"Always Reforming"

I'm pretty excited later this summer, my college roommates and I are going to spend a couple of days together in Connecticut.

! I haven't seen some of them in a long time.

And I am really looking forward to time together with them to renew our friendships and our relationships.

But as I've been reflecting on catching up with them, I got an email from one of them earlier that shared some really significant news in his life that I had no idea about.

And I realized how far our relationship had drifted apart in the sense of being together in a relationship on a regular basis.

Relationships need constant renewal, don't they?

This is true in our co-workers or the people we work with.

This is true in our friendships.

This is true in our marriages, in our relationships with our kids.

This is true in our relationships.

Wherever our relationships are, we often feel that the force draws us away from intimacy and closeness in our relationships.

Sometimes it's experiencing great loss.

And walking through grief isolates us from others.

Sometimes it's the busyness of life.

Everything that's right in front of me is so captivating and so important that I don't have time to look beyond.

Or I lose sight of some of these longer term or more important things of life.

Sometimes we just get distracted by new and shiny things.

Whether it be a new hobby.

Whether it be a new relationship.

Whether it be a new TV.

A new fire pit in your backyard.

Whatever it is.

New shiny things.

And sometimes we just plain get lazy.

We become complacency.

We get bored.

And it turns into neglect.

And all of our relationships will wither and suffer.

Unless we can continue to seek to renew them on a regular basis.

And so it is with our relationship with God as well.

We within our relationship with God need the same kind of renewal on a regular basis.

One of the phrases that came out of the Protestant Reformation was,

excuse my Latin if I don't say this rightly,

Ecclesia Reformata Semper Reformanda.

Translated, the church reformed, always in need of reforming.

That's a dynamic translation of it.

But I think it's helpful to think about when the Protestant Reformation happened,

there were two things that went on.

One was a reformation of the church to reestablish clarity in the gospel

so that we understood the Bible and Jesus and the means of salvation properly

in light of some ways in which the church before then had really wandered from that.

The church was renewed doctrinally.

And so the church reformed refers to that.

But then it says, but always in need of reforming.

The person who wrote this, I didn't even write down his name because he's some Dutch guy

and I would have butchered his name terribly.

But the guy who read this actually coined this phrase not for some sort of grand reformation of the church

where we need to tear it all down and build it up from nothing again,

but instead saying the church has been reformed in a renewal of doctrine and practice,

but what we need is God's ongoing work to reform our hearts

so that our hearts are captivated by the truths of the gospel

and by the worship of God and our lives are lived to serve and please Him and to bring glory.

And one of the fascinating things about this, and you'll see this as a thread through it,

is that always in need of reforming.

It is not a call for me to reform myself, but it is a cry and a recognition

that I need to be reformed or renewed in my relationship.

Some of us, like an old married couple, have been with God for a long time.

But maybe it's grown a little stale, a little cold, a little pro forma.

Our passage today speaks a lot about renewal, about renewal in our relationship with God.

It actually uses the word covenant a bunch to talk about a covenantal relationship with God.

We're continuing in our series, our preaching series in 2 Chronicles,

and we're going to look at 2 Chronicles chapters 23 and 24 today.

2 Chronicles 23 · chapter mention

You can find it in your pew Bible on page 348, I believe.

And as we look there, let's pull out our Bibles so that we can read along as I read it,

as we go through the sermon.

But remember that this book was written to a group of people who had come back from the exile

of God's judgment on His people for their lack of reformation,

for their wandering away and their forsaking God.

And now God had brought them back and restored them to the land of Israel.

But they're asking, how do we go forward?

How do we not let that happen again?

How do we pursue a relationship with God and being God's people?

And one of the things that we see is they look back to the earlier stories to learn, right?

And as the writer of 2 Chronicles was writing, and he said,

I want you to look back and see what happened.

Look at the good places where God was at work and where people were responding rightly.

And look at the bad places where God was at work and people were ignoring Him

and doing other things.

More specifically, in the story of the kingdom of Israel,

the context has been in chapters 21 and 22,

we've seen the story of three bad rulers,

Jehoram, Ahaziah, and Athaliah.

We saw that this is the influence of the house that ruled the northern kingdom

that had no interest in following or serving God.

In fact, they followed other gods.

And at the time when we're going to jump into the story,

Athaliah sits on the throne.

She is the mother-in-law of the last king in the line of David who had died.

And so, this leads us to…

I'm just going to read this so that we can get a little bit of context.

Chapter 22, if you want to look back one chapter,

chapter 22, verses 10 through 12,

this is the context and the setup.

Now, when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah,

saw that her son was dead,

she arose and destroyed all the royal family of the house of Judah.

But Jehoshabath, the daughter of the king,

took Joash, the son of Ahaziah,

and stole him away from among the king's sons

who were about to be put to death,

and she put him and his nurse in a bedroom.

Thus, Jehoshabath, the daughter of King Jehoram,

and wife of Jehoiada the priest,

because she was a sister of Ahaziah,

hid him from Athaliah so that she did not put him to death.

And he remained with them six years,

hidden in the house of God,

while Athaliah reigned over the land.

And as we see this little story,

we see that the seed of renewal for God's people is planted.

So let's see what God has to teach us about that.

Let me pray and ask for God's help

as we look at our passage this morning.

So pray with me, if you will.

Lord Jesus,

Lord, we need your help this morning.

Lord, how often our hearts do grow cold.

We pray this morning that by your Spirit you would,

Lord, bring your winds of renewal

into our hearts and lives.

Lord, I pray that you would give us understanding

of this section of your word.

Lord, I pray that you would help me

to speak your truth as I ought to.

And I pray for us that we would sit under

and receive your word.

And Lord, that you would do your work

in our hearts

as we listen to your word today.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

The big idea of our passage this morning

is pretty straightforward.

It is, we will see the importance

of renewal in the relationship

of God's people.

The importance of renewal

in the relationship of God's people.

We will see it in three steps.

The renewal that revives devotion

to our King.

The renewal that clarifies

our practice of worship of God.

And a renewal that keeps us

from falling away from our God.

So, there's your outline

if you want to follow along.

The first thing we're going to look at

is at the beginning of chapter 23,

verses 1 through 15,

we'll see renewal revives devotion

to our King.

So, we're going to read that together

and then we'll look at it

for a few minutes.

2 Chronicles chapter 23, verse 1.

2 Chronicles 23:1

But in the seventh year,

Jehoiada took courage

and entered into a covenant

with the commanders of hundreds.

Azariah, the son of Jehoram,

Ishmael, the son of Jehohanan,

Azariah, the son of Obed,

Maaseah, the son of Adaiah,

and Elishaphat, the son of Zichri.

And they went about through Judah

and gathered the Levites

from all the cities of Judah

and the heads of the fathers' houses of Israel.

And they came to Jerusalem.

And all the assembly made a covenant

with the king in the house of God.

And Jehoiada said to them,

Behold, the king's son,

let him reign as the Lord spoke

concerning the sons of David.

This is the thing that you shall do.

Of you priests and Levites

who come off duty on the Sabbath,

one-third shall be gatekeepers

and one-third shall be at the king's house

and one-third at the gate of the foundation.

And all the people shall be in the courts

of the house of the Lord.

Let no one enter the house of the Lord

except the priests and ministering Levites.

They may enter for they are holy,

but all the people shall keep the charge of the Lord.

And the Levites shall surround the king

each with his weapon in his hand.

And whoever enters the house

shall be put to death.

Be with the king when he comes in

and when he goes out.

The Levites and all Judah did

according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded

and they each brought his men

who were to go off duty on the Sabbath

and those who were to come on duty on the Sabbath

for Jehoiada the priest

did not dismiss the divisions.

And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains

the spears and the large and small shields

that had been King David's

which were in the house of God

and he set all the people as a guard for the king

every man with his weapon in his hand

from the south side of the house

to the north side of the house

around the altar and the house.

Then they brought out the king's son

and put the crown on him

and gave him the testimony

and they proclaimed him king

and Jehoiada and his son anointed him

and they said,

long live the king.

When Athaliah heard the noise of the people

running and praising the king

she went into the house of the Lord

to the people

and when she looked

there was the king

standing by his pillar at the entrance

and the captains

and the trumpeters

beside the king

and all the people of the land

rejoicing and blowing trumpets

and the singers with their musical instruments

leading in the celebration

and Athaliah tore her clothes

and cried,

treason, treason.

Then Jehoiada the priest

brought out the captains

who were set over the army

saying to them,

bring her out between the ranks

and anyone who follows her

is to be put to death

with the sword.

For the priest said,

do not put her to death

in the house of the Lord.

So they laid hands on her

and she went into the entrance

of the horse gate

of the king's house

and they put her to death there.

Okay.

Old Testament narrative

is so much fun.

There's so much detail.

What is going on here?

So Jehoiada, right,

is the priest

overseeing the temple

in Jerusalem

where they worship God.

His wife is Jehoshaphat

who is the woman

who saved Joash

who is the son of the king

who has passed away

from being killed

by his grandmother

so that she could have power.

That was her.

She wiped out

all of the remaining rivals

to the throne

so she could take

the throne of Israel.

But God preserved that boy.

And six years later,

Jehoiada decided,

it is time.

And with the Lord,

he put a plan in place.

He carefully built support.

He pulled together

the military commanders.

He pulled together

the religious leaders

and the Levites

who were those

who served in the temple.

He pulled together

the fathers of the families.

So he gathered

a broad coalition

of the people of Israel

who wanted to see

a restoration.

And there's probably

an undercurrent here

of saying,

Athaliah was a terrible ruler

and people didn't want

her to keep going.

They wanted something new.

And Jehoiada took advantage

of this.

And it took shrewd planning.

There's a lot of detail

in here,

but basically what Jehoiada

was doing was picking

the perfect time

to pronounce this new king.

It was when there was

a change of guard.

So there was a guard

coming in

and there was a guard

going out

and he said,

everyone stay.

So he has twice

as many guards as normal.

And there are all

these people here

and it's on the Sabbath

so people are here

worshiping.

And he said,

at this time

we're going to set up

a cordon around the temple

and then we're going

to proclaim the king

in the middle of it.

And that's basically

what he does.

Right?

And Athaliah,

the sitting queen

at this point,

who didn't seem

very interested

it seems

in the house of the Lord,

she didn't go there

regularly

because,

as we will see,

she worshipped Baal.

She worshipped

in a different place,

a different God.

So she was probably

unfamiliar with

some of these shenanigans

that Jehoiada

was pulling off.

She shows up

and she yells

and says,

what's going on here?

Treason, treason,

which is so ironic,

right?

She who usurped

the throne

from her,

the rightful heir

who lived

and took it

for herself.

She who led

the people astray

in so many ways.

Her treason

against God

was far greater.

And yet here she is

crying treason,

treason,

and Jehoiada says,

no,

your time is done.

And the military

takes her

and they remove her

from the temple courts,

from the areas,

from the places

of worship,

and she is removed

and executed

for her rebellion

and for her unrighteous

taking of the throne.

In all of this,

the nation

was reverting

to a renewal

of what should have been.

The line

of the kings

of David

was being restored.

And did you notice

that there were

a couple of times,

you see it

in verse 23,

verse 1,

you see it again

in verse 3,

that Jehoiada

led in people

making covenants,

that is,

agreements

to renew

their relationship

with one another

so that they could

be God's people

and do what God

had called them

to do.

They were stepping

back into

a stream

of covenants

that go back

even further,

that go all the way

back to Father Abraham,

the one who God

made a covenant

saying,

I will make you

the father

of a great nation

and I will bless you

and your nation

and your people

will bless

the whole world.

It's the covenant

that God made

with the people

of Israel

through Moses

at Sinai

when he gave

the law

and said,

this is what it means

to be my people.

This is how you are

to live

as my people

and I will be your God

and you will be my people

for,

till the end of the earth

and I will establish you

and make you

to be a place

where I display my glory

and the covenant

that he made with David,

I will make your throne

an eternal throne

and this will be a kingdom

that will last forever

and one of your descendants

will sit

on this throne

forever.

And the restoration

of Joash

to the place of king

is a restoration

to the promises

of these covenants

to be God's people

in God's place,

renewing a way

to walk with God

and to have a relationship

with Him.

Now,

before we keep going

with this story,

let's stop and think,

how do we apply this

today?

right?

Now,

I always say this

but I'm going to say it again.

Israel,

the nation state of Israel

was God's people

expressed through

a political,

socio-economic reality.

They had militaries,

they had governments,

they had…

In the New Testament,

the church

is God's people,

becomes a transnational,

apolitical

movement throughout

all societies

in the whole world,

right?

And so,

we're not looking

to restore

a new king

to rule over politics

or a nation

or society

as the church.

We are looking

for the king

of the church

to be exalted

in the lives

of the church

so that we can be

God's people

throughout the whole world.

And we have that king

and his name is Jesus.

He is the descendant

of David.

He is the one

who came proclaiming

the kingdom of God

is at hand.

He is the one

who established

his kingdom

through his life

and death

and resurrection.

And this is the king

that we follow.

Or is it?

This is the question

we need to ask ourselves

as we think about

this passage.

Who is really

the king of our lives?

Who do we really trust

for protection,

for provision?

Who do we run to

for counsel

and wisdom?

Who do we bow

our knee to

and sacrificially follow?

Who do we devote

our lives

to pleasing

and serving?

Because this is what

kingship

at its best

is meant to be.

This is what

Mariadoc Brandybuck

saw in Theoden,

king of Roan,

in the Lord of the Rings

when he bowed his knee

before this old man

and said,

I will serve you

as your servant

because you are a king

worth following

and worshiping.

And we have someone

even better than that

in Jesus.

But it's so easy,

is it not,

for our heart devotion

to Jesus

to wane?

How easy it is

for our,

for us to look

to other places

than his saving power

and redeeming power

in our lives.

We look to our jobs

and our bosses

to provide for our

physical needs,

and so we end up

serving them.

we give our lives

to our academic mentors

or our loyalty

to our political leaders

and follow them

sacrificially.

We look not to God's word

or to the king of kings

and lord of lords,

but to podcasts,

news sources,

influencers on the internet

and others

to shape

how we think

what is good

and wise

and right

in the world.

And slowly

we become weaned

from Jesus

being really

our king.

But we need to be

reminded that

Jesus our king

came bringing riches

of an eternal kingdom

that far outweighs

it all.

And the security

of our salvation

in him

based not on our works

but based on his

gracious work for us

is beyond compare.

And the wisdom

that he gives

which is so unlike

the wisdom

of the world

is so great.

we may require

the careful planning

that Jehoiada did

to renew

our love for Jesus.

We may need

to cut out things

that rival him

in our hearts.

We may need

to turn off

voices in our heads.

We may need

to rededicate ourselves

to worshiping Jesus

more than all

to make him

truly the controlling

center of our lives

because he is a king

worth that kind of worship.

So we see that

in this story

there's not only

renewal of a devotion

to a king

but secondly

we see that

there's a renewal

that clarifies

the practice

of our worship

of God.

this is what

happens

as we get

to the end

of chapter 23

so let's read

that together

and look at it.

Starting in verse 16

of chapter 23

says this,

And Jehoiada

made a covenant

between himself

and all the people

and the king

that they should be

the Lord's people.

Then all the people

went to the house

of Baal

and tore it down

his altars

and his images

they broke into pieces

and they killed

Matan

the priest

of Baal

before the altars.

And Jehoiada

posted watchmen

for the house

of the Lord

under the direction

of the Levitical priests

and the Levites

whom David

had organized

to be in charge

of the house

of the Lord

to offer burnt offerings

to the Lord

as it is written

in the law of Moses

with rejoicing

and with singing

according to the order

of David.

He stationed

the gatekeepers

at the gates

of the house

of the Lord

so that no one

should enter

who was in any way

unclean.

And he took

the captains

the nobles

the governors

of the people

and all the people

of the land

and they brought

the king

down from the house

of the Lord

marching through

the upper gate

to the king's house

and they set the king

on the royal throne

so all the people

of the land rejoiced

and the city

was quiet

after Athaliah

had been put to death

with the sword.

So having presented

the king

and restored him

to his place

then Jehoiada

leads the people

to turn their interest

to the worship

of God

in the temple.

Right?

And this was the place

if you remember

going all the way

back to the Exodus

God said

I will be among you

and he manifested

himself

in very physical ways

and then he told Moses

build a tabernacle

which is a big tent

it's a movable tent

and that tent

with him

and God

when they stopped

God would show

and manifest

his presence

among them

and then further on

when they finally

returned to the promised land

and they built Jerusalem

they built a temple

and that temple

there was a

a special place

where God himself

manifested his presence

among his people

and one of the most

grievous things

that happened

in the exile

was that

you can read this

in the book of Ezekiel

the glory of the Lord

departed from the temple

and was no longer

among his people

and here

that's after this

historically

what you see here

is Jehoiada

renewing the worship

of God

while his presence

was still manifested

in the temple

notice that

the whole nation

is involved

this is not being led

by a few people

at the top

and everyone else

is just

I don't know

what's going on

but you see

the people

and the priests

and the king

were renewing

their covenant

with the God

and then they were

involved in this

transformation

where they went

and they tore down

the temple of Baal

the place that was

the center

of worship

of other gods

that should never

have been

and they killed

the priest

who led that

because he had led

the people astray

from worshiping God

and he renewed

the covenant

relationship

with the people

and he rebuilt

the temple

taking from

this false temple

all the riches

that had been lost

and renewing them

into the beauty

and the glory

of this physical

place

of the temple

they didn't just

rebuild the building

though

they rebuilt

the practices

it says that

he renewed

the Levites

in the offering

of sacrifices

and did you notice

as I was reading

how often he said

as David had done

or even as Moses

had done

this was a renewal

that was going

back to the old

practices

where they were good

where they were right

and remembering

what God

had already said

and saying

let's keep doing that

let's do that anew

because we haven't

done it for a while

if I

and so we see

this renewal

right

of the temple

they see this

renewal

of the worship

and remember

that the sacrificial

system

was one

that pictured

the gospel

for the people

of Israel

in the Old Testament

right

it showed

that

the importance

of sin

as an offense

to God

and the inability

to approach

a holy God

as sinful people

and God gave

this

this

this means

by which

that sin

could be atoned

for

through the death

of animals

right

in a momentary

way

the whole temple

system was meant

to show us

that we're sinful

people

and that we can't

just walk up

to God

and say

hey

how's it going

as a holy God

we don't

we don't have

the right

to do that

in fact

it would

incur upon

us

his wrath

against sin

and evil

but God

has made a way

for us to be

covered

and that's the

picture you see

over and again

by covered

by this blood

so that we could

again

draw near

to God

and again

worship him

as we ought

to

and one other

thing that's

really cool

is they renewed

the singing

did you notice

that

they renewed

the singing

that wasn't

just doing

rites and rituals

but was also

heartfelt praise

and adoration

glorifying

and bringing

and

proclaiming

the greatness

of God

if we read

ahead into

chapter 24

we're not

going to read

this

but 1

through 14

we see a

renewal

in another

way

because

what Jehoiada

ends up

doing

with Joash

is

gathering

taxes

to continue

to rebuild

the temple

and to renew

it

and

so

they

refresh

what had

been lost

during

the last

the reign

of the last

kings

they refresh

the temple

so that

it has

all that

it needs

to properly

do

the worship

that God

called them

to

and so

the second

pattern of renewal

is looking at

the renewal

of worship

and how do we

worship

God rightly

and in the

Old Testament

it was determined

this should be

at the temple

through the

priests

with the

sacrificial system

with the

praising

of God

as a part

of it

right

what about

us

today

how do

we

be renewed

in our

practice

of worship

well

that could

be a really

long sermon

series

but

here are

a couple

of thoughts

for you

one

way

that I

think

we need

to be

renewed

is how

we come

to this

gathering

on Sunday

mornings

how do

we come

to a

corporate

worship

time

together

because

we live

in a

consumer

world

and

often

we

think

what

am I

going

to get

out of

this

this

morning

am I

going to

be

entertained

intrigued

or drawn

in

some

of us

may

come

for

intellectual

rigor

and

sophistication

to build

up

knowledge

to learn

more

stuff

some

of us

might

come

for

an

emotional

experience

and for

the

feels

that God

is real

some

of us

might

come

for

community

and to

be

loved

and

connected

to

others

some

of us

might

come

because

we

know

it's

the

right

thing

to

do

and

all

of

those

are

good

things

right

all

of

those

are

good

things

and

I'm

glad

that

you're

here

this

morning

regardless

of

your

motivation

and

I

hope

you'll

come

back

but

when

God

calls

us

to

worship

together

he

calls

us

so

that

we

can

be

renewed

by

him

we

return

to

the

means

of

grace

that

he

has

given

us

the

word

of

God

the

practice

of

sacraments

the

fellowship

of

the

saints

these

gifts

so

that

we

might

remember

God

and

his

work

and

his

greatness

and

be

renewed

in

our

faith

we

come

so

that

we

will

see

God

that

we

will

remember

God

so

that

our

hearts

will

be

turned

to

him

again

in

adoration

in

devotion

in

knowledge

and

truth

and

we

pray

that

as

we

gather

here

at

Trinity

every

Sunday

that

God

would

be

lifted

up

in

our

midst

that

Jesus

our

King

would

be

seen

clearly

and

that

that

would

be

the

thing

that

would

make

you

come

back

week

after

week

after

week

so

as

we

gather

we

want

to

examine

our

hearts

why

do

we

gather

what

do

we

come

here

for

is

it

in

a

consumeristic

mentality

or

is

it

in

a

recognition

that

we

desperately

need

to

be

renewed

in

our

understanding

and

vision

of

who

God

is

on

a

daily

basis

the

other

thing

about

renewing

our

worship

is

that

we

need

to

recognize

that

worship

doesn't

just

happen

here

when

we

gather

together

that

is

not

a

biblical

we

often

call

this

our

worship

service

but

it's

not

our

worship

service

it's

our

corporate

worship

service

worship

is

something

that

we

do

with

all

of

our

lives

we'll

read

Romans

in a

little

bit

but

that

we

are

to

pour

out

our

life

in

all

things

as

an

act

of

worship

to

him

that

we

are

to

do

all

things

for

his

glory

that

is

to

please

him

to

honor

him

to

reflect

him

to

proclaim

him

so

we

don't

just

worship

God

here

we

do

worship

God

here

but

then

we

go

out

and

we

worship

God

as

we

wipe

noses

and

as

we

study

really

hard

and

as

we

go

to

the

work

of

whatever

the

work

is

that

God

calls

us

to

every

day

as

we

rub

shoulders

with

the

people

that

God

surrounds

us

with

every

day

we

think

how

do

we

worship

God

in

every

context

how

do

we

do

this

in

our

families

in

our

marriages

how

do

we

do

this

in

our

friendships

how

do

we

do

this

in

our

hobbies

in

our

recreation

how

do

we

worship

God

in

all

things

everywhere

because

this

is

what

God

has

called

us

to

do

and

so

our

worship

of

God

is

not

merely

in

our

gathering

but

also

in

our

scattering

renewal

!

Renewal

in

our

loyalty

to

our

King

and

the

worship

of

our

God

are

two

of

the

key

things

that

we

learn

from

this

passage

but

the

third

thing

is

in

the

end

of

chapter

24

starting

in

verse

15

where

we

see

that

renewal

keeps

us

from

falling

away

so

let's

read

this

passage

together

24

starting

in

verse

15

but

Jehoiada

grew

old

and

full

of

days

and

died

he

was

130

years

old

at

his

death

they

buried

him

in

the

city

of

David

among

the

kings

because

he

had

done

good

in

Israel

and

toward

God

and

his

house

now

after

the

death

of

Jehoiada

the princes

of Judah

came and

paid homage

to the

king

then the

king listened

to them

and they

abandoned

the house

of the

Lord

the God

of their

fathers

and served

the Asherim

and the

idols

and wrath

came upon

Judah

and Jerusalem

for this guilt

of theirs

yet

he

set

prophets

among

them

to

bring

them

back

to

the

Lord

these

testified

against

them

but

they

would

not

pay

attention

then

the

spirit

of

God

clothed

Zechariah

the

son

of

Jehoiada

the

priest

and

he

stood

above

the

people

and

said

to

them

thus

says

God

why

do

you

break

the

commandments

of

the

Lord

so

that

you

cannot

prosper

because

you

have

forsaken

the

Lord

he

has

forsaken

you

but

they

conspired

against

him

and

by

command

of

the

king

they

stoned

him

with

stones

in

the

court

of

the

house

of

the

Lord

thus

Joash

the

king

did

not

remember

the

kindness

that

Jehoiada

Zechariah's

father

had shown

him

but

killed

his

son

and

when

he

was

dying

he

said

may

the

Lord

see

and

avenge

at

the

end

of

the

year

the

army

of

the

Syrians

came

up

against

Joash

they

came

to

Judah

and

Jerusalem

and

destroyed

all

the

princes

of

the

people

from

among

the

people

and

sent

all

the

spoil

to

the

king

of

Damascus

though

the

army

of

the

Syrians

had

come