2 And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate Yahweh? therefore is wrath upon thee from before Yahweh.

Jehoshaphat did not take a firm attitude with those who were in a wrong position. He was friendly with the ten tribes who, though Israelites, had departed from the right way. He granted co-operation with Ahab, which he ought to have declined. He allowed his son, Jehoram, to marry a daughter of Ahab, which he ought to have forbidden.

Jehoshaphat was a good man, but lacking in firmness towards evil-doers. He could not refuse their friendly advances.

"His son had the daughter of Ahab to wife."

The consequence was

"Jehoram walked in the way of the (wicked) kings of Israel, to whom his wife belonged, and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord."

Here is a bit of "learning" which we get from this as from many other parts of Scripture; it is our duty to decline religious co-operation with those who are not in full submission to the way of the Lord. Above all, we ought not in marriage to be

"unequally yoked together with the unbeliever."

Any other line of conduct is not only displeasing to the Lord, but most hurtful to those who pursue it. From the days of the flood down to the corruptions of the captivity in the times of Ezra, the scriptural narrative affords many illustrations of the evil that comes from "the sons of God" marrying "the daughters of men."

It is our duty to marry "only in the Lord," that in the fusion of two lives, equally dedicated to wisdom, there may be mutual help in the way of holiness, and family life based on the fear of the Lord and submission to His Word.

Seasons 2.96