1 and 2 Kings - Lesson 16

Dr. John Oswalt
1 & 2 Kings
th630-16
Nemesis
Lesson Transcript

I have called chapters 9, 10, and 11, Nemesis. As the end, in some ways, the necessary end has occurred or is occurring. We think of it as the Northern Kingdom. We're destroying the dynasty of Omri. Omri, Ahab, Durham. What we're a little bit unprepared for is what we read in chapter 11. The problem was not limited to Israel, the Northern Kingdom. In fact, the problem is at least as virulent in the South, in Judah, Athaliah is the female representative of the Omri dynasty that has wormed its way, if you will, right into the Davidic dynasty.

And it is apparent from Athaliah's actions that she hated the Davidic dynasty and actually wanted to destroy it. Her son is dead now. And so, when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family. Now, I wonder, did she think she might marry somebody else and have children of her own? But she's a grandmother. I don't know. I rather have the feeling that it is simply viciousness. "Okay. Okay. If I and my family are going down, David is going to go down with us." And so, we see history hanging on a pinpoint. Is the Davidic dynasty going to survive? Can God keep his promises in the face of this kind of determined viciousness? And the answer of course is, well, yes, of course. It may look like a wonder, it may look like an impossibility, but God has his own.

And I emphasize that God does not intend to save the world through programs. He intends to save the world through persons. That can obviously never be more clear than Jesus. But here it is, Jehosheba, whose name means God has sworn. The daughter of King Durham and sister of Ahaziah. So, she's a member of the royal family. Her life is in danger as well as everybody else's. She took Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the royal princes who were about to be murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah, so he was not killed. He remained hidden with his nurse in the temple of the Lord for six years while Athaliah ruled the land. Oh my goodness. What must that have been like? Six years, keeping this child whom Athaliah hates. The image of her failure if he is found, but somehow they did it.

The fact that he was hidden in the temple suggests to me that this is more than merely dynastic pride. "Well, Jehosheba, I'm a member of the royal family and they're not going to destroy this royal family." The fact that he's hidden in the temple suggests to me that there were religious motivations going on here. Yahweh has made this promise to the family of David. And Yahweh represented by this temple is going to keep his promise regardless of anything else. Jehosheba disappears. And Jehoiada the high priest appears in verse four of chapter 11, and he then becomes the central character. So, again, this is the high priest at work. This is the priesthood that is committing itself now to treason as far as the queen is concerned, committing itself to the preservation of the promise of God.

You look across the centuries and you see people like this, people of character, people of courage, people who are willing to take a stand, a risk for God's sake. And again, I say to you, God keeps his promises through people. This coup required very careful planning. And as we read the report of the plan and what took place here, we have the feeling that this is eyewitness. This part of the Royal Guard will when it is supposed to go on leave, won't go on leave. That part of the Royal Guard, all the careful planning that took place.

In verse 12, Jehoiada brought out the king's son, and put the crown on him, and he presented him with a copy of the covenant. This is the first time we've heard this, but this is what Deuteronomy in chapter 17 that we looked at earlier, this is what it dictates, that the king will have a copy of the covenant with him. Deuteronomy even says he should make the copy himself, which I find interestingly interesting. Have you found this? I discover that I remember something that I have written more clearly than something I've just read. I don't know.

But at any rate, the king was not only to have a copy of the covenant with him, it was a copy that he supposedly had written for himself. That's not specified here, but there it is. What is it to be a Davidic king? It is to be committed to the covenant. And proclaimed him king, they anointed him and the people clapped their hands and shouted, "Long live the king." Athaliah heard the noise. The palace, of course, that Solomon built is just adjacent to the temple. She went in, she looked, and there was the king standing by the pillar as the custom was. Now, why that was the custom? We don't know. Later on we're going to see that Josiah does the same thing. He takes a stand by the pillar of the temple. But it's quite clearly part of the authorization of a legitimate king.

The officers and trumpeters were beside the king and all the people, the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Athaliah tore her robes and called out, "Treason. Treason." They took her and Jehoiada had said, "Don't kill her in the temple," but they killed her in the corridors outside Nemesis. The Ahab dynasty and its influence is wiped out. Now I say it's influence. We're going to see later, well, that influence was still around, if not in a direct line, at least in that way of thinking was still around. But the idea that Baal might replace Yahweh is done away with.

And we see it here with what the people did. Look down at verse 17, Jehoiada then made a covenant between the Lord, and the king, and the people that they would be the Lord's people. He also made a covenant between the king and the people. That is what would the king agree to do for the people and what would the people agree to do for the king? All the people of the land. And I want to emphasize that because this is going to be important when we talk about Josiah, a few lectures from now. All the people of the land went to the temple of Baal. Good grief. There was a temple of Baal right in Jerusalem.

They went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. Notice it's the people who do this and not Jehu and his guards. They smashed the altars and idols to pieces, and killed Mattan, the priest of Baal in front of the altars. This is not a royal revival, it is a royal revival, but it is a national revival as well. Something has happened. And people who perhaps have been underground because of the influence of Athaliah and the Baal temple, and all of that have come to the surface and they have said, once again, "We are going to keep the covenant. We are going to worship Yahweh alone and we're going to lay down our lives for the sake of our neighbors." As I said several lectures ago, those two points are the covenant.

The lawyer reflects that when he speaks to Jesus. "What are two laws? How is the covenant summed up? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind and your neighbor as yourself." And Jesus says, "You're not far from the kingdom. You got it. Make that not just head knowledge, but heart knowledge and you're in the kingdom." So, there it is. We're going to renew the covenant. We're going to live the covenant. We're going to keep the covenant. Would that had been true for the next a 100 years? Tragically, it was not.

I find interesting verse 20, "All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was at peace because Athaliah had been slain with the sword at the palace." I think that tells us Athaliah was not terribly popular during her seven years of reign. But now, the ministry of Elijah and Elisha has come to its successful climax. Baal is not going to replace Yahweh. Now, tragically, I say in the North, they didn't go all the way and get rid of the Yahweh idols. But nevertheless, Yahweh is going to be the God of Israel, and even more so of Judah for the coming century or so.

So, what then do we find happening in Judah? We find Jehoash repairing the temple. Chapter 12:4, "Jehoash said to the priests, 'Collect all the money that is brought as sacred offerings to the temple of the Lord. The money collected in the census, the money received from personal vows, the money brought voluntarily to the temple. Let every priest receive the money from one of the treasurers and use it to repair whatever damage is found in the temple.'" Presumably, especially during those seven years of Athaliah's reign, the temple of Yahweh had been very thoroughly neglected. The house of God, the house where God chose to place his name, has been left.

And Jehoash, to his credit says, "That ought not to be. If Yahweh is our God and not Baal, then this house of Yahweh ought to be restored." But it's interesting, we're not told when Jehoash made that first instruction that's reported there in verses four and five. But by the 23rd year of King Josiah, the priests still had not repaired the temple. Why do you suppose that would be the case? Five years, six years, seven years, 10 years since the king has said, "Take the income and repair the building." The priests haven't done it. Why not? I am afraid that the answer is they don't really have a heart for it. Their income comes through sacrifices.

And as you perhaps remember, the covenant makes it very clear that certain pieces of meat are belonging to the priests. That's their income. So, whether the temple is in good repair or not is not a big issue. The question is, are we getting all the sacrifices that we should? Are the people really, really eager to make offerings to God? Offerings that are manipulative? The priests are as guilty as the people in not understanding that sacrifice does not do anything to God. Sacrifice is an expression of a relationship between God and the offerer, that is by grace. Sacrifice is a symbolic expression of the relationship that exists. It does not do anything to God.

But the more you want to manipulate God, the more sacrifices you'll give. And so, I'm afraid that that's what's going on. In terms of the house, the building as a representation of the character and the nature of God, of his beauty, of his glory, of his splendor, well, costs a lot of money. Money that might better be used for my salary. Now, you say, "Oswelt, do you know that?" No, I don't. No, I don't. The text does not specify it. But it just says that after the king gave these instructions, very explicit instructions, nothing was done.

And so, Jehoiada the priest, this is verse nine, the priest, took a chest, bore a hole in its lid. He placed it beside the altar on the right side as one enters the temple of the Lord, the priest who guarded the entrance put into the chest all the money that was brought to the temple of the Lord. Whenever they saw there was a large amount of money in the chest, the royal secretary and the high priest came, counted the money that had been brought into the temple of the Lord, put it in bags, when the amount had been determined, they gave the money to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple and so forth.

And it's interesting, it says no account was kept of the money because the men doing the work were so trustworthy. That's a great commendation, isn't it? So, we can't trust the priests to do this work. We have to appoint other people to do the work. Yes, it is overseen by the high priest and his accountant, but the work is done by someone else. I think that's extremely interesting in terms of where it goes with what is to take place from that.

In chapter 13, we have the regnal summaries of two of Jehu's sons, Jehoahaz has and Jehoash. And in that context, we see Elisha for the final time. So, that chapter 13 brings to a close the Elijah-Elisha narrative. As I said, I think we can say that the climax of their ministry is in chapters nine, 10, and 11. Then there's a bit of an anti-climax. And then finally, the report of Elisha's death at the end of chapter 13. What we see is that neither of these men are particularly sterling representatives of men of God. We see that Jehoahaz was devastated by Hazael. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord by following the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, which he'd caused Israel to commit. He didn't turn away from them. So, the Lord's anger burned against Israel. And for a long time, he kept them under the power of Hazael, king of Aram, and Ben-Hadad, his son. This is another Ben-Hadad that's coming along here.

But now look, "Then Jehoahaz sought the Lord's favor. And the Lord listened to him, for he saw how severely the king of Ara. Was oppressing Israel. And the Lord provided a deliverer for Israel. And they escaped from the power of Aram." So, the Israelites lived in their own homes as they had before. It's quite interesting that the narrator doesn't tell us who that deliverer was. Well, it was Assyria. Assyria renewed its attacks south westward coming through Syria toward Israel, and on down toward Egypt. And so, the Assyrian pressure on Hazael meant that the pressure he was putting on Israel was removed.

Jehu seems to have been a Yahweh worshiper. And at least some of that then was communicated to his son. He did not ask Baal for help, he asked Yahweh for help. And Yahweh has no pride. He doesn't say, "Well, you didn't ask me yesterday. How about all those times in the past century when you didn't ask me? Forget it." No. Anytime we sincerely turn to him, he is ready. He is ready to respond. The old language that was used in theology books was he is biddable. That is he is ready to receive our bid, our bid for help. And he's ready to help. Again. He does not say, "Well, now wait a minute. You've got to give me this promise and you've got to give me that promise." No. Jehoash is not by any means a sterling example. But if he, in some sense, sincerely asks, God is ready to respond. But verse six, "They did not turn away from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, which he caused Israel to commit. They continued in them. Also, the Ashera pole remained standing in Samaria. What's going on here is syncretism.

We're worshiping Yahweh, yes, not worshiping Baal anymore as the high God. But a little nod to fertility goddess here to help us out. And in fact, they were helpless. Nothing had been left of the army of Jehoahaz except 50 horsemen, 10 chariots, 10,000 foot soldiers for the king of Aram had destroyed the rest and made them like the dust at the threshing time. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. So, Jehoahaz is ruling from about 815 until about 801/2, about 15 years. And when we turn then to Jehoash, he's ruling on from about 800 to 781, although there's quite a significant regency with his son, Jeroboam II, that we'll talk about later.

Once again, he did evil. He didn't turn away from the sins of Jeroboam. "But when Elisha is suffering," this is verse 14, "from the illness from which he died, Jehoahaz, King of Israel, went down to see him and wept over him, 'My father, my father,' he cried, 'the chariots and horsemen of Israel,'" remember that's the same thing Elisha had said of Elijah. Had that entered common parlance so that Jehoash would use it? Or does he not know that He's in fact quoting Elisha himself many years before? The point is, as I mentioned there, you are what protects Israel. You are the ultimate weapon that protects Israel from her enemies. Again, we don't see outright pagans here. People are saying, "Oh, I don't believe in Yahweh. I don't need any Yahweh. I'm getting along..." No. But again, it's this syncretism, a little of Yahweh, a little paganism.

And Yahweh says, "I cannot abide that. You are my bride. I want you to love me alone. I don't want you fooling with other lovers." But Israel simply could not bring themselves to that. They could not put all their eggs in the Yahweh basket. We are too often of the same nature. "Oh, yes, yes, I want to worship God, but I certainly am not going to put myself in his absolute hands to trust him for what I need. I'm going to take care of myself. Thank you. I'm going to manipulate the world in order to supply my needs."

Now you say, "Oswelt, are you saying we've just got to go live in a monastery or something and say, 'Well, God, okay, whatever you do?'" No, I'm not saying that, but I'm talking about attitude. What is my attitude toward my job? Well, it's what I do to provide my needs in my way. This is my ministry through which I seek to serve God and receive from him his provision for my life. And you look at two people, and they may look like they're doing the same thing. But one may be serving with a pagan attitude and the other, a biblical attitude. And it makes all the difference. It makes all the difference.

"'My father, my father, the chariots and the horsemen of Israel.' Elisha said, 'Get a bow and some arrows.' And he did. 'So, take the bow in your hands,' he said to the king of Israel. When he'd taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king's hands. 'Open the east window,' he said. And he opened it. 'Shoot,' Elisha said, and he shot. 'The Lord's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram.' Elisha declared, 'You will completely destroy the Arameans at Afek.' Then he said, 'Take the arrows.' And the king took them. Elisha told him, 'Strike the ground.' He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him. He said, 'You should have struck the ground five or six times, then you would've defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. Now you'll defeat it only three times.' Elisha died and was buried."

Do you remember several lectures ago we talked about Yahweh and Ahab. How when Ahab is being oppressed by Aram, by Syria, the king named Ben-Hadad has moved in on them and said, "I'm going to take whatever I want out of your house." And the prophet comes and says, "The Lord is going to deliver him into your hands and you will know I am the Lord." That happened again. Grace, just pure grace. Ahab didn't deserve it, and Jehoash doesn't deserve it either. But God says, "If you'll let me, I'll demonstrate how much I love you."

The question is, will we let him? Will we put ourselves in a place where God can demonstrate his love for us and His care for us? If we will, he is more than ready to demonstrate his goodness and his kindness. So, here it is again, a man who is undoubtedly a syncretistic worshiper of the Lord. He's not a wholehearted worshiper of the Lord, but there's a crack in the armor of his syncretism. And Yahweh says, "Let me in through that. I'll show you. I'll show you my love." I think this is so significant as the final act of Elisha.

God wants to bless you. God wants to care for you. God wants to demonstrate his love for you. Will you let him? And of course, in this instance, Elisha is saying to him, "You didn't give him a big enough opening. If you'd given him a bigger opening, he would've done something more." I have taught at a theological seminary for most of my career, and it's always been interesting. Most of the students who come, come with pretty careful plans. They've made provisions for where they're going to live and how they're going to survive. And they get through seminary competently, effectively. Then there are those others.

They show up in a pickup truck full of stuff and maybe a bunch of kids, and we say, "Okay, have you worked out your application?" "No, the Lord told us to come." "Do you know where you're going to live?" "No, not yet." "Do you know how you're going to pay your tuition?" "No." And we shake our heads and say, oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. But when those people graduate, not all of them do, but when those who do graduate, they know something about God's provision that those other people who've been so very wise and careful don't know.

Now, I'm not suggesting that we ought to live on the edge, that we always ought to be living foolishly. But I am saying that there are too many times when we don't allow a big enough space for God to act. You should have hit the ground six times. If you had, you would've given God a bigger space to act. So, I wonder, as I look at my own life, am I too careful getting everything lined up? I'm that sort of person. The Psalmist says, "Be still and know that I am God." You could put that in a slightly more contemporary way and say, relax and find out that I'm God. Take your hands off a little bit under his direction with prayer, not simply foolishly, but give him space to act. That's what's going on here, and that's the last act of Elisha's ministry.

God wants to act in your life, Jehoash. He's going to. He's going to do some good things for you. And he'd like to do more good things if you'd give him the opportunity. And Elisha died and they put him in a grave. And one day, a fella died and they had to get rid of the body quickly, and they put it in this cave probably where Elijah was buried. The guy came to life. Life was in these men, Elijah, Elisha. Life, even when they were dead.

And did God keep his promises? Yes. Hazael, King of Aram, oppressed Israel throughout the reign of Jehoahaz has. But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion and showed concern for them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To this day, he has been unwilling to destroy them or banish them from his presence. Hazael, King of Ara, died. And Ben-Hadad, his son, succeeded him as King. Then Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz recaptured from Ben-Hadad, son of Hazael, the towns he had taken in battle from his father, Jehoahaz, three times Jehoash defeated him and so recovered the Israelite towns. God keeps his promises.