A Moment of Reform

2 Kings 11-12

            The house of Ahab has one more dirty trick up its sleeve. Athaliah, Ahab’s daughter and the wife of Jehoram, the former king of Judah, sees an opportunity to grab the throne of Judah for herself. Most of the royal family is already dead. Her son, Ahaziah, and 42 other relatives were killed by Jehu. So, it only remains to clean up a little and the throne is hers. Unfortunately, “cleaning up a little” means killing her own relatives, including her grandchildren, but it’s a price she’s willing to pay! Perhaps the main thing to see here is that Athaliah is herself not of the line of David and her power grab is a direct assault on the Lord’s promise to David that his descendant would sit on his throne forever. Ultimately, then, her power grab is an assault on the Lord’s whole plan of salvation.

            Fortunately, Joash, possibly the last royal descendant of David, is hidden and for five years he is protected in the temple by the priest Jehoiada. When the time is right and Jehoiada reveals the prince, the army and the people acclaim him. Perhaps they have finally had enough of the house of Ahab. The Lord’s promise is still alive!

            There’s an interesting note in 2 Kings 12:2, “Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years Jehoiada the priest instructed him.” Unfortunately 2 Chronicles 24:17ff. tells us that after Jehoiada’s death, Joash got turned around. However, that’s not the concern of the author of Kings; he’s just grateful to be able to report a moment of reform and return to the Lord. Most especially, he reports that Joash collected money for and completed a plan to renovate the temple. (By Joash’s reign the temple was about 125 years old.) In this instance, Joash proves more reliable even than the priests. After several years of having the priests collect money, the project hasn’t advanced at all, so the king takes over and things get moving. After all the nonsense with the house of Omri that has afflicted the kingdoms for the last 30 or so years, it is nice to have an end to it all and a reminder that the Lord’s promise goes on.

            Even in the messy parts of life, when there’s not much obvious sense that the Lord is keeping His promises, He is, indeed, keeping His promises. “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” (Acts 3:19).