Sat, 22 October, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

2 Kings 3:9-20

⁹ So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. And when they had made a circuitous march of seven days, there was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them. ¹⁰ Then the king of Israel said, “Alas! The LORD has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” ¹¹ And Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no prophet of the LORD here, through whom we may inquire of the LORD?” Then one of the king of Israel’s servants answered, “Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.” ¹² And Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the LORD is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

¹³ And Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother.” But the king of Israel said to him, “No; it is the LORD who has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” ¹⁴ And Elisha said, “As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you. ¹⁵ But now bring me a musician.” And when the musician played, the hand of the LORD came upon him. ¹⁶ And he said, “Thus says the LORD, ‘I will make this dry streambed full of pools.’ ¹⁷ For thus says the LORD, ‘You shall not see wind or rain, but that streambed shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, you, your livestock, and your animals.’ ¹⁸ This is a light thing in the sight of the LORD. He will also give the Moabites into your hand, ¹⁹ and you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and stop up all springs of water and ruin every good piece of land with stones.” ²⁰ The next morning, about the time of offering the sacrifice, behold, water came from the direction of Edom, till the country was filled with water.

Wicked king Ahab is dead, and his son, Jehoram, is reigning over the northern kingdom of Israel. The son does make some reforms. We are told that Jehoram destroyed the pillar of Baal worship which is a step in the right direction. However, he still retains the golden calves established by Jeroboam, and so Jehoram is described as an evil king. The worship of the northern tribes is thoroughly corrupt and just removing Baal’s pillar is like putting a band-aide on a broken arm.

Moab has been subject to Israel, and now that Ahab is gone, Mesha, the Moabite king, takes this opportunity to attempt to break free from Israel’s dominance. King Jehoram decides to go to war to bring Moab back into submission, and he persuades Jehoshaphat of Judah to join him. Apparently, Edom is also a vassal state to either Israel or Judah, and they come along to fight against Moab. So the three kings of Israel, Judah and Edom set out for war against Moab.

But something goes very wrong with the expedition. We are not told if it is just poor planning, or if their was some misfortune that caused them to take longer on the trip than it should have, but the armies of the three kings run out of water in the wilderness. Apparently the didn’t seek God at the beginning of the mobilization, but faced with death, they seek a prophet of God to find out what they should do. And so the three kings come to Elisha who happens to be travelling with the armies.

Elisha challenges Jehoram, asking him why he would consult a prophet of God instead of the false prophets that his own parents installed in Israel. Why worship their gods, and then when everything has turned against you, turn to God as the last resort? Elisha is pointing out the Jehoram isn’t repenting of his sin and the sin of the northern tribes. Jehoram is simply looking for a way out of the temporal difficulty he faces. Jehoram is concerned that he will die of dehydration, but he isn’t concerned about what will happen to himself after his death.

Elisha then acquiesces to the request to seek God on their behalf, solely for Jehoshaphat’s sake. He tells them that God will both provide water for their immediate temporal need and He will also give them victory over Moab in the coming war.

What do we learn from this?

Jehoshaphat was a godly man. He sought to serve God and to be pleasing to Him. As a result, God preserved and blessed Jehoshaphat. And we see that this blessing extended beyond Jehoshaphat and reached the people around him. God blessed the ungodly king Jehoram because of godly Jehoshaphat. As Elisha says, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you. But Elisha seeks God for the kings, for Jehoshaphat’s sake.

We don’t always know the blessing God gives to those around us because of our influence, but the blessing God pours upon us sometimes overflows onto the ungodly. As Jesus tells us that the blessing of God fall upon both the godly and the ungodly. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. God doesn’t limit His blessing just to His people.

Where is Christ in this passage?

God’s abundant grace in Christ Jesus flows to His people. God blesses His church, and this blessing overflows even to the unsaved around them. That doesn’t mean that these recipients of the overflowing grace of God are saved from their sins, but it does mean that they receive in this life far better than they ever deserve. God withholds His judgment and spares them for a time.

Those who are His people also receive far better than they deserve here in this life, for His people are also sinners and have merited eternal damnation. But they have the added blessing of spending eternity enjoying God in heaven, because their sins are paid in full upon Jesus Christ on the cross. He bore their sins, and He gives them His righteousness. Therefore they are declared to be just in His sight. They can spend eternity with Him in heaven.

Unfortunately for those who never come to Him in faith, the only blessing of God they will know is what they experience in this life.