KING JOASH

2 CHRONICLES 23 & 24
“Then Joash the King did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada had done to him, but killed his son 2 Chronicles 24: v 22
 Joash was born into a treacherous situation. After Ahaziah's  death, his mother Athaliah immediately destroyed all the royal heirs of Judah. Joash was saved by Jehoshabeath who hid him for six years.Later her husband the priest Jehoiada secretly won the alliances of all the military commanders of Judah and when Joash was seven years old, they anointed him King, the youngest ever to sit on the throne. Then Athaliah was executed.

But when the Jehoiada died, Joash formed the wrong alliances who poured poison into his ears. Jehoiada's son- Zekariah confronted him. Surely King Joash would listen to him.Zekeriah staked his life on the sense of gratitude he thought Joash would feel for him. Josiah was a person who rose in life by the sheer  patronage of other people's leadership,and soon  forgot the assistance he had received. At Zekeriah's moment of realization, he could still have saved his own life but friendship and love can blind every man's eyes to the real situation. Nobody believes that someone we have helped so much can turn against us, and Zekeriah kept on believing that until King Joash ordered him to be stoned to death.

But that was a very dangerous thing to do, for the people knew how Jehoiada has protected Joash.It stirred up all kinds resentment in the crowd. Remember this. For revenge, people can silently wait for a thousand years.And you won't know from which direction it comes. And when Josiah returned severely wounded to recover, from the only battle he fought, his own servants, whom he least suspected came into his bedroom and slaughtered him.

Such is the fate of all those who miscalculate the power of retribution. The Midnight Owl