Join us as we delve into the dramatic chapters of 1 and 2 Chronicles, exploring the pivotal roles of Jehoiada and Joash. Discover how Jehoiada’s leadership and alliance with the Levites led to Joash’s enthronement, and hear how the young king’s reign took a drastic turn after the death of his mentor. This episode captures the complexities of leadership, faith, and the consequences of straying from godly counsel.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
SPEAKER 01 :
Today is day 25 in our journey through 1 and 2 Chronicles. Our journey of 31 days only has 7 days left. So here today we’re going to be doing chapters 23 and 24. We’ll listen to Faith Comes By Hearing’s reading of chapter 23 and our guest reader, Senator Kevin Grantham, President of the Colorado State Senate, as he reads chapter 24. 2 Chronicles 23
SPEAKER 04 :
But in the seventh year, Jehoiada took courage and entered into a covenant with the commanders of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jehoram, Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, Azariah the son of Obed, Maaseah the son of Adeah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri. And they went about through Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the heads of fathers’ houses of Israel. And they came to Jerusalem. And all the assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And Jehoiada said to them,
SPEAKER 02 :
Behold the king’s son. Let him reign as the Lord spoke concerning the sons of David. This is the thing that you shall do. Of you priests and Levites who come off duty on the Sabbath, one-third shall be gatekeepers, and one-third shall be at the king’s house, and one-third at the gate of the foundation.” and all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the Lord. Let no one enter the house of the Lord except the priests and ministering Levites. They may enter, for they are holy, but all the people shall keep the charge of the Lord. The Levites shall surround the king, each with his weapons in his hand, and whoever enters the house shall be put to death. Be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out,
SPEAKER 04 :
The Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded. And they each brought his men, who were to go off duty on the Sabbath, with those who were to come on duty on the Sabbath. For Jehoiada the priest did not dismiss the divisions. And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains the spears and the large and small shields that had been King David’s, which were in the house of God. And he set all the people as a guard for the king, every man with his weapon in his hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of the house, around the altar and the house. Then they brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony. And they proclaimed him king, and Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and they said, Long live the king! And when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she went into the house of the Lord to the people. And when she looked, there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance, and the captains and the trumpeters beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and the singers with their musical instruments leading in the celebration. And Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “‘Treason!
SPEAKER 05 :
Treason!’
SPEAKER 02 :
Then Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains who were set over the army, saying to them, Bring her out between the ranks, and anyone who follows her is to be put to death with the sword. For the priest said, Do not put her to death in the house of the Lord.
SPEAKER 04 :
So they laid hands on her, and she went into the entrance of the horse gate of the king’s house, and they put her to death there. And Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and all the people and the king that they should be the Lord’s people. Then all the people went to the house of Baal and tore it down. His altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they killed Matan the priest of Baal before the altars. And Jehoiada posted watchmen for the house of the Lord under the direction of the Levitical priests and the Levites, whom David had organized to be in charge of the house of the Lord, to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, as it is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, according to the order of David.” He stationed the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the Lord, so that no one should enter who was in any way unclean. And he took the captains, the nobles, the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the house of the Lord, marching through the upper gate to the king’s house. And they set the king on the royal throne. So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been put to death with the sword.
SPEAKER 03 :
2 Chronicles 24. Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebiah of Beersheba, and Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. Jehoiada got for him two wives, and he had sons and daughters. After this, Joash decided to restore the house of the Lord, And he gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, Go out to the cities of Judah and gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year and see that you act quickly. But the Levites did not act quickly. So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief and said to him, Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax levied by Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the congregation of Israel for the tent of the testimony? For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the house of God and had also used all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord for the bales. So the king commanded, and they made a chest and set it outside the gate of the house of the Lord. And proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for the Lord the tax that Moses, the servant of God, laid on Israel in the wilderness. And all the princes and all the people rejoiced and brought their tax and dropped it into the chest until they had finished. And whenever the chest was brought to the king’s officers by the Levites, when they saw that there was much money in it, the king’s secretary and the officer of the chief priest would come and empty the chest and take it and return it to its place. thus they did day after day and collected money in abundance and the king and jehoiada gave it to those who had charge of the work of the house of the lord and they hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of the lord and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of the lord So those who were engaged in the work labored, and the repairing went forward in their hands, and they restored the house of God to its proper condition and strengthened it. And when they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, and with it were made utensils for the house of the Lord, both for the service and for the burnt offerings, and dishes for incense and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord regularly all the days of Jehoiada.” But Jehoiada grew old and full of days and died. He was 130 years old at his death. And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel and toward God and his house. Now after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and paid homage to the king. Then the king listened to them, and they abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs. Yet he sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord. These testified against them, but they would not pay attention. 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. At the end of the year the army of the Syrians came up against Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus. Though the army of the Syrians had come with few men, the Lord delivered into their hand a very great army because Judah had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. Thus they executed judgment on Joash. When they had departed from him, leaving him severely wounded, his servants conspired against him because of the blood of the son of Jehoiada the priest, and killed him on his bed. So he died, and they buried him in the city of David. But they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings. Those who conspired against him were Zabad, the son of Shemith, the Ammonite, and Jehozabad, the son of Shemrith, the Moabite. Accounts of his sons and of the many oracles against him and of the rebuilding of the house of God are written in the story of the book of the kings. And Amaziah, his son, reigned in his place.
SPEAKER 01 :
At the end of 2 Chronicles chapter 22, Athelia, the mother of Ahaziah, after her son was dead, was reigning over the land. In chapter 23, a priest, Jehoiada, obviously was not pleased with this kind of leadership. The priest discovers that a son of Ahaziah is alive, Joash. He rallies the religious leaders to replace this evil queen with a new king, the young boy, Joash. Chapter 24, verse 1 says, Verse 2 says, As long as the old priest was alive, Joash was influenced by this religious, godly man. As soon as he died, verse 17 says, Now after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and paid homage to the king. Then the king listened to them, and they abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols. Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, come and confronts Joash in his change of heart. Chapter 24, verse 20. 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 the 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 the Jehoiada that Zechariah’s father had shown him, but killed his son. Sometimes in these recordings, my heart just breaks. Maybe yours breaks too as you listen to these stories. The application from this story to me today is this. We need Christian leaders to rise up against the evil governments in our country, in our world today. We need Jehoiada’s to rally the Christian community, to rally the religious community, and stand for righteousness in our country and in our world. Chapter 23, verse 1 said, But in the seventh year Jehoiada took courage. Yes, it would take great courage for Christian leaders to stand up and say, this is unacceptable and we will rally America or your country to righteousness again in the sight of the Lord. We can tell from chapter 24 that it wasn’t Joash that did all this righteous work. It was the priest, Jehoiada, because as soon as he was gone, Joash listened to the voice of others. So will you join me today in prayer for Christian leadership in your country? Father, we pray that we would have religious leaders, Christian leaders, rise up against the evil governments of our day, governments that do not pursue you, that stray far from biblical principles. Would you raise up a voice, a Christian voice, a biblical voice that can be heard by our government leaders? in this country and countries around the world. May you give them courage like you did Jehoiada to stand for the principles of God. And may you give them an ear with the political leaders of our day. It happened in 2 Chronicles. It can happen again in our day. We ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen. Thanks for listening to Ad 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 Ad 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. And want to share it with others.
