Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab.

2 Chronicles 21:2-7

2 Jehoram’s brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat, were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael and Shephatiah. All these were sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel. 3 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.
4 When Jehoram established himself firmly over his father’s kingdom, he put all his brothers to the sword along with some of the officials of Israel. 5 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. 6 He followed 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. 7 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.


Today’s title is “Ahab Vs David”

Apostle Paul said, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.. No Christian would argue against what Paul said. But no one seems to eagerly act upon it. It is not a pleasant thing for most of us to distance someone even though they are unbelievers. But when we see things from a spiritual perspective, there are clearly times that we need to distance ourselves from some unbelievers, especially when they strongly antagonize God no matter what. That’s not segregation or partiality. That‘s spiritual discernment and wisdom that keeps God’s blessings in our life. As Psalm 1 said, “ Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers.
Why does Bible stress spiritually distancing from the unbelieving people so much? We see one very practical reason in today’s passage. In short, when someone or something is so strongly evil, more often than not, the evil can get the best of the goodness in us. We see a good example of such spiritual reality in today’s passage. Jehoram was a son of King Jehoshaphat of Judah. Jehoshaphat was a good king in many respects. But somehow he had an intimate fellowship with King Ahab who vigorously promoted Baal worship in the Northern kingdom. They even married their children. Jehoram was the son of Jehoshaphat who married Ahab’s daughter. And look what he did! He followed 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. Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, followed the evil ways of Ahab instead of the godliness of his own father. He even killed all his own brothers. Goldy Jehoshaphat’s intimacy with evil Ahab brought deadly destruction to his own family and his kingdom. That was why God told us not to be yoked with unbelievers. He knows how infectious and influential an unbelieving spirit can be. But you know what’s even more amazing. That’s how strong is God’s faithfulness to his true servant. Infected by Ahab’s evil spirit, Jehoram committed heinous sins before God. Nevertheless, the Lord was not willing to destroy him and his kingdom, because of the covenant the Lord had made with David. God’s final decision was to save the kingdom for David’s sake. Ahab’s evil influence was surely strong. But what prevailed eventually was the spirit of David who loved God so dearly. I believe this is good news to us all too. We ought to avoid being yoked together with unbelievers. But we often find that we somehow have both Ahab and David in us. But we can be assured that what will prevail eventually is the spirit of David as long as we humbly trust in the Son of David. Amen!