another in our desire to live authentic Christian lives, faithful to the Word of God. We must love the sinner, but we must hate the sin. We must recognize that we are sinners, and love ourselves, but we must hate the sin that is in us.

It was perfectly fine for Jehoshaphat to be friends with Ahab, but he should have continued to be faithful and obedient to God and in that way not only be an example to Ahab (love the sinner), but also to point out Ahab’s disobedience to God (hate the sin), instead of going along with Ahab in his sin. Although being friends with people like Ahab is okay, we should aim in building our strongest friendships with people who will encourage us to obey God’s Word and follow His plan for our lives.

In 2 Corinthians 6:14, Paul says that we should “not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” It really applies to any environment where we let the world influence our thinking. We all like to believe that we can be around ungodly things as much as we want, and that we are strong enough to resist the influence. But we must take the words of Scripture seriously: “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals.’” (1 Corinthians 15:33). As Christians, we must bring every aspect of our lives under God’s control and authority. Otherwise, we can hinder our walk greatly and suffer consequences God never intended for us to experience.

What Did Jehoshaphat Do?
What did Jehoshaphat do in response to the rebuke of Jehu the prophet? He repented and starts reforming the whole country:

• “He went out again among the people… and brought them back to the Lord, the God of their fathers” (2 Chronicles 19:4)
• He instructed the nation’s judges to “consider what you do, for you judge not for man but for the Lord” (2 Chronicles 19:6)
• He told other leaders: “Thus you shall do in the fear of the Lord, in faithfulness, and with your whole heart” (2 Chronicles 19:9)

Conclusion
Jehoshaphat wins the battle because the Lord is with him, and overall it is said that “he walked in the way of Asa his father and did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 20:32), but ultimately Jehoshaphat made some unfortunate choices that blemished his otherwise good legacy.

In closing, let me give you three questions to think about, in light of all of this:

• Who or what is the Ahab in your life?
• What is your motivation for joining in with the Ahab in your life?
• Are you as tolerant as Jesus?