Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 8
Jehoram had lost control of Edom. Before him, Judah’s kings had gained much wealth from their power over Edom. Afterwards, they would never regain complete control over Edom. Just one of Judah’s later kings, Amaziah, had great success against Edom in war (14:7). However, although he took an extremely important city, Sela, the rest of Edom still opposed him. Edom’s people became fierce enemies of Judah’s people (Psalm 137:7). In the Book of Obadiah, we read about God’s judgment against Edom.
Jehoram also lost control over an important town in Judah at this time. It was not a foreign army that took Libnah from him – rather, the inhabitants of Libnah itself saw that Jehoram was serving false gods. On the hills across Judah, he was establishing places for the people to carry on those wrong and evil religions. The inhabitants of Libnah cared deeply about the religion of the true God. In their opinion, the best way to protect themselves and their children from these false religions was to separate themselves from Judah. So, they refused to accept Jehoram’s authority over their town. They seem to have done this when Jehoram was weak, after his defeat by Edom (2 Chronicles 21:10-11). So Jehoram was unable to arrange an attack against them to retake their town.
The families in Libnah came from the family of Aaron, Moses’ brother. They therefore were priests. All of Israel’s priests belonged to the family of Aaron (Joshua 21:13; 1 Chronicles 6:57). Libnah was on the west side of Judah, close to the border with Philistia.
Next part: Jehoram's evil acts, his troubles and death (2 Kings 8:23-24)
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