Yesterday, we were discussing the wicked Athaliah and her just as wicked sons, whose behavior would’ve had Moses turning over in his grave.
Well, it turns out, not all of her sons were wicked.
She also gave birth to another son named Yoash.
This young homie ruled from 840 to about 800 B.C.
That’s a whopping total of about 40 years.
Now, just around this time, a High Priest named Jehoiada appeared on the scene.
This dude was serious about getting things back on the right track with God.
He worked hard to restore proper worship and help the people of Judah start taking their faith seriously again.
One of the first things he did was organize the Levites into different guard teams.
One of those teams was put in charge of the Foundation Gate.
This appears to have been a newer entrance to the Temple complex, probably built as part of a major repair project or to help keep the aging Temple from falling apart.
These renovations made sense given that Solomon’s Temple was more than 150 years old by this point and had survived wars and repeated looting.
King Yoash’s reforms were truly revolutionary…and I mean that in a good way.
But it appears he was highly influenced by the elderly High Priest Jehoida, who served as his mentor and guide.
For several years, Yoash collected money from the people of Judah to repair the Temple.
There’s also some evidence that the northern kingdom of Ephraim-Israel pitched in to help.
2nd Chronicles 24 gives us the most detailed account of this restoration project.
And according to the text, the work was finished.
So the Temple was finally repaired.
Now, how closely it matched the original Temple Solomon built is anybody’s guess.
By this point, more than a century and a half had passed.
I wouldn’t be surprised if no one even remembered exactly what Solomon’s Temple originally looked like.
Sadly, Yoash’s positive efforts for the Temple ran out of steam.
After the High Priest Jehoiada died, Yoash lost his way.
He drifted away from God, and before long, the Temple once again fell into disrepair.
Now there’s an important takeaway here we’d be remiss to overlook.
Notice the correlation between Yoash’s good works for the kingdom and the influence the High Priest Jehoiada had on him.
In other words, the importance of allowing godly leaders to shape your life is made clear here.
Yesterday, we talked about how Y’hoshaphat allied with the wicked Ahav, and how that alliance turned out to be a disaster, simply because even one drop of poison can ruin a whole carton of milk.
Well, the same principle was at play here between Yoash and the High Priest Jehoiada…just in reverse!
So that’s your lesson for today.
Don’t underestimate how far you can go when you have godly leadership guiding you and helping you to grow.
Yoash’s life is a powerful illustration of this truth.
Ya feel me?
Done.
Leave a Reply