II Chronicles 21:6 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like 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
Did you ever act in a school play or maybe a bigger production? If that happened, you were handed a script. It literally told you how to act and what to say. All of us are handed scripts every day throughout our lives. For instance, if you live one place, but you go back home to your family at Thanksgiving, you may revert back to an old accent. All of a sudden you have that accent again because there is a script that is expected of you, that has been handed you.
Anyone who has accomplished anything of great import probably is at least aware of the script from which he is reading. For instance, I do not admire Putin of Russia, but it is quite obvious that he knows five hundred plus years of Russian history. You may argue that he is mistranslating the history, but he knows his history. The President of the United States will often invoke past presidents. King Charles is living off of a script. He is very much aware of the monarchs who reigned before him in England. Sometimes we talk about the great heroes of the faith, and we should be aware of them because they shape the script from which we are reading. We rarely will live better than the advice we accept and the scripts that we read.
In II Chronicles 21 we read about King Jehoram. Verse 6 says, “And he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel.” Now in the books of the Kings, the Bible talks about Jeroboam. He was a wicked man who set a wicked precedent and most of the kings who followed him were “walking in the way of the kings of Israel.” Jehoram did this, “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. Howbeit the LORD would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David.” So, you see the invocation of the kings of Israel such as Jeroboam, Ahab, the daughter of king Ahab, and even David in a positive way.
Earlier in this book, the Bible talks about a king who walked in the “first ways” of David. He was not just copying David, but copying David at his best, the first ways of David his father. If you live for yourself, you will die by yourself. Jehoram listened to bad counsel, and he departed “without being desired.” He killed all those who could have competed with him. He was ham-fisted in the kingdom, so no one missed him when he was gone.
There are two factors that determine the direction of a king, a kingdom, a dynasty, a family, or a person. They are example and agency. First, look at example. This king, though he was a king, was still was following the example of Jeroboam, Ahab, and other kings of Israel. He did not follow the example of David his father. Examples are interesting because oftentimes they are invisible. There are scripts. Perhaps you are married and you need to know how to respond to your spouse or relate to your spouse and your children. Well, whether you know it or not, there are oftentimes invisible people who have scripted for you the way you naturally respond in different situations in life. That is called example.
Oftentimes we are not ourselves aware of what that example is until we mature. Physically everyone has certain issues they tend toward, whether it is certain diseases, heart problem, or other ailments. Sometimes it is hard-wired in. It just takes time for that to mature and come to the surface. Likewise in matters of character. Now, this is not to say that any of us are without agency or choice. We will get to that in a moment. We still have responsibility. You are neither entitled to success because you come from a good family or doomed to failure because you don’t have many good examples. I am simply saying that both genes and attitudes do mature with time. One of the factors determining the direction of a king, a kingdom, a dynasty, a family, or a person is the example one follows.
The second factor is agency, by which I mean choice. We all have examples, good or bad, but we all have choices. You can have a wonderful example and reject it. You could have a horrible example and learn from that example what not to do. That is what happened with king Jehoram. He had examples, but he also had a choice. So, when the Bible says in verse 13 that he “walked in the way of the kings of Israel…like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab,” what the Bible is telling us is that he had a choice.
Now, God has an opinion. He had an opinion about Jehoram and the examples he followed. God spoke of the grace He was giving because of the covenant with David, and he talked about the wicked example that Jehoram chose to follow. But you have a choice, power, and responsibility. The first choice you have is whether you follow one example or the other. All of us have that choice and power.
Sooner than most of us realize, we are not just following an example, we are leaving an example. Oftentimes a guy gets married and sees himself as the son and young husband and someone else as the father-in-law. If he is not careful, he kind of puts that relationship in concrete and is blindsided when he becomes the father-in-law, the grandfather, the old guy. None of us are static, so we need to follow the right example because just as we are following an example, we are leaving an example. That example can lead to great blessing for generations to come or to heartache and destruction as did the example Jehoram followed in his life.
Today, there are two factors that are important, example and agency. One you don’t choose and one you do choose. Be aware of the examples you have, acknowledge them, and ask God to help you make the right choice to accept the right example and to leave the right example.