Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother's name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba. Sermons
I. DISREGARDED OF GOD AND MAN. For such men as Joash the prophet of the Lord has no word of general commendation, though he has words of rebuke to utter (vers. 19, 20). With them God "is not well pleased." And man is also and equally dissatisfied. Men that are wrong and strong will find their advocates; indeed, they find all too many to honour and praise them, both while they live and when they are departed. But men that are good and weak find none to admire them. They may start, as Joash apparently did, with fair intentions and blameless desires, but they have no force of character, and being "driven with the wind and tossed," carried about hither and thither according to the passing breeze, they are the object of disregard, if not of positive contempt. There is nothing honourable or admirable in them. II. FRUITLESS OF ANY POSITIVE GOOD. Such men as Joash may do some good during one half of their life, or at different parts of their life; but the good they then do is counterbalanced by the harm they work during the other half or on other occasions; and no one can say which prevails over the other. The measure of many a man's life-influence is a nice sum in spiritual subtraction; and when everything is known it will perhaps be found to be a "negative quantity." It is a poor and a pitiful thing to see a man first building up and then pulling down; one day working with the people of God and the next associating with the enemies of true and pure religion; subscribing to a Christian charity and attending a demoralizing spectacle; pulling in contrary directions. What can such a man do? What witness can he bear, what work achieve, what contribution bring to the great end we should have in view - the elevation of our kind? That will be represented by a cypher - or something worse. III. UNNECESSARY. It may indeed be said that this is a question of natural endowment, and rests with our Creator and not with ourselves; that men receive from him either strength and force of will or else pliancy of spirit, sensitiveness of soul and readiness to be affected by influences from outside. This is true, in part; but it is not the whole truth. We must not make our heavenly Father responsible for our short-comings. Moral weakness is a defect of character. It is the result of a wrong choice. 1. Let a man give himself, as he should, in full surrender to the God whoso he is and whom he is most sacredly bound to serve, to that Divine Saviour who has bought him with the price of his own redeeming blood, and he will then be in the way of gaining single-heartedness and strength. 2. Let him be regularly and repeatedly renewing his act of self-dedication. Joash did, when he was a child, pledge himself to the service of Jehovah (2 Chronicles 23:16). But he was then too young to understand all that such a covenant meant. He should have continually renewed that solemn pledge. We have the amplest opportunities and invitations to reconsecrate ourselves to the service of Christ, and if we accept these, we shall retain our thorough loyalty to him, and then we shall not be moved and swayed, but be "steadfast and immovable." 3. Let him gain strength from above. There is an unfailing Divine resource on which all the good may draw. "When I am weak, then am I strong," said Paul. For when he was most conscious of his own insufficiency, then he looked up for help to the "Lord of all power and might," to him who can and will "strengthen us with strength in our soul," who will "strengthen us with all might by his Spirit in the inner man," who will make us strong (1) to endure; (2) to overcome; (3) to bear witness; (4) to labour in the holy fields of Christian work. - C.
And the city was quiet, after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword. Is it possible that a time may come when people will rejoice that we are dead? Will some pulpits be more honoured by emptiness man by occupancy? Will some businesses have a chance to recover their character when the principals are dead, but not so long as those principals initiate and conduct the policy of the house? Is it possible that a throne may be a fountain of mischief? Questions such as these, penetrating, unsparing, we should thrust into ourselves, that they may work first painfully and then curatively. Is there. no explanation given of all this rejoicing over the death of Athaliah? The explanation is given in 2 Chronicles 24:7 — "that wicked woman." This is an alliteration which the grammarian might detest, the rhetorician avoid as a vice in eloquence, but which the moralist must look at with a sense of ineffable shame. "Wicked woman" — it is impossible! It ought to be an affront to the very genius of creation; say dark sun, say waterless sea, say flowerless summer, and the irony might be tolerated, for it might be only a discord in words; but "wicked woman" indicates a possibility that makes all hell easy of belief. This is the moral explanation of the physical disaster. Athaliah was slain with the sword — cry, Murder then! Arrest the homicide, the regicide! But wait; you know not all; the explanatory word found in the context — "that wicked woman."(J. Parker, D.D.). People Amaziah, Aram, Athaliah, David, Jehoiada, Jehozabad, Joash, Levites, Shimeath, Shimrith, Syrians, Zabad, Zechariah, ZibiahPlaces Beersheba, Damascus, JerusalemTopics Beersheba, Beer-sheba, Forty, Jerusalem, Joash, Jo'ash, Mother's, Reign, Reigned, Reigning, Ruling, Seven, Zibiah, Zib'iahOutline 1. Joash reigns well all the days of Jehoiada4. He gives order for the repair of the temple 15. Jehoiada's death and honorable burial 17. Joash, falling into idolatry, slays Zechariah the son of Jehoiada 23. Joash is spoiled by the Syrians, and slain by Zabad and Jehozabad 27. Amaziah succeeds him Dictionary of Bible Themes 2 Chronicles 24:1 1654 numbers, 11-99 Library The King's Farewell'Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 28. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 29. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, 30. And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Joash Glad Givers and Faithful Workers The Channel of Power. The Prophet Joel. Conclusion The Old Testament Canon from Its Beginning to Its Close. Chronicles Links 2 Chronicles 24:1 NIV2 Chronicles 24:1 NLT 2 Chronicles 24:1 ESV 2 Chronicles 24:1 NASB 2 Chronicles 24:1 KJV 2 Chronicles 24:1 Bible Apps 2 Chronicles 24:1 Parallel 2 Chronicles 24:1 Biblia Paralela 2 Chronicles 24:1 Chinese Bible 2 Chronicles 24:1 French Bible 2 Chronicles 24:1 German Bible 2 Chronicles 24:1 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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