2 Kings 11–12

The whole promise to David hangs, for six years, on one hidden child. When Athaliah sees her son Ahaziah dead, she rises and destroys all the royal seed — the daughter of Jezebel turning on her own grandchildren to seize the throne. This is the serpent’s seed striking at the very root of the Genesis 3:15 promise: if every son of David dies, the lamp goes out, and the King who was to come from David’s loins has no line to come through. The throne-covenant of 2 Samuel 7 is one knife-stroke from extinction.

One infant is stolen out of the slaughter. Jehosheba — whose name means Yahweh is an oath — hides the baby Joash and his nurse, first in a bedchamber, then in the house of Yahweh, through all six years of the usurper’s reign. The oath-keeping Yahweh preserves the seed in his own house while the serpent’s daughter sits on the throne. The rightful king is alive, hidden, unseen — and the world believes the line is finished. It is the pattern of the true Son of David, hidden in death and in the Father, while the usurper appears to reign, until the appointed time of showing.

In the seventh year the hidden king is revealed. Jehoiada the priest gathers the captains, makes a covenant, and brings out the boy — put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony… and said, God save the king. Crown and law together; the king and the covenant restored in one act. Athaliah tears her clothes and cries Treason! and is put to death; the house of Baal is torn down and Mattan its priest slain. The seventh-year manifestation of the hidden king is a resurrection in figure — the dead line stands up crowned.

And the sevens are not incidental. Jehoiada acts in the seventh year (11:4), the Sabbath year of rest and release, and the account closes on the same number — seven years old was Jehoash when he began to reign (11:21), the city quiet and the usurper slain. Seven at the opening and seven at the close frame the showing of the king: the Millennial peace typed, when the true hidden King is unveiled and the city of David is still at last.

Then chapter 12, and the rescued king grows up to repair the house that hid him. Joash orders the temple mended, and when the priests are slow, Jehoiada takes a chest, bores a hole in its lid, and sets it beside the altar — and the people bring their silver freely until the house is repaired. But the rescued seed is still a son of Adam. After Jehoiada dies Joash declines; when Hazael comes up against Jerusalem, the king who repaired the temple strips its treasures to buy the enemy off, and is murdered in the end by his own servants. The lamp was kept — but the man who kept it did not finish whole.

The promise hung on one hidden child, kept in the house of Yahweh by the One who swore the oath. The serpent could not put out the lamp of David.

Ezekiel 2

The prophet is set on his feet to carry a word that will mostly be refused. Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee — and the Spirit enters him and stands him up. The address itself is the key: son of man, ben adam, the frail child of dust, is the title Ezekiel will hear scores of times — and the title the greater Son of Man will take as his own. The word comes to humanity through one who shares humanity’s frame.

That standing is itself a small resurrection. The Spirit enters the man of dust and raises him upright — the same word given to Daniel in his exile, stand upright (Dan 10:11). Two prophets in Gentile captivity are each raised to their feet to hear, a sign in the body of the resurrection their people wait for.

He is sent to a rebellious nation… impudent children and stiffhearted, and told plainly the message will not be welcomed: whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear. The success of the watchman is not measured by the response but by the faithfulness of the speaking. Be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words.

Then the scroll. A hand holds out a roll of a book… written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe. The word he must carry is grief on both sides of the page — no blank space left, the judgment written full. The prophet does not choose his message; he is handed it, and told to eat it.

The word is given, not invented; the son of man stands on his feet to speak it whether the house hears or forbears.

2 Corinthians 8–9

Paul holds up the poorest ecclesias as the model of giving, and behind them the King who made himself poor. The Macedonians, in a great trial of affliction… and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. They gave beyond their power, and the secret of it was that first gave their own selves to the Lord — the gift of the purse followed the gift of the person.

The collection is for the poor saints at Jerusalem, and Paul will not command it; he wants it free. And he anchors the whole appeal in one sentence about Christ: ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. The King of David’s line would be born with no room in the inn precisely so that a ruined people might be made rich — the self-emptying that the manger will make visible.

Chapter 9 turns to the law of the harvest: he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. The gift is to be glad, not grudging — God loveth a cheerful giver — for the God who is asking is the God who has already given everything. Paul ends with a phrase that reaches past the collection to the gift behind every gift: Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. The unspeakable gift is the Son himself.

Give as those who have received the unspeakable gift. The rich One became poor to make the poor rich — let the purse follow the person, gladly.