Tues.’s Devo - Cleansing the Land of Baal Worship

Read: 2 Kings 10:32-12:21; Acts 187:1-22; Psalm 145:1-21; Proverbs 18:1 Jehu refused to turn from the sins of Jeroboam who had set up the golden calves in Israel so God began to cut down his territory. They lost all the land on the east side of the Jordan to King Hazael of Aram. Jehu died and was buried in Samaria. *** Meanwhile in Judah, King Ahaziah had been killed by Jehu so Ahaziah’s mother, Athalia destroyed the rest of his family and became the Queen of Judah. Ahaziah’s sister had managed to save Joash one of Ahaziah’s infant son. She hid him in the Temple where he was brought up by Jehoiada, the priest. When he was seven years old Jehoiada led a coup and crowned Joash king. They put the law of the Lord in his hands and everyone clapped their hands and proclaimed him king. They had Athalia killed outside the palace gates. *** Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people that they would be God’s people. All the people went and tore down the Temple of Baal and smashed all the altars. They walked Joash (Jehovah has become man) who was now called Jehoash (Jehovah hs founded) through the palace and set him on the throne. Everyone was glad that Athaliah was dead. *** Joash began to rule in Judah in Jehu’s 7th year of reigning in Israel which means that when Jehu killed Ahaziah, this child had just been born. Jehu had gotten rid of Baal worship in Israel and now Joash got rid of it in Judah. *** Joash was a good king as long as Jehoiada the priest lived to guide him. He brought accountability to the money collected by the priest and allocated it to restoring God’s Temple. He found honest and trustworhthy men to supervise the construction. *** King Hazael of Aram attacked the city of Gath and captured it then turned to attack Jerusalem. Joash sent gold from the Temple to pay Hazael off so he left Jerusalem alone. *** Joash was assassinated by his own officers. His son, Amaziah became king. *** In Acts, Paul went to Corinth and met Aquila and his wife, Priscilla from Italy. They were tent makers also. Paul would go to the synagogue every Sabbath and preach to convince the Jews and Gentiles that Jesus was the Messiah. When the Jews opposed him he would wipe the dust from his clothes and tell them that their blood was on their own heads. *** The leader of the synagogue was a believer and God showed Paul in a dream that there were many believers in that city so he should not be afraid of the opposition. *** A new governor came to power so the Jews saw it as an opportunity to bring Paul before him in hopes he would silence him. Instead, he refused to even judge their case and told them to take the matters into their own hands. They beat Sosthenes, who was a believer and the chief ruler of the synagogue right in front of the governor and he did nothing. *** Paul later left the and sailed to Syria taking Priscilla and Aquila with him. He came to Ephesus and taught in the synagogue. They asked him to stay but he didn’t want to miss the feast in Jerusalem so he sailed to Caesarea and then went down to Antioch.