Politics makes strange bedfellows. The statement expresses the idea that people of differing views and differing characters can come together to achieve a common goal. The truth is, in all of life, the question is what, and how much, can or cannot be compromised.
This evening we consider King Jehoshaphat, the son of Asa. Jehoshaphat is the great-great-grandson of King David, and he succeeded his father Asa. Of King Jehoshaphat the Word of God says he walked in the earlier ways of his father David, and he sought the God of his father and walked in His commandments, and not according to the practices of Israel. You heard a list of the things he did: early in his reign he restored right worship, drove the pagan gods and idols out of the land, and turned the heart of the people back to the Torah, to the Law and Gospel of the Lord God.
Walking according to the practices of Israel was a very bad thing, because Israel, the northern kingdom, had long ago abandoned the Lord God, Yahweh Elohim, for the worship of the Baals. It was not just one idol but a whole array, all the gods of the pagans that surrounded Israel and Judah. The Bible also says Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor, and his heart was courageous in the ways of the Lord. He was a brave man, taking stands to make sure the worship of Yahweh Elohim was upheld.
If we count the kings of Judah and Israel together, by the time Jehoshaphat comes there have been thirteen kings, but only three good ones so far: David was number one, Asa was number two, Jehoshaphat number three. Solomon ruined the record by what he did later in life. When Asa was king, rather than trusting in the Lord God for victory over his enemies, he trusted in Ben-hadad, king of Syria. Asa used temple money to hire mercenaries and pagan kings to make war against the northern kingdom. The plan worked, but the death of King Asa did not end the tensions. Threats of war still abounded.
So the new king, Jehoshaphat, continued to fortify the northern borders with increasing military might. But in reality, Judah had now become the dominant military and economic power in the land. Other territories paid tribute to Jehoshaphat. When a new king came to power in Israel, Jehoshaphat got an idea: what is better than going to war against Israel? An alliance. For most of human history, political alliances were sealed by pre-arranged marriages, and that was Jehoshaphat’s great idea. He would have his son betrothed and married to King Ahab’s daughter: a child of God, a Hebrew born of the faith, to marry the daughter of Jezebel, herself a pagan.
Jehoshaphat gave his son Jehoram in marriage to Ahab’s daughter Athaliah. The marriage had all kinds of political benefits. Ahab would be less likely to go to war against Judah, since his own daughter would soon be queen there. The marriage would also put the two countries on a path to reunification. And of course, peace and unity are always said to be better than division and war. Well, not necessarily, according to God. Some ideas sound like great ideas but turn out to be very bad ones.
Jehoram and Athaliah were joined in marriage, an alliance between Jehoshaphat and Ahab, two men with profound differences becoming bedfellows in a political game. The alliance made sense to them: they were both kings, they spoke a form of Hebrew, they had a shared history going back to David and Solomon. But they had very big differences. King Ahab had married Jezebel of Sidon, an immoral idol worshiper, ruthless and ambitious. Ahab and Jezebel were the king and queen who continually tried to have Elijah assassinated for calling them to repentance. They falsely accused a neighbor and had him executed so they could take his vineyard.
Time passed, and in 2 Chronicles 18:2 we read, “After some years Jehoshaphat went down to Ahab in Samaria.” Jehoshaphat decided to visit his son and daughter-in-law in the north. Ahab saw it as a great opportunity and prepared a great banquet. Ahab was fighting a war with Syria and wanted Jehoshaphat’s help. After all, what good is an alliance if your partner will not go to war with you? It worked: Jehoshaphat said to Ahab, “I am as you are, my people as your people; we will be with you in the war.” Thus Judah and Israel, a faithful country and a pagan one, were joined as bedfellows in war.
The irony was that they were going to war against Ben-hadad of Syria, the same king Asa had paid to invade Israel years before. Jehoshaphat’s father had paid Syria to attack Israel; now Jehoshaphat was at war with his father’s ally and in bed with his father’s enemy. That is what happens when you make alliances with evil men.
Ahab was more cunning than Jehoshaphat. He set a trap to have Jehoshaphat killed on the battlefield. The king of Syria always tried to find the king on the battlefield and direct his elite forces at him. Ahab told Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you put on your robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself. The king of Syria had commanded, “Do not fight with small or great, but only with the king of Israel.” When the commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “It is the king of Israel,” and turned to fight against him. But Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him and delivered him. The plot failed. Ahab was the one who was killed, and 1 Kings 22:38 tells us they washed the chariot at the pool of Samaria, as the word of the Lord had declared.
Jehoshaphat came to realize his mistake and repented, and he remained one of the great kings of Judah. But a little leaven leavens the whole lump. The marriage of Jehoram and Athaliah bore its fruit: Jehoram became king, and his queen became more powerful than ever. She had no intention of forsaking the religion of her mother and father. Scripture tells us that Jehoram walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife, and he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
Jehoshaphat’s foolishness could have destroyed the house of David. Yet we are told in 2 Chronicles 21:7, “The Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David.” Jehoshaphat was one of the great kings of Judah, but he became foolish in his dealings with his enemies, believing he could win over pagans by political alliance, and he brought great suffering to Judah through his son and daughter-in-law. Yet God had given a promise to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David that the house of David would reign forever, and that David’s Lord and David’s Son would be King of an eternal kingdom. Even in the face of Israel’s and Judah’s sins, God would be faithful. As 2 Timothy 2:13 says, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”
Jehoshaphat was a good king, but not a perfect one. For the promise of an eternal King and an eternal kingdom to be a reality, the promised King would have to be infinitely better than David. We needed a king who could not be tempted or lured away from the will of His heavenly Father, whose commitment to His people was stronger than any desire for worldly alliance. We needed a king who brings eternal peace, not with the world, but between God and man.
We needed the Son of David who was uncompromising in His love for us: the One who refused to bow down and worship the devil to gain the kingdoms of the world, who refused to bend to the Pharisees’ demands to follow their traditions rather than God’s Word. We needed a king who would not be swayed by appearances or banquets or popularity, but who lived not by sight but purely by faith. We needed a king who would rather go to the cross and die for His people than abandon His mission of salvation, a king whose alliance was with His heavenly Father and with the people He had come to save, even though His own did not receive Him.
We needed the Son of David who would remain faithful to His faithless bride, the Church. We needed a king who would ransom us even though we too often follow after other gods. This is how the prophet Hosea describes the way God pursues His people: “Behold, I will allure her, I will bring her into the wilderness, and I will speak tenderly to her.” She is the Church; it is you. The Church and her husband Christ are indeed strange bedfellows: we by nature sinful and unclean, yet the Husband and King, perfect in every way, came to us.
Jesus went into the wilderness, into the cross, to win victory over sin and death and the devil. Our life in Christ is not found in compromise. Our life is found in Jesus’ one-sided marriage to us: despite our sins, He always receives us back when we confess, for He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He loves His people and gave Himself up for us. He has joined Himself to us, and death cannot part us. Revelation 1:5 says, “To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood, and He made us into a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.” Amen.
You have been redeemed by the King, the perfect One, who has made you a citizen of the heavenly kingdom, all by grace. Amen.
May the peace that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.