2 Kings 11-12 "When God's Wrath and God's Promise Meet" 2 Kings 11 starts off with a bizarre episode of a grandmother killing all her descendants. We've heard in recent years of mothers killing their children, or children killing their parents, but have you ever heard of a grandmother killing all her grandchildren? What is going on? Athaliah guarantees that she will have no legacy. All she cares about is what happens in her own lifetime. But all this takes place to fulfill the word of the LORD. As we have seen, the whole narrative of the book of Kings has three parts: the story of the house of David, the story of the northern kingdom, and the story of the house of Omri and Ahab. And each of these three stories follow the same basic pattern: the rise of the kingdom, the building of its temple, the sin of its rulers, the destruction of its temple, and the destruction of the dynasty. We have now reached the end of the house of Omri. Jehu has slaughtered everyone belonging to Omri and Ahab in the northern kingdom. And now in chapters 11-12 we hear about how the curse of Ahab affects the house of David. Because Joram, the son of Jehoshaphat, married Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, thereby bringing the house of David under the curse of Ahab. And Athaliah is very much the daughter of her mother the daughter of Jezebel is the bane of kings. All kings who heed Jezebel will die something you should remember! Because the books of Kings and of Revelation use Jezebel as a reminder that all who fall prey to her schemes will die. 1. Athaliah and the Death of the House of Ahab (11:1-21) Chapter 11 parallels the story of Jehu in 2 Kings 9-10. In both a royal house is slaughtered. In both a queen is killed (Jezebel and Athaliah). In both a temple of Baal is destroyed. In both someone cries "treason!" And of course, in the death of Athaliah we have the death of the last member of the house of Ahab (except one!). And yet it is precisely that one exception that shows us how the story of the house of David will be different from the story of the northern kingdom (or the story of the house of Ahab). That one exception Joash is the seed of David. When God's wrath and God's promise meet, God's promise triumphs. Mercy triumphs over judgment. a. A Tale of Two Mothers (11:1-3) In verses 1-3 of chapter 11 we hear a tale of two mothers: Athaliah and Jehosheba. Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family. (11:1) It seems clear that Athaliah wanted to rid herself of any rival claimant to the throne. As the queen mother, Athaliah had great power (Remember how influential Bathsheba was in the days of Solomon), but Athaliah was not content to be the power behind the throne. She wanted the throne for herself even if that would mean that her line would end with her death. Such is blinding power of sin! Athaliah commits generational suicide destroying her own progeny for the sake of temporary political power. Sin is suicidal. It is self-destructive. It always destroys (in the end) the very thing that it seeks. But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him away from the king's sons who were being put to death, and she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not put to death. (11:2) We know that Jehosheba is the daughter of King Joram. But is she the daughter of Athaliah? After all, in those days, the kings were usually polygamists, and so it is likely that Joram had several wives and concubines. And since Athaliah (and her soldiers) appear not to have known how many sons the king had (since one escaped them), this would again suggest that Joram had several wives. But I think the text suggests that we see Jehosheba as a daughter of Athaliah. Because she is not only called the daughter of King Joram, but she is also called the sister of Ahaziah. And back in Samuel, when we heard about the rape of Tamar, she is described as "the sister of Absalom." And since Athaliah is the queen mother, that means that her son (Ahaziah) is king, and if Jehosheba is Ahaziah's full sister, then she is Athaliah's daughter. But either way, she is a daughter of Joram a sister of the recently deceased king but she has more concern for her nephew than her mother does. And even as Athaliah was disloyal to her family, slaughtering them to preserve her own power, so also Jehosheba is disloyal to her family! She rebels against her mother, refusing to submit to a mother who was hostile to the Lord. And he remained with her six years, hidden in the house of the LORD, while Athaliah reigned over the land. What a fitting picture! The seed of David is hidden in the temple that the son of David had built. But for six horrible years, the throne of Judah is occupied by a usurper. Has David's lamp gone out? Has Jezebel triumphed? Has Baal defeated Yahweh? It may well have been at a time like this that Psalms 89 or 132 was composed. What is going to happen to the house of David? Only a handful of priests would have known that one remained from David's line. The rest of Judah would have wondered if God's promises had been overthrown! Has the Word of God failed? You see, that is why Jehosheba is so important. Even her name "Yahweh swears" is significant! Like many holy women before her, she uses deceit and subterfuge to protect the Promised Seed. As Jesus said we may have to do, she hated her own mother for the sake of the Christ. b. The Triumph of the LORD's Anointed (11:4-21) So as long as Joash was in the king's house, his life was in danger, but when he came to the temple he was safe! Surely Joash could say, "and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever!" But in the seventh year Jehoida sent... As we've seen, the number 8 is the number of the new creation, so this is not a new creation. The Sabbath is a reminder of what God has done in the past whether the creation (as in Exodus 20) or the deliverance from Egypt (as in Dt 5). So the seventh-year restoration of the monarchy is not a new creation it is simply a restoration of the house of David. And indeed, this is reinforced by the fact that the anointing of the King takes place on a Sabbath! Perhaps part of the reason for doing it on the Sabbath is because it would be easy to disguise the comings and goings of the anointing with the comings and goings of the regular Sabbath-worship at the temple. But also it is fitting that the Son of David enter his rest on the Sabbath, because Joash is not the final Son of David. The final Son of David will enter his rest on the eighth day the first day of the new creation. But in the days of Joash and Jehoiada that day had not yet come. And so Jehoiada carefully orchestrates the anointing of King Joash. He gave the captains the spears and shields that had been King David's; he arranged the ceremony to protect Joash from any assassination attempt; and then he brought out the king's son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony. (11:12) The testimony would likely be a copy of the Law of Moses, which Deuteronomy said that the king should study daily. And they proclaimed him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, 'Long live the king!' (11:12) This reminds us of the anointing of Solomon when David ordered Solomon to be anointed in place of his brother, Adonijah. But when Athaliah hears this, she rushed out to see what was happening. And seeing the king standing by the pillar, and all the rejoicing of the people, she tore her clothes and cried, "TREASON!" All her plots and plans have been foiled. And she meets an ignominious end as her mother Jezebel was trampled by horses, even so, she is killed by the horses' entrance. So Athaliah is the last of the house of Ahab to die. And with her death, the worship of Baal is stamped out of Judah as well. The covenant is renewed: Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and the people, that they should be the LORD's people, and also between the king and the people. Why does Jehoida make a covenant between the LORD, the king and the people? Because the covenant was broken. Judah had turned away from the LORD and worshiped Baal, following in the ways of Ahab and Jezebel. When the old covenant is broken, there is need for a new covenant. Of course the content of the covenant is the same: that they should be the LORD's people. But now that they have covenanted to be the LORD's people, they must eliminate all rival gods. And so the people of the land went to the house of Baal and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest posted watchmen over the house of the LORD. Baal is overthrown the worship of Yahweh is restored, and so the king took his seat on the throne of the kings. Verse 20 brings to fulfillment the Sabbath-theme of the chapter: So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been put to death with the sword at the king's house. There is joy and rest and peace, now that Athaliah is gone. A sabbath-rest comes to the people of God, because the seed of Jezebel is no more. And notice where she was killed: The king's house the very house where she had slaughtered the royal family is the place where Athaliah meets her end. And, quite frankly, she should have seen it coming! What had happened to her parents? Ahab and Jezebel had plotted the murder of Naboth, and everything seemed to be going so well until Jehu arose and paid them back for their sin. Of course, there was no prophet to warn Athaliah, like Elijah warned Ahab. But then again, Athaliah should have learned from her parents! The LORD sees in secret. And he works in secret. While Athaliah reigned secure, never fearing for her throne, the LORD was plotting in secret against her, and her kingdom fell in a moment when the anger of the LORD arose. You may think that you have covered your tracks. You may think that your sins are secret. But the LORD who sees in secret, will reveal all things openly at the final day and as 2 Kings 11 warns it may come sooner than that! 2. Joash and the Resurrection of the House of David (12:1-21) For six years, under the reign of Athaliah, the house of David had been buried and forgotten. But now in the accession of Joash to the throne, the house of David is raised from the dead. But as with all resurrections until the resurrection of Jesus, the resurrection of the house of David in the days of Joash is temporary-- indeed, it is fleeting. a. The Reign of Joash (12:1-3) Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him. He is the new Solomon not only in how he was crowned, but also in how he repairs the temple of Solomon. But while Solomon prayed for God to hear the prayers made toward this house, when Joash is threatened, he does not pray, but rather takes the gold from the LORD's house and buys peace. But the high places continued. In that way verses 2-3 of chapter 12 express the ambivalence of the reign of Jehoash. He begins well, but at the end of his life he loots the very temple that he repaired. The blood of Ahab his great-grandfather still flows in his veins. b. The Silver Age of Joash (12:4-16) But in verses 4-16, we see how Jehoash was a good king. He called for a collection of moneys to be used for the priests to repair the temple, but then 23 years later, discovers that nothing has been done! It is not clear from Jehoiada's answer why this was. It appears that there was some sort of mismanagement of funds and probably not a matter of mere incompetence. 23 years of "disappearing" money is not a matter of poor accounting practices! The priests are corrupt. Maybe Jehoiada, the high priest, was a good and faithful man, but like Eli at the beginning of Samuel he was unable to maintain order among the priests. So Jehoiada took a chest and bored a hole in the lid and set it beside the altar. By using a chest with a small hole, they can avoid the pilfering priests. And whenever the chest filled up, the king's secretary and the high priest (two trusted men), bagged and counted the money, and then gave it to the workmen. This system worked much better, because the workmen dealt honestly. In other words, you could see from the results that the work was getting done! But verse 13 indicates that Joash's repairs were on a small scale. There was not enough money given to make basins of silver, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, or any vessels of gold, or of silver. There was only enough money to repair the structure of the temple. The word "money" (literally, "silver") appears 14 times in this chapter. Solomon's temple was filled with gold. Joash's repairs are all in silver. So while Joash is a good and faithful king, who does his best with what he has, he falls short of restoring the golden age of Solomon. c. The Tarnishing of the Silver Age (12:17-18) But even Joash's silver age is tarnished. At that time Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath and took it. But when Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem, Jehoash king of Judah took all the sacred gifts that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah his fathers, the kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own sacred gifts, and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and of the king's house, and sent these to Hazael king of Syria. Then Hazael went away from Jerusalem. Elisha had prophesied that Hazael would be a troublemaker for the people of God and Elijah had been told that Hazael was to be anointed as king over Syria, in order to bring judgment on the house of Ahab. And Joash is the last of that house the house of Omri. And he responds to the coming of Hazael in typical Omride fashion. He does not inquire of the LORD, but instead plunders the house of the LORD, and sends Hazael all the gold in Jerusalem. This foreshadows the end of the house of David. Joash plunders the house of the LORD in order to avoid Hazael, but when Nebuchadnezzar comes to Jerusalem, he will plunder the house of the LORD, and leave Jerusalem barren and empty. Joash is a good king, the son of David, the LORD's anointed. But he is also a son of Ahab. (2 Chronicles 24 shows how Joash truly demonstrates that he is a son of Ahab, as he kills Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, and persecutes the prophets even as Ahab had done) d. The Death of Joash (12:19-21) And Joash ends his days very much like the house of Ahab. His servants struck Joash down in the house of Millo, on the way that goes down to Silla. It was Jozacar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, who struck him down, so that he died. Like his father, Ahaziah, and his great-uncle Joram, he is assassinated by his servants. But the blood of Ahab continues to flow in the veins of his descendants. How can the blessing of David come to its fruition, so long as the curse of Ahab remains upon the sons of David? It's the same question that we get from the Pentateuch: how can the blessing of Abraham come to fruition, so long as the curse of the Law remains on the children of Israel? What happens when God's curse and God's promise meet? Yes, mercy triumphs over judgment. But God's curse is never fully satisfied until the last son of David (and the last son of Ahab) takes that curse upon himself. Because Jesus is the last heir of the house of Ahab. When God's curse and God's promise meet, you may be certain that God's promise will triumph even if it looks like the Son of David has been overthrown, buried in the depths of the earth, rest assured that God's purpose is to raise his people from the dead, and give them life.