Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
2 Kings 12:3

Clarke's Commentary

Verse 2 Kings 12:3. The high places were not taken away — Without the total destruction of these there could be no radical reform. The toleration of any species of idolatry in the land, whatever else was done in behalf of true religion, left, and in effect fostered, a seed which springing up, regenerated in time the whole infernal system. Jehoiada did not use his influence as he might have done; for as he had the king's heart and hand with him, he might have done what he pleased.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

True worship restored in Judah (12:1-21)

Under the influence of Jehoiada, Joash encouraged the worship of Yahweh (12:1-3). But his project for repairing the temple (damaged by Athaliah and her followers; 2 Chronicles 24:7) was hindered by the priests. They lacked enthusiasm and were inefficient, and possibly dishonest, in handling the finances (4-8). Joash therefore separated the funds for the priests’ personal use from the funds for the temple repairs, and placed the latter under the supervision of an official of the royal treasury. He then hired workmen who had a desire to do the work properly and honestly (9-16).

After Jehoiada’s death, Joash, no longer under the strong priestly influence of his life-long adviser, turned to idolatry. When rebuked by the new high priest Zechariah, Joash had Zechariah murdered (2 Chronicles 24:15-22; Matthew 23:35). Judgment on Joash was swift and severe. Hazael led his troops across Israel and south into Judah as far as Gath. He then turned to attack Jerusalem, and Joash saved the city only by robbing the temple treasury and sending the money to Hazael (17-18; 2 Chronicles 24:23-24). But he could not buy off the judgment that was to fall on him personally. Soon after the battle he was assassinated by his officers, and was not even given a royal burial (19-21; 2 Chronicles 24:25-27).

The prophecy of Joel

It was possibly during the early part of Joash’s reign that the prophet Joel wrote his book. During that time Joash was still a boy and the government was largely in the hands of Jehoiada. If that is so, Joel was the first of the writing prophets (i.e. prophets who wrote books of the Bible).
However, the book of Joel mentions no date of writing, and it could possibly have been written many years later, perhaps after the return from captivity and even later than the time of Nehemiah. If that is the case, Joel was among the last of the writing prophets. The message of the book is straightforward and can be readily understood regardless of its date of writing.

Joel’s reason for writing was a severe plague of locusts that devastated Judah. He interpreted this as a judgment on Judah for its sin, and urged the people to repent. In response to their repentance, God removed the locusts and promised to give the nation productive crops again (Joel 1:4; Joel 2:10-14,Joel 2:25). Joel saw the events as symbolic of God’s future judgment on all enemies and his coming blessing on all the faithful (Joel 3:16-19).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE REIGN OF JEHOASH (JOASH)

"Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign. In the seventh year of Jehu began Jehoash to reign; and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba. And Jehoash did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him. Howbeit the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places."

"Jehoash did… right… all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him" The author of this passage was evidently one who loved Jehoash, because he refrained from recording the shameful lapses of this king after the death of Jehoiada. 2 Chronicles 24 gives us the "rest of the tragic story." The words "wherein Jehoiada… instructed him" are ample witness and confirmation of the fuller account in Chronicles.

"Howbeit the high places were not taken away" "These vestiges of the ancient paganism remained a constant snare. It was all too easy to slip into the nature and fertility rituals which the Canaanites had preserved for centuries at such shrines."The New Layman's Bible Commentary, p. 462. It finally came to pass that racial Israel turned away from God and embraced the gross sensuality of pagan worship almost (but not quite) totally. When it became evident that this was the determined will of practically the whole nation, God sent them into captivity in Babylon, where they were finally cured of their idolatry.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The worship on the “high places” seems to have continued uninterruptedly to the time of Hezekiah, who abolished it 2 Kings 18:4. It was, however, again established by Manasseh, his son 2 Kings 21:3. The priests at this time cannot have regarded it as idolatrous, or Jehoiada would have put it during his regency.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 12

Now in the seventh year in which Jehu was the king in Israel is when this king began to reign ( 2 Kings 12:1 );

Because you remember, he was just one year old when his dad was killed by Jehu. He was hid for six years and so in the seventh year in which Jehu was reigning, this young man began to reign.

Now Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him ( 2 Kings 12:2 ).

And so, he was more or less a puppet leader. Jehoiada the priest was the influence behind the throne. However, there were high places of worship where the people burnt incense and offered sacrifices which was following after the pagan customs, and these they did not destroy. And of course, that remained the blotch on the kingdom.

Now Jehoash, this young king, as he grew older he ordered that they take all of the money that was brought into the temple and they use it to repair the temple, for the temple had come into a state of disrepair because the people were worshipping on the high places and they were worshipping Baal and all. And so the temple of God had come into a state of disrepair, and the king Jehoash ordered that they take the money and they repair all of these places in the temple. But after a period of time, the priest had done nothing in the repair of the temple. So Jehoash came and said, "What's happened? How come you haven't made the repairs?" And the priest were pocketing all of the money. So Jehoiada put this agape box in there. He got a box and put a hole in the top of it so that the people could drop the money in the box so that the priest couldn't get it. And they then took the money that the people would drop in the box and they began to repair the temple. And they gave it to the builders and the masons and so forth to begin to restore the temple building.

Now at this time, Hazael, who had taken and had captured the area where the Reubenites and the Gadites and the tribe of Manasseh were living, he now had moved his troops down into the area between Jerusalem and the coast, the city of Gath, which was a Philistine city. And he had taken the city of Gath and was now moving his Syrian army to besiege Jerusalem.

And Jehoash took all of the gold and the silver and all and he bought off Hazael. He gave him all of his money and said, "Hey look, we surrender and here's all of the money." So he paid him off and Hazael returned to the to Syria, but the temple was robbed of all of its treasures, the gold and silver vessels and all. They were taken by Hazael.

We come in verse nineteen to the death of Joash. He was killed by his servants who conspired against him, and his son Amaziah began to reign in his stead. "

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

But the high places were not taken away,.... Used before the temple was built, or set up in Rehoboam's time, 1 Kings 14:23 contrary to the law of God, which required that sacrifices should only be offered in the place the Lord chose to dwell in, Deuteronomy 12:4 the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places; as they had done in the times of Athaliah, and though the pure worship of God was restored at Jerusalem; and indeed this they did in all preceding reigns; nor was it in the power of the best of kings, at least they did not think it safe to attempt to remove them till Hezekiah's time; so fond were the people of them because of their antiquity and supposed sanctity, and for the sake of ease.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 In the seventh year of Jehu Jehoash began to reign; and forty years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba.   2 And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him.   3 But the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

      The general account here given of Joash is, 1. That he reigned forty years. As he began his reign when he was very young, he might, in the course of nature, have continued much longer, for he was cut off when he was but forty-seven years old, 2 Kings 12:1; 2 Kings 12:1. 2. That he did that which was right as long as Jehoiada lived to instruct him, 2 Kings 12:2; 2 Kings 12:2. Many young men have come too soon to an estate--have had wealth, and power, and liberty, before they knew how to use them--and it has been of bad consequence to them; but against this danger Joash was well guarded by having such a good director as Jehoiada was, so wise, and experienced, and faithful to him, and by having so much wisdom as to hearken to him and be directed by him, even when he was grown up. Note, It is a great mercy to young people, and especially to young princes, and all young men of consequence, to be under good direction, and to have those about them that will instruct them to do that which is right in the sight of the Lord; and they then do wisely and well for themselves when they are willing to be counselled and ruled by such. A child left to himself brings his mother to shame, but a child left to such a tuition may bring himself to honour and comfort. 3. That the high places were not taken away,2 Kings 12:3; 2 Kings 12:3. Up and down the country they had altars both for sacrifice and incense, to the honour of the God of Israel only, but in competition with, and at least in tacit contempt of, his altar at Jerusalem. These private altars, perhaps, had been more used in the late bad reigns than formerly, because it was not safe to go up to Jerusalem, nor was the temple-service performed as it should have been; and, it may be, Jehoiada connived at them, because some well-meaning people were glad of them when they could not have better, and he hoped that the reforming of the temple, and putting things into a good posture there, would by degrees draw people from their high places and they would dwindle of themselves; or perhaps neither the king nor the priest had zeal enough to carry on their reformation so far, nor courage and strength enough to encounter such an inveterate usage.

Kelly Commentary on Books of the Bible

But in the eleventh chapter we have another scene of deep import and interest. There is a wicked woman and when a woman is wicked there is no wickedness like hers. "And when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she arose, and destroyed all the seed royal. But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons which were slain; and they hid him (even him and his nurse) in the bed-chamber, from Athaliah, so that he was not slain" (2 Kings 11:1-2).

We know what the love of a parent and of a grandparent is, but here in Athaliah was no right feeling. Her very blood was corrupted in her veins. And this wretched and selfish woman this inheritress of the wickedness of Jezebel, now, alas! in the line of Judah has the opportunity, as she thinks, to stamp out the royal line of Judah. Both the desire of dominion and the hatred of the purpose of God wicked allies strove together to accomplish this nefarious purpose. Had the line of Ahab been extinguished? Had Ahaziah and his brethren fallen? The guilty purpose rose in her heart to put an end to the seed-royal of Judah, as that of Israel had been already extinguished. What interest had she? How did she care for it? The word of God had distinctly assured them that the line of Judah should never go out the only real line that has remained unbroken from the beginning, and will throughout eternity. I speak now for the earth up to eternity at least, for even if we only look at the earth under the government of God, that line, and that line alone, so abides.

And yet there never was a line so slender: there never was a line that hung so often upon a single thread. Just contrast it with Israel. Think of seventy sons of one family! and, I will not say the promise, but the apparent moral certainty that that line must be perpetuated for ever! But no it was put out in one day! Who could have thought of it beforehand? And this too in the royal city, and by the royal servants, Such is man; such is the world. The word of the Lord had said it. Oh! what foolishness is ours that could ever doubt a word of God! And what has God given us all this for, but that we may know that if that word stands in what is evil, how much more in what is good? If God accomplishes His threats to the letter, can His promises fail for an instant? I grant indeed that His promises continually seem to fail, just for the very purpose that our faith should not stand in appearances, but in the word of God. There would be no faith about it if all seemed to be easy and flowing; but it is precisely the contrary. All appearance is against it, but God watches still. If it were only one feeble scion of that house, it was enough. It was a scion of that house, and that house stands for ever, because God has said it. And so we shall see in this chapter.

Athaliah then, Joash's own grandparent the one that ought most of all, from her sense of her relationship, to have been the guardian of that one only descendant of herself, who had her own blood in his veins this very Athaliah seeks to destroy the one last remaining scion of the house of David. Well, it seemed impossible! For think you that when she thought to kill the seed royal she forgot the little boy? Not she. She knew well about him. It is not for me to say how the thing was covered over how it was that Jehosheba knew how to guard the child from the suspicions and the inquisition that would naturally follow for one that was rescued, for if there was a woman that was crafty in what was evil it was Athaliah. I suppose it is not too much to imagine that there may have been a little conspiracy upon this good Jehosheba's part, also on the other side. At any rate, I have no wish to say anything to her disparagement, but I do say that, whatever the means, God employed the purpose of her heart for the shelter of the child. He was hidden then, and hidden where none could have expected in the temple. Such a state of things calls for no common screen for a royal child, and surely God was with the shelter that was given him. And although that temple was built for priests and not for a king in distress, still the grace of the Lord rises over all such merely ritual circumstances.

"And the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the rulers over hundreds, with the captains and the guards, and brought them to him into the house of Jehovah, and made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of Jehovah." Here again we see that mere ritualism cannot stand against what is moral cannot stand against that which concerns the word of God in its accomplishment for him whom God had set over His people Israel. "He made a covenant with them and took an oath of them in the house of Jehovah, and showed them the king's son." The king's son was but a little boy, but he was the lawful king of Israel in fact only the king of Judah, but in title really of Israel. "And he commanded them, saying, This is the thing that ye shall do; a third part of you that enter in on the Sabbath shall even be keepers of the watch of the king's house; and a third part shall be at the gate of Sur; and a third part at the gate behind the guard; so shall ye keep the watch of the house, that it be not broken down."

All then is prepared. "And the captains over the hundreds did according to all things that Jehoiada the priest commanded: and they took every man his men that were to come in on the Sabbath, with them that should go out on the Sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest. And to the captains over hundreds did the priest give king David's spears and shields, that were in the temple of Jehovah. And the guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, round about the king, from the right corner of the temple to the left corner of the temple, along by the altar and the temple. And he brought forth the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, God save the king."

Athaliah was not long without hearing the tumult. So she comes to the people and to the temple of Jehovah. A strange place for her, the hater of Jehovah and the patron of idolatry in its worst form! She comes, and looks, and behold, the king stood by a pillar. The king! And this was all that her murderous policy had led to and ended in. "The king stood by a pillar; as the manner was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets. And Athaliah rent her clothes and cried, Treason, treason;" The old voice the voice of her mother, before her, and the voice too of her son after her, and now her own. But the truth was, it was she who was the traitor. It was she that had tried to blot out the king from the throne; and, accordingly, she meets with the just reward of a traitor, for "Jehoiada commanded the captains of the hundreds, the officers of the host, and said unto them, Have her forth without the ranges; and him that followeth her kill with the sword. For the priest had said, Let her not be slain in the house of Jehovah." There was no one to follow. She was alone, not alone in her evil, but now her evil had not one sympathizer. "So they laid hands on her; and she went by the way by the which the horses came into the king's house; and there was she slain. "And Jehoiada made a covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people, that they should be Jehovah's people; between the king also and the people. And all the people of the land went into the house of Baal, and brake it down." And thus the worship of Baal was dealt with in Judah, as it had been before in Israel.

"In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash began to reign; and forty years reigned he in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba. And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of Jehovah all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him. But the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places" (2 Kings 12:0). Nevertheless, as long as Jehoiada was there there was a measure of care outwardly for the things of God; and, as the priests had watched over Jehoash in his childhood, Jehoash now in his maturity watches over them and says to the priests, "All the money of the dedicated things that is brought into the house of Jehovah, even the money of every one that passeth the account, the money that every man is set at, and all the money that cometh into any man's heart to bring into the house of Jehovah, let the priests take it to them, every man of his acquaintance; and let them repair the breaches of the house, wheresoever any breach shall be found. But it was so, that in the three and twentieth year of king Jehoash, the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house." That is, instead of applying the contributions for the house of Jehovah they had applied them to themselves.

"Then king Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and the other priests, and said unto them, Why repair ye not the breaches of the house? Now therefore receive no more money of your acquaintance, but deliver it for the breaches of the house. And the priests consented to receive no more money of the people, neither to repair the breaches of the house. But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one cometh into the house of the Jehovah: and the priests that kept the door put therein all the money that was brought into the house of Jehovah." And so it was done: the work proceeded, Jehoiada watched over it, and the house of Jehovah was repaired.

But however this might be, the heart of Jehoash was not with the Lord, and the death of Jehoiada gave an occasion to display it. This, however, I need not dwell upon now. "In the three and twentieth year of Joash the son of Ahaziah king of Judah Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom. And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael, all their days. And Jehoahaz besought Jehovah, and Jehovah hearkened unto him" (2 Kings 13:1-25). How gracious is the Lord! We see, alas! that the one who began so fair at last slips away from his original integrity. But we see that the man who hearkens and bows to the Lord is never without, at any rate, some measure of recognition on God's part. "And Jehovah gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians: and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents, as before-time. Nevertheless they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin."

But, after this, we find, "In the thirty and seventh year of Joash king of Judah began Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz to reign," and he comes in contact with the prophet Elisha. This is a point that I wish to direct your attention to for a moment. Joash comes down, and weeps over Elisha's face, and says, "O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!" the same words that Elisha himself had used when he saw the prophet going up to heaven that is, he acknowledged him to be the strength of Israel. What makes it so touching is, that he was dying; all natural vigour was departing from him. But just as Elisha owned that the strength of Israel was not in horses or chariots, but that he was the one that he was all their strength as far as God had employed him for that purpose so here in the same way Joash the king of Israel owns the dying Elisha, and God owns the word. "And Elisha said to him, Take bow and arrows; and he took unto him bow and arrows. And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow; and he put his hand upon it." But there was another and a mightier hand, although the hand of a dying man. "Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands," and God saw, and God gave the power, the needed power. "And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of Jehovah's deliverance." Truly dying Elisha was the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof; for God would show that the strength of his people does not lie in what man can see, but in the vigour that He himself imparts. "The arrow of Jehovah's deliverance," said he, "and 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."

Why did he stay? Did he not know what the prophet meant? Did he not apprehend the grace of God that was now at work? Why did he stay? Alas! a man never stays out the grace of God, even were it an Abraham who leaves off when he ought to go on! Yet the grace of God never fails of its purpose. Here, however, it was the judgment of God. The grace of God prevailed over the intercession of Abraham, for if Abraham dared not to ask for Sodom and Gomorrah to be spared for the sake of ten, and if God did better than simply spare the guilty cities for the sake of ten if God delivered the one righteous man and delivered for the righteous man's sake more than one that were not righteous if God's grace so abounded above the weakness of the interceding servant then, now in judgment God would hold strictly to the letter. Had he struck thrice to the ground with the arrows? Then thrice should the Syrians be smitten and no more. "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." Truly Elisha was the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof.