The line is re-established

2 Chronicles 23 KJV 1900

1 And in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, and Azariah the son of Obed, and Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri, into covenant with him. 2 And they went about in Judah, and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the chief of the fathers of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. 3 And all the congregation made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And he said unto them, Behold, the king’s son shall reign, as the Lord hath said of the sons of David. 4 This is the thing that ye shall do; A third part of you entering on the sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites, shall be porters of the doors; 5 And a third part shall be at the king’s house; and a third part at the gate of the foundation: and all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the Lord. 6 But let none come into the house of the Lord, save the priests, and they that minister of the Levites; they shall go in, for they are holy: but all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord. 7 And the Levites shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand; and whosoever else cometh into the house, he shall be put to death: but be ye with the king when he cometh in, and when he goeth out. 8 So the Levites and all Judah did according to all things that Jehoiada the priest had commanded, and took every man his men that were to come in on the sabbath, with them that were to go out on the sabbath: for Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the courses. 9 Moreover Jehoiada the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds spears, and bucklers, and shields, that had been king David’s, which were in the house of God. 10 And he set all the people, every man having his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple, along by the altar and the temple, by the king round about. 11 Then they brought out the king’s son, and put upon him the crown, and gave him the testimony, and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, God save the king. 12 Now when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people into the house of the Lord: 13 And she looked, and, behold, the king stood at his pillar at the entering in, and the princes and the trumpets by the king: and all the people of the land rejoiced, and sounded with trumpets, also the singers with instruments of musick, and such as taught to sing praise. Then Athaliah rent her clothes, and said, Treason, Treason. 14 Then Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds that were set over the host, and said unto them, Have her forth of the ranges: and whoso followeth her, let him be slain with the sword. For the priest said, Slay her not in the house of the Lord. 15 So they laid hands on her; and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the king’s house, they slew her there. 16 And Jehoiada made a covenant between him, and between all the people, and between the king, that they should be the Lord’s people. 17 Then all the people went to the house of Baal, and brake it down, and brake his altars and his images in pieces, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. 18 Also Jehoiada appointed the offices of the house of the Lord by the hand of the priests the Levites, whom David had distributed in the house of the Lord, to offer the burnt offerings of the Lord, as it is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, as it was ordained by David. 19 And he set the porters at the gates of the house of the Lord, that none which was unclean in any thing should enter in. 20 And he took the captains of hundreds, and the nobles, and the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought down the king from the house of the Lord: and they came through the high gate into the king’s house, and set the king upon the throne of the kingdom. 21 And all the people of the land rejoiced: and the city was quiet, after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword.

Introduction

Jehoiada gathers the leaders of Judah. 1-2

Athaliah was allowed to reign for 7 years.

Her wickedness was a constant reproach to the faithful in Judah.

She established a temple to Baal.

She tore down part of Solomon’s temple in order to build it.

Even the non-faithful in Judah must have despised her.

There was not a drop of Judean blood in her body.

She was the daughter of a Northern king and Phoenician queen.

We can all relate to the unrest that it causes when a ruler is placed over us that we do not like or agree with.

After 7 years, Jehoiada decides enough is enough.

Jehoiada is the High Priest.

He is married to Athaliah’s step daughter.

Though he was not a politician or a military commander, Jehoiada strengthened himself for what needed to be done.

We see Jehoiada call together three different groups of people.

The military commanders, who are all named in these verses.

The levites from throughout the country.

The leaders of the tribes and families in Judah.

Any one of these groups could have risen up against Athaliah.

After seven years, nobody had stood up to the usurper of David’s throne.

Jehoiada had been raising the prince that had been rescued.

He was trying to maintain the worship of Jehovah in the Temple.

I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Jehoiada didn’t feel like he was doing his part for the country.

Perhaps he got frustrated by the lack of action coming from the other segments of society.

Jehoiada decides that the time has come, if no one else will act, then he will be the point person.

He steels himself for what must be done.

Don’t ever forget, just because we see the whole story, and we know how it ends because it took us 2 minutes to read it, that doesn’t mean Jehoiada knew.

When he sent those messages out to the leaders of Judah, he may as well have signed his own death sentence.

He was committing treason against the person in power.

A plan is concocted to install the true king on the throne. 3-7

Jehoiada’s strength, strengthened the other leaders of Judah.

They all gathered in the Temple.

Think about this, they all had to come to the Temple anyways.

No doubt, Jehoiada coordinated this meeting around one of the times that they would already be in Jerusalem.

Athaliah had no use for the Temple, so there was no risk in her being present for this secret meeting.

Though she had set up a temple to Baal, there is no evidence of her persecuting the prophets of Jehovah.

While the faithful in Judah gathered at the Temple, Jehoiada makes a surprise revelation.

Imagine the shock of the Jewish leaders when Jehoiada reveals the identity of the little boy that had been living in the Temple for the last 7 years.

I can just hear him telling the story of how his wife had infiltrated the palace on the day that Athaliah had killed her grandchildren and the heirs to the throne.

He tells them how Jehoshabeath had stolen the baby prince and brought him back to the Temple where he had been kept secret and safe until now.

The leaders of Judah, demonstrate their newfound courage by joining Jehoiada in his rebellion against the pretender queen.

They swear allegiance to the boy king.

How could they do this?

He has not proven himself.

How do they know he will be capable of ruling?

They don’t do it for him.

Joash, at 7-8 years old doesn’t inspire confidence in anybody.

These men are filled with courage by the words of God.

They are reminded of God’s promise to David.

This is the promise that we talked about last week.

They thought that God had failed to keep His word.

The unveiling of a true heir has reignited their confidence in God.

Jehoiada lays out the plan for how they will unseat the queen and install the rightful ruler to the throne.

He splits the people into three groups.

Each group will guard a different level of approach between the palace and the temple.

Only the priests and levites that were on duty would be allowed inside the actual Temple.

Jehoiada shows respect for the Temple even in a time of crisis.

He refuses to throw away his principles even when it was inconvenient.

The three different groups would not only protect the king, but also the Temple from defilement.

The plan is put into action. 8-11

In order for this to work, the insurrectionists will need some sort of protection.

Thankfully, Joash’s ancestor, King David had equipped the Temple with shields, bucklers, and spears.

Little did he know that his family would need these items to preserve his line.

These weapons were passed out to the supporters of the true king of Judah.

The people took their positions as the plan commenced.

Once everyone was in place, Jehoiada brings Joash out for his coronation.

Joash has a crown placed on his head.

He is given a copy of the law of Moses.

He is anointed by the High Priest and his sons.

The High Priest then declares, “God save the King.”

You can imagine how quickly news spread about what has just occurred.

Apparently it sparked a pretty intense celebration in Jerusalem.

So much so that the noice of the people reached into the palace of the queen.

Athaliah hears the commotion going on in the city. 12-15

There is a lot going on with this celebration.

People are running through the streets spreading the news.

There are shouts of praise for the new king.

Athaliah makes her way down to the Temple.

There, she sees what the fuss is all about.

The king is standing in the king’s place.

The princes, and trumpets, and all the people were rejoicing and singing.

Athaliah is horrified.

She tears her clothes and screams at them “treason, treason!”

Jehoiada sees Athaliah and signals for the armed men to seize her.

He had instructed that her blood not be spilled within the Temple.

So, he has Athaliah and all that were loyal to her carried out of the Temple and slain at the gate to the palace.

This nasty, murderous grandma got the justice she deserved.

But, Jehoiada’s work was not finished.

The king had been crowned.

Athaliah had been killed.

There was still one point of order to attend to.

Jehoiada leads the people in recommitting themselves to God. 16-21

Jehoiada opens a new era in Judean history by leading in a time of spiritual renewal.

First, he leads the people in reestablishing their covenant with God.

This was not, as some people term it, choosing God for themselves.

Rather, it was a recognition that they belonged to God.

Second, Jehoiada leads the people just up the street to the temple of Baal and they tear it down.

They destroyed the house, the altars, and any images of the fake deity.

They also killed the priest of Baal that Athaliah had imported.

Third, he put the levites and the priests back to work in the Temple.

They must have become lax during the seven years of Athaliah’s reign.

With her gone, work needed to ramp back up.

He also left guards at the gates of the Temple to prevent anything unclean from entering.

Finally, after all this work, Jehoiada brought Joash back to the palace for the first time since the night he had been rescued.

He placed him on the throne of the kingdom.

Joash would reign for the next 40 years.

With the rightful king on the throne, the land rejoiced and the city was quiet.

All because Jehoiada strengthened himself to do what was right when nobody else would take the initiative.

Now, we live in a time where evil seems to be quite powerful.

At all levels of society and culture we are forced to admit that wickedness is present in some quantity.

We, however, are not present in all levels of society and culture.

Therefore, it must be reasonable for us to assume that there is nothing we can do about the evil that we see.

Right?

Wrong!

Jehoiada is an example for us of what God can do with an individual who will strengthen or steel themselves to not only do what is right, but also to oppose what is wrong.

We don’t have to have an official position to make an impact in the field.

You may not be a teacher, but that doesn’t mean you can’t influence what happens in our schools.

You may not be a preacher but that doesn’t mean you can’t influence what happens in our churches.

What we need are people who will stay engaged.

We are all busy.

We all already have responsibility.

If no one does anything then nothing will ever change.

When God’s people decide to act others will follow.

Who knows what God will do.