How important are godly influences in our lives? Should we choose our close advisors wisely? Let’s begin in 2 Chronicles 24.
Why was Jehoiada supervising Joash? Was he underage? Did Joash do well as long as Jehoiada was alive?
Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. Joash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. And Jehoiada took two wives for him, and he had sons and daughters. (2 Chr 24:1-3 NKJV)
Did Joash eventually uncover corruption while trying to restore the temple?
At one point Joash decided to repair and restore the Temple of the Lord. He summoned the priests and Levites and gave them these instructions: “Go to all the towns of Judah and collect the required annual offerings, so that we can repair the Temple of your God. Do not delay!” But the Levites did not act immediately. So the king called for Jehoiada the high priest and asked him, “Why haven’t you demanded that the Levites go out and collect the Temple taxes from the towns of Judah and from Jerusalem? Moses, the servant of the Lord, levied this tax on the community of Israel in order to maintain the Tabernacle of the Covenant.” Over the years the followers of wicked Athaliah had broken into the Temple of God, and they had used all the dedicated things from the Temple of the Lord to worship the images of Baal. (2 Chr 24:4-7 NLT)
How did the king solve the financial shortfall in repairing the house of the Lord?
So the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it outside at the gate of Yahweh’s house. They made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in for Yahweh the tax that Moses the servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness. All the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had filled it. Whenever the chest was brought to the king’s officers by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king’s scribe and the chief priest’s officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to its place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance. (2 Chr 24:8-11 WEB)
Did they finish restoring the temple and fully equip it?
The king and Jehoiada would give it to those in charge of the work on the Lord’s temple who in turn hired masons and carpenters to renovate the Lord’s temple, as well as metalworkers for the iron and bronze to repair the Lord’s temple. The workers labored hard, and the restoration progressed smoothly under their control until they had brought God’s temple back to its original state and reinforced it. As soon as they finished, they brought the remaining money to the king and Jehoiada. They used it to make equipment for the Lord’s temple, including what was used for the service and the entirely burned offerings, pans, and other objects made of gold and silver. As long as Jehoiada lived, the entirely burned offerings were regularly offered in the Lord’s temple. (2 Chr 24:12-14 CEB)
What happened after Jehoiada died and his good influence was gone?
He died at the ripe old age of 130 years, and he was buried in the royal tombs in Jerusalem, because he had done so much good for the people of Israel, for God, and for the temple. After the death of Jehoiada the priest, the leaders of Judah went to Joash and talked him into doing what they wanted. The people of Judah soon stopped worshiping in the temple of the Lord God and started worshiping idols and the symbols of the goddess Asherah. These sinful things made the Lord God angry with the people of Judah and Jerusalem, but he still sent prophets who warned them to turn back to him. The people refused to listen. (2 Chr 24:15-19 CEV)
What did Jehoiada’s faithful son Zechariah suffer after he warned the people?
Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God, ‘Why do you break the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.’” But they conspired against him, and by command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord. Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah's father, had shown him, but killed his son. And when he was dying, he said, “May the Lord see and avenge!” (2 Chr 24:20-22 ESV)
How did God eventually punish Joash for his apostasy?
At the turn of the year, an Aramean army went to war against Joash. They entered Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the leaders of the people among them and sent all the plunder to the king of Damascus. Although the Aramean army came with only a few men, the Lord handed over a vast army to them because the people of Judah had abandoned Yahweh, the God of their ancestors. So they executed judgment on Joash. (2 Chr 24:23-24 HCSB)
What was the final end of a man who had abandoned the godly influence of Jehoiada?
After the Arameans left him very sick, Joash’s own servants conspired against him because Joash had murdered Jehoiada the priest’s son, and they killed him on his sick bed. The conspirators included Shimeath the Ammonite’s son Zabad and Shimrith the Moabite’s son Jehozabad. Records concerning his sons, the various prophetic statements rebuking him, and records of the reconstruction work on God’s Temple are written in the Midrash of the Book of the Kings. Joash’s son Amaziah reigned in his place. (2 Chr 24:25-27 ISV)
Do many parables speak of the final destruction of the unrepentant wicked? For instance, how does the parable of the wheat and tares end?
Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. (Mat 13:30 KJV)
How important are godly influences in our lives? Should we choose our close advisors wisely? You decide!
