Day 186 (Kings 12-13, 2 Chronicles 24) - Year 4
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Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. Yesterday we covered the reign of King Jehu in the northern kingdom of Israel. And while he was on the throne, the southern kingdom got a king named Joash, also known as Jehoash, who was seven years old and probably needed a nickname that was easier to pronounce anyway. So we'll call this little guy by the shorter version of his name, Joash.

Fortunately, young Joash had a wise advisor, the priest. And as long as the priest was alive, he seemed to keep Joash in line. The priest did get two wives for Joash, but it's possible that the second wife didn't show up on the scene until after the first wife died. For the most part, Joash followed God's commands, with the exception of tearing down the high places for idol worship.

He even commanded the restoration of the temple. It had fallen into disrepair since the people had been so focused on worshipping idols instead, and they'd even used some of the temple instruments in their worship of Baal. Ugh. But the priests of the temple don't follow his orders for how to finance the restoration process. They either don't collect the taxes God has required, or they collect them and embezzle them while they just lounge around for 23 years.

Finally, Joash puts his foot down, makes an offering box, and the people are actually happy to give to this cause. He uses their money to hire some workers for the repair work since the priests can't be trusted. The workers are honest guys and they manage to get things rolling along nicely. It's all going fairly well for Joash's reign until the priest dies. Then he goes off the rails. He starts seeking counsel from the local princes who flatter him and eventually lead him into idolatry.

The priest's son warns him about the consequences of this sin. And Joash's people respond to the priest's son with humble repentance, right? No, they stone him to death. Terrible. Not long after that, God sends the very judgment the priest's son had prophesied in his last words.

This judgment comes in the form of the Syrian army. They're small, but they manage to defeat the army of Judah and severely wound their king, Joash. While he's down for the count, his servants seize the opportunity to avenge the murder of the priest's son. Their king has lost their trust, so they enact the death penalty on him. Then his son Amaziah takes the throne in Judah.

Cut to the northern kingdom of Israel. What's been going on there? This is actually a bit of a flashback in the timeline, but Jehu's son, Jehoahaz, is on the throne. And again, because he's a king in the north, we know he's no good. But he does seem to recognize what God is doing in Israel.

He notices that his people seem to be under God's judgment, so he seeks God's favor. But let's be honest, he's not really seeking God here, he's seeking relief. And God certainly knows the difference. The heart of Jehoahaz is not repentant. Nevertheless, God demonstrates his mercy and sends someone to help them. This Savior is possibly human, possibly divine. The text isn't clear on that.

And even after all that, after God answered his prayer with a yes, Jehoaz and the people still don't repent.

After Jehoahaz dies, his son takes the throne, and well, that guy's name is Joash too, also known as Jehoash. This must be the Mike Michael of ancient Israel. So since we called the seven-year-old king in Judah Joash, we'll call this king in Israel Jehoash, just to avoid confusion. And yes, he's a king in the north, so he's also a bad guy. It's all pretty standard. But what's not standard are a few things that happened in his final days.

Remember the prophet Elisha with an S? He's the one who took over after the prophet Elijah with a J died. Jehoash comes to him pretty upset about how the Syrians might destroy them, and Elisha has him do some strange actions in preparation to face Syria in battle. I'm not going to try to make sense of how Elisha knew what all of this arrow shooting and ground beating meant, because it clearly had to be some wisdom from the Lord. He's a prophet, after all. Or he was, because then he dies.

And one day, as the locals are preparing to bury a dead man, they get a little distracted by an enemy army and accidentally throw the dead man's body into Elisha's open grave instead. But not to worry. Because of this happy accident where he fell on Elisha's bones, the man comes back to life. What? I think this is one of the strangest stories in all of the Bible, and I don't know about you, but I'm bummed that it only gets two sentences.

Finally, as our reading closes, Elisha's final prophecy about Jehoash and Israel's battle with Syria is fulfilled. What was your God shot today?

Mine was in the story of that crazy, accidental resurrection. Ultimately, I think those two sentences are supposed to remind us that Elisha's power of resurrection didn't originate with him. They exist outside of him and were granted to him by God, who, unlike Elisha, isn't lying dead in a tomb somewhere. He's living and active. His power isn't confined to our abilities. He's working even when we can't.

And while it may wound our pride to recognize it, he doesn't actually need our help. He can accomplish his good and generous plans, like raising the dead, sometimes even without human intervention. This is super encouraging to me because it reminds me that God's goodness isn't contingent on how much faith I can muster. He's going to be good regardless. And he's where the joy is.

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