“But after
the death of Jehoiada (the priest) the officials of Judah came and bowed down to the king
(Joash), and the king listened to them. They abandoned the house of the Lord, the
God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols; so wrath came upon
Judah and Jerusalem for this their guilt.” (vv.17-18)
Following
Jehoiada’s death, Joash began to listen to the counsel of politicians and
princes of Judah, who had forsaken the house of the LORD, and the God of their
fathers. These men proved not only to be ungodly advisors, but they served
Asherah – a goddess of the Phoenicians and the Arameans, the female counterpart
of Baal.
Therefore Zechariah, the son of the priest Jehoiada, speaking in the name of the LORD,
called the people back to God, but they did not listen. Instead, they rose up against Zechariah and stoned him at
the command of the king. Wow! How
could this be? One who seemed so committed to the LORD is now serving Baal, and destroying God's prophets in the court of the house of the LORD. What caused this change? Maybe a better question would be, “Did something ever begin?”
As we look
back over this young king’s life, we see that he was raised by Jehoiada the priest (and his wife), in the house of the LORD from birth. At the age of seven,
he was crowned king and was guided through his life decisions by Jehoiada, his
mentor. As long as Jehoiada was alive, this young king was fine, but when
Jehoiada died, things changed. He began idol worship, practiced immorality, and
became a murderer.
This begs
the question; Did Joash ever have his own personal relationship with God? or
Did he just fall pray to the schemes of evil men? Either way,
this sad story should speak volumes to us about having our own real
relationship with the LORD and not to depend on others for it. To that end, we need to be in His Word daily, strengthening our foundation, that we may stand against the storms of life.
The Truth
“Put on the
whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:11)
