Jehoshaphat’s Folly

“Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance, and joined affinity with Ahab.”  (2 Chronicles 18:1)

Ol’ Jehoshaphat was a pretty good king, but he was as dumb as a rock.  Nice guy … but not very bright.

Judah had well over a million me n of war, so it is no wonder that all the nations around gave them tribute. Nobody wanted to mess with Jehoshaphat. It is also not surprising that Ahab, the wicked king of Israel sidled up to him to ask for help against the Syrians.

I can just hear Ahab now, “Hey cuz, ol’ buddy! You know, you and I, we’re family. How ‘bout a little help here to retake Ramoth-gilead”.

No, you’re not family! Israel had left the family of God when they decided to worship golden calves instead of the Lord God Jehovah.  If you look at this spiritually, this is the worldly Church trying to integrate itself with the true Church of God. Yeah, you look the same, but Ahab was not of the lineage of David and their religion was not of God.

So Jehoshaphat decides to be a nice guy and help his poor misguided “brethren” in the battle. Now, when Ahab called upon the 400 prophets of Baal to bless their endeavors, you’d think that maybe that should have given Jehshaphat a clue. And when a true prophet of God had to courage to prophesy against it but was tossed into prison for it that should have told Jehoshaphat that it was time to get out of there.  Nope. Not Jehoshaphat. He went along with it and almost got killed as a result.

Not only that, but as a result of the terrible defeat, he no longer had the strength of his once mighty army to resist the Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites that were now emboldened to come against Judah. What happened to your million men, Jehoshaphat?  You lost your power and strength when you decided to join forces with the worldly Church of Ahab, and now you have become a sitting duck for the devil to attack and destroy the Church.

And it doesn’t end there. Because of his continued affinity with the world, not only did God break his works in Ezion-geber, but the heritage of righteousness was corrupted.  His lack of strength, resolve and godly fear allowed wickedness to enter into the next generation. Jehoram, his wicked son, married  Ahab’s daughter and murdered his brothers who were righteous, and that sealed the destruction of the next generations of the kings of Judah, ultimately leading to their captivity in Babylon.

The message should be as clear as transparent glass.  But what do we see today? In our efforts to be “nice” so that we are embracive to others, and to show love and not offend anyone, we have muddled the stark differences between the holy and the profane.  We no longer fear God. Leonard Ravenhill once proclaimed that we have more of Hollywood than holiness in our churches … and he said that years ago! It has gotten worse since then.  If we as the Body of Christ follow the same path of Jehoshaphat, we will end up with the same results.

Nobody ever said the devil was stupid.

Brother Dale