How Joash Fell: A Warning From Ancient Scripture

A cautionary tale about the perils of superficial faith in uncertain times

Amid two American tragedies that dominated headlines early this year, a spiritual lesson emerges from an ancient parallel that offers sobering insights for modern believers. Two decorated military veterans—one who took his own life outside Trump Tower in Las Vegas, the other who drove through New Orleans streets killing multiple innocent people—left the nation searching for explanations.

As you listen to the analysis or the forensics, if you will, of the situation, you find people trying to describe who these people were, what their motivations were. You will hear, “these were troubled men.” And you will hear some say, “No one looking on saw this coming.”

This observation leads to an exploration of the biblical account of King Joash, whose life trajectory holds disturbing similarities to modern tragedies where individuals appear to follow one path before dramatically veering into darkness.

A Promising Beginning

The story begins with remarkable circumstances. Joash was the sole survivor of a royal massacre orchestrated by his grandmother, the wicked Queen Athaliah, who murdered her own grandchildren to secure her power. The infant Joash was rescued by his aunt Jehosheba and uncle Jehoiada, the high priest, who hid him in the temple for six years.

At age seven, Joash was placed on the throne following a successful rebellion against his murderous grandmother. The young king appeared destined for greatness, especially under the guidance of his mentor Jehoiada.

He served God faithfully until his mentor died—the one who propped him up spiritually, who taught him the things of God.

For forty years, Joash appeared exemplary, even initiating a major temple renovation project. Scripture records that “Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.” He championed proper worship, demonstrated appropriate hatred toward paganism, and seemed determined to keep God at the center of national life.

The Tragic Turn

But appearances can be deceiving. After Jehoiada’s death at age 130, Joash’s true character emerged. The princes of Judah, who had previously appeared religiously aligned with the king, approached him with flattery and gifts.

“The king listened to them,” the preacher emphasizes. “Who had he previously listened to? His mentor, his uncle.”

What followed was a swift descent into apostasy. Joash and his princes “abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols.” They didn’t reject Jehovah outright—they simply added pagan worship alongside.

That’s happening, my friends, today, all across this world, and particularly in our nation. True worship, false worship, true doctrine, false doctrine, all preached in the same pulpit, all mixed up so the people don’t know one from the other… we used to call it ecumenism.

Divine Warning Rejected

God’s response was both judicious and merciful. Before bringing judgment, He sent prophets to call the wayward king back to faithfulness. Most significantly, He sent Zechariah—the son of Jehoiada and essentially Joash’s adoptive brother.

Standing before the people, Zechariah delivered God’s warning: “Why do you break the commandments of the Lord so that you cannot prosper? You have forsaken the Lord, and He has forsaken you.”

The response was chilling. Rather than heeding this divine message, “by command of the king, they stoned Zechariah with stones in the court of the house of the Lord.” Notice that they killed him in church.

With his dying breath, Zechariah uttered: “May the Lord see and avenge.”

Divine Judgment

Judgment came swiftly. Within a year, a small Syrian army defeated Judah’s much larger forces, destroyed the princes who had led Joash astray, and left the king severely wounded. Finally, Joash’s own servants assassinated him in his sickbed “because of the blood of the son of Jehoiada the priest.”

Even in death, Joash’s disgrace continued—they buried him in Jerusalem but denied him a place in the royal tombs.

The Forensic Analysis

Several factors led to Joash’s downfall:

1. Surface-level faith: His allegiance belonged to a man of God, but not to the God of the man. Joash followed Jehoiada without personally embracing Jehoiada’s God.
2. Moral conformity without moral conviction: The godly leadership of Jehoiada the priest produced moral conformity in Joash, but not a moral heart.
3. Lack of gratitude: As my grandfather used to say, “When the fire of gratitude dies on the altar of a man’s heart, that man is well-nigh hopeless.”
4. Hollow profession: He did what he was taught from his youth up, but what he was taught was never caught. He had it in his head. He knew the doctrines. He understood intellectually. But he never had it in his heart.
5. Convenience over conviction: After Jehoiada died, he couldn’t say no to his friends, because his heart didn’t belong to God.

The Challenging Application

What will you be when the Christian influences that made you what you are, are no longer around?

The younger generation specifically needs to challenge their hearts with this question. “What are you going to be when you’re no longer around your teachers, and no longer around good preaching? You’re going to be under some influence.”

The warning is clear. Without personal ownership of faith—genuine heart transformation rather than mere external conformity—anyone can follow Joash’s tragic path.

I pray that the strength of your spiritual life today does not depend on props, but on innermost personal convictions that God is creator God, Lord of lords, King of kings, and that His Son alone is the Savior. I pray that you would not give Him up for anything, including your own life.

In a world of tragic headlines and shocking moral failures, the ancient account of Joash reminds us that external compliance is never enough. Only a genuine heart transformation can withstand life’s inevitable pressures when our spiritual mentors are gone.

Dr. Bob Jones III is the chancellor of Bob Jones University. This article was created by asking Claude.AI to turn the transcript of a sermon into a magazine article format, preserving the vocabulary and style of the speaker. Dr. Jones has reviewed and edited the article and approves its publication. The recording on which this article is based can be found here.