And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord an the days of Jehoiada the priest.
Goodness as a morning cloud
There are certain characters that are great curiosities. There are also other characters that are great monstrosities. The ease of Joash is s very extraordinary one. From his history learn--
I. That it is a great blessing when people yield to godly influences.
1. The first six years of Joash’s life were spent in the temple.
2. He was started in life’s business in a very admirable way.
3. He was outwardly obedient to the law of the Lord in the days of Jehoiada.
4. He was zealous for the externals of religion.
5. He influenced others for good.
II. Good as all this is, it is not all that is needed.
1. This is not yielding the heart to God.
2. All this yielding to godly influences may exist without any personal, vital godliness whatever.
3. An externally pious character may even prevent men from being saved at all. It may lead a man to take for granted that he is saved.
4. To be under godly influences year after year, without any great trial or temptation, may leave the personal character altogether undeveloped.
We must have some kind of test, or else we cannot be sure of the character. You cannot be sure about principle being in any young man if he has been kept under a glass case, and if his principles have never been tried. The real character of Joash had never come out at all, because Jehoiada, as it were, covered him. His own disposition was only waiting the opportunity of developing itself. I have heard of an officer in India who had brought up a young leopard. It was apparently as tame as a cat. One afternoon, while asleep in his chair, the leopard licked his hand in all tenderness as a cat might have done; but after licking awhile it licked too hard and a little blood began to flow. It no sooner tasted blood than the old leopard spirit was up, and his master was his master no more. So does it happen to many that being shut in, and tamed, as it were, but not changed, subdued but not renewed, kept in check but not converted, there has come a time afterwards when the taste of blood has called out the old nature, and away the man has gone.
III. This yielding character may even prove a source of mischief. The princes of Judah came and “made obeisance to the king.” What followed?
1. Joash went off to sin.
2. He refused reproof.
3. He slew his friend’s son.
4. Having no faith in God, he robbed the temple, and gave all the gold and treasures unto Hazael the Syrian. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The goodness of King Joash
1. The history of Joash enforces the duty of training ourselves, and those who are under our guidance, to stand alone, and not to rest upon the support of others.
2. Not that we should make small account of the counsel of wise and religious friends. The perfect use of a wise adviser is not to determine for us what we shall do in every particular case that day by day arises; but to help us to store our minds with sound principles, such as we may call up for our own direction when any emergency requires them.
3. There is a great difference in the natural constitution of men’s minds. Some are like the creeping plant that grows up rapidly, but must always hang for support upon some external prop. Others are like the oak, slowly developing itself from among the meaner underwood, until it rears its head alone above the trees of the forest. When the trellis or pole decays, the creeper must fall to the ground; the oak abides seemingly unmovable in its own strength. All the culture that man could bestow would never give to the creeper the sturdiness of the oak.
4. But though man cannot change nature God can. He can impart strength to the weakest character. Therefore the way to be firm in what is good, is to take God for your guide and support, and not man (Galatians 6:4-5; Philippians 2:12-13).
5. There is no contradiction between the duty of seeking and in due measure following the counsel of our good instructors and the duty of standing fast for ourselves in the counsel of God. Just as the office of the moon is to transmit the reflected light of the sun to the dark side of the earth; but if the moon comes between the earth and the sun, it does but darken the earth, by intercepting from it the rays that beam from that great light which is the source of light and heat to both; so the parent, the teacher, or the priest, is to stand for God towards the child, the pupil, or the private Christian, so far as their imperfect knowledge or their spiritual needs require; but not so as to eclipse God, or to make them forget that to God and not to man they are answerable in the last resort for their deeds. (James Randall, M.A.)
Joash
Men may constrain us to a temporary amendment, but God alone can control us to a lasting change of character and heart. Circumstances can make any one of you religious for a time, and give you feelings and habits which will make you appear religious to others, and what is worse still, lead you to suppose that the outward appearance is the effect of inward principle. But nothing but the grace of God, and the love of His name and His truth, can produce that piety of heart which withstands temptation, and lives when all earthly agencies are gone which nursed it, because it lives in Him who was pleased to make those earthly agencies the means of grace to the soul. We have in this verse two characters for contemplation.
I. Jehoiada, as an example of influence exerted for good.
1. He had three elements of success with which to work.
(1) Power, arising from his priestly office and his marriage relationship.
(2) Piety, which gave him the principles on which to discharge his mission.
(3) Courage, arising from his faith in God.
2. Note here the relative influence of personal piety. “Joash did that which is right.” The nation prospered in every sense through the faithfulness of one man. Clear and consistent personal piety is always a persuasive thing. No treatises upon religion can rival for persuasive power the “living epistles known and read of all men.” Our calling as Christians is to win others, as Jehoiada did, to do that which is right in the sight of the Lord. We have received light that our faces may shine before men. The design of God in our salvation is not only our happiness but our usefulness.
II. Joash as an example for our warning. The religion which had its life and influence only from a man was soon forgotten when the source of that influence had passed away. There is a vital difference between the godliness which is the result of external circumstances and that which is the product of internal principle. It is the difference between the galvanised corpse and the living man; the star and the meteor; the flash of the lightning and the action of the sunbeam. There is a false godliness current among men.
1. With some piety is dependent upon policy.
2. With others it is a matter of periods.
3. With others it is a religion of place.
4. With others it is dependent upon the personal influence of some minister, or upon the advice and counsel of a friend. (C. J. Phipps Eyre, M.A.)
Life and character of Joash
I. The instability of his religion.
1. He was zealous for God under restraint.
2. He degenerated when that restraint was taken away.
II. The honour and the disgrace of his reign.
1. Honourable reforms.
2. Disgraceful crimes. Like Nero after the death of his teacher Seneca, the philosopher, he was stained with crimes.
III. The disastrous end of his life. Conclusion: Learn--
1. The responsibility of those to whom the care of young persons is entrusted.
2. Caution those yet under guardianship and tutors and friends.
3. The awful end of those who turn aside from hopeful beginnings. (J. Wolfendale.)
The Jehoiadas of society
It would seem to be about the last thing men do, to estimate properly the value of subtle and silent influences, the magic and wisardry of noble character. We may even be ashamed to do certain things in the presence of the Jehoiadas of society. We are not ashamed of the things themselves, nor are we unprepared to make experiments in regard to them; but whenever we would put forth our hand to begin the experiments we see the observing Jehoiada, and withdraw from the pernicious attempt. So it is that there are trustees of commercial and social honour, men who would never do the dishonourable deed, speak the calumnious word, or mislead the sentiment of the market-place in times of strong temptation and peril. We rely upon them as disinfectants, keeping the commercial atmosphere pure, and discouraging in the most positive and decisive manner the spirit and action of men who are low-minded and selfish. These Jehoiadas deliver no lectures upon commercial morality, nor do they in any manner that can be charged with conceit display their own virtues; they simply go on their straightforward course, doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God, and the result of their presence and character is that even the worst men are restrained, weak men are confirmed in good resolutions, and men whose character needs inspiration receive it from their example. (J. Parker, D.D.)