Continuing now with Jehoshaphat and his lack of discernment concerning Ahab. Those things which separate us, if worthy of such, must continue to separate us if they have not been corrected. If the bridge be made of human dignity and truth, then the lie will only serve towards disaster. Do you return a woman to the husband that still beats her, a child to their abuser, no, and so the bridge is worthy of being torn down, and only an act of God upon the heart can repair it. Jehoshaphat responds well to correction from God, and we continue to see through Judah and the north, a pattern, that they embrace relationships that make them stink before God.
Jehoshaphat seems to measure the success of a plan by the reward of alliance, business, money, strength. I wonder if he thought this somehow different since the leader had changed, but God is merciful in correcting His children, and that while a man may choose his way, the Lord will direct his path. He destroys the business venture between the two, brings it to not, and if you are wise then this is mercy untold. The influence of the apostate north has been married into Judah, and it is destined for doom everywhere that God does not intervene.
Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat comes to power and looking around at his brother, at "better men" then himself, he decides to kill them all. He is the sacrificial union between the north and south, married to the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. This is a screaming letter of Elijah to the church in every age, that spirit of Jezebel, that voice of the emotions and feeling, that pretends at reason. This is the voice of the Moabites, instructed by Balaam to the tearing down of Israel from within. She is beautiful to behold, stately, confident and instructed in the ways of men, the wisdom of this world. This is the influence to Jehoram, and the kryptonite of every man, she is powerful and persuasive, but the end is death.
Athaliah murders her own relatives in order to destroy the line of David after the death of her son. she maintained power over the kingdom through influence over her husband, then her son, and now she will not soon give up that authority. She gets drunk on power, the blood of others, and is a vile, godless creature. So many model themselves after this manner in our age, but they would never see it.
A woman doth ride upon this beast that has lost its identity, but a priest has hidden away hope. He has protected the arm of the Lord, like the mother who wove a basket in Egypt, the angel who warned the Wise men, and the messenger who held back the knife of Abraham. Traitors, she screams, renting her clothes as if some great wrong, some injustice had been committed. It was my turn to rule, it's all mine, I paid my dues, and it has been me all along. My husband and my son were all steps for me to ascend, I have set up my own church, offering up the blood of every child that could contend, but you have tricked me. You have preserved life, held it back from my grasp, I hate you, that is out of my body, my relative, under my authority, I stole it fair and square. Take her outside, she does not deserve the honor of dying in here. What a lovely creature, but now Athaliah is gone and Joash reigns.
“There was a want of principle in Joash, and it is of that I want to warn all our friends. Do not, I pray you, be satisfied with the practice of piety without the principles of piety. It is not enough to have a correct creed; you must have a renewed heart. It is not sufficient to have an ornate ritual; you must have a holy life, and to be holy you must be renewed by the Holy Spirit. If this change is not wrought in you by the Holy Ghost, you who yield so readily to good will yield just as quickly to evil.” (Spurgeon)
Joash, unlike his father and grandfather, was not taught or led by Athaliah, and while this made a great difference, he was still led. When Jehoiadah died, Joash fell off, he needed a Godly leader in order to lead well, for it was not always in his own heart. In the end, he would not humble himself before the prophet, the son of the Jehoiadah, Jehoiadah who spared his life. He killed the priest's son.
It will cost you everything you think you have here, your wife, your children, your kingdom, your money, your glory and honor amongst those other thieves. But now lay that thread, that piece of your hair, that single strand, across the line of eternity, now back up to the edge of the universe and with your naked eyes, look back to where you left that thread, "well I think it was that way, but I'm not sure, I can't see it." At my work they will make fun of me, who cares, you should love them more than their approval. I stand to lose a lot of money if I do what's right now, who cares, what if you had all the money in the world and lived a hundred years here, how would that measure against eternity?
Above is a part of the sadness of Amaziah, and all who start at a form of Godliness but deny the power thereof. He honors a statute of the Scriptures which brings him to behave differently then those around him, he does not kill his enemy's children though that is the culture. Here he steps away from the culture, and at first he listens to the prophet even at great personal cost, he does what is right in God's eyes, and it creates enmity between him and Israel, but God gives him the battle without the help of those who have defiled the worship of God. But then he falters, he takes the idols of the defeated, his heart is shown to be incomplete, and his pride lifts up even against the words that would save him. He tells the prophet to leave or suffer the consequences. He is now strong in his own mind and might, and so he appeals to the hope that God is still against Israel, but God is against sin, and he has become that himself, an idolater, so when he goes up against them he is like the bull before the cedar. Pride is the equivalent of gouging your own eyes out and smashing your ear drums.
Uzziah starts well, but tries to lift himself up as a priest, forsaking the command of God, not trying to know God's design. He finds himself in the end unclean, outside the gate.
It is said of Jotham, that he ordered his ways before the Lord, oh that my epitaph could remain so sweet and short, "He honored God."
Hezekiah gave back the years that his father had taken away, restored the true religion of the temple, that which the government of his father had locked away. The doors had been shut to the people and rather than reminding men that God is above all, those that govern will often remove such light so that they are all that remains. The dead leading the dying, but Hezekiah recognizes that this has led to much grief, a sickly priesthood and a disobedient nation. We suffer at our own hands so many times, modeling little images of ourselves and heroes, pride taking us too close to the sun, finding our wax melting and our wings falling apart. Hezekiah comes back to the Passover, late but not shut out, humbly begging for God's grace, and acknowledging the foundation that is the family.
