Young Joash Influenced by Jehoiada
24 Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Zibiah from Beersheba. 2 Joash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. 3 Jehoiada took two wives for him, and he became the father of sons and daughters.
Faithless Priests
4 Now it came about after this that Joash [a]decided to restore the house of the Lord. 5 He gathered the priests and Levites and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Judah and collect money from all Israel to [b]repair the house of your God [c]annually, and you shall do the matter quickly.” But the Levites did not act quickly. 6 So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest and said to him, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and from Jerusalem the levy fixed by Moses the servant of the Lord on the congregation of Israel for the tent of the testimony?” 7 For the sons of the wicked Athaliah had broken into the house of God and even [d]used the holy things of the house of the Lord for the Baals.
While we don’t see Jehoiada’s response to the king’s question, he might have easily been facing push-back from the people. They had lived under idol worship for at least 7 years, and this was a resurgent thing that every king dealt with if they wanted to follow God.
So Jehoiada, for all his desire to follow God and the king, couldn’t bring himself to enforce God’s law and the king’s command. As a result, the temple was in dis-repair and the priests likely didn’t even have the tools they needed to do their job.
To his defense, it is easy to let other people sway our actions. After all, we see them and deal with them every day. But we forget that God sees all and lives in us, so we ought all the more to remember his commands.
And ultimately, the best and foremost reason to follow God’s commands rather than the influence of men is because of His love. What? Not his justice and holiness and judgment?? No, it is God’s love that has given us commands, because He cares for us more than we can imagine. God both knows and desires what is best for us, and so His love is the perfect storm of reason that delivers to us the best way to live.
Anything else is second-rate, short-sighted, and settling for left-overs. Choose God, choose a first-rate future, with no hand-me-downs or left-overs.