February 19: 2 Chronicles 21

It Only Takes One Generation

You have probably heard the saying that Christianity is always one generation away from extinction. You have also heard the saying that God has no grandchildren, only children. What we see in this chapter is a vivid reminder that the faith of one generation can quickly disappear in the lives of the succeeding generation. We witness the result of a godly father who fails to pass on his faith to his children. The seeds of waning or vanishing faith are often sown in the way parents raise their children. I realize that parents cannot be held accountable for the poor choices of their grown children, but the way they are raised has a powerful impact on their future. We also see the unfaithful choices of a son who had witnessed a faithful father and followed a faithless path to his own destruction.

The seeds of this debacle were sown in the well-meaning, but ill-advised decisions of a father who was overindulgent with his children. We are told in verse 3 how he showered his sons with gifts and cities. He had already given his oldest son, Jehoram, to the daughter of wicked King Ahab and evil Queen Jezebel. Now we see that he has also made his oldest son his successor, simply on the basis of that fact. Of course, we only discover how tragic these decisions are for his family and the nation of Judah after his death.

Jehoram secures his position as king, and then kills all his brothers and other leaders he suspects will threaten his reign. The 25 years of the mostly good and godly reign of Jehoshaphat will be reversed by the 8-year reign of his son. The text informs us of his disposition as ruler: he followed the evil ways of Israel’s kings as had Ahab’s house (verse 6). It also hints that he was influenced by his wife (Ahab’s daughter).

The only reason that the kingdom was not completely destroyed by Jehoram’s evil rule was the fact that the LORD was committed to honoring the covenant He had made with David (verse 7). However, God allowed Jehoram’s poor choices to stir up revolt among the Edomites and those in Libnah. We are told that this is the result of forsaking the LORD God of his fathers (verse 10).

We are informed that his promotion of idolatry in Judah caused them “to play the harlot” and he led them astray (verse 11). The prophet Elijah even sends a letter (speaking truth to power) that confronts Jehoram with his sins and pronounces judgment on him (verses 12-15). The people will experience a great calamity and he will suffer a severe intestinal disease that is incurable.

The final verses reveal the great calamity, the stirring up of Judah’s enemies by the LORD so that they invaded Judah and decimated Jehoram’s palace and family (verses 16-17). During his last two years of rule, his incurable disease produced misery and death (verses 18-19). Sadly, he was not honored as were his fathers (verse 19) and “he departed with no one’s regret, and they buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings” (verse 20).

This turn of events is tragic in the history of Judah. It shows how vulnerable and fragile revival efforts are and why there is a constant need to receive the call to return to the LORD. If we think honestly and frankly about our nation, we would need to admit that for several generations now, we have been moving further away from the gospel and from following the LORD. Our faithlessness will bring God’s judgment, calamity, to get our attention and call us back to faith in God. Like Judah, we need revival! It is the only thing that will save us from the seeds of our own destruction.