The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 166, Uzziah (Azariah) King Of Judah, Part One

On Thursday we completed our study of the reign of King Jeroboam II of Israel. Today we will look at the reign of the king of Judah who came to the throne during the days of King Jeroboam II.

"In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah began to reign." (2 Kings 15:1) Azariah's name is rendered as "Uzziah" by the author of 2 Chronicles and by the authors of some of the books of the prophets. It is only in the book of 2 Kings that I can find anyone referring to him as Azariah and it is for this reason that we will be referring to him as Uzziah.

Uzziah's father, Amaziah, was killed by men who conspired against him. Upon Amaziah's death we find the young Uzziah being placed on the throne of Judah in his place. "Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah." (2 Chronicles 26:1) "He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother's name was Jekoliah; she was from Jerusalem." (2 Kings 15:2) Uzziah's reign is the second-longest of all the kings of Judah. We will also find him being one of the better kings of Judah.

"He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success." (2 Chronicles 26:4-5) "He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there." (2 Kings 15:13-14) Amaziah did what was right during the first part of his reign but he fell into idolatry during the latter part of his reign. After the Lord gave him great success in putting down the rebellion of the Edomites, Amaziah brought back to Judah the images of the gods of Edom and began to worship those gods himself. His idolatry is what led to his downfall.

Uzziah will begin his reign quite well, other than not removing the high places that were used in the past for the worship of the Lord. The Lord commanded these to be removed now that there is a central location for bringing offerings and sacrifices. The failure of so many kings to remove the high places was a continual temptation for the people to worship the Lord in whatever way seemed best to them. Worshiping on their own and in their own way, separate from the main body of believers, was not good for them. It is not good for us in these modern times either. We need the fellowship of other believers. We need to regularly gather at the house of God to hear the word of God. Left to our own devices, we are in danger of not listening to or reading the word of God. We are in danger of drifting from the Lord and making ourselves easy pickings for our adversary the devil. The less we receive the encouragement of fellow believers, and the less we study and meditate on the word of God, the more likely we are to give in to various temptations.

While Uzziah lives in a way that pleases the Lord, the Lord will give him success. It is only during the latter part of his reign that he will allow himself to be overcome by pride, perhaps forgetting that he owes all his success and prosperity to the Lord. He will sin against the Lord in a way that brings a very public and very shameful judgment upon him. Because of the form this judgment will take, Uzziah will no longer be able to rule over Judah alone. His son, Jotham, will be promoted to the position of co-regent for the remaining eleven years Uzziah's reign. Jotham will take his father's mistake of pride to heart, not making the same mistake himself and being overall a more godly king than Uzziah was.

We will pick back up on our study of King Uzziah on Tuesday. My husband and I are going on a mini-vacation early tomorrow morning and will be returning late on Monday evening. I hope you have a blessed weekend in the Lord.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 165, Jeroboam II King Of Israel, Part Two

Today we will conclude the brief account in the Scriptures regarding the reign of Jeroboam II.

Yesterday we learned that through this king the Lord gave Israel relief from the Arameans. The Arameans had repeatedly attacked the nation and had been occupying and controlling a number of areas, pushing the Israelites out of their homes and farms. Although the Bible doesn't provide us with any of the details of Jeroboam's military battles against the Arameans, we were told that he "restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Dead Sea". 

Today's portion of Chapter 14 pretty much wraps up the account of Jeroboam's reign like this: "As for the other events of Jeroboam's reign, all he did, and his military achievements, including how he recovered for Israel both Damascus and Hamath, which had belonged to Judah, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? Jeroboam rested with his ancestors, the kings of Israel. And Zechariah his son succeeded him as king." (2 Kings 14:28-29)

The "book of the annals of the kings" has been mentioned a number of times before. It is a book that has been lost to the mists of time but is assumed to have been a detailed accounting of the achievements of the kings. It likely contained lists of the battles they won and information about the building projects they undertook. I think it's highly possible that the book was a compilation of only the military, political, and architectural achievements of the kings; it may have contained little to no information regarding their spiritual achievements. If it did contain information about the spiritual lives of the kings, it must not have been anything we didn't already know about them from the books we still possess, because the Lord is more than able to keep a spiritually-necessary book from becoming lost. As I've said before, the Bible doesn't tell us everything we want to know but it tells us everything we need to know in order to come to a saving knowledge of the Lord and to build a relationship with Him. I would love to know so many more details about the people in the Bible---particularly the people we consider great heroes of the faith---but a volume large enough to contain the detailed day-to-day events of their lives would be too large to carry with us and would perhaps be too overwhelming to study regularly.

The prophet Amos lived during the reign of King Jeroboam II. In the book of Amos we find a priest of Bethel named Amaziah making up lies about Amos, claiming to Jeroboam II that Amos is part of a conspiracy to kill him. Amaziah is a priest who officiates at the golden calf site at Bethel, so we know he is not a man who worships the Lord where and how the Lord commanded the people to worship. Jeroboam II himself is not a man who worships the Lord where and how the Lord commanded the people to worship, and since the altar at Bethel (one of two golden calf sites) is the one used by the kings of the northern kingdom, Jeroboam is used to interacting with this priest regularly and taking his advice to heart. Amaziah the priest goes to Jeroboam and claims that Amos is the instigator of the conspiracy and that he is going around proclaiming, "Jeroboam will die by the sword". (Amos 7:11a)

Amos was not in on a conspiracy against the king. If he ever said, "Jeroboam will die by the sword", it was a prophecy from the Lord and not a threat from the prophet. But there is no evidence in the Bible that Jeroboam II died by the sword. His manner of death is not known. Considering that he engaged the Arameans in battle a number of times, it's possible he was killed in battle, but the Bible usually tells us whenever a king receives a mortal wound in battle. The authors of the Bible are usually in the habit of telling us whenever a king is killed by conspirators too; we've already seen several kings assassinated by men who plotted against them. I tend to think that Amos never said that Jeroboam would die by the sword and that he did not die by the sword. My opinion is that the wicked priest Amaziah made up these words to back up his claim that Amos was a threat to the king. The priest probably felt threatened by Amos's popularity in Israel because the people may have been putting more stock in what Amos said than in anything Amaziah said. The king himself may have been calling Amos to the palace to hear what he had to say, causing the priest to fear he might lose power and influence over the king.

We don't know what action Jeroboam II took when Amaziah told the lies about Amos. The king may or may not have believed the priest's words. In the book of Amos we will find the priest ordering Amos to leave the nation, so it may be that he lived the remainder of his life in exile from Israel. There is also an ancient tradition that states that the son of Amaziah put Amos to death. But there is no evidence that Jeroboam II did any harm to Amos and I like to think that he saw through the lies of the jealous priest.

The main thing we can take away from the brief account of Jeroboam's reign is that he did some good things for Israel in relieving the oppression of the Arameans. It is believed that his reign was a time of material prosperity for the nation. It was not, however, a time of spiritual prosperity because the king and the people were still using the golden calf sites of worship and considering the calves to be "representations" of the God of Israel. This was wrong but not as wrong as the situation was during the era of the Ahab Dynasty in which Baal worship was the state religion. Material prosperity and spiritual prosperity don't always go together. In fact, material prosperity can sometimes hinder spiritual growth if the ones who are enjoying the prosperity are placing their trust in their worldly belongings and not in the Lord.  

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 164, Jeroboam II King Of Israel, Part One

Today and tomorrow we are going to study the very brief account of King Jeroboam II of Israel who was the son of Jehoash, the grandson of Jehoahaz, and the great-grandson of Jehu. 

We learned yesterday that King Jehoash of Israel died during the reign of King Amaziah of Judah. Jehoash's son, Jeroboam, ascends to the throne upon his father's death. He is known as Jeroboam II because the first king of Israel (after the ten northern tribes split from the two southern tribes) was named Jeroboam. "In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel became king in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years." (2 Kings 14:23) 

The author of 2 Kings does not go into much detail about Jeroboam II and the author of 2 Chronicles doesn't discuss him at all. He is mentioned in the books of two of the men known as the "minor prophets": Hosea and Amos. His reign was a time of military and financial prosperity but not a time of spiritual revival. "He did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit." (2 Kings 14:24) Like his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather before him, Jeroboam eschewed the worship of Baal (which was introduced to Israel during the time of the Ahab Dynasty) and instead clung to the religious system put in place by the first king of the northern kingdom. This means Jeroboam II uses the golden calf sites of worship in Israel rather than worshiping the Lord at His temple in Jerusalem. It means he is not worshiping the Lord in the right way or in the right place. Humans must approach the Lord in the way the Lord deems acceptable, not in the way that seems right to mankind or in the way that seems most convenient to mankind.

The kings of the Jehu Dynasty have not conducted their spiritual lives exactly as commanded by the Lord but they have not renounced Him like the kings of the Ahab Dynasty did. Therefore, the Lord gives Israel some relief from her enemies during the Jehu Dynasty. The Arameans greatly plagued the nation during the reigns of Jeroboam's forefathers but the Lord enables Jeroboam to push the Arameans back out of some of the territories in Israel that they had previously conquered and were occupying. "He was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Dead Sea, in accordance with the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, spoken through His servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher." (2 Kings 14:24-25)

The Jonah mentioned in the passage above is believed to be the same prophet of the book of Jonah. It appears that he predicted the military victories of Jeroboam II and they came to pass just as he said. Two other prophets, Hosea and Amos, make mention of Jeroboam II. Jeroboam is only given a brief mention in the book of Hosea, when the author states that Hosea was a prophet in Israel during the time Jeroboam sat on the throne. But Hosea was called by the Lord to speak out against the unfaithfulness of the people who were not worshiping Him in the manner they were commanded to worship Him, so we know that it was not just the king whose spiritual life wasn't all that it should be. A large number of the people were sinning against the Lord in the same manner as the king. The prophet Amos mentions King Jeroboam several times and we will study those portions of Scripture tomorrow.

But for now we will look back at a passage from Chapter 13 in which Jeroboam's grandfather, Jehoahaz, called out to the Lord for relief from the Arameans. "Then Jehoahaz sought the Lord's favor, and the Lord listened to him, for He saw how severely the king of Aram was oppressing Israel. The Lord provided a deliverer for Israel, and they escaped from the power of Aram. So the Israelites lived in their own homes as they had before." (2 Kings 13:4-5) Many scholars believe the "deliverer" of Chapter 13 is Jeroboam II who, here in Chapter 14, "restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Dead Sea". He fought against the Arameans and took back some of the land that was being occupied and controlled by them. This is why the Israelites of these areas could live "in their own homes as they had before". 

The Lord heard King Jehoahaz's prayer and answered it during the reign of Jeroboam II. By the time Jeroboam came to the throne, the Arameans had reached the limit the Lord set for them. The Lord never allows any trial to last longer than it needs to last to accomplish His purpose. He chastised the people for their wayward religious practices but He did not intend to allow the Arameans to destroy them. There is a cutoff point and that cutoff point arrives after Jeroboam II ascends to the throne. "The Lord had seen how bitterly everyone in Israel, whether slave or free, was suffering; there was no one to help them. And since the Lord had not said He would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Jehoash." (2 Kings 14:26-27) In the Bible we find the Lord vowing to wipe out the names of particular dynasties in Israel and we find Him vowing to wipe out certain ancient nations. But we never find the Lord saying He's going to completely wipe Israel from the face of the earth. At times in the Bible the Lord uses the oppression of other nations to discipline His people when they get off track but He always calls a halt to this form of chastisement before any other nation can destroy Israel. 

In your life and in my life the Lord only allows troubles and trials to last long enough to accomplish what He wants to accomplish. Hardships are sometimes the result of our waywardness, sometimes a form of training to help us build spiritual muscle, sometimes a method of building our faith. We may not know the reason for everything that's happened to us until we get to heaven. But we can be certain that the Lord won't allow any difficult season to last one second longer than it needs to last.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 163, Amaziah King Of Judah, Part Five

Yesterday we learned that King Amaziah fell into idolatry after winning successful battles against the Edomites. As some of the plunder, he brought graven images back from Edom. We discussed how the Lord had forbidden His people to do anything with graven images except destroy them. He clearly stated in Deuteronomy 7 that no one was to ever bring such items into their home, yet Amaziah not only brought them into his home but began bowing down to worship them.

I expressed the opinion that he likely scooped up idols from the land of Edom because they were coated in gold or silver. Perhaps he coveted the precious metals on them and intended to have the metals melted off (contrary to the Lord's commands) after he got the images back to Jerusalem. But something in his character caused him to have a weakness where idolatry was concerned. Having these items in his possession was a temptation and a snare to him. We don't know how long it took him to become captivated by the idols to the point of making sacrifices to them, but when a prophet of the Lord rebuked him for his behavior, he threatened the prophet with death if he did not shut his mouth. I do not think Amaziah set out to become an idolater when he seized the graven images of the Edomites but what happened to him clearly illustrates what a slippery slope we are on when we choose to interact closely with something the Lord has forbidden.

The prophet's parting shot as he left the palace was, "I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel." We talked about the enormous amount of influence the king has on the people of Judah. It's bad enough for any average citizen to live in an ungodly manner and to be a bad influence those close to him. But the king is a highly visible public figure. His ungodly actions have more far-reaching consequences than the actions of someone who is not in the public eye. This is why the Lord's word of judgment for him is especially harsh. 

When we studied the reign of King Jehoash of Israel, who was a contemporary of King Amaziah, we studied the war that took place between the two men. Men of Israel were attacking cities and towns of Judah while Amaziah was off to war against the Edomites. He challenged the king of Israel to a fight---a fight that Amaziah lost because the Lord was not with him due to his idolatry. We might have expected the prophecy against Amaziah to come true at that time but the Lord gave him time and opportunity to repent. After capturing Amaziah in battle, King Jehoash took him with him to Jerusalem as a hostage because this allowed Jehoash to break through the city wall without opposition from the people. Then, after looting the city and the palace and the temple and taking many people as captives, he contemptuously left Amaziah on the throne of Judah as if he considered him of so little consequence that he felt no need to kill him. 

King Jehoash appears not to have lived a very long time after defeating Amaziah in battle, for the authors of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles mentions his death right after telling us of his victory over the king of Judah. Amaziah outlives him by fifteen years. "Amaziah son of Joash king of Israel lived for fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel." (2 Kings 14:17, 2 Chronicles 25:25) Amaziah's military defeat should have caused him to think about why the Lord wasn't with him in battle against Israel in the way He was with him in battle against Edom. The difference was that he was still faithful to the Lord when he went to quell the rebellion in Edom but he was being unfaithful to the Lord by the time he challenged the king of Israel to a fight. But Amaziah never considers his ways and repents of them. This is why the prophecy against him comes true.

"From the time that Amaziah turned away from following the Lord, they conspired against him in Jerusalem and he fled to Lachish, but they sent men after him to Lachish and killed him there. He was brought back by horse and buried with his ancestors in the City of Judah." (2 Chronicles 25:27-28) 

The author of 2 Kings provides us with this same information except for not telling us exactly when the conspiracy began against the king. We don't know whether people began turning against him because they heard of his idolatry or whether they (unlike the king himself) realized that the invasion of Jerusalem by Jehoash was a direct result of Amaziah's unfaithfulness toward the Lord. A conspiracy, likely among those officials or military men close to him, forms and the king suspects it or receives word of confirmation about it. He flees to Lachish in an effort to escape the threat against his life but it is no use. Some scholars think that the people of Lachish gave him up to the conspirators. We don't know exactly how his death came about but there's one thing we know for certain: the idols of Edom (which he very well may have taken with him when he fled from Jerusalem) were no help to him. He didn't repent of turning away from the Lord and there was no place on earth he could have hidden from his judgment. To quote the words of Moses: "You may be sure that your sin will find you out." (Numbers 32:23)

"Then all the people took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah." (2 Kings 14:21-22) Azariah is also called Uzziah in the Scriptures. The author of 2 Chronicles will use the name Uzziah for him and, as the details of his life are clearly the same as those of the man called Azariah by the author of 2 Kings, there is no doubt that Azariah and Uzziah are one and the same. His reign will be one of the longest of the kings of Judah. 

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 162, Amaziah King Of Judah, Part Four

In Sunday's study King Amaziah released the hired soldiers of the northern kingdom from his service upon the advice of a prophet. Now he goes out to fight against the Edomites, who are rebelling against Judah, with his army made up of of 300,000 men from Judah. He is successful because he was obedient to the Lord in regard to the hired soldiers. 

"Amaziah then marshaled his strength and led his army to the Valley of Salt, where he killed ten thousand men of Seir. The army of Judah also captured ten thousand men alive, took them to the top of a cliff and threw them down so that all were dashed to pieces." (2 Chronicles 25:11-12) The author of 2 Kings adds this: "He was the one who defeated ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt and captured Sela in battle, calling it Joktheel, the name it has to this day." (2 Kings 14:7) As we learned in yesterday's study, the name "Joktheel" means "God subdued". 

Amaziah begins his reign by being obedient to the Lord but he gets spiritually off track after defeating the Edomites. "When Amaziah returned from slaughtering the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people of Seir. He set them up as his own gods, bowed down to them and burned sacrifices to them." (2 Chronicles 25:14) 

What in the world causes him to do such a thing? The gods of Edom couldn't protect the Edomites against the army of the Lord's people; what could they possibly do for Amaziah? I presume that he initially seized these objects as part of the plunder he took from the Edomites since idols were typically plated in precious metals. But the people of the Lord were forbidden to have anything at all to do with idols. The Lord commanded them never to create graven images for themselves and He commanded them to destroy the graven images of the nations they subdued, saying, "The images of their gods you are to burn in the fire. Do not covet the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it. Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. Regard it as vile and utterly detest it, for it is set apart for destruction." (Deuteronomy 7:25-26)

Amaziah sinned against the Lord when he took the idols of Edom as plunder. He was forbidden to do anything at all with a graven image except to destroy it. But I believe he coveted the gold and silver on the idols of Edom. Perhaps he grabbed them up intending to take them back to Judah to melt the gold and silver plating off them to recoup his loss of the 3.4 metric tons of silver he paid to the mercenaries of Israel that he had to let go in yesterday's text. If so, then he not only sinned in taking the idols back to Judah with him but he also sinned in not believing the word of God, for the Lord promised him through the unnamed prophet of 2 Chronicles 25 that the Lord was able to give him back far more money than he'd lost if he would be obedient to the Lord. 

I doubt Amaziah took the idols of Edom with the intention of bowing to them and making sacrifices to them, but once they were in his palace he became "ensnared" by them as the Lord warned His people in Deuteronomy 7. He found himself captivated by them. Although there is no God except the God of Israel and although idols are nothing in themselves, there is a very real force behind idolatry. Satan is behind idolatry. Satan wants to be worshiped in place of God but it's difficult to entice people to worship him outright. Most people would never willingly bow to the devil himself. If he cannot tempt people into outright devil worship he will do what he considers to be the next best thing. He will entice them to worship something---anything!---instead of God.

There was some sort of weakness in Amaziah that made him susceptible to the sin of idolatry. But if he had done as the Lord commanded instead of taking the idols home with him, he might have successfully resisted idolatry for his entire life. The Lord sends a prophet to him with a warning but Amaziah doesn't listen. "The anger of the Lord burned against Amaziah, and He sent a prophet to him, who said, 'Why do you consult this people's gods, which could not save their own people from your hand?' While he was still speaking, the king said to him, 'Have we appointed you an adviser to the king? Stop! Why be struck down?'" (2 Chronicles 25:15-16a) The king is so offended by being confronted by his sin that he threatens the prophet with death if he will not be silent. The prophet leaves his presence and says this as his parting shot: "So the prophet stopped but said, 'I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.'" (2 Chronicles 16b)

What Amaziah is doing is detrimental not only to himself but to his family members and to all the citizens of Judah. He is in a position of great power and influence. He can be an example of godly living for the entire nation or he can be an example of ungodly living for the entire nation. Although it's important for every person on the face of the earth to live in a way that honors the Lord, someone in Amaziah's position has an even greater responsibility to live in a way that honors the Lord. What he does impacts far more people than what an average citizen does; therefore he falls under greater judgment than an average citizen.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 161, Amaziah King Of Judah, Part Three

In our last study session we found Amaziah sentencing to death the two men who had conspired to kill his father Joash while Joash was bedridden due to a battle wound. What these men did was commit premeditated murder and premeditated murder was a capital offense in the Bible and in most (if not all) cultures of the world then and now. Amaziah went by what the word of God said concerning such cases and we discussed how it was not only a matter of abiding by the law but also a matter of security for himself and the nation. 

As we begin today's study we find Amaziah taking further steps to strengthen and defend the nation of Judah. He works on building up the army so that it is a formidable force. "Amaziah called the people of Judah together and assigned them according to their families to commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin. He then mustered those twenty years old or more and found that there were three hundred thousand men fit for military service, able to handle the spear and the shield." (2 Chronicles 25:5) 

He is going to make war with the Edomites, who have rebelled against the kingdom of Judah. David defeated them during his reign and made them subject to the nation of Israel (which was intact at that time) but as we learned earlier in our study of the kings: "Edom rebelled against Judah and set up its own king." (2 Kings 8:20) The rebellion began during the reign of King Jehoram, Ahaziah's great-grandfather, which resulted in a battle that Jehoram did not win. By the time Amaziah comes to the throne, Edom is still in rebellion against Judah. Amaziah wants to take back control of that land.

He doesn't feel that 300,000 troops are enough to do the job. We briefly looked last week at this next event, since this passage was combined with our study of the reign of King Jehoash of Israel, but we didn't look at these verses word by word. "He also hired a hundred thousand fighting men from Israel for a hundred talents of silver." (2 Chronicles 25:6) It was a common practice in ancient times for kings to hire mercenaries to go to battle with the king's own troops. However, it is not necessary for the Lord's people to do this; their security is in Him. We've already seen the Lord winning many battles for His people on the pages of the Bible even when His people were vastly outnumbered. More manpower is not what Amaziah needs. More "faithpower" is what he needs. Amaziah is going to lose his money because he didn't consult the Lord before making a deal with these men.

"But a man of God came to him and said, 'Your Majesty, these troops from Israel must not march with you, for the Lord is not with Israel---not with any of the people of Ephraim. Even if you go and fight courageously in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to overthrow.'" (2 Chronicles 25:7-8) The people of the northern kingdom of Israel are worshiping at the golden calf sites located at Dan and Bethel. Although these calves are intended to symbolize the Lord, the calves are an abomination to the Lord because He forbade anyone to make images to represent Him. The people of the northern kingdom are not idolaters by the strictest definition of the word but they are living in disobedience to the Lord by using the images and by not taking their offerings and sacrifices to the Lord's house as commanded by Him. Therefore, the Lord won't bless an alliance between Ahaziah's army and the hired soldiers from Israel. At this time in his reign Amaziah is still doing what is right in the Lord's eyes, spiritually speaking, and to ally himself in battle with the hired soldiers would represent being "yoked together with unbelievers", as the Apostle Paul described close alliances between those who are living in obedience and those who are not.

Amaziah listens to the prophet's words and is willing to do what the Lord says. But he's concerned about the money he's already handed over to the mercenaries, which is estimated to have been approximately 3.4 metric tons of silver. "Amaziah asked the man of God, 'But what about the hundred talents I paid to these Israelite troops?'" (2 Chronicles 24:9a) A metric ton of silver at today's prices would be worth around $690,549. This means that in today's money Amaziah paid the men $2,347,866! We can see why Amaziah is reluctant to part with this sum but part with it he must. 

"The man of God replied, 'The Lord can give you much more than that.'" (2 Chronicles 24:9b) Amaziah would have been wise to consult the Lord in the first place, before hiring the men, and then he would not have incurred the loss. The mercenaries kept their end of the bargain by packing up, leaving the northern kingdom and leaving whoever and whatever belongs to them there, and traveling to Jerusalem to fight in a war for a king who is not their king. They showed up as promised and no doubt they would have performed as promised. Amaziah is the one breaking his end of the bargain and he cannot ask for his money back. 

The prophet reassures Amaziah that the Lord supplies the needs of His people. The Lord will restore the hundred talents of silver many times over if Amaziah will be obedient to Him. To his credit, Amaziah does what the prophet advises him to do. "So Amaziah dismissed the troops who had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home. They were furious with Judah and left for home in a great rage." (2 Chronicles 24:10) This great rage and the way they handle it is the reason for the war (which we've already studied) between King Amaziah of Judah and King Jehoash of Israel. The mercenaries begin attacking cities and towns of Judah, looting the houses and businesses and killing 3,000 citizens in the process, resulting in Amaziah declaring war on Israel. But why are they in a great rage after being paid over two million dollars without having to fire a single shot in battle? 

Although they've been paid a considerable amount of money, they stood to make a great deal more if they fought a victorious war against Edom while allied with Judah. Sharing in the battle with Judah entitled them to share in the plunder with Judah. The men of Ephraim would have been carrying home far more than the 3.4 metric tons of silver; they would have taken home large amounts of the items that had belonged to the Edomite army and the Edomite citizens, such as more precious metals, horses, chariots, weapons, shields, armor, tents, food supplies, clothing, and so on. Being sent home means they won't have access to any of these valuables. Being sent home also means their reputation as an elite fighting force is in danger of being tarnished. Rumors will go around that the king of Judah found them unsatisfactory and they might never get hired again by anyone.

Amaziah may have lost a lot of money but by obeying the words of the Lord he doesn't lose the fight against Edom. His own reputation will soar to new heights as he becomes known as "the one who defeated ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt and captured Sela in battle, calling it Joktheel, the name it has to this day". (2 Kings 14:7) We will study Amaziah's war against the Edomites in our next study session but as we conclude today's study we learn that he gives the Lord all the credit for his victory. We know this because he names the city he captures "Joktheel" which means "God subdued".

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 160, Amaziah King Of Judah, Part Two

We are studying the reign of King Amaziah of Judah. In yesterday's text we learned that he was twenty-five when he inherited the throne. When he is certain he has plenty of support behind him, he takes action against the men who killed his father, King Joash. You'll recall from 2 Kings 12:20-21 and 2 Chronicles 24:25-26 that Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer conspired against Joash and assassinated him at Beth Millo. As we begin today's passage we find Amaziah avenging his father's death.

"After the kingdom was firmly in his grasp, he executed the officials who had murdered his father the king." (2 Kings 14:5, 2 Chronicles 25:3) Amaziah's ascension to the throne came about not because his father died of natural causes but because his father's life was taken. He cannot allow the men to get away with what they've done, not only because they committed a capital crime but also because they could present a danger to himself and to his own family. In addition, not dealing with these men would make him appear weak and this would only lead to feelings of dissatisfaction and distrust among the officials and citizens of Judah. He has to make an example of these men in order to protect himself and his family. He must also do it to foster confidence in his subjects and to make the enemies of Judah think twice before attacking a nation whose king is not afraid to take decisive action.

Amaziah does not do what a son of an assassinated king of a heathen nation of his day would have done. It was customary in pagan nations to wipe out the entire family of the person or persons who killed their nation's leader. "Yet he did not put the children of the assassins to death, in accordance with what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses where the Lord commanded: 'Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.'" (2 Kings 14:5-6, 2 Chronicles 25:4) 

The law quoted by these authors is found in Deuteronomy 24:16. The Lord put this law in place because a person cannot control the behavior of others. Parents may do the best job they can possibly do in raising their children to be godly, law-abiding citizens but proper upbringing does not guarantee righteous behavior. I personally know several people who raised families in which all but one child grew up to be responsible members of society. They don't know why one of their children grew up to have no respect for them, for the Lord, or for the laws of the land. It would not be right to punish these parents for the deeds of their wayward children. Likewise, it would not be right to punish children for the deeds of their parents. The only behavior a person can control is his or her own behavior. No one can force another person to care about and follow the Lord's laws or the nation's laws. 

In yesterday's study we were informed that Amaziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, at least in the beginning of his reign, and here we find an example of this. Amaziah doesn't handle his father's assassination in the way pagan kings would handle it. He uses the word of God as his guidebook when he orders capital punishment to be carried out on the men who committed a crime worthy of death. These men lay in wait for his father when Joash was vulnerable and unsuspecting---as he lay in bed trying to recover from wounds he received in a battle with the Arameans---and they took advantage of his weak condition to end his life. Amaziah has the legal right to order these men executed, not only as the leader of the government but as the "avenger of blood" (the male next of kin) of the murdered man. We studied about the "avenger of blood" earlier in the Old Testament and we won't go back over that material again but I bring the subject up to point out that the word of God gives Amaziah the right to do what he does in today's text. In fact, it would have been wrong not to take action. It would have violated laws the Lord put in place to deal with such crimes, it would have violated moral laws, and it would have sent the wrong kind of message to anyone thinking about attacking King Amaziah, his family, or the nation of Judah. He would have been doing his people a disservice if he had not dealt with the crime in the manner it deserves. Even had he wanted to, which is doubtful, he could not in good conscience pardon Jozabad and Jehozabad. 

Now that he has secured his throne against threats from within the nation, in our next study session he will take steps to secure his nation against threats from enemy nations. 

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 159, Amaziah King Of Judah, Part One

Today we will begin studying the reign of King Amaziah of Judah, the son of Joash. 

We previously looked at an event in Amaziah's life that was connected with King Jehoash of Israel. You will recall that Amaziah hired mercenaries from the northern kingdom of Israel (100,000 men of the tribe of Ephraim) to join his own army. But a prophet of the Lord warned him that if these men went out with the army of Judah, the Lord would not give him success, so he released the men from their contract and paid them anyway. But allowing them to keep the money didn't prevent them from harboring hard feelings against him. They made repeated incursions into the nation of Judah, attacking various cities and towns, looting the public and private buildings, and killing at least 3,000 citizens of Judah in the process. Amaziah declared war against the king of Israel but lost the battle because Amaziah had brought foreign idols into Judah following his wars with the land of Edom.

Since we have already studied the account of Amaziah's battle with Jehoash, we won't go back over much of that material but will mainly study the other events of his reign. "In the second year of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel, Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Jehoaddan; she was from Jerusalem." (2 Kings 14:1-2, 2 Chronicles 25:1) 

We learned earlier in the Bible that the high priest Jehoiada chose two wives for King Joash, Amaziah's father. We don't know whether Joash ever took any more wives or any concubines but I feel certain that Jehoaddan was one of the wives chosen for Joash by the priest. I can't imagine the priest choosing foreign women for the king. I also wouldn't expect him to bring women in from the northern kingdom or even from territories in Judah that are far from Jerusalem. The reason I think this is because the best way for Jehoiada to be sure he was selecting godly wives for Joash was to select women from the city in which the priest lived. This way he could thoroughly investigate the character of these women.

Joash lived in God-honoring ways as long as his uncle and mentor, the priest Jehoiada, was alive. After Jehoiada's death he listened to ungodly advice and made some poor choices. We talked about how Joash started his reign better than he finished it, which will be true of Amaziah as well. But in today's study we are looking at the beginning of his reign when it can still be said he is doing the right things. "He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not as his father David had done. In everything he followed the example of his father Joash. The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there." (2 Kings 14:3-4) 

Amaziah's father was king of Judah for forty years. We don't know at what point in Joash's reign that Amaziah was born. We don't know whether the priest Jehoiada died before Amaziah was born or whether Jehoiada was still alive and being a good influence on Joash during Amaziah's formative years. I tend to think that Joash was still doing a lot of things right during at least part of Amaziah's younger years since the author of 2 Kings links Amaziah's "doing what was right" with "the example of his father Joash". The author takes care to point out that Amaziah does far fewer things right than did his forefather David. 

One of the errors he makes is not removing the high places in Israel---the hilltop altars where the people used to worship the Lord before they had a centralized location of worship in Jerusalem. Leaving these altars is just asking for trouble, for worshiping at a distance from the house of God and apart from the body of believers tends to cause people to drift from a close relationship with the Lord. Even if the people of Judah don't fall into outright idolatry by straying from the main body of believers, it puts them in a position of weakness when other temptations come their way. This is why the Apostle Peter compared Satan to a lion stalking its prey; the lion prefers to stalk a creature that has strayed from its herd because it's so much easier to tackle and take down a loner. (1 Peter 5:8) 

In tomorrow's study we will look at the steps Amaziah takes at the beginning of his reign to protect the security of his throne and the security of his nation, politically and militarily speaking. But today we have learned that he did not do enough, spiritually speaking, to secure his heart and the hearts of the people against temptation. This is why we will find him bowing to images of false deities later on.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 158, Jehoash King Of Israel, Part Five

Today will be concluding our look at the reign of King Jehoash of Israel. 

Yesterday we learned he visited the prophet Elisha right before Elisha passed away. The author of 2 Kings adds an interesting little postscript to the story of Elisha.

"Now Moabite raiders used to enter the country every spring. Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man's body into Elisha's tomb. When the body touched Elisha's bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet." (2 Kings 13:20b-21) The author brings up the subject of Moabite raiders in the second half of verse 20 in which he told us that Elisha died and was buried. Many scholars have taken that to mean that the Moabites considered it a good opportunity to begin attacking Israel now that Israel's chief prophet is dead. Perhaps they concluded that without Elisha interceding with the Lord on behalf of Israel, the Lord would not protect the nation from invaders.

King Jehoash seemed to fear that the death of Elisha represented a threat to the nation. In our last study session, as King Jehoash stood weeping by Elisha's sickbed, Elisha promised him three victories over the Arameans who were presently troubling the land. The fact that Elisha brings up the subject of an enemy nation while the king weeps indicates that one of the most pressing matters on the king's mind was national security. But the nation's security does not depend on Elisha being on the earth. The nation's security depends on the God of Israel, who proves this by performing a miracle soon after Elisha's death. The miracle involves Elisha, in a sense, but it is not performed by Elisha. The Lord Himself performs this miracle to prove that He is still acting on behalf of Israel even though Israel's chief prophet has passed on. 

When the Moabite raiders enter a cemetery where Israelite men are burying a body, the Israelites are alarmed and want to get out of the area quickly---no doubt because they are unarmed and outnumbered. Their intention is likely to return at a safer time to finish digging the grave but in the meantime they open the door to the tomb of Elisha and deposit the man's body there where it will not be scavenged by animals. But when the man's body touches the bones of Elisha, he is raised back to life! Interestingly, nothing more is said about this miraculous event. We don't know the man's identity. We don't know how the gravediggers reacted when he was resurrected. We don't know how long he lived after being raised from the dead. We don't know whether the Moabite raiders witnessed this event and if it struck terror in them. I would like to know much more about this story and can only presume that the reason no further details are provided is because the details were well known to those still living at the time the author penned these words, rendering further explanations unnecessary at that time.

As well as performing this miracle to prove He still cares about Israel and is still acting on behalf of the nation, the Lord prevents the Arameans from thoroughly oppressing or even destroying Israel. We have already learned that Hazael, the king of Aram, has repeatedly attacked the nation and has defeated and subjugated a number of the cities and towns of Israel. But the Lord places a limit on how much the Arameans can do and He gives the Israelites three major victories against this enemy.

The author reminds us that the Arameans troubled Israel repeatedly during the reign of Jehoash's father, Jehoahaz. The Arameans continued to trouble the nation during the reign of Jehoash but the Lord had mercy on the people and brought about some relief from the enemy. "Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel throughout the reign of Jehoahaz. But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion and showed concern for them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To this day He has been unwilling to destroy them or banish them from His presence. Hazael king of Aram died, and Ben-Hadad his son succeeded him as king. Then Jehoash son of Jehoahaz recaptured from Ben-Hadad son of Hazael the towns he had taken in battle from his father Jehoahaz. Three times Jehoash defeated him, and so he recovered the Israelite towns." (2 Kings 13:24-25)

The new king of Aram is not the first king of Aram by the name of Ben-Hadad. Hazael called his son by the name of the man who was king of Aram before Hazael, which is ironic when we consider that the first Ben-Hadad was murdered by Hazael himself in 2 Kings 8. Hazael went into the king's room while he lay sick in bed and suffocated him to death, then he assumed the throne in his place.

We must back up a few verses in the narrative to capture the death of Jehoash. "Jehoash rested with his ancestors, and Jeroboam succeeded him on the throne. Jehoash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel." (2 Kings 13:13) Jeroboam, the son of Jehoash, is also known as Jeroboam II because Israel's first king after the ten northern tribes split from the two southern tribes was also named Jeroboam. Before we move on to study the reign of King Jehoash's son, Jeroboam II, we must complete our study of King Amaziah of Judah who was on the throne of Judah during part of Jehoash's reign and for fifteen years of Jeroboam II's reign.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 157, Jehoash King Of Israel, Part Four

Today we study the death of the prophet Elisha and take a look at a meeting between the prophet and the king of Israel that took place just before Elisha's death. 

"Now Elisha had been suffering from the illness from which he died. Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. 'My father! My father!' he cried. 'The chariots and horsemen of Israel!'" (2 Kings 13:14) Based on the length of the reigns of the kings of Israel from the time Elisha was called to be a prophet until the time he passes away, about sixty years have gone by. If we knew how old Elisha was when he answered the Lord's calling on his life, we would know his approximate age now, but I think we can come up with a ballpark figure. When the prophet Elijah stopped by Elisha's home to throw his prophet's mantle across him as Elisha plowed his father's fields and supervised servants doing the same, Elisha was old enough to be performing the work of a responsible and dependable grown man. But he was young enough to still be unmarried. My guess is that he was somewhere between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five when he said goodbye to his parents to be the apprentice of the prophet Elijah. This would make him anywhere from seventy-eight to eighty-five years old at the time of his death, although I do want to point out that some scholars suggest he could have been as old as ninety when he died.

Elisha has lived a long life. He has served the Lord and ministered to the nation of Israel for six decades. He is now terminally ill and upon hearing this news the king goes to his house to visit him. The king is grief-stricken by the prophet's imminent death because even though he doesn't worship the Lord in the place and in the manner the Lord commanded, he has not forsaken the Lord for false gods as some of his predecessors did. He appears to hold the Lord's prophet in high esteem and he weeps at his bedside, calling him "father" and quoting the same words of distress that Elisha himself spoke at the scene of Elijah's departure.

When the Lord took the prophet Elijah from the earth in a whirlwind, Elisha was present to observe him being caught up to heaven. The author of 2 Kings told us, "As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, 'My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!'" (2 Kings 2:11-12a) I believe King Jehoash quotes Elisha's own words to demonstrate his deep distress to the prophet. Just as Elisha was extremely saddened to see Elijah taken from the earth, the king is very grieved to know that Elisha will soon depart from the earth.

The nation of Israel has been severely oppressed by the nation of Aram during King Jehoash's reign and during the reign of Jehoash's father, Jehoahaz. It could be that Jehoash fears there is no hope of defeating this oppressive enemy with the counsel of Elisha. Elisha wants to give him words of encouragement that the situation will improve. Elisha's intention may also be to remind the king that the Lord is Israel's helper and that He is able to give victory whether or not Elisha is still on the earth. The king is to place his trust in the Lord, not on a man. Elisha gives the king something to do that is intended to symbolize victory. 

"Elisha said, 'Get a bow and some arrows,' and he did so. 'Take the bow in your hands,' he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king's hands. 'Open the east window,' he said, and he opened it. 'Shoot!' Elisha said, and he shot. 'The Lord's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!' Elisha declared. 'You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.'" (2 Kings 13:15-17) The east window looked toward the region of Aram. Aphek is the location where the late King Ahab won a great victory against the Arameans. But since the day of Ahab's victory the Arameans have taken control of many cities and towns of Israel in the east and have subjugated the people there, as we learned earlier in our study of the Jehu Dynasty of Israel. Elisha is assuring the king that the situation in the east won't always be the way it is now.

King Ahab's victory over the Arameans was very decisive, culminating in the capture of the Aramean king, Ben-Hadad. But contrary to the Lord's instructions, Ahab did not put Ben-Hadad to death. Instead he made a treaty with him---a treaty whose terms Ben-Hadad didn't even fully satisfy, for he refused to return to Israel some of the cities his late father had captured. If Ahab had done what he should have done, the Israelites would not now be suffering oppression from the Arameans. But the kings of the Jehu Dynasty have an opportunity to finish the job that Ahab should have finished. Finishing the job, however, is going to take faith. Sadly, it takes more faith than King Jehoash will demonstrate in today's text.

The prophet Elisha instructs Jehoash to perform another action intended to symbolize Israel's victory over Aram. "Then he said, 'Take the arrows,' and the king took them. Elisha told him, 'Strike the ground.' He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, 'You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.'" (2 Kings 13:18-19) The words "strike the ground" create the mental picture of Jehoash taking an arrow in his hand and hitting the ground with the pointed end three times. But according to most of the background material I studied for our session today, scholars believe the prophet was telling Jehoash to shoot the arrows into the ground with the bow. This is intended to represent the Israelites militarily driving the Arameans into the ground. The prophet's frustration toward the king indicates that Jehoash is well aware of what the shooting of the arrows represents and that by only shooting three times Jehoash has failed to display the amount of emotion he should be feeling when performing an action that symbolizes defeating a powerful enemy. Jehoash is lacking in passion. Jehoash is lacking in faith. His desire to defeat the oppressor of his people should have been so great that to indicate this desire he would have kept shooting arrows until he ran out of arrows.

Elisha is indignant because he knows unbelief blocks blessings. The king's low level of faith will prevent him from receiving all the blessings the Lord wants to give him. The nation won't receive the full deliverance the Lord would like to provide because the king and many of the people are living mediocre spiritual lives. Jehoash and the people have been only partially obedient to the Lord and as a result they will receive only a portion of all that could have been theirs.

I am certain I have missed out on the full measure of the Lord's blessing at times. Even right now I'm having trouble looking ahead with hope. I've been praying the prayer of a man who wanted to believe the Lord would answer his prayer but who, at the same time, was struggling to believe it: "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24) It's possible to believe and to harbor unbelief at the same time. It's possible to believe that the Lord is able to do great things while at the same time not being certain He will. It's possible to feel confident that He will answer the prayers of others while not feeling assured He will answer our prayers. It's at those times that we must pray, "Lord, I want to believe and I do believe but at the same time I'm struggling with unbelief. Please heal me of my unbelief! Please increase my faith so I can receive all the beautiful blessings You want to give me!"

The author of 2 Kings concludes today's segment by saying, "Elisha died and was buried." (2 Kings 13:20a) In tomorrow's study we will study a miracle involving the bones of Elisha and then we will conclude our study of King Jehoash when he passes away and is laid to rest.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 156, Jehoash King Of Israel, Part Three

In yesterday's study King Amaziah of Judah challenged King Jehoash of Israel to a fight. Men from Jehoash's kingdom---men of the tribe of Ephraim---have been making incursions into cities of Judah, attacking people and even killing people and looting their homes. This appears to be the motivation for Amaziah's desire to go to war with Israel and yesterday we discussed two possible reasons why Jehoash has done nothing to stop the Ephraimites. 

When Jehoash received the message from Amaziah challenging him to a fight, he basically replied that he thinks Amaziah is getting too big for his britches. He said Amaziah was puffed up with pride because he successfully fought the Edomites but he warned Amaziah that he was now picking a fight with the wrong nation. He threatened Amaziah that the army of Israel will trample the army of Judah underfoot. 

We talked about whether or not King Jehoash is actually being truthful about the size and skill of his army. We know that Israel's many battles with the Arameans severely reduced the size of Jehoash's fathers army and that Jehoash came to the throne with an incredibly small number of troops. We don't know the size of Jehoash's army at this time but I expressed doubts that he can really match or outnumber Ahaziah's 300,000 troops. However, Amaziah may not be fully aware of how many soldiers Jehoash does or does not have. Jehoash's claim to be able to beat the army of Judah may be a bluff because he does not want to go to war.

It is my opinion that the king of Judah has a larger army at this time than the king of Israel but it's not going to matter because the Lord is going to allow the king of Israel to have the victory in the upcoming battle. The reason for this is because, after Amaziah won his war against the Edomites, he brought home a number of the idolatrous images of the nation of Edom and began bowing to them and making offerings to them. The Lord is not going to fight on Amaziah's side because Amaziah is serving false gods and expecting them to help him defeat the Israelite army. In order to show Amaziah and the people of Judah that the gods of Edom do not exist and cannot help anyone, the Lord has to allow Amaziah to lose the battle.

When Amaziah receives King Jehoash's message of reply, he is not dissuaded from fighting against him. He goes ahead with preparing his troops for war, so Jehoash goes on the offensive and makes the first move. "Amaziah, however, would not listen, so Jehoash king of Israel attacked. He and King Amaziah of Judah faced each other at Beth Shemesh in Judah. Judah was routed by Israel, and every man fled to his home." (2 Kings 14:11-12) The author of 2 Chronicles makes it clear that the defeat of Amaziah's army is due to the idolatry into which Amaziah and many of the men have fallen. "God so worked that He might deliver them into the hands of Jehoash, because they sought the gods of Edom." (2 Chronicles 25:20) Jehoash himself is not living the way he should, spiritually speaking, but at least he has not forsaken the Lord for heathen gods. He is disobeying the Lord by worshiping at the golden calf sites in Israel (the golden calves set up by King Jeroboam to symbolize the Lord) but has not denied the name of the Lord in favor of pagan deities. 

Amaziah and his men are fighting on their home turf, where they know the layout of the land and where they know the best places from which to launch an attack on the invaders, but they are unable to repel the Israelite army. When the battle begins going against them, Amaziah's men desert him and leave him unprotected. "Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Ahaziah, at Beth Shemesh. Then Jehoash went to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate---a section of about four hundred cubits long. He took all the gold and silver and all the articles found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace. He also took hostages and returned to Samaria." (2 Kings 14:13-14, 2 Chronicles 25:23-24)

When we study the reign of Amaziah we will learn that he will live on for fifteen years past the death of King Jehoash. So what do the authors of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles mean when they say that King Jehoash took Amaziah hostage? It is thought by many scholars that Jehoash took Amaziah hostage only for the purpose of gaining easy admittance to Jerusalem. With Amaziah in his custody, no one was going to oppose Jehoash and his men with violence lest the king of Judah be caught in the crossfire. The only other known historical account of the battle between Amaziah and Jehoash is contained in the writings of the ancient historian Flavius Josephus who states that the Lord sent a great panic on the army of Judah, causing them to flee the battle, and that Jehoash was able to break through the wall of Jerusalem and drive his chariot through the opening without anyone doing anything to stop him. After looting the city and the temple, the king of Israel evidently let Amaziah go back to his palace. I imagine Jehoash doing this in an attitude of contempt, as if he considers Amaziah so weak and helpless that he represents no threat whatsoever to Israel. Upon taking his leave of the city, Jehoash allows Amaziah to go back to the palace to sit on the throne and wear the crown of Judah---impotently, in Jehoash's opinion, since the king who challenged him was unable to back up his threats.

In tomorrow's study we will take a look at a meeting between King Jehoash and the prophet Elisha. Then we will study the deaths of the king and the prophet before coming back to study the rest of the events described in the Bible regarding the reign of King Amaziah.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 155, Jehoash King Of Israel, Part Two

Jehoash is the third king of the "Jehu Dynasty". Jehu, his grandfather, put to death King Joram of Israel along with Jezebel and the prophets of Baal, then he destroyed the temple of Baal in Israel. After Jehu's death his son Jehoahaz reigned after him and then Jehoahaz's son, Jehoash, ascended to the throne.

Jehoash's reign coincides with that of Amaziah of Judah and today we will be looking at a war that took place between them. We will learn some additional details about Amaziah later on when we study his reign but for now we will just study this war because the author of 2 Kings already brought the subject up in our last study session.

We have to look briefly at some background information to explain why the king of Judah challenged the king of Israel to a fight. Amaziah had amassed and trained a powerful army with which he won a very decisive battle against the Edomites. In addition to putting together his own army, he had hired mercenaries from the tribe of Ephraim to fight with him but he was warned by a prophet that the Lord would not be with him in his struggle against the Edomites if he fought with men from the northern kingdom of Israel. Amaziah wisely listened to the prophet and sent the men home, allowing them to keep the money without having to fight at all. But being let go enraged them and they began attacking cities of Judah, killing three thousand citizens of Judah and carrying a great deal of plunder out of the southern kingdom. This is evidently why Amaziah wants to fight against Israel. I think he has probably asked the king of Israel, perhaps more than once, to order the men of Ephraim to stand down and stop raiding the cities of Judah. Jehoash either lacks the desire to make the Ephraimites stop (either because he doesn't care or because he's receiving a percentage of the plunder they are taking) or he lacks the power to make them stop. 2 Chronicles 25:6 states that these Ephraimite mercenaries numbered 100,000 and Jehoash may not be able to control what this many men are doing. We will discuss momentarily why Jehoash's army may not be very large at this time. 

"After Amaziah king of Judah consulted his advisers, he sent this challenge to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, with the challenge: 'Come, let us face each other in battle.' But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: 'A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, 'Give your daughter to my son in marriage.' Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle underfoot. You have indeed defeated Edom and now you are arrogant. Glory in your victory, but stay at home! Why ask for trouble and cause your own downfall and that of Judah also?'" (2 Kings 14:8-10, 2 Chronicles 25:17-19) 

The king of Israel replies to Amaziah's message with a parable. In this parable Amaziah is the "thistle" and Jehoash is the "cedar". Jehoash is saying that the king of Judah is trying to pick a fight with someone too big and powerful for him to defeat. Jehoash is comparing the army of Israel to a "wild beast" that will trample the army of Judah underfoot. He warns Amaziah that the victory of Israel will result in the deaths of many soldiers of Judah, possibly the death of Amaziah himself, and perhaps even the downfall of the entire nation of Judah. Basically he's saying, "Just because you fought the kingdom of Edom and won doesn't mean you can fight Israel and win. You've allowed your successful war against the Edomites to go to your head. You're asking for trouble---unnecessary trouble---by picking a fight with me. Stay home and bask in your success against Edom. Stay home and attend to the business of your own country." 

We learned earlier in our study of the dynasty of Jehu that by the time Jehoash's father died the army of Israel had been severely reduced by having to repeatedly fight against the Arameans who kept attacking and subduing various areas of the kingdom of Israel. By the time Jehoash ascended to the throne, his late father's army had been reduced to fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen. We don't know how big of an army Jehoash has been able to amass since he became king but the Bible tells us that Amaziah called up and trained an army of 300,000 soldiers. (2 Chronicles 25:5) Unless Jehoash has more men than Amaziah, which is difficult to imagine after so many Israelites were killed in battles against the Arameans just a short time ago, then comparing his army to a "wild beast" that will trample Judah underfoot seems like an empty threat. And it likely would have been except Amaziah has fallen into sin. 

The Lord gave Amaziah victory over the Edomites but after this victory Amaziah and his men carried back to Judah the idols of the land of Edom. Amaziah began to dabble in idolatry with these images, bowing down to them and making offerings to them. We will learn more about this when we study Amaziah's life separately from his war with Jehoash, but it is because of Amaziah's idolatry that the Lord will not be with him in battle against the king of Israel.

The Apostle Paul is well known for making this encouragement statement to the children of God: "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31) Paul's statement is true; no one can overcome the one for whom God fights. But this does not mean that God fights for the one who is not on His side. The Lord is not obligated to fight on the side of one who has turned their back on Him. As the mighty warrior David once said to the Lord, "To the faithful You show Yourself faithful, to the blameless You show Yourself blameless, to the pure You show Yourself pure, but to the devious You show Yourself shrewd." (Psalm 18:25-26) If Amaziah had been faithful to the Lord, no army could have defeated him. It was only before he fell into idolatry that the Lord was with him and his army in battle. After he becomes an idolater the Lord allows him to be defeated in battle as corrective discipline for his waywardness. 

The Lord's intention with any form of discipline is to turn the person away from things that are going to hurt them. Amaziah is hurting himself by calling on the names of false gods. Amaziah is hurting the people of Judah by setting an ungodly example for them, thereby luring them into idolatry with him. The Lord doesn't want to destroy Amaziah or the nation of Judah; He wants to get the king and the people back onto the right track. Defeat in battle is intended to make them ask themselves, "Why were we victorious against the army of Edom but not against the army of Israel?" And this question is intended to lead them to this answer: "It is because we have not been faithful to God. It is because that, after our defeat of the Edomites, we turned to the gods of Edom. If the gods of Edom couldn't protect the Edomites, what can they possibly do for us? If our God gave us victory over Edom, why would we ever turn to another? We must repent, remove these idols from our land, and give our allegiance wholeheartedly to our God." 

In tomorrow's study we will find Amaziah unwilling to back down from his challenge to Jehoash. He will fight against the army of Israel---and lose.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 154, Jehoash King Of Israel, Part One

Yesterday we studied the very brief passage of Scripture that deals with the reign of King Jehoahaz of Israel. Today we begin our study of his successor, Jehoash. We will soon need to combine our study of King Jehoash's reign with that of King Amaziah of Judah because their stories are intertwined.

Jehoash ascends to the throne while King Joash of Judah is still alive. "In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash son of Jehoahaz became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned sixteen years." (2 Kings 13:10) We know that King Joash of Judah reigned for forty years, so Jehoash of Israel begins his reign three years before Joash dies. Then Jehoash completes the final thirteen years of his reign while Amaziah, the son of Joash, is the ruler of Judah.

Unfortunately, King Jehoash of Israel is not a very good king from a spiritual standpoint. Nevertheless, because his grandfather Jehu destroyed the state-sponsored religion of Baal worship in Israel, the Lord promised Jehu that his descendants would sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation. The Lord does not break His word! In spite of Jehoash not being fully devoted to the Lord, and in spite of Jehoash's father not being fully devoted to the Lord, and in spite of Jehu himself not being fully devoted to the Lord, the Lord keeps His word. 

About Jehoash the author of 2 Kings says, "He did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit; he continued in them." (2 Kings 13:11) Jehoash is not an idolater in the strictest sense of the word; the golden calves set up at Dan and at Bethel by Jeroboam were presumably symbols of the Lord. But the Lord forbade anyone to make an image intended to represent Him. The Lord also decreed that offerings and sacrifices were to be made only at one altar---the altar of His choosing---which is now located in the temple at Jerusalem in the southern kingdom of Judah. It did not seem advantageous to Jeroboam to have his people continually going in and out of the northern kingdom of Israel to worship the Lord at Jerusalem so he set up the golden calves as substitute locations of worship in violation of the Lord's commands. Jeroboam harbored the fear that the people would transfer their allegiance from him to the king of Judah. This is a fear that must have been shared by various other kings of Israel since they clung to the sinful locations of worship.

The author of 2 Kings inserts two verses here that may seem out of place to us. He seems to wrap up his comments about the reign of King Jehoash in verses 12 and 13 but then in verses 14 through 19 the author tells us of an interaction that took place between the king and the prophet Elisha. Let's take a look at verses 12 and 13 now. "As for the other events of the reign of Jehoash, all he did and his achievements, including his war against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? Jehoash rested with his ancestors, and Jeroboam succeeded him on the throne. Jehoash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel." (2 Kings 13:12-13) 

Before we move on with verses 14 through 19 we are going to study 2 Chronicles 25 beginning tomorrow. The author of 2 Kings just made his first mention of King Amaziah of Judah and of the war between Amaziah and Jehoash. The account of that war is detailed for us in 2 Chronicles 25 and we are going to take a look at that account before coming back to 2 Kings 13 to study the meeting between King Jehoash and the prophet Elisha which occurred just prior to Elisha's death.

For now we will conclude today's study session by stopping for a moment to think about the fact that King Jehoash of Israel admired the northern kingdom's first king, Jeroboam, so much that he named his son and successor after him. Jeroboam bears a great deal of responsibility for the northern kingdom's steep descent into idolatry, for when he disobeyed the Lord's commands he placed the people on a slippery slope. It's not that far of a jump between worshiping the Lord in the wrong way and in the wrong place to worshiping at altars that don't represent the Lord at all. I think it's very believable that Jeroboam did not expect his actions to cause anyone to begin worshiping false gods in addition to (or in place of) the Lord. But that is exactly what happened. On the day Jeroboam commissioned the golden calves to be made, the first step was taken toward the northern kingdom's eventual downfall. Idolatry is the reason the northern kingdom will fall utterly and irrevocably to the invading nation of Assyria later on in the Old Testament. 

It is never okay to compromise on any of the principles the Lord has laid down for us. I sincerely doubt King Jeroboam thought his golden calves would lead to the destruction of the nation. If someone had told him there would come a day when the vast majority of the nation's citizens would be worshiping the gods of the heathen nations, he probably wouldn't have believed it. But one compromise leads to another compromise, then another, then another, until we find ourselves far away from where we started. We find ourselves "a long way down a dark road" as I phrased it in one of the old journals of my youth when I suddenly found myself a long way spiritually from where I started. Jeroboam's religious system led the whole nation, in time, a long way down a dark road. And in spite of the Lord's repeated pleadings for the people to turn around and go back in the right direction, they won't, and as a result they will lose their nation altogether. 

Did any of them think such a thing would ever happen? Did any of them want such a thing to ever happen? No, but deliberate and unrepentant sin never leads to anything good. The Apostle James, brother of the Lord Jesus Christ, warns us that when we give in to wicked desires, our wicked desires "give birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death". (James 1:14-15) Jeroboam gave birth to sin when he commissioned the golden calves and, later on in the Old Testament, this sin becomes full grown and gives birth something terrible---the death of the northern kingdom.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 153, Jehoahaz King Of Israel

In today's study we will be turning our attention from the kingdom of Judah and turning it to the kingdom of Israel. We will be backing up seventeen years from where our study of King Joash of Judah ended yesterday.

King Jehu of Israel has passed away and his son, Jehoahaz, has ascended to the throne. "In the twenty-third year of Joash son of Ahaziah king of Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned seventeen years." (2 Kings 13:1) When we studied the reign of Joash we learned that it was in his twenty-third year as king that he demanded an accounting for why the repairs of the temple had still not been completed. So we know Joash is occupied with the temple repair project in the southern kingdom of Judah when Jehoahaz becomes the leader of the northern kingdom. 

King Jehu did away with the state-sponsored religion of Baal worship when he became king but he did not do away with the religious system put in place by the northern kingdom's first leader, Jeroboam, which involved bringing offerings and sacrifices to the golden calves located at Bethel and Dan. Presumably these calves were intended by Jeroboam to represent the Lord but this type of things was expressly forbidden by the Lord and no one was to be bringing sacrifices and offerings to an image. No one was to be bringing sacrifices and offerings to any altar other than the one at the temple in Jerusalem. Because Jehu rid the nation of the temple of Baal and did away with the false prophets connected to the religion of Baal, the Lord promised him that his dynasty would endure to the fourth generation, but because Jehu clung to the religious system put in place by Jeroboam, Jehu's son will also cling to the religious system involving the golden calves. I think the dynasty would have endured far longer if the Lord's commandments had been obeyed regarding how and where He was to be worshiped.

The author of 2 Kings says of Jehoahaz: "He did evil in the eyes of the Lord by following the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit, and he did not turn away from them. So the Lord's anger burned against Israel, and for a long time He kept them under the power of Hazael king of Aram and Ben-Hadad his son." (2 Kings 13:2-3) 

A large number of the people are performing the same sinful religious practices as Jehoahaz and his father Jehu before him. The whole nation begins to suffer as a result of this sin. Jehu began some great religious reforms in Israel but he did not go far enough. He should have removed the golden calves and an Asherah pole that will be mentioned later. (The goddess Asherah was believed to be the consort of Baal.) Jehu should have allowed and encouraged the people to go to the temple in Jerusalem with their sacrifices and offerings. I think it's quite likely that the reason he didn't allow and encourage this is the same reason Jeroboam instituted calf-worship in the first place: to prevent the people from going into the kingdom of Judah and perhaps transferring their loyalty to the kings of the Davidic line. Because Jehu did not go far enough with religious reforms in Israel, we were told that the Lord allowed the kingdom to come under the oppression of Aram. "Hazael overpowered the Israelites throughout their territory east of the Jordan in all the land of Gilead (the region of Gad, Reuben and Manasseh), from Aroer by the Arnon Gorge through Gilead to Bashan." (2 Kings 10:32b-33)

Jehoahaz didn't do away with the calves or an Asherah pole either, which is why we find Israel still being oppressed by the Arameans in Jehoahaz's day. But Jehoahaz appeals to the Lord for help and he does it in such a sincere spirit that the Lord hears his prayer. "Then Jehoahaz sought the Lord's favor, and the Lord listened to him, for He saw how severely the king of Aram was oppressing Israel." (2 Kings 13:4) The Lord gave the heathen nation of Aram the upper hand over Israel for a time as a method of discipline against Israel's king and the people for their sinful religious practices but this doesn't mean the Lord gave Aram unlimited power over Israel. The Lord only allows a season of discipline to last as long as it needs to last to accomplish His purpose in that season of time. This season of discipline accomplishes something good spiritually for Jehoahaz so the Lord steps in now and gives relief.

Exactly how the Lord provides relief is debated by scholars. We will look at this next portion of our text and then discuss it. "The Lord provided a deliverer for Israel, and they escaped from the power of Aram. So the Israelites lived in their own homes as they had before." (2 Kings 13:5) Who or what is this deliverer? Some scholars believe this is a reference to the rising nation of Assyria, for Assyria began to trouble the nation of Aram around this time in history. That may have prevented the Arameans from being able to fully concentrate on their efforts to subjugate the entire nation of Israel. Other scholars believe this is a reference to Jehoahaz's son's successful battles (which we will look at later in our current chapter) against the Arameans. We can't say with any certainty who or what this mention of a "savior" represents but what we can take away from this passage is that the Lord always has a purpose for any season of discipline and that He never allows it to last longer than necessary and that He never allows it to become more severe than necessary.

Although the Lord hears the prayer of Jehoahaz and gives the people some relief from the Arameans at this time, the people still don't abandon the golden calves at Dan and at Bethel. If any sort of a revival took place it must have been short-lived. This is why the kingdom does not experience a reversal of fortunes even while the Arameans aren't currently plaguing it. "But they did not turn away from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to commit; they continued in them. Also, the Asherah pole remained standing in Samaria. Nothing had been left of the army of Jehoahaz except fifty horsemen, ten chariots and ten thousand foot soldiers, for the king of Aram had destroyed the rest and made them like the dust at threshing time." (2 Kings 13:6-7) The nation is not powerful and prosperous because the Lord never promised to bless sin. The Lord can't bless sin because to reward bad behavior would be to encourage bad behavior. The Lord only promises to bless obedience. 

Very little is told to us about Jehoahaz's seventeen years as king. The author of 2 Kings concludes this section by making reference to a book we no longer possess. "As for the other events of the reign of Jehoahaz, all he did and his achievements, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? Jehoahaz rested with his ancestors and was buried in Samaria. And Jehoash his son succeeded him as king." (2 Kings 13:8-9) The "book of the annals of the kings" is generally considered to be a lost book. While it's true that the books of 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles sometimes include additional information that is not found in the books of 1 Kings and 2 Kings, there appears to have been at least another volume about the kings that has been lost to time. We don't find any additional information about Jehoahaz in either of the volumes of Chronicles; therefore we must conclude that this information was contained in a volume that went missing before the Bible was ever put together.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 152, Joash King Of Judah, Part Eight

Today we will complete our study of the reign of King Joash of Judah.

In Tuesday's study we learned that he fell into idolatry after the death of his uncle, Jehoiada the high priest. He allowed wicked advisors to guide him and, due to a conspiracy they plotted against Jehoiada's son Zechariah, he ordered Zechariah to be put to death. Zechariah said as he lay dying, "May the Lord see this and call you to account." In today's study we find King Joash being called to account. He will have to deal with an enemy invasion and then he will lose his own life to a conspiracy that forms against him. 

We are studying passages from 2 Chronicles 24 and 2 Kings 12 combined. These accounts differ somewhat in regard to the invasion of the Aramean army. A number of scholars interpret these passages as describing two separate invasions by the enemy, while others think these differing accounts are the same invasion described by two different authors who chose to highlight two different parts of the story. The narrative unfolds more smoothly if we consider it as two separate attacks by the enemy, so we will look at the verses from 2 Kings 12 first and then the verses from 2 Chronicles 24.

"About this time Hazael king of Aram went up and attacked Gath and captured it. Then he turned to attack Jerusalem. But Joash king of Judah took all the sacred objects dedicated by his predecessors---Jehoshaphat, Jehoram and Ahaziah, the kings of Judah---and the gifts he himself had dedicated and all the gold found in the treasuries of the temple of the Lord and of the royal palace, and he sent them to Hazael king of Aram, who then withdrew from Jerusalem." (2 Kings 12:17-18) Joash essentially pays King Hazael off by sending him these valuable objects. As a result, Hazael calls off the attack. But the peace Joash bought is short-lived. Hazael's army will come up against Judah again and this time Joash will have to engage the Arameans in battle.

"At the turn of the year, 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. Although 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. When the Arameans withdrew, they left Joash severely wounded." (2 Chronicles 24:23-25a) We can see why, in comparing the accounts from the books of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, it makes more sense to consider these accounts as describing two separate events. In the account from 2 Chronicles we find Joash avoiding a battle with the Arameans by giving a great deal of tribute to their king. No mention is made there of a battle or of Joash being wounded. Instead we are told that the enemy army withdrew from Jerusalem upon receiving the payment. In the account from 2 Kings we find the Arameans invading the land and causing many casualties. 

The Bible makes a clear connection between the people's idolatry and their defeat in battle by an enemy. The Lord promised the people back in Deuteronomy 28 that if they would be faithful to Him, "The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven." (Deuteronomy 28:7) But He warned them that if they turned from Him to idols, "The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven." (Deuteronomy 28:25a) 

King Joash receives a serious wound in battle and is killed by conspirators while he is incapacitated by his injury. "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. Those who conspired against him were Zabad, son of Shimeath an Ammonite woman, and Jehozabad, son of Shimrith a Moabite woman." (2 Chronicles 24:25b-26) The men who conspire against him to kill him are the sons of foreign women---women of idolatrous nations. We do not know whether these women had married men of Judah (making Zabad a half-Ammonite and Jehozabad a half-Moabite) or whether these two men were fully foreign and fully idolatrous employees of the king.

Why would two foreigners care that King Joash was resposible for the death of Zechariah the son of Jehoiada? The author of 2 Chronicles states that they conspired against him "for murdering the son of Jehoiada the priest" but I am not certain whether this means the men wanted to avenge Zechariah or whether this means the Lord allowed Joash to be murdered in his bed as judgment for ordering the execution of the innocent man Zechariah. I think it's highly likely that Zabad and Jehozabad simply saw the physical weakness of Joash as a good opportunity to end his life. I think they are probably motivated by dissatisfaction with Joash's political administration rather than by any outrage over what happened to Zechariah. I find it difficult to understand why an Ammonite and a Moabite would want to avenge the blood of Zechariah unless their fathers are men of Judah who faithfully serve the Lord or unless they are complete foreigners who converted to the God of Israel.

Because he turned away from the Lord, Joash doesn't even receive the honor of being buried in the same burial complex as men like his godly grandfather, King Jehoshaphat, and where his ancestor King David is also buried. Joash's reign began on a very promising note but it ends on a very sad note forty years later. He will be succeeded by his son, Amaziah. 

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 151, Joash King Of Judah, Part Seven

King Joash has begun listening to wicked advisors now that his uncle and mentor, the high priest Jehoiada, is dead. We were told in yesterday's text that these advisors had abandoned worshiping God at the temple and were dabbling in idolatry instead. They influenced the king and a number of the people into performing pagan religious rites. The author of 2 Chronicles said that the Lord sent prophets to testify against the people's sin and to encourage them to repent, but they would not. Perhaps they would have repented if their king had, but he didn't. 

One of the men who speaks out against the sin of idolatry is a priest, not a prophet, but under the authority of the Holy Spirit he warns the people that they cannot continue living this way and expect the Lord to bless them. "Then 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.'" (2 Chronicles 24:20) 

You may be familiar with the expression, "If you feel far away from God, who moved?" Many of the people have moved away from God. He is not the one who moved but at the same time He won't reward wickedness. Before He ever brought the people into the promised land He presented them with a list of blessings for obedience and a list of curses for disobedience. (You can read this portion of Scripture in Deuteronomy 28.) The people are living in sin and they cannot expect the Lord's divine protection over their nation if they are shutting Him out. This doesn't mean He doesn't love them. This doesn't mean He won't forgive them if they pray prayers of repentance and turn away from idolatry. But He warned them long ago that if they turned to other gods they would reap the curses of Deuteronomy 28. 

Zechariah is presumably high priest now that his father is dead. This means he is the top religious authority in the land, yet the king will not listen to him. The king doesn't listen to him even though he should respect him as a religious leader. The king won't listen to him out of respect for Jehoiada either, although Jehoiada protected Joash for six years and then staged a coup that placed Joash on the throne of Judah. Jehoiada had been like a father to the fatherless young boy along with being his protector, his teacher, his religious advisor, and his most loyal supporter. But the king won't be kind to Zechariah for Jehoiada's sake. He won't be kind to Zechariah for the sake of their family connection either. Unless Jehoiada had more than one wife then Joash's aunt Jehosheba was the mother of Zechariah, which makes Joash and Zechariah first cousins to each other. 

Not only will Joash refuse to take to heart the words of Zechariah and repent of his sins, but he will order the priest's execution! "But they plotted against him, and by order of the king they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the Lord's temple. King 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.'" (2 Chronicles 24:21-22)

To whom is the author referring when he says "they" plotted against Zechariah? Does he mean the wicked officials who have been advising the king? That is my theory about what's happening here. I think these men conspire together to have the priest put to death. They don't want Zechariah's words influencing the king to repent. They want to be able to keep telling the king what to do. I think these men take Zechariah out of the way by having him falsely accused of something that is a capital offense. The wording indicates that "they" plotted against the priest in a manner that causes the king to issue orders for Zechariah's death and then "they"---not the king---stone him to death. They have so little regard for the Lord that they desecrate the temple courtyard with Zechariah's blood. 

You'll recall that a similar plot against an innocent man took place in the northern kingdom of Israel when the evil Queen Jezebel arranged to have some men testify that Naboth cursed God and the king. We know, of course, that Jezebel couldn't have cared less if someone cursed the Lord but according to the law of Moses it was a capital offense. (Leviticus 24:10-16) Cursing the king (which probably meant making a threat against his life) was also a capital offense according to the legal system of ancient kingdoms. So Jezebel was able to have Naboth and his sons (who must have also been accused of capital crimes) put to death, leaving her husband King Ahab as the closest surviving male relative of Naboth so Ahab could take Naboth's vineyard. I believe the wicked officials who are advisors to the king may have arranged to have Zechariah brought up on some type of capital charges in a trial where false witnesses testified that they heard him make threats against the king. The king finds him guilty based on those testimonies and orders him to be executed.

With his dying breath Zechariah calls upon the Lord to judge Joash. I think he's asking the Lord to judge Joash both for taking his life and for falling away from the precepts taught to him by the priest Jehoiada. Until Jehoiada's death Joash lived by his example. Whether or not Joash was completely sincere in his obedience to the Lord's laws during the lifetime of Jehoiada, I cannot say, but at least he didn't engage in any outward rebellion against the Lord. At least he didn't promote idolatry in the land or put innocent men to death.

Joash's judgment is soon coming. Join us tomorrow as Joash himself falls victim to a conspiracy against his life.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 150, Joash King Of Judah, Part Six

In yesterday's session we studied the completion of the repairs to the temple. The author of 2 Chronicles picks up today's study by saying, "As long as Jehoiada lived, burnt offerings were presented continually in the temple of the Lord. Now Jehoiada was old and full of years, and he died at the age of a hundred and thirty. He was buried with the kings in the City of David, because of the good he had done in Israel for God and his temple." (2 Chronicles 24:14b-16)

The high priest Jehoiada, uncle by marriage to King Joash of Judah, lives to be a hundred and thirty years old! This is the longest living person we've seen in the Scriptures in a long time and I believe it was because of the grace of God that he lived so long. The Lord gave him an extra long life because he was a good influence on the king and on the people of the nation. The Lord gave him an extra long life because he had risked his life to protect the child Joash and to declare him king and to overthrow the wicked Athaliah. The Lord gave him an extra long life because he was zealous for the house of the Lord and made certain it was restored to its former glory to help the people not to forsake Him. Jehoiada's long life was a blessing to the people and to his nephew Joash. 

But things begin to take a bad turn after Jehoaida goes to be with the Lord. This underscores the danger of putting too much of our confidence in our fellow human beings. There's nothing wrong with looking to a godly person for advice and encouragement as long as we revere the Lord's advice and encouragement more. We have to allow the Lord to have the last word in all things. It appears Joash depended more on Jehoiada than on the Lord and this has made him too weak to resist the counsel of elders, even when it's bad counsel. It has caused him to be a person who is easily led. After his uncle dies he allows himself to be influenced by other elders who do not honor the Lord. 

"After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them." (2 Chronicles 24:17) I believe Jeoiada consulted the Lord before giving Joash any of the advice he ever gave him. Joash probably got into the habit of automatically doing whatever Jehoiada said because he knew Jehoiada always tried his best to operate within the Lord's will. (This doesn't mean Jehoiada was infallible; Joash still had a duty to check everything with the Lord before moving forward on any decision.) Now these elders and top-ranking officials come to him and begin giving him advice---bad advice---and Joash lacks the skills to know how to tell his elders "no". 

We were told that the temple project finally got underway during his twenty-third year as king, so he was thirty years old in our last study session and is likely several years older than that by now. He is no longer a child and therefore he is responsible for every decision he makes, whether that decision is right or whether it is wrong.

The officials who come to see the king don't revere the Lord like Jehoiada did. "They 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. Although the Lord sent prophets to the people to bring them back to Him, and although they testified against them, they would not listen." (2 Chronicles 24:18-19) 

Joash is responsible for his poor choices. These top officials are responsible for their poor choices too. Not only are they guilty of sinning against the Lord themselves but they are guilty of influencing the people of Judah into idolatry. These leaders are in a position of authority which makes them somewhat responsible for the sins of others. While it's true that the adults of the land who fall into idolatry are guilty of sinning against the Lord, they likely would not have taken this dark path without the influence of the king and the elders. The king and the elders are influencing people by their example and they may even be influencing them in other ways, such as requiring the people to recognize false gods either by enforcing penalties for not acknowledging the false deities or by offering incentives to bow to heathen gods.

Our eyes should always be on the Lord. We should always allow Him to have the last word. It's good to have godly mentors in the faith but we still need to compare their advice with the word of God to make sure it lines up with what the Lord has said. We should still pray to the Lord about all our major decisions and be led by what He says, even if what He says conflicts with what an authority figure in the church has said.