The Chest and the Bloodied Stones

Joash began his reign at seven years old, a king who owed his life and his throne to Jehoiada the priest. For forty years he ruled in Jerusalem, and as long as Jehoiada lived, Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. The priest even took two wives for him, and Joash fathered sons and daughters. The early years were a season of repair.

When Joash was old enough to take initiative, he set his mind to restore the house of the Lord. The sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the temple and stripped it of its dedicated things, giving them to the Baals. The building itself was cracked and neglected. Joash gathered the priests and Levites and ordered them to go out to the cities of Judah and collect money from all Israel to repair the house of God, year by year. He told them to hasten the matter. But the Levites did not hasten.

The king confronted Jehoiada directly. Why had the priest not required the Levites to bring in the tax that Moses had laid upon Israel for the tent of testimony? The system had stalled. So Joash commanded that a chest be made and placed outside, at the gate of the house of the Lord. A proclamation went through Judah and Jerusalem: bring in the tax of Moses.

The response was immediate. All the princes and all the people rejoiced. They came and cast money into the chest until it was full. Day by day, the Levites brought the chest to the king's officers, and the king's scribe and the chief priest's officer emptied it and returned it to its place. Money gathered in abundance.

Joash and Jehoiada gave the money to the workmen—masons, carpenters, workers in iron and bronze. The repairs went forward steadily. The workmen set the house of God in its proper state and strengthened it. When the work was finished, the rest of the money was brought before the king and the priest. With it they made vessels for the temple: vessels for ministering and offering, spoons, and vessels of gold and silver. Burnt offerings were offered continually in the house of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada.

Jehoiada grew old and full of days. He died at a hundred and thirty years old. They buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and toward God and his house. It was the last good thing recorded in this chapter.

After Jehoiada died, the princes of Judah came and made obeisance to the king. Joash listened to them. Then the princes and the people forsook the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols. Wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for their guilt. The Lord sent prophets to bring them back, and the prophets testified against them, but the people would not give ear.

The Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood above the people and said, “Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, so that ye cannot prosper? Because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you.” The people conspired against him, and at the commandment of the king himself, they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord. Joash did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada his father had shown him. He killed the priest's son. As Zechariah died, he said, “Jehovah look upon it, and require it.”

At the end of the year, the army of the Syrians came up against Joash. They came with a small company of men, but the Lord delivered a very great host into their hand because Judah had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. The Syrians destroyed all the princes of the people and sent all the spoil to the king of Damascus. They executed judgment on Joash. When the Syrians departed, they left him very sick. His own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest. They killed him on his bed. They buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings. The conspirators were Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabitess. Amaziah his son reigned in his place.