Jehoshaphat was succeeded by the wicked Jehoram, who was led away by his idolatrous wife, the daughter of Jezebel, a result of Jehoshaphat's kindly, misdirected alliance with Ahab. Jehoram's career was short and his end fearful. Following came the wicked reigns of Ahaziah; Athaliah, Jezebel's daughter; Joash, good as long as Jehoiada the priest lived; Amaziah, the disloyal; Azariah, or Uzziah, a great king; Jotham, a good king; Ahaz, the weak; Hezekiah, the good; Manasseh, the wicked above all others, but at last repentant; Amon, the foolish; Josiah, the pious; the kingdom of Judah dwindling out in the vacillating reigns of Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah, closing in B.C. 586.
The kingdom of Samaria from the time of Jehoshaphat in Judah passes under the reign of twelve different kings, but little mention of which is made in Chronicles. Of them we learned in the books of the Kings. It is all a sad, sad record. That people and kingdom which might under God's blessing and guidance have been the greatest of earth, turned God's blessing into a curse, perverted every good, and was brought to naught.
Jeremiah, "the weeping prophet," was of priestly stock, born at Anathoth, about three miles from Jerusalem. His name means "exalted of the Lord." He began his work in the early days of Josiah, and was doubtless a great help to that King in his reforms. His time of prophecy extended over a period of forty years, laboring, pleading, praying for a rebellious people.
