Shipwrecked by Pragmatism Text: 2 Chronicles 20:35-37
Introduction: The Afterglow of Victory
There is a particular danger that follows a great deliverance. After the Red Sea is crossed, the temptation is to start thinking about the fleshpots of Egypt. After the walls of Jericho fall, the temptation is Achan's covetousness. And after the miraculous, worship-fueled victory over the vast armies of Moab and Ammon, as we saw earlier in this chapter, the temptation for good king Jehoshaphat was to forget the very lesson God had just pounded into the history of his nation. The lesson was this: trust in God alone is victory. All other alliances are sinking sand.
We come now to the end of the chapter, and it feels like an awkward postscript. It is an unfortunate addendum to a glorious story. After a stunning display of God's power on behalf of his praying people, we find Jehoshaphat, a genuinely good king, making another one of his signature blunders. He had a recurring blind spot, a fatal flaw for compromise, particularly with the idolatrous northern kingdom. He was like a man who knows he is allergic to peanuts but keeps accepting dinner invitations from a peanut farmer.
This passage is a stark warning against what we might call covenantal pragmatism. It is a warning against the temptation to yoke ourselves with the world for the sake of a "good business deal" or a "strategic partnership." The church today is riddled with this kind of thinking. We want to build ships to Tarshish, we want to expand our influence, we want to secure our financial future, and we are often far too willing to sign contracts with the sons of Ahab to get it done. But God does not bless such ventures. He does not honor partnerships that require us to mute our testimony or blur the sharp edges of our faith. He is a jealous God, and He reserves the right to wreck any ship built on a foundation of compromise.
The Text
Afterwards, Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah king of Israel. He acted wickedly in so doing. So he allied himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish, and they made the ships in Ezion-geber. Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat saying, “Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah, Yahweh has destroyed your works.” So the ships were broken and could not go to Tarshish.
(2 Chronicles 20:35-37 LSB)
The Foolish Alliance (v. 35)
The story begins with a decision that is both politically savvy and spiritually bankrupt.
"Afterwards, Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah king of Israel. He acted wickedly in so doing." (2 Chronicles 20:35)
The word "Afterwards" is jarring. After what? After the great prayer meeting, after the choir went out to battle, after God routed their enemies without them lifting a sword. After all that, Jehoshaphat turns right around and makes this deal. This shows us how quickly our hearts can stray after a moment of high spiritual victory. Spiritual success yesterday does not guarantee wisdom today.
Now, who is this Ahaziah? He is the son of Ahab and Jezebel, a chip off the old idolatrous block. 1 Kings tells us he "did evil in the sight of Yahweh and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother and in the way of Jeroboam" (1 Kings 22:52). He was a Baal-worshipper through and through. This was not a partnership with someone who was merely a bit rough around the edges. This was a formal business alliance with a man wholly committed to a worldview that stood in total opposition to the law of God.
And the text does not mince words. It gives us the divine commentary immediately: "He acted wickedly in so doing." This is not just a bad idea; it is wickedness. Why? Because it violates the fundamental principle of separation that God demands of His people. Paul articulates the timeless truth in the New Testament: "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?" (2 Corinthians 6:14). Jehoshaphat was trying to yoke the temple of God in Jerusalem with the temple of Baal in Samaria. He was trying to plow with an ox and a donkey. It doesn't work. The natures are different. The goals are different. The masters are different.
This was not Jehoshaphat's first offense. He had previously allied himself with Ahaziah's father, Ahab, and was sternly rebuked by the prophet Jehu: "Should you help the wicked and love those who hate Yahweh?" (2 Chronicles 19:2). He had been warned, clearly and prophetically. But the temptation of a good business opportunity, the lure of pragmatism, was too strong. He had a recurring spiritual weakness, and he stumbled over the same stone twice.
The Commercial Venture (v. 36)
The nature of their wicked alliance was commercial. It was a joint venture to increase their wealth and geopolitical influence.
"So he allied himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish, and they made the ships in Ezion-geber." (2 Chronicles 20:36)
Tarshish was the proverbial end of the earth, likely in modern-day Spain. It was a place of immense mineral wealth, a symbol of the ultimate long-distance trade. This was a high-risk, high-reward enterprise. It was the ancient equivalent of a multi-billion dollar corporate merger. They built their fleet at Ezion-geber, a port at the tip of the Red Sea that Solomon had used successfully. Everything about this plan looked good on paper. It was strategic. It was ambitious. It promised great returns.
And this is precisely the nature of temptation for godly people and for the church. The devil rarely tempts us with a straightforward invitation to worship him. He tempts us with "sensible" compromises. He offers us a deal that "just makes good business sense." He suggests a political alliance that will give us a "seat at the table." He proposes a joint ministry venture that will expand our "platform" and "reach." And the whole time, he is getting us to yoke ourselves with those who hate the Lord, diluting our message and compromising our loyalty to Christ.
Jehoshaphat's sin was thinking he could use the world's methods with the world's people and still somehow accomplish God's purposes. He wanted to baptize a pagan business deal and call it blessed. But God will not be used as a mascot for our pragmatic schemes. He is the Lord of the enterprise, or He is the destroyer of it.
The Prophetic Rebuke and Divine Veto (v. 37)
Just as the ships are built and the varnish is drying, God sends His messenger to deliver a devastating financial forecast.
"Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat saying, 'Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah, Yahweh has destroyed your works.' So the ships were broken and could not go to Tarshish." (2 Chronicles 20:37)
God raises up a prophet, Eliezer, to deliver the word of the Lord. Notice the direct causal link. "Because you have allied yourself... Yahweh has destroyed your works." The shipwreck was not going to be a tragic accident. It was not bad luck or an unforeseen weather event. It was a direct, targeted, sovereign act of divine judgment. God was personally going to smash their joint enterprise to pieces.
The prophecy is stated in the past tense: "Yahweh has destroyed." This is the prophetic perfect. It is so certain to happen that it is spoken of as though it has already occurred. God's word does not just predict the future; it creates the future. When God speaks a word of judgment, that word has the power to bring the judgment to pass.
And the fulfillment is immediate and precise: "So the ships were broken and could not go to Tarshish." All that investment, all that timber, all that labor, all that careful planning, was reduced to splinters on the shore. God controls the winds and the waves. He can build up and He can tear down. And He would rather see the work of a good king's hands shattered on the rocks than to bless a compromised venture. This is a severe mercy. It is better to have your ships wrecked in the harbor than to prosper in an unholy alliance and lose your soul.
God's judgment here is beautifully ironic. Jehoshaphat joined with a Baal-worshipper. Baal was the Canaanite god of storms and the sea. By wrecking the fleet, Yahweh was demonstrating His total sovereignty over Baal's supposed domain. He was mocking the impotence of Ahaziah's god and reminding Jehoshaphat who really rules the coastlands.
Conclusion: Better an Empty Harbor
This brief, sad story is a powerful lesson for the church in every age. We are constantly tempted to form alliances with the world for the sake of apparent gain. We are tempted to believe that our success depends on our strategic partnerships, our financial acumen, or our political maneuvering.
We see churches adopting worldly marketing techniques to grow their numbers, toning down the hard truths of the gospel to be more "seeker-sensitive." We see Christian institutions taking money from godless corporations and foundations, and then finding themselves unable to speak prophetically against the sins of their benefactors. We see believers entering into business partnerships with ungodly men, believing they can keep their faith and their business separate, only to find their ethics slowly eroded and their witness destroyed. These are all ships built in partnership with Ahaziah.
God's message to us from this text is clear: He will not bless compromise. He is the one who gives the increase, and He will not share His glory with another. He may, in His severe mercy, allow our compromised ventures to prosper for a season, but judgment is always coming. It is far better to have less, to be smaller, to be poorer, and to be wholly dependent on God, than to have a fleet of ships built in partnership with those who hate Him. It is better to have an empty harbor and a clean conscience than a fleet of compromised ships that God has already destined for the rocks.
The good news is that Jehoshaphat seems to have learned his lesson this time. The parallel account in 1 Kings 22 tells us that after the shipwreck, Ahaziah proposed another venture, saying, "Let my servants go with your servants in the ships." But this time, "Jehoshaphat was not willing" (1 Kings 22:49). God's discipline, though painful, was effective. May we learn the lesson without having to taste the shipwreck. Let us resolve to build only what can be built with God's blessing, in His way, for His glory alone.