Whenever Ahaziah did bad things, his mother used to say things like, “Good boy, Ahaziah, I like it when you do bad and mean things. One of the reasons that King Ahaziah was so bad was because his mother, Queen Athaliah, had taught him to be bad when he was a little boy. He did not love God and he did not try to obey God’s laws. Ironically and in contrast, Jehoida (a priest and not a king) had received the honour of being buried where the kings were buried ( 2 Chronicles 24:15-16).īackground Information on the Divided KingdomĪhaziah became the king of Judah. He was murdered in his bed by his servants and was not even buried in the place where kings were buried. King Joash, the one who had once led his people back to God now led them to destruction. After this the small Aramean army invaded Judah and plundered it. Jehoida’s son, Zechariah, prophesied against this but the officials plotted against him and stoned him. When Jehoida (the priest who had been like a father to him) died Joash began to take bad advice from his officials and began to allow idol worship in the kindom once again. Read about this in 2 Kings 12:19-21 and 2 Chronicles 24:17-27. Sadly, the life of Joash took a turn at the end. The king organised them and ordered a collection to be taken up to repair the temple. The priests and Levites had not been fulfilling their duties in taking care of the temple. Its treasures had been stolen and then used in the worship of Baal ( 2 Chronicles 24:7). While Queen Athaliah ruled, the temple was not only neglected but also damaged. This was the temple Solomon had built more than a hundred years before. One of his major accomplishments was to repair the temple. The palace was then given back to Joash and he sat on his rightful throne ( 2 Kings 11:17-21). Jehoiada renewed the people’s dedication to God and the temple of Baal was destroyed. They had not liked Athaliah – from the palace of Israel – usurping the throne. The people of Judah were thrilled to see the proper ruler finally wear the throne. He then crowned Joash in front of all of the people and presented him with a copy of the covenant ( 2 Kings 11:12). Jehoiada gave the old armour to army guards and told them to carefully guard the new boy king. The old armour that used to belong to King David was still stored in the temple. When Joash was seven years old, Jehoiada knew the time was right. He waited patiently and continued to instruct Joash about the Lord and about being a king. Jehoiada knew that Joash must eventually be crowned king because he was the very last of the Davidic seed line. Little Joash was the only member of the royal family who was not killed. Jehosheba saved the baby and hid him in the temple where her husband served as a priest ( 2 Chronicles 22:11). One of the daughters of King Jehoram (Jehosheba) saw that her baby nephew, Joash was going to be killed along with the other princes. The last part of his life is sad and a life away from God. The early life of Joash is one of victory and devotion to God. If Athaliah would have succeeded in her plan to kill all of her husband’s descendants then she would have killed all of King David’s descendants and made the Lord’s promise impossible to fulfil.Īt this point we read about Joash and the two distinct parts of his story. Athaliah’s husband, Jehoram, was a descendant of King David. You might remember how God had promised King David, years before that his descendant (later revealed as Jesus Christ) would someday save the world. She almost succeeded in killing them all. She tried to kill all of her own children and grandchildren so that they would not take the thrown away from her. Instead, Ahaziah’s mother decided that she should be queen. When King Ahaziah was killed, one of his sons should have become King of Judah. He killed both Joram (king of Israel) and Ahaziah (king of Judah) – 2 Kings 9:14-29. He also killed all of the prophets of Baal in Israel ( 2 Kings 10:18-35). 2 Kings 10:1-17 records how he brutally wiped out all of old King Ahab’s descendants (including Ahab’s widow, Jezebel – 2 Kings 9:30-37). Jehu proceeded to destroy the royal family of Israel. Elisha anointed Jehu, an army commander, as the new king of Israel. Meanwhile, the political scene really heated up in Israel. Ahaziah became the 6th king of Judah and ruled for one year. Athaliah (the daughter of Israel’s King Ahab and Queen Jezebel) had married Jehoram (son of Judah’s King Jehoshaphat) to cement a treaty ( 2 Chronicles 18:1). The politics of Israel and Judah intertwine at this point.
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