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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - 2 Chronicles 21:12 - 21:20
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The Lord's Punishment upon Jehoram
v. 12. And there came a writing to him, Jehoram, from Elijah, the prophet, a prophetic letter evidently written or dictated by Elijah before his death, which seems to have taken place during the reign of Jehoshaphat, 2 Kings 2 :saying, Thus saith the Lord God of David, thy father, to whom alone the continuation of the dynasty was to be ascribed, Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat, thy father, nor in the ways of Asa, king of Judah,
v. 13. but hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, in all their idolatrous wickedness, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a-whoring, in spiritual adultery, to forsake Jehovah and become guilty of the idolatry of the heathen nations, and practice the immoral customs connected with their religion, like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, the extreme example of wickedness in this respect, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father's house, in cold-blooded, cruel murder, which were better than thyself, not so steeped in idolatry,
v. 14. behold, with a great plague, a severe scourge, will the Lord smite thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy goods, namely, by devastating invasions;
v. 15. and thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day, during many days, for a long time. It was a singular and horrible disease, that of rotting away of the intestines in a slow disintegration.
v. 16. Moreover, the Lord, in fulfilling this prophecy, stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, who had been held in check for a long time, and of the Arabians that were near the Ethiopians, those of Southern Arabia.
v. 17. And they came up into Judah and brake into it, they forced their way into the country in spite of all attempted opposition, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house, plundering even the royal palace and the royal domains, and his sons also and his wives, the members of his harem, so that there was never a son left him save Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons, also called Ahaziah and Azariah.
v. 18. And after all this the Lord smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease, apparently some form of extreme dysentery.
v. 19. And it came to pass that in process of time, after the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness, the very intestines having been eaten away by the horrible malady; so he died of sore diseases, suffering severe pains. And his people made no burning for him like the burning of his fathers; see 2Ch_16:14, where we read that sweet spices were burned in memory of the dead.
v. 20. Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being desired; no one regretted his death, it was a relief for the entire kingdom. Howbeit, they buried him in the City of David, but not in the sepulchers of the kings, he was denied even this last honor. Like Jehoram, all wicked, idolatrous people are bound for destruction. God visits them with His displeasure even here in time, and eventually, in eternity, they will have to bear the punishment of their transgressions forever.