20140617 Tuesday, June 17 2014
2 Kings 12: The Restoration Of Joash's Sanctuary

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"He was with her hid in the house of the LORD six years"

Joash (also alternately rendered as Jehoash) survived Athaliah's attempt to annihilate the Messianic royal line (see What Did Jezebel's Daughter Do?) because he had been given refuge in the Temple by his aunt Jehosheba who was married to the High Priest Jehoiada.

"11:1 And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal.

11:2 But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons which were slain; and they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah, so that he was not slain. 11:3 And he was with her hid in the house of the LORD six years.

And Athaliah did reign over the land." (2 Kings 11:1-3 KJV)

When the criminal Athaliah was removed as the "leader" of Judah, Joash was rightfully proclaimed king (see also the Fact Finder question below) of the Messianic line of Judah. Joash, as a direct ancestor of Jesus Christ, appropriately was given sanctuary in the Temple of the LORD (Who was and is Jesus Christ - see Genesis 1: In The Beginning Was The Word and The Kingdom Of The LORD God) during Athaliah's murderous reign. It was a place that Joash certainly regarded with personal fondness - for a short time after he became king. The normal maintenance of the Temple had been neglected during the time of Baal-worshipping Athaliah, so Joash ordered that the Temple be repaired to the state in which it had been constructed in the time of Solomon.

"12:1 In the seventh year of Jehu Jehoash began to reign; and forty years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba. 12:2 And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him. 12:3 But the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

12:4 And Jehoash said to the priests, All the money of the dedicated things that is brought into the house of the LORD, even the money of every one that passeth the account, the money that every man is set at, and all the money that cometh into any man's heart to bring into the house of the LORD, 12:5 Let the priests take it to them, every man of his acquaintance: and let them repair the breaches of the house, wheresoever any breach shall be found.

12:6 But it was so, that in the three and twentieth year of king Jehoash the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house. 12:7 Then king Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and the other priests, and said unto them, Why repair ye not the breaches of the house? now therefore receive no more money of your acquaintance, but deliver it for the breaches of the house. 12:8 And the priests consented to receive no more money of the people, neither to repair the breaches of the house.

12:9 But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one cometh into the house of the LORD: and the priests that kept the door put therein all the money that was brought into the house of the LORD. 12:10 And it was so, when they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king's scribe and the high priest came up, and they put up in bags, and told the money that was found in the house of the LORD. 12:11 And they gave the money, being told, into the hands of them that did the work, that had the oversight of the house of the LORD: and they laid it out to the carpenters and builders, that wrought upon the house of the LORD, 12:12 And to masons, and hewers of stone, and to buy timber and hewed stone to repair the breaches of the house of the LORD, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it.

12:13 Howbeit there were not made for the house of the LORD bowls of silver, snuffers, basons, trumpets, any vessels of gold, or vessels of silver, of the money that was brought into the house of the LORD: 12:14 But they gave that to the workmen, and repaired therewith the house of the LORD. 12:15 Moreover they reckoned not with the men, into whose hand they delivered the money to be bestowed on workmen: for they dealt faithfully. 12:16 The trespass money and sin money was not brought into the house of the LORD: it was the priests'" (2 Kings 12:1-16 KJV)

As happened with numerous other kings of Israel and Judah, Jehoash's later life was filled with paradox and hypocrisy. He surrendered much of the Temple valuables to Hazael king of Syria when he threatened Jerusalem. He need only to have asked the LORD for deliverance from the threat, but he failed to do so.

"12:17 Then Hazael king of Syria went up, and fought against Gath, and took it: and Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem. 12:18 And Jehoash king of Judah took all the hallowed things that Jehoshaphat, and Jehoram, and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own hallowed things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the house of the LORD, and in the king's house, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria: and he went away from Jerusalem." (2 Kings 12:17-18 KJV)

The end of Joash's life, by assassination at the hand of his own servants, was a direct result of his becoming weak and apostate in his faithfulness to the LORD (see Joash Of Judah for a complete study of Joash from the historical record in both Kings and Chronicles i.e. "Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son"). Joash no longer looked to the LORD, so the LORD didn't look after Joash any more either.

"12:19 And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 12:20 And his servants arose, and made a conspiracy, and slew Joash in the house of Millo, which goeth down to Silla. 12:21 For Jozachar the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, smote him, and he died; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Amaziah his son reigned in his stead." (2 Kings 12:19-21 KJV)

Fact Finder: How are true kings elected? Who do they serve and represent?
See The Election Of Kings