General Overview

8th King

Reigned app. 833-794 BC.

Mother: Zibiah from Beersheba in way southern Judah.

Name means Jehovah-given. Given by Jehovah? Given by the LORD? (????? ????)

His contemporaries were Elisha, Hazeal King of Aram (Syria), Jehu king of Israel, and his son, Jehoahaz.

Interestingly enough, Jehoahaz, a wicked king, seems to have been repenting about the same time that Joash was going astray.

Became king at age 7. Ahaziah his father was about 23 when he was born. He would grow up without knowing his father, which was probably a good thing.

Saved by his aunt, Jehosheba and hidden in the temple of the LORD for 7 years.

Good Joash

Refurbishes the House of the LORD

It was in his heart to rebuild God’s Temple, which had fallen into disrepair during the reign of the wicked daughter of Jezebel, Athaliah.

So, he sent the Levites out on a fundraising tour. But, the Levites were not diligent in collecting the moneys, and in the 23 year of his reign, when he was 30, he forbade the Levites from collecting any more offerings for personal use. All monies were to be given to rebuilding the Temple.

The Levites, altho not carpenters or skilled craftsmen, had been attempting to fix up the Temple themselves. As a result of Joash’s conference, they finally realized they were in over their heads and agreed to hire the job out.

So, the rebuilding of the Temple was funded by 3 sources

1. Fee’s from the Census – a half shekel per person as prescribed in the Law and in fact was to be spent for the upkeep of the Tabernacle. Exodus 30:11-16 Joash called a census, which made money in it self, but also brought all the people to Jerusalem and gave them opportunity to give more thru:
2. Money from vows to the LORD
3. Freewill offerings

The priests survived on guilt and sin offerings, and placed a box with a hole in it at the entrance to the Temple, and as people felt inspired, they gave to the rebuilding effort.

High Level Representatives of both the King and the Priesthood would count the money together as the box got full, and the money was then turned directly over to the people who were supervising the rebuilding effort, who paid the contractors personally. The supervisors acted with such integrity that no accounting was required.

(This seems to indicated some tension between the King and the High Priest….)

The sacred implements used in the Temple worship, which had been defiled by Athaliah and used for the worship of Baal, were not replaced until the Temple had been fixed back up.

Many Prophecies

Joash was the subject of many prophecies. 2 Chron 24:27.

We do not know if they are the ‘bad’ or warning prophecies referenced by 2 Chron. 24:19, but given the nature of the sentence in which they are mentioned, it may very well be these were prophecies regarding his life, and the good deeds he would do regarding the house of the LORD, and the general revival that occurred during the earlier part of his reign.

Bad Joash

Led Astray

After being so diligent to rebuild the Temple, he and the leaders abandoned it and did not go there to worship anymore. Instead, they worshiped at the alters to foreign gods that they had made.

God Sends Warnings

We know that that the LORD warned Joash and the leaders numerous times thru prophets.

They did not listen.

Their attitude towards the LORD is summed up by the way that Zechariah, Jehoida’s son, was treated.

Altho not called a prophet, the Bible says the ‘Spirit of God came upon him” and he delivered a prophecy:

“Thus says God: “Why do you transgress the commandments of the LORD, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, He also has forsaken you.”’

The leadership of Judah was provoked by this word. They did not like it.

At Joash’s own command, they stoned him to death in the Temple Courts.

Judgment and Death

Syrian Raid

God had used Negevian desert clans of Arabs, presumably shepherds, perhaps egged on and funded by Ethiopia, to humiliate his grandfather Jehoram.

The LORD used a similarly improbable method to humiliate Joash, with the trouble coming from the north this time.

A small band of Syrians managed to traverse the 100+ miles or so of hostile territory between Damascus and Gath in southwestern Israel (which they captured) before turning back north to attack Jerusalem.

Even tho at this time Judah’s army was far more numerous and fighting a defensive battle on their own land against a small group of itinerant raiders living off the land with no supply lines behind them, or reserves to fight off a 2 pronged attack ( They were in the middle of Israel where it should have been trivial to arrange a militia to come from behind them and force them into a 2-front battle…perhaps they did….), nevertheless, the Syrian guerrillas prevailed.

Joash emptied the Temple and the royal treasury to pay off the Syrians. All the gold was sent north to Hazael as well as all the costly gifts that Joash himself, along with his forefathers, had dedicated to the LORD.

Joash was severely wounded by the Syrians. and the leaders who originally enticed him to fall into sin were killed. 2 Chronicles 24:23

Death by Assassination

Joash’s mind boggling cruelty towards the son of his benefactor would ultimately prove to be the cause of his death.

Perhaps disgruntled by the humiliation of Judah by the Syrians, and specifically on account of the murder of Zechariah, Joash was killed soon afterwards by 2 of his officials or servants.

The murder took place in Beth-Millo (house of fullness), which seems to have been a broad series of terraces connecting the lower City of David with the Temple Mount. Evidently, he was recuperating from his wounds, and this may have been a hospice of some kind, as he was killed in his bed.

The killers were both sons of foreign women from Ammon and Moab. They were killed by Joash’s son and successor Amaziah, who spared their children out of respect for the LORD and the Law.

Joash was buried within Jerusalem but not in the Royal Mausoleum. He would be the 3rd of Jehosophat’s descendants in a row to be buried without honor.

Conclusion and Thots

As Ezekiel warns, the good deeds he had done as a youth, which were mighty, were of no use to him, for he did not remain in them. His good works, and the honor that came with them, fled him when he turned his back on the LORD and turned to evil.

The legacy of Jehosaphat’s tolerance of Jezebel had almost completely destroyed the Messiah’s line and ended the House of David forever. His children and their children had died in their sin and in dishonor, but the 100 year long battle with the Spirit of Jezebel was to come to a close with the death of Joash, and Amaziah his son took the throne.