Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Joash to Jesus | Historical Books | 2 Kings 11

Episode Date: October 20, 2025

Do you ever take Bible verses out of context? Who was the Bible written for? Who do you pledge your allegiance to? In today's episode, Keith shares how 2 Kings 11 encourages us to surrender our lives to Jesus. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 2 Kings 11

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. When I first became a Christian in college, I met some other Christians who used Bible verse memorization cards to help them memorize the Bible. They carried these little cards around with them, and each card had one Bible verse written on it. First, I just want to say, what a great thing to memorize Scripture.

When I started using those cards, one of the things I recognized is that I wasn't getting the context that the verse. appeared in and context is so important because it helps us determine the meaning of the verse the best way to read the Bible is not to read isolated verses out of context but instead to read the Bible in big sections maybe even whole books in one or two settings that way you understand what the biblical authors were trying to communicate and when you read through the Bible in big portions you soon discover that the Bible isn't about you the Bible is about God God, it's God's self-revelation to us. When we read verses in isolation, and by that I just mean

not in the context that they appeared in, we can fall into the trap of thinking that those Bible verses were written to us and are answering our questions about our life. But the Bible wasn't written to you. It was written for you, but it wasn't written to you. And when you read bigger portions of scripture, you realize that the Bible isn't about you. Again, it's about God. So when we open up our Bible we should expect to learn about God, his character, and his plan. But of course, we find ourselves, and then of course we find ourselves inside of God's bigger story. One reason Christians have a hard time reading books like First and Second Kings is because these books aren't filled with the kind of verses that appear on verse memorization cards. But that doesn't mean that First and Second

Kings and other books like them aren't important, or that they don't have something to say to us. The stories about the kings of Israel has a lot to say about the greatest king to ever live, and of course I'm talking about King Jesus. We specifically learn who King Jesus is, what his kingdom is like, and how we should serve him. Well, today we're in 2nd Kings chapter 11, and it's a story about a king named Joash. He's the youngest king ever recorded in the Bible. He becomes king when he's seven years old. And yet this story is not only about Joash, Joash points us,

to King Jesus. I think we'll be able to see Joash and Jesus if we think of this chapter in six acts as laid out by Philip Reichen. Before we dive in, let's pray. Father, I pray that you would open up your word to us that we could see the truth in it. And you would open up our hearts, that we might be transformed by your truth. Amen. So let's start with Act 1. And Rikin calls this act, the king's life was preserved. Here's the first verse of, of 2nd Kings chapter 11. When Altithiah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family. Now Altothiah was the mother of the wicked king Ahaziah, and when she heard that her son had died, she had the rest of her family executed

so that she could become the first queen of Judah. She wanted to rule the nation. Her cruelty to her own family is hard to get your mind around. It's clear that she did it as a power grab. her goal was to wipe out the line of King David. Now, of course, that would be a huge problem, because God had promised David that his throne would be established forever. Back in 2nd Kings chapter 8, when King Johoram had rebelled against God, we were told that God wouldn't destroy Judah for the sake of David his servant, since he promised to give a lamp to him and his sons forever.

Now, if Altothiah succeeds in destroying the entire royal family, there would be no son of David to sit on the throne. In other words, God's promise would have failed. But in God's sovereignty, Altathia's plans are the ones that failed. Here's verse two. But Josheba, the daughter of King Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash, son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the royal princes who were about to be murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Altathia. So he was not killed. He remained. He remained. He remained, remained hidden with his nurse at the temple of the Lord for six years while Altothiah ruled the land. So Ahaziah's sister, she hides Joash.

The legitimate king is hidden for six years while the illegitimate queen rules the land. It's important to see that David's line is preserved by two brave women, one a princess and the other a servant. They both risked their lives to save the king and the house of David. So act one is the king's life was preserved. Now we're ready to move to act two, and that is the king is revealed. Here's verse four. In the seventh year, the priest sent for the commanders of units of a hundred, and the guards had them brought to the temple of the Lord.

He made a covenant with them and put them under oath at the temple of the Lord. Then he showed the king's son to them. Several years had gone by at this point, and the priest wanted to bring young King Joash out of hiding, but they need to protect him. So they hold a clandestine meeting with some special soldiers, and they make them swear an oath to serve the House of David. Only then would they show them young King Joash. So if you're following, the first act is the king's life was preserved.

The second is that the king was revealed. Now the third is the king is anointed. The priest worked with the soldiers to come up with a plan to safely get Joash into the temple and anoint him as king. Remember, this is not a coup. they are restoring the rightful king to his throne. Once he was anointed, they presented Joash to the people. Here's verse 12.

The priest brought out the king's son and put the crown on him, and he presented him with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king. They anointed him, and the people clapped their hands and shouted, Long live the king. So the people are ecstatic, and they recognize the king's true authority. Now notice that Joash was presented with a copy of the covenant. This was probably the instructions. that God had given in Deuteronomy 17 about how kings were and weren't supposed to rule God's people.

Each king was expected to read these instructions and then write them out by his own hand. Now we're ready for Act 4. The king avenged. See, the people must have made a lot of noise celebrating the anointing of King Joash because Queen Altothea heard them. Here's verse 13. When Altithea heard the noise made by the guards and the people, she went to the people at the temple of the Lord. She looked and there was the king standing by the pillar as the custom was. The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets.

Then Altithea tore her robes and called out treason, treason. Now, of course, we know as the reader that Altothia was the true traitor, not Joach. Because she dared to oppose the king, Altithia had to die. Verse 16. So they seized her as she reached the palace where the horses entered the palace grounds, and there she was put to death. Acts 5, the king made a covenant. Here's verse 17.

The priest then made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people that they would be the Lord's people. He also made a covenant between the king and the people. So there was a covenant made between God, the king, and the people, meaning they each had promises to make and to keep. God promised to establish David's throne. The people promised to remain loyal to both the king and the Lord, and the king promised to follow the Lord and to submit to him. As a result of this covenant, the people had to drive out the idolatry associated with false gods.

Verse 18, all the people of land went to the temple of Bail and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols to pieces and killed the priest of Bail in front of the altars. See, God requires total commitment. You can't have two masters. It's like Jesus said, you can't serve both God and money. You can't serve both God and anything else. So far, we have Act 1, the king preserved. Act 2, the king revealed.

Act 3, the king anointed. Act 4, the king avenged. Act 5, the king made a covenant. Now we're at the final act. Act 6. The king is enthroned, starting in verse 19. The king then took his place on the royal throne. All the people the land rejoice, and the sins,

he was calm because Altithia had been slain with the sword at the palace. Joach was seven years old when he began to reign. Now, we said that this story is about Joash and Jesus. We've seen Joash, so let's turn our attention to Jesus and see how these six acts serve as an outline for his life. First, Jesus is the king preserved. Like Joash, Jesus was born king, but his life was immediately put in danger by evil king Herod.

God preserved Jesus' life by appearing to Joseph in his life. dream and sending him to Egypt until Herod's death. Jesus is the king revealed. Jesus lived in obscurity for most of his life. Even his family didn't recognize who he was, but then Jesus' ministry went from private to public, and he began to teach, to call his disciples and do the miracles that only God himself could do. Jesus is the king anointed. After Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, the Holy Spirit descended and the Father spoke saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Jesus is the king avenged because everyone who opposes King Jesus will one day be fully and finally defeated. First Corinthians 15 says for he must reign until

he has put all his enemies under his feet. And then finally Jesus makes a covenant with the father. The father promised an eternal throne and Jesus the son pledged his undivided loyalty to God the Father. At the last supper, Jesus took the cup and said, this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. And then Jesus is enthroned. Joeash sat on an earthly throne, but Jesus was raised by the Father, and he ascended to sit on a heavenly throne. Hebrews 1.3 says, when he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. Joeash pointed to Jesus, and just as the people celebrated him becoming king, so we should celebrate Jesus being the king of kings. We say like the true Israelites did, long live the king, and we pledge our loyalty to him. Let's pray. Father, we give you our allegiance. You are the king, king of the universe, but we also want you to be king of our life. And so today we bow our knee. We surrender our life. We worship King Jesus. Amen.