Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Yesterday, we covered the reign of King Jehu in the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

And while he was on the throne, the southern kingdom got a king named Joash, also known as

Jehoash, who was seven years old and probably needed a nickname that was easier to pronounce anyway.

So we'll call this little guy by the shorter version of his name, Joash. Fortunately, young

Joash had a wise advisor, the priest. And as long as the priest was alive, he seemed to keep

Joash in line. The priest did get two wives for Joash, but it's possible that the second

wife didn't show up on the scene until after the first wife died. For the most part,

Joash followed God's commands, with the exception of tearing down the high places for idol worship.

He even commanded the restoration of the temple.

It had fallen into disrepair since the people had been so focused on worshiping idols instead,

and they'd even used some of the temple instruments in their worship of Baal.

But the priests of the temple don't follow his orders for how to finance the restoration process.

They either don't collect the taxes God has required, or they collect them and embezzle them while they just lounge around for 23 years.

Finally, Joash puts his foot down, makes an offering box, and the people are actually happy to give to this cause.

He uses their money to hire some workers for the repair work, since the priests can't be trusted. The workers are honest

guys, and they manage to get things rolling along nicely. It's all going fairly well for Joash's

reign until the priest dies. Then he goes off the rails. He starts seeking counsel from the local princes who flatter him

and eventually lead him into idolatry. The priest's son warns him about the consequences of this sin,

and Joash's people respond to the priest's son with humble repentance, right? No, they stone him to death.

Terrible. Not long after that, God sends the very judgment the priest's

son had prophesied in his last words. This judgment comes in the form of the Syrian army. They're small,

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