Introduction: How much are you influenced by the attitudes of others?
How much do you influence others? What kind of influence do you
have? Is it good or bad? This week our study of the Bible turns to a
series of kings who seem to be heavily influenced by others. Let’s
jump in!
- King Jehoram and His Family
- Read 2 Chronicles 21:1, 6-7. How did the ancestors of
Jehoram and his wife affect their lives? (The text
suggests that the wickedness of Ahab had an influence on
Jehoram because his wife was Ahab’s daughter. On the other
hand, God seemed to have spared Jehoram up to this time
because of his ancestor, King David.) - Read 2 Chronicles 21:12-15. Elijah writes a letter to
Jehoram about his sins and his future. What is prophesied
to happen to Jehoram’s family because of his sins? (His
family will suffer a “heavy blow.” We find in 2
Chronicles 21:17 that the Philistines took captive
Jehoram’s wives and sons – all except his youngest son.) - How do our actions directly and indirectly affect the
salvation of our children? How about the well-being of
our children? (We affect our children both by our
influence and by our lifestyle.) - Is this fair?
- On this topic, skip ahead several chapters to 2 Chronicles
25:3-4. Read. We are just taking a peek at a King
(Amaziah)that we will study next week. What I want you to
consider is the statement about punishing children for the
sins of their father. How do you reconcile God’s judgment
on the wives and children of Jehoram, because of his sins,
when God seems to have an express policy against this? - Are God’s rules contrary to His actions? (I think we
can find a consistent rule here. The text from 2
Chronicles 25 refers to death as the punishment for a
relative’s sins. Death, of course, is final. On the
other hand, a family often suffers or is blessed as a
result of the positive or negative actions of
parents.) - What spiritual lessons do you find in this? (Death
here on earth is not final as far as God is
concerned. I believe this teaches us that no one can
be eternally saved or lost because of the sins of his
or her parents. However, parents can have a huge
influence on the spiritual and practical lives of
their children. This is a sobering consideration for
parents.) - Jehoram loses all of his sons, except one. Do you feel
sorry for him? In 2 Chronicles 21:2-4 we find that he
killed all of his brothers (all of Jehoshaphat’s sons).
Is this justice? - Have you noticed life is like this? Jehoram kills all
the sons of his father, leaving only one (himself),
and then he loses all of his sons except one. (I
think this is a sobering spiritual principle. See
Ecclesiastes 11:1.) - Read 2 Chronicles 21:20. At 40 years of age Jehoram dies
of “bowel trouble.” It sounds pretty awful. Notice the
post-script on his life – “he passed away to no one’s
regret.” The NLT translates it “No one was sorry when he
died.” - Do you have a boss like this?
- A neighbor?
- Is it possible that this description might be applied
to you? (If so, you need to repent quickly!) - Queen Athaliah
- Do you remember last week we learned that King Jehoshaphat
started down the wrong path when he arranged to have his
son marry a daughter of Ahab and Jezabel? (2 Chronicles
18:1) This daughter was Athaliah, and the son, of course,
was Jehoram. We learned at the very beginning of this
study that Athaliah was at the center of leading Jehoram
into evil. ( 2 Chronicles 21:6) Somehow, Athaliah managed
to avoid being captured by the Philistines when they
captured the rest of Jehoram’s wives. You recall that
Jehoram’s youngest son, Ahaziah, also escaped capture. (2
Chronicles 21:17). Ahaziah became a miserable King of
Judah. His reigned ended after one year, and his wicked
mother, Athaliah took over as Queen. She then tried to
destroy all the remaining royal family of Judah. (For you
doting grandparents, that would be her grandchildren she
was killing.) One infant grandson, Joash, survived by
being hidden in the temple (apparently church was the last
place Athaliah would be. With that background, let’s go on
with our study. - Read 2 Chronicles 23:1-3. Jehoiada is the priest. What do
you think about religious officials being involved in
politics? Is it Biblical? - Read 2 Chronicles 23:4-7. Who is at the heart of this
revolt against Queen Athaliah? (The priests and Levites!) - What day of the week is this taking place? (It seems
it is the Sabbath.) - Read 2 Chronicles 23:8-11. The King James says “God save
the King.” Guess where the British got this phrase?
(Unfortunately, the KJV is a mistranslation – it should be
“Long live the King.”) - What do you think about overthrowing the government
on Sabbath? Does that seem to be a proper activity?
Especially for the religious leaders? - The new King Joash has been selected and Queen Athaliah
has been killed. Read 2 Chronicles 23:16-17. The nation
seems to have taken a strong turn towards the worship of
the true God. Does this make revolution on the Sabbath
acceptable? - A number of years ago a politically active fellow
that I knew asked me to attend the Republican caucus
on Sabbath. I told him, “no,” I teach my Bible class
that day and go to church. He told me that it was
appropriate to be involved in political activities on
Sabbath because I could help to elect pro-life public
officials. Needless to say, I was not a bit
convinced. What do you think? Does this little story
show me the error of my ways? - Joash and Jehoiada
- Read 2 Chronicles 24:1-3. What are the problems connected
with having a seven-year old in charge? - Was he really in charge? (No. Jehoiada was in
charge.) - What tells us that Jehoiada was in charge? (Instead
of v.2 saying Joash did what was right all the days
of his life, it says he did what was right all the
days of Jehoiada’s life. It also mentioned Jehoiada
picked out Joash’s wives.) - Read 2 Chronicles 24:4-6. Does a time come when Joash
takes charge? (It appears that this time did come.
However, when it came is not clear. According to 2 Kings
12:4-6, Joash had been King for 23 years when he raised
this issue for a second time. He would have been 30 years
old then.) - Read 2 Kings 12:6-8. Are the priests improperly handling
the money? (It appears they are not using the money to
repair the temple.) - What is the King’s solution to this problem?
- What does it mean when it says (v.8) the priests
agreed not to collect any more money and agreed not
to repair the temple? Is this a strike? (No. The
priests were not doing the job. As a result, they
could not collect any more money for repairing the
temple. In addition, they had to turn the work over
to someone else.) - Is there a lesson in this for us today in
dealing with church leaders? - What is the proper solution if church officials
are not doing their job? - Should the matter be turned over to people
who are competent in that area? - What about the matter of the money? Is
there a lesson here about giving money to
the church? - Read 2 Kings 12:9-10. What has Jehoiada made? (A
collection box. Matthew Henry says they never collected
money this way before. He suggests that the novelty of it
made it successful.) - How much time has been spent at your church to think
of novel ways to promote the gospel and take care of
the church? - Notice that both the royal secretary and the high
priest counted the money. Is this an important
practice for your church? (Yes. It is important to
maintain “honest” controls.) - We find that as a result of these reforms the temple was
completely repaired. - Read 2 Chronicles 24:15-16. Jehoiada dies at the ripe old
age of 130 years. What impact has he had on King Joash?
(It appears that he was Joash’s mentor. Because of his
influence the King and Judah obeyed God. At the same time,
after King Joash matured, he was pushing Jehoiada to do
the right thing by repairing the temple.) - Read 2 Chronicles 24:17-18. How could the man who insisted
on the temple being repaired, turn to the worship of false
gods after Jehoiada died? (The key is in verse 17 – Joash
listened to the officials. He was easily led.) - Read 2 Chronicles 24:20-22. Who ordered the death of the
son of Jehoiada? (Joash–the King who had been saved from
death by Jehoiada’s wife, who had been placed on the
throne through the efforts of Jehoiada, and who had been
mentored by Jehoiada. I agree with Zechariah’s final
words!) - Was Jehoiada a good man? (Yes.)
- Did God reward him with a long life because of his
faithfulness? - Was Zechariah, Jehoiada’s son, a good man? (Yes.)
- Did God reward him with a long life because of
his faithfulness? - How do you explain this?
- 2 Chronicles 24:25 reports that King Joash was severely
wounded in battle and that his own officials killed him
because he had murdered Zechariah. - Did he get justice?
- Friend, the story of King Joash teaches us the importance
of not just accepting the good advice of godly advisors,
but actually taking “ownership” of that advice. Our
influence is important. Will you determine to use it to
advance God’s work? - Next Week: The Rule of Hezekiah in Judah.
