Sermon Bible Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Zibiah of Beersheba. 2 Chronicles 24:4-5, 2 Chronicles 24:13 Consider what reason we have for regarding a place of Christian worship with peculiar reverence. I. The Biblical history of a place where God is worshipped represents it as one of peculiar and awful sanctity. II. The Bible represents the building and repairing of the Lord's house as acts of eminent piety. The historian says of Joash in the context that he was a godly man as long as he had the guidance of the celebrated priest Jehoiada. Yet the only thing thought worthy of mention in that part of his reign is that "he was minded to repair the house of the Lord." III. It is the instinct of a devout heart everywhere and always to revere the house in which God is publicly worshipped. IV. The associations of the Lord's house are an incalculable help to the culture of religious character. We are creatures of association. We are moved more profoundly than we think by our surroundings. The recollection of our experiences in the house of God may be among the most precious treasures that memory hoards. V. A Christian church is the most significant emblem that we have of heaven. "This is the gate of heaven," said the astonished patriarch. He had seen angels. Heaven seemed very near to him. A. Phelps, The Old Testament a Living Book, p. 67. Reference: 2 Chronicles 24:8-10.—Sermons for Boys and Girls, p. 221. 2 Chronicles 24 I. Josiah was an early seeker. At the age of eight he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and at sixteen he began to seek the God of his father David with more earnestness than ever. And he found Him, and became a wonder unto many, a royal miracle of grace. This boy will condemn you if you are not an early seeker of God, you who have so many more encouragements than he had. God expects you to seek early; you can seek early, and early seekers are sure finders. II. Josiah was also a hearty hater of evil. He hated idols just as much as he loved Jehovah; his hatred sprang from love, and was steeped in love. He did not love from a softness or easiness of nature, but the fire of God within him burnt into hatred and melted into love. Holy hatred kept his feet from falling, his eyes from tears, and his soul from death. III. Josiah was a real hero. A hero is one who in doing duty scorns great dangers. Nearly all the people were against Josiah's reforms, which put his life in peril; but he pushed boldly forward. Conscience was his king; and he felt that it was not necessary for him to live, but that it was necessary for him to do his work. The fear of God drove the fear of man out of Josiah's heart, and made him a true hero. IV. Josiah was missed and mourned when he died. There is a night in the history of Spain which is known as "the sad night," and so in the history of Judah the death of Josiah was "the sad day." Many young lives are like a shattered column: unhewn from top to bottom. But Josiah's life was like a well-chiselled pillar, though snapped in the middle by the rude shock of battle. Hence he was sorely missed and mourned. J. Wells, Bible Children, p. 159. Reference: 2 Chronicles 24:19, 2 Chronicles 24:21.—Clergyman's Magazine, vol. ix., p. 338. And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters.
And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to repair the house of the LORD.
And he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out unto the cities of Judah, and gather of all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that ye hasten the matter. Howbeit the Levites hastened it not.
And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said unto him, Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the collection, according to the commandment of Moses the servant of the LORD, and of the congregation of Israel, for the tabernacle of witness?
For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also all the dedicated things of the house of the LORD did they bestow upon Baalim.
And at the king's commandment they made a chest, and set it without at the gate of the house of the LORD.
And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in to the LORD the collection that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness.
And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end.
Now it came to pass, that at what time the chest was brought unto the king's office by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king's scribe and the high priest's officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to his place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance.
And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of the LORD, and hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the LORD, and also such as wrought iron and brass to mend the house of the LORD.
So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in his state, and strengthened it.
And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, whereof were made vessels for the house of the LORD, even vessels to minister, and to offer withal, and spoons, and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the LORD continually all the days of Jehoiada.
But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died.
And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God, and toward his house.
Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them.
And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.
Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the LORD; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear.
And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you.
And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD.
Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The LORD look upon it, and require it.
And it came to pass at the end of the year, that the host of Syria came up against him: and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them unto the king of Damascus.
For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, and the LORD delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash.
And when they were departed from him, (for they left him in great diseases,) his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings.
And these are they that conspired against him; Zabad the son of Shimeath an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess.
Now concerning his sons, and the greatness of the burdens laid upon him, and the repairing of the house of God, behold, they are written in the story of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead. William Robertson Nicoll's Sermon Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission. Bible Hub |
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