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The Histories · Old Testament

2 Chronicles 24

2 Chronicles 24: Joash repairs the house and stones Zechariah

General context

Joash is seven at accession and reigns forty years; his mother is Zibiah of Beer-sheba. He does right all the days of Jehoiada the priest, who chooses two wives for him. Joash decides to repair the house of the Lord and sends priests and Levites to gather money yearly, but the Levites do not hurry. He asks Jehoiada why the collection commanded by Moses has not been required, since the sons of Athaliah damaged the house and gave its things to Baalim. A chest is set outside the gate, princes and people fill it gladly, and the daily takings pay masons, carpenters and metalworkers until the house is restored; the surplus becomes vessels, and burnt offerings continue all Jehoiada's days. Jehoiada dies at a hundred and thirty and is buried among the kings for the good he did. After his death the princes of Judah bow to the king, who listens; they abandon the house of the Lord for groves and idols, wrath comes, and prophets are sent and ignored. The Spirit of God comes on Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, who says the Lord has forsaken those who forsook him. They stone him in the temple court at the king's command; Joash does not remember Jehoiada's kindness, and the dying Zechariah asks the Lord to look and require it. At the year's end a small Syrian force destroys the princes, sends spoil to the king of Damascus and defeats a far larger host. Joash is left badly diseased, and his servants kill him in bed for the blood of Jehoiada's sons. He is buried in the city of David but not among the kings. The conspirators are Zabad and Jehozabad. Amaziah reigns.

Cited passages: 2 Chronicles 24:1, 2 Chronicles 24:2, 2 Chronicles 24:3, 2 Chronicles 24:4, 2 Chronicles 24:5, 2 Chronicles 24:6, 2 Chronicles 24:7, 2 Chronicles 24:8, 2 Chronicles 24:10, 2 Chronicles 24:11, 2 Chronicles 24:12, 2 Chronicles 24:13, 2 Chronicles 24:14, 2 Chronicles 24:15, 2 Chronicles 24:16, 2 Chronicles 24:17, 2 Chronicles 24:18, 2 Chronicles 24:19, 2 Chronicles 24:20, 2 Chronicles 24:21, 2 Chronicles 24:22, 2 Chronicles 24:23, 2 Chronicles 24:24, 2 Chronicles 24:25, 2 Chronicles 24:26, 2 Chronicles 24:27

2 Chronicles 24 (KJV)

1Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Zibiah of Beer-sheba.

2And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

3And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters.

4And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to repair the house of the Lord.

5And he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out unto the cities of Judah, and gather of all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that ye hasten the matter. Howbeit the Levites hastened it not.

6And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said unto him, Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the collection, according to the commandment of Moses the servant of the Lord, and of the congregation of Israel, for the tabernacle of witness?

7For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord did they bestow upon Baalim.

8And at the king’s commandment they made a chest, and set it without at the gate of the house of the Lord.

9And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in to the Lord the collection that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness.

10And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end.

11Now it came to pass, that at what time the chest was brought unto the king’s office by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king’s scribe and the high priest’s officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to his place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance.

12And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of the Lord, and hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the Lord, and also such as wrought iron and brass to mend the house of the Lord.

13So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in his state, and strengthened it.

14And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, whereof were made vessels for the house of the Lord, even vessels to minister, and to offer withal, and spoons, and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Jehoiada.

15But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died.

16And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God, and toward his house.

17Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them.

18And they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.

19Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the Lord; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear.

20And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you.

21And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord.

22Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The Lord look upon it, and require it.

23And it came to pass at the end of the year, that the host of Syria came up against him: and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them unto the king of Damascus.

24For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, and the Lord delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash.

25And when they were departed from him, (for they left him in great diseases,) his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings.

26And these are they that conspired against him; Zabad the son of Shimeath an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess.

27Now concerning his sons, and the greatness of the burdens laid upon him, and the repairing of the house of God, behold, they are written in the story of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.

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Historical context

Jehoiada is called Joash's father in the verse about forgotten kindness, but the previous chapters make him the priest who hid and crowned the boy and the husband of Ahaziah's sister; Joash's own father is Ahaziah. The sons of Athaliah who broke up the house of God are not identified further. The collection is described as the one Moses laid on Israel in the wilderness for the tabernacle of witness; the text asserts this and gives no amount. Jehoiada's age at death is stated as a hundred and thirty, and he receives the burial among the kings that Joash himself is later denied. The prophets sent after Jehoiada's death are unnamed and uncounted. The servants' conspiracy is for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada in the plural, while the chapter narrates the killing of one son, Zechariah; the text does not explain the plural. The Syrian king is called only the king of Damascus. The two conspirators are given their mothers' names and their mothers' foreign origins, Ammonite and Moabite. The chapter says Joash's burdens, sons and repair work are written in the story of the book of the kings, and gives no dates other than the year's end for the Syrian attack.

Cited passages: 2 Chronicles 24:22, 2 Chronicles 22:11, 2 Chronicles 24:7, 2 Chronicles 24:9, 2 Chronicles 24:6, 2 Chronicles 24:15, 2 Chronicles 24:16, 2 Chronicles 24:25, 2 Chronicles 24:19, 2 Chronicles 24:21, 2 Chronicles 24:23, 2 Chronicles 24:26, 2 Chronicles 24:27

Literary context

The reign is divided by one man's lifetime. The phrase all the days of Jehoiada marks the good years twice, and after the death of Jehoiada opens the turn. The house of the Lord runs through the chapter as the measure of everything: the king wants to repair it, the chest stands at its gate, its vessels are made, then the princes leave it, and its court becomes the place where the priest's son is stoned. The boy who was once hidden in that house orders a killing inside it. Zechariah's word, that the Lord has forsaken those who forsook him, and his dying request that the Lord look and require it are answered by the narrator's flat statement that the Syrians executed judgment against Joash, and by the servants' stated motive, the blood of Jehoiada's sons. The small Syrian company defeating a very great host inverts the previous pattern in which Judah's enemies destroyed themselves. Two burials are set against each other: the priest among the kings, the king outside their sepulchres. The chapter's central charge is remembered kindness, stated by the narrator as not remembered.

Cited passages: 2 Chronicles 24:2, 2 Chronicles 24:14, 2 Chronicles 24:17, 2 Chronicles 24:4, 2 Chronicles 24:8, 2 Chronicles 24:18, 2 Chronicles 24:21, 2 Chronicles 22:12, 2 Chronicles 24:20, 2 Chronicles 24:22, 2 Chronicles 24:24, 2 Chronicles 24:25, 2 Chronicles 24:16

Key moments

  1. Minded to repair the house (2 Chronicles 24:4). Joash resolves to restore the house of the Lord.
  2. A chest at the gate (2 Chronicles 24:8). A collection chest is set outside the temple gate and the people fill it gladly.
  3. The work perfected (2 Chronicles 24:13). Hired workmen finish the repair and set the house in its state.
  4. Jehoiada buried among kings (2 Chronicles 24:16). The priest dies at a hundred and thirty and is honored with a royal burial.
  5. The princes' obeisance (2 Chronicles 24:17). After Jehoiada's death the princes bow to the king and he listens to them.
  6. Zechariah stoned (2 Chronicles 24:21). Jehoiada's son is stoned in the temple court at the king's command.
  7. Joash killed in his bed (2 Chronicles 24:25). His servants kill the diseased king for the blood of Jehoiada's sons.

For reflection

The narrator says Joash did not remember the kindness of the man who saved his life and made him king. The chapter does not say when the forgetting began, only that the princes bowed and the king listened. Where in this account does a rescued life stop being remembered?

People in this chapter

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