GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
2 CHRONICLES 20:35-37
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35 After this, Jehoshaphat king of Judah joined with Ahaziah king of Israel, who did wicked things. 36 He joined him building ships to go to Tarshish, and they built the ships in Ezion Geber. 37 Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat. He said: “Because you have joined with Ahaziah, the LORD will break apart what you have made.” And the ships were wrecked and were not able to go to Tarshish.
In the last three or four years of Jehoshaphat’s reign he took on additional projects with the new king of Israel, Ahab’s son Ahaziah. We have five clear examples and one additional item that illustrate the “joining” of Israel and Judah during Jehoshaphat’s late reign. Since Judah was a spiritual kingdom as well as a physical one, these are also issues of fellowship, as we will see.
The first is the family connection, since we know that Jehoshaphat was related to the family of Ahab by the marriage of Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram and Ahab’s daughter Athaliah (2 Kings 8:18; 2 Chronicles 18:1). The Christian must be careful about choosing a spouse; it may prove too great a strain if there is a constant opposition to Christ in the home.
Second, there was cooperation between Jehoshaphat and Ahab, both in fighting together against common enemies and in the peace they enjoyed between their two countries. Perhaps this example seems the least troublesome to some, but remember that this is the incident for which the prophet of God objected and condemned Jehoshaphat.
Third, there was obviously an exchange of family names. Both families used the names Ahaziah for a son or grandson who became king, and the same is true of the name Joram. Joram is variously spelled Joram or Jehoram in Hebrew for both men, but translators have attempted to help the reader by standardizing Joram (two syllables) for the Israelite king and Jehoram (three syllables) for the Judean king. We must be careful about even seeming to give approval to the wicked and sinful things that other people do, and celebrating those people certainly shows public approval of them. Would a Christian name a child Pontius Pilate? Or Satan?
Fourth, the kings exchanged visits to one another (2 Kings 8:28; 2 Chronicles 20:3-36). When people see us frequenting a place or a person’s home, we give the impression that there is a friendship and an approval there.
One other issue: Edwin Thiele has demonstrated that with the reign of Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram, the kingdom of Judah began to use the non-accession year system of calculating the reigns of kings, which is what the kingdom of Israel had been using all along. This change of the calendar shows that Israel, not Judah, was generally taking the lead in some of these cooperative exchanges.
There may have been other, even many other examples of cooperation, but the clearest and most well-known example is the final item of our text: the joint trading fleet at Ezion Geber. This seaport was about 130 miles south of Jerusalem, at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba, which is part of the Red Sea and leads into the Indian Ocean. Therefore, it was the vital trade link between Israel and almost all of Africa, whether Egypt, Cush, Ethiopia, Sheba, or any other wealthy nation. Only Egypt could be reached quickly by other routes.
Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah invested huge amounts of money, materials and labor into building this fleet. The Hebrew is simply plural, “he built ships of Tarshish.” But whether there were two or twenty, the cooperation was wicked in God’s sight. Before they ever sailed, they were wrecked (1 Kings 22:48).
The Gulf of Aqaba has been ravaged by severe storms in recent times. An earthquake in 1995 killed eight people and injured thirty more. A severe storm categorized as a cyclone (like a large water-born tornado) struck in March, 2020, resulting in severe shoreline damage. Either kind of event, earthquake or storm, could have wrecked the Judean-Israelite fleet, but whatever the natural means, the destruction was by the hand of God.
One of the lessons we learn from the account of Jehoshaphat is that even a believer with a strong faith can fall into trouble and sin when it comes to the practice of fellowship. Jehu the seer had warned him: “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD?” (2 Chronicles 19:2).
Fellowship means a friendly and sharing connection between people or between believers and God (as in 2 Corinthians 13:14). While Christians have fellowship with all believers within the invisible church (all believers everywhere), when someone’s faith is mixed with false doctrine– whether an individual or the church that they belong to– there is no longer to be cooperation and fellowship. Jesus affirms this when he commands his apostles to teach “everything I have commanded you,” not just some of it (Matthew 28:20). God does not want us to add or subtract anything from his word (Deuteronomy 4:2). And Paul told the Roman Christians to keep away from those who persisted in teaching false doctrine (Romans 16:17). Our church confesses: “A Christian confession of faith is in principle always a confession of the entire Word of God. The denial, adulteration, or suppression of any word of God does not stem from faith but from unbelief.” The Bible never advocates or even suggests levels or degrees of fellowship. Either two parties are in fellowship or they are not. In practice, a person who strongly objects to the application of fellowship (most often by being denied the Lord’s Supper) shows that they are not in harmony with the Scripture’s doctrine of fellowship by their very objection.
Professor Lyle Lange wrote: “We live in a world in which very few people still hold to the biblical teaching on fellowship. This is all the more reason why we will want to let our light shine. Though people may ridicule us for holding to the truth of Scripture, we will continue to do so as a response to the love God has shown for us. As people ask us about our fellowship practice, we will have the opportunity to be witnesses for Christ and his truth” (God So Loved the World. Milwaukee: NPH 2005, 556).
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 2 Chronicles 20:35-37 Ships and fellowship