The kings of Israel and Judah

King Jehoahaz of Israel

The kingdom of Israel (the north) · Reigned seventeen years (2 Kings 13:1) · Evil before God · 2 Kings 13:1 to 9

Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, reigned seventeen years and did evil, continuing the sins of Jeroboam. Under him God gave Israel into the hand of the Syrians, who oppressed the nation and reduced its army to almost nothing. Yet Scripture records a striking mercy: when Jehoahaz besought the LORD in his affliction, God heard him and gave Israel a deliverer, for he saw their oppression. It is one of the tender moments in the northern kingdom's dark history.

And Jehoahaz besought the LORD, and the LORD hearkened unto him: for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them.2 Kings 13:4 (KJV)

Evil, and oppressed by Syria

Jehoahaz did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and followed the sins of Jeroboam which he made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom. Because of this, the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of the Syrians, first Hazael and then his son, all their days.

The oppression was crushing. God left Jehoahaz only fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers, for the king of Syria had destroyed the rest and made them like the dust by threshing. The proud northern kingdom was ground down to a remnant of an army.

A cry heard in mercy

Then comes the surprising grace. And Jehoahaz besought the LORD, and the LORD hearkened unto him: for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them. And the LORD gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians, and dwelt in their tents as before.

Even an evil king, when he cried out in his distress, was heard, and God raised up deliverance for the people, not because they deserved it, but because he saw their affliction and remembered his compassion. It echoes the days of the judges, when God kept saving a people who kept turning away.

The biblical verdict and where it points

Jehoahaz is judged evil, and the people even under him did not fully turn from Jeroboam's sins, nor take away the grove from Samaria. Yet his brief cry to God, and God's answer, shine as a reminder that the LORD is slow to anger and full of compassion, hearing even those who have long neglected him when at last they call.

This mercy in the midst of judgment points to the heart of God revealed fully in Christ. The God who saw Israel's oppression and sent a saviour is the same God who saw a world in bondage and sent his Son. However far a people or a person has wandered, the story of Jehoahaz says that a genuine cry to God in affliction is never despised.

A note on the record: everything here is drawn from the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. Kings and Chronicles sometimes tell a reign differently, Chronicles often adding a king's repentance or building works, and where they differ this is said plainly rather than smoothed over. The exact lengths and overlaps of the reigns are genuinely complex, because kings often shared the throne with a son for a time, so the totals in Scripture do not always add up in a simple line. The verdict good or evil is the Bible's own assessment, whether a king did right or evil in the sight of the LORD.

Related: Jehu · Jehoash of Israel · All the kings of Israel and Judah