Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Jehoash
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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2 Kings 12:1-3
King Jehoash (or Joash) of Judah, though he overcame much and did many good things, did not quite have the fortitude to rid the kingdom of its high places. To understand him, one must begin with his grandmother, Athaliah, the daughter of King Ahab of Israel and his queen, Jezebel, perhaps the most wicked royal couple ever to rule over God's people. Athaliah was thus actually of the house of Israel, though she married into the house of Judah when she became the wife of Jehoram (or Joram). This union bore evil fruit, for, like his ancestor Solomon, Jehoram could not resist the negative influence of his wife and her family. Jehoram "walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother advised him to do wickedly. Therefore he did evil in the sight of the LORD, like the house of Ahab; for they were his counselors after the death of his father, to his destruction" (II Chronicles 22:3-4). After Jehoram's death, his son, Ahaziah, reigned in his place, but only for one year (II Kings 8:26). His short reign was a continuation of his father's, as "he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the LORD, like the house of Ahab, for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab" (II Kings 8:27). After Ahaziah's death, his mother, Athaliah, had the male heirs killed and unlawfully made herself queen. However, before she could kill Ahaziah's son, Jehoash, Ahaziah's sister hid him in the Temple, where he remained for six years while Athaliah ruled over Judah. When Jehoash was seven, though, Jehoiada the priest—his uncle—crowned him as king and had Athaliah put to death (II Kings 11:4-16; II Chronicles 23:1-15). Also at that time, the people of Judah—likely under Jehoiada's direction—tore down the temple of Baal, broke its altars and images, and killed the priest of Baal (II Kings 11:17-18; II Chronicles 23:16-17).
David C. Grabbe
The High Places (Part Two)
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2 Kings 12:2-3
Jehoash did some good things, such as overcoming the bottlenecks that were keeping the Temple from being repaired (II Kings 12:4-16). Not swayed by the ways of his deplorable grandmother, Athaliah, or the family of Ahab, he was certainly a more moral king than his father or grandfather. Nevertheless, during their reigns, influenced as they were by the paganism of the kings of Israel, high places had been constructed—ones that Jehoash failed to destroy. He was apparently not serious enough about the spiritual state of his realm to remove these obvious stumblingblocks. God's assessment in verse 2 contains a critical detail: Jehoash did the right thing "all the days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him." Jehoash's uncle was the real, uncrowned hero, the moral force that kept the king essentially on track during his reign. He re-instituted the covenant, and as a result, the people were reminded of their obligations and motivated to rid the land of Baal-worship (II Kings 11:17-19). Upon his death, Jehoiada, though not a king, received a royal burial "in the City of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and His house" (II Chronicles 24:15-16)—a noble interment that Jehoash himself did not receive. When Jehoiada's counsel ceased, so did Jehoash's uprightness: Now after the death of Jehoiada the leaders of Judah came and bowed down to the king. And the king listened to them. Therefore they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served wooden images and idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of their trespass. (II Chronicles 24:17-18) In response to this sin, God raised up Jehoiada's son, Zechariah—a cousin whom Jehoash probably grew up with—to reprove Jehoash: "Thus says God: 'Why do you transgress the commandments of the LORD, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, He also has forsaken you'" (II Chronicles 24:20). The king commanded that Zechariah be stoned in the Temple courtyard for his testimony, forgetting not only God but also all the kindness that Zechariah's father had shown him (II Chronicles 24:15-22; see Luke 11:51). Fittingly, Jehoash's servants later conspired against him and killed him, and though he was buried in Jerusalem, he was not buried with the other kings (II Chronicles 24:25). God had provided young Jehoash with a wise and moral guide, and as long as Jehoiada lived, Jehoash did well. But he never really made his uncle's ways—God's ways—his own; he was spiritually strong only while in the presence of a godly man. Upon Jehoiada's death, Jehoash began listening to foolish advice and even succumbed to reinstituting idolatry. He became similar to today's politicians, always testing to see which way the wind was blowing so he could align himself with other centers of power. When Jehoiada lived, Jehoash aligned himself with the priest. When Jehoiada died, Jehoash aligned himself with the other leaders of Judah, although that meant leaving God. Thus, Jehoash did what was right in the sight of God while under the aegis of a moral father figure. Nevertheless, the high places built during his father's and grandfather's reigns were not destroyed because they were not personally abhorrent to him. He was content to have them, perhaps because he did not want to alienate the leaders in Judah—who were biding their time until the old priest died to fashion the kingdom according to their own tastes. Jehoash lacked the character to do what was right regardless of what the herd was doing.
David C. Grabbe
The High Places (Part Two)
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2 Kings 15:2-5
Uzziah is the third successive king of Judah who failed to remove the high places from the land. Like his father, Amaziah, and his grandfather, Jehoash, Uzziah "did what was right in the sight of the LORD," but also like them, his ending was worse than his beginning. From II Kings 15:2-5, one receives the impression that the leprosy directly resulted from Uzziah's failure to rid the realm of idolatry. However, the record in II Chronicles reveals more of the story. Uzziah "sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God; and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper" (II Chronicles 26:5). His downfall, like his father's, had its roots in worldly greatness and success. He vanquished the Philistines, Arabians, and Meunites in battle, and due to his reputation, the Ammonites paid tribute to avoid a similar fate (II Chronicles 26:6-8). Out of his small kingdom, he mustered and equipped an army of over 300,000 men that "made war with mighty power" (verse 13). As II Chronicles 26:15 summarizes, "So his fame spread far and wide, for he was marvelously helped till he became strong." Yet, like most men, Uzziah was unable to handle such strength: "But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the LORD his God by entering the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense" (II Chronicles 26:16). During his reign, God began sending the recorded prophets. Uzziah's death is noted in Isaiah 6:1, and thus the first five chapters specifically deal with Judah during his reign. In Isaiah and Hosea appear a strong indication of the state of the people and the leadership. Isaiah writes that "from the sole of the foot [of the sinful nation] even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment" (Isaiah 1:6). Hosea similarly writes about the nation burning incense to the Baals (Hosea 2:13), offering sacrifices and burning incense on high places (Hosea 4:13), sacrificing to the Baals (Hosea 11:2), and "the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel" (Hosea 10:8). While Uzziah did not directly participate in the idolatry, by "entering the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense," we can see pagan influences creeping into a previously righteous reign. In God's law, only the priests were authorized to offer incense to God (see Numbers 16:35, 40). However, in the pagan religions, essentially anyone—and especially the king—could burn incense to his god (see Jeremiah 32:29; 44:15-25). Thus, in his pride, Uzziah borrowed a page from the pagans' playbook, even while ostensibly worshipping God. Uzziah was raised in an environment that included his father burning incense to the gods of Edom. The high-place paganism that he allowed to continue would likewise have shaped the way he approached the worship of the true God. Thus, when his heart was lifted up by worldly greatness, he apparently felt free to overlook God's clear instructions regarding sacrifice and incense. That way of worship was the norm all around him—what harm could it do? Not only did he try to worship God on his own terms, but he became enraged when the priests—God's representatives—challenged him. His string of successes seems to have given him delusions of infallibility: Then Uzziah became furious; and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead, before the priests in the house of the LORD, beside the incense altar. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and there, on his forehead, he was leprous; so they thrust him out of that place. Indeed he also hurried to get out, because the LORD had struck him. King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death. He dwelt in an isolated house, because he was a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the LORD. (II Chronicles 26:19-21) Uzziah's upbringing in a multicultural environment, combined with a strong taste of untempered power and a lack of defeat, contributed to his ambivalence toward the high places in the land and his presumptuous imitation of their practices. Though he did not participate in it, the paganism he tolerated later influenced his worship of God, who would in no way accept this mixture of the holy and the profane.
David C. Grabbe
The High Places (Part Four)
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2 Chronicles 24:2
Jehoash (Joash), Amaziah, and Uzziah (Azariah) all "did what was right in the sight of the LORD" (II Chronicles 24:2; 25:2; 26:4), yet during their reigns "the high places were not removed" (II Kings 12:3; 14:4; 15:4). All three are also in the lineage of Jesus Christ, but they are conspicuously absent in His genealogy given in Matthew 1. To compound this peculiarity, some of the very worst kings of Judah—such as Ahaz and Manasseh—are included. One possible reason for this has already been alluded to, and it may relate to the negligence of these three kings to remove the high places from the kingdom entrusted to them by God. That is, they all had strong and righteous beginnings, but over the course of their reigns, they regressed spiritually. Rather than becoming better over time, these three monarchs squandered the position and opportunities given to them. In contrast, Judah's particularly bad rulers had a semblance of repentance later in their lives. In his youth, Jehoash had a strong and moral priest to guide him, but once the priest died, it became apparent that Jehoash lacked the character to stand on his own. He gave in to idolatry and died without honor. Amaziah began his reign with righteous mercy, but upon tasting military victory, he became proud and started worshipping the gods of the people he had conquered. Like his father, he was assassinated. Uzziah also became militarily strong, and in his hubris, he rashly entered the Temple and burned incense to God—something reserved for the sons of Aaron alone. He ended his days in isolation as a leper. The lives of these kings are records of neglect that culminated in their downfalls—to the detriment of those under them and after them.
David C. Grabbe
The High Places (Part Five)
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Find more Bible verses about Jehoash:
Jehoash {Nave's}
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