Now Jehoiada was old and full of years, and he died at the age of a hundred and thirty. – 2 Chronicles 24:15

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 28, 2013): 2 Chronicles 24

In October of 1919, President of the United States Woodrow Wilson suffered a debilitating stroke. The stroke was bad enough that the President was left confined to his bed. Thomas R. Marshall was the Vice President at the time, and there was a movement to have him replace the failing President. Historians believe that Marshall should have become the 29^th President of the United States and Warren Harding the 30^th President. But that is not the way that history is written. All because one strong willed woman stood in the way of Marshall ever becoming President – and her name was Edith Wilson.

Edith Wilson was Woodrow’s wife, and from the time Woodrow suffered his stroke, she began to take the Office of President onto herself. Edith memoirs state clearly that she never made a decision on her own. She poured over all of the things that came into the President’s office and she claims to have taken all the important matters to the bedside of the sick President while delegating all other matters to the various department heads - but historians disagree with the assessment of the First Lady. According to many, for two years she reigned as President of the United States. Even if her assessment is correct, she wielded great power just in the deciding of which decisions needed to be taken to the President and which could be delegated to the lower authorities. The degree of her power might be in question, but what is not in doubt is the Edith Wilson was the very real power behind the last years of the Woodrow Wilson Presidency.

It was a position that Jehoida knew well. If Jehoida died at the age of 130, then he was born during the last days of the combined Kingdom under the reign of Solomon. His life would have encompassed six entire reigns before the reign of Joash. As a prominent priest in the Temple, it is possible that Jehoida held a position of influence in all of those reigns except for that of the Ba’al worshipper Athaliah. But whether or not this is true, we know that Jehoida was the power behind the throne during the early years of the reign of Joash. Everything that Joash understood about God and about being king was embodied by Jehoida.

Jehoida’s long life was taken as a sign of this worth to God. During the hard times, Jehoida had been faithfully serving in the temple. His life of 130 years was the longest recorded since the time of Moses – and longer than Moses’ life by 10 years. Unlike Woodrow Wilson who had Edith to help with his final years, Joash had Jehoida for the beginning of his reign – a beginning which was labeled as good. But after Jehoida, the king would fall under other influences – and the goodness of the king would begin to fade. What Joash needed he would be unable to find – a good man of the calibre of Jehoida.

We need good influences in our lives if we are going to accomplish great things. But more than that, we need to be good influences if our communities are going to accomplish great things. We also need to do what Joash never was able to do – be the influence to others that we need for ourselves.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 25