Yet He sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the Lord.
Judah’s apostasy
I. Prophetic denunciation of apostasy resented.
II. Zechariah’s death was parallel with that of St. Stephen.
1. His offence was the denunciation of the sin of the leaders of Judah (Acts 7:51-53).
2. Stoned as a blasphemer.
III. Contrast in the spirit of Judaism and Christianity--
1. Zechariah’s last words: “The Lord look on it and requite it.”
2. Stephen’s: “Lord lay not this sin to their charge.”
IV. Reflections.
1. The value of a wise and true friend. Jehoiada’s influence on Joash.
2. The necessity of a moral reformation as well as a political to secure permanent results in religious changes. The reformation under Joash was merely outward conformity.
V. The certainty that a faithful ministry implies the unpopularity of those who exercise it.
1. All the prophets suffered under Judaism (Matthew 23:35; Luke 11:51).
2. Christ, Stephen, the apostles, the early Christians. Reformers all through history.
3. Human nature always the same. It hates those who attack its sins.
VI. The spirit that resents faithful reproof always entails retribution on itself (verse 23). To do wrong and refuse instruction is the greatest misfortune a man can suffer.
VII. The necessity to do right for duty’s sake, without expecting gratitude or acknowledgment. (J. C. Geikie, D.D.)
The goodness of King Joash
1. In ten years from the death of Jehoiada, Joash was so utterly another man that you cannot recognise in him one feature of that godly disposition which distinguished his earlier years. He is a sad illustration of the deceitfulness of the human heart; of the weakness of the natural man; and of the perishing nature of that impulsive goodness which rests solely for its permanence upon the constraining influences of others.
2. Joash still represents a large class--persons of warm and susceptible feelings, acting habitually under impulse, of a temper of mind volatile, or pliable, or keenly sensitive, upon which impressions are easily made and as easily effaced.
3. Speaking as I am in a university city, I am reminded that I can point to no spot more suggestive than this of the evanescent quality of that light of the soul which is simply reflected, of that transient goodness which walks by sight and not by faith. How many young men have gathered here, filled with noble emulation, and strong in their own resolution to fulfil the purpose of their coming! And what has followed? First the whisper of the arch-tempter, “You are free; eat, drink, and be merry.” Then the sceptic, asking contemptuously, “What is truth?” The controversial humourist, commending his ingenious sophistries with insidious drollery. The listless idler, intruding his unwelcome presence upon the conventional hours of study. The voluptuary, putting his bottle to his companions, and filling them with shame for glory. The sinner in the city, whose house is in the way to hell. The tradesman with his offer of unlimited credit. The sordid moneylender, weaving his web of usury. These, and such as these, have “made their obeisance,” like the princes of Judah; and behold, Jehoiada is gone, and Joash has hearkened to them! He has left the God of his fathers. He cannot prosper, because God has forsaken him.
4. Oh, if I am to send my son to fight the good fight of faith, to wrestle against the powers of darkness, let me stablish him with this fact as the counterpoise and antidote to the delusions of the world--that he is now a responsible being. (Henry Drury, M.A.)