---

The extremely interesting circumstances under which Joash came to the throne (ch. 23.) make us wish that there was something satisfactory to record of him when he sat upon it. Unfortunately, it is not so. One work in particular he wrought (see next homily) for which he deserves honour, but his character stands before us as that of an essentially weak man. He did what was right all the days of Jehoiada, but no longer. He allowed one man, to whom he was much indebted, to influence him aright; so far he did well. That, however, is not saying very much, for it would have been ingratitude indeed, of the deepest dye, if he had not been guided by those who first saved his life, and then, as the greatest risk to themselves, seated him upon the throne of his fathers. But goodness that goes no deeper than that is essentially weak; the worth that has to be propped up by a human hand, and that falls to the ground when the sustaining hand is withdrawn, is of small account. It has taken no root; it will have no length of life; it will bring forth no flowers and fruits. Moral weakness is -

I. DISREGARDED OF GOD AND MAN. For such men as Joash the prophet of the Lord has no word of general commendation, though he has words of rebuke to utter (vers. 19, 20). With them God "is not well pleased." And man is also and equally dissatisfied. Men that are wrong and strong will find their advocates; indeed, they find all too many to honour and praise them, both while they live and when they are departed. But men that are good and weak find none to admire them. They may start, as Joash apparently did, with fair intentions and blameless desires, but they have no force of character, and being "driven with the wind and tossed," carried about hither and thither according to the passing breeze, they are the object of disregard, if not of positive contempt. There is nothing honourable or admirable in them.

II. FRUITLESS OF ANY POSITIVE GOOD. Such men as Joash may do some good during one half of their life, or at different parts of their life; but the good they then do is counterbalanced by the harm they work during the other half or on other occasions; and no one can say which prevails over the other. The measure of many a man's life-influence is a nice sum in spiritual subtraction; and when everything is known it will perhaps be found to be a "negative quantity." It is a poor and a pitiful thing to see a man first building up and then pulling down; one day working with the people of God and the next associating with the enemies of true and pure religion; subscribing to a Christian charity and attending a demoralizing spectacle; pulling in contrary directions. What can such a man do? What witness can he bear, what work achieve, what contribution bring to the great end we should have in view - the elevation of our kind? That will be represented by a cypher - or something worse.

III. UNNECESSARY. It may indeed be said that this is a question of natural endowment, and rests with our Creator and not with ourselves; that men receive from him either strength and force of will or else pliancy of spirit, sensitiveness of soul and readiness to be affected by influences from outside. This is true, in part; but it is not the whole truth. We must not make our heavenly Father responsible for our short-comings. Moral weakness is a defect of character. It is the result of a wrong choice.

1. Let a man give himself, as he should, in full surrender to the God whoso he is and whom he is most sacredly bound to serve, to that Divine Saviour who has bought him with the price of his own redeeming blood, and he will then be in the way of gaining single-heartedness and strength.

2. Let him be regularly and repeatedly renewing his act of self-dedication. Joash did, when he was a child, pledge himself to the service of Jehovah (2 Chronicles 23:16). But he was then too young to understand all that such a covenant meant. He should have continually renewed that solemn pledge. We have the amplest opportunities and invitations to reconsecrate ourselves to the service of Christ, and if we accept these, we shall retain our thorough loyalty to him, and then we shall not be moved and swayed, but be "steadfast and immovable."

3. Let him gain strength from above. There is an unfailing Divine resource on which all the good may draw. "When I am weak, then am I strong," said Paul. For when he was most conscious of his own insufficiency, then he looked up for help to the "Lord of all power and might," to him who can and will "strengthen us with strength in our soul," who will "strengthen us with all might by his Spirit in the inner man," who will make us strong

(1) to endure;

(2) to overcome;

(3) to bear witness;

(4) to labour in the holy fields of Christian work. - C.

---

---

KJV: 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.

WEB: Joash was seven years old when he began to reign; and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Zibiah, of Beersheba.