Joash

AI summary: Joash matters because the cross references present him as a northern king whose reign is stronger than many around him without breaking from Israel's entrenched idolatry. He appears beside the dying Elisha, receives a symbolic promise of victories over Syria, regains lost ground, and later humiliates Judah in battle. The narrative does not idealize him, but it does show him as a ruler under whom Israel experiences a measure of renewed strength. Taken together, the material presents this Joash as a significant king in the northern monarchy, combining political competence with ongoing covenant failure.¹

The son and successor of Jehoahaz, king of Israel (2 Kings 14:1; comp. 12:1; 13:10). When he ascended the throne the kingdom was suffering from the invasion of the Syrians. Hazael “was cutting Israel short.” He tolerated the worship of the golden calves, yet seems to have manifested a character of sincere devotion to the God of his fathers. He held the prophet Elisha in honour, and wept by his bedside when he was dying, addressing him in the words Elisha himself had used when Elijah was carried up into heaven: “O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof.” He was afterwards involved in war with Amaziah, the king of Judah (2 Chr. 25:23-24), whom he utterly defeated at Beth-shemesh, on the borders of Dan and Philistia, and advancing on Jerusalem, broke down a portion of the wall, and carried away the treasures of the temple and the palace. He soon after died (B.C. 825), and was buried in Samaria (2 Kings 14:1-17, 19, 20). He was succeeded by his son. (See JOASH [5.].) ³