“Do not avenge yourselves,…for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Rom 12:19).
The biblical writers had a wonderful way of melding time with consequence. Listen to the next phrase in the ongoing drama. “So it happened…” (2 Chron 24:23). We know what happened before this. Like a vine ripe with God’s blessing that had its support removed, King Joash spiritually collapsed when Jehoiada died. In no time, a floodtide of idolatry again inundated the land. Zechariah, Jehoiada’s son, had pled with the people, but his life—and hope for Judah—was smashed to smithereens by the rocks that pelted his body. His dying words? “Lord…repay!” (v 22). Now we’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. It won’t take long. First, “in the spring of the year…the army of Syria came up against him; and they…destroyed all the leaders of the people” (v 23). That’s right, the leaders that petitioned Joash to return to their idols. Gone! And what of all the resources collected to repair and refurbish the temple? They “sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus.” Gone! In a definite reversal of fortune, this time the Syrians were the underdogs who “came with a small company of men” (v 24). How did they pull off the win? “The Lord delivered a very great army into their hand.” He helped the Syrians defeat Judah! Why? God doesn’t have two sets of rules. “Because they had forsaken the Lord,” it was time that the Syrians “executed judgment against Joash.” Joash was “severely wounded” by the Syrians, but then slaughtered on his bed by his own servants (v 25). To add insult to injury (and I mean literally), they refused to bury him with Judah’s kings. The godly Jehoiada held that spot, driving home the Lord’s point, “Those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed” (1 Sam 2:30). So there!