diff --git a/java/org/rocksdb/InfoLogLevel.java b/java/org/rocksdb/InfoLogLevel.java
index 0a4a0e6ea..e67063c68 100644
--- a/java/org/rocksdb/InfoLogLevel.java
+++ b/java/org/rocksdb/InfoLogLevel.java
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ public enum InfoLogLevel {
    * @param value byte representation of InfoLogLevel.
    *
    * @return {@link org.rocksdb.InfoLogLevel} instance or null.
+   * @throws java.lang.IllegalArgumentException if an invalid
+   *     value is provided.
    */
   public static InfoLogLevel getInfoLogLevel(byte value) {
     for (InfoLogLevel infoLogLevel : InfoLogLevel.values()) {
@@ -39,6 +41,7 @@ public enum InfoLogLevel {
         return infoLogLevel;
       }
     }
-    return null;
+    throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+        "Illegal value provided for InfoLogLevel.");
   }
 }
diff --git a/java/org/rocksdb/Options.java b/java/org/rocksdb/Options.java
index 0d2a79698..55f3defd2 100644
--- a/java/org/rocksdb/Options.java
+++ b/java/org/rocksdb/Options.java
@@ -604,7 +604,6 @@ public class Options extends RocksObject
   @Override
   public Options setMemTableConfig(MemTableConfig config)
       throws RocksDBException {
-    assert(isInitialized());
     memTableConfig_ = config;
     setMemTableFactory(nativeHandle_, config.newMemTableFactoryHandle());
     return this;
@@ -612,7 +611,6 @@ public class Options extends RocksObject
 
   @Override
   public Options setRateLimiterConfig(RateLimiterConfig config) {
-    assert(isInitialized());
     rateLimiterConfig_ = config;
     setRateLimiter(nativeHandle_, config.newRateLimiterHandle());
     return this;