Well that is quite a story. It is not one that is in our lectionary nor do I imagine it is one that people often go to for comfort, inspiration or wisdom so I think most of us are probably not that familiar with it. It is also quite a confusing story as there are lots of people with similar names and complex relationships. On top of that a lot has happened since our reading last week and we’ve somehow moved from the Northern Kingdom to the Southern one and so I will begin with trying to clarify what is going on here. The genealogy behind me might also help you to follow.
Ok so as we know after the death of King Solomon (son of King David), Israel is divided into two Kingdoms. Israel in the North and Judah in the south. Israel is much bigger with 10 if the 12 tribes of Israel but Judah retained Jerusalem and the line of David (the green line in the picture).
As we have been making our way through Kings we have been mostly in the Northern Kingdom focusing on the stories of the prophets Elijah and Elisha and King Ahab and his family.
In our reading last week King Jehoram was on the throne of Israel. He is the second son of Ahab. His brother Ahaziah had actually followed on from Ahab but he was killed and so Jehoram took over.
Meanwhile in the Southern Kingdom of Judah there is also a King Jehoram on the throne. He is the son of Jehoshaphat.
And when he dies his son, another Ahaziah takes over. His mother is Athaliah, who is the daughter of King Ahab. Ahab was king of the Northern Kingdom but his daughter has married a king of the Southern Kingdom in a political alliance that sought to ease the tensions between the two kingdoms.
However, back in the North Elisha has sent a young prophet to an army commander named Jehu to anoint him as king in order to destroy the descendants of Ahab and Jezebel.
And so Jehu goes to Jezreel where King Jehoram of the North is recovering from an injury which he sustained in another war that he is having with the Arameans. King Ahaziah of Judah is also there, visiting his wounded uncle.
To cut a long violent story short Jehu kills both kings and Jezebel there in the land of Jezreel, the land of Naboth, as some you may remember. Naboth’s story has not been silenced.
Jehu goes on kill all of Ahab’s other descendants in the north and becomes king of the Northern Kingdom.
Meanwhile Athaliah has taken the throne of her son and made herself queen of the southern kingdom.
And this is where our reading begins today.
Like her father Ahab and many of the kings before them, Athaliah, takes what is not hers to take. And in the bible this almost always has consequences. In her quest to gain and maintain power she sets about on a murderous rampage trying to destroy anyone who might also have a claim to the throne, including her grandchildren.
But her son’s sister Jehosheba (assuming to another wife of Jehoram) rescues one of her nephews Joash and hides him for 6 years. This story of course brings to mind the story of Moses mother and sister Miriam who also courageously rescue Moses from mass slaughter by another paranoid monarch.
When Joash is 7 the priest Jehoida, who according to the version of this story in Chronicles is Jehosheba’s husband, arranges a revolt again the Queen. She is killed and Joash is made king.
The line of David is restored to throne of Judah.
Joash is mostly a “good” king. He followed the directions of the priest Jehoida who has no doubt cared for him along with his aunt. He deals with some financial corruption that had made it’s way into the temple and makes some repairs of the buildings.
Although he does not destroy all the so called “high places.” And when Jehoida dies he worships idols.
Ok so what are we supposed to do with all that? Can this violent story of the ongoing corruption and greed of the royal families of ancient Israel say anything to our lives today?
I think this story picks up many of the themes that we have been reflecting on throughout this series.
Firstly, we need to be able to hold paradox and nuance.
These are complex stories about complex people. The world is full of complex people and stories and so I think it is good and right that our sacred Scriptures would reflect that. But it does mean we need to read and reflect on them with the great care.
King Joash was in many ways like his great, great, great, great grandfather Solomon. He had great faults as well as great strengths. He yearned at times for the best of things and lusted at other times for the worst. He lived a life marked by success and failure. He loved God and he didn’t. He pleased God and he didn’t. But he was held by God throughout — even when his betrayal shattered God’s heart.
I guess he is like most of us too. Here only by the grace and mercy of God. And so while I think we do need to be discerning about what is good and true, and what is not and sometimes we do need to call out harmful behaviours, we also need to watch our ever judging minds. We need to be extremely careful about boxing people into simple categories.
Secondly, we need to protect our hearts and our minds and our souls against greed, jealousy and power. It only causes harm. For us probably not the kind of harm that Athaliah’s greed, jealousy and hunger for power caused but harm none the less – the climate crisis, economic inequality, anxiety and violence.
It is hard to guard ourselves against these things as our culture is in relentless pursuit of our hearts. We need counter practises that form our desires – practises such as Sabbath that Mikaila spoke about 3 weeks ago and community and prayer that Su Sze spoke about 2 weeks ago. The Wednesday bible study group is reading and reflecting on the book the celebration of discipline and thinking about the formative practises of meditation, fasting, simplicity, celebration, bible study and others that form us. We are very open to others who might want to join us. Coming to church and engaging in the counter liturgies of worship, communion, confession and tithing. Nothing releases us from greed and anxiety about money as much as giving it away.
And finally hope springs up from below rather than raining down from above.
While this book is called Kings it is rarely to the kings (nor queens) that the word of God comes. It is not through them that God works out his plans and reveals himself. Rather it is through the prophets, the widows, the foreigners and the servants.
In this story it is through the courage of Jehosheba, the kings sister, and her husband Jehoida the priest. They did not seek power for themselves, rather at great risk and cost they saved and raised the young Joash. And they did this over a long period, waiting for the right time.
These stories often witness to another reality, Or as Brueggemann puts it they “function to delegitimate royal power and to assert that YHWH, the giver of life has other agents and other avenues outside monarchy to give the gift of life.”
I have shared this quote before but it is one worth hold onto in this time of great political turmoil. We need to remember to look around us for the Kingdom of God, not up.
So, again, let us finish with psalm 37.
Hope in the Lord and keep his way and you will dwell in the land.
But the wicked will be driven out. They make war and kill the poor, they slaughter those who do what is right. But their swords will be drawn against them and their bows will be smashed.
Better the little the righteous have than the wealth of the wicked.
The Lord will take away their strength but he will uphold those who do good. The wicked borrow and never pay back, but good people are generous with their gifts.
Those who are blessed by the Lord will dwell in the land.
