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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
1 Kings 22:41–53, “And Jehoshaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. Jehoshaphat was thirty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father; he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the LORD: nevertheless the high places were not taken away; for the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places. And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he shewed, and how he warred, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And the remnant of the sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land. There was then no king in Edom: a deputy was king. Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they went not; for the ships were broken at Eziongeber. Then said Ahaziah the son of Ahab unto Jehoshaphat, Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships. But Jehoshaphat would not. And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Jehoram his son reigned in his stead. Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned two years over Israel. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin: For he served Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked to anger the LORD God of Israel, according to all that his father had done.”
Early in Ahab’s reign as king of Israel, Jehoshaphat began to reign as king of Israel. He was a good king who followed the Lord all the days of his life. He made sure that the Lord was the official God of Israel and that the Temple ceremonies were followed according to the Law of the Lord. However, there were still some people who secretly followed their old religions. They followed the old fertility religions of the people who had lived in the Land before the Lord gave the Promised Land to Israel. Jehoshaphat wanted to send ships to the land of Ophir, where Solomon had been able to obtain great quantities of gold but the ships were wrecked in the Red Sea before they could go to Ophir. King Ahaziah, Ahab’s son, wanted to send another expedition for gold but Jehoshaphat said that he didn’t want to do that. After 25 years, Jehoshaphat died and was replaced by his son Jehoram. On the other hand, Ahaziah, king of Israel was an evil king and followed in his father, Ahab’s footsteps. Ahab had taken Israel to a new level of sin and Ahaziah made no effort to take them back to obedience to the Lord.
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