II Kings 12:2-3: “And Jehoash did right in the sight of the Lord all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.  Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.”

 

King Ahab and Jezebel, King and Queen of Israel had a daughter named Athaliah.  Some will say she was King Ahab’s sister, but Scripture seems to indicate she was their daughter.  She was married to King Jehoram of Judah, a descendent of David to seal a treaty between Judah and Israel. When King Jehoram was killed their son, Ahaziah became the king of Judah and hence the influence of his grandmother, Jezebel, the Queen of Israel, now carried over into Judah.  Under the powerful influence of his mother, Athaliah, he led Judah away from God into the paganism of Israel.

 

King Ahaziah made a state visit to Israel where Jehu assassinated him and then established himself as the King of Israel and had Athaliah’s entire extended family in Israel murdered. Athaliah established herself as Queen of Judah after her son’s death and proceeded to have the entire royal family, the blood line of David, put to death.   She almost succeeded except that her sister rescued Athaliah’s grandson, the last remaining descendent of David named Jehoash and had him secretly raised by the high priest Jehoiada, his great uncle.

 

At the age of 7 Jehoiada anointed Jehoash king and when Athaliah went to the temple to challenge this, Jehoiada had her removed in good old Hollywood fashion and executed. Under the Godly instruction and guidance of Jehoiada King Jehoash led the people back to God.

 

Note, however, in verse 2 that King Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of God, not what was good (tov). In other words he did what was right or in the Hebrew yasar which means straight, correct. But he was not doing what was tov (good) or in harmony with God. As we approach this holiday season, a lot of people including Christians are reaching out and doing a lot of right (yasar) which God recognizes, but not everyone will do what is tov or in harmony with God which is what God desires. To be in harmony with God you must understand His heart and do according to his heart. Note in II Kings 10:30 King Jehu of Israel did what was tov in the eyes of God or what was in harmony with God.  You can read about that in 10:18-28. The passage in verse 30 further states that King Jehu not only did what was right (yasar) but also “according to all that was in God’s Heart.”

 

Here is what is strange about all this. King Jehoash of Judah was under the instruction of a Godly priest who tried to do the right things, but he is credited with only doing yasar the correct thing, the right thing or righteous thing. 

 

King Jehu of Israel was not a nice man. He was cunning and deceptive. His motives were not so Godly.  He sought to end Baal worship out of revenge and in the process maybe win God’s favor (which he did).  After King Ahab died, King Jehu stood before all the people and said: “You think King Ahab did some rollicking, orgy ridden worship of Baal, man you haven’t seen anything yet. I want only the true worshippers of Baal, none of you half hearts, to gather at the meeting place and we are really going to get into some Baal worship.”  So when all the faithful gathered together with their perverted little worship toys for one big bash, King Jehu told his hit men, “Ok guys, go get em’”  They went in and slaughtered the remaining Baal worshippers that Elijah didn’t get. For that God said King Jehu did tov what was in harmony with Him and what was His Heart.

 

Now what was it that King Jehoash did that was righteous but not good?  Well, he managed to get the temple restored and he managed to do a pretty good job in collecting tithes (verse 4). But note verse 3, “the high places were not taken away.” The high places in Hebrew is bamah. This word has a double meaning, it means a high platform or pulpit and it also means to tread upon. It has the idea of something that you place above God.  These high places were found in every community in Judah, They were old sacred pagan grounds left over from the Canaanites. Generation after generation of Jews carried on pagan family worship at these sights. If King Jehoash tried to destroy these places, he would risk outright rebellion and run the risk of getting his head lopped off. A later King, Josiah, would take that risk and in the process win that coveted tov. Archaeologist have even found the remains of a high place that was intentionally destroyed and attribute this to the reforms of King Josiah.

 

You know, many Christians and many churches are like King Jehoash, they do a lot of righteous things, but so long as they leave those high places those little idols that seem so innocent and yet stands before God, they will never do according to the heart of God.

 

 

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