2 Chronicles 24:1-27 NIV
Joash Repairs the Temple
1Joash
was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty
years. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba. 2Joash did what
was right in the Eyes of the Lord all the years of Jehoiada the priest. 3Jehoiada chose
two wives for him, and he had sons and daughters.
4Some
time later Joash decided to restore the Temple of the Lord. 5He called
together the priests and Levites and said to them, “Go to the towns of Judah
and collect the money due annually from all Israel, to repair the Temple
of your God. Do it now.” But the Levites did not act at once.
6Therefore
the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest and said to him, “Why haven’t you
required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by
Moses the servant of the Lord and by the assembly of Israel for the
tent of the Covenant Law?”
7Now the
sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had broken into the Temple
of God and had used even its sacred objects for the Baals.
8At the
king’s command, a chest was made and placed outside, at the gate of the Temple
of the Lord. 9A proclamation
was then issued in Judah and Jerusalem that they should bring to the Lord the tax that Moses the servant of God
had required of Israel in the wilderness. 10All
the officials and all the people brought their contributions gladly, dropping
them into the chest until it was full. 11Whenever
the chest was brought in by the Levites to the king’s officials and they saw
that there was a large amount of money, the royal secretary and the officer of
the chief priest would come and empty the chest and carry it back to its place.
They did this regularly and collected a great amount of money. 12The king and
Jehoiada gave it to those who carried out the work required for the Temple
of the Lord. They hired masons and
carpenters to restore the Lord’s Temple,
and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the Temple.
13The men
in charge of the work were diligent, and the repairs progressed under them.
They rebuilt the Temple of God according to its original design and reinforced it. 14When they had
finished, they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, and with
it were made articles for the Lord’s Temple:
articles for the service and for the burnt offerings, and also dishes and other
objects of gold and silver. As long as Jehoiada lived, burnt offerings were
presented continually in the Temple of the Lord.
15Now
Jehoiada was old and full of years, and he died at the age of a hundred and thirty. 16He was buried
with the kings in the City of David, because of the good he had done in Israel
for God and His Temple.
The Wickedness of Joash
17After
the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king,
and he listened to them. 18They
abandoned the Temple of the Lord, the God of
their ancestors, and worshiped Asherah poles and idols. Because of their guilt,
God’s Anger came on Judah and Jerusalem. 19Although the Lord sent prophets to the people to bring
them back to Him, and though they testified against them, they would not
listen.
20Then
the Spirit of God came on Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before
the people and said, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you disobey the Lord’s commands? You will not
prosper. Because you have forsaken the Lord, He has
forsaken you.’ ”
21But
they plotted against him, and by order of the king they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the Lord’s Temple.
22King
Joash did not remember the kindness Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had shown him
but killed his son, who said as he lay dying,
“May the Lord see this and call you to account.”
23At the
turn of the year,a the army of Aram marched against Joash; it
invaded Judah and Jerusalem and killed all the leaders of the people. They sent
all the plunder to their king in Damascus. 24Although
the Aramean army had come with only a few men, the Lord delivered into their hands a much
larger army. Because Judah had forsaken the Lord, the God of
their ancestors, judgment was executed on Joash.25When the
Arameans withdrew, they left Joash severely wounded. His officials conspired
against him for murdering the son of Jehoiada the priest, and they killed him
in his bed. So he died and was buried in the City of David, but not in the
tombs of the kings.
26Those
who conspired against him were Zabad,b son of Shimeath an Ammonite woman, and
Jehozabad, son of Shimrithc a Moabite woman. 27The account
of his sons, the many prophecies about him, and the record of the restoration
of the Temple of God are written in the annotations on the book of the
kings. And Amaziah his son succeeded him as king.
Chapter 24
We have here the history of the reign of
Joash, the progress of which, and especially its termination, were not of a
piece with its beginning, nor shone with so much luster.
How wonderfully he was preserved for the
throne, and placed in it, we read before; now here we are told how he began in
the spirit, but ended in the flesh.
I.
In the beginning of his time, while Jehoiada
lived, he did well; particularly, he took care to put the Temple in good repair
(v. 1–14).
II.
In the latter end of his time, after Jehoiada’s
death, he apostatized from God, and his apostasy was his ruin.
1. He set up the
worship of Baal again (v. 15–18), though warned to the contrary (v. 19).
2. He put Zechariah
the prophet to death because he reproved him for what he had done (v. 20–22).
3. The judgments of
God came upon him for it. The Syrians invaded him (v. 23, 24).
He was struck with
sore diseases; his own servants conspired against him and slew him; and, as a
mark of infamy upon him, he was not buried in the burying place of the kings (v.
25–27).