I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Chronicles 23-25.

The account given here of Jehoiada overthrowing Athaliah and installing her grandson Joash on the throne goes into much more detail than that given in Kings.  This account shows just how much risk Jehoiada took to execute his plot.  I just realized that the leaders whom Jehoiada relied upon to overthrow Athaliah and put Joash on the throne were a different group from those who convinced Joash to turn away from God after Jehoiada’s death.  That may seem obvious because most of those who helped put Joash on the throne would have died by the time Jehoiada died.  But not only were those who placed Joash on the throne different men than those who later advised him, they came from a different category of men.  This account tells us that Jehoiada summoned Levites and clan leaders from the towns to Jerusalem.  These were not the government leaders who resided in Jerusalem.  They were men from the countryside who spent their time among the common man.  Later, after Jehoiada’s death, the men who convinced Joash to turn away from God were government officials who resided in Jerusalem.  This passage illustrates a lesson which repeats itself throughout history: the leaders of a nation who reside in the capital do not have the same interests as the people who live elsewhere, not even the leaders of those people living elsewhere.

When Joash’s son Amaziah ascended to the throne, he appears to have learned some of this lesson.  Perhaps I am reading to much into it, but I read the description of the way in which Amaziah organized the army as reflective of how he governed.  He chose leaders to lead the army from throughout the land.  He took advice, at least early in his reign, from those outside the “Jerusalem insiders club”.  However, we also see that he tried to weaken the power of the priests and Levites by adopting the gods of the Edomites.  The same arrogance which had led Amaziah to abandon God, led him to make war against Israel.  This ended badly for Amaziah.  All of the wealth, goodwill, and power he had accumulated with his victory over Edom, and more, was lost with his defeat by Israel.  Initially, Amaziah took advice and ruled according to God’s Law, but once he felt secure upon his throne he abandoned God and stopped taking advice.