4 Then in the seventh year, Jehoiada sent for the commanders of hundreds, the Carites, and the guards, and had them brought into the house of the LORD. There he made a covenant with them and put them under oath.
He showed them the king’s son 5 and commanded them, “This is what you are to do: A third of you who come on duty on the Sabbath shall guard the royal palace, 6 a third shall be at the gate of Sur, and a third at the gate behind the guards. You are to take turns guarding the temple— 7 the two divisions that would go off duty on the Sabbath are to guard the house of the LORD for the king. 8 You must surround the king with weapons in hand, and anyone who approaches the ranks must be put to death. You must stay close to the king wherever he goes.”
9 So the commanders of hundreds did everything that Jehoiada the priest had ordered. Each of them took his men—those coming on duty on the Sabbath and those going off duty—and came to Jehoiada the priest. 10 Then the priest gave to the commanders of hundreds the spears and shields of King David from the house of the LORD. 11 And the guards stood with weapons in hand surrounding the king by the altar and the temple, from the south side to the north side of the temple.
12 Then Jehoiada brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, presented him with the Testimony, and proclaimed him king. They anointed him, and the people clapped their hands and declared, “Long live the king!”
REFLECTIONS
Written by Stephen Shead
I wonder if anyone has ever made a movie of this? It reads like a classic action script … except there’s not much by way of character introduction. So I did a bit of research into who these people were.
Remember from yesterday, Ahaziah the king of Judah had been killed, and his mother – the Baal-worshipping Athaliah from the northern kingdom – had seized power and was trying to murder all the royal heirs of David’s line. But Ahaziah’s baby son Joash had been taken into hiding by a woman called Jehosheba. And today, a priest called Jehoiada assembles a heavily-armed commando unit to take young Joash into the temple so that he could be anointed as the new, true king.
So who are these people? Jehosheba was Athaliah’s daughter (and the dead king’s brother and little Joash’s aunt), and 1 Chronicles tells us Jehoiada the priest was Jehosheba’s husband.
That might seem a small detail, but it helped me to appreciate their courage – and with what’s coming up later in 2 Kings, it’s good to know there were leaders of courage! Not only was what they were doing highly dangerous, they were leading an armed rebellion against their own mother / mother-in-law. I assume they did it because they were so committed to keeping Judah faithful to worshiping the Lord alone, and they wanted God’s chosen king, the descendant of David, to be on the throne.
It’s not easy to go against your family because of Jesus – especially respected elders in your family. But today is a good reminder that faithfully worshiping God by allowing his Son Jesus to be on the throne of your life is always the right (and courageous) decision.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stephen is our senior minister.