Joash: the Chest, and the Stoning
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. 2 Joash did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes all the days of Jehoiada the priest. 3 Jehoiada took for him two wives, and he became the father of sons and daughters. 4 After this, Joash intended to restore Yahweh’s house. 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. 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 Yahweh, and of the assembly of Israel, out of Judah and out of Jerusalem, for the Tent of the Testimony?” 7 For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up God’s house; and they also gave all the dedicated things of Yahweh’s house to the Baals. 8 So the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it outside at the gate of Yahweh’s house. 9 They made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in for Yahweh the tax that Moses the servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness. 10 All the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had filled it. 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. 12 The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of Yahweh’s house. They hired masons and carpenters to restore Yahweh’s house, and also those who worked iron and bronze to repair Yahweh’s house. 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. 14 When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, from which were made vessels for Yahweh’s house, even vessels with which to minister and to offer, including spoons and vessels of gold and silver. They offered burnt offerings in Yahweh’s house continually all the days of Jehoiada. 15 But Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died. He was one hundred thirty years old when he died. 16 They buried him in David’s city among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and toward God and his house. 17 Now after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and bowed down to the king. Then the king listened to them. 18 They abandoned the house of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherah poles and the idols, so wrath came on Judah and Jerusalem for this their guiltiness. 19 Yet he sent prophets to them to bring them again to Yahweh, and they testified against them; but they would not listen. 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 Yahweh’s commandments, so that you can’t prosper? Because you have forsaken Yahweh, he has also forsaken you.’” 21 They conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of Yahweh’s house. 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 Yahweh look at it, and repay it.” 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. 24 For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men; and Yahweh delivered a very great army into their hand, because they had forsaken Yahweh, the God of their fathers. So they executed judgment on Joash. 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. 26 These are those who conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonitess and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabitess. 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.
A king does right for as long as one man is alive, and the reign ends by killing that man's son in the courtyard he restored.
The verdict is given in the second verse and it contains a time limit. Joash did right all the days of Jehoiada the priest 2 Chronicles 24:2. Everything in the chapter is arranged around that clause.
The repair project shows the king at his best and is worth the detail the writer gives it. The first method fails: he tells the Levites to go and collect, and they do not hurry 2 Chronicles 24:5. He confronts the high priest about it directly, and cites the authority — the levy Moses laid on Israel in the wilderness 2 Chronicles 24:6.
The second method works, and the change is simple. Instead of collectors going out, a chest is set at the gate and a proclamation made 2 Chronicles 24:8–9. People bring it in themselves, and all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had filled it 2 Chronicles 24:10.
The emptying is done by two officers together, one royal and one priestly, day after day 2 Chronicles 24:11. Neither side handles the money alone. And the surplus at the end is turned into vessels for the service rather than returned to the treasury 2 Chronicles 24:14.
Then Jehoiada dies at a great age and is buried among the kings because he had done good in Israel, and toward God and his house 2 Chronicles 24:16 — the only man in either volume given a royal tomb who was not a king.
The collapse begins in the next verse and its mechanism is flattery. The princes come and bow, then the king listened to them 2 Chronicles 24:17. He is forty years into a reign, and the moment the man who raised him is gone, the courtiers arrive and he does what they want. The parallel with Rehoboam and his young advisers is exact, and both kings had the older counsel available.
Prophets are sent and are not heard 2 Chronicles 24:19. Then Jehoiada's own son stands above the people and states the rule the whole book turns on: because you have forsaken Yahweh, he has also forsaken you 2 Chronicles 24:20.
He is stoned in the courtyard, at the commandment of the king, in the court of the house his father had rescued and his king had repaired 2 Chronicles 24:21. The writer will not let the debt go unstated: Joash didn't remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son 2 Chronicles 24:22.
The dying man's words are not a curse but a referral: may Yahweh look at it, and repay it.
The repayment is reported in the same terms it was asked for. A small company of Syrians defeats a very great army, because they had forsaken Yahweh 2 Chronicles 24:24. And the king is killed in his bed by his own servants for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada 2 Chronicles 24:25 — not for policy, and not by an enemy. He is buried in the city and not in the tombs of the kings, where the priest lies.
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