II Chronicles 24, Joash, Boy King

The kings of Judah, after Solomon, have been Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Ahaziah and now the child Joash, who had been protected by his parents from his murderous grandmother. The date is about 835 BC.

2 Chronicles 24:1-3, Under the wing of Jehoiada

Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother's name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba. Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the years of Jehoiada the priest. Jehoiada chose two wives for him, and he had sons and daughters.
 

Joash's uncle Jehoiada watches over him and guides Joash in the covenat. The priest chooses two wives for Joash and through those wives, Joash has sons and daughters. The kingdom dynasty of David continues.

2 Chronicles 24: 4-6, Repair the temple

Some time later Joash decided to restore the temple of the LORD. He called together the priests and Levites and said to them, "Go to the towns of Judah and collect the money due annually from all Israel, to repair the temple of your God. Do it now." 

But the Levites did not act at once. Therefore the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest and said to him, "Why haven't you required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by Moses the servant of the LORD and by the assembly of Israel for the Tent of the Testimony?"
 

Joash sets up a plan to repair the temple. He wants the priests and Levites to go out into the towns and collect money for the repairs. When the Levites do not act in a timely manner, Joash chastised Jehoiada. 2 Kings 12:4 has Joash describing the" tax imposed by  Moses" as involving money 

• "collected in the census, ... 
• received from personal vows, ... 
• brought voluntarily to the temple."

2 Chronicles 24: 7, Thefts by Athaliah

Now the sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had broken into the temple of God and had used even its sacred objects for the Baals.

The temple of YHWH, constructed by Solomon, is stripped and deteriorating. Athaliah's sons robbed the temple of sacred objects and used those objects in their idolatry in the temple of Baal. 

2 Chronicles 24: 8-14, Collection chest

At the king's command, a chest was made and placed outside, at the gate of the temple of the LORD. A proclamation was then issued in Judah and Jerusalem that they should bring to the LORD the tax that Moses the servant of God had required of Israel in the desert. All the officials and all the people brought their contributions gladly, dropping them into the chest until it was full.

Whenever the chest was brought in by the Levites to the king's officials and they saw that there was a large amount of money, the royal secretary and the officer of the chief priest would come and empty the chest and carry it back to its place. They did this regularly and collected a great amount of money. The king and Jehoiada gave it to the men who carried out the work required for the temple of the LORD. They hired masons and carpenters to restore the LORD's temple, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the temple.

The men in charge of the work were diligent, and the repairs progressed under them. They rebuilt the temple of God according to its original design and reinforced it. When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, and with it were made articles for the LORD's temple: articles for the service and for the burnt offerings, and also dishes and other objects of gold and silver. As long as Jehoiada lived, burnt offerings were presented continually in the temple of the LORD.

 

A chest is set up for donations for temple repair and the people donate. The donations are large and significant. The people seem eager to get past Athaliah and return to the worship of YHWH, in the line of David.

2 Chronicles 24:15-16, Death of Jehoiada

Now Jehoiada was old and full of years, and he died at the age of a hundred and thirty. He was buried with the kings in the City of David, because of the good he had done in Israel for God and his temple.

Joash's uncle, the high priest in charge of the temple revival, dies at 130 (!) He is buried with honors as if he had been a king. (He was brother-in-law to a king.)

2 Chronicles 24: 17-19, Apostasy

After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them. They abandoned the temple of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and worshiped Asherah poles and idols. Because of their guilt, God's anger came upon Judah and Jerusalem. Although the LORD sent prophets to the people to bring them back to him, and though they testified against them, they would not listen.
 

Once Joash's father, the priest, Jehoiada, is dead, his influence in gone and the officials revert back to the worship of Baal and Asherah, like Athaliah had before.

2 Chronicles 24:20-22, Zechariah accuses

Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before the people and said, 

"This is what God says: `Why do you disobey the LORD's commands? You will not prosper. Because you have forsaken the LORD, he has forsaken you.'" 

 

But they plotted against him, and by order of the king they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the LORD's temple.
 

King Joash did not remember the kindness Zechariah's father Jehoiada had shown him but killed his son, who said as he lay dying, "May the LORD see this and call you to account."

Joash, protected for so long by Jehoiada, cannot accept the son's criticism and so has him killed! Joash has become a brutal and corrupt ruler.

In the first century, the arrangement of Jewish scripture, the TaNaKh, was arranged in three parts (as represented by Ta, Na, and Kh):

• Law (Torah)
• Prophets (Nevi’im)
• Writings (Ketuvim)

(See, for example, this website.) The last scroll in the Ketuvim was the scroll of Chronicles. In the Chronicles account, the last prophet murdered is Zechariah. This may explain a comment of Jesus in Luke 11:50-51, in which he talks about the blood of all the prophets, "from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary." The last prophet killed (in the order of the scrolls) is this Zechariah, killed at the command of Joash. 

2 Chronicles 24:23-24, Arameans conquer

At the turn of the year, the army of Aram marched against Joash; it invaded Judah and Jerusalem and killed all the leaders of the people. They sent all the plunder to their king in Damascus. Although the Aramean army had come with only a few men, the LORD delivered into their hands a much larger army. Because Judah had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers, judgment was executed on Joash.

Again and again in the history of ancient Israel, the punishment for apostasy is invasion.

2 Chronicles 24:25-26, Wounded king assassinated

When the Arameans withdrew, they left Joash severely wounded. His officials conspired against him for murdering the son of Jehoiada the priest, and they killed him in his bed. So he died and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

Those who conspired against him were Zabad, son of Shimeath an Ammonite woman, and Jehozabad, son of Shimrith a Moabite woman.

 

When the Arameans withdraw, Joash's officials take advantage of Joash's injuries and murder him.  Joash is buried in the city of David, but like Jehoram before him (2 Chronicles 21:20), Joash is not buried in the tomb of the kings.

Among those conspiring against Joash are two men identified as sons of foreign women.

2 Chronicles 24:27, Records

The account of his sons, the many prophecies about him, and the record of the restoration of the temple of God are written in the annotations on the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son succeeded him as king.

The Chronicler refers to more details in "the book of the kings."  That record is surely not the scroll of 1 & 2 Kings, but a more detailed record of royal history and genealogy. It apparently includes more prophecies about Joash, likely by those like Zechariah speaking in the last half of his reign.