The Bible is full of examples of believers who stumbled (some even fell away) because of the influence of family. Here I only want to focus on one: Jehoshaphat.
The life of Jehoshaphat is recorded in 1 Kings 22; 2 Kings 3; 2 Chronicles 17-20.
The highlights that set up the issue of “family blindness” begin when he arranged a marriage alliance for his son, Jehoram, with wicked King Ahab’s daughter, Athaliah. 2 Chron. 18:1 “Now Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor, and he made a marriage alliance with Ahab.” DUH! And since sooner or later daughters always want to go visit their family, Jehoshaphat found himself at a Texas-like BBQ in Samaria with his son and daughter-in-law. Ahab wooed Jehoshaphat at the feast and then dropped the punchline: Will you go with me to fight Syria/Aram and reclaim Ramoth Gilead? The family pressure was on! Jehoshaphat folded and agreed, before he inquired of the LORD.
Jehoshaphat gave his word to support Ahab and then had a prophet of God tell him, “The LORD has decreed disaster for you.” Ahab camouflaged himself by his clothing, but told Jehoshaphat to wear his royal robes in the battle. Foolish Jehoshaphat even agreed to that, which made him a sitting duck; all because Ahab was family.
Jehoshaphat escaped near death from the Syrians attack (they thought he was Ahab because of his royal attire) and then returned to his palace in Jerusalem. God wanted to make sure that Jehoshaphat knew just how foolish he had been, so He sent the prophet Jehu with words from the LORD. “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, the wrath of the LORD is on you.” 2 Chron. 19:1-3 Dealing with wrath from the LORD all because he let “family” blind him.
He continued that family blindness in 2 Chron. 20:35-37; 1 Kgs. 22:48-49 when
“Jehoshaphat king of Judah made an alliance with Ahaziah king of Israel, whose ways were wicked. He agreed with him to construct a fleet of trading ships.” Wicked King Ahaziah was one of Ahab’s sons and Athaliah’s brother. Therefore, through his daughter-in-law, Athaliah, Jehoshaphat had another family connection that blinded him once again. Remember how the prophet previously rebuked Jehoshaphat: “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, the wrath of the LORD is on you.” So it made perfect sense what happened next: “After these were built at Ezion Geber, Eliezer son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, ‘Because you have made an alliance with Ahaziah, the LORD will destroy what you have made.’ The ships were wrecked and were not able to set sail to trade.” Now wouldn’t you think that after falling into the “family blindness” hole twice, Jehoshaphat would have learned not to make alliances with evil family? Well, he didn’t.
That leads us to 2 Kgs. 3:6–9: So at that time King Joram (Israel) set out from Samaria and mobilized all Israel. He also sent this message to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?” “I will go with you,” he replied. “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” Once again, for the third time, before he inquired of the LORD, Jehoshaphat promised to go to war to help wicked family; evil King Joram, who was Ahaziah’s brother, Athaliah’s brother and Ahab’s son. This time, however, he stumbled on to something God wanted to happen; no rebuke from the prophet Elisha, only blessing and victory.
Three times Jehoshaphat was blinded by family before he inquired of the LORD; a definite dangerous habit that we can learn from.
Have you ever done the same thing? Have you ever let “family” blind you concerning what is right and what is wrong? Have you ever thought that something was wrong, but changed your mind when someone in your family fell into that sin?
I know a Christian mom who understood clearly the scriptural teaching that homosexuality is a sin. Then one of her children announced he was gay. Then suddenly homosexuality was ok; it wasn’t a sin any longer in her eyes. BLINDED BY FAMILY.
I’ve seen this blindness occur over pre-marital sex, adultery, drunkenness, stealing, cheating, etc. when it involved a family member. BLINDED BY FAMILY.
The scriptures are very clear on almost everything. Here are some examples.
Rom 1:26-32; 1 Cor 5:11; 1 Cor 6:9-11; Gal 5:19-21; 1 Tim 1:9-10; 2 Tim 3:2-4
When God’s Word says that something is wrong, that it is sin and that those who practice that sin WILL NOT enter the kingdom/heaven, then that is the truth and will not change even if it is one of your family members.
And if you or I change our understanding of God’s Word, simply because it condemns one of our family members, then we too are guilty and will not enter the kingdom either.
DO NOT ALLOW FAMILY TO BLIND YOU! If you do, then you might find yourself under the wrath of God like Jehoshaphat did. Live under God’s love, not under His wrath. God bless.
