by Sandy Kirby Quandt

I didn’t set out to center my Sunday Scripture posts around the kings of Judah and Israel after the kingdom David established divided into the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah two weeks ago when I wrote about Solomon, or last week when I wrote about Ahab, but that’s exactly what happened.

If the very thought of another post about the Old Testament kings makes you roll your eyes, skip all the king-stuff and read my application. 🙂

If you look at a listing of the kings of Israel and Judah, you find there are forty-three. Of those forty-three it is written eight were righteous, two were mostly righteous, three were mostly evil, and all the rest were evil.

Although there were evil kings in the Southern Kingdom of Judah, it was the only kingdom with righteous kings. How sad the Northern Kingdom of Israel had no righteous kings at all. They didn’t even have any who were mostly righteous.

Usually, if the father or grandfather did evil in the eyes of the LORD, so did the son. Occasionally, a righteous king would follow an evil king, but not often.

While Ahab’s son, Joram, ruled in Israel, Jehoshaphat’s son, Jehoram, ruled in Judah. Jehoram married Ahab’s daughter, Athaliah. In 2 Kings 8:18 we learn that although Jehoram ruled in the Southern Kingdom, he “walked in the ways of the kings of Israel as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD.”

Of Jehoram’s son, Ahaziah, also a king of Judah, it is said, “He too walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother encouraged him in doing wrong. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, as the house of Ahab had done, for after his father’s death they became his advisers, to his undoing.” (2 Chronicles 22:3-4)

A curious thing is Jehoram’s father, Ahaziah’s grandfather, Jehoshaphat was considered righteous.

Next week we celebrate Mother’s Day. June 17 we celebrate Father’s Day. Looking at the history of the kings of Israel and Judah, we see the powerful influence parents and grandparents have on the children in their care.

Parenting is not to be taken lightly, is it?

Some reading this may not be parents or grandparents, but that doesn’t let you off the hook. Nope. Each of us is responsible to live godly lives to be a positive influence on those around us; whether they are in our care or not.

We might be in a position of influence over family members, or the people in our neighborhood, or within the various organizations we are a part of. We can be a godly influence even to the casual observer.

Years ago a preacher said of his mother, “I never once saw her fill her fast food cup with soda after she told the cashier she was getting water.”

Simple right? But someone was watching her.

We may shrug off our importance in another person’s life, but we shouldn’t. Let it never be said of us what was written in 2 Chronicles 21:20 regarding Jehoram.

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Jehoram had become king at the age of thirty-two and had ruled in Jerusalem for eight years. Nobody was sorry when he died. They buried him in David’s City, but not in the royal tombs. 2 Chronicles 21:20 (GNT)

I wish you well.

Sandy

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