MAY 18, 2026 – JEHOIADA

READ: 2 Kin. 12:21: … Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him … his servants … struck him so that he died …

Joash, under the leadership of the God-fearing Jehoiada, shows himself as a king who wants to live and reign according to the will of the LORD. He does what is right in the eyes of the LORD, but shows himself dependent on the instruction of Jehoiada.

What is important is that Joash commits himself to restore the temple. In this he encounters the laxness of the priests responsible for this work. The restoration work has hardly begun. The donated money they spend on themselves. When many years later Joash complains about this matter to the priests, no more money is collected, but also nothing is done for the restoration of the temple.

Eventually Jehoiada makes a special chest in which the people can give their gifts specifically for the restoration of the temple. That works. Yet not everything is completely restored. Objects that had been gold and silver are now bronze. .

Much of the money given by the people again disappears into the pockets of the priests. The temple is restored, but the sacrifices  on the high places outside the temple, as had happened since Solomon, still continues. Thus their obedience and dedication are not complete..

After his death, Jehoiada receives great honour for his positive influence on Joash. 2 Chron. 16 says that they bury him in the city of David among the kings. However, after  his death Joash again falls into the same snare as the other kings: he serves wooden images and idols (2 Chron. 24:17ff).

He also has the prophet Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, who had warned the people in the name of the LORD, stoned to death. That calls for God’s vengeance.

To keep the Syrian king Hazael at a distance, Joash gives away the holy treasures of the temple and the palace. Finally, Joash, at the age of forty-seven, is murdered in his bed by his own servants.

What can we learn from this history?
Sing: Ps. 9:4,5