Bible Commentaries
2 Chronicles 23

Verse 1

Chapter 23

And so chapter 23, Joash, this one son that escaped the sword of Athaliah, escaped the assassination attempts. When he was seven years old the priest Jehoiada called together the captains of the people of Judah and the chief men. And he said, "Look, I have Joash who is a descendant of David, because God promised that there would not cease to be a descendant of David upon the throne. Athaliah is not a descendant of David. She's a usurper and all. And so we want to establish him and set him up as the king. So I want you to divide into three companies. Three of you go out into the cities. Three of you stand at the gates, don't let anybody in. And the other third will stay in here. And we'll surround him and we will protect him."

And so they had him stand by the pillar. They put the crown upon his head, this little seven-year-old boy, and they began to cry, "God save the king, God save the king." And they began to rejoice and shout for the fact that God had again placed upon the throne a descendant of David. And Athaliah, when she heard the tumult of the people and heard them talking about a king, she came down into the temple and she saw this little fellow with the crown on his head and she began to cry, "Treason, treason!" And Jehoiada ordered the priest to grab her, not to kill her in the temple, but to take her outside and off the temple precincts and stone her. And so Athaliah was destroyed and now Joash began to reign as the king. He was only seven years old.

So in reality, he was just a little puppet type of a king, as long as Jehoiada the priest was alive. Jehoiada exercised tremendous influence over little Joash. He had raised him from a child and now did exercise tremendous influence over him. And with the influence of Jehoiada, actually, there was again a spiritual revival as they executed, actually, not only Athaliah but all of the other priests of Baal and all that had been established.

Now in verse 2 Chronicles 23:16 , chapter 23.

Jehoiada, [that is the priest who raised this little boy,] made a covenant between him and between all of the people, and between the king, that they should be the LORD's people ( 2 Chronicles 23:16 ).

In other words, let's return to the Lord. Let's get back to being God's people. So the people went to the temple of Baal and they broke it down. They broke down the altars and the images and they killed the priests of Baal there before the altars. And they re-established the priesthood there in Jerusalem and they began the worship within the temple once again, because the wicked sons of Amaziah had just gone in and ripped up the temple. It had become a disgrace, just almost a ruins. And so they sought then to repair.

Now this little Joash ordered them to collect funds throughout all the land to repair the temple. But the priests did not bring the money in. And so he called Jehoiada and he said, "Hey, I've ordered the temple repaired. How come the people haven't... how come the priests haven't brought the money in?" So he had a chest made and he set the chest there in the temple. And then he ordered all of the people of Judah according to the law of Moses, they were to give a tenth unto the Lord. And so the people came and they began to put it in, and the money was designated for the refurbishing and the rebuilding of the temple. And so they gave the money then unto skilled men and the temple was rebuilt.

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