2 CHROICLES 24 COMMETARYEDITED BY GLE PEASE

Joash Repairs the Temple

1 Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mothers name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba.

BARES, "This chapter is parallel with 2 Kings 12, but treats the matters common to both narratives in a different and, apparently, supplemental way.

CLARKE, "Joash was seven years old - As he was hidden six years in the temple, and was but seven when he came to the throne, he could have been but one year old when he was secreted by his aunt; see on 2Ch_22:10 (note).

GILL, "Joash was seven years old when he began to reign,.... This, and the following verse, are the same with 2Ki_11:21. See Gill on 2Ki_12:1. See Gill on 2Ki_12:2.

HERY 1-14, "This account of Joash's good beginnings we had as it stands here 2Ki_12:1, etc., though the latter part of this chapter, concerning his apostasy, we had little of there. What is good in men we should take all occasions to speak of and often repeat it; what is evil we should make mention of but sparingly, and no more than is needful. We shall here only observe, 1. That it is a happy thing for young people, when they are setting out in the world, to be under the direction of those that are wise and good and faithful to them, as Joash was under the influence of Jehoiada, during whose time he did that which was right. Let those that are young reckon it a blessing to them, and not a burden and check upon them, to have those with them that will caution them against that which is evil and advise and quicken them to that which is good; and let them reckon it not a mark of weakness and subjection, but of wisdom and discretion, to hearken to such. He that will not be counselled cannot be helped. It is especially prudent for young people to take advice in their marriages, as Joash did, who left it to his guardian to choose him his wives, because Jezebel and Athaliah had been such plagues, 2Ch_24:3. This is a turn of life which often proves either the making or marring of

young people, and therefore should be attended to with great care. 2. Men may go far in the external performances of religion, and keep long to them, merely by the power of their education and the influence of their friends, who yet have no hearty affection for divine things nor any inward relish of them. Foreign inducements may push men on to that which is good who are not actuated by a living principle of grace in their hearts. 3. In the outward expressions of devotion it is possible that those who have only the form of godliness may out-strip those who have the power of it. Joash is more solicitous and more zealous about the repair of the temple than Jehoiada himself, whom he reproves for his remissness in that matter, 2Ch_24:6. It is easier to build temples than to be temples to God. 4. The repairing of churches is a good work, which all in their places should promote, for the decency and conveniency of religious assemblies. The learned tell us that in the Christian church, anciently, part of the tithes were applied that way. 5. Many a good work would be done that now lies undone if there were but a few active men to stir in it and to put it forward. When Joash found the money did not come in as he expected in one way he tried another way, and that answered the intention. Many have honesty enough to follow that have not zeal enough to lead in that which is good. The throwing of money into a chest, through a hole in the lid of it, was a way that had not been used before, and perhaps the very novelty of the thing made it a successful expedient for the raising of money; a great deal was thrown in and with a great deal of cheerfulness: they all rejoiced, 2Ch_24:10. An invention to please people's humour may sometimes bring them to their duty. Wisdom herein is profitable to direct. 6. Faithfulness is the greatest praise and will be the greatest comfort of those that are entrusted with public treasure or employed in public business. The king and Jehoiada faithfully paid the money to the workmen, who faithfully did the work, 2Ch_24:12, 2Ch_24:13.

JAMISO 1-3, "2Ch_24:1-14. Joash reigns well all the days of Jehoiada.

Joash ... began to reign (See on 2Ki_12:1-3).

K&D 1-3, "The reign of Joash; cf. 2 Kings 12. - In both accounts only two main events in Joash's reign of forty years are narrated at any length, - the repair of the temple, and the campaign of the Syrian king Hazael against Jerusalem. Besides this, at the beginning, we have a statement as to the duration and spirit of his reign; and in conclusion, the murder of Joash in consequence of a conspiracy is mentioned. Both accounts agree in all essential points, but are shown to be extracts containing the most important part of a more complete history of Joash, by the fact that, on the one hand, in 2 Kings 12 single circumstances are communicated in a more detailed and more exact form than that in which the Chronicle states them; while, on the other hand, the account of the Chronicle supplements the account in 2 Kings 12 in many respects. To these latter belong the account of the marriage of Joash, and his many children, the account of the death of Jehoiada at the age of 130 years, and his honourable burial with the kings, etc.; see on 2Ch_24:15.

BESO, "2 Chronicles 24:1. Joash was seven years old, &c. A great part of this chapter is explained in the notes on 2 Kings 12.

ELLICOTT, "REIG OF JOASH. (Comp. 2 Kings 12)

PROPHETIC MIISTRY OF ZECHARIAH BE JEHOIADA.

The Ascendancy of the High Priest Jehoiada. Repair of the Temple (2 Chronicles 24:1-14).

(1) Joash was seven years old.This verse coincides with 2 Kings 12:1-2, merely omitting the note that his accession took place in the seventh year of Jehu. There he is called Jehoash, of which Joash is a contraction. (Comp. Jehoram-Joram.) The meaning may be Iahu is fire (comp. Isaiah 33:14); but more probably it is Iahu is a man. (Comp. Ashbel.)

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 24:1 Joash [was] seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mothers name also [was] Zibiah of Beersheba.

Ver. 1. And he reigned forty years.] See 2 Kings 12:1.

His mothers name also was Zibiah of Beersheba.] Whatever his mother was, his foster mother, his aunt Jehoshebah, did all the offices of a good mother to him; but he ill requited her in her son Zechariah. It is said of the Irish, (a) that the love of foster brothers amongst them far surpasses all the loves of all men.

PARKER, "Lessons From Joash

SEVE or eight persons of the name of Joash are mentioned in the Old Testament. This particular man had a tragical history. When the wicked woman Athaliah murdered his father"s family and usurped the throne, the infant Joash was secretly saved by his aunt Jehoshebah, who was married to the high priest Jehoiada. The child was brought up secretly in chambers connected with the temple, and in his eighth year he became the eighth king of Judah, and as such he reigned forty years. The life of Joash, though lived nearly three thousand years ago, is as fresh in its applications to human nature as if it had ended but yesterday. For example, Joash was everything that could be desired so long as he was under age and obedient to the counsel and discipline of Jehoiada the high priest So long indeed as the high priest lived Joash was a type of filial excellence. Are there not amongst ourselves leaders who keep us right, Jehoiadas but for whom our religious life would expire? Our regularity at church may be due to them. Our abstinence from certain pernicious customs may be due to their influence. They are the stay of the house and the tenderest comfort of life. We do not know how much we owe to them. If their policy was one of driving instead of leading, we should know more about it; but because it is quiet, subtle, persuasive, and encouraging, it goes for less than it really is. Is it not the woman who keeps the house together? We are not vividly conscious

of this fact during her lifetime, but after she is gone we observe a difference in the whole household economy: we cannot explain it; things are not as they used to be; there is more grating of the machinery; little things are felt to be absent; the fluency of the whole life is lost, so that now it goes in rushes and tumults, and is marked by irregularity and uncertainty. We begin to ask how this is; and in the putting of the question we are conducted to the answer, for we remember that the woman, the wife, the mother, is dead, and her hand being withdrawn from the whole economy, the result is painfully manifest. We do not notice events that pass regularly, nor are we careful to ascertain their motive and duly appraise it: we soon fall into a state of acquiescence with everything that is comfortable; it is when the comfort ceases that we begin to put questions, and it is at that time that we begin to do justice to many whose influence we had ignored or under-estimated during the time of its activity. It would seem to be about the last thing men do, to estimate properly the value of subtle and silent influences, the magic and wizardry of noble character. We may even be ashamed to do certain things in the presence of the Jehoiadas of society. We are not ashamed of the things themselves, nor are we unprepared to make experiments in regard to them; but whenever we would put forth our hand to begin the experiments we see the observing Jehoiada, and withdraw from the pernicious attempt So it is that there are trustees of commercial and social honour, men who would never do the dishonourable deed, speak the calumnious word, or mislead the sentiment of the marketplace in times of strong temptation and peril. We rely upon them as disinfectants, keeping the commercial atmosphere pure, and discouraging in the most positive and decisive manner the spirit and action of men who are low-minded and selfish. These Jehoiadas deliver no lectures upon commercial morality, nor do they in any manner that can be charged with conceit display their own virtues; they simply go on their straightforward course, doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God, and the result of their presence and character is that even the worst men are restrained, weak men are confirmed in good resolutions, and men whose character needs inspiration receive it from their example. Are we to be told that such men are doing nothing in the world because they are not publishing books, delivering lectures, or taking some active part in public life? Such men are doing the real work of the world. Talk is nothing except as it leads to practice,a lecture is but wasted breath unless it culminates in noble conduct: in the case of the Jehoiadas of society we have men who have left the elementary school, and are now themselves daily teachers of the highest truths, and continual examples of their possible application to the real necessities of life.

In the next place, however, Joash represents those who develop unexpected corruption of character. As soon as the high priest died the princes of Judah came and made obeisance to Joash ( 2 Chronicles 24:17). They were idolaters, they served groves and idols, and they succeeded in corrupting the king"s mind and in leading him away from the true worship. This is the deadliest attack that can be made upon human character and influence; for once loosen the bonds of deeply religious faith, and all the rest is easy work. A man may overget some attack that is made upon a political custom or a social usage, and he may even recover himself from the effect of straying into the enemy"s camp for the purpose of momentary consultation; but when his religious faith is undermined his whole character goes down. The attack

which was made upon the religious position of Joash was of the kind which is known as flattery. The princes of Judah said to him, in effect: You have been under the domination of Jehoiada, you have been merely a nominal king, you have been called a lord but have had no dominion: now the time has come when you should avow your great power, and grant to every man what is called religious liberty. Joash "hearkened unto them," and the result is given in verse eighteen

GUZIK, "A. Joash repairs the temple.

1. (2 Chronicles 24:1-3) Joashs forty year reign.

Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mothers name was Zibiah of Beersheba. Joash did what was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest. And Jehoiada took two wives for him, and he had sons and daughters.

a. He reigned forty years in Jerusalem: This was a long and mostly blessed reign. Joash (also called Jehoash in 2 Kings 12, simply a variant spelling) fell short of full commitment and complete godliness, but he did advance the cause of God in the kingdom of Judah.

i. The number of wives and children shows God restoring the years the locusts had eaten. (Selman)

b. Joash did what was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest: This implies that when Jehoiada died, Jehoash no longer did what was right in the sight of the LORD. This chapter will document that Joash turned to idolatry when Jehoiada died, and judgment followed.

EBC, "JOASH AD AMAZIAH

2 Chronicles 24:1-27; 2 Chronicles 25:1-28

FOR Chronicles, as for the book of Kings, the main interest of the reign of Joash is the repairing of the Temple; but the later narrative introduces modifications which give a somewhat different complexion to the story. Both authorities tell us that Joash did that. which was right in the eyes of Jehovah all the days of Jehoiada, but the book of Kings immediately adds that "the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places." Seeing that Jehoiada exercised the royal authority during the minority of Joash, this toleration of the high places must have had the sanction of the high-priest. ow the chronicler and his contemporaries had been educated in the belief that the Pentateuch was the ecclesiastical code of the monarchy; they found it impossible to credit a statement that the high-priest had sanctioned any other sanctuary besides the temple of Zion; accordingly they omitted the verse in question.

In the earlier narrative of the repairing of the Temple the priests are ordered by Joash to use certain sacred dues and offerings to repair the breaches of the house; but after some time had elapsed it was found that the breaches had not been repaired, and when Joash remonstrated with the priests, they flatly, refused to have anything to do with the repairs or with receiving funds for the purpose. Their objections were, however, overruled; and Jehoiada placed beside the altar a chest with a hole in the lid, into which "the priests put all the money that was brought into the house of Jehovah." [2 Kings 12:9] When it was sufficiently full, the kings scribe and the high-priest counted the money, and put it up in bags.

There were several points in this earlier narrative which would have furnished very inconvenient precedents, and were so much out of keeping with the ideas and practices of the second Temple that, by the time the chronicler wrote, a new and more intelligible version of the story was current among the ministers of the Temple. To begin with, there was an omission which would have grated very unpleasantly on the feelings of the chronicler. In this long narrative, wholly taken up with the affairs of the Temple, nothing is said about the Levites. The collecting and receiving of money might well be supposed to belong to them; and accordingly in Chronicles the Levites are first associated with the priests in this matter, and then the priests drop out of the narrative, and the Levites alone carry out the financial arrangements.

Again, it might be understood from the book of Kings that sacred dues and offerings, which formed the revenue of the priests and Levites, were diverted by the kings orders to the repair of the fabric. The chronicler was naturally anxious that there should be no mistake on this point; the ambiguous phrases are omitted, and it is plainly indicated that funds were raised for the repairs by means of a special tax ordained by Moses. Joash "assembled the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out into the cities of Judah, and gather of all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that ye hasten the matter. Howbeit the Levites hastened it not." The remissness of the priests in the original narrative is here very faithfully and candidly transferred to the Levites. Then, as in the book of Kings, Joash remonstrates with Jehoiada, but the terms of his remonstrance are altogether different: here he complains because the Levites have not been required "to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the tax appointed by Moses the servant of Jehovah and by the congregation of Israel for the tent of the testimony," i.e., the Tabernacle, containing the Ark and the tables of the Law. The reference apparently is to the law, [Exodus 30:11-16] that when a census was taken a poll-tax of a half-shekel a head should be paid for the service of the Tabernacle. As one of the main uses of a census was to facilitate the raising of taxes, this law might not unfairly be interpreted to mean that when occasion arose, or perhaps even every year, a census should be taken in order that this poll-tax might be levied. ehemiah arranged for a yearly poll-tax of a third of a shekel for the incidental expenses of the Temple. [ehemiah 10:32] Here, however, the half-shekel prescribed in Exodus is intended; and it should be observed that this poll-tax was to be levied, not once only, but "from year to year." The chronicler then inserts a note to explain why these repairs were necessary: "The sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the

house of God: and also all the dedicated things of the house of Jehovah they bestowed upon the Baals." Here we are confronted with a further difficulty. All Jehorams sons except Ahaziah were murdered by the Arabs in their fathers life-time. Who are these "sons of Athaliah" who broke up the Temple? Jehoram was about thirty-seven when his sons were massacred, so that some of them may have been old enough to break up the Temple. One would think that "the dedicated things" might have been recovered for Jehovah when Athaliah was overthrown; but possibly, when the people retaliated by breaking into the house of Baal, there were Achans among them, who appropriated the plunder.

Having remonstrated with Jehoiada, the king took matters into his own hands; and he, not Jehoiada, had a chest made and placed, not beside the altar-such an arrangement savored of profanity-but without at the gate of the Temple. This little touch is very suggestive. The noise and bustle of paying over money, receiving it, and putting it into the chest, would have mingled distractingly with the solemn ritual of sacrifice. In modern times the tinkle of three penny pieces often tends to mar the effect of an impressive appeal and to disturb the quiet influences of a communion service. The Scotch arrangement, by which a plate covered with a fair white cloth is placed in the porch of a church and guarded by two modern Levites or elders, is much more in accordance with Chronicles.

Then, instead of sending out Levites to collect the tax, proclamation was made that the people themselves should bring their offerings. Obedience apparently was made a matter of conscience, not of solicitation. Perhaps it was because the Levites felt that sacred dues should be given freely that they were not forward to make yearly tax-collecting expeditions. At any rate, the new method was signally successful. Day after day the princes and people gladly brought their offerings, and money was gathered in abundance. Other passages suggest that the chronicler was not always inclined to trust to the spontaneous generosity of the people for the support of the priests and Levites; but he plainly recognized that free-will offerings are more excellent than the donations which are painfully extracted by the yearly visits of official collectors. He would probably have sympathized with the abolition of pew-rents.

As in the book of Kings, the chest was emptied at suitable intervals; but instead of the high-priest being associated with the kings scribe, as if they were on a level and both of them officials of the royal court, the chief-priests officer assists the kings scribe, so that the chief-priest is placed on a level with the king himself.

The details of the repairs in the two narratives differ considerably in form, but for the most part agree in substance; the only striking point is that they are apparently at variance as to whether vessels of silver or gold were or were not made for the renovated Temple.

Then follows the account of the ingratitude and apostasy of Joash and his people. As long as Jehoiada lived, the services of the Temple were regularly performed, and Judah remained faithful to its God; but at last he died, full of days: a hundred and

thirty years old. In his life-time he had exercised royal authority, and when he died he was buried like a king: "They buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel and toward God and His house." Like ero when he shook off the control of Seneca and Burrhus, Joash changed his policy as soon as Jehoiada was dead. Apparently he was a weak character, always following some ones leading. His freedom from the influence that had made his early reign decent and honorable was not, as in eros case, his own act. The change of policy was adopted at the suggestion of the princes of Judah. King, princes, and people fell back into the old wickedness; they forsook the Temple and served idols. Yet Jehovah did not readily give them up to their own folly, nor hastily inflict punishment; He sent, not one prophet, but many, to bring them back to Himself, but they would not hearken. At last Jehovah made one last effort to win Joash back; this time He chose for His messenger a priest who had special personal claims on the favorable attention of the king. The prophet was Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, to whom Joash owed his life and his throne. The name was a favorite one in Israel, and was borne by two other prophets besides the son of Jehoiada. Its very etymology constituted an appeal to the conscience of Joash: it is compounded of the sacred name and a root meaning "to remember." The Jews were adepts at extracting from such a combination all its possible applications. The most obvious was that Jehovah would remember the sin of Judah, but the recent prophets sent to recall the sinners to their God showed that Jehovah also remembered their former righteousness and desired to recall it to them and them to it; they should remember Jehovah. Moreover, Joash should remember the teaching of Jehoiada and his obligations to the father of the man now addressing him. Probably Joash did remember all this when, in the striking Hebrew idiom, "the spirit of God clothed itself with Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people and said unto them, Thus saith God: Why transgress ye the commandments of Jehovah, to your hurt? Because ye have forsaken Jehovah, He hath also forsaken you." This is the burden of the prophetic utterances in Chronicles; [1 Chronicles 28:9, 2 Chronicles 7:19; 2 Chronicles 12:5; 2 Chronicles 13:10; 2 Chronicles 15:2; 2 Chronicles 21:10; 2 Chronicles 28:6; 2 Chronicles 29:6; 2 Chronicles 34:25] the converse is stated by Irenaeus when he says that to follow the Savior is to partake of salvation. Though the truth of this teaching had been enforced again and again by the misfortunes that had befallen Judah under apostate kings, Joash paid no heed to it, nor did he remember the kindness which Jehoiada had done him; that is to say, he showed no gratitude towards the house of Jehoiada. Perhaps an uncomfortable sense of obligation to the father only embittered him the more against his son. But the son of the high-priest could not be dealt with as summarily as Asa dealt with Hanani when he put him in prison. The king might have been indifferent to the wrath of Jehovah, but the son of the man who had for years ruled Judah and Jerusalem must have had a strong party at his back. Accordingly the king and his adherents conspired against Zechariah, and they stoned him with stones by the kings command. This Old Testament martyr died in a very different spirit from that of Stephen; his prayer was not, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge," but " Jehovah, look upon it and require it." His prayer did not long remain unanswered. Within a year the Syrians came against Joash; he had a very great host, but he was powerless against a small company of the Divinely commissioned avengers of Zechariah. The tempters who

had seduced the king into apostasy were a special mark for the wrath of Jehovah: the Syrians destroyed all the princes, and sent their spoil to the king of Damascus. Like Asa and Jehoram, Joash suffered personal punishment in the shape of "great diseases," but his end was even more tragic than theirs. One conspiracy avenged another: in his own household there were adherents of the family of Jehoiada: "Two of his own servants conspired against him for the blood of Zechariah, and slew him on his bed; and they buried him in the city of David, and not in the sepulchers of the kings."

The chroniclers biography of Joash might have been specially designed to remind his readers that the most careful education must sometimes fail of its purpose. Joash had been trained from his earliest years in the Temple itself, under the care of Jehoiada and of his aunt Jehosha-beath, the high-priests wife. He had no doubt been carefully instructed in the religion and sacred history of Israel, and had been continually surrounded by the best religious influences of his age. For Judah, in the chroniclers estimation, was even then the one home of the true faith. These holy influences had been continued after Joash had attained to manhood, and Jehoiada was careful to provide that the young kings harem should be enlisted in the cause of piety and good government. We may be sure that the two wives whom Jehoiada selected for his pupil were consistent worshippers of Jehovah and loyal to the Law and the Temple. o daughter of the house of Ahab, no "strange wife" from Egypt, Ammon, or Moab, would be allowed the opportunity of undoing the good effects of early training. Moreover, we might have expected the character developed by education to be strengthened by exercise. The early years of his reign were occupied by zealous activity in the service of the Temple. The pupil outstripped his master, and the enthusiasm of the youthful king found occasion to rebuke the tardy zeal of the venerable high-priest.

And yet all this fair promise was blighted in a day. The piety carefully fostered for half a life-time gave way before the first assaults of temptation, and never even attempted to reassert itself. Possibly the brief and fragmentary records from which the chronicler had to make his selection unduly emphasize the contrast between the earlier and later years of the reign of Joash; but the picture he draws of the failure of the best of tutors and governors is unfortunately only too typical. Julian the Apostate was educated by a distinguished Christian prelate, Eusebius of icomedia, and was trained in a strict routine of religious observances; yet he repudiated Christianity at the earliest safe opportunity. His apostasy, like that of Joash, was probably characterized by base ingratitude. At Constantines death the troops in Constantinople massacred nearly all the princes of the imperial family, and Julian, then only six years old, is said to have been saved and concealed in a church by Mark, Bishop of Arethusa. When Julian became emperor, he repaid this obligation by subjecting his benefactor to cruel tortures because he had destroyed a heathen temple and refused to make any compensation. Imagine Joash requiring Jehoiada to make compensation for pulling down, a high place!

The parallel of Julian may suggest a partial explanation of the fall of Joash. The tutelage of Jehoiada may have been too strict, monotonous, and prolonged: in

choosing wives for the young king, the aged priest may not have made an altogether happy selection; Jehoiada may have kept Joash under control until he was incapable of independence and could only pass from one dominant influence to another. When the high-priests death gave the king an opportunity of changing his masters, a reaction from the too urgent insistence upon his duty to the Temple may have inclined Joash to listen favorably to the solicitations of the princes.

But perhaps the sins of Joash are sufficiently accounted for by his ancestry. His mother was Zibiah of Beersheba, and therefore probably a Jewess. Of her we know nothing further, good or bad. Otherwise his ancestors for two generations had been uniformly bad. His father and grandfather were the wicked kings Jehoram and Ahaziah; his grandmother was Athaliah; and he was descended from Ahab, and possibly from Jezebel. When we recollect that his mother Zibiah was a wife of Ahaziah and had probably been selected by Athaliah, we cannot suppose that the element she contributed to his character would do much to counteract the evil he inherited from his father.

The chroniclers account of his successor Amaziah is equally disappointing; he also began well and ended miserably. In the opening formulae of the history of the new reign and in the account of the punishment of the assassins of Joash, the chronicler closely follows the earlier narrative, omitting, as usual, the statement that this good king did not take away the high places. Like his pious predecessors, Amaziah in his earlier and better years was rewarded with a great army and military success; and yet the muster-roll of his forces shows how the sins and calamities of the recent wicked reigns had told on the resources of Judah. Jehoshaphat could command more than eleven hundred and sixty thousand soldiers; Amaziah has only three hundred thousand.

These were not sufficient for the kings ambition; by the Divine grace, he had already amassed wealth, in spite of the Syrian ravages at the close of the preceding reign: and he laid out a hundred talents of silver in purchasing the services of as many thousand Israelites, thus falling into the sin for which Jehoshaphat had twice been reproved and punished. Jehovah, however, arrested Amaziahs employment of unholy allies at the outset. A man of God came to him and exhorted him not to let the army of Israel go with him, because "Jehovah is not with Israel"; if he had courage and faith to go with only his three hundred thousand Jews, all would be well, otherwise God would cast him down, as He had done Ahaziah. The statement that Jehovah was not with Israel might have been understood in a sense that would seem almost blasphemous to the chroniclers contemporaries; he is careful therefore to explain that here "Israel" simply means "the children of Ephraim."

Amaziah obeyed the prophet, but was naturally distressed at the thought that he had spent a hundred talents for nothing: "What shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel?" He did not realize that the Divine alliance would be worth more to him than many hundred talents of silver; or perhaps he reflected that Divine grace is free, and that he might have saved his money. One would like to believe that he was anxious to recover this silver in order to devote it

to the service of the sanctuary; but he was evidently one of those sordid souls who like, as the phrase goes, "to get their religion for nothing." o wonder Amaziah went astray! We can scarcely be wrong in detecting a vein of contempt in the prophets answer: "Jehovah can give thee much more than this."

This little episode carries with it a great principle. Every crusade against an established abuse is met with the cry, "What shall we do for the hundred talents?"-for the capital invested in slaves or in gin-shops; for English revenues from alcohol or Indian revenues from opium? Few have faith to believe that the Lord can provide for financial deficits, or, if we may venture to indicate the method in which the Lord provides, that a nation will ever be able to pay its way by honest finance. Let us note, however, that Amaziah was asked to sacrifice his own talents, and not other peoples.

Accordingly Amaziah sent the mercenaries home; and they returned in great dudgeon, offended by the slight put upon them and disappointed at the loss of prospective plunder. The kings sin in hiring Israelite mercenaries was to suffer a severer punishment than the loss of money. While he was away at war, his rejected allies returned, and attacked the border cities, killed three thousand Jews, and took much plunder.

Meanwhile Amaziah and his army were reaping direct fruits of their obedience in Edom, where they gained a great victory, and followed it up by a massacre of ten thousand captives, whom they killed by throwing down from the top of a precipice. Yet, after all, Amaziahs victory over Edom was of small profit to him, for he was thereby seduced into idolatry. Amongst his other prisoners, he had brought away the gods of Edom; and instead of throwing them over a precipice, as a pious king should have done, "he set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense unto them."

Then Jehovah, in His anger, sent a prophet to demand, "Why hast thou sought after, foreign gods, which have not delivered their own people out of thine hand?" According to current ideas outside of Israel, a nation might very reasonably seek after the gods of their conquerors. Such conquest could only be attributed to the superior power and grace of the gods of the victors: the gods of the defeated were vanquished along with their worshippers, and were obviously incompetent and unworthy of further confidence. But to act like Amaziah-to go out to battle in the name of Jehovah, directed and encouraged by His prophet, to conquer by the grace of the God of Israel, and then to desert Jehovah of hosts, the Giver of victory, for the paltry and discredited idols of the conquered Edomites-this was sheer madness. And yet as Greece enslaved her Roman conquerors, so the victor has often been won to the faith of the vanquished. The Church subdued the barbarians who had overwhelmed the empire, and the heathen Saxons adopted at last the religion of the conquered Britons. Henry IV of France is scarcely a parallel to Amaziah: he went to Mass that he might hold his scepter with a firmer grasp, while the king of Judah merely adopted foreign idols in order to gratify his superstition and love of novelty.

Apparently Amaziah was at first inclined to discuss the question: he and the prophet talked together; but the king soon became irritated, and broke off the interview with abrupt discourtesy: "Have we made thee of the kings counsel? Forbear; why shouldest thou be smitten?" Prosperity seems to have been invariably fatal to the Jewish kings who began to reign well; the success that rewarded, at the same time destroyed, their virtue. Before his victory Amaziah had been courteous and submissive to the messenger of Jehovah; now he defied Him and treated His prophet roughly. The latter disappeared, but not before he had declared the Divine condemnation of the stubborn king.

The rest of the history of Amaziah-his presumptuous war with Joash, king of Israel, his defeat and degradation, and his assassination-is taken verbatim from the book of Kings, with a few modifications and editorial notes by the chronicler to harmonies these sections with the rest of his narrative. For instance, in the book of Kings the account of the war with Joash begins somewhat abruptly: Amaziah sends his defiance before any reason has been given for his action. The chronicler inserts a phrase which connects his new paragraph very suggestively with the one that goes before. The former concluded with the kings taunt that the prophet was not of his counsel, to which the prophet replied that the king should be destroyed because he had not hearkened to the Divine counsel proffered to him. Then Amaziah "took advice"; i.e., he consulted those who were of his counsel, and the sequel showed their incompetence. The chronicler also explains that Amaziahs rash persistence in his challenge to Joash "was of God, that He might deliver them into the hand of their enemies, because they had sought after the gods of Edom." He also tells us that the name of the custodian of the sacred vessels of the Temple was Obed-edom. As the chronicler mentions five Levites of the name of Obed-edom, four of whom occur nowhere else, the name was probably common in some family still surviving in his own time. But, in view of the fondness of the Jews for significant etymology, it is probable that the name is recorded here because it was exceedingly appropriate. "The servant of Edom" suits the official who has to surrender his sacred charge to a conqueror because his own king has worshipped the gods of Edom. Lastly, an additional note explains that Amaziahs apostasy had promptly deprived him of the confidence and loyalty of his subjects; the conspiracy which led to his assassination was formed from the time that he turned away from following Jehovah, so that when he sent his proud challenge to Joash his authority was already undermined, and there were traitors in the army which he led against Israel. We are shown one of the means used by Jehovah to bring about his defeat.

PULPIT, "This chapter contains the entire career of Joash, and is answered to by the twelfth chapter of Kings. It tells of Joash's fidelity to God, and his worship and temple, while Jehoiada's life lasted (2 Chronicles 24:1-14); of his departure from God and permission of idolatry afterwards (2 Chronicles 24:15-22); of the punishment he received at the hands of the Syrians (2 Chronicles 24:23, 2 Chronicles 24:24); and of his miserable end (2 Chronicles 24:25-27). The differences between our chapter and the parallel, in respect of what it both omits and supplies, are much larger than usual, and are very interesting and suggestive in the character

of them. These points will be marked particularly in the notes underneath as they occur.

2 Chronicles 24:1

His mother's name Zibiah of Beersheba. We do not read, in the brief account of Ahaziah, Joash's father, whom he married. othing is as yet known of Zibiah, but there must be some significance underlying the mention of her name and native place, or known place of residence. The references Amos 5:5 and Amos 8:14 may possibly contain the clue, in holding up Beersheba as the most idolatrous of idolatrous places. Beersheba offers another reference of unhappy associations (1 Samuel 8:2). As a terminus of the land, "Dan to Beersheba" ( 20:1; 2 Samuel 24:2; 1 Chronicles 21:2); as a terminus of the divided Judah, "Beersheba to Mount Ephraim" (2 Chronicles 19:4), "Geba to Beersheba" (2 Kings 23:8); and as a terminus of this Judah yet reduced after the Captivity, "Beersheba to the valley of Hinnom" (ehemiah 11:30); its mention is notorious. The references Genesis 21:31 and Genesis 26:18, Genesis 26:31-33 are full of interest, as bearing on the way in which the spot is first known in Bible history.

SBC, "I. Josiah was an early seeker. At the age of eight he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and at sixteen he began to seek the God of his father David with more earnestness than ever. And he found Him, and became a wonder unto many, a royal miracle of grace. This boy will condemn you if you are not an early seeker of God, you who have so many more encouragements than he had. God expects you to seek early; you can seek early, and early seekers are sure finders.

II. Josiah was also a hearty hater of evil. He hated idols just as much as he loved Jehovah; his hatred sprang from love, and was steeped in love. He did not love from a softness or easiness of nature, but the fire of God within him burnt into hatred and melted into love. Holy hatred kept his feet from falling, his eyes from tears, and his soul from death.

III. Josiah was a real hero. A hero is one who in doing duty scorns great dangers. Nearly all the people were against Josiahs reforms, which put his life in peril; but he pushed boldly forward. Conscience was his king; and he felt that it was not necessary for him to live, but that it was necessary for him to do his work. The fear of God drove the fear of man out of Josiahs heart, and made him a true hero.

IV. Josiah was missed and mourned when he died. There is a night in the history of Spain which is known as "the sad night," and so in the history of Judah the death of Josiah was "the sad day." Many young lives are like a shattered column: unhewn from top to bottom. But Josiahs life was like a well-chiselled pillar, though snapped in the middle by the rude shock of battle. Hence he was sorely missed and mourned.

J. Wells, Bible Children, p. 159.

2 Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years of Jehoiada the priest.

BARES, "Jehoiada lived after the accession of Joash at least 23 years 2Ki_12:6. Thus the idolatries of Joash 2Ch_24:18 were confined to his last 10 or 15 years.

CLARKE, "GILL, "HERY, "JAMISO, "K&D, "ELLICOTT, "(2) And Joash did.So 2 Kings 13:3.

All the days of Jehoiada the priest.Kings: all his days, while (or because) Jehoiada the priest instructed him. The expression all his days is of course relative to the clause which follows it; and the chronicler has accurately given the meaning.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 24:2 And Joash did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

Ver. 2. And Joash did that which was right all the days of Jehoiada.] Education doth something, as the boat moveth some little time upon the water by virtue of the former stroke. ero, for his first five years, while he hearkened to his two tutors, Seneca and Burrhus, was very fair conditioned. That speech of his, Quam vellem nescire literas, when he was to set his hand to a warrant for the execution of any condemned person, occasioned Seneca to write his book of clemency, in which he propounds him for a pattern. See 2 Kings 12:2.

ISBET, "PARASITICAL PIETYJoash did that which was right all the days of Jehoiada.2 Chronicles 24:2I. He was dependent for his faithfulness and piety on the good influence of his human friends.There are many other children who have the same experience. While this incident of Joash and the good priest and his wife is before us, we may think a moment of the beautiful work they did for God in this training of the infant

king. Perhaps they may sometimes have felt that it was not worth their while to be so burdened with caring for a baby. At least some women in these days think that nursing infants is rather dreary work, and they sigh that they cannot do something great for Christ because their hands are so full of nursery tasks. They forget that taking care of infants is work for Christ.

II. We should always have a care for Gods house.Joash was minded to repair the house of the Lord. This may show itself in many ways. There is also a spiritual temple, in which every one should be particularly interested. Our life is Gods temple, and we should be most careful that no marring shall occur in it, no breaches; that no blemishes may be allowed to remain.

III. Slack helpers.Howbeit the Levites hastened it not. o reason is given for their want of energy. But we see the effect of their indolence. The house of the Lord remained year after year in its condition of decay, a standing dishonour to God and a reproach to the priests and Levites who had been commanded to repair it. We get a lesson on the sin of slowness and indolence in doing Gods work.

Illustration

Mrs. Preston, in one of her story poems, tells of a weary sister who grieved sorely because she was not free to do any work for Christ. By her mothers dying bed she had promised to care for her little sister, and this had so filled her hands that she had not had time for anything elseanything for Christ. As she was once grieving thus the little sister sleeping beside her stirred, and awaking, told her of a sweet, strange dream that she had had. She thought that her sister had bidden each one bring Him a gift

And in my dream I saw you thereAnd heard you say, o hands can bearA gift that are so filled with care.What care? the king said, and he smiled,To hear you answer, wailing wild,I only toil to feed a child.And then with such a look Divine(Twas that awaked me with its shine)He whispered, But the child is Mine.There are many for whom this little story should have rich comfort. There are fathers and mothers who find it hard to provide for their children. It takes all their time and strength; and sometimes they say, I cannot do any work for Christ, because it takes every minute to earn bread and clothing for my little ones and to care for them. They do not remember that in providing for, watching over, and training their children, they are really doing the noblest work for Christ that their hands can find in all this world. Jesus whispers to them in their disheartenment, Your children are Mine, and what you do for them you do for Me.

PULPIT, "2 Chronicles 24:2

All the days of Jehoiada. Of the "forty years" mentioned in the former verse, these "days of Jehoiada" will cover, some, at any rate, say, two years more than "twenty-two years;" for compare our 2 Chronicles 24:6, 2 Chronicles 24:12-15 with the parallel, 2 Kings 12:6, 2 Kings 12:7, 2 Kings 12:9, noting the thenceforward silence there respecting Jehoiada, and even making ample allowance for it.

SIMEO, "THE LIFE AD CHARACTER OF JOASH

2 Chronicles 24:2. And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

I order to display more fully his own truth and faithfulness, God often permits events to arise, which seem to render the accomplishment of his promises almost, if not altogether, hopeless. This was particularly visible in his conduct towards the posterity of Abraham in Egypt, in that he forbore to rescue them from their captivity, till the period assigned for their deliverance was brought to the very last hour. We behold a striking interposition also in behalf of the descendants of David, to whom God had promised, that his seed should continue to sit upon the throne of Judah. More than once had they been in imminent danger of utter excision [ote: 2 Chronicles 21:4; 2 Chronicles 22:1.], before Athaliah usurped the throne: and she was bent upon destroying them all [ote: 2 Chronicles 22:10.]: but God would not suffer his promise to fail [ote: 2 Chronicles 21:7.]. It should seem that Joash, the youngest son of Ahaziah, was actually with his brethren when they all were slain, and by some means, being only an infant, was hid amongst them, so as to escape the general slaughter. From that state he was rescued by his aunt, and was hid, together with his nurse, in a bed-chamber [ote: 2 Kings 11:2.], till he was seven years old: at which time Jehoiada the priest, who had married his aunt, put to death the usurper, and established Joash on his fathers throne.

One might have hoped, that a person so signally preserved, should, like Moses, have proved a great blessing to his age and nation: but, hopeful as his beginnings were, his reign was evil, and his end calamitous.

We propose,

I. To take a brief view of his history

A sudden and total change having taken place in his conduct about the middle of his reign, it will be proper to consider his history,

1. During the life of Jehoiada

[At first, as might be expected, he was under the entire management of Jehoiada, who was his instructor, and acted towards him as a father [ote: 2 Kings 12:1. with

2 Chronicles 24:22.]. But it was not only during his minority that he was thus observant of Jehoiada, but for many years after he had attained to manhood, even at loge as Jehoiada himself lived. ow in this we admire his humility; for he was a king, possessed of arbitrary power; and yet, because he was convinced of the skill, the integrity, and the piety of his instructor, he still continued to consult him on all occasions, and to follow his advice without reserve. In this conduct also he evinced his wisdom; in that he preferred the sage advice of an experienced counsellor, before the less matured dictates of his own mind, or the judgment of sycophants around his throne. Even piety itself seems to have possessed his mind at this period: for when he saw to what a dilapidated state the temple was reduced by the impious rage of Athaliah [ote: ver. 7.], he set himself to repair it; and even reproved Jehoiada himself, and all the Levites, for their tardiness in executing this important work [ote: ver. 5, 6.].

Who from such beginnings would not augur well of the remainder of his reign? From such a view of him we are ready to say, O that our princes, our nobility, our youth of every rank, were thus observant of pious instructors, thus intent on doing what was right in the sight of the Lord! ]

But our views of Joash will be greatly changed, if we consider his history

2. After Jehoiadas decease

[Instantly did a mighty change appear in him. Having lost his pious counsellor, he began to listen to the advice of young unprincipled sycophants [ote: ver. 17.]. O what a misfortune is it to any man to connect himself with ungodly associates! How many are there, who, whilst under the care of pious parents or godly instructors, have promised well, who yet, by means of ungodly companions, have been drawn from every good way, and been led to disappoint all the hopes that have been formed concerning them! We cannot too earnestly caution all against the influence of bad advice, by whomsoever it be given, even though it be by their nearest friends or relatives [ote: 2 Chronicles 22:3-4.]. Every counsel must be tried by the unerring word of God; and to those who would lead us in opposition to that, our answer must invariably be, Whether it be right to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.

Released, as it were, from the restraints of man, he soon cast off all fear of God, and abandoned his temple and service for the service of groves and idols [ote: ver. 18.]. or, when God sent him prophets to testify against his evil ways, would he regard them at all: yea, when Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada himself, was sent to him, instead of attending to his admonitions, he gave commandment to the people to stone him to death; which commandment they executed, even in the court of the temple itself.

To what excesses will not men run, when once they give ear to ungodly counsellors, and knowingly violate all the dictates of their own conscience! It not unfrequently happens, that backsliders and apostates become the bitterest persecutors; and that

they who walk in the counsel of the ungodly, soon learn to stand in the way of sinners, and come at last to sit in the seat of the scornful [ote: Psalms 1:1.].

We wonder not at the melancholy end to which these transgressions brought him. Within the short space of a year was he, notwithstanding his very great host, subdued by a small company of Syrians, who destroyed all the princes, his advisers, and sent the spoil of the city and temple to Damascus [ote: ver. 23, 24.]: and Joash himself, being seized with multiplied disorders, was assassinated in his bed by two of his own servants [ote: ver. 25.]. Unhappy man! yet more unhappy still, if we contemplate the fearful state to which he was driven from the presence of his offended God. But such is the end which, if not in this world, certainly in the world to come, awaits those who leave off to behave themselves wisely, and turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.]

Let us, from this brief view of his history, proceed,

II. To make some reflections on his character

From his character in its commencement, we observe, How great is the benefit of a pious education!

[From what appeared in his latter days, we may judge what he would have been, if he had been left to himself in early life. What pernicious habits would he have contracted, and what multiplied evils would he have perpetrated! Instead of doing for several years what was right in the sight of the Lord, it is probable that he would have done evil from his youth. To be restrained from such enormities, was a mercy both to himself and to the whole nation. That he turned this blessing afterwards to a curse, is deeply to be lamented; though the proper tendency of a pious education is not a whit the less apparent. Let all be thankful for the advice given them, and the restraints imposed upon them in early life. Little do any of us know to what an extent of wickedness we might have been carried, if those admonitions or corrections, which were once irksome and painful to us, had not been administered. Indeed the more irksome such restraints appear to us, the more reason we have to be thankful for them; since the very impatience which we feel, demonstrates clearly our need of them. An aversion to them argues a disposition that is hateful and ruinous [ote: Proverbs 12:1; Proverbs 15:5; Proverbs 15:10; Proverbs 15:31-32.]: and those who, from an undue tenderness, neglect to reprove their children, lay up sorrow for themselves, as well as for the objects of their ill-judged lenity [ote: Proverbs 29:15.]. Let parents consider, that they are accountable to God for the authority vested in them, and for the talents committed to their care: and let them remember, that if it is not always found that a child trained in the way he should go will not in more advanced life depart from it, yet it is generally true; and that such a promise affords ample encouragement for their most strenuous exertions.]

From his character toward the close of life, we observe, How awful is the state of those, who, after hopeful beginnings, turn aside from the paths of piety and virtue!

[In one view, it is a blessing to have been kept from evil for a time; but in another view, the instructions that have been given us, the convictions we have felt, and the obedience we have rendered to the voice of God, will serve but to aggravate the guilt of our subsequent misconduct, and to bring upon us an accumulated weight of misery. As the instructions given by our Lord to the Jews served only to enhance their guilt, and render their state in the future world less tolerable than that of Sodom and Gomorrha, so all our advantages, professions, and attainments, will, if renounced, make our latter end worse than our beginning: for it were better never to have known the way of righteousness, than after we have known it to depart from it [ote: 2 Peter 2:20-21.]. Whilst this thought primarily applies to those who, like Joash, have burst through the restraints of education, it speaks powerfully to those who have turned back from a religious course, and relapsed into a state of worldliness and sin. To what they will come at last, God alone knows: but the downward road is very precipitous; and they who provoke the Holy Spirit to depart from them, will most probably go on from bad to worse; till, having filled up the measure of their iniquities, they be made distinguished monuments of Gods righteous indignation.]

From his whole history in a collective view, we observe, How necessary divine grace is to produce any radical change of heart and life!

[Education may change the exterior conduct, but the heart will remain the same: and when the restraints that operated at first are removed, the dispositions of the mind will break forth into outward act. The lamp which is not supplied with oil, will go out at last; and, not uncommonly, the restraint which obstructed the stream of nature for a while, will, like a dam broke down, give occasion for the greater and more fatal inundation. othing but the grace of God can convert the soul: and every change, short of true conversion, will but deceive us to our eternal ruin. The redeeming love of Christ must be felt in the soul: nothing but that will have a constraining efficacy to renew and sanctify us after the divine image. Whatever therefore any may have done in compliance with the advice of others, know, that we must have a principle of life within ourselves, and be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and be new creatures in Christ Jesus: Old things must pass away, and all things become new. othing but this change will prove effectual for a consistent walk; nor without this can we ever behold the face of God in peace.]

Address,

1. Those to whom the care of young persons is intrusted

[Whether you are parents, or instructors only, be not discouraged because you see not all the fruit that you could wish: but continue to sow in hope; for you know not which attempt shall prosper, or when the Angel at Bethesdas pool shall make your labours of love effectual.]

2. Those who are yet under the authority or instruction of others

[Do not think hardly of the restraints imposed upon you: they are all salutary, and intended for your good; and the day is coming when you will see reason to bless your God for those very things which are now irksome to you. Your advancement in all that is good is the richest recompence your instructors can receive: and, in repaying them, you will greatly enrich yourselves.]

MACLARE, "JOASH

Here we have the tragedy of a soul. Joash begins life well and for the greater part of it remains faithful to his conscience and to his duty, and then, when outward circumstances change, he casts all behind him, forgets the past and commits moral suicide. It is the sad old story, a bright commencement, an early promise all scattered to the winds. It is a strange story, too. This seven-year-old king had been saved when his father had been killed, and that true daughter of Jezebel, as well by nature as by blood, Athaliah, had murdered all his brothers and sisters, and made herself queen. He had been saved by the courage of a woman who might worthily stand by the side of Deborah and other Jewish heroines. By this woman, who was his aunt, he was hidden and brought up in the Temple until, whilst yet a mere boy, he came to the throne, the High Priest Jehoiada, the husband of his aunt, being his guardian during his nonage. He reigns well till the lad of seven becomes a mature man of thirty or thereabouts, and then Jehoiada dies, full of years and honours, and they fitly lay him among the kings of Judah, a worthy resting-place for one who had done good in Israel. And now the weakling on the throne is left alone without the strong arm to guide him and keep him right, and we read that the princes of Judah came and made obeisance to him. They take him on his weak side, and I dare say Jehoiada had been too true and too noble to do that, and though we are not told what means they took to flatter and coax him, we see very plainly what they were conspiring to do, for we read that they left the house of the Lord their God, the God of their fathers, and served groves and idols, the groves here mentioned being symbols of Ashtaroth the goddess of the Sidonians. And so all the past is wiped out and Joash takes his place amongst the apostates. The story has solemn lessons.

I. Note the change from loyal adhesion to apostasy.

The strong man on whom Joash used to lean was away, and the poor, weak king went just where the wicked princes led him. It was probably out of sheer imbecility that he passed from the worship of God to the acknowledgment and service of idols.

The first point that I would insist upon is a well-worn and familiar one, as I am well aware, but I urge it upon you, and especially upon the younger portion of my audience. It is this, that there is no telling the amount of mischief that pure weakness of character may lead into. The worst men we come across in the Bible are not those who begin with a deliberate intention of doing evil. They are weak creatures, reeds shaken by the wind, who have no power of resisting the force of circumstances. It is a truth which every ones experience confirms, that the mother of all possible badness is weakness, and that, not only as Miltons Satan puts it, To be weak is to be miserable, but that weakness is wickedness sooner or later. The man who does not bar the doors and windows of his senses and his soul against temptation, is sure to make shipwreck of his life and in the end to become a fool. There is so much wickedness lying round us in this world that any man who lets himself be shaped and coloured by that with which he comes in contact, is

sure to go to the bad in the long run. Where a man lays himself open to the accidents of time and circumstances, the majority of these influences will be contrary to what is right and good. Therefore, he must gather himself together and learn to say No! There is no foretelling the profound abysses into which a good, easy nature, with plenty of high and pure impulses, perhaps, but which are written in water, may fall. Thou, therefore, young man! be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Learn to say No! or else you will be sure to say Yes! in the wrong place, and then down you will go, like this Joash whose goodness depended on Jehoiada, and when he died, all the virtue that had characterised this life hitherto was laid with him in the dust.

Let us learn from this story in the next place, how little power of continuance there is in a merely traditional religion. Many of you call yourselves Christian people mainly because other people do the same. It is customary to respect and regard Christianity. You have been brought up in the midst of it. Our country is always considered a Christian land, and so, naturally, you tacitly accept the truth of a religion which is so influential. The lowest phase of this attitude is that which seeks some advantage from a church connection, like the foolish man in the Old Testament who thought he would do well because he had a Levite for his priest. Religion is the most personal thing about a man. To become a Christian is the most personal act one can perform. It is a thing that a man has to do for himself, and however friends and guides may help us in other matters, in trials and perplexities and difficulties, by their sympathy and experience, they are useless here. A man has here to act as if there were no other beings in the universe but a solitary God and himself, and unless we have ourselves done that act in the depths of our own personality, we have not done it at all. If you young people are good, just because you have pious parents who make you go to church or chapel on a Sunday, and keep you out of mischief during the week, your goodness is a sham. One great result of personal Christianity is to make a minister, a teacher, a guide, superfluous, and when such an one becomes so, his work has been successful and not till then. Unless you put forth for yourself the hand of faith and for yourself yield up the devotion and love of your own heart, your religion is nought.

However much active effort about the outside of religion there may be, it is of itself useless. It is without bottom and without reality. Here we have Joash busy with the externals of worship and actually deceiving himself thereby. It was a great deal easier to make that chest for contributions to a Temple Repairing Fund, and to get it well filled, and to patch up the house of the Lord, than for him to get down on his knees and pray, and he may have thought that to be busy about the house of God was to be devout. So it may be with many Sunday-school teachers and Church workers. Their religion may be as merely superficial and as little personal as this mans was. It is not for me to say so about A, B, or C. It is for you to ask of yourselves if it is so as to you. But I do say that there is nothing that masks his own soul from a man more than setting him to do something for Christianity and Gods Church, while in his inmost self he has not yet yielded himself to God.

I look around and I see the devil slaying his thousands by setting them to work in Christian associations and leaving them no time to think about their own Christianity. My brother! if the cap fits, go home and put it on.

We see in Joashs life for how long a time a man may go on in this self-delusion of external and barren service and never know it. Joash came to the throne at the age of seven. Up till that age he had lived in the Temple in concealment. Until he was one and thirty he went on in a steady, upright course, never knowing that there was anything hollow in his life. Apparently, Jehoiadas long life of one hundred and thirty years

extended over the greater part of Joashs reign, during most of which he had Jehoiada to direct him and keep him right, and all this tragedy comes at the tag end of it.

So he went on apparently all right, like a tree that has become quite hollow, till during some storm it is blown down and falls with a crash, and it is seen that for years it has been only the skin of a tree, bark outside, and inside-emptiness.

II. We come now to the second stage in the later life of Joash: His resistance to the divine pleading.

And they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served groves and idols, and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for their trespass, yet He sent prophets to them to bring them again unto the Lord. He sent with endless pity, with long-suffering patience. He would not be put away, and as they increased the distance between Him and them, He increased His energies to bring them back. But they lifted themselves up, Joash and his princes, and with that strange, awful power of resisting the attraction of the divine pleading, and hardening their hearts against the divine patience-they would not. And then comes the affecting episode of the death of the high priest Zechariah, who had succeeded to his fathers place and likewise to his heroism, and who, with the Spirit of God upon him, stands up and pointing out his wickedness, rebukes the fallen monarch for his apostasy. Joash, doubtless stung to the quick by Zechariahs just reproaches, allowed the truculent princes to slay him in the court of the Temple, even between the very shrine and the altar.

What a picture we have here of the divine love which follows every wanderer with its pleadings and beseechings! It came to this man through the lips of a prophet. It comes to us all in daily blessings, sometimes in messages, like these poor words of mine. God will not let us ruin ourselves without pleading with us and wooing us to love Him and cling to Him. He rises up early and daily sends us His messages, sometimes rebukes and voices in our conscience, sometimes sunset glows and starry heavens lifting our thoughts above this low earth, sometimes sorrows that are meant to drive us to His breast, and above all, the Gospel of our salvation in Christ, ever, in such a land as ours, sounding in our ears.

Still further, we see in Joash what a strange, awful strength of obstinate resistance, a character weak as regards its resistance to man, can put forth against God. He never attempted to say No! to the princes of Judah, but he could say it again and again to his Father in heaven. He could not but yield to the temptations which were level with his eyes, and this poor creature, easily swayed by human allurements and influences, could gather himself together, standing, as it were, on his little pin point, and say to God, Thou dost call and I refuse. What a paradox, and yet repetitions of it are sitting in these pews, only half aware that it is about them that I am speaking!

The ever-deepening evil which began with forsaking the house of the Lord and serving Ashtaroth, ends with Joash steeping his hands in blood. The murder of Zechariah was beyond the common count of crimes, for it was a foul desecration of the Temple, an act of the blackest ingratitude to the man who had saved his infant life, and put him on the throne, an outrage on the claims of family connections, for Joash and Zechariah were probably blood relations. My brother! once get your foot upon that steep incline of evil, once forsake the path of what is good and right and true, and you are very much like a climber who misses his footing up among the mountain peaks, and down he slides till he reaches the edge of the precipice and then in an instant is dashed to pieces at the bottom. Once put your foot on that slippery slope and you know not where you may fall to.

III. Last comes the final scene: The retribution.

We have that picture of Zechariah, solemnly lifting up his eyes to heaven and committing his cause to God. The Lord look upon it and require it, says the martyr priest in the spirit of the old Law. The dying appeal was soon answered in the invasion of the Syrian army, a comparatively small company, into whose hands the Lord delivered a very great host of the Israelites. The defeat was complete, and possibly Joashs great diseases, of which the narrative speaks, refer to wounds received in the fight. The end soon comes, for two of his servants, neither of them Hebrews, one being the son of an Ammonitess and the other the son of a Moabitess, who were truer to his religion than he had been, and resolved to revenge Zechariahs death, entered the room, of the wounded king in the fortress whither he had retired to hide himself after the fight, and slew him on his bed. Imagine the grim scene-the two men stealing in, the sick man there on the bed helpless, the short ghastly struggle and the swift end. What an end for a life with such a beginning!

Now I am not going to dwell on this retribution, inflicted on Joash, or on that which comes to us if we are like him, through a loud-voiced conscience, and a memory which, though it may be dulled and hushed to sleep at present, is sure to wake some day here or yonder. But I beseech you to ask yourselves what your outlook is. Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. Is that all? Zechariah said, The Lord look upon it and require it. The great doctrine of retribution is true for ever. Yes; but our Zechariah lifts up his eyes to heaven and he says, Father! forgive them, for they know not what they do. And so, dear brother! you and I, trusting to that dear Lord, may have all our apostasy forgiven, and be brought near by the blood of Christ. Let us say with the Apostle Peter, Lord, to whom shall we go but to Thee? Thou hast the words of eternal life.

BI, "And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord an the days of Jehoiada the priest.

Goodness as a morning cloud

There are certain characters that are great curiosities. There are also other characters that are great monstrosities. The ease of Joash is s very extraordinary one. From his history learn

I. That it is a great blessing when people yield to godly influences.

1. The first six years of Joashs life were spent in the temple.

2. He was started in lifes business in a very admirable way.

3. He was outwardly obedient to the law of the Lord in the days of Jehoiada.

4. He was zealous for the externals of religion.

5. He influenced others for good.

II. Good as all this is, it is not all that is needed.

1. This is not yielding the heart to God.

2. All this yielding to godly influences may exist without any personal, vital godliness whatever.

3. An externally pious character may even prevent men from being saved at all. It may lead a man to take for granted that he is saved.

4. To be under godly influences year after year, without any great trial or temptation, may leave the personal character altogether undeveloped.

We must have some kind of test, or else we cannot be sure of the character. You cannot be sure about principle being in any young man if he has been kept under a glass case, and if his principles have never been tried. The real character of Joash had never come out at all, because Jehoiada, as it were, covered him. His own disposition was only waiting the opportunity of developing itself. I have heard of an officer in India who had brought up a young leopard. It was apparently as tame as a cat. One afternoon, while asleep in his chair, the leopard licked his hand in all tenderness as a cat might have done; but after licking awhile it licked too hard and a little blood began to flow. It no sooner tasted blood than the old leopard spirit was up, and his master was his master no more. So does it happen to many that being shut in, and tamed, as it were, but not changed, subdued but not renewed, kept in check but not converted, there has come a time afterwards when the taste of blood has called out the old nature, and away the man has gone.

III. This yielding character may even prove a source of mischief. The princes of Judah came and made obeisance to the king. What followed?

1. Joash went off to sin.

2. He refused reproof.

3. He slew his friends son.

4. Having no faith in God, he robbed the temple, and gave all the gold and treasures unto Hazael the Syrian. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The goodness of King Joash

1. The history of Joash enforces the duty of training ourselves, and those who are under our guidance, to stand alone, and not to rest upon the support of others.

2. Not that we should make small account of the counsel of wise and religious friends. The perfect use of a wise adviser is not to determine for us what we shall do in every particular case that day by day arises; but to help us to store our minds with sound principles, such as we may call up for our own direction when any emergency requires them.

3. There is a great difference in the natural constitution of mens minds. Some are like the creeping plant that grows up rapidly, but must always hang for support upon some external prop. Others are like the oak, slowly developing itself from among the meaner underwood, until it rears its head alone above the trees of the forest. When the trellis or pole decays, the creeper must fall to the ground; the oak abides seemingly unmovable in its own strength. All the culture that man could bestow would never give to the creeper the sturdiness of the oak.

4. But though man cannot change nature God can. He can impart strength to the weakest character. Therefore the way to be firm in what is good, is to take God for your guide and support, and not man (Gal_6:4-5; Php_2:12-13).

5. There is no contradiction between the duty of seeking and in due measure

following the counsel of our good instructors and the duty of standing fast for ourselves in the counsel of God. Just as the office of the moon is to transmit the reflected light of the sun to the dark side of the earth; but if the moon comes between the earth and the sun, it does but darken the earth, by intercepting from it the rays that beam from that great light which is the source of light and heat to both; so the parent, the teacher, or the priest, is to stand for God towards the child, the pupil, or the private Christian, so far as their imperfect knowledge or their spiritual needs require; but not so as to eclipse God, or to make them forget that to God and not to man they are answerable in the last resort for their deeds. (James Randall, M.A.)

Joash

Men may constrain us to a temporary amendment, but God alone can control us to a lasting change of character and heart. Circumstances can make any one of you religious for a time, and give you feelings and habits which will make you appear religious to others, and what is worse still, lead you to suppose that the outward appearance is the effect of inward principle. But nothing but the grace of God, and the love of His name and His truth, can produce that piety of heart which withstands temptation, and lives when all earthly agencies are gone which nursed it, because it lives in Him who was pleased to make those earthly agencies the means of grace to the soul. We have in this verse two characters for contemplation.

I. Jehoiada, as an example of influence exerted for good.

1. He had three elements of success with which to work.

(1) Power, arising from his priestly office and his marriage relationship.

(2) Piety, which gave him the principles on which to discharge his mission.

(3) Courage, arising from his faith in God.

2. Note here the relative influence of personal piety. Joash did that which is right. The nation prospered in every sense through the faithfulness of one man. Clear and consistent personal piety is always a persuasive thing. No treatises upon religion can rival for persuasive power the living epistles known and read of all men. Our calling as Christians is to win others, as Jehoiada did, to do that which is right in the sight of the Lord. We have received light that our faces may shine before men. The design of God in our salvation is not only our happiness but our usefulness.

II. Joash as an example for our warning. The religion which had its life and influence only from a man was soon forgotten when the source of that influence had passed away. There is a vital difference between the godliness which is the result of external circumstances and that which is the product of internal principle. It is the difference between the galvanised corpse and the living man; the star and the meteor; the flash of the lightning and the action of the sunbeam. There is a false godliness current among men.

1. With some piety is dependent upon policy.

2. With others it is a matter of periods.

3. With others it is a religion of place.

4. With others it is dependent upon the personal influence of some minister, or upon the advice and counsel of a friend. (C. J. Phipps Eyre, M.A.)

Life and character of Joash

I. The instability of his religion.

1. He was zealous for God under restraint.

2. He degenerated when that restraint was taken away.

II. The honour and the disgrace of his reign.

1. Honourable reforms.

2. Disgraceful crimes. Like Nero after the death of his teacher Seneca, the philosopher, he was stained with crimes.

III. The disastrous end of his life. Conclusion: Learn

1. The responsibility of those to whom the care of young persons is entrusted.

2. Caution those yet under guardianship and tutors and friends.

3. The awful end of those who turn aside from hopeful beginnings. (J. Wolfendale.)

The Jehoiadas of society

It would seem to be about the last thing men do, to estimate properly the value of subtle and silent influences, the magic and wisardry of noble character. We may even be ashamed to do certain things in the presence of the Jehoiadas of society. We are not ashamed of the things themselves, nor are we unprepared to make experiments in regard to them; but whenever we would put forth our hand to begin the experiments we see the observing Jehoiada, and withdraw from the pernicious attempt. So it is that there are trustees of commercial and social honour, men who would never do the dishonourable deed, speak the calumnious word, or mislead the sentiment of the market-place in times of strong temptation and peril. We rely upon them as disinfectants, keeping the commercial atmosphere pure, and discouraging in the most positive and decisive manner the spirit and action of men who are low-minded and selfish. These Jehoiadas deliver no lectures upon commercial morality, nor do they in any manner that can be charged with conceit display their own virtues; they simply go on their straightforward course, doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God, and the result of their presence and character is that even the worst men are restrained, weak men are confirmed in good resolutions, and men whose character needs inspiration receive it from their example. (J. Parker, D.D.)

3 Jehoiada chose two wives for him, and he had sons and daughters.

BARES, "Athaliahs destruction of the seed royal had left Joash without a natural successor, and his marriage at the earliest suitable age, was, therefore, a matter of state policy. One of his wives in question was probably Jehoaddan of Jerusalem, the mother of Amaziah 2Ch_25:1, who must have been taken to wife by Joash as early as his 21st year.

GILL, "And Jehoiada took for him two wives,.... Not for himself; he had a wife who was aunt to King Joash, and he had sons who were concerned with him in anointing him, 2Ch_22:11 and was now upwards of one hundred years of age; but for the king, when he was at an age fit for marriage, he advised him to marry, and proposed wives to him, whom he thought would be agreeable; for, observing what mischief was done both in church and state through Jehoram's marrying Athaliah, he was desirous of preventing any such disagreeable marriage; and as the young king was in all things guided and directed by him, so he was in this; and no doubt they were good women he pitched upon, and proposed to the king; one of them was Jehoadan, 2Ch_25:1, but the name of the other we know not:

and he begat sons and daughters; how many is not said, nor do we read of the names of any of them, but of Amaziah who succeeded him.

JAMISO, "Jehoiada took for him two wives As Jehoiada was now too old to contract such new alliances, the generality of interpreters apply this statement to the young king.

ELLICOTT, "(3) And Jehoiada took for him two wives.A statement not found in the parallel narrative, and doubtless taken by the compiler from another source. Instead of this, we read in 2 Kings 12:4 : Only the high places were not taken away; the people were still wont to sacrifice and burn incense on the high places.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 24:3 And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters.

Ver. 3. And Jehoiada took for him two wives.] What could his own father, if living, have done more for him?

PULPIT, "That special note is made of Jehoiada's selecting of the wives may at any rate point to the suggestion that he was all a father to Joash, and both for his own sake and the kingdom's sake anxious as to the character of the women by whom a new kingly seed should take rise in place of that destroyed by Athaliah (2 Chronicles 22:10). Our 2 Chronicles 25:1 leaves it probable that "Jehoaden of Jerusalem" was one of these, though it is likely enough that Joash married, whether her or some one else, before he had reached the age of twenty-one. It is also quite likely that we may

read between the lines, that in selecting two wives for his young and loved ward, Jehoiada hoped and prayed that Joash might not fall by sin like Solomon's (1 Kings 11:3) and that of others of the kings of both Judah and Israel.

4 Some time later Joash decided to restore the temple of the Lord.

CLARKE, "To repair the house of the Lord - During the reigns of Joram and Athaliah, the temple of God had been pillaged to enrich that of Baal, and the whole structure permitted to fall into decay; see 2Ch_24:7.

GILL, "And it came to pass after this,.... After his marriage, when he was about twenty or twenty one years of age, perhaps:

that Joash was minded to repair the house of the Lord; which in some places might be fallen to decay, having been built one hundred and fifty years or more, and in others defaced by Athaliah, and needed ornamenting, see 2Ki_12:4.

JAMISO 4-14, "Joash was minded to repair the house of the Lord (See on 2Ki_12:4-16).

K&D 4-10, "As to the repair of the temple, see the commentary on 2Ki_12:5-17, where both the formal divergences and the essential agreement of the two narratives are pointed out.

ELLICOTT, "(4) Was minded.Literally, it became with the heart of Joash (2 Chronicles 6:8; 2 Chronicles 9:1; 1 Kings 8:18).

To repair.See margin to 2 Chronicles 15:8. To restore is perhaps the best modern equivalent of the Hebrew term. The account of the restoration of the Temple is given here in different language from what we find in the parallel passage, which is not very clear.

The chronicler appears to have paraphrased the account he found in his authority. The Levites are not mentioned in Kings.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 24:4 And it came to pass after this, [that] Joash was minded to repair the house of the LORD.

Ver. 4. Joash was minded to repair.] Hereby he showed his thankfulness to God, who in that house had so graciously preserved him, and done so great things for him. See 2 Kings 12:4-5.

GUZIK, "2. (2 Chronicles 24:4-7) The need and the heart to repair the temple.

ow it happened after this that Joash set his heart on repairing the house of the LORD. Then 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 do it quickly. However the Levites did not do it quickly. So the king called Jehoiada the chief priest, and said to him, Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and from Jerusalem the collection, according to the commandment of Moses the servant of the LORD and of the assembly of Israel, for the tabernacle of witness? For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the house of God, and had also presented all the dedicated things of the house of the LORD to the Baals.

a. Joash set his heart on repairing the house of the LORD: This indicated the godly concern that Joash had regarding the condition of the temple. He knew that a prosperous and secure kingdom mattered little if the things of God were neglected or despised.

i. He also knew that the condition of the temple was a valid measurement of the heart and passion of the people of God for the things of God. The temple was not God; but neglect and despising of the temple reflected neglect and despising of God.

b. Go out to the cities of Judah, and gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God: There was not enough money in the royal treasury to underwrite this project. Therefore the king commanded the Levites in Judahs outer cities to collect money and bring it back for the project in Jerusalem.

c. However the Levites did not do it quickly: For some reason the Levites did not share the same passion as King Joash did for the condition of the temple. Perhaps they felt that the townspeople of the outer towns would not embrace and support this work. evertheless, Joash held them to account and got the work moving.

i. But the Levites did not act at once, both because of natural inertia (still true even of Christian workers), and because of the priestly demands that seem to have exhausted the normal revenues on current operations and their own support. (Payne)

d. For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the house of God: This explains why the temples was in such disrepair. It wasnt just normal wear and tear usage; it was a deliberate campaign against the temple and the worship of the true God prompted by Athaliah and her sons.

BI 4-14, "That Joash was minded to repair the house of the Lord.

The temple repaired

It is worthy of note that in the mere outline of a reign extending over twenty years, in very exciting times, space should have been taken to record so minutely the repairing of the temple. No less remarkable is it that the initiative in this great work was due to Joash and not to Jehoiadathe king, not the priest. There was need for some one to lift the standard for Jehovah and His worship. For since the accession of Jehoram, the wicked son of the good Jehoshaphat, there had been a steady decline toward idolatry. Spurred on by his wife, Athaliah, the worthy daughter of the monster Jezebel, Jehoram allowed high places to be built to the heathen deities. Dying after less than ten years of rule, of an agonising internal disease, the crown descended to his one surviving son, Ahaziah. After a reign of little more than a year, during which he was wholly under the power of his mother, Ahaziah was slain by Jehu while on a visit to Israel. Athaliah seized the throne and ruled for six years, fostering and encouraging heathenism to the utmost. To make her usurpation more secure, she had, at the beginning of her reign, as she supposed, compassed the death of all aspirants to the crown. But, through t