Made Secure

“Remove the impurities from silver, and the sterling will be ready for the silversmith. Remove the wicked from the king’s court, and his reign will be made secure by justice.” —Proverbs 25:4-5 NLT

In our last blogpost, we spoke about how King Jehoshaphat was the only king of Judah to be friends with the king of Israel during his reign. The king of Israel at that time was King Ahab, who the Bible says was the most wicked king of Israel (1 Kings 16:30). Still, 2 Chronicles 18:1 says, “Jehoshaphat made an alliance with Ahab of Israel by having his son marry Ahab’s daughter.” So, Jehoshaphat’s son, Jehoram, was married to the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. Then, he eventually became king. Now let’s take a look at what happens when a person is given authority while surrounded by wicked advisors.

The Bible tells us that when King Jehoram became established as king, he killed all his brothers and some other leaders of Judah, presumably out of fear that they would eventually rule in his place. It then says in 2 Chronicles 21:6 that “Jehoram followed the example of the kings of Israel and was as wicked as King Ahab, for he had married one of Ahab’s daughters. So Jehoram did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.” It goes on to say in verses 8 and 10 that “during Jehoram’s reign, the Edomites revolted against Judah and crowned their own king. Even so, Edom has been independent from Judah to this day. The town of Libnah also revolted about that same time.” We see an example of how a king’s reign can be divisive and unsecured because of the influence of those who are not positive.

King Jehoram’s reign did not last very long. Then when his son, Ahaziah, reigned in his place, 2 Chronicles 22:3 says, “Ahaziah also followed the evil example of King Ahab’s family, for his mother encouraged him in doing wrong.” Eventually, Ahaziah was also killed and also had a short reign as king. His mother then killed all the potential heirs to the throne so that she could reign as queen herself. All of this happened because Jehoshaphat associated himself with king Ahab, allowing his son to marry Ahab’s daughter.

The company we keep is so important. It can either positively or negatively affect our decisions, security, effectiveness, and stability. The proverb above says, “remove the wicked from the king’s court, and his reign will be made secure by justice.” Unlike the examples we read of today, let us make concerted efforts to remove anything within our surroundings that can have the potential to influence us towards being ineffective or unsecured. This way, the work of our hands and our legacies will ultimately mirror our reference verses and, unlike how the Edomites revolted against King Jehoram, people will be glad to work with us and excited about being a part of what we are doing.

Lots of Love, XO