Jehoshaphat made a marriage alliance with Ahab
Sat, 16 December, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.
1 Now Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor, and he made a marriage alliance with Ahab. 2 After some years he went down to Ahab in Samaria. And Ahab killed an abundance of sheep and oxen for him and for the people who were with him, and induced him to go up against Ramoth-gilead. 3 Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead?” He answered him, “I am as you are, my people as your people. We will be with you in the war.”
Jehoshaphat is a godly king. The previous chapter tells us that “The LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David.” He does many things well and is pleasing to God in many ways. But, inexplicably, Jehoshaphat makes a disastrous alliance with the ungodly king Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel. Jehoshaphat has his son marry the daughter of Ahab. The end result is that Ahab’s wicked daughter will years later (in Chapter 22) seize the throne and murder all but one heir to the throne of Judah. Jehoshaphat’s line is almost extinguished, and Judah has to suffer under this wicked woman’s rule because of this alliance.
What do we learn from this?
Paul warns us in 2 Corinthians 6:14: Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Jehoshaphat needed to learn this lesson, for had he heeded it, he would not have arranged the marriage of his son to wicked Athaliah.
We must be careful who we have intimate contact with. We should not just be friends with Christians. But our most intimate relationships have a profound influence upon our attitudes and behaviours. A believer should not marry an unbeliever.
Where is Christ in this passage?
Jehoshaphat is a godly man who is praised in scripture for doing what was right. But even Jehoshaphat made bad decisions and choices. He violated God’s law, and he needed a Savour just like the rest of us. That Savour will be the Messiah to come from the line of David: Jesus Christ.
Athaliah will try to destroy that line, effectively trying to keep the Messiah from coming. But by God’s grace, she will fail, and Jehoshaphat’s Savour (and ours) will be born in due time. Jesus Christ will come from the line of David, to bear the sins of all of His people.
