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2 CHROICLES 24 COMMETARYEDITED BY GLE PEASE
Joash Repairs the Temple
1 Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned
in Jerusalem forty years. His mothers name was Zibiah; she was from
Beersheba.
BARES, "This chapter is parallel with 2 Kings 12, but treats the
matters common to both narratives in a different and, apparently,
supplemental way.
CLARKE, "Joash was seven years old - As he was hidden six years
in the temple, and was but seven when he came to the throne, he
could have been but one year old when he was secreted by his aunt;
see on 2Ch_22:10 (note).
GILL, "Joash was seven years old when he began to reign,....
This, and the following verse, are the same with 2Ki_11:21. See
Gill on 2Ki_12:1. See Gill on 2Ki_12:2.
HERY 1-14, "This account of Joash's good beginnings we had as it
stands here 2Ki_12:1, etc., though the latter part of this chapter,
concerning his apostasy, we had little of there. What is good in
men we should take all occasions to speak of and often repeat it;
what is evil we should make mention of but sparingly, and no more
than is needful. We shall here only observe, 1. That it is a happy
thing for young people, when they are setting out in the world, to
be under the direction of those that are wise and good and faithful
to them, as Joash was under the influence of Jehoiada, during whose
time he did that which was right. Let those that are young reckon
it a blessing to them, and not a burden and check upon them, to
have those with them that will caution them against that which is
evil and advise and quicken them to that which is good; and let
them reckon it not a mark of weakness and subjection, but of wisdom
and discretion, to hearken to such. He that will not be counselled
cannot be helped. It is especially prudent for young people to take
advice in their marriages, as Joash did, who left it to his
guardian to choose him his wives, because Jezebel and Athaliah had
been such plagues, 2Ch_24:3. This is a turn of life which often
proves either the making or marring of
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young people, and therefore should be attended to with great
care. 2. Men may go far in the external performances of religion,
and keep long to them, merely by the power of their education and
the influence of their friends, who yet have no hearty affection
for divine things nor any inward relish of them. Foreign
inducements may push men on to that which is good who are not
actuated by a living principle of grace in their hearts. 3. In the
outward expressions of devotion it is possible that those who have
only the form of godliness may out-strip those who have the power
of it. Joash is more solicitous and more zealous about the repair
of the temple than Jehoiada himself, whom he reproves for his
remissness in that matter, 2Ch_24:6. It is easier to build temples
than to be temples to God. 4. The repairing of churches is a good
work, which all in their places should promote, for the decency and
conveniency of religious assemblies. The learned tell us that in
the Christian church, anciently, part of the tithes were applied
that way. 5. Many a good work would be done that now lies undone if
there were but a few active men to stir in it and to put it
forward. When Joash found the money did not come in as he expected
in one way he tried another way, and that answered the intention.
Many have honesty enough to follow that have not zeal enough to
lead in that which is good. The throwing of money into a chest,
through a hole in the lid of it, was a way that had not been used
before, and perhaps the very novelty of the thing made it a
successful expedient for the raising of money; a great deal was
thrown in and with a great deal of cheerfulness: they all rejoiced,
2Ch_24:10. An invention to please people's humour may sometimes
bring them to their duty. Wisdom herein is profitable to direct. 6.
Faithfulness is the greatest praise and will be the greatest
comfort of those that are entrusted with public treasure or
employed in public business. The king and Jehoiada faithfully paid
the money to the workmen, who faithfully did the work, 2Ch_24:12,
2Ch_24:13.
JAMISO 1-3, "2Ch_24:1-14. Joash reigns well all the days of
Jehoiada.
Joash ... began to reign (See on 2Ki_12:1-3).
K&D 1-3, "The reign of Joash; cf. 2 Kings 12. - In both
accounts only two main events in Joash's reign of forty years are
narrated at any length, - the repair of the temple, and the
campaign of the Syrian king Hazael against Jerusalem. Besides this,
at the beginning, we have a statement as to the duration and spirit
of his reign; and in conclusion, the murder of Joash in consequence
of a conspiracy is mentioned. Both accounts agree in all essential
points, but are shown to be extracts containing the most important
part of a more complete history of Joash, by the fact that, on the
one hand, in 2 Kings 12 single circumstances are communicated in a
more detailed and more exact form than that in which the Chronicle
states them; while, on the other hand, the account of the Chronicle
supplements the account in 2 Kings 12 in many respects. To these
latter belong the account of the marriage of Joash, and his many
children, the account of the death of Jehoiada at the age of 130
years, and his honourable burial with the kings, etc.; see on
2Ch_24:15.
BESO, "2 Chronicles 24:1. Joash was seven years old, &c. A
great part of this chapter is explained in the notes on 2 Kings
12.
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ELLICOTT, "REIG OF JOASH. (Comp. 2 Kings 12)
PROPHETIC MIISTRY OF ZECHARIAH BE JEHOIADA.
The Ascendancy of the High Priest Jehoiada. Repair of the Temple
(2 Chronicles 24:1-14).
(1) Joash was seven years old.This verse coincides with 2 Kings
12:1-2, merely omitting the note that his accession took place in
the seventh year of Jehu. There he is called Jehoash, of which
Joash is a contraction. (Comp. Jehoram-Joram.) The meaning may be
Iahu is fire (comp. Isaiah 33:14); but more probably it is Iahu is
a man. (Comp. Ashbel.)
TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 24:1 Joash [was] seven years old when he
began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His
mothers name also [was] Zibiah of Beersheba.
Ver. 1. And he reigned forty years.] See 2 Kings 12:1.
His mothers name also was Zibiah of Beersheba.] Whatever his
mother was, his foster mother, his aunt Jehoshebah, did all the
offices of a good mother to him; but he ill requited her in her son
Zechariah. It is said of the Irish, (a) that the love of foster
brothers amongst them far surpasses all the loves of all men.
PARKER, "Lessons From Joash
SEVE or eight persons of the name of Joash are mentioned in the
Old Testament. This particular man had a tragical history. When the
wicked woman Athaliah murdered his father"s family and usurped the
throne, the infant Joash was secretly saved by his aunt Jehoshebah,
who was married to the high priest Jehoiada. The child was brought
up secretly in chambers connected with the temple, and in his
eighth year he became the eighth king of Judah, and as such he
reigned forty years. The life of Joash, though lived nearly three
thousand years ago, is as fresh in its applications to human nature
as if it had ended but yesterday. For example, Joash was everything
that could be desired so long as he was under age and obedient to
the counsel and discipline of Jehoiada the high priest So long
indeed as the high priest lived Joash was a type of filial
excellence. Are there not amongst ourselves leaders who keep us
right, Jehoiadas but for whom our religious life would expire? Our
regularity at church may be due to them. Our abstinence from
certain pernicious customs may be due to their influence. They are
the stay of the house and the tenderest comfort of life. We do not
know how much we owe to them. If their policy was one of driving
instead of leading, we should know more about it; but because it is
quiet, subtle, persuasive, and encouraging, it goes for less than
it really is. Is it not the woman who keeps the house together? We
are not vividly conscious
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of this fact during her lifetime, but after she is gone we
observe a difference in the whole household economy: we cannot
explain it; things are not as they used to be; there is more
grating of the machinery; little things are felt to be absent; the
fluency of the whole life is lost, so that now it goes in rushes
and tumults, and is marked by irregularity and uncertainty. We
begin to ask how this is; and in the putting of the question we are
conducted to the answer, for we remember that the woman, the wife,
the mother, is dead, and her hand being withdrawn from the whole
economy, the result is painfully manifest. We do not notice events
that pass regularly, nor are we careful to ascertain their motive
and duly appraise it: we soon fall into a state of acquiescence
with everything that is comfortable; it is when the comfort ceases
that we begin to put questions, and it is at that time that we
begin to do justice to many whose influence we had ignored or
under-estimated during the time of its activity. It would seem to
be about the last thing men do, to estimate properly the value of
subtle and silent influences, the magic and wizardry of noble
character. We may even be ashamed to do certain things in the
presence of the Jehoiadas of society. We are not ashamed of the
things themselves, nor are we unprepared to make experiments in
regard to them; but whenever we would put forth our hand to begin
the experiments we see the observing Jehoiada, and withdraw from
the pernicious attempt So it is that there are trustees of
commercial and social honour, men who would never do the
dishonourable deed, speak the calumnious word, or mislead the
sentiment of the marketplace in times of strong temptation and
peril. We rely upon them as disinfectants, keeping the commercial
atmosphere pure, and discouraging in the most positive and decisive
manner the spirit and action of men who are low-minded and selfish.
These Jehoiadas deliver no lectures upon commercial morality, nor
do they in any manner that can be charged with conceit display
their own virtues; they simply go on their straightforward course,
doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God, and the
result of their presence and character is that even the worst men
are restrained, weak men are confirmed in good resolutions, and men
whose character needs inspiration receive it from their example.
Are we to be told that such men are doing nothing in the world
because they are not publishing books, delivering lectures, or
taking some active part in public life? Such men are doing the real
work of the world. Talk is nothing except as it leads to practice,a
lecture is but wasted breath unless it culminates in noble conduct:
in the case of the Jehoiadas of society we have men who have left
the elementary school, and are now themselves daily teachers of the
highest truths, and continual examples of their possible
application to the real necessities of life.
In the next place, however, Joash represents those who develop
unexpected corruption of character. As soon as the high priest died
the princes of Judah came and made obeisance to Joash ( 2
Chronicles 24:17). They were idolaters, they served groves and
idols, and they succeeded in corrupting the king"s mind and in
leading him away from the true worship. This is the deadliest
attack that can be made upon human character and influence; for
once loosen the bonds of deeply religious faith, and all the rest
is easy work. A man may overget some attack that is made upon a
political custom or a social usage, and he may even recover himself
from the effect of straying into the enemy"s camp for the purpose
of momentary consultation; but when his religious faith is
undermined his whole character goes down. The attack
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which was made upon the religious position of Joash was of the
kind which is known as flattery. The princes of Judah said to him,
in effect: You have been under the domination of Jehoiada, you have
been merely a nominal king, you have been called a lord but have
had no dominion: now the time has come when you should avow your
great power, and grant to every man what is called religious
liberty. Joash "hearkened unto them," and the result is given in
verse eighteen
GUZIK, "A. Joash repairs the temple.
1. (2 Chronicles 24:1-3) Joashs forty year reign.
Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned
forty years in Jerusalem. His mothers name was Zibiah of Beersheba.
Joash did what was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of
Jehoiada the priest. And Jehoiada took two wives for him, and he
had sons and daughters.
a. He reigned forty years in Jerusalem: This was a long and
mostly blessed reign. Joash (also called Jehoash in 2 Kings 12,
simply a variant spelling) fell short of full commitment and
complete godliness, but he did advance the cause of God in the
kingdom of Judah.
i. The number of wives and children shows God restoring the
years the locusts had eaten. (Selman)
b. Joash did what was right in the sight of the LORD all the
days of Jehoiada the priest: This implies that when Jehoiada died,
Jehoash no longer did what was right in the sight of the LORD. This
chapter will document that Joash turned to idolatry when Jehoiada
died, and judgment followed.
EBC, "JOASH AD AMAZIAH
2 Chronicles 24:1-27; 2 Chronicles 25:1-28
FOR Chronicles, as for the book of Kings, the main interest of
the reign of Joash is the repairing of the Temple; but the later
narrative introduces modifications which give a somewhat different
complexion to the story. Both authorities tell us that Joash did
that. which was right in the eyes of Jehovah all the days of
Jehoiada, but the book of Kings immediately adds that "the high
places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burnt
incense in the high places." Seeing that Jehoiada exercised the
royal authority during the minority of Joash, this toleration of
the high places must have had the sanction of the high-priest. ow
the chronicler and his contemporaries had been educated in the
belief that the Pentateuch was the ecclesiastical code of the
monarchy; they found it impossible to credit a statement that the
high-priest had sanctioned any other sanctuary besides the temple
of Zion; accordingly they omitted the verse in question.
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In the earlier narrative of the repairing of the Temple the
priests are ordered by Joash to use certain sacred dues and
offerings to repair the breaches of the house; but after some time
had elapsed it was found that the breaches had not been repaired,
and when Joash remonstrated with the priests, they flatly, refused
to have anything to do with the repairs or with receiving funds for
the purpose. Their objections were, however, overruled; and
Jehoiada placed beside the altar a chest with a hole in the lid,
into which "the priests put all the money that was brought into the
house of Jehovah." [2 Kings 12:9] When it was sufficiently full,
the kings scribe and the high-priest counted the money, and put it
up in bags.
There were several points in this earlier narrative which would
have furnished very inconvenient precedents, and were so much out
of keeping with the ideas and practices of the second Temple that,
by the time the chronicler wrote, a new and more intelligible
version of the story was current among the ministers of the Temple.
To begin with, there was an omission which would have grated very
unpleasantly on the feelings of the chronicler. In this long
narrative, wholly taken up with the affairs of the Temple, nothing
is said about the Levites. The collecting and receiving of money
might well be supposed to belong to them; and accordingly in
Chronicles the Levites are first associated with the priests in
this matter, and then the priests drop out of the narrative, and
the Levites alone carry out the financial arrangements.
Again, it might be understood from the book of Kings that sacred
dues and offerings, which formed the revenue of the priests and
Levites, were diverted by the kings orders to the repair of the
fabric. The chronicler was naturally anxious that there should be
no mistake on this point; the ambiguous phrases are omitted, and it
is plainly indicated that funds were raised for the repairs by
means of a special tax ordained by Moses. Joash "assembled the
priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out into the cities
of Judah, and gather of all Israel money to repair the house of
your God from year to year, and see that ye hasten the matter.
Howbeit the Levites hastened it not." The remissness of the priests
in the original narrative is here very faithfully and candidly
transferred to the Levites. Then, as in the book of Kings, Joash
remonstrates with Jehoiada, but the terms of his remonstrance are
altogether different: here he complains because the Levites have
not been required "to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem
the tax appointed by Moses the servant of Jehovah and by the
congregation of Israel for the tent of the testimony," i.e., the
Tabernacle, containing the Ark and the tables of the Law. The
reference apparently is to the law, [Exodus 30:11-16] that when a
census was taken a poll-tax of a half-shekel a head should be paid
for the service of the Tabernacle. As one of the main uses of a
census was to facilitate the raising of taxes, this law might not
unfairly be interpreted to mean that when occasion arose, or
perhaps even every year, a census should be taken in order that
this poll-tax might be levied. ehemiah arranged for a yearly
poll-tax of a third of a shekel for the incidental expenses of the
Temple. [ehemiah 10:32] Here, however, the half-shekel prescribed
in Exodus is intended; and it should be observed that this poll-tax
was to be levied, not once only, but "from year to year." The
chronicler then inserts a note to explain why these repairs were
necessary: "The sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up
the
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house of God: and also all the dedicated things of the house of
Jehovah they bestowed upon the Baals." Here we are confronted with
a further difficulty. All Jehorams sons except Ahaziah were
murdered by the Arabs in their fathers life-time. Who are these
"sons of Athaliah" who broke up the Temple? Jehoram was about
thirty-seven when his sons were massacred, so that some of them may
have been old enough to break up the Temple. One would think that
"the dedicated things" might have been recovered for Jehovah when
Athaliah was overthrown; but possibly, when the people retaliated
by breaking into the house of Baal, there were Achans among them,
who appropriated the plunder.
Having remonstrated with Jehoiada, the king took matters into
his own hands; and he, not Jehoiada, had a chest made and placed,
not beside the altar-such an arrangement savored of profanity-but
without at the gate of the Temple. This little touch is very
suggestive. The noise and bustle of paying over money, receiving
it, and putting it into the chest, would have mingled distractingly
with the solemn ritual of sacrifice. In modern times the tinkle of
three penny pieces often tends to mar the effect of an impressive
appeal and to disturb the quiet influences of a communion service.
The Scotch arrangement, by which a plate covered with a fair white
cloth is placed in the porch of a church and guarded by two modern
Levites or elders, is much more in accordance with Chronicles.
Then, instead of sending out Levites to collect the tax,
proclamation was made that the people themselves should bring their
offerings. Obedience apparently was made a matter of conscience,
not of solicitation. Perhaps it was because the Levites felt that
sacred dues should be given freely that they were not forward to
make yearly tax-collecting expeditions. At any rate, the new method
was signally successful. Day after day the princes and people
gladly brought their offerings, and money was gathered in
abundance. Other passages suggest that the chronicler was not
always inclined to trust to the spontaneous generosity of the
people for the support of the priests and Levites; but he plainly
recognized that free-will offerings are more excellent than the
donations which are painfully extracted by the yearly visits of
official collectors. He would probably have sympathized with the
abolition of pew-rents.
As in the book of Kings, the chest was emptied at suitable
intervals; but instead of the high-priest being associated with the
kings scribe, as if they were on a level and both of them officials
of the royal court, the chief-priests officer assists the kings
scribe, so that the chief-priest is placed on a level with the king
himself.
The details of the repairs in the two narratives differ
considerably in form, but for the most part agree in substance; the
only striking point is that they are apparently at variance as to
whether vessels of silver or gold were or were not made for the
renovated Temple.
Then follows the account of the ingratitude and apostasy of
Joash and his people. As long as Jehoiada lived, the services of
the Temple were regularly performed, and Judah remained faithful to
its God; but at last he died, full of days: a hundred and
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thirty years old. In his life-time he had exercised royal
authority, and when he died he was buried like a king: "They buried
him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good
in Israel and toward God and His house." Like ero when he shook off
the control of Seneca and Burrhus, Joash changed his policy as soon
as Jehoiada was dead. Apparently he was a weak character, always
following some ones leading. His freedom from the influence that
had made his early reign decent and honorable was not, as in eros
case, his own act. The change of policy was adopted at the
suggestion of the princes of Judah. King, princes, and people fell
back into the old wickedness; they forsook the Temple and served
idols. Yet Jehovah did not readily give them up to their own folly,
nor hastily inflict punishment; He sent, not one prophet, but many,
to bring them back to Himself, but they would not hearken. At last
Jehovah made one last effort to win Joash back; this time He chose
for His messenger a priest who had special personal claims on the
favorable attention of the king. The prophet was Zechariah the son
of Jehoiada, to whom Joash owed his life and his throne. The name
was a favorite one in Israel, and was borne by two other prophets
besides the son of Jehoiada. Its very etymology constituted an
appeal to the conscience of Joash: it is compounded of the sacred
name and a root meaning "to remember." The Jews were adepts at
extracting from such a combination all its possible applications.
The most obvious was that Jehovah would remember the sin of Judah,
but the recent prophets sent to recall the sinners to their God
showed that Jehovah also remembered their former righteousness and
desired to recall it to them and them to it; they should remember
Jehovah. Moreover, Joash should remember the teaching of Jehoiada
and his obligations to the father of the man now addressing him.
Probably Joash did remember all this when, in the striking Hebrew
idiom, "the spirit of God clothed itself with Zechariah the son of
Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people and said unto
them, Thus saith God: Why transgress ye the commandments of
Jehovah, to your hurt? Because ye have forsaken Jehovah, He hath
also forsaken you." This is the burden of the prophetic utterances
in Chronicles; [1 Chronicles 28:9, 2 Chronicles 7:19; 2 Chronicles
12:5; 2 Chronicles 13:10; 2 Chronicles 15:2; 2 Chronicles 21:10; 2
Chronicles 28:6; 2 Chronicles 29:6; 2 Chronicles 34:25] the
converse is stated by Irenaeus when he says that to follow the
Savior is to partake of salvation. Though the truth of this
teaching had been enforced again and again by the misfortunes that
had befallen Judah under apostate kings, Joash paid no heed to it,
nor did he remember the kindness which Jehoiada had done him; that
is to say, he showed no gratitude towards the house of Jehoiada.
Perhaps an uncomfortable sense of obligation to the father only
embittered him the more against his son. But the son of the
high-priest could not be dealt with as summarily as Asa dealt with
Hanani when he put him in prison. The king might have been
indifferent to the wrath of Jehovah, but the son of the man who had
for years ruled Judah and Jerusalem must have had a strong party at
his back. Accordingly the king and his adherents conspired against
Zechariah, and they stoned him with stones by the kings command.
This Old Testament martyr died in a very different spirit from that
of Stephen; his prayer was not, "Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge," but " Jehovah, look upon it and require it." His prayer
did not long remain unanswered. Within a year the Syrians came
against Joash; he had a very great host, but he was powerless
against a small company of the Divinely commissioned avengers of
Zechariah. The tempters who
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had seduced the king into apostasy were a special mark for the
wrath of Jehovah: the Syrians destroyed all the princes, and sent
their spoil to the king of Damascus. Like Asa and Jehoram, Joash
suffered personal punishment in the shape of "great diseases," but
his end was even more tragic than theirs. One conspiracy avenged
another: in his own household there were adherents of the family of
Jehoiada: "Two of his own servants conspired against him for the
blood of Zechariah, and slew him on his bed; and they buried him in
the city of David, and not in the sepulchers of the kings."
The chroniclers biography of Joash might have been specially
designed to remind his readers that the most careful education must
sometimes fail of its purpose. Joash had been trained from his
earliest years in the Temple itself, under the care of Jehoiada and
of his aunt Jehosha-beath, the high-priests wife. He had no doubt
been carefully instructed in the religion and sacred history of
Israel, and had been continually surrounded by the best religious
influences of his age. For Judah, in the chroniclers estimation,
was even then the one home of the true faith. These holy influences
had been continued after Joash had attained to manhood, and
Jehoiada was careful to provide that the young kings harem should
be enlisted in the cause of piety and good government. We may be
sure that the two wives whom Jehoiada selected for his pupil were
consistent worshippers of Jehovah and loyal to the Law and the
Temple. o daughter of the house of Ahab, no "strange wife" from
Egypt, Ammon, or Moab, would be allowed the opportunity of undoing
the good effects of early training. Moreover, we might have
expected the character developed by education to be strengthened by
exercise. The early years of his reign were occupied by zealous
activity in the service of the Temple. The pupil outstripped his
master, and the enthusiasm of the youthful king found occasion to
rebuke the tardy zeal of the venerable high-priest.
And yet all this fair promise was blighted in a day. The piety
carefully fostered for half a life-time gave way before the first
assaults of temptation, and never even attempted to reassert
itself. Possibly the brief and fragmentary records from which the
chronicler had to make his selection unduly emphasize the contrast
between the earlier and later years of the reign of Joash; but the
picture he draws of the failure of the best of tutors and governors
is unfortunately only too typical. Julian the Apostate was educated
by a distinguished Christian prelate, Eusebius of icomedia, and was
trained in a strict routine of religious observances; yet he
repudiated Christianity at the earliest safe opportunity. His
apostasy, like that of Joash, was probably characterized by base
ingratitude. At Constantines death the troops in Constantinople
massacred nearly all the princes of the imperial family, and
Julian, then only six years old, is said to have been saved and
concealed in a church by Mark, Bishop of Arethusa. When Julian
became emperor, he repaid this obligation by subjecting his
benefactor to cruel tortures because he had destroyed a heathen
temple and refused to make any compensation. Imagine Joash
requiring Jehoiada to make compensation for pulling down, a high
place!
The parallel of Julian may suggest a partial explanation of the
fall of Joash. The tutelage of Jehoiada may have been too strict,
monotonous, and prolonged: in
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choosing wives for the young king, the aged priest may not have
made an altogether happy selection; Jehoiada may have kept Joash
under control until he was incapable of independence and could only
pass from one dominant influence to another. When the high-priests
death gave the king an opportunity of changing his masters, a
reaction from the too urgent insistence upon his duty to the Temple
may have inclined Joash to listen favorably to the solicitations of
the princes.
But perhaps the sins of Joash are sufficiently accounted for by
his ancestry. His mother was Zibiah of Beersheba, and therefore
probably a Jewess. Of her we know nothing further, good or bad.
Otherwise his ancestors for two generations had been uniformly bad.
His father and grandfather were the wicked kings Jehoram and
Ahaziah; his grandmother was Athaliah; and he was descended from
Ahab, and possibly from Jezebel. When we recollect that his mother
Zibiah was a wife of Ahaziah and had probably been selected by
Athaliah, we cannot suppose that the element she contributed to his
character would do much to counteract the evil he inherited from
his father.
The chroniclers account of his successor Amaziah is equally
disappointing; he also began well and ended miserably. In the
opening formulae of the history of the new reign and in the account
of the punishment of the assassins of Joash, the chronicler closely
follows the earlier narrative, omitting, as usual, the statement
that this good king did not take away the high places. Like his
pious predecessors, Amaziah in his earlier and better years was
rewarded with a great army and military success; and yet the
muster-roll of his forces shows how the sins and calamities of the
recent wicked reigns had told on the resources of Judah.
Jehoshaphat could command more than eleven hundred and sixty
thousand soldiers; Amaziah has only three hundred thousand.
These were not sufficient for the kings ambition; by the Divine
grace, he had already amassed wealth, in spite of the Syrian
ravages at the close of the preceding reign: and he laid out a
hundred talents of silver in purchasing the services of as many
thousand Israelites, thus falling into the sin for which
Jehoshaphat had twice been reproved and punished. Jehovah, however,
arrested Amaziahs employment of unholy allies at the outset. A man
of God came to him and exhorted him not to let the army of Israel
go with him, because "Jehovah is not with Israel"; if he had
courage and faith to go with only his three hundred thousand Jews,
all would be well, otherwise God would cast him down, as He had
done Ahaziah. The statement that Jehovah was not with Israel might
have been understood in a sense that would seem almost blasphemous
to the chroniclers contemporaries; he is careful therefore to
explain that here "Israel" simply means "the children of
Ephraim."
Amaziah obeyed the prophet, but was naturally distressed at the
thought that he had spent a hundred talents for nothing: "What
shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army
of Israel?" He did not realize that the Divine alliance would be
worth more to him than many hundred talents of silver; or perhaps
he reflected that Divine grace is free, and that he might have
saved his money. One would like to believe that he was anxious to
recover this silver in order to devote it
-
to the service of the sanctuary; but he was evidently one of
those sordid souls who like, as the phrase goes, "to get their
religion for nothing." o wonder Amaziah went astray! We can
scarcely be wrong in detecting a vein of contempt in the prophets
answer: "Jehovah can give thee much more than this."
This little episode carries with it a great principle. Every
crusade against an established abuse is met with the cry, "What
shall we do for the hundred talents?"-for the capital invested in
slaves or in gin-shops; for English revenues from alcohol or Indian
revenues from opium? Few have faith to believe that the Lord can
provide for financial deficits, or, if we may venture to indicate
the method in which the Lord provides, that a nation will ever be
able to pay its way by honest finance. Let us note, however, that
Amaziah was asked to sacrifice his own talents, and not other
peoples.
Accordingly Amaziah sent the mercenaries home; and they returned
in great dudgeon, offended by the slight put upon them and
disappointed at the loss of prospective plunder. The kings sin in
hiring Israelite mercenaries was to suffer a severer punishment
than the loss of money. While he was away at war, his rejected
allies returned, and attacked the border cities, killed three
thousand Jews, and took much plunder.
Meanwhile Amaziah and his army were reaping direct fruits of
their obedience in Edom, where they gained a great victory, and
followed it up by a massacre of ten thousand captives, whom they
killed by throwing down from the top of a precipice. Yet, after
all, Amaziahs victory over Edom was of small profit to him, for he
was thereby seduced into idolatry. Amongst his other prisoners, he
had brought away the gods of Edom; and instead of throwing them
over a precipice, as a pious king should have done, "he set them up
to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned
incense unto them."
Then Jehovah, in His anger, sent a prophet to demand, "Why hast
thou sought after, foreign gods, which have not delivered their own
people out of thine hand?" According to current ideas outside of
Israel, a nation might very reasonably seek after the gods of their
conquerors. Such conquest could only be attributed to the superior
power and grace of the gods of the victors: the gods of the
defeated were vanquished along with their worshippers, and were
obviously incompetent and unworthy of further confidence. But to
act like Amaziah-to go out to battle in the name of Jehovah,
directed and encouraged by His prophet, to conquer by the grace of
the God of Israel, and then to desert Jehovah of hosts, the Giver
of victory, for the paltry and discredited idols of the conquered
Edomites-this was sheer madness. And yet as Greece enslaved her
Roman conquerors, so the victor has often been won to the faith of
the vanquished. The Church subdued the barbarians who had
overwhelmed the empire, and the heathen Saxons adopted at last the
religion of the conquered Britons. Henry IV of France is scarcely a
parallel to Amaziah: he went to Mass that he might hold his scepter
with a firmer grasp, while the king of Judah merely adopted foreign
idols in order to gratify his superstition and love of novelty.
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Apparently Amaziah was at first inclined to discuss the
question: he and the prophet talked together; but the king soon
became irritated, and broke off the interview with abrupt
discourtesy: "Have we made thee of the kings counsel? Forbear; why
shouldest thou be smitten?" Prosperity seems to have been
invariably fatal to the Jewish kings who began to reign well; the
success that rewarded, at the same time destroyed, their virtue.
Before his victory Amaziah had been courteous and submissive to the
messenger of Jehovah; now he defied Him and treated His prophet
roughly. The latter disappeared, but not before he had declared the
Divine condemnation of the stubborn king.
The rest of the history of Amaziah-his presumptuous war with
Joash, king of Israel, his defeat and degradation, and his
assassination-is taken verbatim from the book of Kings, with a few
modifications and editorial notes by the chronicler to harmonies
these sections with the rest of his narrative. For instance, in the
book of Kings the account of the war with Joash begins somewhat
abruptly: Amaziah sends his defiance before any reason has been
given for his action. The chronicler inserts a phrase which
connects his new paragraph very suggestively with the one that goes
before. The former concluded with the kings taunt that the prophet
was not of his counsel, to which the prophet replied that the king
should be destroyed because he had not hearkened to the Divine
counsel proffered to him. Then Amaziah "took advice"; i.e., he
consulted those who were of his counsel, and the sequel showed
their incompetence. The chronicler also explains that Amaziahs rash
persistence in his challenge to Joash "was of God, that He might
deliver them into the hand of their enemies, because they had
sought after the gods of Edom." He also tells us that the name of
the custodian of the sacred vessels of the Temple was Obed-edom. As
the chronicler mentions five Levites of the name of Obed-edom, four
of whom occur nowhere else, the name was probably common in some
family still surviving in his own time. But, in view of the
fondness of the Jews for significant etymology, it is probable that
the name is recorded here because it was exceedingly appropriate.
"The servant of Edom" suits the official who has to surrender his
sacred charge to a conqueror because his own king has worshipped
the gods of Edom. Lastly, an additional note explains that Amaziahs
apostasy had promptly deprived him of the confidence and loyalty of
his subjects; the conspiracy which led to his assassination was
formed from the time that he turned away from following Jehovah, so
that when he sent his proud challenge to Joash his authority was
already undermined, and there were traitors in the army which he
led against Israel. We are shown one of the means used by Jehovah
to bring about his defeat.
PULPIT, "This chapter contains the entire career of Joash, and
is answered to by the twelfth chapter of Kings. It tells of Joash's
fidelity to God, and his worship and temple, while Jehoiada's life
lasted (2 Chronicles 24:1-14); of his departure from God and
permission of idolatry afterwards (2 Chronicles 24:15-22); of the
punishment he received at the hands of the Syrians (2 Chronicles
24:23, 2 Chronicles 24:24); and of his miserable end (2 Chronicles
24:25-27). The differences between our chapter and the parallel, in
respect of what it both omits and supplies, are much larger than
usual, and are very interesting and suggestive in the character
-
of them. These points will be marked particularly in the notes
underneath as they occur.
2 Chronicles 24:1
His mother's name Zibiah of Beersheba. We do not read, in the
brief account of Ahaziah, Joash's father, whom he married. othing
is as yet known of Zibiah, but there must be some significance
underlying the mention of her name and native place, or known place
of residence. The references Amos 5:5 and Amos 8:14 may possibly
contain the clue, in holding up Beersheba as the most idolatrous of
idolatrous places. Beersheba offers another reference of unhappy
associations (1 Samuel 8:2). As a terminus of the land, "Dan to
Beersheba" ( 20:1; 2 Samuel 24:2; 1 Chronicles 21:2); as a terminus
of the divided Judah, "Beersheba to Mount Ephraim" (2 Chronicles
19:4), "Geba to Beersheba" (2 Kings 23:8); and as a terminus of
this Judah yet reduced after the Captivity, "Beersheba to the
valley of Hinnom" (ehemiah 11:30); its mention is notorious. The
references Genesis 21:31 and Genesis 26:18, Genesis 26:31-33 are
full of interest, as bearing on the way in which the spot is first
known in Bible history.
SBC, "I. Josiah was an early seeker. At the age of eight he did
that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and at sixteen he
began to seek the God of his father David with more earnestness
than ever. And he found Him, and became a wonder unto many, a royal
miracle of grace. This boy will condemn you if you are not an early
seeker of God, you who have so many more encouragements than he
had. God expects you to seek early; you can seek early, and early
seekers are sure finders.
II. Josiah was also a hearty hater of evil. He hated idols just
as much as he loved Jehovah; his hatred sprang from love, and was
steeped in love. He did not love from a softness or easiness of
nature, but the fire of God within him burnt into hatred and melted
into love. Holy hatred kept his feet from falling, his eyes from
tears, and his soul from death.
III. Josiah was a real hero. A hero is one who in doing duty
scorns great dangers. Nearly all the people were against Josiahs
reforms, which put his life in peril; but he pushed boldly forward.
Conscience was his king; and he felt that it was not necessary for
him to live, but that it was necessary for him to do his work. The
fear of God drove the fear of man out of Josiahs heart, and made
him a true hero.
IV. Josiah was missed and mourned when he died. There is a night
in the history of Spain which is known as "the sad night," and so
in the history of Judah the death of Josiah was "the sad day." Many
young lives are like a shattered column: unhewn from top to bottom.
But Josiahs life was like a well-chiselled pillar, though snapped
in the middle by the rude shock of battle. Hence he was sorely
missed and mourned.
J. Wells, Bible Children, p. 159.
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2 Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years
of Jehoiada the priest.
BARES, "Jehoiada lived after the accession of Joash at least 23
years 2Ki_12:6. Thus the idolatries of Joash 2Ch_24:18 were
confined to his last 10 or 15 years.
CLARKE, "GILL, "HERY, "JAMISO, "K&D, "ELLICOTT, "(2) And
Joash did.So 2 Kings 13:3.
All the days of Jehoiada the priest.Kings: all his days, while
(or because) Jehoiada the priest instructed him. The expression all
his days is of course relative to the clause which follows it; and
the chronicler has accurately given the meaning.
TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 24:2 And Joash did [that which was] right
in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
Ver. 2. And Joash did that which was right all the days of
Jehoiada.] Education doth something, as the boat moveth some little
time upon the water by virtue of the former stroke. ero, for his
first five years, while he hearkened to his two tutors, Seneca and
Burrhus, was very fair conditioned. That speech of his, Quam vellem
nescire literas, when he was to set his hand to a warrant for the
execution of any condemned person, occasioned Seneca to write his
book of clemency, in which he propounds him for a pattern. See 2
Kings 12:2.
ISBET, "PARASITICAL PIETYJoash did that which was right all the
days of Jehoiada.2 Chronicles 24:2I. He was dependent for his
faithfulness and piety on the good influence of his human
friends.There are many other children who have the same experience.
While this incident of Joash and the good priest and his wife is
before us, we may think a moment of the beautiful work they did for
God in this training of the infant
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king. Perhaps they may sometimes have felt that it was not worth
their while to be so burdened with caring for a baby. At least some
women in these days think that nursing infants is rather dreary
work, and they sigh that they cannot do something great for Christ
because their hands are so full of nursery tasks. They forget that
taking care of infants is work for Christ.
II. We should always have a care for Gods house.Joash was minded
to repair the house of the Lord. This may show itself in many ways.
There is also a spiritual temple, in which every one should be
particularly interested. Our life is Gods temple, and we should be
most careful that no marring shall occur in it, no breaches; that
no blemishes may be allowed to remain.
III. Slack helpers.Howbeit the Levites hastened it not. o reason
is given for their want of energy. But we see the effect of their
indolence. The house of the Lord remained year after year in its
condition of decay, a standing dishonour to God and a reproach to
the priests and Levites who had been commanded to repair it. We get
a lesson on the sin of slowness and indolence in doing Gods
work.
Illustration
Mrs. Preston, in one of her story poems, tells of a weary sister
who grieved sorely because she was not free to do any work for
Christ. By her mothers dying bed she had promised to care for her
little sister, and this had so filled her hands that she had not
had time for anything elseanything for Christ. As she was once
grieving thus the little sister sleeping beside her stirred, and
awaking, told her of a sweet, strange dream that she had had. She
thought that her sister had bidden each one bring Him a gift
And in my dream I saw you thereAnd heard you say, o hands can
bearA gift that are so filled with care.What care? the king said,
and he smiled,To hear you answer, wailing wild,I only toil to feed
a child.And then with such a look Divine(Twas that awaked me with
its shine)He whispered, But the child is Mine.There are many for
whom this little story should have rich comfort. There are fathers
and mothers who find it hard to provide for their children. It
takes all their time and strength; and sometimes they say, I cannot
do any work for Christ, because it takes every minute to earn bread
and clothing for my little ones and to care for them. They do not
remember that in providing for, watching over, and training their
children, they are really doing the noblest work for Christ that
their hands can find in all this world. Jesus whispers to them in
their disheartenment, Your children are Mine, and what you do for
them you do for Me.
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PULPIT, "2 Chronicles 24:2
All the days of Jehoiada. Of the "forty years" mentioned in the
former verse, these "days of Jehoiada" will cover, some, at any
rate, say, two years more than "twenty-two years;" for compare our
2 Chronicles 24:6, 2 Chronicles 24:12-15 with the parallel, 2 Kings
12:6, 2 Kings 12:7, 2 Kings 12:9, noting the thenceforward silence
there respecting Jehoiada, and even making ample allowance for
it.
SIMEO, "THE LIFE AD CHARACTER OF JOASH
2 Chronicles 24:2. And Joash did that which was right in the
sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
I order to display more fully his own truth and faithfulness,
God often permits events to arise, which seem to render the
accomplishment of his promises almost, if not altogether, hopeless.
This was particularly visible in his conduct towards the posterity
of Abraham in Egypt, in that he forbore to rescue them from their
captivity, till the period assigned for their deliverance was
brought to the very last hour. We behold a striking interposition
also in behalf of the descendants of David, to whom God had
promised, that his seed should continue to sit upon the throne of
Judah. More than once had they been in imminent danger of utter
excision [ote: 2 Chronicles 21:4; 2 Chronicles 22:1.], before
Athaliah usurped the throne: and she was bent upon destroying them
all [ote: 2 Chronicles 22:10.]: but God would not suffer his
promise to fail [ote: 2 Chronicles 21:7.]. It should seem that
Joash, the youngest son of Ahaziah, was actually with his brethren
when they all were slain, and by some means, being only an infant,
was hid amongst them, so as to escape the general slaughter. From
that state he was rescued by his aunt, and was hid, together with
his nurse, in a bed-chamber [ote: 2 Kings 11:2.], till he was seven
years old: at which time Jehoiada the priest, who had married his
aunt, put to death the usurper, and established Joash on his
fathers throne.
One might have hoped, that a person so signally preserved,
should, like Moses, have proved a great blessing to his age and
nation: but, hopeful as his beginnings were, his reign was evil,
and his end calamitous.
We propose,
I. To take a brief view of his history
A sudden and total change having taken place in his conduct
about the middle of his reign, it will be proper to consider his
history,
1. During the life of Jehoiada
[At first, as might be expected, he was under the entire
management of Jehoiada, who was his instructor, and acted towards
him as a father [ote: 2 Kings 12:1. with
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2 Chronicles 24:22.]. But it was not only during his minority
that he was thus observant of Jehoiada, but for many years after he
had attained to manhood, even at loge as Jehoiada himself lived. ow
in this we admire his humility; for he was a king, possessed of
arbitrary power; and yet, because he was convinced of the skill,
the integrity, and the piety of his instructor, he still continued
to consult him on all occasions, and to follow his advice without
reserve. In this conduct also he evinced his wisdom; in that he
preferred the sage advice of an experienced counsellor, before the
less matured dictates of his own mind, or the judgment of
sycophants around his throne. Even piety itself seems to have
possessed his mind at this period: for when he saw to what a
dilapidated state the temple was reduced by the impious rage of
Athaliah [ote: ver. 7.], he set himself to repair it; and even
reproved Jehoiada himself, and all the Levites, for their tardiness
in executing this important work [ote: ver. 5, 6.].
Who from such beginnings would not augur well of the remainder
of his reign? From such a view of him we are ready to say, O that
our princes, our nobility, our youth of every rank, were thus
observant of pious instructors, thus intent on doing what was right
in the sight of the Lord! ]
But our views of Joash will be greatly changed, if we consider
his history
2. After Jehoiadas decease
[Instantly did a mighty change appear in him. Having lost his
pious counsellor, he began to listen to the advice of young
unprincipled sycophants [ote: ver. 17.]. O what a misfortune is it
to any man to connect himself with ungodly associates! How many are
there, who, whilst under the care of pious parents or godly
instructors, have promised well, who yet, by means of ungodly
companions, have been drawn from every good way, and been led to
disappoint all the hopes that have been formed concerning them! We
cannot too earnestly caution all against the influence of bad
advice, by whomsoever it be given, even though it be by their
nearest friends or relatives [ote: 2 Chronicles 22:3-4.]. Every
counsel must be tried by the unerring word of God; and to those who
would lead us in opposition to that, our answer must invariably be,
Whether it be right to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge
ye.
Released, as it were, from the restraints of man, he soon cast
off all fear of God, and abandoned his temple and service for the
service of groves and idols [ote: ver. 18.]. or, when God sent him
prophets to testify against his evil ways, would he regard them at
all: yea, when Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada himself, was sent to
him, instead of attending to his admonitions, he gave commandment
to the people to stone him to death; which commandment they
executed, even in the court of the temple itself.
To what excesses will not men run, when once they give ear to
ungodly counsellors, and knowingly violate all the dictates of
their own conscience! It not unfrequently happens, that backsliders
and apostates become the bitterest persecutors; and that
-
they who walk in the counsel of the ungodly, soon learn to stand
in the way of sinners, and come at last to sit in the seat of the
scornful [ote: Psalms 1:1.].
We wonder not at the melancholy end to which these
transgressions brought him. Within the short space of a year was
he, notwithstanding his very great host, subdued by a small company
of Syrians, who destroyed all the princes, his advisers, and sent
the spoil of the city and temple to Damascus [ote: ver. 23, 24.]:
and Joash himself, being seized with multiplied disorders, was
assassinated in his bed by two of his own servants [ote: ver. 25.].
Unhappy man! yet more unhappy still, if we contemplate the fearful
state to which he was driven from the presence of his offended God.
But such is the end which, if not in this world, certainly in the
world to come, awaits those who leave off to behave themselves
wisely, and turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.]
Let us, from this brief view of his history, proceed,
II. To make some reflections on his character
From his character in its commencement, we observe, How great is
the benefit of a pious education!
[From what appeared in his latter days, we may judge what he
would have been, if he had been left to himself in early life. What
pernicious habits would he have contracted, and what multiplied
evils would he have perpetrated! Instead of doing for several years
what was right in the sight of the Lord, it is probable that he
would have done evil from his youth. To be restrained from such
enormities, was a mercy both to himself and to the whole nation.
That he turned this blessing afterwards to a curse, is deeply to be
lamented; though the proper tendency of a pious education is not a
whit the less apparent. Let all be thankful for the advice given
them, and the restraints imposed upon them in early life. Little do
any of us know to what an extent of wickedness we might have been
carried, if those admonitions or corrections, which were once
irksome and painful to us, had not been administered. Indeed the
more irksome such restraints appear to us, the more reason we have
to be thankful for them; since the very impatience which we feel,
demonstrates clearly our need of them. An aversion to them argues a
disposition that is hateful and ruinous [ote: Proverbs 12:1;
Proverbs 15:5; Proverbs 15:10; Proverbs 15:31-32.]: and those who,
from an undue tenderness, neglect to reprove their children, lay up
sorrow for themselves, as well as for the objects of their
ill-judged lenity [ote: Proverbs 29:15.]. Let parents consider,
that they are accountable to God for the authority vested in them,
and for the talents committed to their care: and let them remember,
that if it is not always found that a child trained in the way he
should go will not in more advanced life depart from it, yet it is
generally true; and that such a promise affords ample encouragement
for their most strenuous exertions.]
From his character toward the close of life, we observe, How
awful is the state of those, who, after hopeful beginnings, turn
aside from the paths of piety and virtue!
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[In one view, it is a blessing to have been kept from evil for a
time; but in another view, the instructions that have been given
us, the convictions we have felt, and the obedience we have
rendered to the voice of God, will serve but to aggravate the guilt
of our subsequent misconduct, and to bring upon us an accumulated
weight of misery. As the instructions given by our Lord to the Jews
served only to enhance their guilt, and render their state in the
future world less tolerable than that of Sodom and Gomorrha, so all
our advantages, professions, and attainments, will, if renounced,
make our latter end worse than our beginning: for it were better
never to have known the way of righteousness, than after we have
known it to depart from it [ote: 2 Peter 2:20-21.]. Whilst this
thought primarily applies to those who, like Joash, have burst
through the restraints of education, it speaks powerfully to those
who have turned back from a religious course, and relapsed into a
state of worldliness and sin. To what they will come at last, God
alone knows: but the downward road is very precipitous; and they
who provoke the Holy Spirit to depart from them, will most probably
go on from bad to worse; till, having filled up the measure of
their iniquities, they be made distinguished monuments of Gods
righteous indignation.]
From his whole history in a collective view, we observe, How
necessary divine grace is to produce any radical change of heart
and life!
[Education may change the exterior conduct, but the heart will
remain the same: and when the restraints that operated at first are
removed, the dispositions of the mind will break forth into outward
act. The lamp which is not supplied with oil, will go out at last;
and, not uncommonly, the restraint which obstructed the stream of
nature for a while, will, like a dam broke down, give occasion for
the greater and more fatal inundation. othing but the grace of God
can convert the soul: and every change, short of true conversion,
will but deceive us to our eternal ruin. The redeeming love of
Christ must be felt in the soul: nothing but that will have a
constraining efficacy to renew and sanctify us after the divine
image. Whatever therefore any may have done in compliance with the
advice of others, know, that we must have a principle of life
within ourselves, and be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and be
new creatures in Christ Jesus: Old things must pass away, and all
things become new. othing but this change will prove effectual for
a consistent walk; nor without this can we ever behold the face of
God in peace.]
Address,
1. Those to whom the care of young persons is intrusted
[Whether you are parents, or instructors only, be not
discouraged because you see not all the fruit that you could wish:
but continue to sow in hope; for you know not which attempt shall
prosper, or when the Angel at Bethesdas pool shall make your
labours of love effectual.]
2. Those who are yet under the authority or instruction of
others
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[Do not think hardly of the restraints imposed upon you: they
are all salutary, and intended for your good; and the day is coming
when you will see reason to bless your God for those very things
which are now irksome to you. Your advancement in all that is good
is the richest recompence your instructors can receive: and, in
repaying them, you will greatly enrich yourselves.]
MACLARE, "JOASH
Here we have the tragedy of a soul. Joash begins life well and
for the greater part of it remains faithful to his conscience and
to his duty, and then, when outward circumstances change, he casts
all behind him, forgets the past and commits moral suicide. It is
the sad old story, a bright commencement, an early promise all
scattered to the winds. It is a strange story, too. This
seven-year-old king had been saved when his father had been killed,
and that true daughter of Jezebel, as well by nature as by blood,
Athaliah, had murdered all his brothers and sisters, and made
herself queen. He had been saved by the courage of a woman who
might worthily stand by the side of Deborah and other Jewish
heroines. By this woman, who was his aunt, he was hidden and
brought up in the Temple until, whilst yet a mere boy, he came to
the throne, the High Priest Jehoiada, the husband of his aunt,
being his guardian during his nonage. He reigns well till the lad
of seven becomes a mature man of thirty or thereabouts, and then
Jehoiada dies, full of years and honours, and they fitly lay him
among the kings of Judah, a worthy resting-place for one who had
done good in Israel. And now the weakling on the throne is left
alone without the strong arm to guide him and keep him right, and
we read that the princes of Judah came and made obeisance to him.
They take him on his weak side, and I dare say Jehoiada had been
too true and too noble to do that, and though we are not told what
means they took to flatter and coax him, we see very plainly what
they were conspiring to do, for we read that they left the house of
the Lord their God, the God of their fathers, and served groves and
idols, the groves here mentioned being symbols of Ashtaroth the
goddess of the Sidonians. And so all the past is wiped out and
Joash takes his place amongst the apostates. The story has solemn
lessons.
I. Note the change from loyal adhesion to apostasy.
The strong man on whom Joash used to lean was away, and the
poor, weak king went just where the wicked princes led him. It was
probably out of sheer imbecility that he passed from the worship of
God to the acknowledgment and service of idols.
The first point that I would insist upon is a well-worn and
familiar one, as I am well aware, but I urge it upon you, and
especially upon the younger portion of my audience. It is this,
that there is no telling the amount of mischief that pure weakness
of character may lead into. The worst men we come across in the
Bible are not those who begin with a deliberate intention of doing
evil. They are weak creatures, reeds shaken by the wind, who have
no power of resisting the force of circumstances. It is a truth
which every ones experience confirms, that the mother of all
possible badness is weakness, and that, not only as Miltons Satan
puts it, To be weak is to be miserable, but that weakness is
wickedness sooner or later. The man who does not bar the doors and
windows of his senses and his soul against temptation, is sure to
make shipwreck of his life and in the end to become a fool. There
is so much wickedness lying round us in this world that any man who
lets himself be shaped and coloured by that with which he comes in
contact, is
-
sure to go to the bad in the long run. Where a man lays himself
open to the accidents of time and circumstances, the majority of
these influences will be contrary to what is right and good.
Therefore, he must gather himself together and learn to say No!
There is no foretelling the profound abysses into which a good,
easy nature, with plenty of high and pure impulses, perhaps, but
which are written in water, may fall. Thou, therefore, young man!
be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Learn to say No! or
else you will be sure to say Yes! in the wrong place, and then down
you will go, like this Joash whose goodness depended on Jehoiada,
and when he died, all the virtue that had characterised this life
hitherto was laid with him in the dust.
Let us learn from this story in the next place, how little power
of continuance there is in a merely traditional religion. Many of
you call yourselves Christian people mainly because other people do
the same. It is customary to respect and regard Christianity. You
have been brought up in the midst of it. Our country is always
considered a Christian land, and so, naturally, you tacitly accept
the truth of a religion which is so influential. The lowest phase
of this attitude is that which seeks some advantage from a church
connection, like the foolish man in the Old Testament who thought
he would do well because he had a Levite for his priest. Religion
is the most personal thing about a man. To become a Christian is
the most personal act one can perform. It is a thing that a man has
to do for himself, and however friends and guides may help us in
other matters, in trials and perplexities and difficulties, by
their sympathy and experience, they are useless here. A man has
here to act as if there were no other beings in the universe but a
solitary God and himself, and unless we have ourselves done that
act in the depths of our own personality, we have not done it at
all. If you young people are good, just because you have pious
parents who make you go to church or chapel on a Sunday, and keep
you out of mischief during the week, your goodness is a sham. One
great result of personal Christianity is to make a minister, a
teacher, a guide, superfluous, and when such an one becomes so, his
work has been successful and not till then. Unless you put forth
for yourself the hand of faith and for yourself yield up the
devotion and love of your own heart, your religion is nought.
However much active effort about the outside of religion there
may be, it is of itself useless. It is without bottom and without
reality. Here we have Joash busy with the externals of worship and
actually deceiving himself thereby. It was a great deal easier to
make that chest for contributions to a Temple Repairing Fund, and
to get it well filled, and to patch up the house of the Lord, than
for him to get down on his knees and pray, and he may have thought
that to be busy about the house of God was to be devout. So it may
be with many Sunday-school teachers and Church workers. Their
religion may be as merely superficial and as little personal as
this mans was. It is not for me to say so about A, B, or C. It is
for you to ask of yourselves if it is so as to you. But I do say
that there is nothing that masks his own soul from a man more than
setting him to do something for Christianity and Gods Church, while
in his inmost self he has not yet yielded himself to God.
I look around and I see the devil slaying his thousands by
setting them to work in Christian associations and leaving them no
time to think about their own Christianity. My brother! if the cap
fits, go home and put it on.
We see in Joashs life for how long a time a man may go on in
this self-delusion of external and barren service and never know
it. Joash came to the throne at the age of seven. Up till that age
he had lived in the Temple in concealment. Until he was one and
thirty he went on in a steady, upright course, never knowing that
there was anything hollow in his life. Apparently, Jehoiadas long
life of one hundred and thirty years
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extended over the greater part of Joashs reign, during most of
which he had Jehoiada to direct him and keep him right, and all
this tragedy comes at the tag end of it.
So he went on apparently all right, like a tree that has become
quite hollow, till during some storm it is blown down and falls
with a crash, and it is seen that for years it has been only the
skin of a tree, bark outside, and inside-emptiness.
II. We come now to the second stage in the later life of Joash:
His resistance to the divine pleading.
And they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and
served groves and idols, and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem
for their trespass, yet He sent prophets to them to bring them
again unto the Lord. He sent with endless pity, with long-suffering
patience. He would not be put away, and as they increased the
distance between Him and them, He increased His energies to bring
them back. But they lifted themselves up, Joash and his princes,
and with that strange, awful power of resisting the attraction of
the divine pleading, and hardening their hearts against the divine
patience-they would not. And then comes the affecting episode of
the death of the high priest Zechariah, who had succeeded to his
fathers place and likewise to his heroism, and who, with the Spirit
of God upon him, stands up and pointing out his wickedness, rebukes
the fallen monarch for his apostasy. Joash, doubtless stung to the
quick by Zechariahs just reproaches, allowed the truculent princes
to slay him in the court of the Temple, even between the very
shrine and the altar.
What a picture we have here of the divine love which follows
every wanderer with its pleadings and beseechings! It came to this
man through the lips of a prophet. It comes to us all in daily
blessings, sometimes in messages, like these poor words of mine.
God will not let us ruin ourselves without pleading with us and
wooing us to love Him and cling to Him. He rises up early and daily
sends us His messages, sometimes rebukes and voices in our
conscience, sometimes sunset glows and starry heavens lifting our
thoughts above this low earth, sometimes sorrows that are meant to
drive us to His breast, and above all, the Gospel of our salvation
in Christ, ever, in such a land as ours, sounding in our ears.
Still further, we see in Joash what a strange, awful strength of
obstinate resistance, a character weak as regards its resistance to
man, can put forth against God. He never attempted to say No! to
the princes of Judah, but he could say it again and again to his
Father in heaven. He could not but yield to the temptations which
were level with his eyes, and this poor creature, easily swayed by
human allurements and influences, could gather himself together,
standing, as it were, on his little pin point, and say to God, Thou
dost call and I refuse. What a paradox, and yet repetitions of it
are sitting in these pews, only half aware that it is about them
that I am speaking!
The ever-deepening evil which began with forsaking the house of
the Lord and serving Ashtaroth, ends with Joash steeping his hands
in blood. The murder of Zechariah was beyond the common count of
crimes, for it was a foul desecration of the Temple, an act of the
blackest ingratitude to the man who had saved his infant life, and
put him on the throne, an outrage on the claims of family
connections, for Joash and Zechariah were probably blood relations.
My brother! once get your foot upon that steep incline of evil,
once forsake the path of what is good and right and true, and you
are very much like a climber who misses his footing up among the
mountain peaks, and down he slides till he reaches the edge of the
precipice and then in an instant is dashed to pieces at the bottom.
Once put your foot on that slippery slope and you know not where
you may fall to.
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III. Last comes the final scene: The retribution.
We have that picture of Zechariah, solemnly lifting up his eyes
to heaven and committing his cause to God. The Lord look upon it
and require it, says the martyr priest in the spirit of the old
Law. The dying appeal was soon answered in the invasion of the
Syrian army, a comparatively small company, into whose hands the
Lord delivered a very great host of the Israelites. The defeat was
complete, and possibly Joashs great diseases, of which the
narrative speaks, refer to wounds received in the fight. The end
soon comes, for two of his servants, neither of them Hebrews, one
being the son of an Ammonitess and the other the son of a
Moabitess, who were truer to his religion than he had been, and
resolved to revenge Zechariahs death, entered the room, of the
wounded king in the fortress whither he had retired to hide himself
after the fight, and slew him on his bed. Imagine the grim
scene-the two men stealing in, the sick man there on the bed
helpless, the short ghastly struggle and the swift end. What an end
for a life with such a beginning!
Now I am not going to dwell on this retribution, inflicted on
Joash, or on that which comes to us if we are like him, through a
loud-voiced conscience, and a memory which, though it may be dulled
and hushed to sleep at present, is sure to wake some day here or
yonder. But I beseech you to ask yourselves what your outlook is.
Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth
that shall he also reap. Is that all? Zechariah said, The Lord look
upon it and require it. The great doctrine of retribution is true
for ever. Yes; but our Zechariah lifts up his eyes to heaven and he
says, Father! forgive them, for they know not what they do. And so,
dear brother! you and I, trusting to that dear Lord, may have all
our apostasy forgiven, and be brought near by the blood of Christ.
Let us say with the Apostle Peter, Lord, to whom shall we go but to
Thee? Thou hast the words of eternal life.
BI, "And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord
an the days of Jehoiada the priest.
Goodness as a morning cloud
There are certain characters that are great curiosities. There
are also other characters that are great monstrosities. The ease of
Joash is s very extraordinary one. From his history learn
I. That it is a great blessing when people yield to godly
influences.
1. The first six years of Joashs life were spent in the
temple.
2. He was started in lifes business in a very admirable way.
3. He was outwardly obedient to the law of the Lord in the days
of Jehoiada.
4. He was zealous for the externals of religion.
5. He influenced others for good.
II. Good as all this is, it is not all that is needed.
1. This is not yielding the heart to God.
2. All this yielding to godly influences may exist without any
personal, vital godliness whatever.
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3. An externally pious character may even prevent men from being
saved at all. It may lead a man to take for granted that he is
saved.
4. To be under godly influences year after year, without any
great trial or temptation, may leave the personal character
altogether undeveloped.
We must have some kind of test, or else we cannot be sure of the
character. You cannot be sure about principle being in any young
man if he has been kept under a glass case, and if his principles
have never been tried. The real character of Joash had never come
out at all, because Jehoiada, as it were, covered him. His own
disposition was only waiting the opportunity of developing itself.
I have heard of an officer in India who had brought up a young
leopard. It was apparently as tame as a cat. One afternoon, while
asleep in his chair, the leopard licked his hand in all tenderness
as a cat might have done; but after licking awhile it licked too
hard and a little blood began to flow. It no sooner tasted blood
than the old leopard spirit was up, and his master was his master
no more. So does it happen to many that being shut in, and tamed,
as it were, but not changed, subdued but not renewed, kept in check
but not converted, there has come a time afterwards when the taste
of blood has called out the old nature, and away the man has
gone.
III. This yielding character may even prove a source of
mischief. The princes of Judah came and made obeisance to the king.
What followed?
1. Joash went off to sin.
2. He refused reproof.
3. He slew his friends son.
4. Having no faith in God, he robbed the temple, and gave all
the gold and treasures unto Hazael the Syrian. (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
The goodness of King Joash
1. The history of Joash enforces the duty of training ourselves,
and those who are under our guidance, to stand alone, and not to
rest upon the support of others.
2. Not that we should make small account of the counsel of wise
and religious friends. The perfect use of a wise adviser is not to
determine for us what we shall do in every particular case that day
by day arises; but to help us to store our minds with sound
principles, such as we may call up for our own direction when any
emergency requires them.
3. There is a great difference in the natural constitution of
mens minds. Some are like the creeping plant that grows up rapidly,
but must always hang for support upon some external prop. Others
are like the oak, slowly developing itself from among the meaner
underwood, until it rears its head alone above the trees of the
forest. When the trellis or pole decays, the creeper must fall to
the ground; the oak abides seemingly unmovable in its own strength.
All the culture that man could bestow would never give to the
creeper the sturdiness of the oak.
4. But though man cannot change nature God can. He can impart
strength to the weakest character. Therefore the way to be firm in
what is good, is to take God for your guide and support, and not
man (Gal_6:4-5; Php_2:12-13).
5. There is no contradiction between the duty of seeking and in
due measure
-
following the counsel of our good instructors and the duty of
standing fast for ourselves in the counsel of God. Just as the
office of the moon is to transmit the reflected light of the sun to
the dark side of the earth; but if the moon comes between the earth
and the sun, it does but darken the earth, by intercepting from it
the rays that beam from that great light which is the source of
light and heat to both; so the parent, the teacher, or the priest,
is to stand for God towards the child, the pupil, or the private
Christian, so far as their imperfect knowledge or their spiritual
needs require; but not so as to eclipse God, or to make them forget
that to God and not to man they are answerable in the last resort
for their deeds. (James Randall, M.A.)
Joash
Men may constrain us to a temporary amendment, but God alone can
control us to a lasting change of character and heart.
Circumstances can make any one of you religious for a time, and
give you feelings and habits which will make you appear religious
to others, and what is worse still, lead you to suppose that the
outward appearance is the effect of inward principle. But nothing
but the grace of God, and the love of His name and His truth, can
produce that piety of heart which withstands temptation, and lives
when all earthly agencies are gone which nursed it, because it
lives in Him who was pleased to make those earthly agencies the
means of grace to the soul. We have in this verse two characters
for contemplation.
I. Jehoiada, as an example of influence exerted for good.
1. He had three elements of success with which to work.
(1) Power, arising from his priestly office and his marriage
relationship.
(2) Piety, which gave him the principles on which to discharge
his mission.
(3) Courage, arising from his faith in God.
2. Note here the relative influence of personal piety. Joash did
that which is right. The nation prospered in every sense through
the faithfulness of one man. Clear and consistent personal piety is
always a persuasive thing. No treatises upon religion can rival for
persuasive power the living epistles known and read of all men. Our
calling as Christians is to win others, as Jehoiada did, to do that
which is right in the sight of the Lord. We have received light
that our faces may shine before men. The design of God in our
salvation is not only our happiness but our usefulness.
II. Joash as an example for our warning. The religion which had
its life and influence only from a man was soon forgotten when the
source of that influence had passed away. There is a vital
difference between the godliness which is the result of external
circumstances and that which is the product of internal principle.
It is the difference between the galvanised corpse and the living
man; the star and the meteor; the flash of the lightning and the
action of the sunbeam. There is a false godliness current among
men.
1. With some piety is dependent upon policy.
2. With others it is a matter of periods.
3. With others it is a religion of place.
4. With others it is dependent upon the personal influence of
some minister, or upon the advice and counsel of a friend. (C. J.
Phipps Eyre, M.A.)
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Life and character of Joash
I. The instability of his religion.
1. He was zealous for God under restraint.
2. He degenerated when that restraint was taken away.
II. The honour and the disgrace of his reign.
1. Honourable reforms.
2. Disgraceful crimes. Like Nero after the death of his teacher
Seneca, the philosopher, he was stained with crimes.
III. The disastrous end of his life. Conclusion: Learn
1. The responsibility of those to whom the care of young persons
is entrusted.
2. Caution those yet under guardianship and tutors and
friends.
3. The awful end of those who turn aside from hopeful
beginnings. (J. Wolfendale.)
The Jehoiadas of society
It would seem to be about the last thing men do, to estimate
properly the value of subtle and silent influences, the magic and
wisardry of noble character. We may even be ashamed to do certain
things in the presence of the Jehoiadas of society. We are not
ashamed of the things themselves, nor are we unprepared to make
experiments in regard to them; but whenever we would put forth our
hand to begin the experiments we see the observing Jehoiada, and
withdraw from the pernicious attempt. So it is that there are
trustees of commercial and social honour, men who would never do
the dishonourable deed, speak the calumnious word, or mislead the
sentiment of the market-place in times of strong temptation and
peril. We rely upon them as disinfectants, keeping the commercial
atmosphere pure, and discouraging in the most positive and decisive
manner the spirit and action of men who are low-minded and selfish.
These Jehoiadas deliver no lectures upon commercial morality, nor
do they in any manner that can be charged with conceit display
their own virtues; they simply go on their straightforward course,
doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God, and the
result of their presence and character is that even the worst men
are restrained, weak men are confirmed in good resolutions, and men
whose character needs inspiration receive it from their example.
(J. Parker, D.D.)
3 Jehoiada chose two wives for him, and he had sons and
daughters.
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BARES, "Athaliahs destruction of the seed royal had left Joash
without a natural successor, and his marriage at the earliest
suitable age, was, therefore, a matter of state policy. One of his
wives in question was probably Jehoaddan of Jerusalem, the mother
of Amaziah 2Ch_25:1, who must have been taken to wife by Joash as
early as his 21st year.
GILL, "And Jehoiada took for him two wives,.... Not for himself;
he had a wife who was aunt to King Joash, and he had sons who were
concerned with him in anointing him, 2Ch_22:11 and was now upwards
of one hundred years of age; but for the king, when he was at an
age fit for marriage, he advised him to marry, and proposed wives
to him, whom he thought would be agreeable; for, observing what
mischief was done both in church and state through Jehoram's
marrying Athaliah, he was desirous of preventing any such
disagreeable marriage; and as the young king was in all things
guided and directed by him, so he was in this; and no doubt they
were good women he pitched upon, and proposed to the king; one of
them was Jehoadan, 2Ch_25:1, but the name of the other we know
not:
and he begat sons and daughters; how many is not said, nor do we
read of the names of any of them, but of Amaziah who succeeded
him.
JAMISO, "Jehoiada took for him two wives As Jehoiada was now too
old to contract such new alliances, the generality of interpreters
apply this statement to the young king.
ELLICOTT, "(3) And Jehoiada took for him two wives.A statement
not found in the parallel narrative, and doubtless taken by the
compiler from another source. Instead of this, we read in 2 Kings
12:4 : Only the high places were not taken away; the people were
still wont to sacrifice and burn incense on the high places.
TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 24:3 And Jehoiada took for him two wives;
and he begat sons and daughters.
Ver. 3. And Jehoiada took for him two wives.] What could his own
father, if living, have done more for him?
PULPIT, "That special note is made of Jehoiada's selecting of
the wives may at any rate point to the suggestion that he was all a
father to Joash, and both for his own sake and the kingdom's sake
anxious as to the character of the women by whom a new kingly seed
should take rise in place of that destroyed by Athaliah (2
Chronicles 22:10). Our 2 Chronicles 25:1 leaves it probable that
"Jehoaden of Jerusalem" was one of these, though it is likely
enough that Joash married, whether her or some one else, before he
had reached the age of twenty-one. It is also quite likely that we
may
-
read between the lines, that in selecting two wives for his
young and loved ward, Jehoiada hoped and prayed that Joash might
not fall by sin like Solomon's (1 Kings 11:3) and that of others of
the kings of both Judah and Israel.
4 Some time later Joash decided to restore the temple of the
Lord.
CLARKE, "To repair the house of the Lord - During the reigns of
Joram and Athaliah, the temple of God had been pillaged to enrich
that of Baal, and the whole structure permitted to fall into decay;
see 2Ch_24:7.
GILL, "And it came to pass after this,.... After his marriage,
when he was about twenty or twenty one years of age, perhaps:
that Joash was minded to repair the house of the Lord; which in
some places might be fallen to decay, having been built one hundred
and fifty years or more, and in others defaced by Athaliah, and
needed ornamenting, see 2Ki_12:4.
JAMISO 4-14, "Joash was minded to repair the house of the Lord
(See on 2Ki_12:4-16).
K&D 4-10, "As to the repair of the temple, see the
commentary on 2Ki_12:5-17, where both the formal divergences and
the essential agreement of the two narratives are pointed out.
ELLICOTT, "(4) Was minded.Literally, it became with the heart of
Joash (2 Chronicles 6:8; 2 Chronicles 9:1; 1 Kings 8:18).
To repair.See margin to 2 Chronicles 15:8. To restore is perhaps
the best modern equivalent of the Hebrew term. The account of the
restoration of the Temple is given here in different language from
what we find in the parallel passage, which is not very clear.
-
The chronicler appears to have paraphrased the account he found
in his authority. The Levites are not mentioned in Kings.
TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 24:4 And it came to pass after this, [that]
Joash was minded to repair the house of the LORD.
Ver. 4. Joash was minded to repair.] Hereby he showed his
thankfulness to God, who in that house had so graciously preserved
him, and done so great things for him. See 2 Kings 12:4-5.
GUZIK, "2. (2 Chronicles 24:4-7) The need and the heart to
repair the temple.
ow it happened after this that Joash set his heart on repairing
the house of the LORD. Then he gathered the priests and the
Levites, and said to them, Go out to the cities of Judah, and
gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from
year to year, and see that you do it quickly. However the Levites
did not do it quickly. So the king called Jehoiada the chief
priest, and said to him, Why have you not required the Levites to
bring in from Judah and from Jerusalem the collection, according to
the commandment of Moses the servant of the LORD and of the
assembly of Israel, for the tabernacle of witness? For the sons of
Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the house of God, and
had also presented all the dedicated things of the house of the
LORD to the Baals.
a. Joash set his heart on repairing the house of the LORD: This
indicated the godly concern that Joash had regarding the condition
of the temple. He knew that a prosperous and secure kingdom
mattered little if the things of God were neglected or
despised.
i. He also knew that the condition of the temple was a valid
measurement of the heart and passion of the people of God for the
things of God. The temple was not God; but neglect and despising of
the temple reflected neglect and despising of God.
b. Go out to the cities of Judah, and gather from all Israel
money to repair the house of your God: There was not enough money
in the royal treasury to underwrite this project. Therefore the
king commanded the Levites in Judahs outer cities to collect money
and bring it back for the project in Jerusalem.
c. However the Levites did not do it quickly: For some reason
the Levites did not share the same passion as King Joash did for
the condition of the temple. Perhaps they felt that the townspeople
of the outer towns would not embrace and support this work.
evertheless, Joash held them to account and got the work
moving.
i. But the Levites did not act at once, both because of natural
inertia (still true even of Christian workers), and because of the
priestly demands that seem to have exhausted the normal revenues on
current operations and their own support. (Payne)
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d. For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into
the house of God: This explains why the temples was in such
disrepair. It wasnt just normal wear and tear usage; it was a
deliberate campaign against the temple and the worship of the true
God prompted by Athaliah and her sons.
BI 4-14, "That Joash was minded to repair the house of the
Lord.
The temple repaired
It is worthy of note that in the mere outline of a reign
extending over twenty years, in very exciting times, space should
have been taken to record so minutely the repairing of the temple.
No less remarkable is it that the initiative in this great work was
due to Joash and not to Jehoiadathe king, not the priest. There was
need for some one to lift the standard for Jehovah and His worship.
For since the accession of Jehoram, the wicked son of the good
Jehoshaphat, there had been a steady decline toward idolatry.
Spurred on by his wife, Athaliah, the worthy daughter of the
monster Jezebel, Jehoram allowed high places to be built to the
heathen deities. Dying after less than ten years of rule, of an
agonising internal disease, the crown descended to his one
surviving son, Ahaziah. After a reign of little more than a year,
during which he was wholly under the power of his mother, Ahaziah
was slain by Jehu while on a visit to Israel. Athaliah seized the
throne and ruled for six years, fostering and encouraging
heathenism to the utmost. To make her usurpation more secure, she
had, at the beginning of her reign, as she supposed, compassed the
death of all aspirants to the crown. But, through t