- 16-
CHAPTER 2 - J EHOASH, OR JOASH, (EIGHTH) KING OF JUDAH.
JEHU, (ELEVENTH) KING OF ISRAEL
Character of Athaliah, of Jehoiada, and of Joash - Lessons of this History - Early Reign
of Joash - Repair of the Temple -Death of Jehoiada - Counter-reformation - Murder of
Zechariah -Invasion by the Syrians - Conspiracy against Joash - Murder of the King. (2
KINGS 12; 2 CHRONICLES 24.)
AS we look back on the events described in the preceding chapter, their deep meaning in
this sacred history becomes increasingly apparent. The movement in the northern
kingdom, which issued in the destruction of the house of Ahab and the elevation of Jehu,
had been inaugurated by the prophets. It was speedily followed by another in Judah,
under the leadership of the priesthood, which resulted in the dethronement of Athaliah
and the accession of Joash. From the popular point of view, each of these movements
represented a reaction against what was foreign and non-Israelitish in politics and in
religion, and in favor of the ancient institutions in Church and State. And, surely, we
cannot fail to perceive, from the higher point of view, the fitness that in the northern
kingdom, where since the time of Jeroboam there was not any authorized priesthood (2
Chronicles 11:14), the prophets should, in a sense,* have taken the lead in such a
movement, nor that in Judah the Divinely-instituted priesthood should have sustained a
similar part.
- We have said "in a sense," for the attentive readers of this history will not fail to
distinguish the peculiar part taken by the prophets and that of the secular leaders in the
movement.
In truth, this was one of the higher purposes of the priestly office (Leviticus 10:10;
Deuteronomy 33:10; Malachi 2:7). But what we are careful to mark is the light which this
throws upon the Divinely-appointed institutions in Israel, especially in reference to the
mutual relations of Church and State, and the influence for good of religion upon national
life and civil liberty.
There is yet another aspect of these movements, alike as regards their short-lived success
and their ultimate failure. They were a last Divine interposition in that downward course
which led to the final judgments upon Israel and Judah. The people had fallen away from
the Divine purpose of their national calling, and become untrue to the meaning of their
national history. From this point of view the temporary success of these movements may
be regarded as a Divine protest against the past. But they ultimately failed because all
deeper spiritual elements had passed away from rulers and people. Nor is it otherwise
than as those who, as it were, uttered this Divine protest that the prophets in the north and
the priests in the south took so prominent a part in these movements. But with the vital
(^)