Jehu you may know, but who is Jehoiada? Okay, the title of this post started as Jehu, Wake Up Church.
Jehu was the chosen, anointed leader of the Northern Kingdom of Israel at the time of Elisha the Prophet. He destroyed the house of Ahab, killed Jezebel, ended Baal worship, and God honored him by fulfilling the promise of four generations of his family ruling over Israel. Much of this has been covered in
You will find Jehu’s story in 2 Kings 9 and 10 and his children in 13, 14, and 15. This man had it all, he did what he was given to do for the Lord. He ruled for twenty-eight years and could have made the list in Hebrews 11. He had prophets of God to help him, especially Elisha. With all of this going for him, he had a serious issue that he did not let go of. See 2 Kings 10:28, 29. He ended Baal worship, but could not let go of the golden calves in Bethel and Dan. The first King Jeroboam started this practice after he got a promise from God and had it fulfilled. See 1 Kings 12:25. I guess they had something in common, they were blessed by God but held on to the bull.
Jehoiada’s story is mixed in with Joash king of Judah – 2 Kings 11 and 12, and in 2 Chronicles 22:10 through 24:27. Maybe I should say that King Joash (not the father of Gideon) had a story because of the Jehoiada the priest. Athaliah, who was not a loving nana, killed almost everyone in royal line of Solomon and took the throne. She missed Joash because of his aunt who stole him away and hid him in the Temple. Jehoiada was Joash’s uncle, by marriage, with this aunt, Jehosheba. (Okay, if you are into the Law governing priest, that marriage should not have happened, she was from Judah. But thank God it did happen.) No Joash means no Joseph who married Mary the mother of Jesus.
Jehoiada hid Joash, protected him, restored him to power, and helped him restore the Temple of God, and helped Joash as long as he lived. When Jehoiada died Joash forgot the Lord and met with a bad ending.
Church of Jesus, we need Jehoiada’s not Jehu’s or Joash’s. Jehoiada was faithful in his work for the Lord and served his community by doing what was right. Maybe a better title would have been: Two Kings and a Man of God.
Mark's Bible Study 