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2 Kings 11:17-18  Jehoiada then made a covenant between the LORD and the king and people that they would be the LORD’s people.  He also made a covenant between the king and the people.  All the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down.  They smashed the altars and idols to pieces and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars.  Then Jehoiada the priest posted guards at the temple of the LORD.

All of the actions taken by Jehoida the Priest after the wicked, treacherous attempts of Athaliah, daughter of Ahab, to seize control of the Southern Kingdom of Judah by murdering all successors to the throne, were significant for the spiritual health of the nation.

Firstly, he confirmed the Covenant between the LORD , the King and the People, binding them all together under it.

Secondly, the main threat to the spiritual health of God’s Chosen People was the attraction of the sensual, fertility worship of Baal.  So the removal of Baal’s temple, altars, idols and practitioners was most important.

Thirdly, it was also important and necessary to guard their future commitment to honouring the LORD and remaining faithful to their Covenant relationship with him.

The Apostle Paul encourages us to learn from the experiences of ancient Israel (! Corinthians 10:6-10)!

The centre of our Covenant relationship with God is the Lord Jesus Christ.  We need to confirm continiually our covenant relationship with him by reading his Word and making it the model for our world view and behaviour.  I need to be committed to reading God’s Word each day; I need to watch out carefully for ‘attractive’ distractions that are trying to divert my attention and worship away from my Lord who gave his own life to save me; and I need to do all I can to follow Paul’s instruction to Timothy “Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you – guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us” (2 Timothy 1:14).

When I was ordained to the ministry of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, I was required to agree to “assert, maintain and defend the doctrines of the Church”, which included the supremacy, divinity and uniqueness of Christ as the only Saviour and the infallibility and final authority of the Scriptures as the divinely inspired Word of God.  It seems to me that all this takes its lead from the action the faithful priest, Jehoida, took to ensure the spiritual health of the Kingdom of Judah.

– Bruce Christian