Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 2 Chronicles · About this commentary
Jehoram, and a Letter from Elijah
2 Chronicles 21:1-20
1 Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in David’s city; and Jehoram his son reigned in his place. · WEB
A king murders his brothers and rules eight years, and the promise to David is the only reason the house survives him.
The first act of the reign is fratricide. Six brothers are named in one verse, provided for by their father in the next, and killed in the fourth 2 Chronicles 21:2–4. Their father had given them treasure and fortified cities and had given the kingdom to the eldest; the eldest killed them anyway.
The explanation offered is a marriage. He walked in the way of the northern kings for he had Ahab's daughter as his wife 2 Chronicles 21:6 — which is where Jehoshaphat's alliance actually led. A partnership entered for security reasons two chapters ago has produced a queen in Jerusalem and, through her, the policies of the house she came from.
Then the verse that holds this stretch of the book together. However Yahweh would not destroy David's house, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a lamp to him and to his children always 2 Chronicles 21:7.
The figure is a lamp, which is exactly right for what the next chapters describe. Not a fire, not a throne in glory — a small light kept from going out. The promise of the previous volume 1 Chronicles 17:14 is doing its work at the reign where the line most deserved to end, and this is the point at which the distinction made at the dedication becomes visible: the dynasty is guaranteed and the individual king is not 2 Chronicles 7:17–20.
The losses come in order. Edom revolts and stays independent; a border town revolts because he had forsaken Yahweh 2 Chronicles 21:10. And he builds high places in the hills and led Judah astray 2 Chronicles 21:11.
The letter is the strangest thing in the book. It comes from Elijah, a prophet of the northern kingdom who appears nowhere else in either volume, and it arrives in writing 2 Chronicles 21:12. No visit, no confrontation at a gate — a document delivered to a king in another country.
Its charges are specific and the sharpest is not the idolatry. He killed his brothers, who were better than yourself 2 Chronicles 21:13. The comparison is the point. He removed men who would have ruled better, and the crime named is the murder rather than the usurpation.
The sentence announced is domestic before it is political: his people, then your children, your wives, and all your possessions, then his own body 2 Chronicles 21:14–15. And it is carried out in that order — a raid strips the palace and carries off his sons and wives, leaving one, and then the disease 2 Chronicles 21:17–18.
The obituary is four words long and there is nothing crueller in Scripture: he departed with no one's regret 2 Chronicles 21:20. No fire was made for him and he was not buried in the royal tombs. A man who removed six better men reigned eight years and was missed by nobody.
settled What this mark means