2 kings 11-12

Read 2 Kings 11-12 at Bible Gateway.

There is a chiastic structure in today’s reading:

2 Kin 11:4-12:1
1A: 2 Kin 11:4-12, Jehoiada anoints Jehoash king in the temple in the seventh year;
1B: 2 Kin 11:13-16, Athaliah slain between the temple and the king’s house;
1C: Kin 11:17-18, Covenant renewed between the people and the LORD;
CENTRAL AXIS: 2 Kin 11:19, King established on the throne;
2C: 2 Kin 11:20a, People rejoiced and the city was quiet;
2B: 2 Kin 11:20b, Because they had slain Athaliah with the sword;
2A: 2 Kin 12:1, Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign.

This passage is full of signs of the Messiah! First is that Jehoash, the youngest son of King Ahaziah, escapes certain death at the hands of Athaliah his grandmother. Whenever we see the theme of resurrection and life, or escape from certain death, we are reading about Messiah!

I do not think it is coincidental that Jehoash was a baby when he escaped the mass murder. Moses, another type of Messiah, was a baby when he miraculously escaped from Pharaoh who was murdering the Hebrew baby boys. The history of Moses and Jehoash is prophesying of Messiah Yeshua, who was a baby when He escaped the murder of the baby boys of Bethlehem at the hands of Herod.

Second, notice the repeat of the sevens or Sabbath. In the seventh year of Jehoash, he was anointed king. Judah was delivered from the oppressive, wicked, and illegal rule of Athaliah in the seventh year, symbolizing rest from labor and deliverance from sin. Moreover, it was on the Sabbath day, as the guard was changing and the Levites were changing, so that there was a double portion of them in attendance at the temple, when Jehoash was anointed king. It will be in the seventh millennium likewise, when the usurpation of the enemy comes to an end, and the Son of David, Messiah Yeshua, is established on His rightful throne. For in His reign and in His kingdom, the people will rejoice and the earth will finally be at rest.

Third, when the son of David was anointed king, the covenant between the LORD and His people was renewed, and the temple of the idol was torn down and its priests slain. The renewed covenant is a sign of Messiah – He renews the covenant between the LORD and His people, in His own blood:

Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cupis the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” Luk 22:20

The Greek for the new covenant is can be understood to mean the renewed covenant, kainos (renewed in quality), not neos (never seen before). The Septuagint translators translated the Hebrew chodesh with kainos; chodesh is the Hebrew for the new crescent moon. The new moon is not new as in never before seen on the earth; it is renewed every month, after it had waxed old and vanished away (Heb 8:13). Yes, the heavens declare the glory of God, as day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge (Psa 19:1-2)!

As the son of David reigns, he commands that the  temple of the LORD be repaired and restored. The temple is the sign of the Davidic covenant (the Davidic covenant is the covenant between the LORD and the house of David, in which the LORD promises that his Son shall forever sit upon the throne of Israel). It was the son of David, Solomon, who built the temple of the LORD, prophetically declaring that the Son of David, Messiah Yeshua, will build the temple of the LORD, as the dwelling place for His name and of His Spirit, out of living stones today – that is me and you!