2 Kings 11:21-12:3--Jehoash Reigns in Judah

2 Kings 11:21-12:3
English Standard Version

Jehoash Reigns in Judah
21  Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign.

12 In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba. 2 And Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him. 3 Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away; the people continued to sacrifice and make offerings on the high places.

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Up to this point, we've referred to the boy saved by the priests simply as Joash, but it appears that upon his coronation as king he either gets a new name or stops using a shortened version of his name and goes by the name Jehoash.  Jehoash was only seven years old when he ascended to the throne which was also the seventh year of the reign of King Jehu in the northern kingdom of Israel.   Jehoash reigned as long as Saul, David, or Solomon--40 years.  The text gives the name of his mother, Zibiah of Beersheba, for we should not forget how she took him and hid him in order to save his life from the queen mother when Jehu had slain the king of Israel and the king of Judah as well as all other close male relatives of King Ahab according to the Word of the LORD.

Jehoash was a good king of Judah who did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all of his days, and that is credited to the fact that Jehoiada the priest instructed him from the time he was young so that the Word of God was hidden deep in Jehoash's heart.  However, the high places where people went to worship false gods were not destroyed, and the people continued to sacrifice and make offerings there in the high places.

We are not done talking about Jehoash yet as next time we'll talk about how the LORD puts it in his heart to repair and rebuild the Temple, which has been mostly neglected for these years that Israel and Judah have been following after the Baals and other false gods.  We'll talk about this next time.