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2 Chronicles 24:15-27 - Idolatry NEVER Brings Success · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hi there, faithful listeners. Thank you so much
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  Speaker 1: for tuning into the Bible Explain podcast. And Hi, my
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  Speaker 1: name is Jen I am the host of this podcast.
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  Speaker 1: Make sure to grab your cup of coffee today because
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  Speaker 1: we're gonna be discussing second to Chronicles twenty four. I'm
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  Speaker 1: finishing up this chapter discussing the bad End of King
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  Speaker 1: Joe Ash. We'll get into it in just a second.
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  Speaker 1: So today is a great day. It is beautiful outside.
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  Speaker 1: There's some nice little snowflakes dropping on the ground. We
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  Speaker 1: have about probably close to two and a half feet
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  Speaker 1: of snow right now where I'm at, but it's still
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  Speaker 1: a beautiful day. Nonetheless, I'm just happy that that freezing,
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  Speaker 1: freezing cold that we had all week last week is
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  Speaker 1: finally gone. It's like a heat wave compared to what
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  Speaker 1: we had. It was dipping into the negatives for about
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  Speaker 1: two weeks straight. So I'm happy to have a little
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  Speaker 1: bit of weather, both for myself and for my two
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  Speaker 1: dogs that hate going outside when the weather is not
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  Speaker 1: nice and warm. But I know the rest of the
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  Speaker 1: United States had it much worse than we did, especially
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  Speaker 1: considering the fact that very cold temperatures are not the
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  Speaker 1: norm for most of the United States. When it gets
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  Speaker 1: down to the southern states like Tennessee and Georgia and Texas,
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  Speaker 1: that's when things go haywire because you know, you guys
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  Speaker 1: aren't prepared for it, and I totally understand why. So
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  Speaker 1: I hope all of you all are doing well and
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  Speaker 1: it didn't affect you too much. And of course if
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  Speaker 1: it did, you can always reach out for a prayer
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  Speaker 1: request or for anything else, not just about the weather,
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  Speaker 1: but any other prayer request you may have. I will
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  Speaker 1: write you down in my prayer journal for the week.
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  Speaker 1: But faithful listeners, go ahead and grab your cup of
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  Speaker 1: coffee or your cup of tea this morning. I've got
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  Speaker 1: my coffee right here to share with you. Guys. We're
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  Speaker 1: going to be finishing up Second Chronicles chapter twenty four
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  Speaker 1: and talking about to the very bad end of King
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  Speaker 1: Joe Ash. You know, he started out good, but he
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  Speaker 1: ended up very bad. Into this episode in just one second,
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  Speaker 1: so let me do a pause to say thanks to
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  Speaker 1: the sponsors of this podcast, and then we'll get into
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  Speaker 1: it right after that. Thank you for listening to that,
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  Speaker 1: faithful listeners, and let's go ahead and dive into Second
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  Speaker 1: Chronicles twenty four fifteen to the end of the chapter.
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  Speaker 1: I'll be reading as I usually do from the web
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  Speaker 1: this morning, but of course feel free to grab the
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  Speaker 1: version of the Bible you prefer, whatever that may be.
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  Speaker 1: And also a cup of coffee for you wonderful coffee drinkers,
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  Speaker 1: or a cup of tea for you crazy tea drinkers.
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  Speaker 1: Let's read it Second Chronicles twenty four and give reverence
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  Speaker 1: to God's word together. But Jehoida grew old and was
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  Speaker 1: full of days, and he died. He was one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and thirty years old. When he died. They buried him
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  Speaker 1: in David's city among the kings, because he had done
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  Speaker 1: good in Israel and toward God and his house. Now,
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  Speaker 1: after the death of Jehoida, the princes of Judah came
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  Speaker 1: and bowed down to the king. Then the king listened
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  Speaker 1: to them. They abandoned the house of Yahweh, the God
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  Speaker 1: of their fathers, and served the asher of polls and
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  Speaker 1: the idols. So wrath came on Judah and Jerusalem for
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  Speaker 1: this their guiltiness. Yet he sent prophets to them to
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  Speaker 1: bring them again to Yahweh. And they testified against them,
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  Speaker 1: but they would not listen the spirit of God came
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  Speaker 1: on Zechariah, the son of Jehoidah the priest, and he
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  Speaker 1: stood above the people and said to them, God says,
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  Speaker 1: why do you disobey Yahwai's commandments so that you can't prosper?
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  Speaker 1: Because you have forsaken Yahweh. He has also forsaken you.
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  Speaker 1: They conspired against him and stoned him with stones at
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  Speaker 1: the commandment of the king in the court of Yahwei's house. Thus,
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  Speaker 1: Joash the king didn't remember the kindness with which Jehoidah
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  Speaker 1: his father had done to him, but killed his son.
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  Speaker 1: When he died, he said, may Yahweh look at it
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  Speaker 1: and repay it. At the end of the year, the
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  Speaker 1: army of the Syrians came up against him. They came
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  Speaker 1: to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes of
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  Speaker 1: the people from among the people, and sent all their
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  Speaker 1: plunder to the King of Damascus. For the army of
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  Speaker 1: the Syrians came with a small company of men, and
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh delivered a very great army into their hand. Because
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  Speaker 1: they had forsaken Yeah, the god of their fathers. So
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  Speaker 1: they executed judgment on joe Ash when they had departed
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  Speaker 1: from him, For they left him seriously wounded. His own
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  Speaker 1: servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons
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  Speaker 1: of Jehoidah the priest, and killed him on his bed,
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  Speaker 1: and he died. They buried him in David's city, but
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  Speaker 1: they didn't bury him in the tombs of the kings.
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  Speaker 1: These are those who conspired against him, Zabad the son
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  Speaker 1: of Shimieth the Ammonitis, and Jehozahad the son of Shimrith
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  Speaker 1: the Moabitis. Now concerning his sons, the greatness of the
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  Speaker 1: burdens laid on him and the rebuilding of God's house behold,
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  Speaker 1: they are written in the commentary of the books of
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  Speaker 1: the Kings Amasia. His son reigned in his place. What
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  Speaker 1: a terrible and depressing ending for somebody that started out
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  Speaker 1: so good like even from the very beginning. You know,
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  Speaker 1: you could see God's hand on joe Ash from the
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  Speaker 1: time that he was a little baby. Joe Ash was
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  Speaker 1: saved and he lived in the temple of God for
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  Speaker 1: seven whole years. And you would think that joe Ash
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  Speaker 1: would remember that, you know, you're childhood years are very formative,
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  Speaker 1: and yet in his last days joe Ash forgot about
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  Speaker 1: all of that. Now, granted joe Ash was seven years
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  Speaker 1: old when he became king, so that means he was
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  Speaker 1: forty seven years old when he died, which is not
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  Speaker 1: a very old man. So I imagine if Joash had
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  Speaker 1: been a Yahweh follower to the very end, he could
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  Speaker 1: have reigned for possibly sixty seventy years if God had
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  Speaker 1: allowed that. But unfortunately, joe Ash, as we can see,
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  Speaker 1: kind of goes off the deep end after Jehoida dies.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, scripture actually alludes to this in verse two
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  Speaker 1: if you jump up to the top of the chapter,
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  Speaker 1: it says, joe Ash did that which was right in
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  Speaker 1: Yawei's eyes all the days of Jehoiita the Priest. So basically,
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  Speaker 1: when Jehoida was alive, joe Ash was doing good things.
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  Speaker 1: But essentially, the second Jehoia dies, joe Ash flies off
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  Speaker 1: the deep end. And you got to wonder why. I
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  Speaker 1: would guess just looking at joe Ash's life, he didn't
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  Speaker 1: make a lot of decisions without Jehoita there with him,
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  Speaker 1: and Jehoida essentially raised joe In fact, it calls Jeheida
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  Speaker 1: his father in our passage for today it says right
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  Speaker 1: here in verse twenty two. Thus, Joash the king didn't
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  Speaker 1: remember the kindness which Jeheida his father had done to him,
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  Speaker 1: but killed his son. So Jehoida really was like a
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  Speaker 1: father figure to joe Ash, even though he wasn't the
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  Speaker 1: biological father. And that being said, maybe Jehoida just made
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  Speaker 1: the decisions for joe Ash and Joash didn't really learn
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  Speaker 1: how to make any decisions for himself. And when Jehoida died,
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  Speaker 1: he was left in the dark. He was lost without
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  Speaker 1: his father figure. That's what I would guess anyway, because
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  Speaker 1: let's look at verse fifteen. It says Jehoida grew old
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  Speaker 1: and was full of days, and he died. He was
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  Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty years old. When he died, they
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  Speaker 1: buried him in David's city among the kings because he
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  Speaker 1: had done good in Israel and toward the House of God.
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  Speaker 1: So verse sixteen here actually says that the people buryed
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  Speaker 1: Jehoida in the tombs of the kings of the kings
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  Speaker 1: were really only for the kings. So that shows that
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  Speaker 1: the people themselves actually regarded Jehoida as not necessarily a king,
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  Speaker 1: but somebody very influential to the kings, so much so
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  Speaker 1: that he was buried in the tombs of the kings
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  Speaker 1: when he had died. So if the people regarded Jehoida
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  Speaker 1: as that important, that probably means he really was that important.
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  Speaker 1: He made a lot of the decisions and joe Ash
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  Speaker 1: kind of went right along with them. Now I should
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  Speaker 1: mention here it says that Jehoida was one hundred and
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  Speaker 1: thirty years old when he died. That is a very
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  Speaker 1: very old man, and that shows that Jehoida had a
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  Speaker 1: blessed to life, because this is rare even in scripture.
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  Speaker 1: Not very many people in the Bible make it to
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  Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty years old. I believe even Moses
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  Speaker 1: died at one hundred and twenty years old. So it
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  Speaker 1: could be that God extended the life of Jehoida because
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  Speaker 1: joe Ash needed him for that long and God knew
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  Speaker 1: how lost Joash was going to be without Jehoidah, and
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  Speaker 1: so God extended the life of Jehoida because of that.
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  Speaker 1: But the age of Jeheida's life truly just shows that
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  Speaker 1: he was a blessed man, that he lived a very
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  Speaker 1: long life because God sustained him, because Judah needed him,
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  Speaker 1: because Joash needed him. So they buried him in David's
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  Speaker 1: city among the kings because he had done good in
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  Speaker 1: Israel and toward God and his house. Now, after the
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  Speaker 1: death of Jehoida, the princes of Judah came and bowed
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  Speaker 1: down to the king. Then the king listened to them,
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  Speaker 1: and then it goes into what they did after the
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  Speaker 1: king listened to him, They abandoned the house of Yahweh,
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  Speaker 1: the god of their fathers, and served the Asherpoles and
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  Speaker 1: the Idols. So wrath came on Judah and Jerusalem for
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  Speaker 1: this their guiltiness. Notice the first thing that these princes
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  Speaker 1: do when they come to the king, they bow down
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  Speaker 1: to him, they serve him, they butter him up. And
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  Speaker 1: it's amazing that they came to the king after Jehoida died,
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  Speaker 1: meaning these princes saw an opportunity to get near to
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  Speaker 1: the king. Maybe Jehoida was protecting the king from people
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  Speaker 1: like this. It could be that joe Ash was actually
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  Speaker 1: a very sheltered kid because Jeheida was sort of handling
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  Speaker 1: everything for him, making sure that people like these princes
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  Speaker 1: didn't come into the court. And now that Jehoida is gone,
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  Speaker 1: joe Ash doesn't know what to do, and it is
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  Speaker 1: receiving all sorts of shisty people into his court, including
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  Speaker 1: these princes who butter him up and bow down to
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  Speaker 1: him and pretend to serve him. But they were only
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  Speaker 1: doing it to get something for themselves. And here's what
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  Speaker 1: they wanted. They wanted idolatry to come back into Judah
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  Speaker 1: and Jerusalem because at this point in time, idolatry was
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  Speaker 1: not nearly as common. Of course, it was always common,
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  Speaker 1: because Israel and Judah were always falling away from God.
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  Speaker 1: They always worshiped other gods, but it was not as
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  Speaker 1: out in the open during this time, and it was
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  Speaker 1: not as prevalent. But yet these idolatrous princes of Judah
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  Speaker 1: wanted this idolatry to come back in. And why is that?
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  Speaker 1: Why do people always turn to idolatry instead of to Yahweh? Well,
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  Speaker 1: because idolatry is vanity. Idolatry gives the person what they want,
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  Speaker 1: whereas submitting to Yahweh is exactly that. It is submitting
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  Speaker 1: to a will that is not your own. But when
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  Speaker 1: you bring idolatry in, you are submitting to your own will.
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  Speaker 1: You are essentially making a god for yourself, and you're
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  Speaker 1: making this god do your will. It's no different than
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  Speaker 1: the Garden of Eden when Satan came to Eve and said,
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  Speaker 1: you can be like God. That is why people always
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  Speaker 1: turn to idolatry is because of that sinful desire that
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  Speaker 1: all of us have, which is to become God or
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  Speaker 1: to become like God. That is why people are always
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  Speaker 1: going to choose idolatry before they choose Yahweh. Even Christians
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  Speaker 1: struggle with idolatry. We have idols in our lives all
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  Speaker 1: the time that take precedence over the will of God.
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  Speaker 1: And those idols could be things like sins that we
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  Speaker 1: may be struggling with. They could be material possessions like
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  Speaker 1: money or other things. They could be our fears, our family,
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  Speaker 1: the people in our lives, or popularity, notoriety, fame. These
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  Speaker 1: things all become idols, even in the Christian's life, because
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  Speaker 1: we want our own will to be done. We don't
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  Speaker 1: always want the will of God. That's why Jesus tells
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  Speaker 1: us to pray our Father, who is in heaven, Hallowed
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  Speaker 1: be your name, Thy Kingdom, Come, Thy will be done.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus knows how much we struggle, which is why the
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  Speaker 1: fourth line of the most famous prayer in scripture is God,
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  Speaker 1: let your will be done, not my will, but your
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  Speaker 1: will be done. That's why people always turned idolatry, because
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  Speaker 1: it's something we feel that we can control, and it
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  Speaker 1: also makes us more like God in our own minds.
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  Speaker 1: But as we're going to find out, idolatry causes nothing
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  Speaker 1: but trouble because we are not God's. As much as
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  Speaker 1: we want to become God, we cannot become God. We
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  Speaker 1: cannot control things the way we think we can. So
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  Speaker 1: making idols for ourselves or making ourselves into God's is
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  Speaker 1: going to lead to nothing but misery because we can't
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  Speaker 1: control anything, as we are about to discover. So these
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  Speaker 1: princes come to joe Ash, and Joe ash to them
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  Speaker 1: because he's all buttered up. Maybe he likes what they
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  Speaker 1: have to say about their idols. Maybe he's grieving and
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  Speaker 1: thinks that this is going to be a way to
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  Speaker 1: help him. Who knows what these princes were saying to
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  Speaker 1: joe Ash. We don't know, But together verse eighteen, they
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  Speaker 1: abandoned the house of Yahweh, the God of their fathers,
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  Speaker 1: and served the asher polls and the idols. So wrath
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  Speaker 1: came on Judah and Jerusalem for this. Their guiltiness. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I've talked about the Ashurra cult many many times on
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  Speaker 1: this podcast, but it was a sex cult, That's what
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  Speaker 1: it was. So that sounds like the specific cult these
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  Speaker 1: men wanted for Judah was the sexual deviance that came
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  Speaker 1: with the Asherah worship. So wrath came on Judah and
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem for this their guiltiness. Yet He sent prophets to
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  Speaker 1: them to bring them again to Yahweh. And they testified
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  Speaker 1: against them, but they would not listen. So who is he?
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  Speaker 1: Right here in verse nineteen, it says, yet he sent
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  Speaker 1: prophets to them. That is God, God sent prophets to
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  Speaker 1: the people to bring them back to him. Again, God
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  Speaker 1: was angry with the people, yet instead of just striking
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  Speaker 1: them all dead right there, he sends prophets to them
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  Speaker 1: to bring them back to him. And that is how
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  Speaker 1: God always works. You know, people think that God is
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  Speaker 1: super mean, that he just strikes people dead all the time,
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  Speaker 1: but that is not the case. Almost every single time
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  Speaker 1: we see God angry with somebody, he usually gives them
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  Speaker 1: chance after chance to repent. The only time that I
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  Speaker 1: can think of where he did not give somebody a
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  Speaker 1: chance was when he struck Uza dead when he touched
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  Speaker 1: the Ark of the Covenant. But even in that case,
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  Speaker 1: we don't know what type of sin Uza was committing
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  Speaker 1: before that last thing where God was like enough's enough
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  Speaker 1: Uza and struck him dead. We don't know if Uza,
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  Speaker 1: who lived with the Ark of the Covenant had done
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  Speaker 1: other things to degrade the arc. We have no clue.
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  Speaker 1: We just know about that one st Sorry, when we
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  Speaker 1: see God angry with somebody, he usually does not strike
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  Speaker 1: out against them immediately. He gives them a chance to repent.
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  Speaker 1: And that is the case right here. He is giving
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  Speaker 1: these people a chance to repent. So he sends the
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  Speaker 1: prophets to them, but unfortunately they did not listen to them.
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  Speaker 1: It says verse twenty, the spirit of God came on Zechariah,
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  Speaker 1: the son of Jehoidah, the priest. That's really significant because
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  Speaker 1: it does say that God sent multiple prophets that were
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  Speaker 1: not listened to. That means that the king and these
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  Speaker 1: princes were refusing to listen to all of the prophets.
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  Speaker 1: So now God sends Jehoidah's son, Zechariah to the King
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  Speaker 1: and to the princes. This is God being like, okay,
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  Speaker 1: you're not going to listen to all of these other
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  Speaker 1: prophets that I send to you. Maybe you'll listen to
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  Speaker 1: Jehoidah's son, the man that you all said was such
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  Speaker 1: a great person that you buried in the tombs of
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  Speaker 1: the kings. Maybe you'll listen to this guy's son. So
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  Speaker 1: God sends him. And here's what Zechariah says to the people.
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  Speaker 1: Why do you disobey Yahweh's commandments so that you can't
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  Speaker 1: prosper because you forsaken Yahweh. He is also forsaken you.
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  Speaker 1: There you go. Idolatry will not make you prosper. You
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  Speaker 1: can't prosper with idolatry because you can't control the future.
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  Speaker 1: You can't control anything that goes on in your life.
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  Speaker 1: The only one that can control these things is Yahweh himself.
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  Speaker 1: So in order to actually prosper, you have to worship
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh because God knows your future. God is the one
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  Speaker 1: that prospers you. Everything on this earth and in this
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  Speaker 1: universe belongs to Yahweh because he created it. It is
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  Speaker 1: his so he can choose to give people what he
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  Speaker 1: wants to give them. So the only way to actually
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  Speaker 1: prosper in your life is to worship Yahweh, and that
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  Speaker 1: is that's what Zechariah is trying to get the point
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  Speaker 1: across here. He's like, you can't prosper worshiping Ashirah doing
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  Speaker 1: these weird sex things. You can't prosper that way. You
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  Speaker 1: can only prosper if you worship Yahweh. Because you forsaken Yahweh.
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  Speaker 1: He's also forsaken you. And that's the thing. You know,
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  Speaker 1: people get kind of mean or mad about this. They're like, well,
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  Speaker 1: God shouldn't abandon us if we abandon him. You know
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  Speaker 1: that's not fair. Well, why isn't it fair? You know,
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  Speaker 1: think about it in the terms of a marriage, and
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  Speaker 1: actually God makes this analogy all the time of how
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem and Israel was a bride to him that was unfaithful.
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  Speaker 1: Think about if your spouse that you are married to,
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  Speaker 1: who wears the wedding ring you gave them, went out
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  Speaker 1: and just started cheating on you, but then expected you
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  Speaker 1: to remain faithful to them, cheated on you, had babies
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  Speaker 1: with other people, just left left your house and was
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  Speaker 1: living with all of these other people, but still expected
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  Speaker 1: you to pay all of their bills, to pay for
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  Speaker 1: the bills of their lovers, to support their children, to
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  Speaker 1: support them with the lifestyle they wanted, and not just
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  Speaker 1: like a simple lifestyle, but a grand lifestyle. What person
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  Speaker 1: on this earth would ever say, Yeah, you have to
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  Speaker 1: stay with that person. You know, it's mean of you.
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  Speaker 1: It is mean of you to abandon them when they
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: have abandoned you. You have to keep paying for them,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: You have to support their lovers, you have to support
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: their kids with all these other people. You have to
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: do that because that's the nice thing to do. Not
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: a single person on this earth wouldever say those words.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: They'd say, you got to leave that person that is toxic.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Don't give another red cent to these people. So why
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: is it we can't make that connection with God and
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: his people? And here's the thing. God does stick around
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: in those situations a lot more than any person on
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: earth ever would. God stays with his people. We just
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: read the verse not too long ago that God is
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: faithful when we are faithless. God sticks around. But at
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: a certain point when we abandon him, he is going
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: to abandon us because we don't want him anymore. We
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: want all the benefits that we think God can give us,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: but we don't actually want him. So why would he
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: keep blessing us with benefits when we don't even want
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: to serve him. It makes no logical sense. So of
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: course God is going to abandon his people if they
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: abandon him, and that's what Zechariah says right here. But
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: of course people were not happy to hear this, and
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: it says in verse twenty one that they conspired against
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: him and stoned him with stones at the commandment of
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: the king in the court of Yahweh's house. Thus, joe
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Ash the king didn't remember the kindness which Joheidah his
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: father had done him, but killed his son. So scripture
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: actually blames joe Ash for this, even though I doubt
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: joe Ash was the one who cast the stones at Zechariah.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: Here scripture blames joe Ash because joe Ash gave the
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: go ahead, and I don't know what was said to
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: joe Ash. These princes could have lied about Zechariah. It
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: does say they conspired against Zechariah, so that implies that
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: there was a plot to kill him, which very likely
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: included deceit and lies. But joe Ash, even if he
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: was being lied to, did not do his research, did
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: not think Jehoida was my father. Essentially my father and
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: this is Jehoida's son. I should be kind to Zechariah
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: because he's basically my family. Joe Ash didn't think any
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: of those things. He gave the go ahead. He says, yep,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: go ahead and stone him, because I believe your guys's
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: reports about Zechariah, and I'm not going to listen to
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: what Zechariah has to say. It says when Zechariah died,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: he said, may Yahweh look at it and repay it.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: That's not a forgiving word at the end of Zecharia's life,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: but it's also not sinful. Zechariah absolutely deserved retribution for that.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: And Zecharia was dying when he said this. He knew
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: he was dying, but he still asks God to repay
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: this evil that was done to him, and not just
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: to him, I'm sure, but to the other prophets that
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: weren't listened to. And also just due to the fact
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: that there was so much idolatry happening now in Jerusalem,
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: Zechariah wanted God to repay what was being done in
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: Jerusalem at this time, and God does exactly that Verse
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: twenty three. At the end of the year, the army
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: of the Syrians came up against him. They came to
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes of the
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: people from among the people and sent all their plunder
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: to the king of Damascus. For the army of the
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Syrians came with a small company of men, and Yahweh
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: delivered a very great army into their hand because they
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: had forsaken Yahweh, the god of their fathers. So they
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: executed judgment on joe Ash. That's at the end of
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: the year, the same year that Zechariah died. God sent
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: this army of the Syrians, and it was actually a
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: very small army, is what it says. It was a
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: small army, and Judah had many more troops than Syria had.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: But God delivered the people of Judah into the hands
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: of the Syrians because of the sin that Judah was committing.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: And it says that they executed judgment on joe Ash
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: verse twenty five, for they left him severely wounded, and
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: they went their own way. So joe Ash now probably
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: goes back home to hopefully recover from all these serious
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: wounds that the Syrians left on him. But he was
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: not able to recover because his own servants. In verse
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: twenty five conspired against him for the blood of the
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: sons of Jehoida the Priest and killed him on his
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: bed and he died. Now, it's interesting that it says
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: the word sons right there, because it only mentions joe
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Ash killing one of the sons of Jehoida. It does
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: not say that he killed multiple sons. But I don't know.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: I don't know. It's kind of making me wonder, did
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: joe Ash actually target all of the sons of Jeheida
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: the priest. But these two men killed joe Ash on
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: his bed and he died. It says they buried him
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: in David's city, but they didn't bury him in the
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: tombs of the Kings. So I need to apologize because
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: when I did my previous episode on Second King's chapter twelve,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: which was last year, I mentioned something incorrect. I said
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: that scripture did not say that joe Ash wasn't buried
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: in the tombs of the Kings. Only Josephus mentioned that.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: But I was wrong because here it is in Second
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: Chronicles chapter twenty four. So forgive me for that. For
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: not reading a head that's usually where many of my
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: errors come from, is I don't read ahead which is
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: probably important to do when I'm studying the Bible. But
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: unlike what I said in Second Kings Chapter twelve, joe Ash, indeed,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: according to scripture, was not buried in the tombs of
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: the Kings. So think about that. Jehoida, the priest was
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: buried in the tombs of the Kings, and joe Ash,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: the actual king, was not buried in the tombs of
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: the kings. What does that tell you? That tells you
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: what the people thought of Jehoida and joe Ash. Jehoida
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: was the real king of Judah without the title. He
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: was the person that truly made Judah great, and joe
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: Ash he was more of a figurehead type of king
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: that wasn't able to make any good decisions without Jehoidah
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: at his side. That shows you the type of person
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: that joe Ash actually was and how the people viewed
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: joe Ash at the end of his life. Well, faithful listeners,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: I appreciate you listening through this episode with me, But
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: if you don't mind, I'm going to take a moment
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: to give a nod to our supporters, and then I'll
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: jump back in with a couple closing words before we
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: end today's episode. Last couple things I want to say
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: about this episode. It mentions in verse twenty six and
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: twenty seven that the people who conspired against joe Ash
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: were named Zibad the son of Shimieth the Ammonitis, and
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Jehazabad the son of Shimrith the Moabitis. And I don't
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: know if you picked up on it, but do you
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: notice something a little bit odd about these two men.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: They weren't even people of Judah. It says their mothers
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: were from Amin and Moab, so these men were possibly
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: not even born in Judah. They were foreign people serving
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: the king, and they were so angry over the death
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: of Zechariah that they ended up killing joe Ash in
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: his bed. That shows how loved Jeheida was that he
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: even affected people who weren't native to Judah. And yet
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: the people of Judah couldn't even see how bad Joe
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: Ash had become, but these foreign born men could actually
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: see it. Now, granted, this was murder. They should not
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: have killed joe Ash on his bed. That was wrong
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: for them to do, but still the reason they did
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: it was because they were outraged over the way Zechariah
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: had shamefully died the son of a prosperous man, the
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: son of the man who made all the decisions for
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: joe Ash and who people regarded as somebody as influential
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: as a king. Jeuida was so loved and respected, and
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: joe Ash did not have that same love and respect
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: from his people. So that's the first difference between joe
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Ash and Jeheida. But the second difference is that joe
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Ash died at the age of forty seven and Jehoida
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: dies at the age of one hundred and thirty. The
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: people in Biblical times believed that if you died at
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: an old age that you were very blessed by God.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: The scripture alludes to this that if you follow God,
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: that you're going to have a long life on the earth.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: That's actually the first commandment with a promise in the
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: Ten Commandments. The fifth commandment is if you honor your
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: father and your mother, you will live long on the earth.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: That was a promise by God, and so people believed
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: that if you died at an old age, you are
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: blessed by God. That shows another difference between Jehoidah and
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: joe Ash. Jehoidah was blessed by God and joe Ash
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: was not. In fact, he probably died very quickly after
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: Jehoida did. So my point is it's the difference between
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: worshiping Yahweh and worshiping idols. Jeheidah worshiped God. He truly
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: had success, he lived a long life, he was honored
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: because he followed Yahweh. And joe Ash did not have success,
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: did not have a long life and was not honored
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: or loved by the people because he did not worship
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: Yahweh at the end of his life. So which one
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: truly brings success? Faithful listeners, I hope you guys enjoyed
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: today's episode. Tomorrow we are starting the Book of Titus,
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: which I'm excited to get into with all of you,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: So make sure to tune in six am or whenever
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: you choose to wake up and listen for an episode
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: from Titus chapter one. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Happy listening,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: and God bless. I just want to take a second
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact, if
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: you go to lifeaudio dot com, you will find dozens
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.