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Breaking the Cycle Day Twenty-Two: Lessons from Jehosheba 2 Kings

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Breaking the Cycle Day Twenty-Two: Lessons from Jehosheba 2 Kings Breaking the Cycle Day Twenty-Two: Lessons from Jehosheba 2 Kings 11:2-3 and 2 Chronicles 22:11 Nature vs Nurture. It is often wondered which has the greatest impact in a child’s formative years. Patterns are seen in society. Generations of families living on welfare. Children from abusive homes often grow up to be abusive to their children. Generation after generation of high school dropouts. Israel lived in a similar cycle. Generation after generation, caught up in sin, were sent into exile (suffering) so they would remember and cry out to God (supplication), so God would send a judge to bring salvation (Judges 2:11- 16; 3:7-11). Have no doubt, cycles can be broken. Today, our study looks at a woman who did that very thing. Not much is told to us about Jehosheba (Jehoshabeath). This is what we know about her personally: • She was the daughter of King Jehoram of Judah • She was the wife of Jehoiada the priest • She was the sister of King Ahaziah who was killed by Jehu So, she was the daughter of an evil king who was married to an evil queen, named Athaliah. (By the wording of Jehosheba being “the king’s daughter”, I take that to mean that she was the daughter of King Jehoram but not the daughter of Athaliah.) Jehoram and Athaliah were a nasty pair (2 Chron. 21:4, 6). She was the daughter of Israel’s evil king Ahab and she brought all of Jezebel’s evil ways over to Judah when she married. After her husband was killed, she became a counselor to her son Ahaziah who became king in his place. Ahaziah also did wickedly, due to his mother’s influence (2 Chron. 22:3). This is the household Jehosheba was raised in. Athaliah was a force to be reckoned with! When her son, Ahaziah, was killed by Jehu, Athaliah set out to kill all the possible heirs to the throne so she could reign. Jehosheba took the baby Joash from among the other sons of the king and hid him in a bedroom with his nurse. This saved him from Athaliah’s reach. She then moved him into the house of God. He remained hidden there for six years until her husband, Jehoiada the priest, raised a rebellion against Athaliah and put Joash on the throne. When Joash was seven years old, Jehoiada sets him up on the throne and guides him in the ways of the Lord. In fact, Joash “did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest” (2 Chron. 24:2). It didn’t stick though. After Jehoiada died, Joash killed his son (2 Chron. 24:22). So, Jehoiada was a very strong influence for good in Jehosheba’s life. By her action, a good king, at least for a time, was back on the throne in Judah. After Joash was killed, his son, Amaziah became king. Amaziah “did right in the sight of the Lord, yet not with a whole heart” (2 Chron. 25:2). Uzziah reigned after the death of his father, Amaziah. It says that he “did right in the sight of the Lord” and “he continued to seek God in the days of Zechariah” (2 Chron. 26:4-5). Jotham succeeds Uzziah. “He did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah had done; however he did not enter the temple of the Lord” (2 Chron. 27:2). There is a blip in the radar when Ahaz becomes king. He reigned sixteen years “and he did not do right in the sight of the Lord as David his father had done. But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel” (2 Chron. 28:1- 2). Then Hezekiah becomes king. “He did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done” (2 Chron. 29:2). Jehosheba and Jehoiada’s actions brought good kings back to Judah for the next 178 years! Ahaz’s sixteen-year reign is the only time in the middle of those generations when a king wasn’t trying to serve the Lord to one degree or another. That’s a lot of years of influence! The kingdom of Judah was allowed to remain for many generations after Israel was taken into captivity and absorbed by the Assyrians. Jehosheba was part of God’s plan that left a remnant of Israel (Jer. 23:3; Rom. 9:27) that would exist to receive the teachings of the promised Messiah (Acts 2:36). Jehosheba is proof that trusting God can pull you out of a generational legacy of evil. Just like Rahab and Ruth, Jeshosheba chose to do differently than her own ancestors. She didn’t follow Athaliah’s example. She instead followed the lead of her husband, Jehoiada. We do not have to be afraid that we cannot escape the path that our parents laid out in front of us. We can CHOOSE a different one. We can step off the wide road that leads to destruction and instead walk the narrow path to salvation (Mt. 7:13-14). If something has been handed down to you as a legacy – religion, traditions, lifestyle, etc. – measure it up against God’s Word. If it doesn’t match up, put it away. Just because mom did it, grandma did it, or great-great-great- great-grandpa did it does not make it right. Do you want to be like Jehosheba? Ready to take a stand against the evil around you? Do you want to save your soul and the souls of those who come after you? Then maybe, the way to do so is to stand up and do something different. Take a stand, break the cycle, and carve a new path for a new generation – beginning with you. Enjoy! .
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