Chapter 362 of 1163

2 Chronicles 24

Joash did many fine things, but he was a “leaner.” As long as godly Jehoiada was on the scene, the king obeyed the Lord, and the temple prospered. But after the high priest died, the king began listening to other counselors; soon he led the nation into sin.

When you truly obey God’s Word, you do it regardless of the messenger. If you lean on others and fail to develop spiritual depth, your spiritual life will be gone when those people are gone. Joash would not listen to the prophets and he even killed one of them (vv. 19–21). God abandoned the people, the army was defeated (v. 24; see also Deut. 32:30), and the king was assassinated.

The godly priest was buried with the kings (v. 16), but the ungodly king was not (v. 25). Joash was untrue to his friends and treated them like enemies (Prov. 27:6, 10, 17). He refused to listen to God and became another example of a man who made a good beginning but came to a tragic ending. Henry Ford commented, “My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.”.

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