But Jehoiada quickly commanded the Captains to seize Athaliah, and take her out of the Temple, and to kill her with the sword outside the Courts; and there she was slain.
Then Jehoiada made a covenant with the King and all the people, that they should be the Lord's people, and not idolaters any more; and they went into the house of the idol Baal, and broke it down; and they broke up the altars of Baal, and his images into small pieces, and killed the priest of Baal.
So all the people rejoiced greatly, and they brought the King to the King's house, and he sat on the Throne of Judah.
As long as the faithful High Priest lived, Joash was a good King. Jehoiada was his counsellor and friend, and under his advice Joash did much to repair the Temple of God.
But when Jehoiada died, Joash fell into evil company. The Princes of Judah came and persuaded him to go to the Groves and Idols; and the end was, that he brought misery on himself, and also on the Kingdom which he ruled.
God sent Prophet after Prophet to implore the people to return to the Lord, but Joash went on in his wrong-doing, even to killing the son of Jehoiada, his old friend and protector.
Joash fell very sick at this time, whether from wounds or from illness, the Bible does not say; but the servants who waited on him conspired against him, and killed him in his bed.
Oh! What a sorrowful death! No love, no tender pity, but hatred for all the evil he had done to the Kingdom, over which he might have reigned so gloriously, had he only kept close to the Lord God, who would surely have established his throne.
