We have that picture of Zechariah, solemnly lifting up his eyes to
heaven and committing his cause to God. 'The Lord look upon it and
require it,' says the martyr priest in the spirit of the old Law. The
dying appeal was soon answered in the invasion of the Syrian army, a
comparatively small company, into whose hands the Lord delivered a
very great host of the Israelites. The defeat was complete, and
possibly Joash's 'great diseases,' of which the narrative speaks,
refer to wounds received in the fight. The end soon comes, for two of
his servants, neither of them Hebrews, one being the son of an
Ammonitess and the other the son of a Moabitess, who were truer to his
religion than he had been, and resolved to revenge Zechariah's death,
entered the room, of the wounded king in the fortress whither he had
retired to hide himself after the fight, and 'slew him on his bed.'
Imagine the grim scene--the two men stealing in, the sick man there on
the bed helpless, the short ghastly struggle and the swift end. What
an end for a life with such a beginning!
Now I am not going to dwell on this retribution, inflicted on Joash,
or on that which comes to us if we are like him, through a loud-voiced
conscience, and a memory which, though it may be dulled and hushed to
sleep at present, is sure to wake some day here or yonder. But I
beseech you to ask yourselves what your outlook is. 'Be not deceived,
God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also
reap.' Is that all? Zechariah said, 'The Lord look upon it and require
it.' The great doctrine of retribution is true for ever. Yes; but our
Zechariah lifts up his eyes to heaven and he says, 'Father! forgive
them, for they know not what they do.' And so, dear brother! you and
I, trusting to that dear Lord, may have all our apostasy forgiven, and
be brought near by the blood of Christ. Let us say with the Apostle
Peter, 'Lord, to whom shall we go but to Thee? Thou hast the words of
eternal life.'