Misplaced Loyalty

When they had departed from him, leaving him severely wounded, his servants conspired against him because of the blood of the son of Jehoiada the priest, and killed him on his bed.  2 Chronicles 24:25

A few years back, I left an organization at which point I was accused of not being loyal. That stung. Disloyalty was bad, right? When I thought about it though, I realized I was being manipulated. That organization was going somewhere I didn’t want to go and to remain with it would have meant violating my own principles. Those who stuck with the organization didn’t argue about those violated principles, but rather, they appealed to my loyalty, because they knew that I sought virtue, and disloyalty sounded nonvirtuous.

Loyalty for its own sake though, can become a flaw, and loyalty must have its limits. This is illustrated in today’s passage, which tells of the death of King Joash. Joash rose to power as a child, with the help of Jehoida the priest. Initially, Joash followed God, but when Jehoida died, Joash returned to idol worship. When God sent Jehoida’s son to chastise Joash, Joash had him killed. For his treachery, God sent the Syrians to defeat Joash in battle. Joash was wounded and returned home, thinking it would be a safe place to recover. Instead, though, his servants betrayed and killed him in his own bed.

I’m sure Joash thought his servants were loyal to him no matter what. They had their limits though. When Joash turned on Jehoida, killing his son, he’d gone too far. The servants simply couldn’t follow that kind of treachery.

Appealing to loyalty is a frequent tactic of those who are in the wrong. I’ve been on both sides of this. In my own addiction, I’ve been angered at those whom I felt turned on me. It was, however, completely unreasonable to expect those around me to enable my self-destruction. I’ve also been accused of being disloyal for refusing to follow those who are bent on self-destruction. In both instances, I’ve had to realize that loyalty has its limits and that sticking with someone who is willing to use you for their own selfishness, is no virtue. Loyalty is not the highest or only virtue and so, it must have its limits.