The boy-king Joash was faithful to Jehovah only so long as his mentor, Jehoida the High Priest lived. His sins bring a measure of destruction to Judah. Meanwhile, things in Israel begin to turn around.
2 Chronicles 24:1-3 -- The parallel passage is 2 Kings 12. We are given a quick overview of Joash's reign. During the life of Jehoida, the High Priest, this king did well. When the elder priest died, sometime after 813 BC, things went downhill fast. Even during his tutelage, the people were allowed to practice a paganized worship of Jehovah on the various high places throughout Judah.
24:4-14 -- Sometime around 813 BC, Joash decided the vandalism of Athaliah's followers on the Temple should be repaired. The general lack of maintenance was obvious even without the intentional damage. Joash ordered the priests and Levites to divert some of the Temple income to the repairs. He even commissioned them to go out and solicit a building fund offering throughout the realm. However, the Temple staff had long done things their own way, and never seemed to find enough extra beyond their own needs and current daily expenses, nor time to collect anything not brought in by worshipers. After a couple of years of this passed, Joash came down hard on the Temple staff. He ordered them to specifically collect the half-shekel Temple Tax (Exodus 30:14-16), which had been up to that point technically embezzled for other purposes, and apply it to facilities maintenance as the Law of Moses required. He further ordered they add to that any offerings made as substitutionary atonement -- first born sons, various accidental ritual defilements, etc. -- along with any freewill offerings specifically given for the building fund.
This was all collected in a designated chest, with a slot in the top to receive the offerings. At this time, there was no regular coinage. A shekel of silver was a standard weight of about 0.4 ounces (11.4g) and most tokens were square-cut from a standard thickness sheet of hammered silver. These tokens were various fractions or multiples of a shekel. It's quite likely the sheets produced for this purpose had lines embossed on the surface to mark these gradations. The chest was guarded, and counted each day. At first the collections were taken next to the altar, but since the atonement offerings could not be brought into the Temple court itself, the chest was moved to the outer gate.
Joash announced throughout the kingdom the purpose of the chest and offerings, and many were pleased by it. They made it a point to bring extra for the offering during this time of renewal of the Covenant. The King and appointed officers of the offering were thrilled with the strong response. With an urgency that bypassed the normal accounting procedures, the daily offering was given directly to the maintenance crews. It is noted they were wholly honest in their dealings, and the Temple was restored. Not until the buildings were up to standard was any of the silver used to replace the Temple furnishings defiled by Athaliah.
24:15-27 -- Within a few years, Jehoida died of old age at 130 years. In honor of his faithful service to the House of David, he was given a place in the Royal Cemetery. The higher ranking noblemen of Judah, usually referred to as the Princes, came to visit the King. As a class, they were most likely to chafe under the Law of Moses. They lobbied the King to soften some of Jehoidah's rules, taking advantage of Joash's vanity. In no time they had rebuilt their shrines to Baal and Ashtart. They led astray the citizens and brought God's condemnation on the whole realm.
Several prophets gave warning this could be fatal. Zechariah, the son of Jehoida, Joash's mentor, was one of them. His message embarrassed and infuriated the King. As a priest, he was in an excellent position to use the Altar platform for a sermon, likely more than once. During one of these messages, he was knocked off and stoned to death. Jesus makes mention of his death between the Altar and the Temple (Luke 11:51). It was during this time we probably have the prophecy of Joel. He seems to have warned of the approaching army of Syria as a manifestation of the Day of the Lord, a judgment on sin. Apparently this was preceded by ample warning in the form of a massive locusts swarm followed by drought.
This accords well with what happened during the same year of Joash's treachery against the Zechariah. Hazael of Damascus had gone down and destroyed Philistine Gath, then turned and marched toward Jerusalem. Along that route, he passed several strongholds of leadership in the Tribe of Judah. He plundered their homes and cities, and took hostages. Presented with this threat, Joash stripped the Temple and palace to buy him off. The Army of Judah, having starved a year or two, and living in sin, were hardly a match for the single Syrian battalion that defeated them in the field, then camped outside the walls of Jerusalem. Taking the tribute, they left the city after abusing and wounding all the able men of the royal court. Given this all was the result of arrogant sin, it was no surprise Jehoahaz was executed a short time later by members of his own bodyguard, who took advantage of his condition. He was succeeded by his son, Amaziah, in 796 BC.
2 Kings 13:1-9 -- During the long, 40 year reign of Joash in Judah, Israel goes through two more kings. Jehu died in 814 BC, and was succeeded by his son, Jehoahaz. No wiser than his predecessors, he maintained the rival temples at Bethel, Gath-Ephraim, Dan, and elsewhere. During his sixteen years on the throne, Jehoahaz found himself constantly under the thumb of Hazael of Damascus. Having long ago lost the East Jordan lands, Syria now began raiding and ruling parts of the West Bank. Eventually Jehoahaz realized only Jehovah could deliver him, and he began praying and fasting. The Lord responded, sending some unnamed hero who stirred the puny Army of Israel to victory. However, due to his leaving all the pagan shrines in place, the king did not see this deliverance before he died in 798 BC.
13:10-19 -- Jehoahaz was succeeded by his son, another Joash (also spelled Jehoash) -- thus, Judah and Israel ruled again by kings with the same name for a time. By this time, the ruling class can no longer comprehend the golden calves cannot by used to worship Jehovah. The practice is deeply entrenched, though we see no return to Baal worship, yet. During this reign, Elisha the Prophet lay on his death bed. Coming to pay his respects, the King wept over him. His comment about the "Chariot of Israel" translates roughly to the idea when Elisha was gone, Israel would lose her one best source of enlightenment and strength.
Elisha had one last message. He instructed the King to take up his bow and arrows and bring them to the bedside. While the King held the bow, Elisha wrapped his hands around the King's. He then had him open the east window of the room and shoot an arrow out. Just so, the Army of Syria would fall at Aphek, a popular battleground. Then Elisha told the King to grasp the rest of the arrows in a bundle and strike the ground to symbolize laying his enemies in the dust. Failing completely to grasp the significance, the King responds rather ordinarily, simply doing as told instead of acting from any passion for the nation. He stopped after three strokes. Elisha angrily censured him for failing to show any real zeal. While he would defeat Syria three times, he would not destroy her. Again, for lack of royal interest, Jehovah will not end the threat of Damascus.
13:20-25 -- Even in death, Elisha's miracles prove the faithfulness of God. After Elisha's funeral, Moab comes up and raids, most likely in Elisha's hometown area of Abel-meholah. There was an Israeli honor guard preparing to inter a soldier who died in the fighting. They spied a band of Moabite raiders, dropped the body in Elisha's grave, and gave pursuit. The body touched the skeletal remains of Elisha and promptly revived, ready to join the battle again. We note again the Syrians had been harassing Israel all during the reign of Jehoahaz. His earnest plea before he died was heard and Hazael died, probably killed in that first battle of Aphek prophesied by Elisha on his death bed. Hazael was succeeded by his son, Ben-hadad II, who continued the losing streak. Not just the West Bank cities, but Joash of Israel also recovered the East Bank cities lost to Hazael long before. In three successive battles, Gilead was restored to Israel. Given the overlapping dates of Joash and his son, Jeroboam II, in co-regency we can safely assume the latter had a lot to do with these military victories, perhaps "the deliverer" mentioned earlier.
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Ed Hurst
02 April 2005
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