2 Chronicles 24

In 2 Chronicles 23, the priest Jehoiada removed Athaliah and made the seven-year-old Joash king. This chapter continues the account, dividing Joash's forty-year reign into an earlier period of temple repair and a later period of apostasy. The same king's story also appears in 2 Kings 12.

Outline

• Verses 1–3 Joash becomes king at the age of seven and reigns forty years in Jerusalem. He does what is right as long as Jehoiada lives.
• Verses 4–14 The Levites are slow to collect money for repairing the temple. The king then places a chest outside the gate of the temple and collects the levy established by Moses. The people give gladly, and after the work is finished, the remaining money is used to make vessels for the temple.
• Verses 15–16 Jehoiada dies at the age of 130 and is buried in the city of David among the kings.
• Verses 17–19 The king listens to the princes of Judah, abandons the temple, and serves the Asherah poles and idols. The prophets warn them, but they do not listen.
• Verses 20–22 Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, rebukes the people and is stoned to death in the temple court at the king's command.
• Verses 23–27 A year later a small Aramean (Syrian) army attacks Judah. Joash, severely wounded, is killed on his bed by his servants Zabad and Jehozabad. He is not buried in the tombs of the kings, and his son Amaziah succeeds him.

Key Verses

• 2 Chronicles 24:2 "And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest": from the outset, this hints that Joash's faith depended on his guardian.
• 2 Chronicles 24:20 "Because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you": this summarizes the theme of forsaking and judgment that recurs throughout Chronicles.
• 2 Chronicles 24:22 "The LORD look upon it, and require it": Zechariah's dying words, frequently compared with martyrdom accounts in the New Testament.

People and Places

• Joash: King of Judah, who came to the throne at the age of seven.
• Zibiah: Joash's mother, from Beersheba.
• Jehoiada: The high priest, who installed Joash, supported him, and was buried among the kings.
• Athaliah: Referred to as "that wicked woman" who had damaged the temple.
• Zechariah: The son of Jehoiada, stoned to death in the temple court.
• Zabad and Jehozabad: The servants who killed Joash. Zabad was the son of Shimeath, an Ammonite woman, and Jehozabad was the son of Shimrith, a Moabite woman.
• Amaziah: Joash's son and successor.
• Jerusalem; the Aramean army that attacked Judah; and Damascus, to which the spoil was sent.

Notes for Reading

• 2 Kings 12 reports the temple repair and the assassination of Joash but does not mention the apostasy after Jehoiada's death or the death of Zechariah. Chronicles explains the Aramean invasion and the king's death as consequences of that apostasy. Some scholars regard this as characteristic of the Chronicler's view of retribution according to one's deeds.
• "The collection that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel" is commonly read in connection with the half-shekel ransom of Exodus 30.
• In Matthew 23 and Luke 11, Jesus speaks of "the blood of Abel … unto the blood of Zacharias." Because the Hebrew Bible ends with Chronicles, a widely known interpretation identifies this Zacharias with the Zechariah of this chapter, so that the phrase refers to the first and last martyrs of the Scriptures. However, because Matthew calls him "son of Barachias," explanations of this point vary.
• Zechariah's plea that the LORD "require it" is sometimes read in contrast with Stephen's final prayer (Acts 7:60).

In the Korean Church

Verses 4–14, in which money was collected in a chest to repair the temple, are often used as a sermon text on building fund offerings or freewill giving. Joash is also frequently cited as an example of a king who began well but ended badly.