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Men may constrain us to a temporary amendment, but God alone can control us to a lasting change of character and heart. Circumstances can make any one of you religious for a time, and give you feelings and habits which will make you appear religious to others, and what is worse still, lead you to suppose that the outward appearance is the effect of inward principle. But nothing but the grace of God, and the love of His name and His truth, can produce that piety of heart which withstands temptation, and lives when all earthly agencies are gone which nursed it, because it lives in Him who was pleased to make those earthly agencies the means of grace to the soul. We have in this verse two characters for contemplation.

I. JEHOIADA, AS AN EXAMPLE OF INFLUENCE EXERTED FOR GOOD.

1. He had three elements of success with which to work.

(1)  Power, arising from his priestly office and his marriage relationship.

(2)  Piety, which gave him the principles on which to discharge his mission.

(3)  Courage, arising from his faith in God.

2. Note here the relative influence of personal piety. "Joash did that which is right." The nation prospered in every sense through the faithfulness of one man. Clear and consistent personal piety is always a persuasive thing. No treatises upon religion can rival for persuasive power the "living epistles known and read of all men." Our calling as Christians is to win others, as Jehoiada did, to do that which is right in the sight of the Lord. We have received light that our faces may shine before men. The design of God in our salvation is not only our happiness but our usefulness.

II. JOASH AS AN EXAMPLE FOR OUR WARNING. The religion which had its life and influence only from a man was soon forgotten when the source of that influence had passed away. There is a vital difference between the godliness which is the result of external circumstances and that which is the product of internal principle. It is the difference between the galvanised corpse and the living man; the star and the meteor; the flash of the lightning and the action of the sunbeam. There is a false godliness current among men.

1. With some piety is dependent upon policy.

2. With others it is a matter of periods.

3. With others it is a religion of place.

4. With others it is dependent upon the personal influence of some minister, or upon the advice and counsel of a friend.

(C. J. Phipps Eyre, M.A.)

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KJV: And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

WEB: Joash did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh all the days of Jehoiada the priest.