2 Kings 13:10-13 – Don’t flow with the tide of evil

So far in our reflection of the Books of 1 & 2 Kings, we have considered the lives of the kings of Israel such as Jeroboam, Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri, Ahab, Ahaziah, Jehoram, Jehu, and Jehoahaz. Now in 2 Kings 13-10-13, we come to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz. He was the twelve king of Israel. He ascended the throne in the 27^th year of the reign of Joash, the king of Judah. And he ruled Israel for 16 years.

The sad refrain about all the kings of Israel was that each did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. The sin they all perpetrated was the sin of Jeroboam. He was the one who had initiated the worship of the two golden calves, one he placed in Bethel and the other in Dan. What he did caused the northern kingdom of Israel to sink into idolatry and compromised on their commitment to their covenant God. 

In 2 Kings 13: 11 we again hear the refrain, “He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not turn away from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel sin, but he walked in them.” Nothing much was said of Jehoash in this passage except that what he had done, including his conflict with King Amaziah of Judah, were recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel. When he died, he was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and his son, who shared the same name as Jeroboam, succeeded him on the throne.

It is easy to flow with the tide because it’s the path of least resistance. Jehoash took the path that all the kings of Israel took. Every one of them flowed with the evil tide of Jeroboam. This is the lesson for us. We must refuse to go with the tide of evil. Know that a godly life invariably will demand discipline that will require us to flow with God and against the tide of evil. It will require that we evaluate the lives of people who influence us. We need courage and a strong resolve to walk away from people and norms that will not contribute to godly development in our lives. It is always wiser to stay on God’s side than on the side of evil. With God even if we are alone, we will always be the majority!