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Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Good Joash, Bad Joash


2 Chronicles 24:1-27 NIV



Joash Repairs the Temple


1Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba. 2Joash did what was right in the Eyes of the Lord all the years of Jehoiada the priest. 3Jehoiada chose two wives for him, and he had sons and daughters.

4Some time later Joash decided to restore the Temple of the Lord. 5He called together the priests and Levites and said to them, “Go to the towns of Judah and collect the money due annually from all Israel, to repair the Temple of your God. Do it now.” But the Levites did not act at once.

6Therefore the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest and said to him, “Why haven’t you required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by Moses the servant of the Lord and by the assembly of Israel for the tent of the Covenant Law?”

7Now the sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had broken into the Temple of God and had used even its sacred objects for the Baals.

8At the king’s command, a chest was made and placed outside, at the gate of the Temple of the Lord. 9A proclamation was then issued in Judah and Jerusalem that they should bring to the Lord the tax that Moses the servant of God had required of Israel in the wilderness. 10All the officials and all the people brought their contributions gladly, dropping them into the chest until it was full. 11Whenever the chest was brought in by the Levites to the king’s officials and they saw that there was a large amount of money, the royal secretary and the officer of the chief priest would come and empty the chest and carry it back to its place. They did this regularly and collected a great amount of money. 12The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who carried out the work required for the Temple of the Lord. They hired masons and carpenters to restore the Lord’s Temple, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the Temple.



13The men in charge of the work were diligent, and the repairs progressed under them. They rebuilt the Temple of God according to its original design and reinforced it. 14When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, and with it were made articles for the Lord’s Temple: articles for the service and for the burnt offerings, and also dishes and other objects of gold and silver. As long as Jehoiada lived, burnt offerings were presented continually in the Temple of the Lord.

15Now Jehoiada was old and full of years, and he died at the age of a hundred and thirty. 16He was buried with the kings in the City of David, because of the good he had done in Israel for God and His Temple.


The Wickedness of Joash


17After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them. 18They abandoned the Temple of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and worshiped Asherah poles and idols. Because of their guilt, God’s Anger came on Judah and Jerusalem. 19Although the Lord sent prophets to the people to bring them back to Him, and though they testified against them, they would not listen.

20Then the Spirit of God came on Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before the people and said, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you disobey the Lord’s commands? You will not prosper. Because you have forsaken the Lord, He has forsaken you.’ ”

21But they plotted against him, and by order of the king they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the Lord’s Temple. 



22King Joash did not remember the kindness Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had shown him but killed his son, who said as he lay dying,

 “May the Lord see this and call you to account.”

23At the turn of the year,a the army of Aram marched against Joash; it invaded Judah and Jerusalem and killed all the leaders of the people. They sent all the plunder to their king in Damascus. 24Although the Aramean army had come with only a few men, the Lord delivered into their hands a much larger army. Because Judah had forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors, judgment was executed on Joash.25When the Arameans withdrew, they left Joash severely wounded. His officials conspired against him for murdering the son of Jehoiada the priest, and they killed him in his bed. So he died and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

26Those who conspired against him were Zabad,b son of Shimeath an Ammonite woman, and Jehozabad, son of Shimrithc a Moabite woman. 27The account of his sons, the many prophecies about him, and the record of the restoration of the Temple of God are written in the annotations on the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son succeeded him as king.





Chapter 24



We have here the history of the reign of Joash, the progress of which, and especially its termination, were not of a piece with its beginning, nor shone with so much luster.

How wonderfully he was preserved for the throne, and placed in it, we read before; now here we are told how he began in the spirit, but ended in the flesh.

I.                   In the beginning of his time, while Jehoiada lived, he did well; particularly, he took care to put the Temple in good repair (v. 1–14).

II.                In the latter end of his time, after Jehoiada’s death, he apostatized from God, and his apostasy was his ruin.

1. He set up the worship of Baal again (v. 15–18), though warned to the contrary (v. 19).

2. He put Zechariah the prophet to death because he reproved him for what he had done (v. 20–22).

3. The judgments of God came upon him for it. The Syrians invaded him (v. 23, 24).


He was struck with sore diseases; his own servants conspired against him and slew him; and, as a mark of infamy upon him, he was not buried in the burying place of the kings (v. 25–27).

Joash Enthroned


2 Chronicles 23:1-20 NIV



1In the seventh year Jehoiada showed his strength. He made a covenant with the commanders of units of a hundred: Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zikri. 2They went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites and the heads of Israelite families from all the towns. When they came to Jerusalem, 3the whole assembly made a covenant with the king at the Temple of God.

Jehoiada said to them, “The king’s son shall reign, as the Lord promised concerning the descendants of David. 4Now this is what you are to do: A third of you priests and Levites who are going on duty on the Sabbath are to keep watch at the doors, 5a third of you at the royal palace and a third at the Foundation Gate, and all the others are to be in the courtyards of the Temple of the Lord. 6No one is to enter the Temple of the Lord except the priests and Levites on duty; they may enter because they are consecrated, but all the others are to observe the Lord’s Command not to enter.a 7The Levites are to station themselves around the king, each with weapon in hand. Anyone who enters the Temple is to be put to death. Stay close to the king wherever he goes.”

8The Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered. Each one took his men—those who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off duty—for Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions. 9Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the Temple of God. 10He stationed all the men, each with his weapon in his hand, around the king—near the altar and the Temple, from the south side to the north side of the Temple.

11Jehoiada and his sons brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him; they presented him with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king. They anointed him and shouted, “Long live the king!”




12When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king, she went to them at the Temple of the Lord. 13She looked, and there was the king, standing by his pillar at the entrance. The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises. Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted, “Treason! Treason!”

14Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of units of a hundred, who were in charge of the troops, and said to them: “Bring her out between the ranksb and put to the sword anyone who follows her.” For the priest had said, “Do not put her to death at the Temple of the Lord.” 15So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds, and there they put her to death.

16Jehoiada then made a covenant that he, the people and the kingc would be the Lord’s people. 17All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars.

18Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the Temple of the Lord in the hands of the Levitical priests, to whom David had made assignments in the Temple, to present the burnt offerings of the Lord as written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and singing, as David had ordered. 19He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the Lord’s Temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter.

20He took with him the commanders of hundreds, the nobles, the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from The temple of the Lord. They went into the palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne. 21All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was calm, because Athaliah had been slain with the sword.





Chapter 23

  
Six years bloody Athaliah had tyrannized; in this chapter we have her deposed and slain, and Joash, the rightful heir, enthroned.

We had the story before nearly as it is here related, 2 Kings 11:4, etc.

I.                   Jehoiada prepared the people for the king, acquainted them with his design, armed them, and appointed them their posts (v. 1–10).

II.                He produced the king to the people, crowned him, and anointed him (v. 11).

III.             He slew the usurper (v. 12–15).


IV.             He reformed the kingdom, re-established religion, and restored the civil government (v. 16–21).

Ahaziah King Of Judah

2 Chronicles 22:1-12 NIV



Ahaziah King of Judah


1The people of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, Jehoram’s youngest son, king in his place, since the raiders, who came with the Arabs into the camp, had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign.

2Ahaziah was twenty-twoa years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri.
3He too followed the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother encouraged him to act wickedly. 4He did evil in the Eyes of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done, for after his father’s death they became his advisers, to his undoing. 5He also followed their counsel when he went with Joramb son of Ahab king of Israel to wage war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead. The Arameans wounded Joram; 6so he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds they had inflicted on him at Ramothc in his battle with Hazael king of Aram.

Then Ahaziahd son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to see Joram son of Ahab because he had been wounded.

7Through Ahaziah’s visit to Joram, God brought about Ahaziah’s downfall. When Ahaziah arrived, he went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab.8While Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, he found the officials of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s relatives, who had been attending Ahaziah, and he killed them. 9He then went in search of Ahaziah, and his men captured him while he was hiding in Samaria. He was brought to Jehu and put to death. They buried him, for they said, “He was a son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart.” So there was no one in the house of Ahaziah powerful enough to retain the kingdom.


Athaliah and Joash





10When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family of the house of Judah. 



11But Jehosheba,e the daughter of King Jehoram, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes who were about to be murdered and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Because Jehosheba,f the daughter of King Jehoram and wife of the priest Jehoiada, was Ahaziah’s sister, she hid the child from Athaliah so she could not kill him. 




12He remained hidden with them at the Temple of God for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.





Chapter 22



We read, in the foregoing chapter, of the carrying away of Jehoram’s sons and his wives; but here we find one of his sons and one of his wives left, his son Ahaziah and his wife Athaliah, both reserved to be the shame and plague of his family.

I.                   Ahaziah was the shame of it as a partaker,

1. In the sin, and,

2. In the destruction, of the house of Ahab (v. 1-9).

II.     Athaliah was the plague of it, for she destroyed all the seed-royal, and usurped the throne (v. 10–12).