Jehoshaphat Makes Peace With Ahab

From the time of the rebellion of the Northern Tribes, the divided kingdom had been at war. But in the book of 2 Chronicles, we see that by the third year of Jehoshaphat's reign (c. 869 BC) Judah was at peace with all her neighbors (2 Chronicles 17:10). It is implied in the book of 1 Kings that this period of peace extended to the Northern Kingdom because it was during the reigns of Ahab, King of Israel and Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, that a bit of an alliance was made. 1 Kings 22:1-12 provides the account of the two nations allying against Syria, presumably through the marriage of Jehoshaphat's son Jehoram to Ahab's daughter Athaliah (2 Chronicles 18:1, cf. 2 Kings 8:25-26).

The following chart depicts the result of the marriage of the godly family of Jehoshaphat to the unrighteous family of Ahab:


The following references may be helpful in reconstructing this family tree:

1. Jehoshaphat made an alliance of marriage with Ahab (2 Chronicles 18:1)
2. Jehoram was the son of Jehoshaphat (2 Kings 8:24)
3. Jehoram murdered his six brothers (2 Chronicles 21:4)
4. Athaliah is the granddaughter of Omri (2 Kings 8:26)
5. Athaliah was married to Jehoram (2 Kings 8:25-26; 2 Kings 11:3)
6. Ahaziah was the son of Jehoram (2 Chronicles 22:1)
7. Ahaziah was the grandson of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 22:9)
8. Athaliah was the mother of Ahaziah (2 Kings 11:1; 2 Chronicles 22:2)
9. Upon Ahaziah's death, Athaliah attempted to murder all her grandchildren (2 Kings 11:1)
10. Upon Ahaziah's death, Athaliah claimed the throne of Judah (2 Kings 11:3; 2 Chronicles 22:12)
11. Joash was rescued by his aunt and thus saved the royal line of David (2 Kings 11:2)
12. Athaliah was deposed when Joash was seven years old (2 Chronicles 23:1 - 2 Chronicles 24:1)

Kings of Judah

This past week, I distributed two worksheets listing the kings of Israel and Judah. This is the worksheet for the Kings of Judah (click on the image and it will open in a new window):

Rehoboam

In preparation for our study of the minor prophets, we are investigating the socio-economic, spiritual and political conditions that existed in the history of Israel during the period of the prophets. We know that Israel was permitted to leave (actually they were run out of the country by Pharaoh – Exodus 12:29-32) following the tenth plague, spent 40 years in the desert, and finally entered the Promised Land in about 1406 BC. After a period of alternating righteous obedience and apostasy, the Jews demanded a king to be set before them in about 1043 BC (1 Samuel 8:1-18; cf. Deuteronomy 17:14-20). The first three kings, Saul, David and Solomon reigned for about 112 years until finally Solomon died and his son Rehoboam ascended to the throne.

Rehoboam was the son of Solomon who ascended the throne of Judah following the death of his father (1 Kings 11:43) when he was 41 years old. The book of Kings tells us that Solomon had placed a heavy burden on the people and that the people sent a delegation, led by Jeroboam, to Rehoboam asking for some relief (1 Kings 12:4). After consulting with both his elders (those who counseled his father Solomon) and his young friends, Rehoboam refused to lighten the burden on the people and continued in the ways of his father (1 Kings 12:13-14).

As a result, a minor insurrection occurred in which the taskmaster over the laborers was killed and Rehoboam escaped with his life back to Jerusalem. Ultimately, the northern tribes seceded from the kingdom and set Jeroboam up as king. Although Rehoboam assembled an army of 180,000 men to march against Jeroboam, the prophet Shemaiah advised against war and Rehoboam relented.

Rehoboam reigned as king for 17 years (1 Kings 14:21) building great and fortified cities in the way of his father (2 Chronicles 11:5-12). During his reign, he led the people in sin; worshipping Asherah on the high places, employing male cult prostitutes and all the other abominations of the Canaanite nations who had lived in the land before them (1 Kings 14:22-24). Like Solomon, he too had multiple wives and concubines; 78 in all with whom he had 28 sons and 60 daughters (2 Chronicles 11:21).

In his fifth year (c. 925 BC) Shishak, king of Egypt came against Jerusalem because of his sin (2 Chronicles 12:5) and Rehoboam paid tribute to him in the way of the temple treasures and Solomon's wealth.