2 Chronicles 24:15-27
15 But Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died; he was one hundred and thirty years old when he died. 16 And they buried him in the City of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and His house.
17 Now after the death of Jehoiada the leaders of Judah came and bowed down to the king. And the king listened to them. 18 Therefore they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served wooden images and idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of their trespass. 19 Yet He sent prophets to them, to bring them back to the LORD; and they testified against them, but they would not listen.
20 Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood above the people, and said to them, "Thus says God: Why do you transgress the commandments of the LORD, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, He also has forsaken you.'" 21 So they conspired against him, and at the command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the LORD. 22 Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son; and as he died, he said, "The LORD look on it, and repay!"
23 So it happened in the spring of the year that the army of Syria came up against him; and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the leaders of the people from among the people, and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus. 24 For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men; but the LORD delivered a very great army into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash. 25 And when they had withdrawn from him (for they left him severely wounded), his own servants conspired against him because of the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and killed him on his bed. So he died. And they buried him in the City of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.
26 These are the ones who conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabitess. 27 Now concerning his sons, and the many oracles about him, and the repairing of the house of God, indeed they are written in the annals of the book of the kings. Then Amaziah his son reigned in his place.
The once good king Joash had the priest Jehoiada as mentor and guide, a godly influencer until he died. Then the king listened to the ungodly leaders among Judah and led him away from the LORD to serve self and idols instead. Many prophets were sent to warn Joash, but he refused to listen and repent from his evil ways of the rebellion of breaking the first commandment. He did not have ears to hear. Finally, Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest confronted Joash, and he was murdered by stoning for the message of God leaving the king because he had left Him. As Matthew 23:35 tells us, the prophet was murdered between the temple and the altar in front of the house of the LORD where He should have been worshiped and sacrifices should have been made to Him for such sin. As Zechariah the mouthpiece of God died, he prayed for God to take notice of the murder and apostasy, and to enact vengeance (Revelation 6:10) on that rebellion against the only God, the one to whom worship is due. The LORD answered with the Syrian army destroying the leaders who led Joash into apostasy with a much smaller army, for the LORD had forsaken them for following a sinful leader contrary to God’s written and spoken word calling for righteousness and repentance for reconciliation. They did not prosper because they rejected Him and His word, and the abject apostasy resulted in ruin. In the end, Joash was simply buried apart from the other kings and his son Amaziah took to the throne. The lesson for us is to find a spiritual mentor to come alongside us for discipleship, but not to fall away and not listen to God’s word if that one is no longer with us; we all are accountable to God and His word foremost, and are to live accordingly to avoid even the edges of apostasy in serving our self or other idols in place of the Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father by the enabling and guidance of His Spirit living within us. Remember the examples of those who followed bad examples (1 Corinthians 10:11) and follow good examples and according to His word (1 Corinthians 11:1, 2 Timothy 3:16-17) written and lived out when Emmanuel walked among us and imitated by other faithful ones who have gone before us. May we not follow bad examples of apostasy, but good examples of faithfulness, righteousness, and humility, those running the race to the goal of the upward call of God in Christ (Philippians 3:13-14, 17-18). May we follow Christ and imitate those who imitate Him according to His word. Amen!
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