Joash: The Boy King Hidden in the Temple

A woman hurries through the dark corridors of a palace, holding a baby close. Behind her, terrible things are happening. Ahead of her is the one place nobody will think to look. The house of God.

This is the kingdom of Judah, almost three thousand years ago. King Ahaziah has just been killed, far from home. His mother, Athaliah, sees her chance. She wants the throne for herself, so she sets out to destroy the whole royal family, every heir of King David who might stand in her way. But one woman is braver than she is ruthless. Jehosheba, the dead king’s sister, slips in among the royal children, takes her baby nephew Joash, and hides him and his nurse in a bedroom. Then she gets him into the temple. And there, in the house of the Lord, a little boy grows up in secret for six long years, while Athaliah rules the land.

In the seventh year, Jehoiada the priest makes his move. He sends for the captains of the royal guard and brings them into the temple. He makes them swear an oath. Then he shows them the king’s son. Imagine their faces. The line of David is not finished after all. Jehoiada gives them a plan. On the Sabbath, when the guards change shifts, they will not leave their posts. They will surround the boy, weapons in hand, and go wherever he goes. Then the priest hands out spears and shields that once belonged to King David himself, kept all these years in the temple.

Then Jehoiada brings out the boy. He is seven years old. The priest sets the crown on his head and gives him the testimony, a copy of God’s law. They anoint him king. And the people clap their hands and shout, “Long live the king!”

Athaliah hears the noise and comes into the temple courts. There stands a boy beside the pillar, where kings stood, with the captains and the trumpeters around him, and the people rejoicing and blowing trumpets. She tears her clothes and cries out, “Treason! Treason!” Jehoiada gives the order. She must not die in the house of the Lord. So the guards lead her out to the palace, and there she is put to death. Then Jehoiada makes a covenant between the Lord, the king and the people, that they will be the Lord’s people. The people tear down the temple of Baal and smash its altars and its idols. And the city is quiet.

Joash grows up, and Second Kings says he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days that Jehoiada the priest taught him. The temple that had sheltered him was in poor repair, with cracks and damage everywhere. Joash told the priests to use the money people gave to fix it. Years went by, and nothing happened. So Jehoiada took a chest, bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar. People dropped in their silver. When the chest was full, the king’s secretary and the high priest counted it and paid the carpenters, the builders, the masons and the stonecutters. And the Bible adds a lovely detail. No one asked the men in charge for an account of the money, because they dealt honestly.

Who was Athaliah? Second Kings links her to the royal house of Omri and his son Ahab, the kings of Israel, the northern kingdom, where Baal worship had been promoted at court. Her marriage to Jehoram, a king of Judah, tied the two royal families together. That helps explain why there was a temple of Baal in Jerusalem at all. And it makes her unusual. In the Bible’s account, she is the only woman ever to rule Judah on her own.

The story of Joash is told in Second Kings, chapters eleven and twelve. A brave aunt saved him. A faithful priest taught him. And while Jehoiada guided him, he led well. The rest of chapter twelve is sadder. Joash handed temple treasures to an invading king, and in the end his own officials turned against him. A good start still needs a faithful finish. So here is something to think about. Who are the people helping you to do what is right, and how could you thank one of them this week?