Joram of Israel

Joram (sometimes Jehoram), son of Ahab, succeeded his childless brother Ahaziah and reigned over Israel twelve years. He removed the pillar of Baal that his father had made, yet, says 2 Kings 3:3, 'he clung to the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from it.' His reign is bound up with the ministry of Elisha. Together with Jehoshaphat of Judah and the king of Edom he marched south through the wilderness of Edom against rebellious Moab; water failed and the armies were saved only because Elisha, for Jehoshaphat's sake, called for water and granted victory (2 Kings 3). Throughout intermittent war with Ben-hadad of Aram, Elisha repeatedly disclosed Aramean plans to Joram and once led a blinded Aramean raiding party into Samaria itself, where Joram was restrained from killing them. Later Ben-hadad besieged Samaria, reducing the city to famine and cannibalism, until Elisha foretold sudden relief — fulfilled the next day when the Arameans fled in panic (2 Kings 6-7). Joram was wounded at Ramoth-gilead and was recovering at Jezreel when his commander Jehu, anointed by one of Elisha's prophets, rode against him. Jehu shot Joram through the heart with a bow; his body was thrown into the field of Naboth, fulfilling Elijah's prophecy against the house of Ahab (2 Kings 9:21-26).