2 Kings 12:1-3 – Be consistent in godly living

Joash became king of Judah at age seven and ruled for 40 years. He ascended to the throne in the seventh year when Jehu was king of Israel. His mother was from Beersheba, so she was a native of the south. Her name was Zibiah. In these three verses in 2 Kings 12:1-3, we are given two critical facts about Joash’s life. Firstly, he did well in the sight of the Lord because of the godly Jehoiada. We surmise that being his aunt’s husband and the priest, he was the one who was keeping the king on track. Secondly, we are told that in religious and spiritual reform, Joash did not do as thorough a job as he should. Verse 3 said that he did not take the high places away. High places were shrines located all over the land. The people would go to these shrines to make sacrifices and offer their burnt offerings. Sadly most of these places would have graven images and sacred pillars. Because Joash did not purge the land of these shrines people were still making sacrifices and burning incense there.

Second Chronicles 24:17-19 give us some disturbing information about Joash after the godly Jehoiada died. He pandered to the ungodly advice of some godless officials from Judah. Together with them, he abandoned the house of the Lord and the God whom their fathers served. What’s more unacceptable was that they served the Asherims and idols. As a result, the wrath of God rightly fell on Judah and Jerusalem on their account. Despite the prophets God would send to warn and call them back to Himself, they would not listen.  

The first lesson we learn from what happened to Joash is the need to guard the godly deposits in our lives. According to 2 Chronicles 24:15, Jehoiada lived to a ripe old age of 132 years. That’s quite a long time by any standard. Despite the years of godly influence, Joash would pivot to some godless counsels of his ungodly officials. This suggests that he was not guarding the godly deposits that he had received from Jehoiada. It is therefore important that we guard the godly foundation in our lives. Being faithful in our commitment to God is one non-negotiable in life. This is an area that we must never compromise. The day our allegiance to God shifts will be the day we see the unraveling of our spiritual compass.

The second lesson we learn is not to keep anything that can lure us back to our past ungodly living. Joash allowed the high places to remain. They became the Archilles’ heed of the nation’s allegiance to God. Are there some things in our sinful past that we need to remove so that we will not be enticed to return to them? They would become the weak links to godly living. Don’t let them stand in the way between God and us. They must be dealt with decisively!