2 Chronicles 24:1-27
Joash Repairs the Temple
Joash was seven years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 40 years. His mother’s name was Zibiah. She was from Beersheba. Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Joash lived that way as long as Jehoiada the priest was alive. Jehoiada chose two wives for Joash. They had sons and daughters by Joash.
Some time later Joash decided to make the Lord’s temple look like new again. He called together the priests and Levites. He said to them, “Go to the towns of Judah. Collect the money that the nation of Israel owes every year. Use it to repair the temple of your God. Do it now.” But the Levites didn’t do it right away.
So the king sent for Jehoiada the chief priest. He said to him, “Why haven’t you required the Levites to bring in the tax from Judah and Jerusalem? It was set up by the Lord’s servant Moses and the whole community of Israel. It was used for the tent where the tablets of the covenant law were kept.”
The children of that evil woman Athaliah had broken into God’s temple. They had used even its sacred objects for the gods that were named Baal.
King Joash commanded that a wooden chest be made. It was placed outside near the gate of the Lord’s temple. Then a message went out in Judah and Jerusalem. It said that the people should bring the tax to the Lord. God’s servant Moses had required Israel to pay that tax when they were in the desert. All the officials and people gladly brought their money. They dropped it into the chest until it was full. The chest was brought in by the Levites to the king’s officials. Every time the officials saw there was a large amount of money in the chest, it was emptied out. The royal secretary and the officer of the chief priest came and emptied it. Then they carried it back to its place. They did it regularly. They collected a great amount of money. The king and Jehoiada gave it to the people who were doing the work on the Lord’s temple. They hired people who could lay the stones and people who could work with wood. They also hired people who could work with iron and bronze. They hired all of them to repair the temple.
The men in charge of the work did their best. The repairs went very well under them. They rebuilt God’s temple. They did it in keeping with its original plans. They made the temple even stronger. So they finished the work. Then they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada. It was used to pay for the objects that were made for the Lord’s temple. The objects were used for serving at the temple. They were also used for the burnt offerings. The objects included dishes and other things made out of gold and silver. As long as Jehoiada lived, burnt offerings were sacrificed continually at the Lord’s temple.
Jehoiada had become very old. He died at the age of 130. He was buried with the kings in the City of David. That’s because he had done so many good things in Israel for God and his temple.
The Evil Things Joash Did
After Jehoiada died, the officials of Judah came to King Joash. They bowed down to him. He listened to them. They turned their backs on the temple of the Lord, the God of their people. They worshiped poles made to honor the female god named Asherah. They also worshiped statues of other gods. Because Judah and Jerusalem were guilty of sin, God became angry with them. The Lord sent prophets to the people to bring them back to him. The prophets told the people what they were doing wrong. But the people wouldn’t listen.
Then the Spirit of God came on Zechariah the priest. He was the son of Jehoiada. Zechariah stood in front of the people. He told them, “God says, ‘Why do you refuse to obey my commands? You will not have success. You have deserted me. So I have deserted you.’ ”
But the people made evil plans against Zechariah. The king ordered them to kill Zechariah by throwing stones at him. They did it in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. King Joash didn’t remember how kind Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had been to him. So he killed Jehoiada’s son. As Zechariah was dying he said, “May the Lord see this. May he hold you responsible.”
In the spring, the army of Aram marched into Judah and Jerusalem against Joash. They killed all the leaders of the people. They took a large amount of goods from Judah. They sent it to their king in Damascus. The army of Aram had come with only a few men. But the Lord allowed them to win the battle over a much larger army. Judah had deserted the Lord, the God of their people. That’s why the Lord punished Joash. The army of Aram pulled back. They left Joash badly wounded. His officials planned to do evil things to him. That’s because he murdered the son of Jehoiada the priest. They killed Joash in his bed. So he died. He was buried in the City of David. But he wasn’t placed in the tombs of the kings.
Those who made the plans against Joash were Zabad and Jehozabad. Zabad was the son of Shimeath. She was from Ammon. Jehozabad was the son of Shimrith. She was from Moab. The story of the sons of Joash is written in the notes on the records of the kings. The many prophecies about him are written there too. So is the record of how he made God’s temple look like new again. Joash’s son Amaziah became the next king after him.
2 Chronicles 25:1-28
Amaziah King of Judah
Amaziah was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan. She was from Jerusalem. Amaziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. But he didn’t do it with all his heart. The kingdom was firmly under his control. So he put to death the officials who had murdered his father, the king. But he didn’t put their children to death. He obeyed what is written in the Law, the Book of Moses. There the Lord commanded, “Parents must not be put to death because of what their children do. And children must not be put to death because of what their parents do. People must die because of their own sins.” (Deuteronomy 24:16)
Amaziah called the people of Judah together. He arranged them by families under commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. He did it for all the people of Judah and Benjamin. Then he brought together the men who were 20 years old or more. He found out there were 300,000 men who were able to serve in the army. They could handle spears and shields. He also hired 100,000 fighting men from Israel. He had to pay them almost four tons of silver.
But a man of God came to him. He said, “Your Majesty, these troops from Israel must not march out with you. The Lord is not with Israel. He isn’t with any of the people of Ephraim. Go and fight bravely in battle if you want to. But God will destroy you right in front of your enemies. God has the power to help you or destroy you.”
Amaziah asked the man of God, “But what about all that silver I paid for these Israelite troops?”
The man of God replied, “The Lord can give you much more than that.”
So Amaziah let the troops go who had come to him from Ephraim. He sent them home. They were very angry with Judah. They were still very angry when they went home.
Then Amaziah showed how strong he was. He led his army to the Valley of Salt. There he killed 10,000 men of Seir. The army of Judah also captured 10,000 men alive. The army of Judah took them to the top of a cliff. Then they threw them down. All of them were smashed to pieces.
The troops Amaziah had sent back attacked some towns that belonged to Judah. Amaziah hadn’t allowed the troops to take part in the war. They attacked towns from Samaria to Beth Horon. They killed 3,000 people. They carried off huge amounts of goods.
Amaziah returned from killing the men of Edom. He brought back the statues of the gods of Seir. He set them up as his own gods. He bowed down to them. He burned sacrifices to them. The Lord was very angry with Amaziah. He sent a prophet to him. The prophet said, “Why do you ask the gods of those people for advice? They couldn’t even save their own people from your power!”
While the prophet was still speaking, the king spoke to him. He said, “Did I ask you for advice? Stop! If you don’t, you will be struck down.”
So the prophet stopped. But then he said, “I know that God has decided to destroy you. That’s because you have worshiped other gods. You haven’t listened to my advice.”
Amaziah, the king of Judah, spoke to his advisers. Then he sent a message to Jehoash, the king of Israel. Jehoash was the son of Jehoahaz. Jehoahaz was the son of Jehu. Amaziah dared Jehoash, “Come on! Let us face each other in battle!”
But Jehoash, the king of Israel, answered Amaziah, the king of Judah. Jehoash said, “A thorn bush in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar tree there. The thorn bush said, ‘Give your daughter to be married to my son.’ Then a wild animal in Lebanon came along. It crushed the thorn bush by walking on it. You brag that you have won the battle over Edom. You are very proud. But stay home! Why ask for trouble? Why bring yourself crashing down? Why bring Judah down with you?”
But Amaziah wouldn’t listen. That’s because God had planned to hand Judah over to Jehoash. After all, they had asked the gods of Edom for advice. So Jehoash, the king of Israel, attacked. He and Amaziah, the king of Judah, faced each other in battle. The battle took place at Beth Shemesh in Judah. Israel drove Judah away. Every man ran home. Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah at Beth Shemesh. Amaziah was the son of Joash. Joash was the son of Ahaziah. Jehoash brought Amaziah to Jerusalem. Jehoash broke down part of its wall. It’s the part that went from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. That part of the wall was 600 feet long. Jehoash took all the gold and silver. He took all the objects he found in God’s temple. Obed-Edom had been in charge of them. Jehoash also took the palace treasures and the prisoners. Then he returned to Samaria.
Amaziah king of Judah lived for 15 years after Jehoash king of Israel died. Amaziah was the son of Joash. Jehoash was the son of Jehoahaz. The other events of Amaziah’s rule from beginning to end are written down. They are written in the records of the kings of Judah and Israel. Amaziah turned away from obeying the Lord. From that time on, some people made evil plans against him in Jerusalem. So he ran away to Lachish. But they sent men after him to Lachish. There they killed him. His body was brought back on a horse to Jerusalem, the City of Judah. There he was buried in the family tomb.
