Joash Ruled as King of Judah For 40 Years

A new minister was asked to teach a boy’s class in the absence of their regular Sunday School teacher. He decided to see what they knew, so he asked who knocked down the walls of Jericho ... More

Repair

At the age of 7, Joash became king of Judah. He ruled for 40 years (v. 1). While Jehoiada the priest was alive, Joash obeyed the Lord (v. 2). He repaired the temple (v. 4), organizing the priests and Levites to collect the annual temple tax (v. 5), placing a collection’s box at the temple gate (v. 8), and sending out letters asking for funds (vv. 9-10). Soon a large amount of money was collected, and the temple was then repaired good as new (vv. 11-13). The money left over was used to make gold and silver dishes and objects for the temple (v. 14). Jehoiada died at the age of 130 years and was buried in the royal tombs in Jerusalem (vv. 15-16). 

After the death of Jehoiada, the leaders of Judah talked Joash into doing what they wanted (v. 17). The people stopped worshiping in the temple and started worshiping the Asherim & the idols (v. 18). This made the Lord very angry with the people of Judah and Jerusalem, but He still sent prophets who warned them to turn back to Him (v. 19). The Holy Spirit spoke to Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, who told everyone what God was saying (v. 20). “Why are you disobeying me and my Laws? This will only bring punishment! You have deserted me, so now I will desert you.” King Joash, forgetting Jehoiada’s loyalty, joined the plot to kill Zechariah. He gave orders to stone him to death in the courtyard of the temple (vv. 21-22). In the spring of the following year, a Syrian army invaded Judah and Jerusalem killing all the leaders and taking spoil back to their king in Damascus (v. 23). The Lord let the small Syrian army defeat the larger army of Judah to punish their people for turning away from Him (v. 24). Joash was severely wounded during the battle. Two of his officials, Abed and Jehozabad, decided to take revenge for Zechariah’s death. They plotted and killed Joash while he was recovering from his wounds (vv. 25-26). Amaziah, son of Joash, became king after his father’s death (v. 27). 

Application

Jehoiada & Zechariah were righteous men who gave wise council to their king. The Father’s council was heeded while the son’s council cost him his life. I want to be like these two men of faith. 

II Chronicles 24:1-27 (English Standard Version)


Warning: MagpieRSS: Failed to parse RSS file. (Space required at line 39, column 24) in /var/www/html/familytimes/includes/magpie6-1/rss_fetch.inc on line 230

Warning: array_slice() expects parameter 1 to be array, null given in /var/www/html/familytimes/includes/rss/esvLookup.php on line 15

View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway) »