This
week we are looking at the life of a king who led the Jewish people who was
named Joash. Yesterday, we discovered that when King Joash first became king,
he was not in a place of maturity where he could be an effective king. And
because of the reality, a man named Jehoiada, the High priest, became the
fatherly influence that was lacking in King Joash’s life. Jehoiada raised Joash
in the ways of the Lord while providing leadership for the Jewish nation until
Joash would be mature enough to rule as king.
Jehoiada
basically adopted King Joash and provided, protected, and guided King Joash.
And as a result of the selfless action of Jehoiada the High Priest, Ezra tells
us that King Joash did right in the sight of the Lord all the days of
Jehoiada’s life. King Joash trusted and followed the Lord while under the godly
guidance and influence of Jehoiada. Today, we see King Joash’s actions once he
was old enough to take full control of the leadership of the southern kingdom
in 2 Chronicles 24:4:
Now it came about after this that Joash
decided to restore the house of the LORD. He gathered the priests and Levites
and said to them, "Go out to the cities of Judah and collect money from
all Israel to repair the house of your God annually, and you shall do the
matter quickly." But the Levites did not act quickly. So the king summoned
Jehoiada the chief priest and
said to him, "Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah
and from Jerusalem the levy fixed by Moses
the servant of the LORD on the congregation of Israel for the tent of the
testimony?" For the sons of the wicked Athaliah had broken into the house
of God and even used the holy things of the house of the LORD for the Baals.
As King
Joash reached the age to take full control of the leadership of the Southern
Kingdom, the king commanded the religious leaders of the Jewish people to
restore the Temple in Jerusalem. You see, during Queen Athaliah’s reign, the
Temple had been damaged and the instruments that were to be used for the
worship of God were taken from the temple to be used to worship false gods.
How the
religious leaders were to pay for the restoration of the Temple was by
reallocating some of the money in the Temple budget from salaries to the
building project. This money was normally collected from the Temple tax, along
with the vows and freewill offerings of worship that the Jewish people made to
God according to His commands to the Jewish people that were recorded in the
Law, which comprise the first five books in our Bibles today.
Now, as you
might imagine, the religious leaders of the Temple were not too happy about
this idea. And, as a result, the religious leaders procrastinated when it came
to collecting and implementing the king’s command. While we do not know exactly
when King Joash made the initial command to restore the Temple, we do know from
2 Kings 12:6 that in 812 B.C., during the twenty third year of King Joash’s
reign, the King called the religious leaders on the carpet for failing to
follow his command to restore the Temple. We see how King Joash responded to
the religious leader’s procrastination in verse 8:
So the king
commanded, and they made a chest and set it outside by the gate of the house of
the LORD. They made a proclamation in Judah and Jerusalem to bring to the LORD
the levy fixed by Moses the
servant of God on Israel in the wilderness. All the officers and all the people
rejoiced and brought in their levies and dropped them into the chest until they had finished. It came about
whenever the chest was brought in to the king's officer by the Levites, and
when they saw that there was much money, then the king's scribe and the chief
priest's officer would come, empty the chest, take it, and return it to its
place. Thus they did daily and collected much money. The king and Jehoiada gave
it to those who did the work of the service of the house of the LORD; and they
hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of the LORD, and also workers
in iron and bronze to repair the house of the LORD. So the workmen labored, and
the repair work progressed in their hands, and they restored the house of God
according to its specifications and strengthened it. When they had finished,
they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada; and it was
made into utensils for the house of the LORD, utensils for the service and the
burnt offering, and pans and utensils of gold and silver. And they offered
burnt offerings in the house of the LORD continually all the days of Jehoiada.
King
Joash responded to the procrastination of the religious leaders by commanding
that a special offering box be made to take collections for the Temple restoration.
As a result, the religious leaders would no longer have the responsibility to
collect the money necessary to restore the Temple. Instead, the Jewish people
were able to bypass the religious leaders and give directly to the restoration
of the Temple.
Ezra
then explains that the Jewish people responded to the idea of restoring the
Temple by enthusiastically supporting the project financially. Under the
leadership of King Joash, Jehoiada and the religious leaders of the day were
able to repair the damage to the Temple that had been done by Queen Athaliah.
In addition, new instruments of worship were created to replace the one’s that
had been taken for the worship of false gods.
After
restoring and preparing the Temple for worship, Jehoiada resumed regular
worship of the Lord. The Jewish people once again fulfilled the
responsibilities under the Jewish sacrificial system to offer up acts of
worship to the Lord two times a day. Ezra then reveals how Jehoiada the High
Priest finished his life in 2 Chronicles 24:15:
Now when Jehoiada reached a ripe old age he
died; he was one hundred and thirty years old at his death. They buried him in
the city of David among the kings, because he had done well in Israel and to
God and His house.
Ezra
explains that Jehoiada the High Priest died after living an amazing life of
influence and impact at 130 years of age. Jehoiada influenced the Jewish people
to overthrow the evil Queen Athaliah. Jehoiada
influenced the Jewish people to repent from the worship of false gods to return
to the worship of the one true God.
And
Jehoiada had incredible influence and impact on the life of King Joash.
Jehoiada protected and provided for King Joash at a time when he was most
vulnerable. Jehoiada guided King Joash in the ways of God and prepared King
Joash for the role and responsibility he would have as king. Jehoiada was a
Godly man who provided a godly and fatherly influence to King Joash.
And
because of the godly life of influence and impact of Jehoiada, Jehoiada was
given a rare honor upon his death. Ezra tells us that upon his death Jehoiada
was buried in the city of David among the kings. Jehoiada was
buried among the tombs of the Kings of the Jewish people as a sign of the
amazing godly influence that he had on the nation and its king, King Joash. By
all accounts, Jehoiada was a godly, husband, father, pastor, and leader of the
Jewish people who had prepared King Joash to be a great king.
And
if King
Joash’s story had ended there, King Joash’s story
would have been a great story. However, King Joash’s story
did not end there. Instead, something happened in the life of King Joash that
would result in his story taking a turn for the
worse.
Friday, we will discover what happened...
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