In today’s episode, we reflect on the significance of taking godly counsel and exhibiting unyielding faith in our spiritual journeys. Through the biblical accounts of King Joash and the prophet Elisha, we gain insights into the dynamics of leadership and faith. Engage with us as we discuss the implications of stopping short of divine blessings due to lack of faith, and the potential blessings that await when we are ‘all in’ with the Lord.
00:00:08 Introduction to Add Bible and Episode Overview
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. Allen J. Huth shares a Bible passage with comments from over 35 years of his personal Bible reading journals and applies the Word of God to our daily lives.
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Today we are in 2 Kings chapter 12 and 13. Chapter 12 contains the reign of Joash, the king of the tribe of Judah. Chapter 13 will contain the death of the prophet Elisha. Chapter 12 will be read by our guest reader, Senator Kevin Grantham. Chapter 13 will listen in to Faith Comes by Hearing. Let’s begin.
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2 Kings 12 In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash began to reign. and he reigned 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebiah of Beersheba. And Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him. Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away. The people continued to sacrifice and make offerings on the high places. Jehoash said to the priests, All the money of the holy things that is brought into the house of the Lord… The money for which each man is assessed, the money from the assessment of persons, and the money that a man’s heart prompts him to bring into the house of the Lord, let the priest take each from his donor, and let them repair the house wherever any need of repairs is discovered. But by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, the priests had made no repairs on the house. Therefore King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said to them, Why are you not repairing the house? Now therefore take no more money from your donors, but hand it over for the repair of the house. So the priests agreed that they should take no more money from the people and that they should not repair the house. Then Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in the lid of it and set it beside the altar on the right side as one entered the house of the Lord. And the priests who guarded the threshold said, He says, And they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders who worked on the house of the Lord, and to the masons and the stonecutters, as well as to buy timber and quarried stone for making repairs on the house of the Lord, and for any outlay for the repairs of the house. But there were not made for the house of the Lord basins of silver, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, or any vessels of gold or of silver from the money that was brought into the house of the Lord. For that was given to the workmen who were repairing the house of the Lord with it. And they did not ask an accounting from the men, whose hand they delivered the money to pay out to the workmen, for they dealt honestly. The money from the guilt offerings and the money from the sin offerings was not brought into the house of the Lord. It belonged to the priests. At that time, Hazael, king of Syria, went up and fought against Gath and took it. But when Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem, Jehoash, king of Judah, took all the sacred gifts that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah his fathers, the kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own sacred gifts, and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house, and sent these to Hazael king of Syria. Then Hazael went away from Jerusalem. Now the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? His servants arose and made a conspiracy and struck down Joash in the house of Milo on the way that goes down to Silla. It was Josachar, the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad, the son of Shomer, his servants, who struck him down so that he died. And they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Amaziah his son reigned in his place.
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In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned seventeen years. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. He did not depart from them, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them continually into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Ben-Hadad the son of Hazael. Then Jehoahaz sought the favor of the Lord, and the Lord listened to him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them. Therefore the Lord gave Israel a Savior, so that they escaped from the hand of the Syrians, and the people of Israel lived in their homes as formerly. Nevertheless they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin, but walked in them. and the Asherah also remained in Samaria. For there was not left to Jehoahaz an army of more than fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen. For the king of Syria had destroyed them, and made them like the dust at threshing. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? So Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. And Joash his son reigned in his place. In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned sixteen years. He also did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin, but he walked in them. Now the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, and the might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? So Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat on his throne. And Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash king of Israel went down to him and wept before him, crying,
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My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen.
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And Elisha said to him, Take a bow and arrows.
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So he took a bow and arrows. Then he said to the king of Israel, Draw the bow. And he drew it. And Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands. And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot.
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And he said, The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria. For you shall fight the Syrians in Aphek until you have made an end of them.
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And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them, and he said to the king of Israel, Strike the ground with them. And he struck three times and stopped. Then the man of God was angry with him and said,
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You should have struck five or six times. Then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it. But now you will strike down Syria only three times.
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So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. And as a man was being buried, behold, a marauding band was seen, and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha. And as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet. Now Hazael, king of Syria, oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them, and He turned toward them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, nor has He cast them from His presence until now. When Hazael, king of Syria, died, Ben-Hadad, his son, became king in his place. Then Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, took again from Ben-Hadad, the son of Hazael, the cities that he had taken from Jehoahaz, his father, in war. Three times Jehoash defeated him and recovered the cities of Israel.
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In 1997, I read 2 Kings chapters 12 through 14 on one day, and I wrote more kings, the good, bad, and ugly. And then I wrote, Elisha dies. Both Israel and Judah appear to be drifting farther and farther from God. Like the United States, hard to get back. In 2011, I also read 2 Kings chapters 12 through 14 on the same day. And I wrote in my journal, Joash was seven years old as king. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord because Jehoiada, the priest, instructed him. Who do we take advice from? Who are my counselors? Surround me with godly counselors so I do right in your eyes. By the way, as we look at chapter 12, Jehoash and Joash are the same guy. Both are Hebrew spellings of the same name. Though Joash began his reign at seven years old, he reigned 40 years. Verse 2 says, And Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him. And my question in one of my journals was, Who do I take counsel from? Who are my advisors? You might ponder the same question as we look at 2 Kings chapter 12. Who are your close confidants? Who do you truly take advice from? The priest Jehoiada obviously had great influence on Joash’s life. Chapter 12 also contains the great illustration of the Joash chest. Several churches use this to raise funds for building programs or capital improvements. That idea comes from 2 Kings chapter 12. And at the end of chapter 13, the wonderful prophet Elisha dies. He finishes life with one last prophecy. The nation of Israel was under threat from war from Syria. Elisha tests the faith of the king. Let’s begin at verse 18. When God tests your faith, do you go part way or do you go all the way? Are you all in with the Lord? Verse 20 says, So Elisha died, and they buried him. And the chapter ends with the last verse of fulfillment to the very prophecy Elisha left with. Three times Joash defeated him and recovered the cities of Israel. He could have had more. He could have completely defeated Syria. O ye of little faith! From these two chapters, we see the boy King Joash was all in. He did right in the sight of the Lord. But the king of Israel stopped short of the blessings of God because of a lack of faith. Where are you? Are you all in with the Lord? Or do you only pound the arrows of your faith three times? Stretch your faith based on 2 Kings 12 and 13. Walk closer to God. He wants you all in. Father, we thank you for 2 Kings chapters 12 and 13. Thank you for the reminder to stretch our faith in you. Oftentimes you are willing to give us more than we ask. By reading the word of God, build our faith in you so that we may experience the full extent of your blessings. And we’ll thank you for it. In Jesus’ name, amen. Thanks for listening to Add Bible today. It’s not too late to get your copy of the writings of the Old Testament historical books to follow along with this Add Bible program. The book contains our studies on Job, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles. We’ll be in those books for the next several weeks. The book has comments on every chapter, applications for your life, and a place for you to record your thoughts on each chapter of each book for future reference. Visit EzraProject.net and order the writings of the Old Testament historical books today so you can get more out of these radio programs and more out of your Bible. I know you’re going to enjoy it. I know you’re going to like it and want to share it with others.
