Thursday
Evening Bible Study
February
21, 2013
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk
– Meat – Manna Preach for a decision Is the church
loved?
After the death
of King Solomon, the
kingdom of Israel split into two nations.
The northern
kingdom would be known as “Israel”.
The southern
kingdom was known as “Judah”.
We’ve followed the events in the northern kingdom as one dynasty was replaced
by another, and we are now in dynasty of wicked Ahab and Jezebel, and though
Ahab is dead, the northern kingdom is ruled by one of his sons, Jehoram.
Through this
time of wickedness in the north, God has been using prophets like Elijah and
then Elisha.
Last week we saw an unknown prophet go out to Ramoth-Gilead
and anoint Jehu, the
commander of the army, to be the next king of Israel.
Jehu then went
back to Jezreel and killed both Joram
the son of Ahab and king of Israel, and Ahaziah, the
king of Judah.
10:1-17 Wiping out
Ahab
:1 Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu
wrote and sent letters to Samaria, to the rulers of Jezreel,
to the elders, and to those who reared Ahab’s sons, saying:
:1 seventy sons
Back when Ahab
was alive, he and his wife Jezebel had their neighbor Naboth killed in
order to seize his land.
At that time, Elijah uttered a prophecy to Ahab:
(1 Ki 21:21 NKJV) ‘Behold, I will bring calamity on you. I will take away your
posterity, and will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both bond and free.
Could it be
that Ahab and his family had taken Elijah’s prophecy so seriously that they
were trying to be extra “prolific”
and have lots of kids in order to keep the prophecy from happening? I wonder.
Even though we often focus on the fact that Ahab was married to Jezebel,
the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, I’d say it was safe to
say that in order to have seventy sons, he had more than one wife. This term could also refer to grandsons and
great grand sons.
:1 Samaria … Jezreel
Play Samaria Jezreel map clip
Jehu had come from the battlefield in Ramoth
Gilead.
It was in Jezreel that he killed Joram and Ahaziah. Jezreel was sort of
a second home for the kings of the north, a “winter palace”.
The sons of Ahab are meanwhile being raised in the capital of the north,
Samaria.
:1 wrote and sent letters to Samaria
Now that Jehu has killed the reigning king in the north, he writes a
letter to the prospective challengers.
:2 Now as soon as this letter
comes to you, since your master’s sons are with you, and you have
chariots and horses, a fortified city also, and weapons,
:3 choose the best qualified of your master’s
sons, set him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s house.
Jehu hasn’t yet taken control of the actual capital of the northern
kingdom. He is challenging these
overseers to put a son of Ahab on the throne and challenge him.
:4 But they were exceedingly afraid, and said,
“Look, two kings could not stand up to him; how then can we stand?”
:4 two kings could not stand up to
him
It is possible that Jehu isn’t just suggesting that a son tries to raise an
army to defeat Jehu’s army,
but that he’s actually posing a challenge, one-on-one.
If this is the scenario, I can see why no one would want to challenge Jehu,
since he just killed two kings.
:5 And he who was
in charge of the house, and he who was in charge of the city, the elders
also, and those who reared the sons, sent to Jehu, saying, “We are
your servants, we will do all you tell us; but we will not make anyone king. Do
what is good in your sight.”
The folks in charge of raising these “sons” are
not about to stand up against Jehu.
:6 Then he wrote a second letter to them, saying:
If you are for me and will obey my voice, take the heads of the men,
your master’s sons, and come to me at Jezreel by this
time tomorrow. Now the king’s sons, seventy persons, were with the great
men of the city, who were rearing them.
:6 take the heads of the men
Without the
benefit of a body, that is.
I guess Jehu was one of these guys who was trying
to get ahead in life. J
These men who have raised Ahab’s sons are to have the sons beheaded and
bring the heads to Jehu.
:7 So it was, when the
letter came to them, that they took the king’s sons and slaughtered seventy
persons, put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel.
:8 Then a messenger came and told him, saying,
“They have brought the heads of the king’s sons.” And he said, “Lay them in two
heaps at the entrance of the gate until morning.”
This is where the people would be going in and out of the city, so everyone
would see.
This was a very effective way utilized by people of this day to help show
who was in control.
:9 So it was, in the morning, that he went out and
stood, and said to all the people, “You are righteous. Indeed I
conspired against my master and killed him; but who killed all these?
Jehu admits his guilt of having killed Joram and Ahaziah. But he’s
not the only one who bears guilt.
:10 Know now that nothing shall fall to the earth of the word of the Lord which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab; for the Lord has done what He spoke by His
servant Elijah.”
:11 So Jehu killed all who remained of the house
of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men and his
close acquaintances and his priests, until he left him none remaining.
:10 nothing shall fall to the earth
of the word of the Lord
Lesson
Solid Rock
God spoke about what would happen to Ahab’s family. It came true.
Illustration
Voltaire was
the famous French atheist who died 1778.
He had predicted before his death that one hundred years from his time
Christianity would be swept from existence and passed into history. But what has happened? Voltaire has passed into history; while the circulation
of the Bible has continued to grow. The strange irony about Voltaire is that 50
years after his death, the Geneva
Bible Society moved into his former house and used his printing presses to
print thousands of Bibles.
When a French monarch proposed the
persecution of the Christians in his dominion, an old statesman and warrior
said to him, “Sire, the Church of God is an anvil that has worn out many
hammers.” So the hammers of the infidels
have been pecking away at this book for ages, but the hammers are worn out, and
the anvil still endures. If this book
had not been the book of God, men would have destroyed it long ago. Emperors and popes, kings and priests,
princes and rulers have all tried their hand at it; they die and the book still
lives.”
What kinds of principles are you going to build your life on? Jesus said,
(Mt 7:24–27 NKJV) —24
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I
will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain
descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it
did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings
of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish
man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came,
and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its
fall.”
Take God’s Word seriously. Do what
it says.
Ahab might have thought he could outwit the Word of God by having so many sons,
yet in the end, he couldn’t stop what was coming.
:12 And he arose and
departed and went to Samaria. On the way, at Beth Eked of the Shepherds,
:13 Jehu met with the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, “Who are you?” So
they answered, “We are the brothers of Ahaziah;
we have come down to greet the sons of the king and the sons of the queen
mother.”
:12 Beth Eked of the Shepherds
The town means “shearing
house”. Apparently it was a place where people took their
sheep to get their haircuts.
Play Beth Eked clip
It’s on the road from Jezreel to Samaria, about 6
½ miles south of Jezreel. Today
there’s still a little town there that has a form of the same name, “Bayt Qad”
:12 the brothers of Ahaziah
While in this town, Jehu meets some of the relatives of Ahaziah,
the southern king that he had just killed.
I’d say that these fellows don’t know what has just happened in the
northern kingdom.
:14 And he said, “Take them
alive!” So they took them alive, and killed them at the well of Beth Eked,
forty-two men; and he left none of them.
:14 he left none of them
Why? They too are descendants
of Ahab through his daughter Athaliah. They would be grandsons of Ahab.
:15 Now when he
departed from there, he met Jehonadab the son
of Rechab, coming to meet him; and he greeted
him and said to him, “Is your heart right, as my heart is toward your
heart?” And Jehonadab answered, “It is.” Jehu
said, “If it is, give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand,
and he took him up to him into the chariot.
:15 Jehonadab
the son of Rechab
His name means
“Yahweh is willing”
He was the head of a Bedouin-like people who
lived in tents and moved from place to place.
He was the chief of the Rechabites
at this time.
The Rechabites were Kenites (1Chr.
2:55), and were descendants of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses.
The prophet Jeremiah had an encounter with some of Jehonadab’s
descendants 230 years after Jehu. Jeremiah is told by God to do a very strange
thing and to gather up all of Jehonadab’s descendants
and try and make them drink wine.
(Je 35:6–10 NKJV) —6 But they
said, “We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall drink
no wine, you nor your sons, forever. 7 You shall not build a house, sow seed,
plant a vineyard, nor have any of these; but all your days you shall
dwell in tents, that you may live many days in the land where you are
sojourners.’
It sounds like they were all a bunch of sober hippies.
Yet we too ought to learn to live a little more like
strangers in the land. This world is not our home.
8 Thus we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our
father, in all that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our
wives, our sons, or our daughters, 9 nor to build ourselves houses to dwell
in; nor do we have vineyard, field, or seed. 10 But we have dwelt in tents, and have
obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our
father commanded us.
The only reason these Rechabites
were living in Jerusalem in Jeremiah’s day was because they were running from
Nebuchadnezzar.
These descendants of Jehonadab will become a
lesson for Jeremiah and the rest of the people of Judah. They will be a lesson
of how people are to listen and do what is right. These people listened to
their father and obeyed him. God wishes that the people of Judah would listen
to Him.
As a result of their obedience, God promised these people:
(Je 35:19 NKJV) therefore thus says the Lord
of hosts, the God of Israel: “Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before Me forever.” ’ ”
Lesson
The family standard
(Eph 6:4 NKJV)
And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring
them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
Jehonadab was a man who set an example that his
family followed for generations to come. He taught them what to do, and then
lived it.
Setting an example is supposed to
be a daily thing, a way of life thing:
(Dt 6:6–9 NKJV) 6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your
heart. 7 You shall teach them
diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house,
when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall
be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You
shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Parents – set the standard for your children. Give them an
example that they can follow.
I liked the line where the announcer says, “She’s only doing what she
sees them do all the time …”
Illustration
In His Mother's Steps
One mom writes: It was a busy day in our Costa Mesa,
California home. But then, with 10 children and one on the way, every day was a
bit hectic. On this particular day, however, I was having trouble doing even
routine chores-all because of one little boy. Len, who was three at the time,
was on my heels no matter where I went. Whenever I stopped to do something and
turned back around, I would trip over him. Several times, I patiently suggested
fun activities to keep him occupied. “Wouldn’t you like to play on the swing
set?” I asked again. But he simply smiled an innocent smile and said, “Oh,
that’s all right, Mommy. I’d rather be in here with you.” Then he continued to
bounce happily along behind me. After stepping on his toes for the fifth time,
I began to lose my patience and insisted that he go outside and play with the
other children. When I asked him why he was acting this way, he looked up at me
with sweet green eves and said, “Well, Mommy, in preschool my teacher told me
to walk in Jesus’ footsteps. But I can’t see him, so I’m walking in yours.”
:16 Then he said, “Come with
me, and see my zeal for the Lord.”
So they had him ride in his chariot.
:17 And when he came to Samaria, he killed all who
remained to Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed them, according to the word
of the Lord which He spoke to
Elijah.
:16 see my zeal for the Lord
zeal – qin’ah
– ardour, zeal, jealousy. We might translate this “fire” or “passion”.
Apparently there were still some relatives of Ahab still alive when Jehu
meets Jehonadab. Jehu is going to go on to kill all
of them. He’s even going to wipe out Baal worship from the northern kingdom of
Israel.
Some people have criticized Jehu
for his zeal. Certainly we’ll see that not everything was perfect in his heart
(2Ki. 10:31).
There are some who say that he went way overboard with zeal in his
slaughter of the house of Ahab. But God doesn’t seem to have thought this. In
fact, God rewards Jehu for his zeal (2Ki. 10:30)
(2 Ki 10:30 NKJV) And the Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have
done well in doing what is right in My sight, and have done to
the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, your sons shall sit on the
throne of Israel to the fourth generation.”
Lesson
Just Do It
Jesus wants us to be passionate about doing what is right. Jesus said,
(Re 3:19 NKJV) As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and
repent.
When we realize that we are in a bad place, we ought to be
“zealous” about how we turn around. We ought to be “passionate” about turning
from our sin.
When Paul defined “godly repentance”, he wrote,
(2 Co 7:11 NKJV) For
observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly
manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of
yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement
desire, what zeal,
what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear
in this matter.
People should be able to “see” what you are passionate about.
(Mt 5:16 NKJV) Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good
works and glorify your Father in heaven.
10:18-31 Wiping out Baal
:18 Then Jehu gathered all the people together,
and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little, Jehu will serve him much.
:19 Now therefore, call to me all the prophets of
Baal, all his servants, and all his priests. Let no one be missing, for I have
a great sacrifice for Baal. Whoever is missing shall not live.” But Jehu acted
deceptively, with the intent of destroying the worshipers of Baal.
:19 Baal
Baal was the
chief Canaanite god, considered the god of “storms”
He was introduced to the northern kingdom when Ahab married Jezebel. Jezebel was a worshipper of Baal.
Jezebel’s daughter Athaliah would bring the worship of Baal to
the southern kingdom when she got married to the son of the king in the south.
:19 Jehu acted deceptively
Jehu is going to set up a trap for the worshipers of Baal.
:20 And Jehu said, “Proclaim
a solemn assembly for Baal.” So they proclaimed it.
:21 Then Jehu sent throughout all Israel; and all
the worshipers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left who did not come.
So they came into the temple of Baal, and the temple of Baal was full from one
end to the other.
:22 And he said to the one in charge of the
wardrobe, “Bring out vestments for all the worshipers of Baal.” So he brought
out vestments for them.
:22 Bring out vestments
It may be that the priests
wore special garments, but Jehu wants everyone to have the Baal costumes on.
Perhaps they made better targets that way.
It’s like an old
Far Side cartoon where one deer has a
mark on it that looks like a bull’s eye.
The other deer is saying to it, “Bummer of a birthmark, Hal!”
:23 Then Jehu
and Jehonadab the son of Rechab
went into the temple of Baal, and said to the worshipers of Baal, “Search and
see that no servants of the Lord
are here with you, but only the worshipers of Baal.”
Jehu doesn’t want any worshippers of Yahweh to get caught in this place.
:24 So they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt
offerings. Now Jehu had appointed for himself eighty men on the outside, and
had said, “If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands
escapes, whoever lets him escape, it shall be his life for the life of
the other.”
:25 Now it happened, as soon as he had made an end
of offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the
captains, “Go in and kill them; let no one come out!” And they killed
them with the edge of the sword; then the guards and the officers threw them
out, and went into the inner room of the temple of Baal.
:25 offering the burnt offering
Jehu has the Baal worshippers go as far as performing their sacrifices, and
then he has them killed.
Perhaps he wanted to be sure that these were indeed Baal worshippers.
:25 the inner room of the temple of Baal
Is this the “holy of holies” for
Baal?
inner room – ‘iyr
– excitement, anguish; city, town (a place of waking, guarded)
:26 And they brought the sacred pillars out
of the temple of Baal and burned them.
:27 Then they broke down the sacred pillar of Baal, and tore down
the temple of Baal and made it a refuse dump to this day.
:27 made it a refuse dump
(NLT) “public toilet”, (ESV) “latrine”
:28 Thus Jehu destroyed Baal
from Israel.
Ironically, Baal worship will still exist, but now it will exist in the southern
kingdom, in the good kingdom of Judah of all places (due to Athaliah).
:29 However Jehu did not turn away from the sins
of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel
sin, that is, from the golden calves that were at Bethel and Dan.
:30 And the Lord said to
Jehu, “Because you have done well in doing what is right in My sight, and
have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, your sons shall
sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.”
:30 you have done well
Jehu is
rewarded in what he has done.
Everything Jehu did to Ahab and his house is commended by God.
His children to the fourth generation will rule over Israel. These were Jehoahaz, Jehoash (Joash), Jeroboam II, and Zechariah
:31 But Jehu took no heed to
walk in the law of the Lord God
of Israel with all his heart; for he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam,
who had made Israel sin.
:31 the sins of Jeroboam
Jeroboam was the first king of the northern kingdom.
Jeroboam didn’t want his people going to south to the kingdom of Judah, to
the city of Jerusalem to worship Yahweh at the Temple. So he devised a cheap substitute by setting
up two smaller temples in the north. These Temples didn’t have
the Ark of the Covenant, but they had golden calves to be worshipped.
I think the idea was that the people were told that this was the worship of
Yahweh, but in a more convenient form, closer to home, and … God looks like a
cow…
Every king of the north after that would continue that practice to keep his
people from going to Jerusalem to worship.
Lesson
Not far enough
Sometimes we can become quite convicted over areas of our lives that need
to change.
Sometimes though, we don’t quite go far enough in the things that we change.
For Jehu, the
golden calves were things that his kingdom had grown up with, things that
everyone was comfortable with.
I think sometimes as American Christians we confuse the things that God
desires with things that our American Christianity accepts as acceptable.
I think that some folks think that a Christian must be a
“Republican”. That
they must have identical ideas about abortion, gay marriage, gun control, and
immigration. I think there are
certainly Biblical views on some of those issues, but I’m not sure about all of
them.
Now I know
that’s a cute commercial, but let’s be real.
Are you going to get on an airplane that’s not finished? I don’t think so.
It’s a good thing to “finish” what you start. Take it to it’s end.
Finish the work that God wants in your life.
Jesus had a message for the church in Sardis:
(Re 3:1–3 NLT) —1 “Write this letter to the angel of the
church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit
of God and the seven stars: “I know all the things you do, and that you have a
reputation for being alive—but you are dead. 2 Wake
up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I
find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. 3 Go back to what you heard and believed
at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up,
I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.
The lesson of Sardis is about quitting too soon.
Their works were incomplete. They had repented … a little.
And they were considered “dead”.
Don’t stop until you’re finished.
10:32-36 Jehu dies
:32 In those days the Lord began to cut off parts of Israel; and Hazael conquered them in all the territory of Israel
:33 from the Jordan eastward: all the land of
Gilead—Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh—from Aroer, which is
by the River Arnon, including Gilead and Bashan.
:32 cut off parts of Israel
God began to allow Israel’s outer limits to be cut back further and
further.
God would use Hazael, the Syrian king, to do it.
This is a continued judgment on their sin.
There was also an attack on Jehu from the Assyrians as well:
Assyria under Shalmaneser III forced Jehu to bow before him and pay
tribute. A bas relief on Shalmaneser’s so-called “Black Obelisk” shows Jehu
(or one of his servants) doing this.
The writing records
that Shalmaneser is receiving tribute from “Jehu the
son of Omri”.
I guess you can’t expect the Assyrians to have gotten all their facts
straight (since Jehu was the one who wiped out the house of Omri).
:33 from the Jordan eastward
These are the tribes that settled on the eastern side of the Jordan when
Joshua had conquered the Promised Land.
As a judgment on the entire nation, they are lost to the enemy.
:34 Now the rest of the acts
of Jehu, all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the
book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
:35 So Jehu rested with his fathers, and they
buried him in Samaria. Then Jehoahaz his son reigned
in his place.
:36 And the period that Jehu reigned over Israel
in Samaria was twenty-eight years.
11:1-3 Athaliah Rules
We now switch back south to the nation of Judah.
:1 When Athaliah the
mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she
arose and destroyed all the royal heirs.
:1 Athaliah
Keep in mind, she is the daughter of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of
the northern kingdom.
When her daddy became friends with King Jehoshaphat of the southern kingdom
of Judah, she was given to Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram in marriage.
She sees her
chance to “have it all”, and kills even her grandchildren to become “queen”.
Danger in Judah
It is a dangerous thing to be
royalty in Judah in those days.
First there was the murders by
Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, and husband of Athaliah:
(2 Ch 21:4 NKJV) Now when Jehoram was
established over the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself and killed
all his brothers with the sword, and also others of the princes of
Israel.
When it came time for Jehoram to be
king, he kills all his brothers, the rest of the sons of Jehoshaphat.
He did this to make sure that
nobody else would try to become king in his place.
Then during Jehoram’s own reign, Arabian
marauders came and killed all the rest of Jehoram’s kids, except for Ahaziah,
the youngest:
(2 Ch 22:1 NKJV) Then the inhabitants
of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his place, for the raiders
who came with the Arabians into the camp had killed all the older sons.
So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, reigned.
Then Jehu killed some of the
relatives when they came north to visit with Ahaziah and Joram (2Kings 10:13).
Now Athaliah kills all the rest of
the sons of Ahaziah (except for one).
Why did she do this?
After all, these are her
grandchildren!
Since kings tended to have several
wives, it is possible that some of the children she is killing could be
children of the other wives.
But some of the ones she’s killing
are definitely her own children. The one
baby that is saved is called the “son of Ahaziah” (v.2), and we know that
Ahaziah was the son of Joram and Athaliah (2Ki. 8:26).
She wants total control of the
kingdom to herself!
She has done what her husband,
Joram did when he became king. He had
killed his own brothers.
I think there is also a plot from Satan here as well.
If she puts to death all of the royal offspring, then the line of David
would be destroyed. And that means the
line of the Messiah.
:2 But Jehosheba,
the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king’s sons who
were being murdered; and they hid him and his nurse in the bedroom, from Athaliah, so that he was not killed.
:2 Jehosheba
Her name means “Yahweh has sworn”
Some think that though she was the daughter of Joram, she
was not the daughter of Athaliah, but of another
wife, and only the half-sister of Ahaziah.
She also has another interesting connection, being the wife of the high priest, Jehoida, one of the good guys! (2Chr. 22:11)
:2 Joash
the son of Ahaziah
His name means “given by the
Yahweh”. He is also known as “Jehoash”.
He has an interesting lineage.
He is indeed a descendant
of David.
But he also has the blood
of Ahab in him, being the son of Ahaziah who was from
the marriage of Jehoram and Athaliah,
the daughter of Ahab.
Does this mean that Jesus was also of the bloodline of Ahab?
Matthew traces Jesus’ genealogy through his supposed father Joseph
(Mat. 1), and Joseph was in the line of the kings, but Joseph wasn’t the
biological father of Jesus. Joseph only
gave the legal rights to the throne to Jesus.
Luke (Luk. 3) traces Jesus’ genealogy through his mother Mary, and
though she was in the line of David, her genealogy doesn’t come through the
rest of the kings, but through David’s son Nathan (not a king). Biologically Jesus didn’t have Ahab’s DNA in
him.
:2 he was not killed
Lesson
Losing the battle, winning
the war
There was a promise of the Messiah back in the very beginning:
(Ge 3:15 NKJV) And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise
your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
Ultimately we see this fulfilled at the cross where Satan
“bruised the heel” of Jesus when Jesus died, but Jesus smashed Satan’s head by
dying and rising from the dead.
Satan would win a battle, but lose the war.
It often works that way in our lives as well.
Paul knew what it was like to be under attack.
(2 Co 6:8–10
NKJV) —8 by honor and dishonor, by evil report
and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known;
as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as
poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all
things.
Paul knew what it was like to lose certain battles, but
not losing the war.
Paul wrote to the Romans:
(Ro 16:20
NKJV) And
the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
Hang in there!
It may look bleak at times, but God has a plan, and He’ll pull it
off! In the end, God wins!
:3 So he was hidden with
her in the house of the Lord for
six years, while Athaliah reigned over the land.
Joash wasn’t hidden in the “holy of holies”, but
simply in one of the “chambers” built in the temple complex, one of the
chambers reserved for the use of the priests or Levites.
Joash will spend the first six years of his life
hiding out in the Temple.
That’s probably not a bad place to grow up, in some ways.
And it’s a safe bet that Athaliah would never
accidentally stumble across this child in the Temple of Yahweh.
11:4-12 Jehoiada’s
Revolt
:4 In the seventh year Jehoiada sent and brought the captains of
hundreds—of the bodyguards and the escorts—and brought them into the house of
the Lord to him. And he made a
covenant with them and took an oath from them in the house of the Lord, and showed them the king’s son.
:4 the bodyguards and the escorts
It’s likely that these aren’t military men from the army, but are most likely from
the priests and Levites who came in on a regular rotation to work in the
Temple.
These would be the men that
Jehoiada as High Priest would have authority over.
:4 showed them the king’s son
I’ll bet more than a few jaws dropped when they began to realize that an
actual heir from the line of David still existed.
Athaliah was not of the line of David.
:5 Then he commanded them,
saying, “This is what you shall do: One-third of you who come on duty on
the Sabbath shall be keeping watch over the king’s house,
:6 one-third shall be at the gate of Sur,
and one-third at the gate behind the escorts. You shall keep the watch of the
house, lest it be broken down.
The first third of the guards would guard the little boy directly.
The second third would guard the east gate to the Temple (the gate Sur).
The last third would guard the southern entrance to the Temple.
:7 The two contingents of you who go off duty on
the Sabbath shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord for the king.
Normally there is a “shift change” on Fridays, but Jehoiada is asking the
guys to put in a little overtime to protect the king while Jehoiada makes his
move against Athaliah.
:8 But you shall surround the king on all sides, every man with his weapons
in his hand; and whoever comes within range, let him be put to death. You are
to be with the king as he goes out and as he comes in.”
:9 So the captains of the hundreds did according
to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded. Each of them took his men who were
to be on duty on the Sabbath, with those who were going off duty on the
Sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest.
:10 And the priest gave the captains of hundreds
the spears and shields which had belonged to King David, that were in
the temple of the Lord.
:10 which had belonged to
King David
Jehoiada breaks out the weapons that had belonged to David. These are about 200 years old.
Some suggest
these were kept around for occasions of “state”. Using these would connect this king to David.
:11 Then the escorts
stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, all around the king, from the
right side of the temple to the left side of the temple, by the altar and the
house.
:12 And he brought out the king’s son, put the
crown on him, and gave him the Testimony; they made him king and
anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, “Long live the king!”
:12 gave him the Testimony
Jehoiada gives little king Joash a copy of the Law of Moses,
which was what a king was supposed to have, according to the Law (Deut.
17:18-20)
(Dt 17:18–20 NKJV) —18 “Also it shall be, when he sits on the
throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a
book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall
read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe
all the words of this law and these statutes, 20 that
his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from
the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may
prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of
Israel.
This is one of the few instances where we see one of the kings actually
interacting with God’s Wor.d
It seems that during Joash’s life, that uncle Jehoida made him do more
than just carry the Law –
(2 Ch 24:6–7 NKJV) —6 So the king called Jehoiada the chief priest,
and said to him, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah
and from Jerusalem the collection, according to the commandment of Moses
the servant of the Lord and of
the assembly of Israel, for the tabernacle of witness?” 7 For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked
woman, had broken into the house of God, and had also presented all the
dedicated things of the house of the Lord
to the Baals.
I’d say that Joash learned to read God’s Word and do what it said. His Bible didn’t just stay up on the shelf.
:12 anointed him
Actually, the Jewish writers say that the son of a king was not to be
anointed, because he already had the right to the throne.
But the anointing
of a man to be king came only when a new dynasty was started.
Saul, the first king, was anointed.
David, not from Saul’s family, had to be anointed.
Solomon, though David’s son, was anointed, but because his older brother Adonijah had already made a claim to the throne and had
already made himself king.
In the north, we just saw Jehu anointed king, to take the place of the
dynasty of Ahab.
Here Joash is anointed because Athaliah has usurped the throne, and he’s now being placed
on it in her place.
:12 they clapped their hands
One suggestion is that the day of the anointing was a feast day, when there
would have been a lot of people around to witness the crowning of the king.
11:13-16 Athaliah Dies
:13 Now when Athaliah
heard the noise of the escorts and the people, she came to the people in
the temple of the Lord.
You can assume that Athaliah had not been invited
to the party! But she hears it.
:14 When she looked, there was the king standing
by a pillar according to custom; and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the
king. All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. So Athaliah tore her clothes and cried out, “Treason! Treason!”
:14 the king standing by a pillar
Apparently there was a pillar that the kings used to stand by, and when Athaliah saw this little boy standing there, where a king
should be, she knew there was trouble!
:14 Treason! Treason!
Actually, Jehoiada wasn’t committing treason. Joash was the
rightful heir to the throne of David. Athaliah was the one who was out of line. She was not a descendant of David.
:15 And Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains
of the hundreds, the officers of the army, and said to them, “Take her outside
under guard, and slay with the sword whoever follows her.” For the priest had
said, “Do not let her be killed in the house of the Lord.”
:16 So they seized her; and she went by way of the
horses’ entrance into the king’s house, and there she was killed.
When they got her far enough away from the temple, she was put to death.
11:17-21 Jehoiada’s Reforms
:17 Then Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord, the king, and the people, that
they should be the Lord’s people,
and also between the king and the people.
:17 Jehoiada made a covenant
Keep in mind, though Joash
is the king, he's only seven years old.
Jehoiada is the one for now who is actually in control.
When Jehoida dies, he has the distinct honor of
being buried with the kings (2Chr. 24:16)
Lesson
Commitment
covenant
– berith – covenant, alliance, pledge
A time of renewal begins. It doesn’t
just start with the death of Athaliah. It starts when the people make a fresh commitment to the Lord.
In our walk with God, it is important that we learn to “kill Athaliah”, to “crucify the flesh”.
But that’s not where it ends.
God wants us to make a connection with Him.
(Ro 6:11 NKJV) Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ
Jesus our Lord.
Sometimes people like to talk about all the things they’ve “given up” for
God.
Maturity is not about what you give up, but what you commit to.
God wants us to be connected to Him, not just cut off from the junk.
:18 And all the people of
the land went to the temple of Baal, and tore it down. They thoroughly broke in
pieces its altars and images, and killed Mattan the
priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the
house of the Lord.
:18 tore it down
Though Jehu destroyed Baal worship completely out of the northern kingdom
six years earlier, it had flourished in the southern kingdom under the rule of Athaliah.
They have now made a new commitment to Yahweh, but it's not just a matter
of words, but is followed by action.
Lesson
Burn the bridges
They didn’t just rope off Baal’s temple and post a sign “out of bounds”.
They tore down the temple.
Tearing down Baal’s temple doesn’t completely eliminate the possibility
that someone isn’t going to still worship Baal, but it’s going to make it a bit
harder.
In the northern kingdom, we saw the effect of Jehu’s “zeal”. He eliminated Baal worship. He burned his bridges.
(2 Co 7:11 NLT) Just see what this godly sorrow produced in you! Such earnestness,
such concern to clear yourselves, such indignation, such alarm, such longing to
see me, such zeal, and such a readiness to punish wrong. You showed that you
have done everything necessary to make things right.
Serious repentance burns the bridges.
It makes it as hard as possible to go back to the old ways. Not impossible, but hard.
:19 Then he took the
captains of hundreds, the bodyguards, the escorts, and all the people of the
land; and they brought the king down from the house of the Lord, and went by way of the gate of
the escorts to the king’s house. Then he sat on the throne of the kings.
:19 he took the captains of hundreds
Jehoiada keeps the guards around to stay on duty. Perhaps he wants to make sure that there
aren’t attempts on the king of the Temple as payback for what has happened to
the Baal temple.
:20 So all the people of the land rejoiced; and
the city was quiet, for they had slain Athaliah with
the sword in the king’s house.
:20 all the people of the land
rejoiced
They were happy that wicked Athaliah was
gone. I think rejoicing went something
like this …
:21 Jehoash
was seven years old when he became king.
:21 Jehoash
was seven years old
I think this is probably the scariest part of the whole chapter.
Putting a seven year old in charge!
Actually he’s not alone though. He’s
got uncle Jehoiada to help guide him.