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William Smith
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(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]
(Jehovah knows). Father of Benaiah, David’s well-known warrior. ( 2 Samuel 8:18 ) 1Kin 1 and 2 passim ; ( 1 Chronicles 18:17 ) etc. (B.C. before 1046.) Leader of the Aaronites, i.e. the priests; who joined David at Hebron. ( 1 Chronicles 12:27 ) (B.C. 1053-46.) According to ( 1 Chronicles 27:34 ) son of Benaiah; but in all probability Benaiah the sons of Jehoiada is meant. Probably an error in copying. ( 1 Chronicles 18:17 ; 2 Samuel 8:18 ) High priest at the time of Athaliah’s usurpation of the throne of Judah, B.C. 884-878, and during the greater portion of the forty-years reign of Joash. He married Jehosheba; and when Athaliah slew all the seed royal to Judah after Ahaziah had been put to death by Jehu, he and his wife stole Joash from among the king’s sons and hid him for six years in the temple, and eventually replaced him on the throne of his ancestors. [ Athaliah ] The destruction of Baal-worship and the restoration of the temple were among the great works effected by Jehoiada. He died B.C. 834. Second priest, or sagan, to Seraiah the high priest. ( Jeremiah 29:25-29 ; 2 Kings 25:18 ) Son of Paseach, who assisted to repair the old gate of Jerusalem. ( Nehemiah 3:6 )
(whom Jehovah gave). A Korhite Levite, second son of Obed-edom, and one of the porters of the south gate of the temple and of the storehouse there in the time of David. ( 1 Chronicles 26:4 , 15 ) compared with Nehe 12:25 (B.C. 1014.) A Benjamite, captain of 180,000 armed men, in the days of King Jehoshaphat. ( 2 Chronicles 17:18 ) (B.C. 910.) Son of Shomer or Shimrith, a Moabitish woman, who with another conspired against King Joash and slew him in his bed. ( 2 Kings 2:21 ; 2 Chronicles 24:26 ) (B.C. 837.)
(whose people are many). The first king of the divided kingdom of Israel, B.C. 975-954, was the son of an Ephraimite of the name of Nebat. He was raised by Solomon to the rank of superintendent over the taxes and labors exacted from the tribe of Ephraim. ( 1 Kings 11:28 ) he made the most of his position, and at last was perceived by Solomon to be aiming at the monarchy. He was leaving Jerusalem, when he was met by Ahijah the prophet, who gave him the assurance that, on condition of obedience to his laws, God would establish for him a kingdom and dynasty equal to that of David. ( 1 Kings 11:29-40 ) The attempts of Solomon to cut short Jeroboam’s designs occasioned his flight into Egypt. There he remained until Solomon’s death. After a year’s longer stay in Egypt, during which Jeroboam married Ano, the elder sister of the Egyptian queen Tahpenes, he returned to Shechem, where took place the conference with Rehoboam [ Rehoboam ], and the final revolt which ended in the elevation of Jeroboam to the throne of the northern kingdom. Now occurred the fatal error of his policy. Fearing that the yearly pilgrimages to Jerusalem would undo all the work which he effected, he took the bold step of rending the religious unity of the nation, which was as yet unimpaired, asunder. He caused two golden figures of Mnevis, the sacred calf, to be made and set up at the two extremities of his kingdom, one at Dan and the other at Bethel. It was while dedicating the altar at Bethel that a prophet from Judah suddenly appeared, who denounced the altar, and foretold its desecration by Josiah, and violent overthrow. The king, stretching out his hand to arrest the prophet, felt it withered and paralyzed, and only at the prophet’s prayer saw it restored, and acknowledged his divine mission. Jeroboam was at constant war with the house of Judah, but the only act distinctly recorded is a battle with Abijah, son of Rehoboam, in which he was defeated. The calamity was severely felt; he never recovered the blow, and soon after died, in the 22d year of his reign, ( 2 Chronicles 13:20 ) and was buried in his ancestral sepulchre. ( 1 Kings 14:20 ) Jeroboam II., the son of Joash, the fourth of the dynasty of Jehu. (B.C. 825-784.) The most prosperous of the kings of Israel. He repelled the Syrian invaders, took their capital city Damascus, ( 2 Kings 14:28 ) and recovered the whole of the ancient dominion from Hamah to the Dead Sea. ch ( 2 Kings 14:25 ) Ammon and Moab were reconquered, and the transjordanic tribes were restored to their territory, ( 2 Kings 13:5 ; 1 Chronicles 5:17-22 ) but it was merely an outward restoration.
(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 )
(whom Jehovah has remembered), one of the murderers of Joash king of Judah. ( 2 Kings 12:21 ) The writer of the Chronicles, ( 2 Chronicles 24:26 ) calls him Zabad . (B.C. 837.)
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