2 Chronicles 24:23-27--Joash Assassinated

2 Chronicles 24:23-27
English Standard Version

Joash Assassinated
23 At the end of the year the army of the Syrians came up against Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus. 24 Though the army of the Syrians had come with few men, the LORD delivered into their hand a very great army, because Judah had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers. Thus they executed judgment on Joash.

​25 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. So he died, and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings. 26 Those who conspired against him were Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonite, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabite. 27 Accounts of his sons and of the many oracles against him and of the rebuilding of the house of God are written in the Story of the Book of the Kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

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Remember that the beginning of the year for the Jews was in the Spring for us (the month when Passover occurs), so this was the typical time for the kings to go to war once things started to warm up and the amount of daylight increased.  The LORD used the Syrians to bring judgment on Joash and the people of Judah and Jerusalem.  The rich and powerful people along with their wealth were sent to the king of Damascus (the capital city of Syria).

This was clearly an act of the LORD because the Syrians had come a long way with too few men, and yet they won because the people of Judah had forsaken the LORD, so the LORD was with the armies of Syria.  It was the LORD's judgment that the Syrians executed on Joash.  The text makes that clear to us.

The judgment did not end there though.  The attacks did not just come from without, but also from within.  While the Syrians attacked and left Joash severely wounded, it was his own servants that finished him off.  They turned against him because of the blood of Jehoiada the priest, so they killed him on his own bed as he was trying to rest and recover from his wounds from battle.

The names of those who conspired against him and assassinated him are given here--Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonite, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabite.  The Bible is not condoning murder--this is descriptive and not prescriptive--but once again the LORD is using Gentiles to execute his judgment against the Jewish people.

The text for today ends by saying we can find out more about Joash, his sons, the prophecies that the LORD gave to him through various prophets, and his rebuilding of the Temple in the book of the Kings (1 and 2 Kings is really one book that we've split into two because it was so long).  His son Amaziah reigned in his place.  Which example would this son follow?  The one of Joash's early years or of his later years?  We'll see as we study his life in chapter 25 over the next several journal articles.