We saw the reign of Jehoahaz last week; we move on to the reign of his son Jehoash today, Jehu’s 2nd generation.
• God promised Jehu 4 generations on the throne of Israel.
• Let’s read again 2 Kings 13:10-13.
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Like his father, Jehoash “did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit; he continued in them.” (13:11)
Except for a short account of Jehoash’s war with JUDAH in the next chapter, we have nothing much to say about his reign.
• A short biography and then his obituary. Sixteen years in four verses.
• Only after we buried him, the author recounted an incident for us. It highlighted his attitude towards God in an encounter with Elisha. Read 2 Kings 13:14-19.
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Jehoash sought the prophet, weeping. It looks like he was sad because Elisha was terminally ill and dying.
• He came to Elisha and cried, “My father! My father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” (13:14).
• It was the same cry we heard when Elisha saw Elijah being taken away in a whirlwind (2:12): "My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!"
The prophets represented the defence of Israel.
• We read in 2 Kings 6 how Elisha was able to foil the plans of the King of Aram repeatedly. He was able to tell the king of Israel the very words the King of Aram speak in his bedroom (6:12).
• But with the departure of this prophet, all divine intelligence would be gone.
Jehoash was crying, not for Elisha but for himself!
• He was desperate and fearing of a more devastating defeat at the hands of the Arameans. Will God help? Yes. The Lord is gracious and compassionate.
• Jehoash might have come with self-preservation in mind (without any real faith in God), but the Lord will help him overcome his enemy.
Elisha wasn’t disturbed at all. He knew it was not the military that matters.
• It has nothing to do with “the chariots of Israel and its horsemen” but the Lord’s horses and chariots of fire!
• Which Elisha had seen TWICE - once when his mentor Elijah was taken away (2:11), and another when he was surrounded by the Arameans in Dothan (6:17). He has to ask the Lord to open the eyes of his servant so that he could see the Lord’s chariots of fire and horsemen protecting them.
Elisha’s faith is in God. He has faith in God’s help. He has faith in the Word of God.
• And so Elisha gave the King the Word from God! It was, in fact, an assurance from God that Israel would have certain victory over the Arameans.
• It wasn’t even “you might win the war” but “you will completely destroy them!”
This time around the promise of God wasn’t given in words but in ACTION.
• He asked the King to take a bow and some arrows. He put his hands on the King’s hands, and ordered him to shoot the arrow out the East window.
• He shot the arrow and Elisha proclaimed the Word of God: “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!” (13:17)
It was an acted oracle. The prophecy of God was released through that act.
• God will give Israel victory over Aram. In fact, to be precise, the Arameans will be completely destroyed at Aphek.
• That’s the Word of the Lord. That’s the promise of God.
Elijah then gave him a second set of instructions - take the arrows and strike the ground. Nothing new, it’s a confirmation. Singlish way of saying, DOUBLE CONFIRM.
• Having done the first act and heard God’s Word, Elisha expected Jehoash to understand what his actions would mean.
• But the king struck the ground 3 times and stopped! He actually stopped!
He wasn’t taking this seriously. He was indifferent and half-hearted, and not quite believing it.
• And Elisha was angry. Why didn’t you strike it 5 or 6 times? Do you really want to win the war? Do you want to defeat them for good?
• This was a prophetic act, just like the first. The king should have known by now but he showed little interest.
If you do not really believe God and His Word, then this means little to you.
• Jehoash might have thought this is ridiculous. It won’t change anything. It is just some religious thing he has to do, so just get it over with and move on.
• It’s a disregard for the Word of God, because he has little faith in God.
• He did not take the promise of God seriously. He did not take God seriously.
So Elisha declared: “But now you will defeat it only three times.” (13:19b)
• That’s what you wanted. Three times and you stopped.
• And this was exactly what God gave him. 13:25 “Then Jehoash son of Jehoahaz recaptured from Ben-Hadad son of Hazael the towns he had taken in battle from his father Jehoahaz. Three times Jehoash defeated him, and so he recovered the Israelite towns.”
He could have completely destroyed Aram, Elisha prophesied. BUT now he would only contain them.
• Not because God was unwilling or unable to greater thing, but the King was unwilling to believe Him. He was reaping the fruit of his unbelief.
• He went through the motions, but without a serious faith in God.
Instead, we saw faith in someone else. We saw EXCEPTIONAL FAITH in Elisha.
• In the first act he proclaimed, “The Lord’s arrow of victory over Aram! You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.” (13:17)
• In the second, he said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it.” (13:19)
See who is showing real faith in God here? Elisha.
• He believes God, he believes the Word from God; he believes in the power of God, not just to win the war but destroy Aram completely.
• A man’s response to the Word of God tells it all.
• If Jehoash had been serious with God, believing His Word and trusting Him to fight his enemy, then the results would have been different.
This has been the recurring theme in the book of the Kings. The kings would not want to believe God.
The author shared only one incident in King Jehoash’s life, and he did it at length, to highlight this one point – the folly of spiritual indifference.
• God is willing and powerful enough to remove Israel’s enemy for good, if only the King takes God more earnestly, and take God’s Word more seriously.
Don’t be lukewarm towards God.
Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), a Danish theologian, wrote this interesting parable.
There is a little town of Ducks. Every Sunday the ducks waddle out of their houses and waddle down Main Street to their church. They waddle into the sanctuary and squat in their proper pews. The duck choir waddles in and takes its place, then the duck minister comes forward and opens the duck Bible (Ducks, like all other creatures on earth, seem to have their own special version of the Scriptures.)
He reads to them: “Ducks! God has given you wings! With wings you can fly! With wings you can mount up and soar like eagles. No walls can confine you! No fences can hold you! You have wings. God has given you wings and you can fly like birds!”
All the ducks shout “Amen!” And they all waddle home.
Lots of movements. Lots of motion. But that’s about it.
• Nobody believes. No one takes it seriously. Everyone goes through the motions. Everything looks religious, but that’s about it.
• I don’t know what this is. It is definitely not the Christian faith.
• We take God seriously, and we take God’s Word seriously. We believe Him.
We take God seriously because He is for real. Even with the demise of Elisha, Israel can still see God’s presence and power.
• This is likely why the author inserted a bizarre incident in 13:20-21.
• Frankly, if you remove this account from the text, the narrative still flows smoothly, nothing is really amiss. But the author added this strange incident:
20Elisha died and was buried. Now Moabite raiders used to enter the country every spring. 21Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man's body into Elisha's tomb. When the body touched Elisha's bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.
This happened after Elisha’s death, and quite some time after his death because only his bones remained.
• But even without Elisha, and only with his bones, God can do a miracle. God displayed His power without Elisha.
• In order words, the miracles of God continue. God is still with them.
Remember when ELIJAH was taken away in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11-12), Elisha was left behind asking, “Where now is the God of Elijah?” (2:14).
• And God proves that He is still around when miracles continue to happen.
• Now with the departure of ELISHA, “Where is the God of Elisha?”
• Here! He is still here. We can still see unexplainable miracles! Elisha’s bones can bring a man to life, because the God of Elisha is still here!
And interestingly, we see a similar theme in both the passing of Elijah and Elisha.
• At the passing of ELIJAH – he did not die but was taken away. Death could not hold him.
• With the passing of ELISHA – even his bones can bring a man back to life. Death has no dominion over man.
• This is the theme of both LAST MIRACLES of the two great prophets!
God triumphs over death. He grants complete victory, not just over earthy enemies like Aram, but our ultimate enemy – sin and death.
• Paul says it in 1 Cor 15:55-57 55"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
• God has the last word. His salvation is certain. Our victory is sure.
But is this what we believe, seriously? Do we really trust Him? Do we believe His Word? Or are we going through the motions?
