As the whole assembly prayed and fasted, suddenly Jahaziel, a Levite stood and started speaking. He told everyone not to be afraid because God would do the fighting for them. They began to sing and praise God. Meanwhile, God had the armies which had gathered against them destroy each other. When the army of Judah arrived at the place where the other armies had gathered against them, all that they could see were dead bodies everywhere. So Jehoshaphat and the army plundered the dead for equipment and clothing and whatever they deemed of value. It took them 3 days to glean all the plunder. Later Jehoshaphat died and was buried with the kings in Judah.
Jehoram succeeded Jehoshaphat as king of Judah. As we read previously, Jehoram did evil things, including killing anyone who could threaten his throne. Something we didn't know was that he received a letter from Elijah the prophet with a message from God. Because he had done evil, killed his brothers, and led the people astray, God would hit him where he lived - hard. His family was going to be taken away and his own death would be very painful, from a disease of the bowels which would cause them to eventually fall out. So, after he watched his family carried away by his enemies, except for Ahaziah, he got sick and his bowels fell out. He passed away to no one's regret.
Then Ahaziah was king of Judah. His mother's name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri king of Israel. He was bad, egged on by his mother. He decided to visit Joram in Israel which made it easier for God to kill them both at the hand of Jehu the new king of Israel. When Athaliah discovered her son was dead she proceeded to kill everyone royal. Unbeknownst to her, Joash was hidden from her in the temple for 6 years. The priest, Jehoiada had been busy behind the scenes to get Joash (a direct descendant of David) on the throne of Judah asap. They made him king and killed Athaliah.
Joash collected taxes as Moses had said and began to repair the temple. This was when they made the collection box and paid the workers with the money. Jehoiada was a good influence on Joash.
Tomorrow read 2Chronicles 24:15-end of ch 28
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