I. DEPARTURE FROM THE LIVING GOD. Not being "rooted and grounded" in reverence and in attachment to Jehovah, as soon as the directing and sustaining hand of Jehoiada was missed, Joash gave heed to the evil counsel of the reactionary "princes of Judah" and "left the house of the Lord." The young may be habituated to sacred services, and they may be brought up in the practice of good behaviour, but if they have not fully and firmly attached themselves to the Divine Lord whose praises they have been singing and whose will they have been respecting, their piety will not endure. "Being let go," being released, as they must be in time, from the human restraints that hold them to the right course, they follow the bent of worldly inclination; it may be that they yield to the solicitation of unholy passion; but they decline from the path of Christian worship and godly service. It is a melancholy sight for the angels of God, and for all earnest human souls, to witness - that of a man who knows what is best, who has stood face to face with Christ, who has often worshipped in his house, and perhaps sat at his table, declining to lower paths, "going after Baal," letting another power than that of his gracious Lord rule his heart and occupy his life.

II. RESENTMENT AT THE DIVINE REBUKE. The true and honoured servant of the Lord, Jehoiada, was well succeeded by a faithful son, Zechariah. He did his work right nobly, and testified against the apostasy of the king and court. But the monarch, in the haughtiness of his heart, resented the rebuke of the Lord's prophet, and only aggravated his offence by persecution and even murder (vers. 20, 21). Thus sin slopes down, and at some points with sad and startling rapidity. When God's rebuke is heard, coming through the voice of one of his ministers, or coming in his Divine providence; and when that rebuke, instead of being heeded and obeyed, is resented by the rebellious spirit, then there ensues a very rapid spiritual decline. Men go "from bad to worse," from indifference or forgetfulness to hostility, from doubt to disbelief, from laxity to licentiousness, from wrongness of attitude to iniquity in action. To resent the rebuke of the Lord is to inflict upon ourselves the most serious, and too often a mortal, injury.

III. THE PENALTY OF DISOBEDIENCE. In the case of Joash, it was:

1. Humiliating defeat in battle (vers. 23, 24).

2. Bodily sufferings (ver. 25).

3. A violent and miserable death (ver. 25).

4. Dishonour after death (ver. 25).

In the case of the spiritual transgressor now, the penalty that has to be feared is:

1. Grave and grievous spiritual decline.

2. The serious displeasure of the Divine Master.

3. The loss of the esteem of the truest and best human friends.

4. Condemnation in the day of judgment. - C.

II. ZECHARIAH'S DEATH WAS PARALLEL WITH THAT OF ST. STEPHEN.

1. His offence was the denunciation of the sin of the leaders of Judah (Acts 7:51-53).

2. Stoned as a blasphemer.

III. CONTRAST IN THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY —

1. Zechariah's last words: "The Lord look on it and requite it."

2. Stephen's: "Lord lay not this sin to their charge."

IV. REFLECTIONS.

1. The value of a wise and true friend. Jehoiada's influence on Joash.

2. The necessity of a moral reformation as well as a political to secure permanent results in religious changes. The reformation under Joash was merely outward conformity.

V. THE CERTAINTY THAT A FAITHFUL MINISTRY IMPLIES THE UNPOPULARITY OF THOSE WHO EXERCISE IT.

1. All the prophets suffered under Judaism (Matthew 23:35; Luke 11:51).

2. Christ, Stephen, the apostles, the early Christians. Reformers all through history.

3. Human nature always the same. It hates those who attack its sins.

VI. THE SPIRIT THAT RESENTS FAITHFUL REPROOF ALWAYS ENTAILS RETRIBUTION ON ITSELF (ver. 23). To do wrong and refuse instruction is the greatest misfortune a man can suffer.

VII. THE NECESSITY TO DO RIGHT FOR DUTY'S SAKE, WITHOUT EXPECTING GRATITUDE OR ACKNOWLEDGMENT.

(J. C. Geikie, D.D.)