# Day 161

# Israel Robs the Temple

2 Chronicles 24:17–25:28

Judah’s princes loved to worship idols. The good priest Jehoiada was dead. So the king listened to the princes. They talked him into leaving the Lord. So again, the Lord allowed the Syrians to attack. They beat Judah’s larger army and wounded Joash. Later, the king’s own servants killed him. Joash ruled Judah forty years. But he wasn’t buried with Judah’s kings.

Amaziah, Joash’s son, began to rule at age twenty-five. He raised an army of 300,000 to attack Edom. He paid Israel 7,500 pounds of silver for an army of 100,000 to help. But a prophet told him, “Don’t let Israel’s army go with you. God isn’t with them.”

“But how will I get back my silver?”

“God can give you much more than you lost.”

Amaziah won the battle without Israel’s army. But he brought back Edom’s idols to Jerusalem. A prophet asked him, “These gods couldn’t save Edom from your army. Why do you turn to them?” Amaziah wouldn’t listen.

So Israel’s army attacked Judah. They broke down Jerusalem’s wall, robbed the temple, and kidnapped the king. Fifteen years later, Amaziah died and was buried with Judah’s kings.

Questions: Why did Joash listen to the princes? What caused Israel to attack Jerusalem?