Joram

JORAM. - King of Israel (853-842 B.C.), son of Ahab, he succeeded his brother Ahaziah, who died after a few months of reign, and was the last king of the dynasty of Omri. On the religious side he followed the line marked out by Jeroboam I (v.), but unlike his father Ahab, who had openly opposed the cult of Yahweh and given free rein to idolatry, I. partially restored Yahwism, tearing down the pillar (maṣṣābḥāh) of Baal, which his father had erected (II Kings 3:2-3, cf. I Kings 16:32): a success to be ascribed to the action of the prophets Elijah and Elisha. He maintained good relations with Jehoshaphat (v.), king of Judah, and had him at his side in the expedition against Mesha king of the Moabites, which is the most salient event of his reign.

Of this campaign, besides the detailed biblical account (II Kings 3:4-27), there is a corroboration in the famous stele of Mesha, found at Dībān in 1868 and preserved in the Louvre Museum in Paris (for the text cf. H. Gressmann, Altorient. Texte, Leipzig 1926, p. 440 ff.; M.-J. Lagrange, in Rev. bibl., 10 [1901], pp. 523-25). The Moabites had been subjugated by King Omri (886-875 B.C.), who occupied the region of Medaba and imposed tribute (stele, lines 5-8). Control over Moab was strengthened under King Ahab; and although already in the last years of this king the Moabites had attempted to shake off the yoke, the actual revolt (according to the clear notice of I Kings 1:1; 3:5) occurred after the death of Ahab, during the ephemeral reign of Ahaziah. I., who succeeded his brother after a few months, found himself facing it as soon as he ascended the throne. He therefore set out together with the king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, and with the king of Edom, still subject to Judah, to attack the Moabites from the south. The long and exhausting march through the desert nearly ended in disaster for lack of water: but, when some pits had been dug by command of the prophet Elisha, these filled miraculously with water: and the army was able to advance. The three allies successfully withstood a first attack of the Moabites, penetrated deep into enemy territory to the point of besieging the capital Qīr-Ḥāreseth (modern

Kerak) or "city of pottery" (Vulg.: "muri fictiles"). The siege was rigorous: King Mesha made desperate attempts to break it; but failing to open a breach, he thought to propitiate the god Chemosh by sacrificing to him his own firstborn son and heir upon the wall of the city. After this event "there came great wrath against the Israelites, who withdrew from him and returned to their own land" (II Kings 3:27). From these words it is deduced that the enterprise so happily undertaken ended in a failure for the Israelites. Not that Yahweh inflicted a punishment on the Israelites because of the cruel sacrifice offered by Mesha to his idol, and still less that the "wrath" was unleashed by the idol invoked. They were beaten by the Moabites, to whom the sight of the terrible sacrifice had infused the courage of desperation (G. Ricciotti, [see bibl.], I, p. 408). The success is magnified by King Mesha in his inscription, where however the unpleasant part is passed over in silence, which is supplied by II Kings 3:18-25.

To the years of I. must be assigned a great part of the prophetic activity of Elisha (II Kings 2-9). Under the same king occurred the terrible siege of Samaria by the Syrians commanded by Ben-hadad II: the famine was frightful and gave rise to terrifying scenes (cf. II Kings 6:24-33). But one night suddenly, according to the prediction of Elisha, the Syrians raised the siege and took to flight. On the whole, relations with the Aramean kings were characterized by alternating friendships and hostilities. When Hazael had usurped the throne of Damascus and killed Ben-hadad, I. attempted to reconquer the city of Ramoth-gilead: but in the course of the operations he was wounded, and withdrew to Jezreel to be treated (II Kings 9:14 ff.). Here, surprised by the new king Jehu (v.), he was killed (II Kings 9:21). The dynasty of Omri had reigned in Israel for about 45 years (886-842).

Gaetano Stano