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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Saturday, 13 December 2025:
2 Chronicles 21:1 — And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Jehoram his son reigned in his place.
The chapter opens with a transition of leadership, and with it, a warning. A godly father does not guarantee a godly son. Spiritual inheritance is not automatic. Jehoshaphat’s faith shaped the nation, but Jehoram must choose for himself whom he will serve. Every generation must personally embrace covenant faithfulness; it cannot be borrowed, inherited, or outsourced.
2 Chronicles 21:2-3 — He had brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat… and their father gave them great gifts of silver, gold, and precious things… but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram, because he was the firstborn.
Jehoshaphat provided generously and wisely, establishing security for his sons. The problem is not poor preparation but poor character. Resources, opportunity, and position are neutral; they amplify whatever is already in the heart. Leadership reveals rather than creates character. Jehoram inherits a stable kingdom, but stability becomes the platform for destruction rather than stewardship.
2 Chronicles 21:4 — When Jehoram had ascended the throne of his father and was established, he killed all his brothers with the sword, and also some of the princes of Israel.
Fear replaces faith. Jehoram consolidates power through violence. Instead of trusting God’s sovereignty, he eliminates perceived threats. This is the logic of insecurity: control must be seized, rivals must be silenced, and bloodshed becomes a means of self-preservation. A leader who does not trust God will always trust force, manipulation, or fear instead.
2 Chronicles 21:5-6 — Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king… and he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.
This is the root cause. Jehoram chooses the wrong model and the wrong alliance. Marriage becomes a conduit for idolatry. The influence of Ahab’s house infiltrates Judah’s throne. Scripture repeatedly warns that intimacy with those who reject God reshapes loyalty, values, and direction. Jehoram’s evil is not accidental; it is cultivated through proximity.
There is a reason why God forbids marriage with unbelievers. People who are close to you will have a positive or negative influence on your life. You must be very careful not to establish covenant-type relationships with those who will only tempt you to be unfaithful to God. Those close to you must be ready to walk with you in a mutually supportive relationship as you both of you follow Jesus together.
2 Chronicles 21:7 — Yet the LORD was not willing to destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and since he promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever.
Grace intervenes. Judah is preserved not because of Jehoram’s righteousness but because of God’s covenant faithfulness. God keeps His promises even when His people break theirs. This verse points forward to Christ, the true Son of David, the eternal lamp whose kingdom cannot be extinguished. Human unfaithfulness cannot nullify divine faithfulness.
2 Chronicles 21:8-10 — In his days Edom revolted…. Libnah revolted at the same time… because he had forsaken the LORD, the God of his fathers.
External collapse follows internal abandonment. Political instability mirrors spiritual decay. When leaders forsake the Lord, unity fractures and authority erodes. Jehoram attempts military responses, but the deeper problem is covenant breach. No amount of strategy can compensate for spiritual abandonment.
2 Chronicles 21:11 — Moreover, he made high places in the hill country of Judah and led the inhabitants of Jerusalem into whoredom, and made Judah go astray.
Jehoram institutionalizes sin. He does not merely tolerate idolatry; he promotes it. Leadership influence multiplies consequences. When leaders normalize rebellion, the people follow. Spiritual adultery is never private; it always becomes contagious.
The Bible describes spiritual unfaithfulness as whoredom.
2 Chronicles 21:12-15 — And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying… “You have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father… but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel… behold, the LORD will bring a great plague… and you yourself will have a severe sickness with a disease of your bowels.”
God speaks even when the heart is hard. Elijah’s letter is a final act of mercy, warning before judgment. The charges are specific, personal, and unavoidable. Jehoram is confronted with truth, lineage, and consequence. Judgment is not arbitrary; it is proportionate and purposeful, aimed at exposing the seriousness of covenant betrayal.
God may allow sinners to have earthly victory over the faithful, but God will ultimately hold everyone accountable, and our reward is eternal.
People are tempted to hurt those who are better than them.
Jehoram’s greatest offense was leading people astray from God; this was worse in God’s eyes than Jehoram killing his brothers. Jehoram’s spiritual infidelity caused everyone around him to sin and to suffer tremendously before Jehoram himself died a painful death. How striking is it that Jehoshaphat had so little influence on Jehoram?
2 Chronicles 21:15, 16 — …and you yourself will have a severe sickness with a disease of your bowels…. And the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the anger of the Philistines and of the Arabians who are near the Ethiopians.
God punishes with sickness, enemies, and negative circumstances. Those who reject God will not attribute these things to God’s discipline.
2 Chronicles 21:16-17 — And the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the Philistines and the Arabs… and they came up against Judah… and carried away all the possessions… so that no one was left to him except Jehoahaz, his youngest son.
God removes false securities. What Jehoram sought to protect through violence and idolatry is stripped away. Loss becomes the language of discipline. When leaders abandon God, God allows instability to reveal the emptiness of self-made strength.
2 Chronicles 21:18-19 — And after all this the LORD struck him in his bowels with an incurable disease… until his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in great agony.
The judgment is severe and humiliating. The inward corruption manifests outwardly. Scripture does not soften the ending. Persistent rebellion hardens the heart and compounds consequences. This is not cruelty; it is the tragic endpoint of refusing repentance.
2 Chronicles 21:20 — He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he departed with no one’s regret. They buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
The final assessment is devastating. A king with wealth, lineage, power, and opportunity leaves no grief behind. Jehoram was influential, but in the end, no one respected him or cared about him. He had a miserable and painful life because He walked away from the faith of his father to serve other gods. Legacy is not measured by position but by faithfulness. Jehoram’s life stands as a warning: influence without devotion produces destruction, and leadership without obedience ends in emptiness.
“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) — 13 December 2025: Examine the influences shaping your choices. Identify one alliance, pattern, or loyalty that pulls your heart away from faithfulness to God. Cut it off decisively. Choose obedience over comfort, trust over control, and covenant faithfulness over cultural imitation.
Pray: “Father, guard my heart from compromise and my life from alliances that draw me away from You. Keep me faithful when influence increases and humble when pressure rises. Teach me to trust Your sovereignty rather than grasp for control. Form in me a legacy of obedience that honors You and blesses others. Keep me anchored in Your covenant love and led by Your truth. Amen.”
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