Introduction
Last week’s chapter was about Joash who became king of the southern kingdom of Judah. In case you’ve forgotten, let me remind you that after the death of Solomon, the one kingdom of Israel was divided into two: there’s the northern kingdom which continued to be known as Israel; and there’s the smaller, southern kingdom of Judah. And 1 and 2 Kings have been telling us about the kings in both kingdoms.
Last week’s chapter was about the king in the south. In this week’s chapter, we’re moving across the border once again into the north and our narrator is telling us about the reigns of Jehoahaz and Jehoash.
Both of them were descended from Jehu. Do you remember Jehu? Elisha sent a prophet to anoint Jehu king of the northern kingdom of Israel. And after he was made king, he went immediately and killed Joram, his predecessor, and Ahaziah, who was the king of Judah at the time. Both of them were wicked kings and the Lord was using Jehu to cleanse the kingdoms of their wicked influence. And after everything he did, the Lord said to Jehu:
Because you have done well in accomplishing what is right in my eyes … your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.
So, because he had done well, God was going to ensure that one of his descendants would sit on the throne for four generations after him. And the Lord always keeps his word, doesn’t he? He always keeps his promises. And so, after Jehu died, his son Jehoahaz succeeded him. That’s one generation. And after he died, his son Jehoash succeeded him. That’s two generations. And after he died, his son Jeroboam succeeded him. That’s three generations. And after he died, his son Zechariah succeeded him. That’s four generations. The Lord always keeps his word. And that means we should always cling to God’s promises and rely on the Lord to do all that he has promised us. And he has promised to be our God and to forgive our sins for the sake of Christ and to take care of us and to bring us into his presence in the new heavens and earth where we will have perfect peace and rest forever. God always does what he says he will do.
Our narrator tells us about Jehoahaz in verses 1 to 9 and then he tells us about Jehoash in verses 10 to 25. But as well as telling us about Jehoash’s reign, he also tells us about the death of Elisha the prophet. But we begin with Jehoahaz.
Verses 1 to 9
And our narrator follows his usual pattern, which is to tell us some basic facts about the new king before giving us an assessment of his reign. Then he tells us about one event from the king’s reign. And finally, he tells us about the king’s death. As I’ve said before, he’s not giving us a comprehensive record of each king’s life. He’s not recording every detail. He’s being very selective in what he tells us about each king.
And so, he tells us that Jehoahaz became king in the twenty-third year of Joash’s reign in the south. And he reigned for seventeen years. And here’s the assessment of his reign: he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. And he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord because he followed the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat. In case you’ve forgotten — and it’s difficult to keep track of all these kings — Jeroboam became king of the northern kingdom of Israel after Solomon’s death. And he was the one who made the two golden calves which he set up in the north and south of his kingdom and which he wanted his people to worship. You can read about it in 1 Kings 12. The point is that he was an idolater and he encouraged the people of Israel to worship idols instead of the one true and living God. The Lord said about Jeroboam: that he made other gods for himself and he cast the Lord behind his back; and therefore he provoked the Lord to anger. And we can understand why the Lord was angry, because it was as if Jeroboam threw the Lord away. He turned his back on the Lord and went after these false gods which are nothing and can do nothing. That’s the sin of Jeroboam. And our narrator is telling us that Jehoahaz followed his sins. In other words, Jehoahaz was an idolater too.
And since he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord by following the sins of Jeroboam, the Lord’s anger burned against Israel. And because the Lord’s anger burned against them, he let the king of Aram overpower Israel. It says in verse 3 that for a long time, the Lord kept them under the power of Hazael and his son, Ben-Hadad.
So, that’s the narrator’s assessment of Jehoahaz’s reign. The one event he records is how the king sought the Lord’s favour. Do you see that in verse 4? And the Lord listened to him, because he saw how the king of Aram was oppressing Israel. And the Lord provided a deliverer for Israel. That is to say, the Lord provided them with a saviour. And this recalls the book of Judges, which tells us how God’s people used to sin against him. And therefore the Lord let the Philistines and other enemy nations oppress them for a time. And then the people would cry out to the Lord for help. And the Lord would send them a judge, or a saviour, to save them from their enemies. That same pattern was repeated throughout the time of the judges. And what we read here is just like that. The king and the people turned from the Lord and worshipped idols. God handed them over to their enemies to punish them. Then they called out to the Lord for help. And the Lord, who is gracious and merciful, heard their cries and saved them. This speaks to us of God’s grace and mercy, because they did not deserve God’s help. They had turned away from God. They had rejected him. Like Jeroboam before them, they had gone after other gods. But when they cried to the Lord for help, he responded by sending them a saviour.
We don’t know who the saviour was. Some of the commentators think he’s referring to Elisha. Some think he’s referring to a foreign king. Some think he’s referring to someone else. But the fact is that we don’t know, because the text doesn’t tell us. But the identity of the saviour doesn’t really matter. The point is that God heard them and had mercy on them and saved them.
And they needed a saviour, because look at the little note which the narrator provides in verse 7 where he tells us how Israel’s army was reduced to fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand — or is it ten units of — foot soldiers. Where did the rest of their army go? The narrator tells us that the king of Aram destroyed the rest and he made them like dust.
So, they couldn’t save themselves because their army was so small. But the Lord saved them. And as a result, the Israelites lived in their own homes as they had before. Maybe, because the people of Aram were attacking them, they had to hide in caves. But because the Lord saved them, they could return to their homes and live in peace.
And you’d think they’d be grateful, don’t you? You’d think they’d throw away their false gods and that they’d return to the Lord with all of their heart. You’d think they’d live a life of grateful obedience to God. But no. Take a look at verse 6 where it says that they did not turn away from the sins of the house of Jeroboam. They continued in them. And as well as that, the Asherah pole remained standing in Samaria. Asherah was a false god and this kind of pole was used in pagan worship in those days.
Doesn’t this teach us something about the natural hardness of the human heart? By nature, by birth, our hearts are as hard as flint. By nature, by birth, we are unable to respond as we should to God’s kindness to us. And God is kind to all of us. Every day he fills our lives with good things to enjoy. Every day he helps us in countless ways by rescuing us and protecting us from trouble and disaster. Think of all those people around the world who narrowly avoid an accident every day. And they think to themselves, ‘That was a lucky escape!’ But it wasn’t luck; it was the Lord, acting on their behalf. And most of all God sent his Only-Begotten Son to be our Saviour and to deliver us from our sin and misery in this world and to give us eternal life in the new and better world to come. He saw how we were oppressed, not by the Arameans, but by sin and Satan and death. By sin, because sin bosses us around and makes us do what is evil. And by Satan, because he too tempts us to do what’s wrong and he blinds our minds to keep us from seeing God’s glory. And by death, because death claims more and more victims every day and none of us is able to escape it. God saw how we were oppressed, and he graciously and freely sent a Saviour to rescue us.
But since our hearts are hard by nature, by birth, then none of us would respond as we should to God’s kindness. And the only reason that you and I are here in church today is because God graciously and freely took away our hard heart and he gave us a new heart to enable us to trust in the Saviour for forgiveness. He gave us a thankful heart so that we now want to praise the Lord and give thanks to him for his kindness. And he gave us an obedient heart so that we want to live a life of grateful obedience.
If it were not for the Lord’s kindness to us, we would all be like Jehoahaz and the people of Israel, who did not respond to God’s kindness to them, but who continued in their sin. We would have been just like them. And so, here’s another reason for us to give thanks to God. Here’s another reason for us to live a life of grateful obedience. Not only does he fill our life with good things, not only does he take care of us, not only did he send his Son to be our Saviour, but he also sent his Spirit into our lives to replace our hard heart with a new heart so that we’re able to trust in his Son for forgiveness and give thanks to God for his kindness and to live a life of grateful obedience. And, of course, it’s God’s will for you to live a life of grateful obedience. Instead of living a self-centred life, we’re to live for God and for his glory.
And our narrator rounds off his record of Jehoahaz’s life by telling us that the other events of his reign are written in the book of the annals. And he rested with his fathers and was buried. And his son succeeded him.
Verses 10 to 13
The narrator’s record of Jehoash’s reign is very brief. It’s really only four verses. He tells us that Jehoash became king in the thirty-seventh year of Joash’s reign in Judah. And he reigned for sixteen years. And he too did evil in the eyes of the Lord and he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam. And so, he too was an idolater.
And then the narrator goes straight into the conclusion: the other events of his reign are written in the book of the annals and he rested with his fathers and his son succeeded him.
Verses 14 to 25
Why such a brief record of this king? It’s because the narrator has something more important to tell us. He wants to tell us about the death of Elisha and about the events surrounding his death which took place during the reign of Jehoash.
So, we read in verse 14 that Elisha was suffering from an illness which would eventually kill him. And Jehoash went down to see him and to weep over him. The king cried, ‘My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!’ If those words ring a bell, it’s because Elisha himself said them about Elijah whenever Elijah was taken up to heaven. When we studied that story, I said that by describing Elijah as Israel’s chariots and horses, Elisha saying that Elijah was Israel’s defence. Just as a king might use chariots and horses to defend the people from their enemies, so Elijah was Israel’s defence against unbelief and sin, and therefore against trouble, because he was the one who declared the word of the Lord and showed them what to do. And here’s the king saying the same thing about Elisha. He’s Israel’s defence, but he’s being taken from them through illness.
And that’s when Elisha tells the king to get a bow and some arrows. And when the king had taken hold of the bow, Elisha put his own hands on the king’s hands. Do you see that in verse 16? And then he told the king to open the east window and to shoot an arrow out of it. And Elisha then said: ‘The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!’
It seems that Elisha made the king fire an arrow out of the window in order to symbolise for him how the Lord will help the king overcome the king of Aram. Just as Elisha held the king’s hand and helped him fire the arrow, so the Lord will help the king to defeat Aram. And so, Elisha then declared, ‘You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.’
But Elisha is not finished. He then tells the king to take the arrows and to strike the ground with them. It’s not clear, but presumably he was to fire the arrows into the ground. And the king struck the ground three times. And then he stopped. And Elisha suddenly became angry. That’s in verse 19. Why did you stop? You should have kept going! You should have struck the ground five or six times instead of only three times. And Elisha explained that if he had struck the ground five or six times, then he would have destroyed Aram completely. But since he only struck the ground three times, he will only defeat Aram three times and not completely.
Some of the commentators think that the king should have known what Elisha was doing and that he should have known that hitting the ground was a kind of test of his faith. I’m not so sure. But in any case, the outcome was just as Elisha had said. And so, look with me now at verses 22 to 25 where it says the Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel throughout the reign of Jehoahaz, the previous king. But the Lord was gracious to them and he had compassion on them and he showed concern for them. Why was the Lord gracious to them when they were idolaters who did not worship the Lord? Why didn’t God destroy them? Here’s the answer in verse 23: it was because of God’s covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Because of that covenant, or that promise, God was unwilling to destroy the Israelites or to banish them from his presence. In other words, he was patient with them and he was prepared to put up with them because of the covenant-promise which he made with their forefathers.
And do you remember God’s covenant with them? He promised them that he would make Abraham and his descendants into a mighty nation; and that he would give them the Promised Land to live in, where they would enjoy God’s presence in their midst. And since God promised them that, then he was unwilling to destroy them completely and he kept them living in the Promised Land, where God dwelt among them in the temple in Jerusalem. God had bound himself with a promise to keep them as his people.
And so, when Hazael the king of Aram died and his son Ben-Hadad succeeded him, God helped Jehoash to recover some of the towns of Israel which Hazael had taken from them. In other words, God helped them to keep hold of the Promised Land. And just as Elisha had said, Jehoash was able to defeat Aram three times.
And when we sin against the Lord, and when we fall short of doing his will, and when we go astray, why is it that the Lord is prepared to put up with us and our sins? Why doesn’t he destroy us completely? Why doesn’t he get rid of us? It’s because of God’s covenant with us and with all of his people. God has bound himself to us with a promise to be our God and to forgive us our sins for the sake of Christ, who gave up his life to pay for all that we have done wrong. God has bound himself with a promise to remember our sins no more. And so, because of God’s covenant with us, because of his promise to us in Christ Jesus, he will not hold our sins against us. And so, when we go to him in prayer, and ask him to forgive us for the sake of Christ, he will do what he has promised and he will wash away our guilt and he will cleanse us from every stain and he will continue to love us and to keep us and to help us until that day when he brings us into his presence, where we will dwell with him forever and forever in glory.
If it were not for God’s covenant-promise, sealed in the blood of Christ who died for us, there would be no hope for any of us, because all of us are sinners and we sin against the Lord every day. Every day we do what is evil in his eyes and we doubt his love and his goodness and we disobey his commandments and we break his laws and we fall short of doing his will. Every day we disobey him. And we deserve to be condemned and sent out of his presence forever. But because of his covenant-promise to us, sealed in the blood of Christ who died for us, he does not hold our sins against us, but instead he forgives us and he promises to remember them no more.
And so, our salvation is due to God. It’s due to him, because he’s the one who sent his Son to be our Saviour and to give up his life for us. And he’s the one who promises to remember our sins no more. And he’s the one who promises us eternal life in his presence.
And as a foretaste of that, we have the very strange story which is recorded for us in verses 20 and 21. Elisha died and was buried. In those days, people were buried in tombs and not in graves. And then we read about these Moabite raiders who used to raid the country every spring. And one day, when a group of Israelites were burying a man, they saw a band of these Moabite raiders, coming towards them. In their alarm, they threw the body of the dead man into Elisha’s tomb. Presumably it was the closest one to them and they wanted to get away quickly. And when the body of the dead man touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.
It’s a strange story, isn’t it? A dead man is brought back to life when his body touched the bones of Elisha. It’s very strange. Of course, the power to revive the dead man was not in Elisha. His bones were not magical. No, the power to revive the dead man came from the Lord. So, God worked powerfully through Elisha throughout his life on earth. And it turns out that the Lord was prepared to work powerfully through Elisha even after Elisha’s death.
And reviving this dead man and bringing him back to life foreshadows what God will do to all of us when Christ comes again. When Christ comes again, everyone who has died will be raised to life. The righteous and the unrighteous. Those who trusted in Christ in this life and those who did not trust in Christ in this life. All will be raised from the dead. And therefore all will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of their life. And those who did not believe will be sent away to be punished forever in body and soul for all that they have done wrong. But those who believed in Christ will be brought into the presence of God to enjoy perfect peace and rest forever. They do not deserve perfect peace and rest, because they were sinners who sinned against God continually throughout their life. But because of God’s covenant-promise, sealed in the blood of Christ, God will not hold our sins against us, so long as we’re trusting in Christ, but he’ll pardon us and he’ll bring us into his presence to be with him forever.
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