Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-05-06
Golden Text: "Be strong i'm the
Lord and in the power of His might.
Enh. Gin

Lord and in the power of His might" "
Eph. $40.
Judah was on tn edown grade to
ruin, 1t had begun when Rehoboah
turned partly from the temple of
Jehovah, which his father Solomon
had built to worship the Baalim and
the Ashtaroth in groves and in nigh
places. None of his SUCCESSORS al
: though some of them were gCdly men
completely cleaned UP the kingdom
OF these heather denominations.
Ahab, the wicked king of Israel.
had married Jezebel,n the Tyria
princess and daughter of the priest
king of BaaL Her daughter Atha-
liah had married Jehoram, son Of
! Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. His
wife's influence was so bad on him
that it is recorded of him that he
walked in the way of the kings of
Israel. After eight years of a reign
of sin he dided of horrible disease,
according to warning given him by
Elijah. He was succeeded by his
son Ahaziah. Athaliah, the queen
mother. dominated her son also, and
because of close family ties, he was
hand in glove with the wicked king
of Israel and pushed the worship of
kaal further, forcing it upon Judah.
BE was slain after one year.
The death of her husband by the
curse Of God and the violent death of
her son so shsortly afterward ought
to have softened this woman. In
, stead of that, this daughter of Jeze-
! bel was not to be relegated to a minor
place; / but cruel, aggressive, and
jealous for Baal, like her mother
she seized this opportunity to put
herself in power and further extend
the influence of her Tyrian religion
She had every one of the seed loyal
slain; i. e., she thought she did. One
woman's cruelty was pitted against
another womans cunning, though.
as we shall see.
Jehosheba was the sister of the
King Ahaziah, and had married the
priest Jehoieda. There was one lit
tie boy baby named Joash, the son of
the king, whose presence was known
to Jehosheba only. In the life of
the harem a baby might be born and
escape the attention Of every one out
islde. Evidently Athaliah was not
even aware of the existence of. this
!. royal grandson. He was hidden by
his aunt in the temple enclosure and
beds, where it would be an extremely
unlikely place for the queen to find
him. Here he was securely protected
Tor six years by his fathers sister,
the wife of the priest.
whenever the people came back
ITO God He prospered them. For
forty years Joash reigned. Under
/, the influence of Jenolaua, who now
Is spoken of as the chief priest-the
11rst high priest mentioned-a great
revival was begun and was con-
tinued. Jehoiada's influence was so
great that he even selected the two
wives for Joash and all the DAYS
that Jehoiada lived, Joash did right
in the sight of Jehovah. His out
standing achievement was the re-
pair of the temple which had fallen
into a sadly dilapidated condition
during the reigns Of Jehoram,
Ahaziah, and the usurper queen At
haliah
The low ebb Of the priests is
shown in the fact that many years
passed and they had not gathered
funds enough TO carry out his or
ders and he had to change his plan.
Placing chest at the door of the
temple for voluntary offerings and
having 1t emptied every day in his
presence and the money turned over
to the treasurer and secretary for
T distribution, the confidence of the
people that it would be rightly adj
ministered was restored and an
abundance was freely offered. This
was in turn handed to the workmen
who did the work so faithfully and
$50 well that no record Of it was kept
ON them.
Jehoiada's death at 100 years of
age removed the chief source of
Joash's strength. His latter days
were a sad decline His stoning of
Zechariah, the son of his benefactor
was base ingratitude As we'll as UNI
righteous in Gods sight. Disease
was rapidly sapping his life, but his
servants would not let him die OF
it, but slew him for the murder of
Jehoiada's son. Baal was dethroned
as long AS Jehoiada lived, but after
his DEATH the princes had turned
again to this licentious worship. 1t
was Zecharaih's denunciation of this
that led to Joash's having him
stoned.
How hard the devil works to
.thwart Gods purposes! How i'm
possible it is for him to do it even
though all that stands between is
the. faint thread of life in a hidden
-, sabA COW easy it is to have vic;
n. 4ad Ts ss@ T psr! 'sss' 's ss
is W not giving up his fight!
You know that. don't you? Well
victory is still yours as Christ's gift
II you will keep your eyes on Hirnl
Then Joash was brought into the
temple and placed beside the king g
pillar Some have thought that this
was one of the deliberately decorated
pillars of Solomon made by Hiram.
Others-the suggestion is interest.
ing at least, if rather far-fetched-
that it was the stone upon which
Jacob rested his head and dreamed
that night when he fled from his
brother Esau. These same think
ho thic stone now