The Importance of Alliances

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The alliances and partnerships we make in life can be very important on how life turns out. If we choose partners well, we can become stronger. As the writer of Ecclesiastes says,

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:9–12, NIV).

But with the wrong parters, things can go horribly awry. Consider what Proverbs says about an incompatible spouse: “Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.” (Proverbs 21:9, NIV)

‌The company we keep, the partnerships we make might mean the difference between success and failure or between joy and sorrow. This plays out very clearly in the story of Israel and Judah’s kings.

Solomon’s reign started off with tremendous promise, but warning signs start when he marries Pharaoh’s daughter. The marriage of a king to the daughter of another king is a political alliance. So when Solomon marries Pharaoh’s daughter, he’s formalizing a relationship with him. The influence begins to show. God forbade Israel’s kings from acquiring many horses, especially from Egypt and Solomon, but Solomon does that. Eventually, Solomon begins to enslave his own people, a practice that makes him a lot like the Pharaoh who reigned at the time of the Exodus.

‌Another example comes from the kings of Israel. None of the kings of Israel are faithful to God. Jeroboam starts the Northern Kingdom off by setting up idols for the Israelites to worship. That becomes the baseline for all of Israel’s kings. But after a few bloody coups, a king named Omri comes to power. He’s worse than all the kings that came before him. He arranges the marriage of his son Ahab to Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, the king of Sidon. The influence of Jezebel makes Ahab an even worse king than his Father. In fact, Ahab is the worst king of Israel.

This week I want to look at how an unwise alliance between Ahab and an otherwise Godly king, Jehoshaphat, led to a catastrophe for the kings of Judah.

‌Good King, Bad Company

After Israel splits in two after the death of Solomon, Judah’s first two Kings, Rehoboam and Abijah lead the people into idolatry, but Solomon’s great grandson Asa breaks this slide and brings the people back to the faithfully worshiping Yahweh. After his long reign, his son Jehoshaphat becomes king and continues his father’s legacy of faithfulness. He gets fairly high praise:

‌​The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the ways of his father David before him. He did not consult the Baals but sought the God of his father and followed his commands rather than the practices of Israel. The Lord established the kingdom under his control; and all Judah brought gifts to Jehoshaphat, so that he had great wealth and honor. His heart was devoted to the ways of the Lord; furthermore, he removed the high places and the Asherah poles from Judah (2 Chronicles 17:3–6).

So Jehoshaphat was the kind of king who cared about doing the right thing, but his reign was derailed by an ill-considered alliance.

From the time that Israel and Judah had parted until the early years of Jehoshaphat’s reign, Israel and Judah had been in a perpetual state of hostility. But new geopolitical realities changed the calculus. Aram, the country to Israel’s north (In modern Day Syria) was becoming a great threat to Israel. Ahab, wanting to focus his military to the North, sees it as advantageous to make an alliance with Judah (to his south), so bitter enemies become friendly.

‌It’s easy to understand how Jehoshaphat sees an advantage in ending long-term conflict that has been going on between Israel and Judah for decades. But it’s hard to understand why he’s so enthusiastic about being a partner with Ahab. Maybe its because Judah and Israel come from a common ancestor. Maybe it’s because it puts Judah in a better strategic decision, but Jehoshaphat the faithful king becomes BFFs with Ahab, Israel’s most wicked king.

‌Ahab’s influence calls Jehoshaphat away from following God. We see this when Ahab invites Jehoshaphat to join him in a military campaign to retake the town of Ramoth Gilead

For three years there was no war between Aram and Israel. But in the third year Jehoshaphat king of Judah went down to see the king of Israel. The king of Israel had said to his officials, “Don’t you know that Ramoth Gilead belongs to us and yet we are doing nothing to retake it from the king of Aram?” So he asked Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to fight against Ramoth Gilead?” Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “First seek the counsel of the Lord.” (1 Kings 22:1-5, NIV)

Jehoshaphat pledges his support immediately, and only afterward suggests they seek counsel from God. In the story that follows, the Lord’s prophet, Micaiah, tells Ahab and Jehoshaphat that the battle will be a disastrous defeat and that Ahab will die. In spite of this warning, Jehoshaphat still joins Ahab in the battle. It nearly costs him his own life, and, true to Micaiah’s word, it ends with Ahab’s death.

But prior to the misadventure that is the Battle of Ramoth Gilead, Ahab and Jehoshaphat formally cement the alliance when Ahab gives his daughter Athaliah in marriage to Jehoshaphat’s son and Crown Prince Jehoram. Suddenly Ahab’s house has influence among the kings of Israel and Judah.

Despite having a Godly father and grandfather, Jehoram is a terrible king. He executes his brothers and, under the influence of his wife Athaliah, Ahab’s daughter, he embraces the religious practices of Ahab. He doesn’t last long. Because of his idolatry, the Lord sends a raiding party who kill all of his sons, except the youngest, Ahaziah. He gets a disease of the bowels and dies.

‌Ahaziah reigns for one year before he is caught up and killed in Jehu’s coup in Israel. When he is dead, his mother Athaliah (remember she’s Ahab’s daughter) attempts to destroy her grandsons so she can rule instead. She almost succeeds, killing all but one. Joash is an infant when he is hidden. After 6 years in hiding, he is anointed king and Athaliah is put to death.

‌God had promised David that he would have a dependent on the throne. But it came down to a single survivor. Jehoshaphat’s alliance with the house of Ahab lead to the death of his children and grandchildren and the near eradication of David’s line.

With Whom Do We Make Common Cause?

So who do we ally ourselves with. Obviously none of us are directing foreign policy, so we can understand alliance to be an agreement or partnership with others in an important sphere of our life. Partners can make claims on us that are contrary to the claims that God makes on us, so they can lead us to have divided loyalties. This is why Paul warns Christians not to enter into alliances with unbelievers

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? (​2 Corinthians 6:14–15)

Paul is playing on a command in Deuteronomy that instructs the people not to hitch up two animals of a different sort. You can imagine that if you put a pony and an oxen together, the imbalance of strength between the two might mean that the plough goes in circles. It’s important to note that Paul isn’t saying that Christians should have no dealings with those outside the faith, but rather he is saying that we must have appropriate boundaries around important relationships. So I want to look at places where we need to develop such boundaries.

Marriage Partners

The most common interpretation of Paul’s command not to be unequally yoked that I have heard is that Christians shouldn’t marry non-Christians. To be fair, that’s not explicitly what Paul is saying here, although extrapolating that from what he says here is a reasonable step to make.

‌The marriage relationship is the most intimate relationship we ever make. It’s not surprise that the biblical examples of alliances going wrong have marriages at their centre. You’re going to feel pressure to make things work with your spouse. But what do you do if the spouse makes demands on you that are contrary to the demands of Jesus? This isn’t hard to imagine. What if you feel convicted to tithe, but your spouse is opposed to giving to the church? What if you want to go to church, but your spouse resents the time away? What if your spouse demands that your children be raised with no faith or a different faith? Navigating these challenges is extremely difficult. So I would counsel anyone looking to get into a relationship to remember that if your faith is the most important thing in your life (and I would argue that to be a follower of Christ it must be) that entering into a covenantal relationship with a person who doesn’t share that basic commitment puts you in an untenable situation.

However, if you are already in a marriage, it’s a different matter. Maybe you were married to someone who wasn’t a Christian when you came to faith. Maybe you were a Christian and married the person, but now understand that the marriage wasn’t done in obedience to Jesus. Paul’s practical advice in this instance is make the best of it, and hope your good conduct will win over your spouse:

And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? (1 Corinthians 7:12–16, NIV)

If you are married to someone, honour that commitment. If you are not married, only consider those who are committed to faith.

Business Partnerships

Another relationship where we can have run into problems is in business partnerships. I don’t mean to say that you should never be in business with a non-Christian. But you must still choose your partners wisely. If you and your business partner have fundamentally conflicting values, you’re going to find it difficult to come to consensus on important issues.

‌If you see your job as performing a service to help those in need and your partner sees the business purely as a way to make money, then you’ll be pulling your business in different directions. If you’re going into business with someone, you’re handing over a large portion of your time and money to do it. If that person and you don’t have compatible core values, it’s going to lead to conflicts. So be careful who who choose for your partner.

‌Unfortunately, this might mean not going into business with Christians too. I’ve seen businesses owned and run by Christians that treated their employees and customers unethically. Don’t assume that because someone goes to church or says their a Christian that they will have the kind of integrity that you might expect. Be wise, and only enter into business with people you can trust whose core values align with yours.

Political Identity

‌I make a point of avoiding partisanship. I think it’s almost always inappropriate for pastors to pick sides from the pulpit. At the same time, our politics can become a partnership when we embrace a partisan identity.

Most political parties have platforms that are a mix of good and bad ideas. There is a level of subjectivity to evaluating which is which. When we vote in elections, we decide which policy positions are most constructive and also how to prioritize them when I like some of one party’s platform, but other parts of another party’s. All of this is part of the back-and-forth of being a citizen in a democracy. The problem arises when we start to conflate a political party or ideology with God’s kingdom. We might say, or at least imply that, “being a faithful Christian means voting ____.” But to be honest, this is probably an oversimplification. Some of my preferences might come from faithfulness to Jesus, but I might also read my political priorities onto Jesus. Jesus may become our mascot for our pet political issues

• Jesus the proponent of a strong national defence
• Jesus the environmental activist
• ‌Jesus the enemy of government regulation
• Jesus the champion of the $25 minimum wage

‌Some of these issues may be good or bad. But we should consider them in light of what Jesus says, rather than coopting Jesus and turning him into their patron saint. I think that faithful Christians can disagree, for example on the appropriate level of government regulation on industry.

The danger that we face when we adopt a partisan political identity is that we take every aspect of a party’s platform and we feel compelled to defend it. If we understand that parties are human institutions that cannot command ultimate loyalty, then we can engage in politics faithfully. As soon as we feel the need to defend a chosen party, even when it engages in cruelty, dishonesty or when it advocates policies that hurt people, then our allegiance to a party is conflicting to our allegiance to Jesus.

Conclusion

‌None of us is a Christian in a vacuum. We all need others in our lives. But we also must discern how the partnerships and alliances we form help or hinder us from living lives of greater faithfulness to God.

‌We all run the risk of being like Jehoshaphat. We can be people who genuinely want to serve and follow God, and yet we can enter into unwise relationships with people whose demands on us pull us away from faithfulness to God. When that happens, do we do what is right or do we give in to the pressure to go along? Do we get subtly pulled in the wrong direction, not realizing we’ve crossed a line until after we’ve crossed it? Remember that Solomon and Jehoshaphat started out meaning well, but both of them made unwise partnerships. So let’s evaluate potential relationships before entering into them. When someone is going to have a major influence in your life, lets make sure they’re the kind of person who ought to have influence.