The Damage Caused by Poor Parenting. (2 Chronicles 22: 1-End)

This Podcast is part of season 23 of a project to complete an in-depth study of the entire Bible, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. 

Episode Notes:

As a rule, parents are meant to be magnificent role models for their children. They nurture, they guide, they protect, they shape the next generation with quiet strength and sacrificial love.

But we’ve all heard of parents who do damage to their children, parents whose influence was destructive rather than life‑giving. And the Bible contains a story of such a parent: on this occasion, a mother, a woman whose choices harmed her son and destroyed her grandchildren.

It is a tragic and sobering story. But it is also a story filled with lessons we desperately need in our own time.

Transcript

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Welcome back today, friends. Welcome back to the Bible Journey Daily Podcast. It is wonderful to have you and to be with you here again as we continue our steady walk and study through the Book of Two Chronicles. And today we have a chapter that reveals how the choices of individuals can shape families, nations, and even the generations to come. But before we begin, I want to pause and say a heartbelt a heartfelt thank you for every one of you who support this ministry through Patreon. Your generosity is the thing that makes this work possible. Five years ago now, having needed to step down from pastoring a church to prioritize caring responsibilities, I am now able to devote my time to study, prepare, and write and record these episodes. And I wouldn't be able to do that without those of you who value this work and believe that God's called you to support it. You are the reason that this teaching reaches listeners around the world, and I am deeply grateful for that and for them and for me personally. And I continue and will continue to do that by God's grace with your help. Anyway, today's episode is titled The Damage Caused by Poor Parenting. Now, as a rule, we know that parents are meant to be role models, magnificent role models, hopefully, for their children and indeed their grandchildren. They are the ones called to nurture, to guide, they will even protect if necessary, and they will be the ones who will shape the next generation and should be doing it with quiet strength and love, sacrificial love. But sadly we've all heard of parents who do in fact damage their children. Parents whose influence turns out to be destructive destructive rather than life giving. And the Bible contains such a story. Today is a story of such a parent. On this occasion, a mother, a woman whose choices harm not only her son, but her grandchildren. It's a tragic and sobering story, but it's also a story that is filled with lessons that we all desperately need to know, particularly in these times. But why would God include something so dark in Scripture? And how can this help us walk faithfully with the Lord today? Well, I believe it can. And to answer those questions, let's turn together to 2 Chronicles, chapter 22, and let's consider together the damage that can be caused by poor parenting. Welcome to today's episode of the Bible Journey Daily Podcast. And then in the latter part of the chapter, it tells us about the reign of his mother. So this fairly short chapter contains only two parts: the reign of Ahaziah and the reign of Athaliah. And we begin with the main section, that of Ahazah. Now Ahazah becomes king, and that's described in the opening verse. The people of Jerusalem, it said, made Ahazah, Jehoram's youngest son king in his place, since the raiders who came with the Arabs into the camp had killed all the older sons. So remember the events that we've covered already, because all of Jehoram's oldest sons had been killed during that Arab raid, only one son now remains. Now we don't know if he was actually physical the youngest, but he's the youngest remaining by survival, and he is the one now who becomes king. Verse 2 continues. Ahazah was forty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athelia, the daughter of Omri. So the mother's name here is Athelia, and that name should explain everything that follows, because Athelia's influence is immediately seen in the life of this young king. He walks in the ways of Ahab's house because his mother was his counsellor in acting wickedly. That's an extraordinary verse. Remember, this young man, this man's father is dead, and his mother, Athela, steps into that vacuum. And remember, this mother, this guy's mother, is the daughter of Ahab, who we know was one of the most wicked kings in Israel's history. And what does she do? Well, she whispers in his ear, she shapes his thinking, and she advises her sinna her son, as it says, to do wicked things, quote. She guides his decision and she leads him into idolatry. Now that is little wonder because of who she was, and it's also little wonder that his reign will be brief. It seems the wickedness of Ahab's house has now reached down through this mother to the third generation. And it says he also walked in the ways of Ahab's house, because his mother was his counsellor in acting wickedly. So Ahazah listened to Ahab's counsellors rather than the Lord, and then Atheliah advised him to do wicked things, and Ahab's counselor also advised him to do wicked things, and our guy follows this advice. Now the wickedness mentioned in verse 3 becomes the evil, the out and out evil of verse 4, and that evil is identified as idolatry. The advice he received may have sounded right to him at the time, but as Proverbs 14:12 says, there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end is the way of death. So that's the warning, and the warning of this proverb could have been written across Ahaz's entire life. Next we see the beginning of his wickedness, and indeed his foolishness in forming an alliance. It says, verse 5, he also followed the counsel and went with Jehoram, Jehoram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, to war against Hazel, king of Syria at Ramoth Gilead, and the Arameans, in other words, the Syrians, wounded Joram. So Ahazah follows the same dodgely counsellors in every respect. Their advice to go to war. And that advice was foolish and dangerous, and the results was that the Syrians wounded Joram. The battle goes badly, and Joram is wounded, and the alliance plays out to be a disaster. We know that. It then says in verse 6, so he returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which had been given him at Rama when he fought against Hezeel, king of Syria. Azariah, the son of Jehoram, King of Judah, went down to see Jehoram, the son of Ahab in Jezreel because he was sick. So Joram effectively goes to Jezreel to recover, and Ahaziah goes to Jezreel to visit him. And this is the situation, this is the setting, and this visit will be the thing that will lead directly to Ahazah's downfall. Verse 7. Now the destruction of Hazaiah was of God, in that he went to Joram. For when he had come he went out with Joram against Jehu, the son of Nimshe, whom the Lord had anointed to cut off Ahab's house. Now this is quite a remarkable statement. Ahazah's decision to visit Joram, though a wounded king of the northern kingdom, may on the surface seem innocent enough. It looks like a simple act of, why might we say, political courtesy, but the Bible tells us that God uses that visit as the occasion for Ahaz's downfall. This is one of the great mysteries of the divine providence of God. God can seemingly take a small decision just to visit on this occasion, or maybe a conversation or a journey, and use it to accomplish his purposes, even when that decision was not really in the plan or the wisdom of God. But there is judgment coming, verse 8. When Jehu was executing judgment on Ahab's house, he found the princes of Judah and the sons of the brother of Ahazah, serving Ahazah and killed them. Now the story is becoming clearer. Both kings, Joram of Israel and Ahaziah of Judah, are in Jezreel, and Jehu, an Israelite military commander, has been anointed by God to become Israel's next king, and Jehu's first assignment is to execute judgment on the house of Ahab. So this is not political ambition being played out here, or even a military rebellion. This has been positioned as the divine judgment of God. And Jehu's purge sweeps not only Ahab's descendants but also Ahazah's relatives, because Ahazah has of course entangled himself with this wicked house of Ahab. So this is the spiritual point being made here. That is when we choose to align ourselves with evil, we will share in the consequences of that. Ahazah's downfall is not accidental here. It is the fruit of his alliances, the fruit of his choices, the consequences of his influences and choices he's allied in his life, and Ahazah is effectively then hunted down. Verse nine. He sought Ahaza and they caught him, and now he was hiding in Samaria, and they brought him to Jehu and killed him, and they buried him, for they said, He is the son of Jehosaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart. The house of Ahaz had no power to hold on to the kingdom. So what's gone on here? Ahazah has tried to escape, and he hides in the region of Samaria, which is about twenty miles north of this place called Jezreel that they've just told us about. But Jehu's men find him there and they bring him back to Jehu, and Jehu has him killed. But notice something important. After that it says they buried him because he was the son of Jehosaphat, who they recognized was a king who had sought the Lord. So even in the judgment there is a sort of degree of mercy. Ahazah is wicked, foolish, adulterous, but he is still the grandson of the king Jehosaphat, and he was a godly king who on the whole sought the Lord with all his heart. And so for his father's Jehosaphat's sake, Azaiah receives at least a decent burial. This allows the generational blessing to continue, God honouring the faithfulness of the of Jehoshaphat, even in the life of this wayward grandson. Now Chronicles says Ahazah died in Jezreel, and Kings says he died in Megedo. However, there is no contradiction here. Bible experts say this is what is called a supplementary account. The sequence of these events is likely this. Ahazah flees to Jezreel, he is then caught in Samaria, he's brought back towards Jezreel, Jezu's men wound him, he escapes to Megedo, and he dies there, but his body is then taken to Jerusalem for burial. So both accounts are true. They simply record different parts of the same events. But ultimately Jehu's purge nearly wipes out two royal families, because Jehu kills Joram, king of Israel, and Ahaziah, King of Judah. He also kills the princes of Judah and the relatives of Ahazah and the descendants of Ahiza and the descendants of Ahab. So Jehu effectively almost annihilates the royal families of both Israel in the north and Judah in the south, and this leaves Jehu reigning in the north. And no adult male heir in the Davidic line. The only survivor, Joash, is an infant who is hidden in Jerusalem. So at this point this is the very razor's edge of peril, the edge of redemptive history. If Joash dies, the line of David would end. If Joash dies, the promise of the Messiah would collapse, and if he dies the covenant is broken. But God preserves what he promised to David in two Chronicles, being that he said the Davidic line will survive, but it barely survives here. So if we are to sum up our King Ahaz's reign today, it is a short story in a short chapter that covers only one year in terms of the events, but it is packed full with tragedy. In it we've seen his mother, Athelia, advise him to do wicked things, verse three. He follows the counselors also of Ahab, his grandfather in verse four. He embraces the idolatrous actions of those followers of counselors of Ahab. He forms ungodly alliances in verse five. He joins Joram in battle in verse six. He then visits his Joram in Jezreel, and God uses that visit to bring down his downfall, verse seven, and Jehu executes judgment on Ahab's house, and Ahazarah was caught in the crossfire. He flees but is captured and is killed, and he has left no son old enough to reign. So Ahaz's life is a clear, vivid illustration of what happens when a person lists to ungodly counsel and follows ungodly influences and aligns themselves with ungodly people. In this case his reign ends exactly as it began in tragedy. Athelia's reign illustrates the parent in this and that parent's potential destructive power by being the one who has influence over this this man. But alongside that it also demonstrates God's preserving grace. Both these things at the same time. Now it's easy to get lost in this chapter because of all these relatively unfamiliar names. But once you can get a grasp of the big picture, I think everything can become a little clearer. The bottom line of the first nine verses of this chapter is this. In the Northern Kingdom, every possible successor to the throne has been killed. And in the Southern Kingdom, every possible successor to the throne has also been killed, except this one small boy. Now if you understand that, you understand the drama of this chapter. But in the final few verses, we'll see Athelia, the grandmother of this child, sees the throne in verse 10. It says, Now when Athelia, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she rose and destroyed all the royal offspring of the house of Judah. Because this is staggering. Athelia, a mother, sees that her son is dead, and she responds by murdering all the remaining royal heirs left in the house of Judah. This means she kills her own grandchildren, she kills her own flesh and blood, she kills every child she can find who might one day sit on the throne. So this is not merely political ambition, this is absolute demonic cruelty. Athelia finishes the bloody purge that Jehu began, and she seizes the throne for herself by slaughter. She becomes a queen by murder. This indeed must be one of the darkest moments in Judah's history. But as I said, there is one child who is still around. But Jehoshaphat, the king's daughter, took Joash, the son of Ahazah, and stealthily rescued him from among the king's sons who were slain, and she put him and his nurse in the bedroom. So Jehoshaphat, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoedah, the priest, for she was the sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athielah so that she didn't kill him. Don't get mixed up in all these names here. What we see in the midst of this horror, but we do see aming amidst all the horror and death one woman acting courageously. Jehoshaphat is a princess of Judah, and she takes this little infant Joash and she hides him and saves him his life. She hides him with his nurse in a bedroom, probably her bedroom, some commentators say, so she risks her own life to protect him. And this means that Athaliah does not find him and is not able to kill him. In fact, she doesn't really even probably know he exists. This is the one surviving heir, the one small boy that I mentioned earlier, and he is alive, but he remains hidden. Verse 12. He remained hidden with them at the temple of God for six years while Athaliah ruled the land. So for six years Joash is hidden in the temple, and he grows up among the priests and he mingles with their children, and he becomes familiar, no doubt, with the worship, the true worship of God there, and he is protected not only by people but by God's providence. Now this is fascinating. The future king of Judah, the last surviving heir of David, is raised in the temple of God. Hidden, probably, but in plain sight, preserved by the Lord. It can't help but remind me of Samuel, who grew up in the tabernacle under Eli's care. It also reminds us, of course, of Moses. He was hidden in a basket and raised in plain sight in Pharaoh's palace. And of course, it will also remind us of Jesus, who was protected from Herod's slaughter that was c and was carried away and hidden to Egypt. God always preserves his promises. So don't be mistaken, friends. This is the first of many times that Satan will attempt to destroy the messianic line. Satan was the unsaved motivator here behind all this evil woman's slaughter. She was not merely expressing some sort of political macinations and violence. This was clearly a satanic attempt to cut off the messianic line, the line through which Christ Jesus Himself would come. Satan always tries to destroy the line of David. He did it in Pharaoh's day, he does it here in this day, he will do it in Herod's day, and at many other points in Scripture. But God's promise delivered way back in Genesis 3.15 stands firm, which says the seed of the woman will crush the serpent's head. God moved Jehoshaphat to hide Joash, and God preserved the Davidic line. God protects the promise of his promise made of the Messiah, showing that even in the darkest moments God's covenant cannot be broken. The author of the Book of Chronicles wants us to see one thing very clearly here, I believe. Ahaza followed the wicked counsel of those who came before him, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord, but he died under judgment, and his mother then killed all of the royal household. But we've seen one infant spared here, the young child Johash. And through Johash, the line of David will continue. Now this is a short chapter and it's a gruesome, awful story, but it carries a powerful lesson. This story reminds us ultimately of the enormous influence a parent, in this case a mother, can have for good or for evil. Athelia uses her influence to do evil, to destroy. She shapes her son and bends him towards wickedness, and she murders ultimately her own grandchildren, and she tries and nearly destroys the Davidic line. But the Bible, friends, doesn't leave us with just this type of example. It also gives us the opposite type of example. Let me give you one. Two ladies. This time, ladies again. This time ladies called Lois and Eunice. And in them we can see God's influence again across the generations. But this time in the New Testament, and we hear about them when Paul writes to Timothy. 2 Timothy 1, verse 5 says, I am reminded of your sincere faith. And he's writing to Timothy, which first lived in your grandmother Lois, and in your mother Eunice. And I am persuaded now lives in you also. And later he, in the same chapter, he will add, From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation. You see, Lois taught Eunice, and Eunice taught Timothy, and Timothy becomes a pastor, a missionary, and a faithful servant of Christ and a supporter of Paul. Athalia destroyed her own descendants. Lois and Eunice strengthened theirs and their family line. But both illustrate the same principle. That being a mother or a grandmother, a father or a grandfather, can have an enormous impact on their children and their grandchildren for good or for evil. And that I believe is the underlying message teaching that underpins this chapter. The chapter is short and it is one of the most sobering passages in the whole book of Chronicles. It shows us the devastating impact that a single person can have on an entire generation, especially when that person is a parent or grandparent. Ahazal listened to ungodly counsel, he followed the influence of his mother, and he embraced the idolatry of Ahab's house, and he died under the judgment of God. Then his mother stepped into the vacuum of leadership that was created and unleashed a wave of destruction that is almost unimaginable. She murdered her own grandchildren. She attempted to wipe out, to wipe out the whole Davidic line, and she seized the throne through bloodshed. And yet, in the midst of that darkness, God preserved one small boy, Johash, hidden in the temple, protected by faithful people and kept alive by the covenant promises of God. The chapter therefore reminds us of two foundational truths. Firstly, a parent's influence can shape generations to come and can shape them for good or evil. This woman's influence was used to destroy Lois and Eunice's influence, described by Paul in the New Testament, was used to build faith in their family and in particular in Timothy. Both examples show and demonstrate the enormous power of a parent or a grandparent. But secondly, it also shows us that even in the light of all these things, God's promises cannot be broken, even when evil seems in that moment to prevail. Athelia tried to destroy the Davidic line. Satan, using her, tried to cut off the Messianic promise, but God preserved Joash and God protected that covenant promise. It was God that kept the lamp burning. And this is the hope that is woven through all the darkness we've seen in this chapter. You know what, friends, human evil is a real thing. But be encouraged because God's faithfulness is greater still than anything man or woman can do. Thanks for being with me today. It also reminds you that God's faithfulness is never threatened by human failure. And finally, I'd just like to say thank you once again for listening, and a heartfelt thank you to those of you who support this ministry. Your generosity makes this work possible, and I'm deeply grateful. But I'd also like to ask for help from everybody who's listening to this podcast. That being, please share it. If it's helping you, it may help some other people. If the Word of God can encourage you, it can encourage other people. This podcast has grown only through people recommending it to other people. And that everything that has come out of it and flows out of it is because someone has decided to tell someone else about it. So thanks to each and every one of you who've done that. And if you've not done that, think about who would benefit from having the Word of God, the daily practice of bringing the Word of God into their life, and consider sharing it with them. And I'll be back again tomorrow for our next time together. And in that time we'll continue our journey through this book of two chronicles, which is another important chapter. So I'll hope you'll join with me for that study because it is a chapter that offers hope. When there seems to be no hope, it is another significant chapter, and I look forward to exploring it with you. But until then, may the Lord keep your heart steady, your influence under him, and your hope anchored in those promises that he faithfully has promised to uphold. And I'll see you in our next episode in our big journey through the whole Bible, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. Bye-bye, Fanaho.