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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
When you hear the word “mentor” what comes to your mind? It’s a very powerful position of influence isn’t it? Have you had a mentor in your life, perhaps your vocation, or your education, or your spiritual journey?
Through Biblical history there are several very significant examples of mentoring, aren’t there? Moses was a longtime mentor to Joshua, and it well prepared Joshua to take over the leadership of more than 1 million Hebrews, as the second generation entered into and conquered the land God had promised them.
Elijah the prophet was a mentor to Elisha. The Apostle Paul was mentor to Timothy, Titus and several other men, who served as leaders to the fledgling Jesus movement as it swept across the Roman Empire in the first century. Barnabas and Peter both mentored John Mark. But today, let’s look at one that’s hidden away in the Old Testament years of the kingship in the southern kingdom Judah. You’ll find the story in 2 Chronicles 22-24, and it’s really quite remarkable.
This story begins about 841bc with the death of wicked king Ahaziah. His mother Athaliah was a strong woman and at her son’s death she quickly set about to kill all the royal princes, and claim
the throne for herself! It’s the only time in Israel’s history when a woman self-appointed to the throne, and with such violence! Athaliah was a wicked woman who actually mentored her son in evil. 2 Chronicles 22:2-4 says: “Ahaziah was 22 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah…she encouraged him in doing wrong. King Ahaziah did evil in the eyes of the LORD, as the house of Ahab had done…” Wow, what a legacy!
As wicked queen mother Athaliah slaughtered the royal princes, Joash, the infant son of King Ahaziah was spared the sword because King Ahaziah’s sister had a tender heart and evidently she ran into the nursery, swept up the baby and secretly took him home with her. Her husband was a God honoring man, actually one of the priests, who was trying hard to remain faithful to God during a violent and wicked time in Israel’s history. His name was Jehoiada. Over the next six years, this priest and his wife raised prince Joash as their own son in secret, while wicked queen mother Athaliah ruled the land in unbridled evil.
Finally it was time, and priest Jehoiada developed a plan to crown seven year old, young prince Joash, the rightful King in Jerusalem, inheriting the throne of his father Ahaziah, and continuing the royal line of King David. In the process wicked queen mother Athaliah was finally dethroned and killed, and the priests called the people to repentance and spiritual revival. It was a remarkable moral turnaround for Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles 23:16 records “Jehoiada then made a covenant that he and the people and king Joash would be the LORD’s people. All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and the idols…
Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem 40 years! Young king Joash did was right in the eyes of the LORD, all the years of Jehoiada the priest.”
Do you see the power of God honoring ‘mentoring’? The culture of a society and an entire major city, Jerusalem, was changed by the influence of one man, a priest, who was daily mentoring a boy who became king. Can you imagine if you had been living at that time, in that city, and the contrast between the years of unbridled evil and violence when queen mother Athaliah was mentoring her son King Ahaziah, and then even worse, the wickedness when Athaliah ruled, for those six years?
Listen to this: “As long as priest Jehoiada lived, burnt offerings were presented continually in the Temple of the LORD. Now Jehoiada was old and he died at the age of 130. He was buried with the kings in the City of David, because of the good he had done in Israel for God and His temple.” (2 Chron. 24:14-16) Buried with the kings! Oh my friends, there would have been no greater honor to bestow on any person, than for their body to be buried among the king’s tombs! Do you see what high regard the people had for this man and his profound mentoring influence, in the life of young King Joash?
We have no detailed record of how Jehoiada mentored Joash, but it’s not difficult for me to imagine that few if any serious discussions were held in audience with the king, without priest Jehoiada standing by listening attentively. I imagine few if any decisions were reached and announced by the king without first discussing the matter with priest Jehoiada and seeking his counsel. Peace and prosperity were words people used in describing this time. All because king Joash was hungry to listen and learn, and priest Jehoiada was a man of God willing to pour all he had learned in life, into young Joash’s heart. May I ask, do you have a relationship like that my friends?
I wish the story ended there, but sadly it doesn’t. After Jehoaida’s death and ornate funeral procession ,and burial in the tombs of the kings… the record says this: “After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to king Joash, and he listened to them. They abandoned the temple of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and worshiped Asherah poles and idols. Because of their guilt, God’s anger came upon Judah and Jerusalem.” (2 Chronicles 24:17)
As powerful as God honoring mentoring is, my friends, there are always those waiting for their chance, biding their time, anxious to pry their way in, and disrupt what God has been doing. Sadly these influential officials gradually turned Joash’s heart away from all he had learned, and life in Jerusalem returned to the dark and dreadful days of the past. There’s an important lesson here my friends… Solomon proclaimed it many years ago: “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of your life.” (Prov. 4:23)
Are you protecting your heart from the subtle advance of the evil darkness all around us? Are you surrounding yourself with mentors who will nurture your tender heart toward an always growing relationship with Jesus as your Savior and Lord, and Almighty Holy God as your Heavenly Father? Are you keeping your distance from those people, those influences, which could draw you away from God and God’s Word? Are you mentoring one or two, or several other people who desperately need what young Joash received from wise Jehoiada? And if your wise mentors have died or moved away, are you doing all you can to guard your heart and keep growing, so you don’t succumb as Joash did?
I suggest we spend some time asking the Holy Spirit to help us see the important lessons here! Can you help your children and grandchildren learn these lessons too?
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Click to read today’s chapters: 2 Chronicles 22; 2 Chronicles 23; 2 Chronicles 24. (At the top you can choose a different translation.)
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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