II Chronicles 21, Bloody Jehoram

The descendants of David who ruled in Judah were, in order, Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa and Jehoshaphat. It is now about 850 BC, 120 years after the death of David.

2 Chronicles 21:1-3, Firstborn son is in charge

Then Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. And Jehoram his son succeeded him as king. Jehoram's brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat, were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael and Shephatiah. All these were sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel. Their father had given them many gifts of silver and gold and articles of value, as well as fortified cities in Judah, but he had given the kingdom to Jehoram because he was his firstborn son.

The many sons of Jehoshaphat are wealthy, with many gifts and even fortified cities, but in the ANE culture, the firstborn gets the kingdom.

The life of Jehoram is summarized in 2 Kings 8:16-24. That passage does not have the names of Jehoram's brothers; those names are unique to Chronicles and show that the Chronicler had access to other court documents now lost.

2 Chronicles 21: 4-7, Court massacre

When Jehoram established himself firmly over his father's kingdom, he put all his brothers to the sword along with some of the princes of Israel. Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD.

Nevertheless, because of the covenant the LORD had made with David, the LORD was not willing to destroy the house of David. He had promised to maintain a lamp for him and his descendants forever.

Jehoram is not satisfied to be king but massacres his siblings. Having married Athaliah, a daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, he follows the theology and morality of his northern kingdom in-laws. (In the next chapter this massacre will be attributed to Athaliah.)

2 Chronicles 21: 8-11

In the time of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against Judah and set up its own king. So Jehoram went there with his officers and all his chariots. The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but he rose up and broke through by night. 

To this day Edom has been in rebellion against Judah. Libnah revolted at the same time, because Jehoram had forsaken the LORD, the God of his fathers. He had also built high places on the hills of Judah and had caused the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves and had led Judah astray.

Jehoram's reign is marked by uprisings due, ultimately, to his apostasy. Moab had rebelled against Israel after Ahab's death (2 Kings 1:1) and now Edom, further south, rebels against Judah. Libnah, most likely a Philistine town southwest of Judah, also rebelled. The Chronicler notes that Edom has been independent of Judah "to this day," that is, to the day of the author, probably around 450 BC., four centuries after the date of these events.

2 Chronicles 21: 12-15, Elijah has a message

Jehoram received a letter from Elijah the prophet, which said: 

"This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: `You have not walked in the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or of Asa king of Judah. But you have walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and you have led Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ahab did. You have also murdered your own brothers, members of your father's house, men who were better than you. So now the LORD is about to strike your people, your sons, your wives and everything that is yours, with a heavy blow. You yourself will be very ill with a lingering disease of the bowels, until the disease causes your bowels to come out.'"

Elijah has not appeared previously in the scroll of Chronicles as all of his ministry (outside this one event) has been in the northern kingdom. This passage about Elijah then causes some conflict. In 2 Kings 3:11-12, during the reign of Jehoshaphat, Elisha, not Elijah, is identified as an available prophet, one mentored by Elijah. Following that text, Elijah is dead by the time of Jehoram. Scholars debate a solution -- is the name "Elijah" here just a generic name for a prophet? Or is the assumption that Elijah died during Jehoshaphat's reign in error? The text of the letter clearly fits the prophetic message of Elijah and his fellow prophets.

2 Chronicles 21: 16-17, Family murdered

The LORD aroused against Jehoram the hostility of the Philistines and of the Arabs who lived near the Cushites. They attacked Judah, invaded it and carried off all the goods found in the king's palace, together with his sons and wives. Not a son was left to him except Ahaziah, the youngest.
 

Jehoram, who murdered his siblings, loses everything, including his family, to the Philistines and Arabs, arriving out of the southwest. Consistent with the earlier promises of God, one person in the line of David survives the attack and the Davidic dynasty will continue.

2 Chronicles 21: 18-20, Gruesome death

After all this, the LORD afflicted Jehoram with an incurable disease of the bowels. In the course of time, at the end of the second year, his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in great pain. His people made no fire in his honor, as they had for his fathers.

Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He passed away, to no one's regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

Jehoram dies horribly and no one grieves. He is buried in Jerusalem but not given the honor of burial in the tomb of kings.

People debate the modern identification of the disease of Jehoram and offer up dysentery (Payne, p. 507), Crohn's disease (Unchanged Maladies: Current Perspectives on Old Testament Diseases), colorectal cancer (Colorectal carcinoma that afflicted King Jehoram), and so on. Jehoram lived a miserable life and his death was consistent with the life lived.