the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Bible Dictionaries
Jehoash
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or JEHOASH , in the shorter form JOASH , is the name of a king in each of the two lines, Israel and Judah.
1. Jehoash of Judah was the son of Ahaziah. When an infant his brothers and cousins were massacred, some of them by Jehu and some by Athaliah. After being kept in concealment until he was seven years old, he was crowned by the bodyguard under the active leadership of Jehoiada, the chief priest. In his earlier years he was under the influence of the man to whom he owed the throne, but later be manifested his independence. Besides an arrangement which he made with the priests about certain moneys which came into their hands, the record tells us only that an invasion of the Syrians compelled him to pay a heavy tribute. This was drawn from the Temple treasury. Jehoash was assassinated by some of his officers ( 2 Kings 11:1-21 f.).
2. Jehoash of Israel was the third king of the line of Jehu. The turn of the tide in the affairs of Israel came about the time of his accession. The way in which the Biblical author indicates this is characteristic. He tells us that when Elisha was about to die Jehoash came to visit him, and wept over him as a great power about to be lost to Israel. Elisha bade him take bow and arrows and shoot the arrow of victory towards Damascus, then to strike the ground with the arrows. The three blows which he struck represent the three victories obtained by Jehoash, and the blame expressed by Elisha indicates that his contemporaries thought the king slack in following up his advantage. Jehoash also obtained a signal victory over Judah in a war wantonly provoked, it would seem, by Amaziah, king of Judah ( 2 Kings 13:10 ff.).
H. P. Smith.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Jehoash'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/j/jehoash.html. 1909.
