2 Kings 14:1-22
English Standard Version

Amaziah Reigns in Judah
14 In the second year of Joash the son of Joahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. 3 And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, yet not like David his father. He did in all things as Joash his father had done. 4 But the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. 5 And as soon as the royal power was firmly in his hand, he struck down his servants who had struck down the king his father. 6 But he did not put to death the children of the murderers, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the LORD commanded, “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. But each one shall die for his own sin.”

7 He struck down ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt and took Sela by storm, and called it Joktheel, which is its name to this day.

8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us look one another in the face.” 9 And Jehoash king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, “A thistle on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife,’ and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle. 10 You have indeed struck down Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Be content with your glory, and stay at home, for why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?”

11 But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another in battle at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. 12 And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his home. 13 And Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for four hundred cubits, from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. 14 And he seized all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king's house, also hostages, and he returned to Samaria.

15 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash that he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 16 And Jehoash slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place.

​17 Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel. 18 Now the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 19 And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there. 20 And they brought him on horses; and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. 21 And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. 22 He built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers.

We're now back in Judah and after Joash the king of Judah died, his son Amaziah reigned in his place, starting his reign at king of Judah when he was 25 years old (far different from his father who started to rule when he was only seven years old.  Amaziah reigned for 29 years from Jerusalem.  His mother's name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem.  He followed in the footsteps of his father Joash, doing the same good things he had done, but failing in the same ways his father had failed--neither was as good as David, who was supposed to be their template for how they were to govern the LORD's people.

How exactly was it that Joash and Amaziah failed to live up to this high standard?  They refused to tear down the high places where the people made sacrifices and offerings to other gods.  Also, as soon as he had power, his first act as king was to kill those who had assassinated his father, and he only punished the guilty parties according to the Law of Moses not killing the parents, children, or other family members of those who committed this act of treason (as so many other kings would have done putting the families of their enemies to death), because he had learned the Law of the LORD from his father and that each person must be held accountable for his own actions and his actions alone.

He struck down the Edomites in the region of the Valley of Salt, capturing the city of Sela and changing its name to Joktheel.  It apparently was still known by that name when this history was recorded after the fact, or an editorial note by those who recopied the text later was added to say that it was still called by that name "to this day."

After his victory over the Edomites, Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash saying that they should see each other face-to-face--we'll see from Jehoash's response that he takes it that Amaziah wants to face him in battle. Jehoash sends back word that compares Edom to bramble in the forest that easy to trample, but Jehoash compares himself to a cedar of Lebanon--tall, proud, with deep roots that make it immovable and unshakeable.  Jehoash also tries to tell Amaziah that he needs to be happy with the victory that he has won and think about the people that he is leading, for if he dies in battle, all of Judah would fall with him.

Amaziah is not deterred by Jehoash's words, and the two of them face-off with each other, so they faced-off with each other at Beth-shemesh in Judah.  That day, the LORD gave Judah and Amaziah into the hands of Israel and Jehoash.  The armies of Israel broke down the walls of Jerusalem for 400 cubits (that is 600 feet) from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate.  Jehoash captured King Amaziah and took all the silver and gold items from the king's treasury as well as the LORD's treasury (from the Temple), including the gold and silver items used in the Temple for the worship of the LORD,  and he took hostages, and returned to Samaria.

The rest of the story of Jehoash, king of Israel, can be found in the book of Chronicle, including more about his war against Amaziah, king of Judah.  Jehoash died and was buried among his fathers and the other kings of Israel in Samaria, and his son Jeroboam (we'll call him Jeroboam II for clarity to not confuse him with the first king of Israel) ruled in his place.  That tells you where Jehoash's heart was to name his son after such an evil man.

Amaziah lived 15 years after the death of Jehoash, king of Israel.  It is unclear from today's text how he lived out his final years, but if we look at the parallel text in 2 Chronicles that the author here is referencing, we see that first there was a reason that the LORD let Amaziah be defeated by Joash, and that is that he brought the gods of the Edomites back to Jerusalem and worshiped them, so the LORD was very angry with him.  After this conflict with Joash, threats were made by Amaziah's own people against his life so that he spent his final years in hiding.  However, he was given the state funeral that he deserved and buried among the other kings of Judah when he died.

After his death, the people of Judah took Azariah, the 16-year old son of Amaziah, and made him king of Judah in his father's place.  He built Elath and restored it to Judah after his father's death.

2 Kings 13:14-25
English Standard Version

The Death of Elisha
14 Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash king of Israel went down to him and wept before him, crying, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” 15 And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows. 16 Then he said to the king of Israel, “Draw the bow,” and he drew it. And Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands. 17 And he said, “Open the window eastward,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot,” and he shot. And he said, “The LORD's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in Aphek until you have made an end of them.” 18 And he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground with them.” And he struck three times and stopped. 19 Then the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only three times.”

20 So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. 21 And as a man was being buried, behold, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha, and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.

22 Now Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. 23 But the LORD was gracious to them and had compassion on them, and he turned toward them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, nor has he cast them from his presence until now.

24 When Hazael king of Syria died, Ben-hadad his son became king in his place. 25 Then Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again from Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities that he had taken from Jehoahaz his father in war. Three times Joash defeated him and recovered the cities of Israel.

Elisha got sick and it was obvious he was going to die, so Josah, king of Israel (where Elisha lived and ministered), went to visit him before his death.  Elisha had one departing prophecy for the king--that he would indeed fight the Syrians and defeat them, but the LORD showed Joash that he did not have the determination to keep fighting them until they were fully defeated--for if he had shown such determination, the LORD would have surely given all of Syria over into the hands of Israel at this time.  Instead, they would be defeated, but live to fight another day.

As Elisha was being buried, a band of Moabite marauders and they quickly threw another dead man into the grave of Elisha so that they could turn to fight the marauders, and as soon as the man touched the body of Elisha, he was brought back to life and made well so that he stood on his feet.

Hazael king of Syria attempted to oppress Israel just as they had done before, but this time the LORD was gracious to Israel and had compassion on them because He remembered the covenant that He had made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that He would not destroy them.  So He delivered them from the hand of the Syrians and He had not cast them from His presence "until now" (which seems to indicate that this was written prior to the Exile or during the Exile to indicate how the LORD dealt differently with them in that time then He had dealt with them in the past, and it brings to light a question that Israel had of how they could be cast out of the Land that was promised to them as an eternal inheritance through the Abrahmaic Covenant).

Hazel, the king of Syria, died and his son Ben-hadad ruled in his place.  Jehoash (who we have been calling Joash) the son of Jehoahaz took back from Ben-hadad the cities that Hazael had taken in battle from Jehoahaz.  Just as Elisha said, Joash defeated Syria three times in battle and recovered all the cities of Israel that the LORD had given to them through the Conquest during the time of Moses, Joshua, and the Judges that followed.

2 Kings 13:10-13
English Standard Version
​
Jehoash Reigns in Israel
10 In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned sixteen years. 11 He also did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin, but he walked in them. 12 Now the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, and the might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 13 So Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat on his throne. And Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

Jehoash must have been a popular name at the time, because it was not only the name of the king of Judah what we called by the shortened form, Joash, but it was also the name of the new king of Israel (the northern kingdom).  This Jehoash was the son of Jehoahaz, and he reigned 16 years from the capital city of Israel, Samaria.  Like his father, Jehoahaz, he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD because he did not depart from the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused the northern kingdom of Israel, as well as many people in the southern kingdom of Judah, to worship the golden calf idols that he made.  Jeroboam had told the people that those idols were the LORD, and these were their gods that brought them up out of the land of Egypt.  The works of the LORD were attributed to idols and essentially to demons (we'll see the Pharisees do this directly in the New Testament right before the passage on the unforgiveable sin).

Apparently this northern king also went by the short-form of his name, Joash, because the text tells us that all the rest of the works of Joash the king of Israel can be found in the book of Chronicles--including battles which he had with Amaziah the king of Judah.  Then Joash king of Israel died and was buried in Samaria with the other kings of Israel  One more significant thing to say about Joash the king of Israel is that he will be king over Israel when Elisha dies.  That will be what we talk about next time.

2 Kings 13:1-9
English Standard Version

Jehoahaz Reigns in Israel
13 In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned seventeen years. 2 He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from them. 3 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he gave them continually into the hand of Hazael king of Syria and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael. 4 Then Jehoahaz sought the favor of the LORD, and the LORD listened to him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them. 5 (Therefore the LORD gave Israel a savior, so that they escaped from the hand of the Syrians, and the people of Israel lived in their homes as formerly. 6 Nevertheless, they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin, but walked in them; and the Asherah also remained in Samaria.) 7 For there was not left to Jehoahaz an army of more than fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand footmen, for the king of Syria had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing. 8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz and all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 9 So Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria, and Joash his son reigned in his place.

A little more than halfway through the reign of Joash, king of Judah, a new king comes to the throne in Israel (the northern kingdom).  His name is Jehoahaz, and he is the son of Jehu.  He reigned from the capital city of the northern kingdom, Samaria, for 17 years.  Unlike his father Jehu, Jehoahaz did what was evil in the sight of the LORD because he followed in the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat (worshiped the golden calf idols that Jeroboam said were their gods who brought them up out of the land of Egypt).  This caused Israel to sin as well because they followed the lead of the king and worshiped these idols as well.  Because of this, the LORD's anger burned against the northern kingdom of Israel, and He continually gave them into the hand of Hazael, king of Syria and into the hand of Ben-hadaad the son of Hazael.  This was part of the curses of the Law from the book of Deuteronomy that was meant to get the attention of the people, because they were always supposed to win when they went to war if they were seeking the LORD's instruction on if they should go to war, and if they were obeying the Law.  They were doing neither at this time, so the LORD gave them over to their enemies to try to call them back to Him, but they were hard-headed and hard-hearted.

Finally, they cried out to the LORD for relief and He heard them, for they were still His people, and He still loved them, even though they constantly rebelled against Him.  Just like in Egypt, the LORD saw their suffering and gave them a deliverer (the word "savior" is used here) to deliver them from the hands of the Syrians.  Then the people of Israel returned to their homes and lived in relative peace, but they would not depart from the sin of Jeroboam, and Asherah were allowed to remain in Samaria as well--these were idols in the worship of a fertility goddess.

Because of all the war and the number of times that Israel had been defeated by Syria, the army of Israel was reduced in size to only 50 horsemen, 10 chariots, and 10,000 foot soldiers.  Anyone calculating the odds of Israel winning a battle against Syria would say it was impossible or would take a miracle for them to win, but that's exactly what the LORD did when He raised up a deliverer for them so that it was clear that He was the one fighting for His people and that the battle belongs to the LORD.

This is all that the book of the kings has to say about Jehoahaz, king of Israel.  The rest of his story is told in the book of Chronicles.  So Jehoahaz died and was buried among the kings of Israel in Samaria, and his son Joash reigned in his place.  This is a different Joash than the king of Judah, but they had the same short name and the same long name, so next time we will talk about the reign of king Jehoash of Israel who will be king of Israel when Elisha the prophet died (what we'll talk about the day after tomorrow).

2 Kings 12:19-21
English Standard Version
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The Death of Joash
19 Now the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 20 His servants arose and made a conspiracy and struck down Joash in the house of Millo, on the way that goes down to Silla. 21 It was Jozacar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, who struck him down, so that he died. And they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

It is interesting to me (though maybe nothing) that the author decided to call the child Joash before he was king (a shortened version of his name), used his entire name Jehoash while he was king, and then went back to calling him Joash again to talk about his death.  There is not much more to add to the story other than he was assassinated by his own servants in the house of Milo, on the way that goes down to Sillia--we'll have to look at the book of Chronicles for more details on that.  The servants who struck him down are named here as Jozacar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer.  He, like all the kings of Judah before him, was buried in the city of David among the other kings that were from the line of David and his son, Amaziah, reigned in his place.

We would want to think after reading the account in 1 Kings that he was a good king for Judah, but we already talked about how things ended poorly for him yesterday and that seems to have something to do with why he was assassinated.  It is better to trust in the LORD than in silver, gold, chariots or horsemen.  For the LORD owns the cattle on a thousand hills (He is infinitely wealthy) and He is the LORD of Hosts (He has as many or more angelic warriors at his disposal as there are stars in the heavens--we are only just now starting to get some idea what that means with the pictures that the James Webb Telescope is sending back).

2 Kings 12:4-18
English Standard Version

Jehoash Repairs the Temple
4 Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the holy things that is brought into the house of the LORD, the money for which each man is assessed—the money from the assessment of persons—and the money that a man's heart prompts him to bring into the house of the LORD, 5 let the priests take, each from his donor, and let them repair the house wherever any need of repairs is discovered.” 6 But by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, the priests had made no repairs on the house. 7 Therefore King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said to them, “Why are you not repairing the house? Now therefore take no more money from your donors, but hand it over for the repair of the house.” 8 So the priests agreed that they should take no more money from the people, and that they should not repair the house.

9 Then Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in the lid of it and set it beside the altar on the right side as one entered the house of the LORD. And the priests who guarded the threshold put in it all the money that was brought into the house of the LORD. 10 And whenever they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king's secretary and the high priest came up and they bagged and counted the money that was found in the house of the LORD. 11 Then they would give the money that was weighed out into the hands of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of the LORD. And they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders who worked on the house of the LORD, 12 and to the masons and the stonecutters, as well as to buy timber and quarried stone for making repairs on the house of the LORD, and for any outlay for the repairs of the house. 13 But there were not made for the house of the LORD basins of silver, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, or any vessels of gold, or of silver, from the money that was brought into the house of the LORD, 14 for that was given to the workmen who were repairing the house of the LORD with it. 15 And they did not ask for an accounting from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to pay out to the workmen, for they dealt honestly. 16 The money from the guilt offerings and the money from the sin offerings was not brought into the house of the LORD; it belonged to the priests.

​17 At that time Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath and took it. But when Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem, 18 Jehoash king of Judah took all the sacred gifts that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah his fathers, the kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own sacred gifts, and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and of the king's house, and sent these to Hazael king of Syria. Then Hazael went away from Jerusalem.

Jehoash reinstituted the poll tax that had probably not been paid in a while as well as the use of tithes and offerings for the use of repairing the Temple of the LORD, but by his twenty-third year as king, the priests had not made any repairs to the Temple from the tithes and offerings that were being brought in.  The king and the priests together decided that instead of the priests collecting the money and then being responsible to turn it over to the king that they would instead set up a collection box (a locked chest with a hole in the top of it small enough to drop coins into but not large enough for anyone to reach inside the hole to grab any of the coins) and the king would then take that money that the people donated and use it to make the repairs.  Essentially this made a "building fund," and the people were instructed to put all their regular tithes and offerings as well as their poll tax money into the collection box (the priests would still be taken care of by the food offerings and the offerings of firstfruits and all the other ways in which they were provided with food and wine--they just would not take any of the gold or silver paid in coins that was given for tithes and offerings except in a couple of special cases mentioned later).

When the chest got full the money would be counted by both the high priest and the king's secretary and then the money would immediately be weighed out and put into the hands of the workmen who had oversight in repairing the Temple.  None of the money given was melted down to make the articles of bronze, silver or gold for the temple.

They also hired honest workmen so they did not ask for any accounting from them of how they spent the money that they were entrusted with.  The text also lets us know that the money that was associated with the payment of a guilt offering or sin offering was not put into the collection box because the Law required that it belonged to the priest who mediated such an offering, but it appears that regular tithes and offerings were put into the collection box until all the repairs were done.  It may be that this system stayed in effect even into the days of Jesus as we see what appears to be a similar collection going on with his parable about The Widow's Mite.

The one stain on the record of Jehoash (Joash) can be found in verses 17 and 18.  He's been a pretty good king to this point, but when the king of Syria is attacking the Philistines to the south and is starting to make his way north towards Jerusalem, Jehoash does not pray to the LORD or gather the army for war and trust that the LORD will give them the victory, he instead takes all the wealth out of the royal treasury that he and his father and grandfather and even his great-grandfather, as well as all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the Temple (this was a big mistake) and used it to pay a bribe to Hazael, king of Syria.  Hazael went away from Jerusalem for a time, but this would be the beginning of the end of Joash's reign.  We'll see more about that next time as well as when we look at what is said about him in 2 Chronicles 24.

2 Kings 11:21-12:3
English Standard Version

Jehoash Reigns in Judah
21  Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign.

12 In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba. 2 And Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him. 3 Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away; the people continued to sacrifice and make offerings on the high places.

Up to this point, we've referred to the boy saved by the priests simply as Joash, but it appears that upon his coronation as king he either gets a new name or stops using a shortened version of his name and goes by the name Jehoash.  Jehoash was only seven years old when he ascended to the throne which was also the seventh year of the reign of King Jehu in the northern kingdom of Israel.   Jehoash reigned as long as Saul, David, or Solomon--40 years.  The text gives the name of his mother, Zibiah of Beersheba, for we should not forget how she took him and hid him in order to save his life from the queen mother when Jehu had slain the king of Israel and the king of Judah as well as all other close male relatives of King Ahab according to the Word of the LORD.

Jehoash was a good king of Judah who did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all of his days, and that is credited to the fact that Jehoiada the priest instructed him from the time he was young so that the Word of God was hidden deep in Jehoash's heart.  However, the high places where people went to worship false gods were not destroyed, and the people continued to sacrifice and make offerings there in the high places.

We are not done talking about Jehoash yet as next time we'll talk about how the LORD puts it in his heart to repair and rebuild the Temple, which has been mostly neglected for these years that Israel and Judah have been following after the Baals and other false gods.  We'll talk about this next time.