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11 Chronicles Chapter 24
Joash Repairs the Temple
- 2Chronicles 24:1
Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned
forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Zibiah of
Beersheba.
- 2 And Joash did that
which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of
Jehoiada the priest.
Josah was only seven years old and the
priest Jehoiada instructed and taught him all the days of his life
until he passed away. All was good when Jehoiada still lived. This
chapter will show us the importance of children not just being
taught about God but if we stop there all they will have is
religion. They need to get to know the Lord themselves and become
strong in the Lord. If not, they will be weak and subject to bad
influences when those that influenced him or her dies.
I realize this was way before Jesus
Christ became a human to be our final sacrifice for our sins, but still they could get to know God on their own.
He did all the right things at first but His relationship with God
was dependent upon the influence of Jehoiada.
Jehoiada even picked out the wives for
Joash. He had sons and daughters but only one is named and that is
Amaziah who succeeded him on the throne at his death.
- 2Chronicles 24:4 And
it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to repair the
house of the LORD.
- 5 And he gathered
together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out
unto 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.
Looks as if the priests were losing
their zeal and first love for the Lord. A dangerous place to be in.
- 2Chronicles 24:6 And
the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said unto him, Why
hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah
and out of Jerusalem the collection, according to the
commandment of Moses the servant of the LORD, and of the
congregation of Israel, for the tabernacle of witness?
- 7 For the sons of
Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and
also all the dedicated things of the house of the LORD did they
bestow upon Baalim.
The wicked queen Athaliah wrecked the
house of the Lord took all she wanted from it.
- 2Chronicles 24:8 And
at the king's commandment they made a chest, and set it without
at the gate of the house of the LORD.
- 9 And they made a
proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in to the
LORD the collection that Moses the servant of God laid upon
Israel in the wilderness.
- 10 And all the
princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast
into the chest, until they had made an end.
- 11 Now it came to
pass, that at what time the chest was brought unto the king's
office by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there
was much money, the king's scribe and the high priest's officer
came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to his
place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in
abundance.
- 12 And the king and
Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the
house of the LORD, and hired masons and carpenters to repair the
house of the LORD, and also such as wrought iron and brass to
mend the house of the LORD.
- 13 So the workmen
wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the
house of God in his state, and strengthened it.
- 14 And when they had
finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king
and Jehoiada, whereof were made vessels for the house of the
LORD, even vessels to minister, and to offer withal, and spoons,
and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings
in the house of the LORD continually all the days of Jehoiada.
The people willingly gave freewill
offerings to repair the house of God. This is good to see. No
begging, forcing, guilting was needed. This is the way we should
give. With joy and gladness.
- 2Chronicles 24:15
But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; an
hundred and thirty years old was he when he died.
- 16 And they buried
him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done
good in Israel, both toward God, and toward his house.
He did what he could in his lifetime
and stayed faithful in all he did. Yet his death brought an end to
the goodness that Joash did.
- 2Chronicles 24:17
Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and
made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them.
- 18 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 this their
trespass.
- 19 Yet he sent
prophets to them, to bring them again unto the LORD; and they
testified against them: but they would not give ear.
It seems as if the princes influenced
Joash to return to the days of idolatry. Even prophets could not
bring them back. Joash was too weak to stand up for God and
succumbed to the influence of these princes. They must have been
this way from their hearts but was afraid of the priest's stronghold
of influence on the king while he was alive.
Joash's Treachery
- 2Chronicles 24:20
And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada
the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them,
Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD,
that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he
hath also forsaken you.
- 21 And they
conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the
commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD.
- 22 Thus Joash the
king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had
done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The
LORD look upon it, and require it.
This was not the Zechariah that wrote
the book of Zechariah. This one was the son of Jehoiada the priest.
This Zechariah came to warn them but they had him stoned. Both
Zechariahs though did die from being stoned because they warned the
people and told the truth. Before Zechariah died he prophesied that
the Lord would require it from Josah for shedding his blood.
God doesn't stay around when He is
rejected but He does send warning ahead of time. When those that
warn are rejected by those in power, sometimes they lose their lives
but in eternity those that stay faithful will be glad they stood
strong against evil.
Joash Assassinated
- 2Chronicle 24:23 And
it came to pass at the end of the year, that the host of Syria
came up against him: and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and
destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people,
and sent all the spoil of them unto the king of Damascus.
- 24 For the army of
the Syrians came with a small company of men, and the LORD
delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had
forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. So they executed
judgment against Joash.
- 25 And when they
were departed from him, (for they left him in great diseases,)
his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons
of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died:
and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him
not in the sepulchres of the kings.
It seems that not everyone went along
with killing the sons of the priest Jehoiada and conspired against
Joash out of vengeance. Again we see the law of reaping and sowing
being fulfilled. The prophecy of Zechariah in verse 22 had come to
pass.
- 2Chronicles 24:26
And these are they that conspired against him; Zabad the son of
Shimeath an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a
Moabitess.
- 27 Now concerning
his sons, and the greatness of the burdens laid upon him, and
the repairing of the house of God, behold, they are written in
the story of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned
in his stead.
A sad ending for Joash that didn't have to
be. No one gets by with doing evil. DJC
11
Chronicles Chapter 25
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