2 Chronicles 22-24: The Kingly Priest

A hidden heir survives a murderous purge, a priest stages a courageous restoration, and a young king thrives—until he trades wise counsel for flattery and loses everything. We trace the thin line between reform and relapse and ask what keeps faith steady when mentors are gone.

• Ahaziah’s ruin through corrupt counsel
• Athaliah’s coup and the hidden child Joash
• Jehoiada’s plan, covenant, and temple renewal
• Transparent giving and skilled repair work
• Death of Jehoiada and rapid spiritual drift
• Zechariah’s warning and martyrdom
• Syrian judgment and Joash’s assassination
• Call to become Jehoiada-like mentors
• Challenge to own faith beyond borrowed influence

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Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Stage In Chronicles
• 1:07 Ahaziah’s Short Reign And Downfall
• 2:58 Athaliah’s Coup And Joash Hidden
• 3:46 Jehoiada’s Plan To Restore The Throne
• 5:37 Athaliah Executed And Covenant Renewed
• 6:38 Joash Repairs The Temple
• 9:27 After Jehoiada: Apostasy And Judgment
• 11:42 Host Reflections On Mentorship

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:11

This is the Out Loud Bible Project Podcast, and I am Mike. Thanks so much for spending some time with me today. As we get into the Word, we are reading through the second book of Chronicles in the Old Testament, and we're going through the line of kings of the southern kingdom of Israel called Judah. We've seen recently Jehoshaphat, who was a pretty good king, but he made one compromise. He let his son marry the daughter of the evil king of the northern kingdom, Israel, and that son, Jehoram, became king, and he went off the rails quickly, and he led his people into evil just like the northern kingdom had done. Now Jehorim has a son, and we're going to read about him today. This is Second Chronicles twenty-two through twenty-four. The residents of Jerusalem made his youngest son, Ahaziah, king in his place, for the raiding party that invaded the camp with the Arabs had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, became king of Judah. Ahaziah was twenty two years old when he became king, and he reigned for one year in Jerusalem. His mother was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Amri. He followed in the footsteps of Ahab's dynasty, for his mother gave him evil advice. He did evil in the sight of the Lord, like Ahab's dynasty, because after his father's death they gave him advice that led to his destruction. Are you detecting a theme? Be careful who you get advice from. He followed their advice and joined Ahab's son King Joram of Israel in a battle against King Hazael of Syria at Ramath Gilead, in which the Syrians defeated Joram. Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians in Ramah when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. Ahaziah, son of King Jehoram of Judah, went down to visit Joram, son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he had been wounded. God brought Ahaziah's downfall through his visit to Joram. When Ahaziah arrived, he went out with Joram to meet Jehu, son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had commissioned to wipe out Ahab's family. When Jehu was dishing out punishment to Ahab's family, he discovered the officials of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah's relatives who were serving Ahaziah and killed them. He looked for Ahaziah, who was captured while hiding in Samaria. They brought him to Jehu, and then executed him. They did give him a burial, for they reasoned he is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with his whole heart. There was no one in Ahaziah's family strong enough to rule in his place. When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, well she was determined to destroy the entire royal line of Judah. One problem with that, right? Because God promised that David would always have a royal line in Judah. So Jehoshabaath, the daughter of King Jehoram, took Ahaziah's son Joash and stole him away from the rest of the royal descendants who were to be executed. This is some crazy reality TV stuff here. The Old Testament is not boring. She hid him and his nurse in the room where the bed covers were stored. So Jehoshabayath, the daughter of King Jehoram, wife of Jehoiada the priest, and sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah so that she couldn't execute him. He remained in hiding in God's temple for six years while Athaliah was ruling over the land. In the seventh year, Jehoiadah, remember that's the priest, made a bold move. He made a pact with the officers of the units of hundreds, Azariah son of Jehoram, Ishmael son of Jehochannon, Azariah son of Obed, Masaiah son of Edea, and Elishaphat son of Zikri. They travelled throughout Judah and assembled the Levites from all the cities of Judah, as well as the Israelite family leaders. They came to Jerusalem, and the whole assembly made a covenant with the king in the temple of God. Jehoiada said to them, The king's son will rule, just as the Lord promised David's descendants. This is what you must do. One third of you priests and Levites who are on duty during the Sabbath will guard the doors. Another third of you will be stationed at the royal palace, and still another third at the foundation's gate. All the others will stand in the courtyards of the Lord's temple. No one must enter the Lord's temple except the priests and Levites who are on duty. They may enter because they're ceremonially pure. All the others should carry out their assigned service to the Lord. The Levites must surround the king. Each of you must hold a weapon in his hand. Whoever tries to enter the temple must be killed. You must accompany the king wherever he goes. The Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered. Each of them took his men, those who were on duty during the Sabbath, as well as those who were off duty on the Sabbath. Jehoida the priest did not release his divisions from their duties. Jehoida the priest gave to the officers of the units of hundreds King David's spears and shields that were kept in God's temple. He placed the men at their posts, each holding his weapon in their hand. They lined up from the south side of the temple to the north side, and stood near the altar on the temple surrounding the king. Jehoiada and his sons led out the king's son and placed on him the crown and the royal insignia. They proclaimed him king and poured olive oil on his head. They declared, Long live the king! Well, when Athaliah heard the royal guard shouting and praising the king, she joined the crowd at the Lord's temple. Then she saw the king standing by his pillar at the entrance. The officers and trumpeters stood beside the king, and all the people of the land were celebrating and blowing trumpets, and the musicians with various instruments were leading the celebration. Athaliah tore her clothes and yelled Treason! Treason! Jehoida the priest sent out the officers of the units of hundreds who were in charge of the army and ordered them, bring her outside the temple to the guards, put the sword to anyone who follows her. The priest gave this order because he had decided she should not be executed in the Lord's temple. They seized her and took her into the precincts of the royal palace through the horses' entrance, and there they executed her. Jehoiada then drew up a covenant, stipulating that he, all the people, and the king should be loyal to the Lord. All the people went and demolished the temple of Baal. They smashed its altars and idols, they killed Matan, the priest of Baal in front of the altars. Jehoiada then assigned the duties of the Lord's temple to the priests, the Levites whom David had assigned to the Lord's temple. They were responsible for offering burnt sacrifices to the Lord with joy and music according to the law of Moses and the edict of David. He posted guards at the gates of the Lord's temple so no one who was ceremonially unclean in any way could enter. He summoned the officers of the units of hundreds, the nobles, the rulers of the people, and all the people of the land, and he then led the king down from the Lord's temple. They entered the royal palace through the upper gate and seated the king on the royal throne. All the people of the land celebrated, for the city had rest now that they had killed Athaliah. Joash was seven years old when he began to reign. He reigned for forty years in Jerusalem. His mother was Zibia, who was from Beersheba. Joash did what the Lord approved through the lifetime of Jehoiada the priest. Jehoida chose two wives for him who gave him sons and daughters. Later Joash was determined to repair the Lord's temple. He assembled the priests and Levites and ordered them, Go out to the cities of Judah and collect the annual quota of silver from all Israel for repairs on the temple of your God. Be quick about it. But the Levites delayed. So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest and said to him, Why have you not made the Levites collect from Judah and Jerusalem the tax authorized by Moses, the Lord's servant, and by the assembly of Israel at the tent containing the tablets of the law? Wicked Athaliah and her sons had broken into God's temple and used all the holy items of the Lord's temple in their worship of the Baals. The king ordered a chest to be made and placed outside the gate of the Lord's temple. An edict was sent throughout Judah and Jerusalem, requiring the people to bring to the Lord the tax that Moses, God's servant, imposed on Israel in the wilderness. All the officials and all the people gladly brought their silver and threw it into the chest until it was full. Whenever the Levites brought the chest to the royal accountant, and they saw there was a lot of silver, the royal scribe and his accountant of the high priest emptied the chest and then took it back to its place. They went through this routine every day and collected a large amount of silver. The king and Jehoida gave it to the construction foreman assigned to the Lord's temple. They hired carpenters and craftsmen to repair the Lord's temple, as well as those skilled in working with iron and bronze to restore the Lord's temple. They worked hard and made the repairs. They followed the measurements specified for God's temple and restored it. When they were finished, they brought the rest of the silver to the king in Jehoida. They used it to make items for the Lord's temple, including items used in the temple service and for burnt sacrifices, pans, and various other gold and silver items. Throughout Jehoiada's lifetime, burnt sacrifices were offered regularly in the Lord's temple. Jehoida grew old and died at the age of one hundred and thirty. He was buried in the city of David with the kings because he had accomplished good in Israel, and for God and his temple. After Jehoiada died, the officials of Judah visited the king and declared their loyalty to him. The king listened to their advice. And they abandoned the temple of the Lord God of their ancestors, and worshipped the Ashra Poles and idols. Because of this sinful activity, God was angry with Judah and Jerusalem. The Lord sent prophets among them to lead them back to him. They warned the people, but they wouldn't pay attention. God's spirit energized Zechariah, son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood up before the people and said to them, This is what the Lord says. Why are you violating the commands of the Lord? You will not be prosperous. Because you've rejected the Lord, he's rejected you. They plotted against him, and by royal decree stoned him to death in the courtyard of the Lord's temple. King Joash disregarded the loyalty Zechariah's father Jehoidah had shown him and killed Jehoiada's son. As Zechariah was dying, he said, May the Lord take notice and seek vengeance. At the beginning of the year the Syrian army attacked Joash and invaded Judah and Jerusalem. They wiped out all the leaders of the people and sent all the plunder they gathered to the king of Damascus. Even though the invading Syrian army was relatively weak, the Lord handed over to them Judah's very large army, for the people of Judah had abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors. The Syrians gave Joash what he deserved. When they withdrew, they left Joash badly wounded. His servants plotted against him because what he had done to the son of Jehoidah the priest. They murdered him on his bed. Thus he died and was buried in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings. The conspirators were Zabad son of Shimeath, an Ammonite woman, and Jehosabad, son of Shimrith, a Moabite woman. The list of Joash's sons, the many prophetic oracles about him, and the account of his building project on God's temple are included in the record of the scroll of the kings. His son, Amaziah, replaced him as king. And we'll go on from there next time. But what a fascinating figure Jehoidah is. I call him the kingly priest because he had influence over the entire nation to draw them closer and stay faithful to God. We need more Jehoidas. More people who are willing to take younger, newer believers even and help raise them in the way that they should go, help disciple them, show them the way of the Lord, give them wise advice, give them wise counsel, and also establish systems and processes that bring order and align people's hearts to God. We need people who, like Jehoiada, recognize what God's will is and defend it tooth and nail. We know what the truth is, we know what God's promises are, and we defend those against the evil influences trying to wipe them out. Be careful, because if you're not a Jehoiada, you may be a Joash who, yeah, uh does what's right and follows the Lord as long as you have the right kind of friends around you, as long as you maybe have the God-fearing, faith filled parent in your life. But has their faith become yours? Are you faithful only as long as you're around the right kind of people? Let's allow ourselves to get honest with this mirror like Bible and consider who do we line up with most in this story? That's the thinking out loud thought for the day.