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great people who lead our leaders
2 Chronicles 24:1-27
2 Chronicles 24:1 Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beer-sheba.
2 Chronicles 24:2 Throughout the time of the priest Jehoiada, Joash did what was right in Yahveh’s sight.
2 Chronicles 24:3 Jehoiada acquired two wives for him, and he was the father of sons and daughters.
2 Chronicles 24:4 Afterward, Joash took it to heart to renovate Yahveh’s temple.
2 Chronicles 24:5 So he gathered the priests and Levites and said, “Go out to the cities of Judah and collect silver from all Israel to repair the temple of your God as needed year by year and do it quickly.” However, the Levites did not hurry.
2 Chronicles 24:6 So the king called Jehoiada the high priest and said, “Why haven’t you required the Levites to bring from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by Yahveh’s servant Moses and the assembly of Israel for the tent of the testimony?
2 Chronicles 24:7 For the sons of that wicked Athaliah broke into Yahveh’s temple and even used the sacred things of Yahveh’s temple for the Baals.”
2 Chronicles 24:8 At the king’s command a chest was made and placed outside the gate of Yahveh’s temple.
2 Chronicles 24:9 Then a proclamation was issued in Judah and Jerusalem that the tax God’s servant Moses imposed on Israel in the wilderness be brought to Yahveh.
2 Chronicles 24:10 All the leaders and all the people rejoiced, brought the tax, and put it in the chest until it was full.
2 Chronicles 24:11 Whenever the chest was brought by the Levites to the king’s overseers, and when they saw that there was a large amount of silver, the king’s secretary and the high priest’s deputy came and emptied the chest, picked it up, and returned it to its place. They did this daily and gathered the silver in abundance.
2 Chronicles 24:12 Then the king and Jehoiada gave it to those in charge of the labor on Yahveh’s temple, who were hiring stonecutters and carpenters to renovate Yahveh’s temple, also blacksmiths and coppersmiths to repair Yahveh’s temple.
2 Chronicles 24:13 The workmen did their work, and through them the repairs progressed. They restored God’s temple to its specifications and reinforced it.
2 Chronicles 24:14 When they finished, they presented the rest of the silver to the king and Jehoiada, who made articles for Yahveh’s temple with it– articles for ministry and for making burnt offerings, and ladles and articles of gold and silver. They regularly offered burnt offerings in Yahveh’s temple throughout Jehoiada’s life.
2 Chronicles 24:15 Jehoiada died when he was old and full of days; he was 130 years old at his death.
2 Chronicles 24:16 He was buried in the city of David with the kings because he had done what was good in Israel with respect to God and his temple.
2 Chronicles 24:17 However, after Jehoiada died, the rulers of Judah came and paid homage to the king. Then the king listened to them,
2 Chronicles 24:18 and they abandoned the temple of Yahveh, the God of their ancestors, and served the Asherah poles and the idols. So, there was wrath against Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.
2 Chronicles 24:19 Nevertheless, he sent them prophets to bring them back to Yahveh; they admonished them, but the people would not listen.
2 Chronicles 24:20 The Breath of God enveloped Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood above the people and said to them, “This is what God says, ‘Why are you transgressing Yahveh’s commands so that you do not prosper? Because you have abandoned Yahveh, he has abandoned you.'”
2 Chronicles 24:21 But they conspired against him and stoned him at the king’s command in the courtyard of Yahveh’s temple.
2 Chronicles 24:22 King Joash didn’t remember the kindness that Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had extended to him but killed his son. While he was dying, he said, “May Yahveh see and demand an account.”
2 Chronicles 24:23 At the turn of the year, an Aramean army attacked Joash. They entered Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the leaders of the people among them and sent all the plunder to the king of Damascus.
2 Chronicles 24:24 Although the Aramean army came with only a few men, Yahveh handed over a vast army to them because the people of Judah had abandoned Yahveh, the God of their ancestors. So, they executed judgment on Joash.
2 Chronicles 24:25 When the Arameans saw that Joash had many wounds, they left him. His servants conspired against him, and killed him on his bed, because he had shed the blood of the sons of the priest Jehoiada. So he died, and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.
2 Chronicles 24:26 Those who conspired against him were Zabad, son of the Ammonite woman Shimeath, and Jehozabad, son of the Moabite woman Shimrith.
2 Chronicles 24:27 The accounts concerning his sons, the many divine pronouncements about him, and the restoration of God’s temple are recorded in the Writing of the Book of the Kings. His son Amaziah became king in his place.
great people who lead our leaders
Joash appeared to be a great and faithful ruler, but once Jehoiada the priest dies, his true character is revealed, and his fate with it. While Jehoiada was alive, Joash concentrated on preserving and repairing God’s house, the temple, in Jerusalem. Afterward, he took his counsel from the princes, promoted idolatry, and killed the LORD’s prophets – including Zechariah – Jehoiada’s son. We think a person is great because he does great things. But sometimes, a person does great things only because he is being led behind the scenes by great people.
Thank you, LORD, for the Jehoiadas among us –great people who lead our leaders. May they be many.
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