Bible Lesson: Parables Of The Old
Testament: King Jehoash's
Parable Of The Thistle And The Cedar.
Spoken By: King of Israel,
Jehoash.
Location: Jerusalem
Bible Text:
II Kings 14:9 KJV
II Chronicles 25:17-28 NLT
17 After consulting with his
advisers, King Amaziah of Judah sent this challenge to
Israel’s king Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz and grandson of Jehu:
“Come and meet me in battle!”
18 But King Jehoash of Israel
replied to King Amaziah of Judah with this story: “Out in the
Lebanon mountains, a thistle sent a message to a mighty cedar tree:
‘Give your daughter in marriage to my son.’ But just then a wild
animal of Lebanon came by and stepped on the thistle, crushing it!
19 “You are saying, ‘I have
defeated Edom,’ and you are very proud of it (II
Chronicles 25:1-16). But my advice is to stay at home. Why
stir up trouble that will only bring disaster on you and the people
of Judah?”
20 But Amaziah refused to listen,
for God was determined to destroy him for turning to the gods of
Edom.
21 So King Jehoash of Israel
mobilized his army against King Amaziah of Judah. The two armies drew
up their battle lines at Beth-shemesh in Judah.
22 Judah was routed by the army of
Israel, and its army scattered and fled for home.
23 King Jehoash of Israel captured
Judah’s king, Amaziah son of Joash and grandson of Ahaziah, at
Beth-shemesh. Then he brought him to Jerusalem, where he demolished
600 feet of Jerusalem’s wall, from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner
Gate.
24 He carried off all the gold and
silver and all the articles from the Temple of God that had been in
the care of Obed-edom. He also seized the treasures of the royal
palace, along with hostages, and then returned to Samaria.
25 King Amaziah of Judah lived for
fifteen years after the death of King Jehoash of Israel.
26 The rest of the events in
Amaziah’s reign, from beginning to end, are recorded in The Book of
the Kings of Judah and Israel.
27 After Amaziah turned away from
The Lord, there was a conspiracy against his life in Jerusalem, and
he fled to Lachish. But his enemies sent assassins after him, and
they killed him there.
28 They brought his body back on a
horse, and he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David.
What was the
parable of Israel's King Jehoash?
But King
Jehoash of Israel replied to King
Amaziah of Judah with this story: “Out
in the Lebanon mountains, a thistle sent a message to a mighty cedar
tree: ‘Give your daughter in marriage to my son.’ But just then a
wild animal of Lebanon came by and stepped on the thistle, crushing
it!
A thistle: A lowly
briar, thorn bush.
A cedar: A stately
and beautiful tree.
The King of Israel,
was not to be goaded into war, by a pumped up King Amaziah. King
Amaziah had just slain the Edomites (Verses 1-16).
In this parable,
King Jehoash, considered Amaziah to be beneath him in every respect.
No wild animal could crush down a stately cedar, but a briar on the
ground, certainly would be flattened.
King of Israel:
King Jehoash (Like a mighty cedar tree.)
King of Judah: King
Amaziah (Like a briar on the ground, waiting to be trampled on.)
Pride and arrogance
has been the ruin of many, and so it was with Amaziah.
The two went into
battle, with the following result. King Jehoash, was defeated
(19-28), and eventually killed by his own country men.
Pride:
Lucifer's Pride:
Isaiah 14:12-14
KJV
12 How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground,
which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine
heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the
stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in
the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the
heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to
hell, to the sides of the pit.
Ezekiel 28:12-19
KJV
12 "...Thou sealest up the sum,
full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden
of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz,
and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire,
the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy
tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou
wast created.
14 Thou art the anointed cherub that
covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of
God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways
from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
16 By the multitude of thy
merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and
thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the
mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the
midst of the stones of fire.
17 Thine heart was lifted up
because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of
thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee
before kings, that they may behold thee.
18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries
by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy
traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee,
it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth
in the sight of all them that behold thee.
19 All they that know thee among the
people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never
shalt thou be any more."...
Psalm 59:12 KJV
For the sin of their mouth and the
words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for
cursing and lying which they speak.
Psalm 138:6 NLT
Though The Lord is great, He cares
for the humble, but He keeps His distance from the proud.
Proverbs 8:13
KJV
The fear of The Lord is to hate
evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth,
do I hate.
Proverbs 11:2
KJV
When pride cometh, then cometh
shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.
Proverbs
16:18,19 KJV
18 Pride goeth before destruction,
and an haughty spirit before a fall.
19 Better it is to be of an humble
spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.
Proverbs 22:4
KJV
By humility and the fear of the Lord
are riches, and honor, and life.
Proverbs 29:23
KJV
A man's pride shall bring him low:
but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit.
Isaiah 2:11,12
KJV
11 The lofty looks of man shall be
humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and
The Lord alone shall be exalted in
that day.
12 For the day of The Lord Of Hosts
shall be upon every one that is proud and
Isaiah 57:15 KJV
For thus saith The High And Lofty
One That Inhabiteth Eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high
and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble
spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart
of the contrite ones.
Micah 6:8 KJV
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is
good; and what doth The Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and
to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Zechariah 9:9
NLT
Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in
triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you.
He is righteous and victorious, yet
He is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt.
Malachi 4:1 KJV
For, behold, the day cometh, that
shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do
wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them
up, saith The Lord Of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root
nor branch.
Matthew 11:29,30
KJV
29 Take My yoke upon you, and learn
of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto
your souls.
30 For My yoke is easy, and My
burden is light.
Matthew 16:24
KJV
Then said Jesus unto His disciples,
If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross, and follow Me.
Matthew 18:4 KJV
Whosoever therefore shall humble
himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of
heaven.
Luke 1:51,52 NLT
51 His mighty arm has done
tremendous things! He has scattered the proud and haughty ones.
52 He has brought down princes from
their thrones and exalted the humble.
Luke 14:10 KJV
But when thou art bidden, go and sit
down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may
say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in
the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.
Luke 18:9-14 KJV
9 And He spake this parable unto
certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and
despised others:
10 Two men went up into the temple
to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are,
extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
12 I fast twice in the week, I give
tithes of all that I possess.
13 And the publican, standing afar
off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote
upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
14 I tell you, this man went down to
his house justified rather than the other: for every one that
exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall
be exalted.
Luke 22:24-27
NLT
24 Then they began to argue among
themselves about who would be the greatest among them.
25 Jesus told them, “In this world
the kings and great men lord it over their people, yet they are
called ‘friends of the people.’
26 But among you it will be
different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the
lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant.
27 Who is more important, the one
who sits at the table or the one who serves? The one who sits at the
table, of course. But not here! For I am among you as one who serves.
John 13:5,15 KJV
5 After that He poureth water into a
bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with
the towel wherewith He was girded.
15 For I have given you an example,
that ye should do as I have done to you.
Romans 12:3,16
KJV
3 For I say, through the grace given
unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more
highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God
hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
16 Be of the same mind one toward
another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate.
Be not wise in your own conceits.
Philippians 2:8
KJV
And being found in fashion as A Man,
He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross.
James 4:6,10 KJV
6 But He giveth more grace.
Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto
the humble.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of
The Lord, and He shall lift you up.
I Peter 2:21 KJV
For even hereunto were ye called:
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye
should follow His steps:
I Peter 5:5 KJV
Likewise, ye younger, submit
yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another,
and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth
grace to the humble.
I John 2:16 KJV
For all that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,
is not of the Father, but is of the world.
