Welcome to a group of women who's goal is to encourage each other to put down some serious roots in the Word of God. This blog is dedicated to reading through the Bible in a year. Hopefully you will find the encouragement and accountability here that you need to push through the tough parts- or when life just gets in the way. The reading plan is located at the bottom of the blog. It contains links to the passages we are reading through biblegateway.com. You can use those links or read your own Bible, whichever you prefer.
We are all members of Oak Hill Baptist Church in Griffin, Georgia and felt the need in our own life for a little bit of the Lord's splendor. Please join us!!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Chest of Joash

I was excited to read about King Joash. Not too long ago I heard about Joash for the first time. Our pastor at the time introduced the “Chest of Joash” to our congregation. More about that in a minute. Joash became king at the age of seven. That is just bizarre to me. How can a man(child) really rule at the age of seven? Well, one way is by the instruction of a priest. I wonder if Joash somewhat looked at the priest Jehoiada as a father figure? Joash spent the first years of his life hidden in the temple of the Lord. And now Jehoiada has made Joash king. Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord but the sad part is that it only lasted as long as the priest Jehoiada was living.

Joash instructed the priests to use the money collected at the temple to make repairs. It doesn’t mention in this text when his fund-raising project began but by the twenty-third year of his reign the priests had not repaired the temple like they were told so Joash turned the project over to carpenters and builders, masons and stonecutters. According to 2 Chronicles 24:8 Joash commanded a chest be made and placed outside at the gate of the temple of the Lord. I had to check that out because here in 2 Kings 12 it didn’t sound like Joash’s idea. Anyway, this was how the temple was repaired and restored. All the money brought to the temple was put into the chest and when it was full they would take the money to pay the workers.

I don’t know about you but I am having a hard time keeping up with who is king of where and when. During Joash’s reign, Israel gets a new king. Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, becomes king and he does evil in the eyes of the Lord. The Lord kept Israel oppressed by Hazael king of Aram and Ben-Hadad his son. Hazael also went to attack Jerusalem but Joash appeased him with treasures from the temple of the Lord. Joash was assassinated by his own officials and his son, Amaziah became king.

Now back to Israel, Jehoahaz the king sought the Lord’s favor because of the oppression of the king of Aram. The Lord listened and provided a deliverer but the people did not turn away from their sins. While Joash was still king of Judah, Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz became king of Israel. During Jehoahaz’s reign Amaziah, son of Joash, became king of Judah.

Elisha is back on the scene but for only a short time. Jehoash went to see Elisha because he feared Elisha’s death. Elisha told him that he would have victory over Aram but because Jehoash struck the ground with his arrow half-heartly Jehoash would not defeat Aram completely. It sounds so strange what Elisha asked him to do but isn’t often that there are things we are asked to do that seem strange or unimportant, but later we find out why. Hindsight is 20/20. That is one main reason we should have the attitude that everything we do is for the Lord.

Speaking of strange; what did you think about the man whose body touched Elisha’s bones and was brought back to life?

Back to Judah, Amaziah is king and did what was right in the eyes of the Lord about like his father Joash did. The high places were not removed and the people still sacrificed there. Amaziah killed the officials that had assassinated his father Joash but because of the Law of Moses he did not wipe out their families. Amaziah defeated the Edomites and became proud. This led to his defeat and the wall of Jerusalem broken down by Jehoash. Amaziah had men conspire against him in Jerusalem so he fled to Lachish but was killed there. Then Azariah was made king. In Israel Jeroboam son of Jehoash becomes king during the reign of Amaziah of Judah. I don’t know about you, I had this thought of “oh no, not another Jeroboam.”

7 comments:

  1. Amy, the long list of kings with similar names ARE hard to keep up with. I keep going back and rereading to try and refresh my mind about "who's who." I loved your point about doing everything as if for the Lord. You are certainly right- we never know what is going to end up being important until after the fact. Things we think are important may not be, and things we may dismiss as unimportant may end up being VERY important. Prayer is key! And I loved the story about the man touching Elisha's bones and coming back to life! It shows what power from God rested on Elisha- if even his bones could still perform miracles after his death! I find it interesting too, that the responsibility for managing the money dedicated to rebuilding the temple had to be removed from the priest's control. Obviously they kept finding "other uses" for that money- since something like 16 years had gone by and nothing had been done. That's sad. By contrast, the workers who were hired to work on the temple "did not require an accounting...because they acted with complete honesty." The "spiritual leaders" or priests hd obviously lost their focus, if the workers had more integrity then them! The temple has obviously been neglected- and treated more like a royal treasury with goods to be dispensed to other countries as needed to buy off leaders than a place of worship for the Lord. Oh, God, help us remember that everything we have comes from you and what our resources are to be used for!

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  2. Boy, Amy, my head is swimming! So hard to keep up with all these kings! You did a great job of sorting it all out for us! I feel kinda sorry for Jehoash who struck the ground half-heartedly w/his arrow only three times so was not allowed to defeat Aram completely.....God wants our total committment, but how often do I go through the motions only half heartedly?? May we remember to give of our best remembering that everything we do is for the Lord!.....Wish I could have been at that gravesite when that body touched Elisha's bones....can just hear them all uttering "Jumping Jehoshaphat"!!!:), can't you??!

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  3. It seems like I read somewhere about Elisha asking for a double-anointing of God's presence, after Elijah was taken to heaven. Something about Elijah's 7 miracles becoming 13 of Elisha's, and the 14th being the one mentioned here? .....not sure if a dead Elisha can take much credit for that one. But, it seems God was again telling us something about Himself and His power. Rest assured, it's included for a reason!

    Wanna know something? It's a secret, just between us..... I printed a list of the kings in chronological order. I know, what a nerd, but I couldn't remember one king from the other!!! It was somewhat helpful, but I'm thinking I'll be glad to see where all of this ends up. The kings are sometimes mentioned just briefly, and with all the shared/similar names......wahhhh!!!! Pressing on.

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  4. Jaybrena, that is a good idea about printing the kings in chronological order. I kept going back and rereading the kings and the number of years served. Quite confusing at times. Why were there so many kings with a "J" name?! That made it more confusing. I also got a laugh from the story of the man touching Elisha's bones. God can do mighty things.

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  5. Well, I was going to post the link for the chart I'm using, Angela.....but, can't find it again online. I saved it, and printed it. Oh well, there's always google!!! :)

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  6. I am SO GLAD I am not the only one having problems reading through all the kings and keeping things straight and this my 5th time reading through the Bible!!! Like Jaybrena, I have found it helpful to have a chart that lists all the kings in their proper order, which I found in my study Bible. But I am trying to keep in perspective that the big picture is that the people kept being totally disobedient by doing idol worship and giving their hearts away from God. Because soon they will find themselves being help captive by the Babylonians and in exile. And I am trying to keep in mind that I need to be careful that I am not doing the exact same things as the Israelites did. Thanks for being real ladies and sharing that you all are having the same struggles!!!

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  7. 03-06-2011.By Joas......well about kings,if u continuely read the bible,u won't 4get th names.The main error made by Biblical leaders(kings),is that they got a nc rule but at th end they worshep idols,whch wz th first error 2 punishment,poverty,war defeats.Evn th so called wisest king Solomon,th end result coz of many wives he turned 2 other gods .l thnk most of us thats were w fall..be watchful.king Joash is my namesack so l pray that l become a king who does not turn back,2 other gods.l'm Joas.

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