«Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord?’ (2 Chronicles 19:2, NIV).
THE WORDS FOUND IN TODAY’S VERSE were spoken by the prophet Jehu to Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, as he returned from a battle in which he had unsuccessfully tried to recover Ramoth Gilead from the hands of the Syrians. Why was he reprimanded so strongly?
The Scriptures say that Jehoshaphat «walked in the way of his father Asa, and did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord» (2 Chronicles. 20:32). «He removed the pagan shrines» and the images of the goddess Asherah (2 Chronicles
17:6, NLT). In the third year of his reign, he sent princes, priests and Levites throughout Judah to instruct the people about «the Book of the Law of the Lord» (17:9). As a result of his reforms, «The fear of the Lord fell over all the surrounding kingdoms so that none of them wanted to declare war on Jehoshaphat» (v. 10, NLT). No wonder he was described as one of Judah’s most godly kings!
But Jehoshaphat had an «Achilles heel:» his tendency to form alliances with those who did not fear the Lord in their hearts. His first wrong step in that direction was taken when he approved of his son Jehoram marrying Athaliah, Ahab and Jezebel’s daughter (see 2 Kings 8:18). That union «brought disaster to the king and to many of his subjects.»—Prophets and Kings, ch. 15, p. 192.
This first mistake paved the way for another one. Years after «allying himself by marriage» to Ahab (2 Chronicles 18: l), Jehoshaphat agreed to go out with the wicked king to fight against the Syrians. It is true that Syria had been consolidating its power; and that, in a military sense, it posed a threat to both Judah and Israel, but was Jehoshaphat right in allying himself with a heathen to reconquer Ramoth Gilead? Of course not! Simply said, one of them represented light; the other, darkness: What communion has light with darkness? In fact, the result of that alliance was disastrous: Ahab lost his life in battle and Jehoshaphat was reprimanded by God (2 Chronicles 18:28-34; 19:1-3).
What can those of us who live in the twenty-first century learn from that? If we are considering the possibility of forming some sort of alliance—commercial, legal, sentimental—with an unbeliever, it would do us well to heed the following statement: «Human help can prove to be more of a curse than a blessing, if it does not have the benediction of heaven.»—SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 3, p. 260.
Heavenly Father, please help me not to enter into any sort of alliance, or agreement, with those who do not fear or respect Your holy name.
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Taken from: Devotional Readings for Adults 2022
“GREAT IS OUR GOD!”
From: FERNANDO ZABALA
Collaborators: Xiomara Perdomo & Angelica Cuate
