2 Crônicas 21

BLIVRE · Chapter 21/36

1E descansou Josafá com seus pais, e sepultaram-no com seus pais na cidade de Davi. E reinou em seu lugar Jeorão seu filho.

2Este teve irmãos, filhos de Josafá, a Azarias, Jeiel, Zacarias, Azarias, Micael, e Sefatias. Todos estes foram filhos de Josafá rei de Israel.

3E seu pai lhes havia dado muitos presentes de ouro e de prata, e coisas preciosas, e cidades fortes em Judá; mas havia dado o reino a Jeorão, porque ele era o primogênito.

4Foi, pois, elevado Jeorão ao reino de seu pai; e logo que se fez forte, matou à espada a todos seus irmãos, e também alguns dos príncipes de Israel.

5Quando começou a reinar era de trinta e dois anos, e reinou oito anos em Jerusalém.

6E andou no caminho dos reis de Israel, como fez a casa de Acabe; porque tinha por mulher a filha de Acabe, e fez o que era mau aos olhos do SENHOR.

7Mas o SENHOR não quis destruir a casa de Davi, a causa da aliança que com Davi havia feito, e porque lhe havia dito que lhe daria lâmpada a ele e a seus filhos perpetuamente.

8Em os dias deste se rebelou Edom, para não estar sob o poder de Judá, e puseram rei sobre si.

9Então passou Jeorão com seus príncipes, e consigo todos seus carros; e levantou-se de noite, e feriu aos edomitas que lhe haviam cercado, e a todos os comandantes de seus carros.

10Com tudo isso Edom ficou rebelado, sem estar sob a mão de Judá até hoje. Também se rebelou no mesmo tempo Libna para não estar sob sua mão; porquanto ele havia deixado ao SENHOR o Deus de seus pais.

11Além disto, fez altos nos montes de Judá, e fez que os moradores de Jerusalém fornicassem, e a ele impeliu a Judá.

12E vieram-lhe letras do profeta Elias, que diziam: o SENHOR, o Deus de Davi teu pai, disse assim: Por quanto não andaste nos caminhos de Josafá teu pai, nem nos caminhos de Asa, rei de Judá,

13Antes andaste no caminho dos reis de Israel, e fizeste que fornicasse Judá, e os moradores de Jerusalém, como fornicou a casa de Acabe; e ademais mataste a teus irmãos, à família de teu pai, os quais eram melhores que tu:

14Eis que o SENHOR ferirá teu povo de uma grande praga, e a teus filhos e a tuas mulheres, e a toda tua riqueza;

15E a ti com muitas enfermidades, com enfermidade de tuas entranhas, até que as entranhas saiam de ti por causa da enfermidade de cada dia.

16Então despertou o SENHOR contra Jeorão o espírito dos filisteus, e dos árabes que estavam junto aos etíopes;

17E subiram contra Judá, e invadiram a terra, e tomaram toda a riqueza que acharam na casa do rei, e a seus filhos, e a suas mulheres; que não lhe restou filho, a não ser Jeoacaz o menor de seus filhos.

18Depois de tudo isto o SENHOR o feriu nas entranhas de uma enfermidade incurável.

19E aconteceu que, passando um dia atrás outro, ao fim, ao fim de dois anos, as entranhas se lhe saíram com a enfermidade, morrendo assim de enfermidade muito penosa. E seu povo não fez queima em homenagem a ele, como haviam feito a seus pais.

20Quando começou a reinar era de trinta e dois anos, e reinou em Jerusalém oito anos; e se foi sem deixar saudades. E sepultaram-no na cidade de Davi, mas não nos sepulcros 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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