“Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.” (2 Chronicles 21:20 NIV 2011)

The writer of the book of Second Chronicles has been walking through the lives of the kings.  He comes to Jehoram, one of the kings of Judah, and he tells about the end of his reign.  Then he adds one unmistakable line. He states that he passed away “to no one’s regret.” In other words, no one was sad to see him go. 

The Message Paraphrase of the Bible says, “There were no tears shed when he died – it was good riddance!” I love the imagery.  This man passed, and no one shed a tear. Instead, there were comments at his funeral of good riddance. 

What kind of a man must Jehoram have been?  Not even his family loved him enough to be sad when he died.  No friends.  No loved ones.  No one cared.  How tragic? 

This man was given a life on this earth.  He was given a position of prominence, and it came with wealth and power.  Apparently, he used none of it for good. So the final result was the no one was sad to see him die and be buried. 

Perhaps one of the signs of living a godly life is that people are sad to hear of your death.  My prayer for you and me is that there will be at least a handful of people who regret our passing when this life is over.  I want our lives to have touched others positively.  I hope that when we die, it will be with much regret.