GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
2 CHRONICLES 21:12-20
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12 And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, that said this:
Since Jehoram began his sole reign in about 853 BC, this letter should be taken to come from sometime at about that period. Elijah was taken into heaven in a chariot of fire, leaving his disciple, Elisha, to serve as prophet after him. This is recorded in 2 Kings chapter 2. After that, 2 Kings chapter 3 records the rise of Ahab’s son Joram, who ruled from 852 to 841 BC, at the same time as our king Jehoram who received this letter. There is nothing inconsistent with these basic details that would lead us to think that this letter from Elijah to Jehoram is a forgery. Truly, it makes perfect sense. Elijah and Elisha were prophets who lived and ministered to the northern kingdom of Israel, so that a letter to a southern king was unusual but completely within the realm of the possible, and even of the probable or the inevitable.
“This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says, ‘You have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, or in the ways of Asa king of Judah, 13 but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ahab made Israel prostitute themselves. You also murdered your brothers, men of your father’s house and men who were better than you. 14 So now the LORD will strike down your people, your children, your wives, and everything you have, 15 and you yourself will have a terrible sickness, a sickness in your bowels, until your bowels come out because of the disease, day after day.’”
The letter falls into several parts, often with language common to Elijah’s period ( I will point this out for those who still want to be skeptical).
First: The true source of the letter is the LORD, also identified as the God of David and of Jehoram’s father and grandfather (compare 1 Kings 15:3).
Second, he is condemned for walking in the ways of Israel (see 1 Kings 16:2; 16:26). Hosea also condemned the northern kingdom for leading the southern kings in Judah into sin (Hosea 4:15; 5:5).
Third, the people have been “made to prostitute themselves,” which means that they were being led into the worship of false gods. The comparison between idolatry and adultery is common in the prophets (see 1 Chronicles 5:25; Hosea 4:12).
Fourth, a general condemnation of the house of Ahab is made. Elijah prophesied against King Ahab more than once (see 1 Kings 17:1-4; 18:1-20; 18:21-46; 19:1; 21:17-29).
Fifth, Elijah knows what Jehoram did to his brothers and that they were all “better than you” (a remarkable thing to say to the King of Judah). Whether this was public knowledge in Judah or not is unclear, but Elijah knew about it while living in the north. The prophet also knew that Obadiah, Ahab’s major-domo, had rescued a hundred prophets whose lives were threatened by Queen Jezebel (1 Kings 18:9-15).
Finally, Elijah prophesies exactly what was about to happen to Jehoram’s family, his wives and children, and to him, including the way he would die. This was just what Elijah had also done for Ahab and Jezebel, including the way Jezebel would die (1 Kings 21:17-24). The only difference was that Wicked King Ahab actually repented, and the Lord held off on some of Elijah’s prophecy until after Ahab’s death (1 Kings 21:29).
16 The LORD also stirred up the anger of the Philistines against Jehoram, and that of the Arabians who lived near the Cushites. 17 They came up against Judah and invaded it. They carried away all the possessions they found that belonged to the king’s house, along with his sons and his wives, so that no son was left to him except Jehoahaz, the youngest.
Almost immediately, Jehoram was attacked again; this time from the southwest. This is an early reference to the “Arabians” who lived in the south. Solomon had traded with them a century before (1 Kings 10:15), but now they came as an army to plunder Judah. The Philistines were happy to join in. The Philistines were more a Greek culture by this time; the days of heroic giants were coming to an end with the exploits of David and his mighty men a hundred and fifty years in the past (1 Samuel 17:23; 1 Chronicles 20:5). Just as Elijah had foreseen in his letter, Jehoram’s wives and sons were carried off.
Perhaps it was a further blow to the king that, having been the firstborn himself, his firstborn and almost all his brothers were taken from him. He himself had murdered his brothers, taking them, in effect, from their dead father. All Jehoram had left was his youngest, Jehoahaz (he was also known as Ahaziah, in which the two elements of his name are reversed).
18 And after all this the LORD struck him with an incurable disease in his bowels. 19 This went on day after day until two years had gone by, and then his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in terrible agony. His people made no bonfire in his honor, like the fires made for his fathers. 20 He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. Then he died, to no one’s regret. They buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
This disease is said by some physicians to exhibit the symptoms of colorectal cancer, which can indeed cause the bowels to come out. Sometimes Crohn’s disease can do the same thing, and this was evidently almost common for sufferers before the appearance of modern medications. This is therefore possibly the earliest description of a patient suffering from colorectal carcinoma (cancer), and an early (though not the earliest) description of cancer of any kind. Some Egyptian sources, especially the “Edwin Smith” papyrus and the “George Ebers” papyrus, contain references to breast cancer and even surgeries and other treatments for them. These come from between the time of Joseph (1700 BC) and the time of Moses (1500 BC).
There are three negative details at Jehoram’s death: (1) The people did not make a bonfire, which was a tradition at the passing of a king (2 Chronicles 16:14). (2) There was no regret. His family was gone apart from one son, and his mother (Athaliah) who had somehow escaped from the raid by the Arabians and the Philistines. (3) He was not buried with the kings, but in a different grave. This might have been on account of his cancer and the smell that sometimes accompanies this disease, or on account of his apostasy and wickedness. But quite bluntly we are told: He died and nobody was sorry to see him go; they didn’t do the usual things they did when a king died. They buried him, and that was that.
When a believer dies, he or she dies in faith, wrapped in the forgiveness of Jesus Christ– and this is true even for those who died in faith before Jesus ever came into the world. The Lord’s step-father Joseph died before Jesus’ ministry began, but the words of the angel rang like a bell in his heart: “He will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). This was just as true for Adam and Eve, for poor Abel, for Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and yes for Asa and Jehoshaphat. But wicked Jehoram died without faith, without a Savior, and with all his sins on his own head. Hamlet’s father described the agony: “Sent to my account with all my imperfections on my head: O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!” (Hamlet I:5). And the true words of the damned rich man reported by Jesus: “I am in agony in this fire!” (Luke 16:24).
But the Christian dies with the guilt of sin washed away and wiped clean. “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 2:2). Be comforted: When he calls you home, it will truly be home; to a place prepared for you by Jesus your Savior. You will forever have joy, love, reunion, and peace.
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 21:12-20