2Ch 24:17-27 | KingComments | STEP | After each revival, lukewarmness follows. We see this here too. When the inspirer Jehoiada has died, Joash deviates from the way of the LORD. Jehoiada’s influence has been decisive for his actions. Now that he has lost his grip and compass with Jehoiada’s death, he is rudderless. Unfortunately, he has no personal contact with the LORD. Joash walked more through the faith of Jehoiada than through his own faith. We can apply this to ourselves with regard to our children. If we do not teach them to live with the Lord in an independent relationship with Him, they will – if they have to stand on their own two feet – turn their backs on the Lord. Through the death of Jehoiada, a spiritual vacuum has been created with Joash. That vacuum is filled by the officials of Judah ( ). They come to him and hypocritically bow down before him. They don’t want to help him to continue reigning according to God’s will, but they want to serve their own interests. Joash listens to their flattery. The king and the officials, who had just been busy restoring the temple, leave the LORD and His house and start to serve the idols ( ). Perhaps the officials have talked to him and said that the old service of the LORD is not sufficient and that serving “the Asherim and the idols” gives a much better feeling. Joash began, so to speak, by the Spirit, but ends up by the flesh ( ). God’s answer to the deviation of Joash and the people does not fail. The people are guilty toward Him. Because of this guilt God’s pleasure no longer rests on Judah and Jerusalem, but now there comes wrath upon them.

‏ 2 Chronicles 24:17-27

Joash Falls to Idolatry

After each revival, lukewarmness follows. We see this here too. When the inspirer Jehoiada has died, Joash deviates from the way of the LORD. Jehoiada’s influence has been decisive for his actions. Now that he has lost his grip and compass with Jehoiada’s death, he is rudderless. Unfortunately, he has no personal contact with the LORD. Joash walked more through the faith of Jehoiada than through his own faith. We can apply this to ourselves with regard to our children. If we do not teach them to live with the Lord in an independent relationship with Him, they will – if they have to stand on their own two feet – turn their backs on the Lord.

Through the death of Jehoiada, a spiritual vacuum has been created with Joash. That vacuum is filled by the officials of Judah (2Chr 24:17). They come to him and hypocritically bow down before him. They don’t want to help him to continue reigning according to God’s will, but they want to serve their own interests. Joash listens to their flattery. The king and the officials, who had just been busy restoring the temple, leave the LORD and His house and start to serve the idols (2Chr 24:18). Perhaps the officials have talked to him and said that the old service of the LORD is not sufficient and that serving “the Asherim and the idols” gives a much better feeling. Joash began, so to speak, by the Spirit, but ends up by the flesh (Gal 3:3).

God’s answer to the deviation of Joash and the people does not fail. The people are guilty toward Him. Because of this guilt God’s pleasure no longer rests on Judah and Jerusalem, but now there comes wrath upon them.

Joash Kills the Prophet of God

Before God actually makes them feel His wrath, which rests on them, He first sends them prophets in His grace (2Chr 24:19; cf. Jer 7:25). Through His prophets He wants to call them to return to Him. They warn of the consequences if the people persist in their deviation from Him. Unfortunately, Joash doesn’t listen.

One of the prophets is specially mentioned (2Chr 24:20). It is Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada. Zechariah is going to stand on an elevation to be better heard by the people (cf. Neh 8:5). That is why he also stands as a loner against the people. He is a true Antipas – meaning ‘against all’ –, who also testified as a loner and just like Zechariah had to pay with his life for his testimony (Rev 2:13).

Zechariah presents to the people their sins without fuss. He tells them that their idolatry will not bring them the prosperity they expect. Their actions have no blessing because they have forsaken the LORD and He has had to forsake them. They are now on their way without Him. So how could there be prosperity for them?

Joash even gives the command to kill the man who brings him the words of God with stones (2Chr 24:21; Heb 11:37). Here a holy man (a priest and prophet) is killed in a holy place (the temple) with a holy message (a word of God) as if he were a blasphemer. How far have the king and his people deviated from the LORD.

Joash places himself in line with the wicked Ahab who also had a righteous man, Naboth, stoned (1Kgs 21:8-13). Zechariah is stoned in the court of the house of the LORD to which Joash has been so dedicated the first part of his reign. The place of worship is smeared with blood.

God’s Spirit clearly indicates that this stoning is not only a crime but also an act of the greatest ingratitude (2Chr 24:22a; cf. Jdg 8:35). The favor that Zechariah’s father, Jehoiada, has bestowed on him is gone from his memory.

If we forget to be thankful for all that the Lord has given us in our brothers and sisters, we may become their murderers spiritually if they point out our failures. Ungratefulness is one of the characteristics of the last days, that is the time in which we live (2Tim 3:1-3). It is a time when the Word of God is ignored by many.

When Zechariah dies, he calls that the LORD will avenge (2Chr 24:22b). This call for revenge fits the Old Testament. This call will also sound after the rapture of the church (Rev 6:9-11). In our time the believer fits a call for grace and forgiveness for his persecutors and those who torture them (Acts 7:59-60).

In His speech against the Pharisees, the Lord Jesus refers to the murder of Zechariah (Mt 23:34-35; Lk 11:51). In that speech, He mentions the first and last murder of believers in the Old Testament as the beginning and the end of a long series of bloodshed of the righteous. The first murder is that of Abel, the last one is that of Zechariah. It is true that Zechariah is the last believer to be murdered in the Old Testament. We must remember that the book of the Chronicles in the Hebrew Bible is the last book of the Bible and not, as in our Bibles, the book of Malachi.

Judgment Executed on Joash

God’s response to the call of his dying servant Zechariah for revenge is soon. At the turn of the year, the army of the Arameans or Syrians comes up against Joash (2Chr 24:23; cf. 2Sam 11:1). Syria’s army even penetrates so far that they enter Jerusalem and destroy all the officials of the people. Thereby the people have become rudderless. The spoils that the Syrians rob on their campaign are sent to their lord, the king of Damascus.

The Syrians are supreme in their fight against Judah and Jerusalem. This is not because they are so numerous. On the contrary, they only have a small army (2Chr 24:24). Yet they achieve great successes because the LORD fights against His people. He shows Himself the adversary of His people because they have forsaken Him.

Previous kings – Abijah, Asa and Jehoshaphat – were not defeated, although Judah was facing a mighty army (2Chr 13:3 ; 2Chr 14:11 ; 2Chr 20:20). Here with Joash, however, the LORD gives the victory to Syria that “with a small number of men” has come against a mighty Judah. A mighty Judah is defeated by a small army because the LORD gives them into the hand of their enemies (Lev 26:17a). Serving or forsaking the LORD is such a serious matter, that all military numbers are completely meaningless.

The Syrians are the disciplinary rod in God’s hand to execute “judgment on Joash”. The word for ‘executed judgment’ is also used for the judgments that have come on Egypt to persuade Pharaoh to release God’s people from Egypt (Exo 6:6 ; Exo 7:4 ; Exo 12:12; Num 33:4). This shows the seriousness of the discipline that the LORD brings over the leaders of His people. He brings here the judgments with which He has struck ungodly Egypt over His people.

The Death of Joash

The judgments were not only executed on the people, their leaders and their possessions, but also on Joash personally (2Chr 24:25). When the enemies depart, they leave Joash “very sick”, a sickness that is probably the result of serious injuries inflicted on him. With this the measure of God’s discipline over him is not yet full. Two servants conspire against him and kill him, lying powerless on his sickbed. Joash is buried in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings, an honor he has given Jehoiada (2Chr 24:16).

The reason given for Joash’s murder is “because of the blood of the son of Jehoiada the priest”. It seems that of Jehoiada’s sons, Joash did not only kill Zechariah, but also other sons. The reason given does not mean that this has led the two killers to act. It means that God in His governmental ways allows the murder as a retaliation for the blood that Joash shed. The two men will be justly punished for their crime (2Chr 25:3).

The names of the servants and their origins are mentioned (2Chr 24:26). They are two sons of foreign, although Israel-related, women. The Ammonites and Moabites are descendants of Lot (Gen 19:30-38), the nephew of Abraham. They have always been hostile toward God’s people. That Joash has accepted them as servants may be the consequence of serving their gods. Those who fall into the idolatry always bring elements into their home that are hostile to them and are out of their ruin.

The chronicler ends his description of Joash’s life with a reference to some things “written in the treatise of the Book of the Kings” (2Chr 24:27). This book has not been preserved for us. What it says is about his sons, possibly who they are and how he dealt with them. It also concerns “the many oracles against him”. One might think of the judgment prophecies of the LORD that are spoken against him. The last reference is to “the rebuilding of the house of God”, in which we can nevertheless note a certain appreciation for what Joash has done for God’s house.

Joash’s life may have had a tragic course and a tragic end, but God’s faithfulness remains. The son of Joash, Amaziah, becomes king instead of Joash, so God still keeps a lamp burning for David’s house. The light is not yet extinguished.