2 Crônicas 21

ARC · Chapter 21/36

1Depois Josaphat dormiu com seus paes, e o sepultaram com seus paes na cidade de David: e Jorão, seu filho, reinou em seu logar.

2E teve irmãos, filhos de Josaphat: Azarias, e Jehiel, e Zacharias, e Asarias, e Michael, e Sephatias: todos estes foram filhos de Josaphat, rei d'Israel.

3E seu pae lhes deu muitos dons de prata, e d'oiro, e de coisas preciosissimas, com cidades fortes em Judah: porém o reino deu a Jorão, porquanto era o primogenito.

4E, subindo Jorão ao reino de seu pae, e havendo-se fortificado, matou a todos os seus irmãos á espada, como tambem a alguns dos principes d'Israel.

5Da edade de trinta e dois annos era Jorão quando começou a reinar; e reinou oito annos em Jerusalem.

6E andou no caminho dos reis d'Israel, como fazia a casa de Achab; porque tinha a filha de Achab por mulher: e fazia o que parecia mal aos olhos do Senhor.

7Porém o Senhor não quiz destruir a casa de David, em attenção ao concerto que tinha feito com David: e porque tambem tinha dito que lhe daria por todos os dias uma lampada, a elle e a seus filhos.

8Nos seus dias se revoltaram os idumeos de debaixo do mando de Judah, e constituiram para si um rei.

9Pelo que Jorão passou adiante com os seus chefes, e todos os carros com elle: e levantou-se de noite, e feriu aos idumeos, que o tinham cercado, como tambem aos capitães dos carros.

10Todavia os idumeos se revoltaram de debaixo do mando de Judah até ao dia d'hoje; então no mesmo tempo Libna se revoltou de debaixo de seu mando; porque deixara ao Senhor, Deus de seus paes.

11Elle tambem fez altos nos montes de Judah: e fez com que fornicassem os moradores de Jerusalem, e até a Judah impelliu a isso.

12Então lhe veiu um escripto da parte d'Elias o propheta, que dizia: Assim diz o Senhor, Deus de David teu pae: Porquanto não andaste nos caminhos de Josaphat, teu pae, e nos caminhos d'Asa, rei de Judah,

13Mas andaste no caminho dos reis d'Israel, e fizeste fornicar a Judah e aos moradores de Jerusalem, segundo a fornicação da casa d'Achab, e tambem mataste a teus irmãos, da casa de teu pae, melhores do que tu

14Eis-que o Senhor ferirá com um grande flagello ao teu povo, e aos teus filhos, e ás tuas mulheres e a todas as tuas fazendas.

15Tu tambem terás uma grande enfermidade por causa d'uma doença de tuas entranhas, até que te saiam as tuas entranhas, por causa da enfermidade, de dia em dia.

16Despertou pois o Senhor, contra Jorão o espirito dos philisteos e dos arabios, que estão da banda dos ethiopes.

17Estes subiram a Judah, e deram sobre ella, e levaram toda a fazenda, que se achou na casa do rei, como tambem a seus filhos e a suas mulheres; de modo que lhe não deixaram filho, senão a Joachaz, o mais moço de seus filhos.

18E depois de tudo isto o Senhor o feriu nas suas entranhas com uma enfermidade incuravel.

19E succedeu que, depois de muitos dias, e chegado que foi o fim de dois annos, sairam-lhe as entranhas com a doença; e morreu de más enfermidades: e o seu povo lhe não fez uma queimada como a queimada de seus paes.

20Era da edade de trinta e dois annos quando começou a reinar, e reinou em Jerusalem oito annos: e foi-se sem deixar de si saudades algumas; e o sepultaram na cidade de David, porém não nos sepulchros dos reis.

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Summary

Jehoshaphat dies and his son Jehoram takes the throne, immediately killing his own brothers to consolidate power. He marries a daughter of Ahab and introduces idolatry into Judah; as a result, he faces rebellions, invasions, and a terrible disease announced in a letter from the prophet Elijah.

Explanation

Jehoram represents an abrupt spiritual regression after his father's faithful reign, showing how the influence of a marriage into Ahab's family (through his wife Athaliah) could rapidly corrupt even a previously faithful dynasty. The fratricide committed by Jehoram at the very start of his reign, killing all of his own brothers, reveals a pattern of brutal political violence imported from the culture of the northern kingdom. The mention of a letter written by the prophet Elijah, specifically foretelling the terrible disease that would consume Jehoram's bowels, is one of the rare instances in the Bible of a prophetic message delivered in writing rather than orally, and his death, described as without public lament, shows the complete contempt the people came to feel for him.

Fun facts

  • Jehoram's terminal illness, described with unpleasant detail about his bowels falling out because of the disease, is one of the most graphically described physical judgments against a king in the whole Bible.
  • The fact that Jehoram was buried 'in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings' marks one of the earliest examples in the records of Chronicles of a king receiving this specific kind of posthumous dishonor.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 2 Crônicas 21:1Jehoshaphat dies and is buried with his ancestors in the City of David; his son Jehoram takes the throne, opening one of the darkest chapters in the book.
  2. 2 Crônicas 21:2Jehoram had several brothers — Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah — all sons of Jehoshaphat, whom the Chronicler here calls “king of Israel,” whether by mistake or by a variant use of the name.
  3. 2 Crônicas 21:3Before he died, Jehoshaphat had given valuable gifts and fortified cities to each of these sons, but he reserved the whole kingdom for Jehoram, since he was the firstborn.
  4. 2 Crônicas 21:4As soon as he takes the throne, Jehoram has all his own brothers put to death, a common way at the time to eliminate rivals to power right at the start of a reign, though the text records it in a clearly critical tone.
  5. 2 Crônicas 21:5Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he governed eight years in Jerusalem.
  6. 2 Crônicas 21:6Jehoram follows the way of the kings of Israel, like the house of Ahab, because he was married to a daughter of Ahab — and the Chronicler already labels this as evil in the eyes of the Lord.
  7. 2 Crônicas 21:7Despite Jehoram’s wickedness, God does not destroy David’s line, because of the covenant made with him and the promise to always keep a “light” burning for his descendants.
  8. 2 Crônicas 21:8During Jehoram’s reign, the Edomites rebel against Judah’s rule and set up their own king.
  9. 2 Crônicas 21:9Jehoram tries to reverse this rebellion by attacking by night the Edomites who had surrounded him, along with his commanders, but it does not change the outcome.
  10. 2 Crônicas 21:10Even with this counterattack, the Edomites remain independent from Judah, and the city of Libnah also rebels around the same time — a direct consequence of Jehoram having abandoned the Lord.
  11. 2 Crônicas 21:11Jehoram builds idolatrous shrines on the hills of Judah and leads the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and even the rest of Judah, away from faithfulness to God.
  12. 2 Crônicas 21:12This letter from Elijah is the prophet’s only appearance in the entire book of Chronicles — he normally operates only in the northern kingdom, against the house of Ahab, so seeing him write directly to a king of Judah shows that his prophetic reach went beyond the border between the two kingdoms.
  13. 2 Crônicas 21:13Elijah accuses Jehoram of following the way of the kings of Israel, leading Judah into unfaithfulness just as the house of Ahab did, and on top of that killing his own brothers, who were better men than he was.
  14. 2 Crônicas 21:14Elijah’s letter announces a severe punishment: a great plague striking the people, the children, the wives, and all of Jehoram’s possessions.
  15. 2 Crônicas 21:15In addition, Elijah foretells a terrible disease in Jehoram’s bowels, which will grow worse day after day until an ending described in stark, physical terms.
  16. 2 Crônicas 21:16God stirs up against Jehoram the hostile spirit of the Philistines and the Arabians who lived near the Ethiopians — the instruments of the announced punishment.
  17. 2 Crônicas 21:17These peoples invade Judah, plunder everything they find in the palace, and carry off Jehoram’s sons and wives, leaving only his youngest son, Jehoahaz (also called Ahaziah).
  18. 2 Crônicas 21:18After all this, the Lord still strikes Jehoram with the incurable disease in his bowels that Elijah had already announced in his letter.
  19. 2 Crônicas 21:19Two years later, the disease progresses until his bowels fall out, and Jehoram dies in a way so terrible that the people do not even hold a funeral fire for him as they did for the earlier kings.
  20. 2 Crônicas 21:20Jehoram dies with no one missing him, and he is buried in the City of David, but outside the tombs reserved for the kings. This kind of burial detail becomes a pattern for the rest of the book: it is the Chronicler’s way of delivering a final verdict on each king without needing to say anything more.

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