History · Chapter 24 of 36

2 Chronicles 24

Crowned as a boy, Joash does right while Jehoiada the priest lives, and restores the neglected temple by a public collection. But after Jehoiada dies at a great age, Joash listens to flattering princes, abandons the LORD, and tolerates idolatry. When Zechariah, Jehoiada's son, rebukes him, Joash has him stoned in the temple court. Judgment follows: Syria invades, and Joash is murdered by his own servants.

What happens in 2 Chronicles 24

Joash begins to reign at seven and does right throughout Jehoiada's lifetime. Zealous to repair the temple neglected under Athaliah, he orders a collection; when the Levites delay, he sets a chest at the temple gate, and the people gladly fill it until the repairs are funded and finished. But when Jehoiada dies at a hundred and thirty and is buried among the kings, the princes flatter Joash, and he turns away, abandoning the temple to serve idols.

God sends prophets to warn them, unheeded. Then the Spirit moves Zechariah, Jehoiada's son, to indict the people for forsaking the LORD. They conspire and stone him in the temple court at the king's command; dying, he says, The LORD look upon it, and require it. Joash forgot Jehoiada's kindness. That year Syria invades, defeats Judah, and wounds Joash, whose own servants then kill him in his bed for the priest's blood.

2 Chronicles 24 in context

Joash's reign divides sharply at the death of Jehoiada, the priest who saved and mentored him. Under godly influence he thrives; without it he collapses into ingratitude and murder. The Chronicler uses this to warn that borrowed faith, dependent on a mentor rather than owned personally, does not endure.

The stoning of Zechariah in the temple court becomes a byword for the persecution of God's messengers.

Main themes of 2 Chronicles 24

2 Chronicles 24 (KJV)

1Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Zibiah of Beersheba. 2And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest. 3And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters. 4And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to repair the house of the LORD. 5And he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out unto the cities of Judah, and gather of all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that ye hasten the matter. Howbeit the Levites hastened it not. 6And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said unto him, Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the collection, according to the commandment of Moses the servant of the LORD, and of the congregation of Israel, for the tabernacle of witness? 7For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also all the dedicated things of the house of the LORD did they bestow upon Baalim. 8And at the king’s commandment they made a chest, and set it without at the gate of the house of the LORD. 9And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in to the LORD the collection that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness. 10And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end. 11Now it came to pass, that at what time the chest was brought unto the king’s office by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king’s scribe and the high priest’s officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to his place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance. 12And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of the LORD, and hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the LORD, and also such as wrought iron and brass to mend the house of the LORD. 13So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in his state, and strengthened it. 14And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, whereof were made vessels for the house of the LORD, even vessels to minister, and to offer withal, and spoons, and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the LORD continually all the days of Jehoiada. 15But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died. 16And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God, and toward his house. 17Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them. 18And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass. 19Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the LORD; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear. 20And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you. 21And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD. 22Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The LORD look upon it, and require it. 23And it came to pass at the end of the year, that the host of Syria came up against him: and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them unto the king of Damascus. 24For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, and the LORD delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash. 25And when they were departed from him, (for they left him in great diseases,) his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings. 26And these are they that conspired against him; Zabad the son of Shimeath an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess. 27Now concerning his sons, and the greatness of the burdens laid upon him, and the repairing of the house of God, behold, they are written in the story of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.

Verses to carry from 2 Chronicles 24

“And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.”2 Chronicles 24:2

“And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you.”2 Chronicles 24:20

“Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The LORD look upon it, and require it.”2 Chronicles 24:22

Reflection

Is your faith your own, or does it lean entirely on a person who could be taken from you? Joash thrived on borrowed devotion and collapsed when his mentor died. Ask God to root your obedience in your own heart, and remember with gratitude those whose kindness once rescued you.

A prayer from 2 Chronicles 24