Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 13:10
In the thirty and seventh year of Joash king of Judah began Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz to reign over Israel in Samaria, [and reigned] sixteen years.
10 13. Reign of Jehoash king of Israel (2Ch 25:17-24)
10. In the thirty and seventh year of Joash ] See above on verse 1.
Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz ] As in the case of Jehoash king of Judah (see 2Ki 12:2; 2Ki 12:19-20) so here the longer form, in the previous verse the shorter form of this name is written. This was the second of the four generations promised to Jehu.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 10. In the thirty and seventh year] Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, was associated with his father in the government two years before his death. It is this association that is spoken of here. He succeeded him two years after, a little before the death of Elisha. Joash reigned sixteen years, which include the years he governed conjointly with his father. – Calmet.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
By which, compared with 2Ki 13:1, it may be gathered that Jehoahaz had two or three years before his death made his son Jehoash king with him; which is very probable, because he was perpetually in the state of war, and consequently in danger of an untimely death, and because he was a man of valour, as is implied here, 2Ki 13:12, and declared 2Ch 25.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
In the thirty and seventh year of Joash king of Judah, began Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz to reign over Israel in Samaria,…. But inasmuch as his father began to reign in the twenty third of Joash, and reigned seventeen years, 2Ki 13:1 this king must begin to reign in the thirty ninth or fortieth of Joash; for the reconciling of which it may be observed, that two of the years of his reign may be supposed to be imperfect; or rather that his son reigned two or three years in his lifetime, being raised up before his father’s death to be a saviour of Israel from the Syrians; and so his father lived to see his prayer answered, 2Ki 13:4,
and reigned sixteen years.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Reign of Jehoash or Joash of Israel. – On the commencement of his reign see at 2Ki 13:1. He also walked in the sins of Jeroboam (compare 2Ki 13:11 with 2Ki 13:2 and 2Ki 13:6). The war with Amaziah referred to in 2Ki 13:12 is related in the history of this king in 2Ki 14:8-14; and the close of the reign of Joash is also recorded there (2Ki 14:15 and 2Ki 14:16) with the standing formula. And even here it ought not to be introduced till the end of the chapter, instead of in 2Ki 13:12 and 2Ki 13:13, inasmuch as the verses which follow relate several things belonging to the reign of Joash. But as they are connected with the termination of Elisha’s life, it was quite admissible to wind up the reign of Joash with 2Ki 13:13.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Reign of Joash, King of Israel. | B. C. 839. |
10 In the thirty and seventh year of Joash king of Judah began Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years. 11 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD; he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin: but he walked therein. 12 And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might wherewith he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 13 And Joash slept with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat upon his throne: and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. 14 Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. 15 And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bow and arrows. 16 And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it: and Elisha put his hands upon the king’s hands. 17 And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the LORD‘s deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them. 18 And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed. 19 And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.
We have here Jehoash, or Joash, the son of Jehoahaz and grandson of Jehu, upon the throne of Israel. Probably the house of Jehu intended some respect to the house of David when they gave this heir-apparent to the crown the same name with him that was then king of Judah.
I. The general account here given of him and his reign is much the same with what we have already met with, and has little in it remarkable, v. 10-13. He was none of the worst, and yet, because he kept up that ancient and politic idolatry of the house of Jeroboam, it is said, He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. That one evil was enough to leave an indelible mark of infamy upon his name; for, how little evil soever men saw in it, it was, in the sight of the Lord, a very wicked thing; and we are sure that his judgment is according to truth. It is observable how lightly the inspired penman passes over his acts, and his might wherewith he warred, leaving it to the common historians to record them, while he takes notice only of the respect he showed to Elisha. One good action shall make a better figure in God’s book than twenty great ones; and, in his account, it gains a man a much better reputation to honour a prophet than to conquer a king and his army.
II. The particular account of what passed between him and Elisha has several things in it remarkable.
1. Elisha fell sick, v. 14. Observe, (1.) He lived long; for it was now about sixty years since he was first called to be a prophet. It was a great mercy to Israel, and especially to the sons of the prophets, that he was continued so long a burning and shining light. Elijah finished his testimony in a fourth part of that time. God’s prophets have their day set them, some longer, others shorter, as Infinite Wisdom sees fit. (2.) All the latter part of his time, from the anointing of Jehu, which was forty-five years before Joash began his reign, we find no mention made of him, or of any thing he did, till we find him here upon his death-bed. He might be useful to the last, and yet not so famous as he had sometimes been. The time of his flourishing was less than the time of his living. Let not old people complain of obscurity, but rather be well pleased with retirement. (3.) The spirit of Elijah rested on Elisha, and yet he was not sent for to heaven in a fiery chariot, as Elijah was, but went the common road out of the world, and was visited with the visitation of all men. If God honour some above others, who yet are not inferior to them in gifts or graces, who shall find fault? May he not do what he will with his own?
2. King Joash visited him in his sickness, and wept over him, v. 14. This was an evidence of some good in him, that he had a value and affection for a faithful prophet; so far was he from hating and persecuting him as a troubler of Israel that he loved and honoured him as one of the greatest blessings of his kingdom, and lamented the loss of him. There have been those who would not be obedient to the word of God, and yet have the faithful ministers of it so manifested in their consciences that they could not but have an honour for them. Observe here, (1.) When the king heard of Elisha’s sickness he came to visit him, and to receive his dying counsel and blessing; and it was no disparagement to him, though a king, thus to honour one whom God honoured. Note, It may turn much to our spiritual advantage to attend the sick-beds and death-beds of good ministers and other good men, that we may learn to die, and may be encouraged in religion by the living comforts they have from it in a dying hour. (2.) Though Elisha was very old, had been a great while useful, and, in the course of nature, could not continue long, yet the king, when he saw him sick and likely to die, wept over him. The aged are most experienced and therefore can worst be spared. In many causes, one old witness is worth ten young ones. (3.) He lamented him in the same words with which Elisha had himself lamented the removal of Elijah: My father, my father. It is probable he had heard or read them in that famous story. Note, Those that give just honours to the generation that goes before them are often recompensed with the like from the generation that comes after them. He that watereth, that watereth with tears, shall be watered, shall be so watered, also himself, when it comes to his own turn, Prov. xi. 25. (4.) This king was herein selfish; he lamented the loss of Elisha because he was as the chariot and horsemen of Israel, and therefore could be ill spared when Israel was so poor in chariots and horsemen, as we find they were (v. 7), when they had in all but fifty horsemen and ten chariots. Those who consider how much good men contribute to the defence of a nation, and the keeping off of God’s judgments, will see cause to lament the removal of them.
3. Elisha gave the king great assurances of his success against the Syrians, Israel’s present oppressors, and encouraged him to prosecute the war against them with vigour. Elisha was aware that therefore he was loth to part with him because he looked upon him as the great bulwark of the kingdom against that common enemy, and depended much upon his blessings and prayers in his designs against them. “Well,” says Elisha, “if that be the cause of your grief, let not that trouble thee, for thou shalt be victorious over the Syrians when I am in my grave. I die, but God will surely visit you. He has the residue of the Spirit, and can raise up other prophets to pray for you.” God’s grace is not tied to one hand. He can bury his workmen and yet carry on his work. To animate the king against the Syrians he gives him a sign, orders him to take bow and arrows (v. 15), to intimate to him that, in order to the deliverance of his kingdom from the Syrians, he must put himself into a military posture and resolve to undergo the perils and fatigues of war. God would be the agent, but he must be the instrument. And that he should be successful he gives him a token, by directing him,
(1.) To shoot an arrow towards Syria, 2Ki 13:16; 2Ki 13:17. The king, no doubt, knew how to manage a bow better than the prophet did, and yet, because the arrow now to be shot was to have its significancy from the divine institution, as if he were now to be disciplined, he received the words of command from the prophet: Put thy hand upon the bow—Open the window—Shoot. Nay, as if he had been a child that never drew a bow before, Elisha put his hands upon the king’s hands, to signify that in all his expeditions against the Syrians he must look up to God for direction and strength, must reckon his own hands not sufficient for him, but go on in a dependence upon divine aid. He teacheth my hands to war,Psa 18:34; Psa 144:1. The trembling hands of a dying prophet, as they signified the concurrence and communication of the power of God, gave this arrow more force than the hands of the king in his full strength. The Syrians had made themselves masters of the country that lay eastward, ch. x. 33. Thitherward therefore the arrow was directed, and such an interpretation given by the prophet of the shooting of this arrow, though shot in one respect at random, as made it, [1.] A commission to the king to attack the Syrians, notwithstanding their power and possession. [2.] A promise of success therein. It is the arrow of the Lord’s deliverance, even the arrow of deliverance from Syria. It is God that commands deliverance; and, when he will effect it, who can hinder? The arrow of deliverance is his. He shoots out his arrows, and the work is done, Ps. xviii. 14. “Thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, where they are now encamped, or where they are to have a general rendezvous of their forces, till thou have consumed those of them that are vexatious and oppressive to thee and thy kingdom.”
(2.) To strike with the arrows,2Ki 13:18; 2Ki 13:19. The prophet having in God’s name assured him of victory over the Syrians, he will now try him and see what improvement he will make of his victories, whether he will push them on with more zeal than Ahab did when Benhadad lay at his mercy. For the trial of this he bids him smite with the arrows on the ground: “Believe them brought to the ground by the arrow of the Lord’s deliverance, and laid at thy feet; and now show me what thou wilt do to them when thou hast them down, whether thou wilt do as David did when God gave him the necks of his enemies, beat them small as the dust before the wind,” Psa 18:40; Psa 18:42. The king showed not that eagerness and flame which one might have expected upon this occasion, but smote thrice, and no more. Either out of foolish tenderness to the Syrians, he smote as if he were afraid of hurting them, at least of ruining them, willing to show mercy to those that never did, nor ever would, show mercy to him or his people. Or, perhaps, he smote thrice, and very coldly, because he thought it but a silly thing, that it looked idle and childish for a king to beat the floor with his arrows; and thrice was often enough for him to play the fool merely to please the prophet. But, by contemning the sign, he lost the thing signified, sorely to the grief of the dying prophet, who was angry with him, and told him he should have smitten five or six times. Not being straitened in the power and promise of God, why should he be straitened in his own expectations and endeavours? Note, It cannot but be a trouble to good men to see those they wish well to stand in their own light and forsake their own mercies, to see them lose their advantages against their spiritual enemies, and to give them advantage.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
I. THE PERIOD OF RECOVERY 13:10-14:22
The reigns of Jehoash in Israel (2Ki. 13:10-13) and Amaziah in Judah (2Ki. 14:1-22) may be regarded as transitional. During their reigns, Israel and Judah gradually began to recover from the almost half century of total domination by the Arameans. Sandwiched between the discussion to these two transitional kings is the last narrative pertaining to Elisha (2Ki. 13:14-25).
A. THE REIGN OF JEHOASH OF ISRAEL 13:1013
TRANSLATION
(10) In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria; and he reigned sixteen years. (11) And he did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did not torn from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin; he walked in it. (12) And the rest of the acts of Joash and all which he did, and his might with which he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the king of Israel? (13) And Joash slept with his father, and Jeroboam sat upon his throne. And Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.
COMMENTS
Joash is the shortened form of Jehoash. According to 2Ki. 13:10 both the Northern and Southern kingdoms were ruled by monarchs who bore the name Joash. This coincidence in names lasted for the space of three yearsfrom the thirty-seventh to the fortieth and final year of the Southern Joash. The Northern Joash (Jehoash) ruled on after the death of his Southern namesake for thirteen years (2Ki. 13:10). A problem in the synchronisms between the two kingdoms occurs in 2Ki. 13:10 which has been painstakingly worked out by Edwin Thiele.[573]
[573] Thiele, MNHK, tables VI and VII. Thiele proposed to solve the discrepancy in the mathematics of the Jehoahaz-Joash synchronism by postulating a change in the method of tabulating regnal years in both kingdoms in the year 798 B.C. When this is taken into account, no discrepancy exists in the Biblical text.
Twelfth King of Israel
JOASH (or JEHOASH)
798782 B.C.
(Yahweh-gifted)
2Ki. 13:10-25; 2Ki. 14:8-16
Synchronism
Jehoash 1 = Joash 37
Contemporary Prophet
Elisha
A man shall not be established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous shall not be moved. Pro. 12:3
Jehoash followed in the footsteps of his father by continuing to condone and participate in the calf worship inaugurated by Jeroboam (2Ki. 13:11). 2Ki. 13:12-13 are cast in the form of the concluding summary with which the author usually closes out his discussion of the individual kings. No further information about Jehoash is given here save that he fought with Amaziah king of Judahan episode which the author will discuss in detail in chapter 14and that he was buried in Samaria. Following this concluding summary the author does not follow his usual practice of moving on immediately to the next king, but on the contrary relates further information about the reign of Jehoash.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(10-25) THE REIGN OF JOASH, OR JEHOASH.ELISHA FORETELLS HIS SUCCESSES AGAINST THE SYRIANS.
(10) In the thirty and seventh year.This does not agree with 2Ki. 13:1. The Ald. LXX. reads, thirty-ninth, which is right.
Began . . . to reign, and reigned sixteen years.The Hebrew is briefer, reigned sixteen years.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
REIGN OF JOASH, SON OF JEHOAHAZ, KING OF ISRAEL, 2Ki 13:10-13.
The record here given of Joash’s reign is very brief, but is supplemented by the account of his visit to the dying prophet Elisha, (2Ki 13:14-19,) and his victories over Ben-hadad, (2Ki 13:25.) Though he walked too much after the evil examples of his predecessors, his reign was not without some redeeming and commendatory features. His visit to Elisha showed profound reverence for that prophet; and his successful wars against the Syrian oppressor showed him to be a God-sent saviour to Israel, though he failed to accomplish complete deliverance. 2Ki 13:5, note. His war with Amaziah is narrated in 2Ki 14:8-15, and 2Ch 25:17-24. His name is written both Joash and Jehoash, the former being only a contraction of the latter.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Summary Of The Reign Of Jehoash (Joash) King of Israel ( 2Ki 13:10-12 ).
Because the prophetic author wished to keep the episode concerning Elisha’s death outside the regular regnal pattern, the life of Jehoash of Israel is summed up and closed off in the usual way, although in very abbreviated form, before the description of Elisha’s final acts, and the opening of Amaziah’s reign then follows the Elisha incident. We can compare the same pattern with regard to chapter 2, where the taking of Elijah and the establishment of Elisha as his successor takes place after the closing of Ahaziah’s reign but before the opening of Jehoram’s. Furthermore we may also note the fact that Jehoram of Israel’s reign (2Ki 3:1 to 2Ki 9:26) which incorporates the other Elisha material was never itself closed off with a closing formula. This deliberate exclusion from the lives of the kings highlights the ‘otherness’ of the death scene of Elisha, and the fact of its heavenly connection.
Analysis.
a
b And he did what was evil in the sight of YHWH. He departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, by which he made Israel to sin, but he walked in them (2Ki 13:11).
b Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? (2Ki 13:12).
a And Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat on his throne, and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel (2Ki 13:13).
Note that in ‘a’ we have the commencement of the reign and in the parallel the closure of the reign, and in ‘b’ the verdict on the reign and the behaviour of the king, and in the parallel reference to the annals of the kings of Israel for further details of the reign. Any central emphasis is deliberately left out, highlighting that what follows is outside the regnal pattern.
2Ki 13:10
‘In the thirty and seventh year of Joash king of Judah began Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years.’
Once again, as in the case of Jehoram (Joram), we have parallel kings of Israel and Judah with the same names, i.e. Jehoash/Joash. Jehoash of Israel will reign for sixteen years. The date here excludes Joash of Judah’s co-regency.
2Ki 13:11
‘And he did what was evil in the sight of YHWH. He departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, by which he made Israel to sin, but he walked in them.’
As with all the kings of Israel he did what was evil in the sight of YHWH because he made no attempt to return to orthodox Yahwism. Rather he maintained the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan. That such a return would have been possible without focusing on Jerusalem comes out in that Elijah (and probably Elisha) were able to worship quite happily and in ‘orthodox’ fashion on Mount Carmel at ‘the altar of YHWH’ (1Ki 18:30-32). As had happened with Samuel previously when the Tabernacle ceased to function special arrangements could have been made. And the result was that the covenant requirements as a whole were also ignored.
2Ki 13:12
‘Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?’
The author deliberately leaves out any mention of particular incidents during the reign prior to this because he wants us to recognise that the purpose of this summary is to emphasise the fact that what occurred on the deathbed of Elisha lay outside the regnal pattern. Thus he moves straight on to a reference to the official annals of the kings of Israel, although with a passing reference to his war with Amaziah king of Judah which will be dealt with shortly.
2Ki 13:13
‘And Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat on his throne, and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.’
Two obvious changes are made to this closing formula. The first change is the unique reference to ‘sitting on his throne’. This may signify that Jeroboam he did it by determined effort as against other candidates, as in Assyrian annals. On the other hand 2Ki 15:12 may suggest that the phrase highlights how long the dynasty of Jehu was lasting. In 2Ki 14:16 we find he ‘reigned instead of him’ which is the usual phrase. The second change is the inclusion of ‘with the kings of Israel’, which only otherwise occurs in 2Ki 14:16; 2Ki 14:29, and indicates the continuing of a dynasty.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Reign Of Jehoash (Joash) King Of Israel c. 2Ki 798-782/1 BC ( 2Ki 13:10 to 2Ki 14:16 ).
The reign of Jehoash, King of Israel presents us with another interesting literary phenomenon, for the author first presents us with a brief summary of Jehoash’s reign, ending in the usual closing formula (2Ki 13:10-13), and then goes on to describe his presence at Elisha’s deathbed (2Ki 13:14-21), and his successful wars with Benhadad of Aram (2Ki 13:22-25) and with Amaziah king of Judah (2Ki 14:8-14), before ending for a second time, although in slightly altered fashion, with a similar closing formula to that in 2Ki 13:12-13 (2Ki 14:15-16). In between all this he opens up the reign of Amaziah, king of Judah (2Ki 14:1 ff), something which he does not normally do until he has closed down the reign of the king of Israel during whose reign he came to the throne (thus confirming that the first closing formula in 2Ki 13:12-13 is deliberate).
It is clear from all this that the author has done all this deliberately:
Firstly because he wanted to continue following his previous pattern of closing off one reign before he opened up another (thus 2Ki 13:12-13).
Secondly because as with the taking of Elijah and the confirmatory call of Elisha in chapter 2, which was also placed outside the pattern of regnal formulae, he similarly wanted to put the record of Elisha’s death and its consequences to be outside the pattern of regnal formulae so as to highlight it and separate it off from the history of the kings. Both episodes were seen as in some way other worldly. (Both Elisha episodes include reference to the chariots and horsemen of Israel, giving them a clear heavenly connection).
Thirdly because he nevertheless recognised at the same time that all that followed did also require to be closed off with a (parallel) closing formula about Jehoash, he introduced a further closing formula in 2Ki 14:15-16, but in such a way that it was outside the regular pattern (it comes within the opening and closing formulae of Amaziah) and by making it teach a lesson about the reign of Amaziah. The whole section is actually very carefully thought out.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jehoash King of Israel
v. 10. In the thirty and seventh year of Joash, king of Judah, began Jehoash, the son of Jehoaha; to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years.
v. 11. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord; he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboani, the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, v. 12. And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, v. 13. And Joash slept with his fathers, v. 14. Now, Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died, v. 15. And Elisha, v. 16. And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow, v. 17. And he said, Open the window eastward, v. 18. And he, v. 19. And the man of God was wroth with him and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it, v. 20. And Elisha died, v. 21. And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they, v. 22. But Hazael, king of Syria, oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz, v. 23. And the Lord was gracious unto them, and had compassion on them, and had respect unto them, v. 24. So Hazael, king of Syria, died; and Benhadad, his son, reigned in his stead.
v. 25. And Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, took a gain out of the hand of Benhadad, the son of Hazael, the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz, his father, by war,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
What an awful character was Jeroboam! And what an awful monument, even to this hour, remains to his dreadful memory in the book of God! Reader! think what an aggravated state of guilt must that man be heaping to himself, whose transgressions operate after his death; the deadly fruit of whose iniquities, like a poisonous tree, kills for ages after he himself ceases to be!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
XIV
THE REIGNS OF JEHOASH AND JEROBOAM (OF ISRAEL) AND OF AMAZIAH AND UZZIAH (OF JUDAH)
2Ki 13:10-14:29
Jehoahaz was followed by Jehoash his son who was a better man and an abler man and more successful. He had great encouragement from Elisha to fight with Syria and to redeem his kingdom from the iron grasp of Benhadad. Jehoash was encouraged at the outset. Elisha told him to shoot his arrows against Syria, and three times he smote upon the ground. The prophecy came true. Three times Jehoash smote the Syrian army and recovered the cities taken from his father by Benhadad. In the meanwhile Syria and Damascus had been assaulted by Assyria and were brought almost to the verge of extinction. Assyrian annals tell how the king of Assyria took Damascus and almost destroyed it, and it was largely because Syria was thus weakened by Assyria that Jehoash was able to recover and relieve Israel from its oppression.
Amaziah succeeded Joash on the throne of Judah. His character is described as one who was wicked and lazy, though he was better than the general run of the northern kings. His policy was to destroy the servants who killed his father, but he spared their children in accordance with the positive prohibition found in Deu 24:16 . Here arises a question of the morality of the killing of Achan’s sons, Naboth’s sons and Ahab’s sons. Two causes operated in favor of the exception to this prohibition: (1) the sons were apt to be accessories to the crimes of their fathers and thus incriminate themselves; and (2) the “blood feud” that was to follow. Then we should consider these cases either under the direct command of God or in the hands of Oriental monarchs.
In 2Ki 13:20-21 , we have recorded the last miracle of Elisha, viz: that in his tomb. This occurred, perhaps, to give special light to the heathen, a testimony to the power of the God of Israel, and to encourage the king and the people with respect to Elisha’s unfulfilled prophecies. Close upon this follows the account of the fulfilment of Elisha’s dying prophecy and Joash’s success over Benhadad (2Ki 13:23-25 ). In this we note that, notwithstanding the sins of Israel, God gave them victory over Syria for the sake of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; that the “as yet” shows his mercy still extended to Israel; that Hazael, king of Syria) died, and that Benhadad III, his son, reigned in his stead.
We will find that Amaziah in the latter part of his reign committed a very grievous and particular sin that brought a host of evil consequences. The sin committed by him was that, when he proposed to wage war against Edom lying south of his territory, he hired a hundred thousand mercenary soldiers of the Northern Kingdom to aid him in the war, and when an unnamed prophet of God comes and rebukes him, he says, “If I don’t take these men now that I have paid for them, I will lose my hundred talents of money.” The prophet replied, “The Lord can give you more than that.” So he yielded to the protest of the prophet and rejected the services of the men a hundred thousand whom he had already paid for. That of course made the mercenaries very mad. They were not only buoyed up with the hope of their pay but the hope of capturing a great deal of booty in the war, and when they were not permitted to go to the war, on their return home they swept all that part of Judah that lay between them and their own land as dry as if a fire had passed over it. Now Amaziah having committed the sin, first, of relying upon the mercenaries instead of relying upon Jehovah, committed a second sin by importing the gods of Edom for which a prophet rebuked him, and he made him forbear. Stirred up in his mind by these degradations that had been committed upon his people by the hundred thousand mercenaries on their way home and the prophet’s rebuke, without consulting God or any prophet he sends a braggadocio challenge to the king of Israel, and says, “Come, set your face up before mine,” and the king of Israel replied, “Why should you make this challenge? It will likely prove to be very disastrous to you.” Well, Amaziah shook his fist at him and told him to come on and set his face up, and he did come and set his face up, and he wiped the army of Amaziah off the face of the earth in the great battle that followed, and Judah was sorely straightened by that defeat; even Jerusalem was captured, her walls broken down, and all her vast treasures plundered and carried away. All this indicates that Jehoash was one of the most fortunate, most successful, most able, and most kind and benevolent rulers northern Israel ever had, but at the same time southern Israel had a foolish king.
Jehoash was succeeded by Jeroboam II, Jehoash had saved his country from the terrible oppression of Syria, had conquered Judah, had obtained enormous spoils which almost set the kingdom again upon its feet) and ushered in a period of prosperity. He was followed by his grandson Jeroboam il, the greatest of all the monarchs of northern Israel. Jeroboam II was the most successful of all, for in his day nearly all of northern Israel that had previously belonged to Solomon’s kingdom was recovered and he reigned to the north as far as Hamath and to the south all the land of the Jordan and reconquered the land on the east side of the Jordan. The kingdom was at the height of its prosperity under Jeroboam II.
There have been four kings of the dynasty of Jehu, and only in the latter part of the reign of the third king, Jehoash, has Israel in any way succeeded in loosing herself from the bonds of oppression at the hand of Syria. The record says, “The Lord gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hands of the Syrians: and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents as before time.” Who was that saviour? Some think probably it was Jehoash, the preceding king and father of Jeroboam II, who was the means of a threefold defeat of the Syrian army. But it may be interpreted as referring to Jeroboam II, the greatest of all the northern kings, who freed his country entirely from the dominion of Syria. Price in The Monuments and the Old Testament , thinks it refers to an Assyrian king, Adad Nirari, who at about this time made an onslaught on the kingdom of Syria and especially the city of Damascus and almost totally destroyed it. In that case he was indeed saviour, in that he destroyed the country that was oppressing Israel. The dynasty of Jehu lasted altogether about 102 years and in that time there were five kings. Jeroboam II is the fourth and greatest of all. He reigned forty-one years, the longest reign in the history of the Northern Kingdom.
In 2Ki 14:25 reference is made to Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet which was of Gathhepher. This is the time in which Jonah the prophet lived. About this time he made his strange expedition to Nineveh the capital of Assyria, and preached there. He had doubtless preached in northern Israel also. At this time arises also a greater prophet, Amos, and in the pictures which Amos gives we have a vivid and lurid representation of the sins of northern Israel. So the reign of Jeroboam II, though the most glorious in the history of northern Israel, was attended by these two great prophets who pronounced the inevitable and irretrievable doom of the nation. Just as this time occurred the death of Amaziah at the hand of his conspirators and Uzziah his son succeeded him. But according to some authorities there was an interregnum between Uzziah and Amaziah. This conclusion is based upon the following facts as given in the record: First, it says that Amaziah died and that he had reigned fifteen years before Jeroboam II, king of Israel. Kings and Chronicles both say that he reigned twenty-nine years in all and that the last fifteen years of the twenty-nine was contemporaneous with the reign of Jeroboam II. In other words, he died in the fifteenth year of Jeroboam, but 2Ki 15:1 says that Uzziah his successor did not begin to reign until the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam, so if both statements be correct then Judah had no king from the fifteenth year of Jeroboam to the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam, a period of at least eleven years and possibly twelve. The whole question turns on the accuracy of the text in 2Ki 15:1 where it says that Uzziah began to reign in the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam. Now, if we accept that text as accurate, then there was an interregnum of eleven years. Josephus does not accept it. He says the number is wrong; that it ought to be in the fourteenth year instead of the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam. But it is quite easy to accept this text, not question it at all, and then we account for that interregnum of eleven years by the extreme youth of Uzziah when Amaziah died. He was only five years old when Amaziah died. They seem to have deferred making him king until he was sixteen. In other words, there was a regency for that period of eleven years. Now, that is the only chronological difficulty in the whole period and it is not a very serious one.
Amaziah’s son, Uzziah, at a very tender age became king and he reigned fifty-two years. That is a long period, over half a century. The record about it is very fine on a number of points. While he did not destroy the high places, he did walk in the ways of David so far as relates to the worship of Jehovah in the appointed place in the Temple. He was a great builder of fortifications and towns and cities. One thing said about him constitutes a fine text: He loved husbandry. In his wars he had conquered a fine section of country, very fruitful, all the Philistine country clear on to the entrance of Egypt and that Negeb, or south country, from the days of Isaac was remarkable for the yield of its crops. It is said of Isaac that he reaped a hundredfold, i.e., if he sowed one bushel of wheat, he would reap a hundred bushels from that one. Uzziah devoted a great deal of attention to matters of that kind. He was very successful in his wars, not only against Philistia but against the Arabians and against the Ammonites. He became exalted in his power.
In 2Ki 14:28-29 we have a summary of the reign of Jeroboam and an account of his death. The condition of Syria during the reign of Jeroboam II was one of weakness and consequent inactivity. The great kings had come and gone, and some weak monarchs sat on the throne which had been almost crushed by Assyria, and was in no position to oppress Israel. This gave Jeroboam II his opportunity. Being a great man, an able general and administrator he carried the boundaries of northern Israel almost as far north as David and Solomon had done, capturing all the northern part that had been taken by Syria. He retook all eastern Palestine as far as the land of Moab, and likewise he recaptured the land of Moab that had revolted and freed itself from the dynasty of Omri. The extent of his kingdom was almost as great as that of David’s with the exception, of course) of southern Israel, and with this great extension of his kingdom there was a great influx of wealth and prosperity. The depression of the three reigns preceding was followed by an abundance of prosperity and the result was a corresponding excess of luxury and sin. Their prosperity produced all the evils of civilization, and they went to excess with it. Jeroboam died and after an interregnum of twenty-two years, was succeeded by his son Zechariah. This interregnum is determined by comparing 2Ki 14:23 and 2Ki 15:1-2 ; 2Ki 15:8 .
QUESTIONS
1. What was the character of Jehoash?
2. What was Elisha’s encouraging prophecy on his deathbed, and what incidents of its delivery?
3. Who succeeded Joash and what was his character?
4. What was his policy, and where in the book of Moses is found the statement which occurs in 2Ki 14:6 and 2Ch 25:4 , and how do you harmonize this passage in Deuteronomy with the killing of Achan’s sons, Naboth’s sons, and Ahab’s sons?
5. What was the last miracle of Elisha and why this miracle?
6. Notwithstanding the sins of Israel what the Lord’s dealings with them and why, what change occurred just at this time in Syria, and what prophecy of Elisha was here fulfilled?
7. What were Amaziah’s plans against Edom, what was the result of each step taken and what can you say of the cruelty of Judah?
8. How did the Israelitish mercenaries deport themselves when sent back?
9. What was Amaziah’s further wickedness, what was his warning and how did he receive it?
10. Recite the account of the war between Amaziah and Jehoash, and what was the parable of Jehoash and its application, what was the result and what is the modern name of stealing?
11. Who succeeded Jehoash and what was his character?
12. What were the possibilities of Jeroboam II, and what did he accomplish for Israel?
13. What prophet comes in here, what was his commission and how did he receive and discharge it?
14. Give an account of the death of Amaziah.
15. What of the interregnum in Judah here and how does the author determine it?
16. Uzziah what was his other name, how was he made king, how long his reign, and how does it compare with the reigns of others?
17. What of his character and prosperity and wherein did he fail?
18. During his prosperous years what (1) of his building of Eloth, (2) of his success of war, (3) of his building and husbandry, (4) of his army, (5) of his fame?
19. Give an account of the death of Jeroboam II.
20. What of the interregnum here in Israel and how determined by the author?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
2Ki 13:10 In the thirty and seventh year of Joash king of Judah began Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz to reign over Israel in Samaria, [and reigned] sixteen years.
Ver. 10. Began Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz to reign. ] Two years before his father’s death. See 2Ki 13:1 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
thirty and seventh. Joash (of Israel) became king in the thirtyseventh year of Joash (of Judah). Amaziah, son of Joash (of Judah), became king in the second year of Joash (of Israel), 2Ki 14:1. Therefore Amaziah became associate king in the thirty-ninth year of Joash of Judah: i.e. one year before Joash died, for he “reigned forty years in Jerusalem” (1Ch 24:1). The cause of Amaziah’s kingship in Joash’s lifetime is not named in Kings, but we see it in the “diseases” of 2Ch 24:25.
over: i.e. in consort with his father. Compare 2Ki 14:1.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
The Arrow of the Lords Deliverance
2Ki 13:10-25
A good man is a great defense to his country. Mary, Queen of Scots, dreaded the prayers of Knox more than the armies of the king of France. Perhaps the king expected that Elisha also might pass home to God in a chariot of fire, as Elijah had done.
Notice how much Israel missed through the unbelief of her king. If only he had smitten five or six times, Syria would have been consumed; but he was content with striking only three times. Let us not ask small things of God, or be content with a partial deliverance. Nothing pleases Him more than to be greatly trusted. For those who ask and expect the most, He will always go beyond all that they ask or think. Strike on the ground, child of God, nor stay thy striking. Claim the absolute overthrow of the power of Satan, which antagonizes and resists the coming of the Kingdom. Claim the salvation of your fatherland from the tyranny of drink, gambling, and impurity! Open the windows heavenward and Godward strike within and shoot without. It is not enough to do either without the other. And remember that unseen hands are empowering and guiding thine! Compare Gen 49:24.
For Review Questions, see the e-Sword Book Comments.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Joash (Or, Jehoash)
(Jehovah-gifted)
2Ki 13:10-25; 14:8-16
Contemporary Prophet: Jonah (?)
A man shall not be established by wickedness; but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.-Pro 12:3
In the thirty and seventh year of Joash king of Judah began Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years (2Ki 13:10). It is evident from a comparison of the figures of this verse with those given in verse one of same chapter, and first verse of the chapter following, that Joash (Jehoash, abbreviated) reigned jointly with his father (a thing not uncommon in ancient times) during the last two years of the latters life. This readily explains an otherwise inexplicable chronological difficulty, and it is quite likely that the seeming discrepancies of chronology in Scripture (those most difficult of solution) could-excepting a few which undoubtedly owe their origin to errors of transcription- be as simply and as satisfactorily explained.
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord; he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin: but he walked therein. Josephus calls him a good man (Ant. ix. 8, 6). This misjudgment of the character of Joash is probably based on the incident of his visit to the dying prophet Elisha. A little manifestation of religious, or even semi-religious, sentiment goes a long way, with some persons, in accounting people good. It has been supposed by some that Joash reformed, or repented, toward the end of his life (founded partly, perhaps, on his mild treatment, toward the close of his reign, of Amaziah, when he had it in his power to take that combative meddlers life-see Amaziah), and that Josephus refers to this latter period of his reign. But the words, He departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, forbid all thought of any real, or lasting repentance at any period of his life. God is more anxious to record, than any of His people are to read, any good in any of these monarchs lives. He has noted none in Joashs; and where He is silent, who will dare to speak?
The episode of Joashs visit to the dying prophet has been alluded to; we quote it here in full: Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father! the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bow and arrows. And he said to the king of Israel, Put thy hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it: and Elisha put his hands upon the kings hands. And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the Lords deliverance, and (even, N. Tr.) the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them. And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed. And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.
The application of all this is simple. Joash could not but realize that the prophets departure from them would be a serious loss to the nation. And in calling him the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof, he meant that the prophets presence in their midst was to them what chariots and horsemen were to other nations-their main defence.23 And by putting his dying hands upon those of the king, Elisha meant him to understand the truth of what God said more than three hundred years later, through the prophet Zecha- riah, Not by might [or forces, or army], nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts (Zec 4:6). Without Me, ye can do nothing, this would be in New Testament phraseology. The shooting of the arrow eastward, toward the territory conquered by Syria, signified Joashs victory over Ben-ha-dads forces at Aphek (on the road from Syria to Israel in the level plain east of Jordan; a common field of battles with Syria.- Fausset). See 1Ki 20:26. Only Joashs lack of faith, manifested in his halfhearted smiting the ground with arrows but thrice, prevented his destroying the Syrians utterly. And it was unto him according to his faith. And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times did Joash beat him, and recovered the cities of Israel.
Like Asa [see], he had the opportunity given him to end the power of Syria (2Ch 16:7), which from its beginning had been such a plague to both Judah and Israel. But, like Asa, he let it pass, and the work was left to the Assyrian, who destroyed both it (Syria) and them (Israel and Judah).
And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might wherewith he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Joash slept with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat upon his throne: and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.
23 The whole narrative here brings vividly to mind the departure of Elijah, when the chariot and horses of fire bore him away as by a whirlwind to heaven, and Elisha exclaimed, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof! King Joash (fully acquainted, no doubt, with the circumstances of Elijahs carrying away to heaven) repeats Elishas very words at the taking away of his master, Jehovahs faithful and honored servant. Like many another disobedient heart unreconciled to God, king Joash has a sense of the loss that Elishas death would be to the kingdom-Jehovahs defence, as well as His reproofs, was departing. Yet Elisha (like Elijah dropping his mantle) would leave a blessing and help for poor Israel, limited only by Israels and their kings unbelief.- [Ed.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
In the thirty: Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, was associated with his father in the government two years before his death. It is this association that is spoken of here. Joash reigned sixteen years which include the years he reigned conjointly with his father.
began Jehoash: “In consort with his father. 2Ki 14:1.” 2Ki 13:10
Reciprocal: 2Ki 10:30 – thy children 2Ki 13:9 – Joash 2Ki 14:17 – Amaziah 2Ki 15:12 – Thy sons
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ki 13:10. In the thirty and seventh year of Joash, king of Judah, &c. A difficulty arises in comparing this with 2Ki 13:1, where it is said, Jehoahaz began to reign in the twenty-third year of Joash, king of Judah, and reigned seventeen years: from whence it follows, that this Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, began to reign, not in the thirty-seventh, but in the thirty-ninth or fortieth year of Joash, king of Judah. This difficulty, however, is solved by supposing, what is very probable, that Jehoahaz had made his son Jehoash king, jointly with himself, two or three years before his death. This is the more probable, because he was perpetually in a state of war, and consequently in danger of an untimely death; and because his son was a man of valour, as is implied, 2Ki 13:12, and declared, 2Ch 25:17-24.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 13:10-21. The Reign of Joash or Jehoash of Israel.During this reign Elisha died. He is represented, as in 2 Kings 6, as Israels champion in the great war with Syria, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof (cf. 2Ki 2:12).
2Ki 13:16 f. The action is a piece of sympathetic magic (cf. Exo 17:9-12, Jos 8:18; Jos 8:26), but it is something more. The Hebrews thought of the prophetic word as achieving its own fulfilment (Isa 55:10 f., Eze 37:4-10). Still more would this be so with the prophetic act, for such the kings act was made by Elishas participation. It is not mere symbolism, it does not simply announce the future, it sets in motion the forces which are to create the future. Hence the prophets anger at the kings slackness, when two or three more arrows would have sealed Syrias doom. The eastward direction is rather strange. Damascus, the object to be hit, lay more to the N. than the E. On Aphek see 1Ki 20:26*.
2Ki 13:21. In primitive psychology the bones of the dead are often believed to retain the psychical powers possessed in life. See ERE, ii. 791f.A. S. P.]
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
13:10 In the thirty and seventh year of Joash king {g} of Judah began Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz to reign over Israel in Samaria, [and reigned] sixteen years.
(g) His chief purpose is to describe the kingdom of Judah, and how God performed his promise made to the house of David: but in the process he shows how Israel was afflicted and punished for their great idolatry, who though they had now degenerated, yet God both by sending them many prophets and various punishments, called them to him again.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
5. Jehoash’s evil reign in Israel 13:10-25
Again two kings with the same name ruled over the Northern and Southern Kingdoms at the same time, though they ruled contemporaneously for only about two years (798-796 B.C.). Jehoash of Israel’s dates are 798-782 B.C., and Jehoash of Judah’s are 835-796 B.C.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Jehoash of Israel’s assessment 13:10-13
Jehoash of Judah (called Joash in 2Ki 13:1 of the NASB) was already on the throne when Jehoash of Israel (called Joash after that in the NASB) came to power. The northern king ruled for 16 years, the first five as sole ruler and the last 11 as coregent with his son Jeroboam II. Jehoash continued the policies of his predecessors in Israel.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
elete_me 2Ki 13:10-21
THE DYNASTY OF JEHU
Jehoahaz
814-797
{2Ki 13:1-9}
Joash
797-781
{2Ki 13:10-21; 2Ki 14:8-16}
Jeroboam II
781-740
{2Ki 14:23-29}
Zechariah
740
{2Ki 15:8-12}
“Them that honor Me I will honor, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.”
– 1Sa 2:30
ISRAEL had scarcely ever sunk to so low a nadir of degradation as she did in the reign of the son of Jehu. We have already mentioned that some assign to his reign the ghastly story which we have narrated in our sketch of the work of Elisha. It is told in the sixth chapter of the Second Book of Kings, and seems to belong to the reign of Jehoram ben-Ahab; but it may have got displaced from this epoch of yet deeper wretchedness. The accounts of Jehoahaz in 2Ki 13:1-25 are evidently fragmentary and abrupt.
Jehoahaz reigned seventeen years. Naturally, he did not disturb the calf-worship, which, like all his predecessors and successors, he regarded as a perfectly innocent symbolic adoration of Jehovah, whose name he bore and whose service he professed. Why should he do so? It had been established now for more than two centuries. His father, in spite of his passionate and ruthless zeal for Jehovah, had never attempted to disturb it. No prophet-not even Elijah nor Elisha, the practical establishers of his dynasty-had said one word to condemn it. It in no way rested on his conscience as an offence; and the formal condemnation of it by the historian only reflects the more enlightened judgment of the Southern Kingdom and of a later age. But according to the parenthesis which breaks the thread of this kings story, {2Ki 13:5-6} he was guilty of a far more culpable defection from orthodox worship; for in his reign, the Asherah-the tree or pillar of the Tyrian nature-goddess-still remained in Samaria, and therefore must have had its worshippers. How it came there we cannot tell. Jezebel had set it up, {1Ki 16:33} with the connivance of Ahab. Jehu apparently had “put it away” with the great stele of Baal, {2Ki 3:2} but, for some reason or other, he had not destroyed it. It now apparently occupied some public place, a symbol of decadence, and provocative of the wrath of Heaven.
Jehoahaz sank very low. Hazaels savage sword, not content with the devastation of Bashan and Gilead, wasted the west of Israel also in all its borders. The king became a mere vassal of his brutal neighbor at Damascus. So little of the barest semblance of power was left him, that whereas, in the reign of David, Israel could muster an army of eight hundred thousand, and in the reign of Joash, the son and successor of Jehoahaz, Amaziah could hire from Israel one hundred thousand mighty men of valor as mercenaries, Jehoahaz was only allowed to maintain an army of ten chariots, fifty horsemen, and ten thousand infantry! In the picturesque phrase of the historian, “the King of Syria had threshed down Israel to the dust,” in spite of all that Jehoahaz did, or tried to do, and “all his might.” How completely helpless the Israelites were is shown by the fact that their armies could offer no opposition to the free passage of the Syrian troops through their land. Hazael did not regard them as threatening his rear; for, in the reign of Jehoahaz, he marched southwards, took the Philistine city of Gath, and threatened Jerusalem. Joash of Judah could only buy them off with the bribe of all his treasures, and according to the Chronicler they “destroyed all the princes of the people,” and took great spoil to Damascus. {2Ch 24:23}
Where was Elisha? After the anointing of Jehu he vanishes from the scene. Unless the narrative of the siege of Samaria has been displaced, we do not so much as once hear of him for nearly half a century.
The fearful depth of humiliation to which the king was reduced drove him to repentance. Wearied to death of the Syrian oppression of which he was the daily witness, and of the utter misery caused by prowling bands of Ammonites and Moabites-jackals who waited on the Syrian lion-Jehoahaz “besought the Lord, and the Lord hearkened unto him, and gave Israel a savior, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians: and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents, as beforetime.” If this indeed refers to events which come out of place in the memoirs of Elisha; and if Jehoahaz ben-Jehu, not Jehoram ben-Ahab, was the king in whose reign the siege of Samaria was so marvellously raised, then Elisha may possibly be the temporary deliverer who is here alluded to. On this supposition we may see a sign of the repentance of Jehoahaz in the shirt of sackcloth which he wore under his robes, as it became visible to his starving people when he rent his clothes on hearing the cannibal instincts which had driven mothers to devour their own children. But the respite must have been brief, since Hazael (2Ki 13:22) oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. If this rearrangement of events be untenable, we must suppose that the repentance of Jehoahaz was only so far accepted, and his prayer so far heard, that the deliverance, which did not come in his own days, came in those of his son and of his grandson.
Of him and of his wretched reign we hear no more; but a very different epoch dawned with the accession of his son Joash, named after the contemporary King of Judah, Joash ben-Ahaziah.
In the Books of Kings and Chronicles Joash of Israel is condemned with the usual refrains about the sins of Jeroboam. No other sin is laid to his charge; and breaking the monotony of reprobation which tells us of every king of Israel without exception that “he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord,” Josephus boldly ventures to call him “a good man; and the antithesis to his father.”
He reigned sixteen years. At the beginning of his reign he found his country the despised prey, not only of Syria, but of the paltry neighboring bandit-sheykhs who infested the east of the Jordan; he left it comparatively strong, prosperous, and independent.
In his reign we hear again of Elisha, now a very old man of past eighty years. Nearly half a century had elapsed since the grandfather of Joash had destroyed the house of Ahab at the prophets command. News came to the king that Elisha was sick of a mortal sickness, and he naturally went to visit the death-bed of one who had called his dynasty to the throne, and had in earlier years played so memorable a part in the history of his country. He found the old man dying, and he wept over him, crying, “My father; my father! the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.” {Comp. 2Ki 2:12} The address strikes us with some surprise. Elisha had indeed delivered Samaria more than once when the city had been reduced to direst extremity; but in spite of his prayers and of his presence, the sins of Israel and her kings had rendered this chariot of Israel of very small avail. The names of Ahab, Jehu, Jehoahaz, call up memories of a series of miseries and humiliations which had reduced Israel to the very verge of extinction. For sixty-three years Elisha had been the prophet of Israel; and though his public interpositions had been signal on several occasions, they had not been availing to prevent Ahab from becoming the vassal of Assyria, nor Israel from becoming the appendage of the dominion of that Hazael whom Elisha himself had anointed King of Syria, and who had become of all the enemies of his country the most persistent and the most implacable.
The narrative which follows is very singular. We must give it-as it occurs, with but little apprehension of its exact significance.
Elisha, though Joash “did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord,” seems to have regarded him with affection. He bade the youth take his bow, and laid his feeble, trembling hands on the strong hands of the king.
Then he ordered an attendant to fling open the lattice, and told the king to shoot eastward towards Gilead, the region whence the bands of Syria made their way over the Jordan. The king shot, and the fire came back into the old prophets eye as he heard the arrow whistle eastward. He cried, “The arrow of Jehovahs deliverance, even the arrow of victory over Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them.” Then he bade the young king to take the sheaf of arrows, and smite towards the ground, as if he was striking down an enemy. Not understanding the significance of the act, the king made the sign of thrice striking the arrows downwards, and then naturally stopped. But Elisha was angry-or at any rate grieved. “You should have smitten five or six times,” he said, “and then you would have smitten Syria to destruction. Now you shall only smite Syria thrice.” The kings fault seems to have been lack of energy and faith.
There are in this story some peculiar elements which it is impossible to explain, but it has one beautiful and striking feature. It tells us of the death – bed of a prophet. Most of Gods greatest prophets have perished amid the hatred of priests and worldlings. The progress of the truth they taught has been “from scaffold to scaffold, and from stake to stake.”
“Careless seems the Great Avenger. Historys pages but record
One death-grapple in the darkness twixt old systems and the Word-
Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne;
Yet that scaffold sways the Future, and behind the dim unknown
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own!”
Now and then, however, as an exception, a great prophetic teacher or reformer escapes the hatred of the priests and of the world, and dies in peace. Savonarola is burnt, Huss is burnt, but Wicliff dies in his bed at Lutterworth, and Luther died in peace at Eisleben. Elijah passed away in storm, and was seen no more. A king comes to weep by the death-bed of the aged Elisha. “For us,” it has been said, “the scene at his bedside contains a lesson of comfort and even encouragement. Let us try to realize it. A man with no material power is dying in the capital of Israel. He is not rich: he holds no office which gives him any immediate control over the actions of men; he has but one weapon-the power of his word. Yet Israels king stands weeping at his bedside-weeping because this inspired messenger of Jehovah is to be taken from him. In him both king and people will lose a mighty support, for this man is a greater strength to Israel than chariots and horsemen are. Joash does well to mourn for him, for he has had courage to wake the nations conscience; the might of his personality has sufficed to turn them in the true direction, and rouse their moral and religious life. Such men as Elisha everywhere and always give a strength to their people above the strength of armies, for the true blessings of a nation are reared on the foundations of its moral force.”
The annals are here interrupted to introduce a posthumous miracle-unlike any other in the whole Bible-wrought by the bones of Elisha. He died, and they buried him, “giving him,” as Josephus says, “a magnificent burial.” As usual, the spring brought with it the marauding bands of Moabites. Some Israelites who were burying a man caught sight of them, and, anxious to escape, thrust the man into the sepulcher of Elisha, which happened to be nearest at hand. But when he was placed in the rocky tomb, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet. Doubtless the story rests on some real circumstance. There is, however, something singular in the turn of the original, which says (literally) that the man went and touched the bones of Elisha; and there is proof that the story was told in varying forms, for Josephus says that it was the Moabite plunderers who had killed the man, and that he was thrown by them into Elishas tomb. It is easy to invent moral and spiritual lessons out of this incident, but not so easy to see what lesson is intended by it. Certainly there is not throughout Scripture any other passage which even seems to sanction any suspicions of magic potency in the relics of the dead.
But Elishas symbolic prophecy of deliverance from Syria was amply fulfilled. About this time Hazael had died, and had left his power in the feebler hands of his son Benhadad III. Jehoahaz had not been able to make any way against him, {2Ki 13:3} but Joash his son thrice met and thrice defeated him at Aphek. As a consequence of these victories, he won back all the cities which Hazael had taken from his father on the west of Jordan. The east of Jordan was never recovered. It fell under the shadow of Assyria, and was practically lost forever to the tribes of Israel.
Whether Assyria lent her help to Joash under certain conditions we do not know. Certain it is that from this time the terror of Syria vanishes. The Assyrian king Rammanirari III about this time subjugated all Syria and its king, whom the tablets call Mari, perhaps the same as Benhadad III. In the next reign Damascus itself fell into the power of Jeroboam II, the son of Joash.
One more event, to which we have already alluded, is narrated in the reign of this prosperous and valiant king.
Amity had reigned for a century between Judah and Israel, the result of the politic-impolitic alliance which Jehoshaphat had sanctioned between his son Jehoram and the daughter of Jezebel. It was obviously most desirable that the two small kingdoms should be united as closely as possible by an offensive and defensive alliance. But the bond between them was broken by the overweening vanity of Amaziah ben-Joash of Judah. His victory over the Edomites, and his conquest of Petra, had puffed him up with the mistaken notion that he was a very great man and an invincible warrior. He had the wicked infatuation to kindle an unprovoked war against the Northern Tribes. It was the most wanton of the many instances in which, if Ephraim did not envy Judah, at least Judah vexed Ephraim. Amaziah challenged Joash to come out to battle, that they might look one another in the face. He had not recognized the difference between fighting with and without the sanction of the God of battles.
Joash had on his hands enough of necessary and internecine war to make him more than indifferent to that bloody game. Moreover, as the superior of Amaziah in every way, he saw through his inflated emptiness. He knew that it was the worst possible policy for Judah and Israel to weaken each other in fratricidal war, while Syria threatened their northern and. eastern frontiers, and while the tread of the mighty march of Assyria was echoing ominously in the ears of the nations from afar. Better and kinder feelings may have mingled with these wise convictions. He had no wish to destroy the poor fool who so vaingloriously provoked his superior might. His answer was one of the most crushingly contemptuous pieces of irony which history records, and yet it was eminently kindly and good-humoured: It was meant to save the King of Judah from advancing any further on the path of certain ruin.
“The thistle that was in Lebanon” (such was the apologue which he addressed to his would-be rival) “sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying: Give thy daughter to my son to wife. The cedar took no sort of notice of the thistles ludicrous presumption, but a wild beast that was in Lebanon passed by, and trod down the thistle.”
It was the answer of a giant to a dwarf; and to make it quite clear to the humblest comprehension, Joash good-naturedly added:
“You are puffed up with your victory over Edom: glory in this, and stay at home. Why by your vain meddling should you ruin yourself and Judah with you? Keep quiet: I have something else to do than to attend to you.”
Happy had it been for Amaziah if he had taken warning! But vanity is a bad counselor, and folly and self-deception-ill-matched pair-were whirling him to his doom. Seeing that he was bent on his own perdition, Joash took the initiative and marched to Beth-Shemesh, in the territory of Judah. There the kings met, and there Amaziah was hopelessly defeated. His troops fled to their scattered homes, and he fell into the hands of his conqueror. Joash did not care to take any sanguinary revenge; but much as he despised his enemy, he thought it necessary to teach him and Judah the permanent lesson of not again meddling to their own hurt.
He took the captive king with him to Jerusalem, which opened its gates without a blow. We do not know whether, like a Roman conqueror, he entered it through the breach of four hundred cubits which he ordered them to make in the walls, but otherwise he contented himself with spoil which would swell his treasure, and amply compensate for the expenses of the expedition which had been forced upon him. He ransacked Jerusalem for silver and gold; he made Obed-Edom, the treasurer, give up to him all the sacred vessels of the Temple, and all that was worth taking from the palace. He also took hostages-probably from among the number of the kings sons-to secure immunity from further intrusions. It is the first time in Scripture that hostages are mentioned. It is to his credit that he shed no blood, and was even content to leave his defeated challenger with the disgraced phantom of his kingly power, till, fifteen years later, he followed his father to the grave through the red path of murder at the hand of his own subjects.
After this we hear no further records of this vigorous and able king, in whom the characteristics of his grandfather Jehu are reflected in softer outline. He left his son Jeroboam II to continue his career of prosperity, and to advance Israel to a pitch of greatness which she had never yet attained, in which she rivaled the grandeur of the united kingdom in the earlier days of Solomons dominion.