2 Chronicles chapter 24
Joash restores the temple. He promotes idol worship. He is assassinated.
JOASH RESTORES THE TEMPLE
VERSE 1. Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah, of Beersheba.
seven years old when he began to reign. How can they accept a seven year old child as their leader?
This shows us how far the nation had fallen.
VERSE 2. Joash did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
all the days of Jehoiada the priest. That is, several years.
But then after Jehoiada dies, Joash abandons the faith.
VERSE 3. Jehoiada took for him two wives, and he became the father of sons and daughters.
VERSE 4. After this, Joash intended to restore the LORD’s house.
restore the LORD’s house. Joash will rebuild the temple.
VERSE 5. He gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Judah, and gather money to repair the house of your God from all Israel from year to year. See that you expedite this matter.” However the Levites didn’t do it right away.
gather money. Joash launches a capital campaign.
VERSE 6. The king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said to him, “Why haven’t you required of the Levites to bring in the tax of Moses the servant of the LORD, and of the assembly of Israel, out of Judah and out of Jerusalem, for the Tent of the Testimony?”
VERSE 7. For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up God’s house; and they also gave all the dedicated things of the LORD’s house to the Baals.
Athaliah, that wicked woman. The biblical author despises Athaliah.
Athaliah was not more wicked than the kings. Yet only she is despised. And thus far in the narrative, only she is assassinated.
We think this is due to the decrepit nature of their society. They had become so depraved that misogyny was common.
As it is today.
VERSE 8. So the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it outside at the gate of the LORD’s house.
VERSE 9. They made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in for the LORD the tax that Moses the servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness.
to bring in for the LORD the tax. Joash imposed this tax on the people to pay for repairs to the temple.
Note that it is a “tax.” That means contributing is not voluntary. Instead, it is mandated.
People should not contribute out of obligation. Rather, God loves a cheerful giver. Read more »
The Bible calls us to support the people who teach us in the faith. Read more »
VERSE 10. All the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had filled it.
all the people rejoiced. Even though this capital campaign is a mandatory tax, somehow it brings joy.
We don’t normally expect people to be joyful about a tax.
People should not contribute out of obligation. Rather, God loves a cheerful giver. Read more »
The Bible calls us to support the people who teach us in the faith. Read more »
VERSE 11. Whenever the chest was brought to the king’s officers by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king’s scribe and the chief priest’s officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to its place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance.
the king’s scribe and the chief priest’s officer. They have two people present when the box is opened. That is wise.
In our day, many churches allow just one person to open the money box. That is an invitation to theft. Churches should always have two people present.
VERSE 12. The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of the LORD’s house. They hired masons and carpenters to restore the LORD’s house, and also those who worked iron and bronze to repair the LORD’s house.
VERSE 13. So the workmen worked, and the work of repairing went forward in their hands. They set up God’s house as it was designed, and strengthened it.
as it was designed. They are not renovating the temple to be something new.
Rather they are restoring it to its former greatness.
VERSE 14. When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, from which were made vessels for the LORD’s house, even vessels with which to minister and to offer, including spoons and vessels of gold and silver. They offered burnt offerings in the LORD’s house continually all the days of Jehoiada.
VERSE 15. But Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died. He was one hundred thirty years old when he died.
VERSE 16. They buried him in David’s city among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and toward God and his house.
JOASH PROMOTES IDOL WORSHIP
VERSE 17. Now after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and bowed down to the king. Then the king listened to them.
VERSE 18. They abandoned the house of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherah poles and the idols, so wrath came on Judah and Jerusalem for this their guiltiness.
served the Asherah poles. Joash forsakes the LORD God and worships idols. He takes the nation with him. He is an Evangelical idolator.
VERSE 19. Yet he sent prophets to them to bring them again to the LORD, and they testified against them; but they would not listen.
he sent prophets to them. The LORD God sends prophets to his people.
they would not listen. Nobody would heed the message of the prophets.
VERSE 20. The Spirit of God came on Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood above the people, and said to them, “God says, ‘Why do you disobey the LORD’s commandments, so that you can’t prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, he has also forsaken you.’ ”
Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest. This might possibly be the Zechariah spoken of by the Lord Jesus Christ:
Matthew 23:35. that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the sanctuary and the altar.
VERSE 21. They conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the LORD’s house.
stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king. This might be the first time the nation stones one of its own prophets to death.
They simply cannot stand to listen to the prophet.
That is, they cannot stand to listen to the truth.
VERSE 22. Thus Joash the king didn’t remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. When he died, he said, “May the LORD look at it, and repay it.”
JOASH IS ASSASSINATED
VERSE 23. At the end of the year, the army of the Syrians came up against him. They came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all their plunder to the king of Damascus.
destroyed all the princes. The exterminate the royal family.
VERSE 24. For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men; and the LORD delivered a very great army into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers. So they executed judgment on Joash.
VERSE 25. When they had departed from him (for they left him seriously wounded), his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and killed him on his bed, and he died. They buried him in David’s city, but they didn’t bury him in the tombs of the kings.
his own servants conspired against him. King Joash is so despicable that his own cabinet members assassinate him.
VERSE 26. These are those who conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonitess and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabitess.
VERSE 27. Now concerning his sons, the greatness of the burdens laid on him, and the rebuilding of God’s house, behold, they are written in the commentary of the book of the kings. Amaziah his son reigned in his place.
2 CHRONICLES
CHAPTERS: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36
RESOURCES: Summary, Outline, Memorize, Mount Moriah, The Cloud of Glory
Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.