2 KINGS 12
Read 2 Kings 12:1-21
In the last chapter we read the heart-warming story of how the infant Joash was rescued from the murderous intent of Queen Athaliah and saved to continue God’s promise of there always being a descendant of David on the throne. Now we read about Joash’s life and reign; and it is a tale of unfulfilled promise.
We are told that he was a good king; he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Except that he did not remove the high places. These were the shrines established by the likes of Ahab and other bad kings to worship gods other than the one true God. Joash may have had his heart in the right place and worshipped God, but he allowed the false worship of idols to continue.
Then there was the temple, the centre of worship and the symbol of God’s presence among his people. It had evidently fallen into disrepair over the years and Joash determined to repair it to the glory of God. He instructed the priests, the guardians of the temple, to use the offerings given to them to carry out the repairs to the temple. But nothing actually happened. There is no suggestion that the priests were corrupt, but they just never quite got round to doing anything about repairing the temple. King Joash, obviously frustrated by this inaction (we don’t know when he had his idea for this building project but this is now twenty-three years after he had become king (v6)), decided to bypass the priesthood. He put the building project fund into the hands of the craftsmen, who were honest (v15) and they got on with the job.
All well and good; the temple exterior was refurbished, but the interior was about to be emptied. The King of Aram (modern day Syria) was threatening warfare and invasion. Rather than be drawn into a costly war that he might lose, Joash bought off the King of Aram with a huge bribe consisting of all the holy items of the temple and all the gold in the temple treasury. Joash now had a beautifully restored temple with nothing in it!
The writer of 2 Kings makes no comment, he just detailed what happened. But there is a sense of disappointment. Joash was a good man in his eyes, but he didn’t quite come through with what was needed. The passage illustrates that the church is a difficult ship to turn around. Leaders may have good intentions but may be thwarted by the lack of enthusiasm of the people to carry out their plans (like the priesthood in this passage) or circumstances from outside (like the Aramean threat here) or their own lack of full commitment (Joash not dealing with idolatry). They may, like Joash, have good intentions, but we all know the saying, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”.