Jehoram Meets Moab Rebellion
3 Now Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel at Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years. 2 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, though not like his father and his mother; for he put away the sacred pillar of Baal which his father had made. 3 Nevertheless, he clung to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin; he did not depart from them.
4 Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, and used to pay the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams. 5 But when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. 6 And King Jehoram went out of Samaria [a]at that time and mustered all Israel. 7 Then he went and sent word to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?” And he said, “I will go up; I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” 8 He said, “Which way shall we go up?” And he [b]answered, “The way of the wilderness of Edom.”
9 So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom; and they made a circuit of seven days’ journey, and there was no water for the army or for the cattle that followed them. 10 Then the king of Israel said, “Alas! For the Lord has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” 11 But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not a prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of the Lord by him?” And one of the king of Israel’s servants answered and said, “Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.” 12 Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the Lord is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
Verses 10-11 show an interesting contrast: Jehoram has rallied all his kin, both Edom and Judah with all of Israel, and when they run out of water, he just gives up. But even more incredible is that he thinks this was God’s plan to lead the three armies into the wilderness and kill them. Except, it was his own plan to gather them all and go to fight Moab in the first place…
Then Jehoshaphat, who was a bit older and wiser, speaks up. He essentially says, “I don’t think God is who you think He is.” Jehoshaphat knew God as one who rescued His people when they served Him, though Jehoram hadn’t quite made it there, he certainly wasn’t his father Ahab. Further, God often uses the hard times to make Himself known to us.
God doesn’t abandon us in the desert, though He may lead us there to find Him again. Don’t give up on God, for He hasn’t given up on you, not by a long ways.