Study Desk

Joash^(a) was seven years old when he became king and reigned 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah; she was from Beer-sheba.

Throughout the time of Jehoiada the priest, Joash did what was right in the Lord 's sight.^(b)

Jehoiada acquired two wives for him, and he was the father of sons and daughters.

Afterward,^(c) Joash took it to heart to renovate^(d) the Lord 's temple.

So he gathered the priests and Levites and said, "Go out to the cities of Judah and collect money from all Israel to repair the temple of your God as needed year by year,^(e) and do it quickly." However, the Levites did not hurry.

So the king called Jehoiada the high priest and said, "Why haven't you required the Levites to bring from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by the Lord 's servant Moses and the assembly of Israel for the tent^(f) of the testimony?

For the sons of that wicked Athaliah broke into the Lord 's temple and even used the sacred things of the Lord 's temple for the Baals."

At the king's command a chest was made and placed outside the gate of the Lord 's temple.

Then a proclamation^(g) was issued in Judah and Jerusalem that the tax God's servant Moses imposed on Israel in the wilderness be brought to the Lord .

All the leaders and all the people rejoiced, brought the tax, and put it in the chest until it was full.

Whenever the chest was brought by the Levites to the king's overseers, and when they saw that there was a large amount of money, the king's secretary and the high priest's deputy came and emptied the chest, picked it up, and returned it to its place. They did this daily and gathered the money in abundance.

Then the king and Jehoiada gave it to those in charge of the labor on the Lord 's temple, who were hiring stonecutters and carpenters to renovate the Lord 's temple, also blacksmiths and coppersmiths to repair the Lord 's temple.^(h)

The workmen did their work, and through them the repairs progressed. They restored God's temple to its specifications and reinforced it.

When they finished, they presented the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, who made articles for the Lord 's temple with it—articles for ministry and for making burnt offerings, and ladles^[a] and articles of gold and silver. They regularly offered burnt offerings in the Lord 's temple throughout Jehoiada's life.

Jehoiada died when he was old and full of days; he was 130 years old at his death.

He was buried in the city of David with the kings⁽ⁱ⁾ because he had done what was good in Israel with respect to God and His temple.

However, after Jehoiada died, the rulers of Judah came and paid homage to the king. Then the king listened to them,

and they abandoned the temple of Yahweh, the God of their ancestors and served the Asherah poles and the idols.^(j) So there was wrath^(k) against Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.

Nevertheless, He sent them prophets^(l) to bring them back to the Lord ; they admonished them, but the people would not listen.^(m)

The Spirit of God took control of^[b](n) Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood above the people and said to them, "This is what God says, ‘Why are you transgressing the Lord 's commands and you do not prosper?^(o) Because you have abandoned the Lord , He has abandoned you.'"^(p)

But they conspired against him and stoned him at the king's command in the courtyard of the Lord 's temple.^(q)

King Joash didn't remember the kindness that Zechariah's father Jehoiada had extended to him, but killed his son. While he was dying, he said, "May the Lord see and demand^(r) an account."

At the turn of the year, an Aramean army went to war against Joash.^(s) They entered Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the leaders of the people among them and sent all the plunder to the king of Damascus.

Although the Aramean army came with only a few men, the Lord handed over^(t) a vast army to them because the people of Judah had abandoned^(u) Yahweh, the God of their ancestors. So they executed judgment on Joash.

When^(v) the Arameans saw that Joash had many wounds, they left him. His servants conspired against him, and killed him on his bed, because he had shed the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest. So he died, and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.^(w)

Those who conspired against him were Zabad, son of the Ammonite woman Shimeath, and Jehozabad, son of the Moabite woman Shimrith.^[c](x)

Concerning his sons, the many oracles about him, and the restoration^(y) of the Lord 's temple, they are recorded in the Writing^(z) of the Book of the Kings. His son Amaziah became king in his place.

Amaziah^(a) became king when he was 25 years old and reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoaddan; she was from Jerusalem.

He did what was right in the Lord 's sight but not wholeheartedly.^(b)

As soon as the kingdom was firmly in his grasp,^[a] he executed his servants who had murdered his father the king.

However, he did not put their children to death, because—as it is written in the Law, in the book of Moses,^(c) where the Lord commanded—"Fathers must not die because of children, and children must not die because of fathers, but each one will die for his own sin."^(d)

Then Amaziah gathered Judah and assembled them according to ancestral house, according to commanders of thousands, and according to commanders of hundreds. He numbered those 20 years old or more^(e) for all Judah and Benjamin. He found there to be 300,000 choice men who could serve in the army, bearing spear and shield.^(f)

Then for 7,500 pounds^[b] of silver he hired 100,000 brave warriors from Israel.

However, a man of God^(g) came to him and said, "King, do not let Israel's army go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel—all the Ephraimites.

But if you go with them, do it! Be strong for battle! But God will make you stumble before the enemy,^(h) for God has the power to help⁽ⁱ⁾ or to make one stumble."

Then Amaziah said to the man of God, "What should I do about the 7,500 pounds^[c] of silver I gave to Israel's division?" The man of God replied, "The Lord is able to give you much more than this."

So Amaziah released the division that came to him from Ephraim to go home. But they got very angry with Judah and returned home in a fierce rage.

Amaziah strengthened his position and led his people to the Valley of Salt. He struck down 10,000 Seirites,^[d]

and the Judahites captured 10,000 alive. They took them to the top of a cliff where they threw them off, and all of them were dashed to pieces.

As for the men of the division that Amaziah sent back so they would not go with him into battle, they raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth-horon, struck down 3,000 of their people, and took a great deal of plunder.

After Amaziah came from the attack on the Edomites, he brought the gods of the Seirites^[e] and set them up as his gods. He worshiped before them and burned incense to them.^(j)

So the Lord 's anger was against Amaziah, and He sent a prophet to him, who said, "Why have you sought a people's gods that could not deliver their own people from your hand?"^(k)

While he was still speaking to him, the king asked, "Have we made you the king's counselor? Stop, why should you lose your life?" So the prophet stopped, but he said, "I know that God intends to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my advice."

King Amaziah of Judah took counsel^(l) and sent word to Jehoash^[f] son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, "Come, let us meet face to face."

King Jehoash of Israel sent word to King Amaziah of Judah, saying, "The thistle that was in Lebanon sent a message to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.' Then a wild animal that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle.^(m)

You have said, ‘Look, I^[g] have defeated Edom,' and you have become overconfident⁽ⁿ⁾ that you will get glory. Now stay at home. Why stir up such trouble so that you fall and Judah with you?"

But Amaziah would not listen, for this turn of events was from God in order to hand them over to their enemies because they went after the gods of Edom.

So King Jehoash of Israel advanced. He and King Amaziah of Judah faced off at Beth-shemesh in Judah.

Judah was routed before Israel, and each fled to his own tent.

King Jehoash of Israel captured Judah's King Amaziah son of Joash, son of Jehoahaz,^[h](o) at Beth-shemesh. Then Jehoash took him to Jerusalem and broke down 200 yards^[i] of Jerusalem's wall from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate.^[j](p)

He took all the gold, silver, all the utensils that were found with Obed-edom^(q) in God's temple, the treasures of the king's palace, and the hostages. Then he returned to Samaria.

Judah's King Amaziah^(r) son of Joash lived 15 years after the death of Israel's King Jehoash son of Jehoahaz.

The rest of the events of Amaziah's reign, from beginning to end, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

From the time Amaziah turned from following the Lord , a conspiracy was formed against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. However, men were sent after him to Lachish, and they put him to death there.

They carried him back on horses and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah.^[k](s)

All the people^(a) of Judah took Uzziah,^[a] who was 16 years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.

He rebuilt Eloth^[b](b) and restored it to Judah after Amaziah the king rested with his fathers.

Uzziah was 16 years old^(c) when he became king and reigned 52 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecoliah from Jerusalem.

He did what was right in the Lord 's sight as his father Amaziah had done.

He sought God^(d) throughout the lifetime of Zechariah, the teacher of the fear^[c](e) of God. During the time that he sought the Lord , God gave him success.^(f)

Uzziah went out to wage war against the Philistines,^(g) and he tore down the wall of Gath, the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod. Then he built cities in the vicinity of Ashdod and among the Philistines.

God helped him against the Philistines, the Arabs that live in Gur-baal, and the Meunites.

The Ammonites^[d] gave Uzziah tribute money,^(h) and his fame spread as far as the entrance of Egypt, for God made him very powerful.

Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate,⁽ⁱ⁾ the Valley Gate,^(j) and the corner buttress, and he fortified them.

Since he had many cattle both in the Judean foothills^[e] and the plain, he built towers in the desert and dug many wells.^(k) And since he was a lover of the soil, he had farmers and vinedressers in the hills and in the fertile lands.^[f]

Uzziah had an army equipped for combat that went out to war by division according to their assignments, as recorded by Jeiel the court secretary and Maaseiah the officer under the authority of Hananiah, one of the king's commanders.

The total number of heads of families was 2,600 brave warriors.

Under their authority was an army of 307,500 equipped for combat, a powerful force to help the king against the enemy.^(l)

Uzziah provided the entire army with shields, spears, helmets, armor, bows and slingstones.

He made skillfully designed devices in Jerusalem to shoot arrows and catapult large stones for use on the towers and on the corners. So his fame spread even to distant places, for he was marvelously helped until he became strong.

But when he became strong, he grew arrogant^(m) and it led to his own destruction. He acted unfaithfully against the Lord his God by going into the Lord 's sanctuary to burn incense on the incense altar.⁽ⁿ⁾

Azariah^(o) the priest, along with 80 brave priests of the Lord , went in after him.

They took their stand^(p) against King Uzziah and said, "Uzziah, you have no right to offer incense to the Lord ^(q)—only the consecrated priests, the descendants of Aaron, have the right to offer incense.^(r) Leave the sanctuary, for you have acted unfaithfully! You will not receive honor from the Lord God."

Uzziah, with a firepan in his hand to offer incense, was enraged. But when he became enraged with the priests, in the presence of the priests in the Lord 's temple beside the altar of incense, a skin disease^(s) broke out on his forehead.

Then Azariah the chief priest and all the priests turned to him and saw that he was diseased on his forehead. They rushed him out of there. He himself also hurried to get out because the Lord had afflicted him.

So King Uzziah was diseased to the time of his death.^(t) He lived in quarantine^[g](u) with a serious skin disease and was excluded from access to the Lord 's temple, while his son Jotham was over the king's household governing the people of the land.

Now the prophet Isaiah^(v) son of Amoz wrote about the rest of the events of Uzziah's reign, from beginning to end.

Uzziah rested with his fathers, and he was buried with his fathers in the burial ground of the kings' cemetery,^(w) for they said, "He has a skin disease." His son Jotham became king in his place.