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.”