LINK: 2 Kings 3
BACKGROUND
When David was king, he conquered Moab, and the country had been paying tribute to Israel ever since. When Ahab died, Mesha king of Moab thought it was his chance to get out from under that yoke of serving Israel and refused to pay the tribute.
In order to put down the rebellion, King Jehoram gathered his army and asked the kings of Judah (Jehoshaphat) and Edom to help him. He devised a clever plan of sneaking up on Moab's least defended border, and the three armies joined forces and marched. But the journey took too long and they ran out of water.
Jehoram blamed God for the problem. Jehoshaphat called for a prophet of the Lord and found out that Elisha was nearby. Elisha was called and would have refused to help had it not been for the presence of Jehoshaphat, the godly king of Judah. In fact, he was so perterbed with Jehoram that he had to call for a minstrel to play for him to help calm him down before he could hear from God.
The Lord sent water for the armies then confused the Moabites so that they rushed forward. Then the Moabite men fell under the armies of Israel, Judah, and Edom. As a final desperate act, Meesha king of Moab sacrificed his son, the crown prince, to the god Chemosh. Of course Chemosh did nothing since he is not a true god.
REFLECTION
Jehoshaphat was a godly king, and because he was involved in the war effort along with the two ungodly kings, Elisha and God came to their rescue. Often when God blesses His children, the blessing overflows to those around them who would not be blessed otherwise. What a privilege we have as God's people! We can bring blessing to unbelievers by living godly lives around them. As believers, maybe we have more influence than we think!
APPLICATION
Let's live godly lives that bring honor to the Lord and blessing to others.
PRAYER
Lord, let us not grow weary in doing good, but seek to serve you and obey you in all things. Let us be a blessing to those around us, both believers and unbelievers. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
2 comments:
Make me a blessing, Lord! Amen. I love Kink J. of Juday. I can't wait until we get to 2 Chronicles next year and circle back around to more details in his life than the 2 Kings account give.
I giggle about the music having to be played to calm Elisha down. Maybe next time I am around really unsettling people, I need to bring along a minstel to keep me sane. :) I am in a silly mood. Sorry Katrina!
That would be King J. of Judah. I need to proofread!
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