HE DEPARTED WITH NO ONE'S REGRET...

"He [Jehoram, King of Judah] was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he departed with no one's regret.  They buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings."  2 Chronicles 21:20

Jehoram was King of Judah for eight years and when he died, NO ONE regretted it. Furthermore, he wasn’t even buried in the family plot, he was placed elsewhere…it probably didn’t help much that he killed all his brothers[1]. However, it doesn’t seem like his wife nor his son, who became king after him, seemed to care about Jehoram at his death. When he departed there was nothing done to honor him.[2] To make it even worse for the guy, his death came after two years of sickness in which he “died in great agony.”[3] It seems like there was no comfort for Jehoram. What a sad commentary on a man’s life.
 
Scripture teaches us that “bad company corrupts good morals.”[4] So who did he choose to marry? None other than the daughter of Ahab (maybe or maybe not the daughter of Jezebel.) We are told that Jehoram, “walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done.” [5] He chose to follow the way of the immoral godless kings of Israel and even married someone that would reinforce that walk. I am sure his wife, probably Athaliah who reigned as queen about six years[6] in Judah soon after, was greatly influenced by Jezebel. It was said of Ahab, “There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord like Ahab, who Jezebel his wife incited.”[7]
 
In short, Jehoram set himself up for a miserable life and existence. Instead, if he followed some of the Scriptures below, and the example of his father Jehoshaphat[8] he probably would have lived a much longer and fuller life.[9]
  

• Psalm 1:1 – Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers.
• Psalm 119:115 – Away from me, you evildoers, that I may keep the commands of my God!
• Psalm 26: 4-5 – I do not sit with the deceitful, nor do I associate with hypocrites. I abhor the assembly of evildoers and refuse to sit with the wicked.
• Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
• Proverbs 12:4 – An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.
• Proverbs 13:20 – Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.
• Proverbs 25:26 – Like a muddied spring or a polluted well are the righteous who give way to the wicked.

 
   [1] 2 Chronicles 21:4
   [2] 2 Chronicles 21:19
   [3] Ibid.
   [4] 1 Corinthians 15:33
   [5] 2 Kings 8:18; 1 Chronicles 21:6
   [6] 2 Kings 8:3; 1 Chronicles 22:12
   [7] 1 Kings 21:25
   [8] 1 Kings 22:43; 2 Chronicles 20:32
   [9] Deuteronomy 5:16 “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”