2 Chronicles · chapter 24 of 36
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2 Chronicles 24 tells how Joash, king from the age of seven, does right while the priest Jehoiada lives and organizes the repair of the temple with an offering chest. After Jehoiada dies, Joash forsakes the Lord, has Zechariah, Jehoiada's son, stoned, and is defeated by a small Syrian army and murdered by his own servants.
Chapter 23 ended with Joash on the throne and the worship of Baal torn down. Now the Chronicler follows that forty-year reign and divides it into two halves: a king who serves the Lord while he has a good adviser, and a king who falls when that guide is gone. It is a warning about faith that depends on people.
Joash is seven years old when he begins to reign and rules forty years in Jerusalem. He does right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. Later he resolves to restore the house of the Lord, which the sons of Athaliah had plundered for the Baals. He orders the priests and Levites to collect money, but they delay, and the king asks Jehoiada why they do not require Moses' tax. So he orders a chest at the temple gate, and the people bring their offering with joy until it is full. With that money they pay masons, carpenters and craftsmen, and the house is restored and made strong. While Jehoiada lives, burnt offerings are offered continually.
Jehoiada dies at a hundred and thirty and is buried among the kings, because he had done good in Israel and toward God and his house. Then the officials of Judah bow before Joash, he listens to them, and they abandon the house of the Lord to serve the Asherah poles and the idols. The Lord sends prophets, but they do not listen. The Spirit of God clothes Zechariah, Jehoiada's son, who warns them that because they forsook the Lord, he has forsaken them. At the king's command they stone him in the temple court. Joash does not remember Jehoiada's kindness, and as Zechariah dies he asks that the Lord see and require it.
At the turn of the year a small Syrian army enters Judah and kills the leaders of the people, though the Lord delivers a much larger army into its hand. Joash is left severely wounded, and his servants conspire against him for the blood of Jehoiada's son and kill him on his bed. They bury him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings. His son Amaziah reigns in his place.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Joash did right in the sight of the Lord all the days of the priest Jehoiada. The phrase shows that his faith depended on his mentor, and it foreshadows what will happen when that mentor dies.
The officials and all the people rejoice and bring their offering until the chest is full. The people's generosity makes the repair of the temple possible, and the Chronicler presents it with joy, not obligation.
The Spirit of God clothes Zechariah, who asks the people why they transgress the Lord's commands and warns that, because they forsook the Lord, he has forsaken them. It is a warning, not cruelty, and reflects God's stance toward those who abandon him.
Joash did not remember the kindness Jehoiada had shown him and killed his son. Zechariah, as he dies, asks that the Lord see and bring justice. The text underlines the ingratitude and the gravity of killing a prophet in the temple court.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: He was seven and reigned forty years in Jerusalem. — 2 Chronicles 24:1
Answer: All the days of the priest Jehoiada. — 2 Chronicles 24:2
Answer: A chest, which was set outside at the gate of the house of the Lord. — 2 Chronicles 24:8
Answer: One hundred and thirty, and he was buried among the kings. — 2 Chronicles 24:15-16
Answer: At the king's command they stoned him in the court of the house of the Lord. — 2 Chronicles 24:20-21
Answer: His servants conspired against him for the blood of Jehoiada's son and killed him on his bed. — 2 Chronicles 24:25
This chapter asks us to examine whom our faith depends on. Joash served the Lord while he had Jehoiada, but when his mentor was gone he listened to other voices. A good teacher, pastor or parent is a gift, but faith must put down its own roots in the Word and in a relationship with the Lord. A group can ask what we would do if we lost tomorrow the person who guides us most.
It is also worth pausing on the repair of the temple, where the people give with joy, and on the final contrast. Generosity and worship should come from a grateful heart, not just from habit. And Joash's ingratitude toward Jehoiada's family reminds us how much we owe to honor those who have served us faithfully.
2 Chronicles 24 begins with a restored temple and ends with a king murdered in his bed. Joash left the Lord, and the Lord did not leave him unanswered. Chapter 25 moves to his son Amaziah, who will also do right, but not wholeheartedly.
He was the son of the priest Jehoiada and, according to this chapter, a servant of God on whom the Spirit came to rebuke the people. He died by stoning in the temple court at Joash's command. Some interpreters connect his death with Jesus' words about the blood of Zechariah shed between the sanctuary and the altar, in Matthew 23:35.
The text says only that they did not hurry. The king rebuked them for not requiring the tax Moses had set for the tent of the testimony and therefore arranged the chest, which the people filled with joy.
The text says they buried him in the city of David but not in the tombs of the kings. It is a sign of dishonor: he died wounded and murdered by his servants after forsaking the Lord and killing Jehoiada's son.