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2 Chronicles 21:17. "[A]nd [the Philistines] came up against Judah, and invaded it, and carried away all the possessions they found that belonged to the king's house, and also his sons and his wives, so that no son was left to him except Jehoahaz, his youngest son."

 

This youngest son will become king in his father's stead and, while he will be a bad king as was his father, he will sire Joash, who will eventually become the pivot point for the people to rise up against the wickedness of his predecessors. (See "You Say You (Don't) Want a Revolution").

 

The people of Judah are God's people. Therefore, no matter how far astray they go, or are led by bad leaders, and no matter how much God has to chastise them, He will never abandon them, nor destroy them all. 

 

God stirred up the Philistines against King Jehoram, and they took everything from the king except one son, Jehoahaz, later called Ahaziah. This one son was God's way of not abandoning His people, of not leaving them without a leader after Jehoram's death (which followed quickly, and quite miserably, after this Philistine raid (2 Chronicles 21:18-20)). God could have taken even this son, leaving the people leaderless and in chaos, but He didn't, He left them a king's son who the people put on the throne. The fact that the people still did not see the wickedness of this family descended from Ahab shows that they were still blind to the evil that they were doing. But again, did God did not abandon them.

 

Ahaziah's reign only lasted a year before he was killed by Jehu, who had been anointed by God to destroy the house of Ahab (2 Chronicles 22:7-9). In her anger at her son's death, Ahaziah's mother, Athaliah, destroyed the entire royal family and reigned over Judah herself, but once again, God let one son survive. This baby boy, Joash, was hidden away at the time of the slaughter. Seven years later, he would become king, after the priests and people carried out a secret plan to take back the throne from Athaliah (2 Chronicles 23).

 

It took some time, a lot of pain and suffering, and a usurping, crazy queen-mother, but the people finally saw that their kings had been leading them astray. Once Joash was king, the people quickly righted things - "Then all the people went to the house of Ba'al and tore it down" (2 Chronicles 23:17), as if the veil of blindness had suddenly lifted (which I believe it had).

 

We should remember that we, the Church, are God's people now, and He will never abandon us. The Church has had her share of bad leaders and priests, many of whom have engaged in very wicked behavior, some of which is continuing, and some of whom are leading people astray. God has to chastise His Church in order to root out this evil, but He will never let it be destroyed. Eventually, the time will be right and the priests and people will have learned that tolerating wickedness has severe consequences. God will then raise up a leader who will inspire us to reject our "Ba'als". It may be now, as the Conclave begins today, or it may be sometime in the future. But we know that it will eventually happen, because God will never abandon His Church. He will raise up the right leader at the right time.