by
Damien F. Mackey
“Eliezer son of Dodovahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying,
‘Because you have made an alliance with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy what you have made’. The ships were wrecked and were not able to set sail to trade”.
2 Chronicles 20:37
I, not wishing to multiply contemporary prophets, would be looking to include this otherwise unknown prophet “Eliezer son of Dodohavu (or Dodahavu)” amongst my alter egos for the prophet Jonah, as discussed in Part One:
For one, the name “Eliezer” is apparently compatible with one of my proposed Jonah alter egos, Elijah. Thus, Abarim Publications: http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Eliezer.html#.XDKf97A8Q_w
The name Eliezer in the Bible
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Associated Biblical names
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Secondly, Eliezer, being a contemporary of Jehoshaphat of Judah and Ahaziah of Israel, was also a contemporary of the prophet Elijah.
Thirdly, the prophet Eliezer hailed from Mareshah, which is Moresheth-Gath from whence hailed the prophet Micah (Micah 1:1), another of my alter egos for Jonah:
“Atlas. Moresheth-gath (Mareshah) and surrounding area ... Micah 1:14 Therefore you will give a parting gift to Moresheth Gath”.
This, at last, gives me an extra connection for my composite prophet Jonah with the town of Moresheth-Gath.
Finally, the prophet speaks with the same sort of directness as did Jonah-Elijah (especially towards the House of Ahab).
The following brief article tells of the only time that Eliezer appears under this name in the Bible:
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Jehoshaphat story is Eliezer’s Story
King Jehoshaphat was one of the best rulers that Judah had on the throne during the time of the kings. He was a man who walked with God, and he did his best to lead the nation of Israel in a godly direction. At different time periods throughout his 35 years reign God had sent prophets to inform King Jehoshaphat about the thing that he was doing wrong. Most of these minor prophet’s were not mentioned in the Bible other than their appearance with Jehoshaphat. Eliezer the prophet was chosen by God to inform King Jehoshaphat that God was going to judge him for his alliance with King Ahaziah of Israel.
King Ahaziah of Israel was a bad ruler according to God. His father was King Ahab, and God despised this ruler. Even though King Jehoshaphat was a godly man, he aligned himself with this king. They also had some close relatives marry each other which also strengthened this alliance. God was angry with this union because King Ahab encouraged the people to worship Baal.
One day King Ahab asked for King Jehoshaphat to go to war with him against a foreign power. God sent a prophet proclaiming that King Ahab wasn’t going to win the battle and that he was going to lose his life. King Ahab imprisoned this prophet and went to war with King Jehoshaphat. Ahab of Israel lost his life during that battle, and Jehoshaphat barely escaped back to Judah. Once he did arrive home God sent another minor prophet to tell the king that he was going to be judged for his sins. God sent a large army to annihilate his kingdom. Before the army reached Judah, God sent another minor prophet to tell the people that God would defend them if they obeyed his commands and followed his directions. King Jehoshaphat and the army of Judah obeyed God and claimed victory over the invading forces.
Shipwreck
Toward the end of King Ahab’s rule, he made an alliance with King Ahaziah who as the son of King Ahab. Apparently, King Jehoshaphat didn’t learn his lesson from his former alliance with King Ahab. So when he made another alliance with his son, this, of course, angered God. This alliance was established to between Israel and Judah to build up trading power in the Mesopotamian Sea. Powerful trading empires such as Tyre had grown wealthy off of sea route trading and Israel and Judah wanted in on the action. Shortly after this alliance was made, God sent Eliezer to inform the king that he would no longer have these trading vessels at his disposal. The Bible says that the ships were wrecked and were not able to be used for trade.
Bible References
2 Chronicles 20:37 Eliezer tells Jehoshaphat that God will destroy his trading vessels for aligning himself with King Ahaziah of Israel.
The prophet Jonah had once experienced near disaster at sea when sailing aboard a ship of Tarshish (Jonah 1:3-16).
Did he now, as Eliezer, foretell disaster for the fleet of trading ships of Tarshish belonging to kings Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah?
