Context No. 2582 of 4322 · 2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 23:14-21: in context

14Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army, and said to them, “Bring her out between the ranks; and whoever follows her, let him be slain with the sword.” For the priest said, “Don’t kill her in the LORD’s house.” 15So they made way for her. She went to the entrance of the horse gate to the king’s house; and they killed her there. 16Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, all the people, and the king, that they should be the LORD’s people. 17All the people went to the house of Baal, broke it down, broke his altars and his images in pieces, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. 18Jehoiada appointed the officers of the LORD’s house under the hand of the Levitical priests, whom David had distributed in the LORD’s house, to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD, as it is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, as David had ordered. 19He set the gatekeepers at the gates of the LORD’s house, that no one who was unclean in anything should enter in. 20He took the captains of hundreds, the nobles, the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought the king down from the LORD’s house. They came through the upper gate to the king’s house, and set the king on the throne of the kingdom. 21So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. They had slain Athaliah with the sword.

The usurper Athaliah, who had seized the throne by murdering the royal heirs, is finally overthrown. The priest Jehoiada has her removed and executed, and then he leads the nation in a series of decisive acts: a covenant that they will be the LORD's people, the tearing down of the temple of Baal and its altars, the reestablishing of proper worship, and the enthroning of the rightful young king. And the chapter ends on a note of peace: the people rejoiced, and the city was quiet.

The quiet comes after the cleansing. Peace did not arrive while the usurper still sat on the throne and Baal's temple still stood; it came when the false was torn down and allegiance to God was renewed. Jehoiada did not simply install a new king and leave the idols in place; he had the people recommit to the LORD and demolish the rival worship, and only then did the city grow quiet. There is a pattern in it. The rest we long for often waits on the other side of tearing down what should not be there and renewing our covenant with God. Half measures, a new start with the old idols left standing, do not bring the quiet.

Is there a Baal I need to tear down and a covenant to renew with God, before the quiet I am longing for can actually come?

Sources

2 Chronicles 23:16: Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, all the people, and the king, that they should be the LORD's people.
2 Chronicles 23:17: All the people went to the house of Baal, broke it down, broke his altars and his images in pieces.
2 Chronicles 23:21: So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet.