Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. No one was sorry when he died. They buried him in the City of David, but not in the royal cemetery. (2 Chronicles 21:20)Three rulers in a row in Judah, all died and no one cared. This was the people of God that God was preserving so that Jesus could come. But even so, none of these people were worth shooting.
Ahaziah was given a decent burial because the people said, “He was the grandson of Jehoshaphat—a man who sought the Lord with all his heart.” But none of the surviving members of Ahaziah’s family was capable of ruling the kingdom. (2 Chronicles 22:9)
So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was peaceful because Athaliah had been killed. (2 Chronicles 23:21)
Jehoshaphat was a good king and the people loved him. He made a mistake at the end and allied himself with the king of Israel, something God didn’t want him to do. But in general, he tried his best to be a good king and follow the Lord. He was just a little weak.
His son Jehoram, his grandson Ahaziah and Jehoram’s wife, Athaliah, were trash. They demeaned the throne of Israel and the memory of Jehoshaphat.
Jehoram did nothing but foolishness the whole eight years he was king. And one foolish thing he did was to marry one of Ahab’s (the evil king of Israel) daughters. Her family had already been told by the prophet Elijah that they would die a violent death. Ahab, his wife Jezebel and now Athaliah, all did indeed die violently.
When Jehoram died, no one was sorry. I have always thought that was one of the saddest comments in the Bible. Nobody cared. He didn’t even rate a burial in the royal cemetery.
His son Ahaziah took over. He was even worse. One of the first thing he did was to kill all of his brothers so that he would be the only one in Judah who could be king. When he died, people only given a decent burial because everybody loved his grandfather. Again, nobody was sorry.
Ahaziah’s mother, Athaliah took over now and killed all her children and grandchildren so that she could only be queen. One of them, though, Joash, was spirited away as an infant and raised in secret by Jehoiada, the high priest.
She only knew her end was near when she heard the commotion at the crowning of her grandson, Joash. When she went out to see what was happening, she was seized, dragged off and killed.
Her epitaph? Everybody was happy and the city was peaceful.
What a sad ending to people who could have done so much better, who could have done what the Lord wanted and had a long and prosperous reign. But instead, they were wicked and died.
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