Scripture Daily

Context No. 1307 of 4322 · 2 Chronicles

Context · Reflection

2 Chronicles 23:1-7: in context

1In the seventh year, Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took the captains of hundreds—Azariah the son of Jeroham, Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, Azariah the son of Obed, Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri—into a covenant with him. 2They went around in Judah and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the heads of fathers’ households of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. 3All the assembly made a covenant with the king in God’s house. Jehoiada said to them, “Behold, the king’s son must reign, as the LORD has spoken concerning the sons of David. 4This is the thing that you must do: a third part of you, who come in on the Sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites, shall be gatekeepers of the thresholds. 5A third part shall be at the king’s house; and a third part at the gate of the foundation. All the people will be in the courts of the LORD’s house. 6But let no one come into the LORD’s house except the priests and those who minister of the Levites. They shall come in, for they are holy, but all the people shall follow the LORD’s instructions. 7The Levites shall surround the king, every man with his weapons in his hand. Whoever comes into the house, let him be slain. Be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out.”

For six years the boy Joash, the last surviving heir of David's line, has been hidden in the temple while the usurper Athaliah reigns, having murdered the rest of the royal family. Now Jehoiada the priest makes his move. In the seventh year he strengthens himself, gathers the captains and the Levites into a covenant, and presents them with the hidden king's son: behold, the king's son shall reign, as the LORD promised concerning the sons of David. He sets the armed Levites as a guard around the boy, stations them at every post, and prepares to bring the rightful heir out of hiding and crown him.

Behind this careful, courageous plan stands a promise that God had made and would not let fail: that a son of David would always reign. Athaliah had done her worst, slaughtering the royal seed to secure her stolen throne, and to all appearances the line of David was extinguished. But one infant had been hidden away, and for six long years the promise survived in a back room of the temple, a single fragile life, while the usurper sat on the throne. Jehoiada's covenant is the moment the hidden promise comes into the open. There is encouragement in this for the times when God's purposes seem all but snuffed out. The promise to David looked dead, reduced to one hidden child, but God had preserved it, and at the right moment he raised up a faithful priest with the courage to act and bring the rightful king out of hiding. God's promises are not defeated by the Athaliahs who seem to triumph for a season; he keeps a lamp for David burning even when it has shrunk to a single flame in a hidden room. Jehoiada's part was courage and faithfulness at the appointed time; God's part was to have preserved the heir through years when all seemed lost. What looked extinguished was only hidden, waiting for the moment to be revealed.

When God's purposes seem all but extinguished, reduced to a single hidden flame, can I trust that he is preserving his promise as he preserved the line of David, and am I ready, like Jehoiada, to act with courage when the moment comes?

Sources