Jehoahaz
(whom the Lord sustains). The son and successor of jehu, reigned 17 years, B.C. 856-840, over Israel in Samaria. His inglorious history is given in ( 2 Kings 13:1-9 ) Throughout his reign, ver. ( 2 Kings 13:22 ) he was kept in subjection by Hazael king of Damascus. Jehoahaz maintained the idolatry of Jeroboam; but in the extremity of his humiliation he besought Jehovah, and Jehovah gave Israel a deliverer—probably either Jehoash, vs. ( 2 Kings 13:23 ) and 2Kin 13:25 Or Jeroboam II., ( 2 Kings 14:24 , 25 ) Jehoahaz, otherwise called Shallum, son of Josiah, whom he succeeded as king of Judah. He was chosen by the people in preference to his elder (comp. ( 2 Kings 23:31 ) and 2Kin 23:36 ) brother, B.C. 610, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. Pharaoh-necho sent to Jerusalem to depose him and to fetch him to Riblah. There he was cast into chains, and from thence he was taken into Egypt, where he died. The name given, ( 2 Chronicles 21:17 ) to Ahaziah, the youngest son of Jehoram king of Judah.
Jehoash
(given by the Lord), the uncontracted form of Joash. The eighth king of Judah; son of Ahaziah. ( 2 Kings 11:21 ; 12:1 , 2 , 4 , 6 , 7 , 18 ; 14:13 ) [ Joash , 1] The twelfth king of Israel; son of Jehoahaz. ( 2 Kings 13:10 , 25 ; 14:8 , 9 , 11 , 13 , 15 , 16 , 17 ) [ Joash , 2]
Joash
(to whom Jehovah hastens, i.e. to help), contracted from Jehoash . Son of Ahaziah king of Judah (B.C. 884), and the only one of his children who escaped the murderous hand of Athaliah. After his father’s sister Jehoshabeath, the wife of Jehoiada the high priest, had stolen him from among the king’s sons, he was hidden for six years in the chambers of the temple. In the seventh year of his age and of his concealment, a successful revolution, conducted by Jehoiada, placed him on the throne of his ancestors, and freed the country from the tyranny and idolatries of Athaliah. For at least twenty-three years, while Jehoiada lived, his reign was very prosperous; but after the death of Jehoiada, Joash fell into the hands of bad advisers, at whose suggestion he revived the worship of Baal and Ashtaroth. When he was rebuked for this by Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, Joash caused him to be stoned to death in the very court of the Lord’s house. ( Matthew 23:35 ) That very year Hazael king of Syria came up against Jerusalem, and carried off a vast booty as the price of his departure. Joash had scarcely escaped this danger when he fell into another and fatal one. Two of his servants conspired against him and slew him in his bed and in the fortress of Millo. Joash’s reign lasted forty years, from 878 to 838 B.C. Son and successor of Jehoahaz on the throne of Israel from B.C. 840 to 825, and for two full years a contemporary sovereign with the preceding. ( 2 Kings 14:1 ) comp. with 2Kin 12:1 ; 13:10 When he succeeded to the crown the kingdom was in a deplorable state from the devastations of Hazael and Ben-hadad, kings of Syria. On occasion of a friendly visit paid by Joash to Elisha on his death-bed, the prophet promised him deliverance from the Syrian yoke in Aphek, ( 1 Kings 20:26-30 ) He then bade him smite upon the ground, and the king smote thrice and then stayed. The prophet rebuked him for staying, and limited to three his victories over Syria. Accordingly Joash did defeat Ben-hadad three times on the field of battle, and recovered from him the cities which Hazael had taken from Jehoahaz. The other great military event of Joash’s reign was the successful war with Amaziah king of Judah. He died in the fifteenth year of Amaziah king of Judah. The father of Gideon, and a wealthy man among the Abiezrites. ( Judges 6:11 ) (B.C. before 1256.) Apparently a younger son of Ahab, who held a subordinate jurisdiction in the lifetime of his father. ( 1 Kings 22:26 ; 2 Chronicles 18:25 ) (B.C. 896.) A descendant of Shelah the son of Judah, but whether his son or the son of Jokim is not clear. ( 1 Chronicles 4:22 ) A Benjamite, son of Shemaah of Gibeah, ( 1 Chronicles 12:3 ) who resorted to David at Ziklag. One of the officers of David’s household. ( 1 Chronicles 27:28 ) Son of Becher and head of a Benjamite house. ( 1 Chronicles 7:8 )