Daily Devotional for Tuesday, June 2

The Execution of Joash’s Assassins

“Now it came to pass, when the kingdom was established to him, that he slew his servants that had killed the king his father,” 2 Chronicles 25:3.

Have you ever worked with someone that turned on you? Maybe you were their supervisor or manager. It may have seemed as though they liked you as a boss, but when an opportunity came for them to join others in complaining about you or tearing you down, they seemed to join in tearing you down. This is, in a way, what Joash’s servants did when they waited till he was down and then killed him when he was vulnerable (2 Chronicles 24:23-25).
When Amaziah became king due to the death of his father, he had to wonder how loyal his servants would be to him since they had killed his father. Whether his father had been a godly king or not, this type of treason could not be tolerated within his household. While Joash had transgressed the commandments of the Lord (2 Chronicles 24:20), this was not within their purview to execute this type of judgment against him. King David had the opportunity to kill King Saul after the Lord had forsaken Saul for his disobedience to the Lord. When the opportunity to kill King Saul came, David’s men encouraged him to take his life. David responded, “And he said unto his men, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord” (1 Samuel 24:6). Amaziah recognized that these servants were guilty of murdering the king and had to pay the price. He also recognized that nobody else in their families deserved to die for the sins of their fathers (2 Chronicles 25:4).

REFLECTION
The price for your actions, even if others think they are just, may be very costly. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).

Tim Chambers