I. THE DANGER FROM WHICH HE WAS DELIVERED.

1. An early death. He was an infant at the breast, since he had a wet-nurse: "not above a year old" (Josephus). More than one-half of the human race die in infancy. Scripture examples of the deaths of children: the firstborn of Pharaoh (Exodus 12:29, 30); the child of David (2 Samuel 12:14-23), of Jeroboam (1 Kings 14:13), of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:17), of the Shunammite (2 Kings 4:19, 20). Many exposed to the danger of dying in infancy who nevertheless escape, like Moses (Exodus 2:3), the child of the harlot (1 Kings 3:25), Jesus (Matthew 2:8), the centurion's son (John 4:49).

2. A violent death. He was in danger of being cut off by the sword. To die a natural death in infancy is sad enough; to be cut off by a supernatural stroke like the Egyptian children, or the Bethlehem innocents, or by an accidental stroke like the Shunammite's boy, much more by a violent stroke like Samaria's children (Hosea 10:14), excites the imagination as a hard fate indeed.

3. An unnatural death. He was in danger of being killed by his own grandmother. Only one fate could have been worse - to have been slain by his own mother, like the son of the woman in Samaria (2 Kings 6:29); or by his own father, like the King of Moab's eldest son (2 Kings 3:27).

II. THE PERSON BY WHOM HE WAS DELIVERED.

1. A kinswoman. Jehoshabeath, or Jehosheba, "Jehovah is the oath," was the aunt of Joash, the sister of his father (see preceding homily).

2. A good woman. A plausible inference from the fact that she was married to Jehoiada the high priest. "Even princesses did not then scorn the bed of those that served at God's altar ' (Hall). Most likely she and her husband disapproved of the state religion and state policy of the day, inspired and controlled as these were by Athaliah.

3. A brave woman. Scarcely without peril to herself could she have carried out her humane design of rescuing her infant nephew.

4. A clever woman. Without immense tact she could never have evaded the vigilant eyes of Athaliah. Of the substitution of some other child in Joash's room (Hall) Scripture is silent.

III. THE MODE IN WHICH HE WAS DELIVERED.

1. By secret concealment in the palace. Along with his nurse he was hid in a bedchamber, or chamber for the beds; neither the dormitory of the priests and Levites in the temple-courts (Vatablus), nor the sleeping-apartments of the royal princes in the palace (Clericus), but a room in the latter, where, according to Eastern custom, the beds, i.e. mattresses and coverlets, were kept (Keil). In this recess, usually uninhabited, a temporary refuge was obtained from Athaliah's rage.

2. By private upbringing in the temple. Not in the holy of holies (Targum), to which Athaliah had no access, but in one of the buildings on the outer wall, in which the high priest resided with his wife. Fetched at the first convenient opportunity from their dangerous proximity to Athaliah in the palace, the young child and his nurse were for six years lodged in the priest's house. Here his training must have been both carefully and successfully attended to, as his after-career showed (Proverbs 22:6). From the priest's lips he would receive instruction in the Law of God (Malachi 2:7); from his aunt, learn to love and practise the religion of his great and good ancestors, Jehoshaphat and Asa. Learn:

1. The ease with which God can defeat the projects of the wicked.

2. The tender care God takes of children, especially of such as belong to the covenant.

3. The blessing of possessing pious parents and kinsmen.

4. The value of early instruction in the doctrines and duties of religion.

5. The safety of those whom God keeps.

6. The advantage of spending one's early years in the house of God. - W.

II. ITS CONTINUANCE BY EVIL COUNSELLORS (ver. 4). A nation with evil legislators like a ship directed in the midst of rooks — in imminent peril.

III. ITS END IN JUDGMENT WHICH IT ENTAILED.

(J. Wolfendale.)