The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 291

Vera. 17-25.-Bad successive stages. With the seventeenth verse of this chapter there commences a vory painful record. From one who had been so mercifully spared, so admirably trained, so bountifully blessed, as was King ,Joash, much better things might have been expected. It is the melancholy story of rapid de"eneracy, 0 and a miserable and dishonourable end. I. DEPARTURE FROM THE LIVING Goo. Not being" rooted and grounded" in rever- ence ,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 tho house of the Lord." The young may be habituated to !acreri 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 tbey must be in time, from the human restraints that hold them to the right course, they follow the bent of worldiy inclina- tion; 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 Di vine pro- vidence; 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 DIBOBEDIBNCE, In the case of Joash, it was: 1. Humiliating defeat in battle (vers. 23, 24). 2. Bodily sufferings (ver. 25). 3. A violent and miser- able 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. Vers. 1--3.-The early years of Joash. I. His PARENTAGE. 1. His father. Jeho- ahaz, Ahaziah, or Azariah (eh. xxi. 17; eh. xxii. 1, 6), J ehoram's youngest son, who ascended the throne on his father's death, reigned one year, was slain by Jehu (eh. xxii. 9), and buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David, because, though himself bad, he was a good man's son (eh. xxii. 9). 2. His mothe:r. Zibiah of Beer- sheba, concerning whom nothing is known. Perhaps beautiful, as her name" Gazelle" may suggest; considering who her husband was, it will not be safe to say she was good, though the place she came from once had an aroma of piety about it (Gen. xxi. 33). II. His REIGN. 1. Early begun. When seven years old. Such early promotion would not have been safe for the kingdom (Eccles. x. 16) or good for himself haa Jehoiada not been beside him as counsellor of his inexperience, and, in fact, as virtual ruler. 2. Long continued. Forty years. Shorter by fifteen than that of Manasseh (eh. xxxiii. 1), his occupation of the throne was only one year shorter than that of Asa (eh. xvi. 13), and as long as that of Solomon (eh. ix. 30). III. His CHARACTER. 1. Promising. "He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord." But: 2. Imperfect. "The high places were not taken away; the peopl<t still sacrificed and burnt inceuse in the high places" (2 Kings xii. 3). And: 3. Unstable. He behaved well only so long as Jehoiada lived to counsel, and perhl\ps restrain, him. 2!l2 'l'HE SECOND DOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [en. niv. 1-27.