Men’s Study & Coffee | March 27, 2018 | 2 Kings, Week Eleven (*notes from “Be Distinct” by Warren Wiersbe) 2 Kings 11; 2 Chronicles 22:10-23:21 | The Sword and the Crown Retaliation (2 Kings 11:1; 2 Chron. 22:10) We move now to the southern kingdom of Judah where the throne was empty because Jehu had killed King Ahaziah near Jezreel (9:27–28). The queen mother, Athaliah, a daughter of Ahab, saw her opportunity and seized the throne, reigning for six years. As the founder of Baal worship in Judah, she had no desire to see the Davidic dynasty succeed. She tried to kill all the royal princes, but one survived. David’s family was rapidly being destroyed. When Jehoram became king of Judah, he killed all his brothers and some of the princes of Israel to prevent them from dethroning him (2 Chron. 21:4), and the Arabian invaders had killed Jehoram’s older sons (22:1). Jehu had killed some of David’s descendants (22:8), and now Athaliah had ordered the “royal seed” to be wiped out. Satan certainly did his utmost to keep the promised Messiah from being born in David’s family in Bethlehem! Athaliah was retaliating because of all that Jehu had done in eradicating Ahab’s family and Baal worship in Israel. To return evil for good is demonic; to return good for evil is godlike; and to return evil for evil and good for good is human. Wherever there is conflict in this world, you will usually find this spirit of revenge and retaliation. As individuals used to fight duels to uphold their personal honor, so nations sometimes fight wars to protect their national honor. But by killing the royal seed, Athaliah was rebelling against the Lord Jehovah who had promised David that he would have a descendant sitting on his throne in Jerusalem. Most of us don’t go to that extreme in seeking to “pay back” our enemies, but revenge isn’t an unknown thing among God’s people. Moses in the law admonished his people not to practice revenge (Lev. 19:18), and Solomon gave the same counsel (Prov. 20:22; 24:29). Jesus taught against personal revenge (Matt. 5:38–48), as did the apostles Paul (Rom. 12:17–21) and Peter (1 Peter 3:8–9). Planning and executing revenge does far more harm to the perpetrator than to the victim. Many famous authors have written about “sweet revenge,” but experience shows that revenge is very bitter. A Jewish proverb says, “The smallest revenge will poison the soul.” If you are going to pay back an enemy, choose a good one, because paying back an enemy is a very expensive luxury. Faith and courage (2 Kings 11:2–12; 2 Chron. 22:11–23:11). When wicked Athaliah killed the heirs to David’s throne, the faithful remnant in Judah must have wondered where God was and what He was doing. Why would He make a covenant promise to David and not keep it? How could He allow the queen mother to do such an evil deed and jeopardize the future of the messianic line? But God was still on the throne and had His servants prepared to act. In a world that seems to be controlled by deceit and selfish ambition, there are still people like Jehoiada and Jehosheba who have faith in God’s Word and courageously do His will. Protection (vv. 2–3; 22:11–12). Jehoiada was the high priest and Jehosheba, his wife, was a princess, a daughter of King Jehoram and a sister to King Ahaziah, whom Jehu had slain. This made her an aunt to little Joash. That such a godly woman should come out of that family is a miracle of the grace of God. Knowing what Athaliah planned to do, the priest and the princess stole one-year-old Joash from the royal nursery and hid him with his nurse, first in a room where old bedding was stored and then in a room in the temple. As he grew older, he mingled and played with the other children in the temple area and wasn’t recognized as an heir to the throne. Presentation (vv. 4–12; 23:1–11). Jehoiada and Jehosheba and the boy’s nurse had the patience to wait for God’s time, for faith and patience go together (Heb. 6:12). “Whoever believes will not act hastily” (Isa. 28:16, NKJV). In His gracious providence, the Lord watched over the child as well as the three people who knew who he was and where he was; for if Queen Athaliah had known what they were doing, she would have killed them along with the prince. While waiting those six years, the high priest had thought and prayed and the Lord told him how to take Athaliah off the throne and put Joash on the throne. First, he called together the five officers who were in charge of the temple guard, presented the king to them and had them take an oath to obey his orders and tell no one what was going to transpire. After outlining his plan, he sent them throughout the kingdom of Judah to order the Levites living away from Jerusalem and the heads of the Jewish families (clans) to come to Jerusalem on a specific Sabbath day. They were to assemble at the temple as though they were there to worship the Lord. Jehoiada’s plan was simple but effective. The five officers each commanded one hundred men. Two companies would ordinarily be on duty daily and be replaced on the Sabbath Day, but on this particular Sabbath they would remain on duty and guard the king. A third company would guard the palace where Athaliah lived, and this would give her a false sense of security. A fourth company was assigned to the gate Sur (or “the foundation gate”—23:5), which may have led from the nearby palace to the temple area. The fifth company assembled at the gate behind the guardhouse, a normal place for the temple guards to gather. Anybody watching at the temple would have no reason to suspect that anything dramatic was about to occur. They would see the guards march in and take their usual places, and they might notice that the crowd of worshipers in the temple was larger than usual. Even King David was involved in the plan! The high priest distributed to the men the weapons that David had confiscated in his many battles, and the guards protected David’s own heir with those weapons. It was David who purchased the property on which the temple stood (2 Sam. 24:18ff), and it was David who provided the wealth that enabled Solomon to build the temple. Some of it came from his own personal treasury and the rest from the spoils of the battles he had fought for the Lord (1 Chron. 28–29). He wrote many of the songs the Levites sang in the temple services, and now he was providing the weapons to defend his own dynasty. David not only served his own generation (Acts 13:36) but every generation that followed. What an example for us to follow! When everybody was in place, Jehoiada brought out the seven-year-old king and presented him to the people. Jehoiada put the crown on Joash’s head and gave him a copy of the law of God that he was to obey (Deut. 17:12–14; 31:26). The high priest anointed him and the people joyfully welcomed him as their ruler. “God save the king” is literally “Let the king live!” (See 1 Sam. 10:24; 2 Sam. 16:16; 1 Kings 1:25, 39.) God had kept His covenant promise and put one of David’s descendants on the throne of Judah! Obedience (2 Kings 11:13–21; 2 Chron. 23:12–21) God had protected the young king and had enabled Jehoiada and the officers to present him to the people, but the work wasn’t over yet. The execution of Athaliah (vv. 13–16; 23:12–15). The repeated shout “God save the king!” startled Athaliah and she hastened out of the palace to see what was happening. The first thing she discovered was that she was trapped. There were guards around the palace and between the palace and the temple courts, so there was no opportunity for her to escape or for her own soldiers to come to her rescue. She hurried to the temple court where she saw the young king standing by the pillar (1 Kings 7:21), protected by the captains. She also saw that the assembly was made up not only of priests, Levites and military personnel, but also “the people of the land,” that is, the land-holding citizens whose work, wealth, and influence were important to the nation. How paradoxical that she should shout “Treason! Treason!” when she was the real traitor. Joash was a descendant of David and had every right to the throne, while Athaliah had seized the throne and had no claim to it. Jehoiada ordered the five military captains to escort her out of the temple area and told the guards to slay anybody who followed her. Once they were back on the palace grounds, near the Horse Gate, they killed her with the sword. The dedication of the people (v. 17; 23:16). Jehoiada had already given the holy covenant to the king (v. 12), but it was necessary that both the people and the king affirm their allegiance to one another and to the Lord.