Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, king of Israel was a Phoenician princess, daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians. She reduced her husband to a mere puppet and established the Phoenician worship on a grand scale in the court of Ahab with no less than 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the grooves. The prophets of Jehovah were attacked on her orders and killed. Her name represents all that is ungodly, crafty, malicious, vengeful and cruel.

Jehoshaphat, a righteous king, set the stage for corruption in the royal family of Judah through his unequal yoke with the idolatrous ruling family of Israel. Although he was a good man, his friendship with Ahab and his wife, Jezebel, paved the way for marriage between Jehoram his son and the daughter of Jezebel. Jehoram’s killing of his siblings in our text, his idolatry and wickedness were all the characteristics he learnt from Ahab and Jezebel. Things started falling apart for Jehoram and Judah because the way of transgressors is hard. It was so sad that such a Godfearing king could provide a fertile ground for evil through his wrong choice of a friend. To underline the seriousness of ungodly marriage in the ruin of Jehoham, we read that “he walked... as did the house of Ahab: for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife: and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD” (2 Chronicles 21:6).

This is a lesson, especially to unmarried believers today. Jehoram’s reign was a failure, and he died “without being desired” (verse 20) because of one mistake: he married a worldly woman - Ahab’s daughter. Unholy alliances always lead to compromise and spiritual disaster.

Paul wrote, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers” but ”…be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing” (2 Corinthians 6:14,17). To cleave to God, one must first separate from the world!