JEHORAM
“Jehovah is exalted.”
(a) Son and successor of Jehoshaphat king of Judah (853-841 BC). For the first four years he reigned in co-regency with his father. He married Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel.
He killed his six brothers and established Baal worship in Jerusalem. He was attacked by the Philistines and Arabs, who seized his women and children.
He was warned about his actions by a writing from the prophet Elijah (no doubt written in advance, cf. 2 Chron. 21:12), in which he announced that God would strike his people with a grievous plague.
The king’s illness would be such that his insides would spill out. It was in this way that he painfully died (1 Kings 22:50; 2 Kings 1:17; 8:16-29; 11:2; 12:18; 1 Chron. 3:11; 2 Chron. 21:1- 20; 22:1, 11; Mt. 1:8).
(b) Son of Ahab and Jezebel. He succeeded his brother Ahaziah king of Israel, and reigned twelve years (852-841 B.C.). He removed the Baals, but continued the sin of the golden calves in Dan and Bethel (2 Kings 3:1-3).
He allied himself with Jehoshaphat against the king of Moab, who had rebelled against him. In the battle, the allied troops of Israel, Judah and Edom were victorious, leading the king of Moab, in desperation, to offer his firstborn as a burnt offering on the wall, with which the Israelites left (2 A. 3:4-27).
In the time of Jehoram there took place the siege of Samaria by the Syrians, with a terrible famine, and his miraculous deliverance (2 Kings 6: 24-7: 20), and also the healing of Naaman’s leprosy ( 2 R. 5).
In fulfillment of the prophecy against the house of Ahab (cf. 1 Kings 21: 20-24), Jehu killed Joram (2 Kings 9: 1-23), throwing his body in the field of Naboth ( 2 Kings 9: 24-26).
(c) Other characters bearing this name are mentioned in 2 Sam. 8:10; 1 Chr. 18:10; 26:25; 2 Chr. 17:8.