2 Kings 11–12

11TH CHAPTER

The Priest Jehoiada Opposes Queen Athaliah—2 Chronicles 22:10–23:21

¹When Ahaziah’s mother, Athaliah, saw that her son was dead, she began to destroy the entire royal family. ²But Jehosheba, daughter of King Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, took Ahaziah’s son Joash. She saved him from being killed with the king’s other sons, and in a bedroom she hid him and his nurse from Athaliah. So Joash wasn’t killed ³but was hidden with her in the Lord’s temple for six years while Athaliah ruled the country. 

⁴In the seventh year of Athaliah’s reign, Jehoiada sent for the company commanders of the Carites and the guards and had them come to him in the Lord’s temple. He made an agreement with them, put them under oath in the Lord’s temple, and showed them the king’s son. ⁵He ordered them, “This is what you must do: One third of you, those who are on duty on the day of rest—a holy day, must guard the royal palace. ⁶Another third must be at Sur Gate. And another third must be at the gate behind the guards. You will guard the king’s residence.⁷Then your two groups who ⸤normally⸥ go off duty on the day of rest—a holy day, must guard the king at the Lord’s temple. ⁸Surround the king. Each man should have his weapons in his hand. Kill anyone who tries to break through your ranks. Stay with the king wherever he goes.” 

⁹The company commanders did as the priest Jehoiada had ordered them. Each commander took his men who were coming on duty on the day of rest—a holy day, as well as those who were about to go off duty and came to the priest Jehoiada. ¹⁰He gave the commanders the spears and the shields that had belonged to King David but were now in the Lord’s temple. ¹¹The guards stood with their weapons in their hands. They were stationed around the king and around the altar and the temple (from the south side to the north side of the temple). ¹²Then Jehoiada brought out the king’s son, gave him the crown and the religious instructions, and made him king by anointing him. As the guards clapped their hands, they said, “Long live the king!” 

¹³When Athaliah heard the noise made by the guards and the other people, she went into the Lord’s temple, where the people were. ¹⁴She looked, and the king was standing by the pillar according to custom. The commanders and the trumpeters were by his side. All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. As Athaliah tore her clothes ⸤in distress⸥, she cried, “Treason, treason!” 

¹⁵Then the priest Jehoiada ordered the company commanders who were in charge of the army, “Take her out of the temple. Use your sword to kill anyone who follows her.” (The priest had said, “She must not be killed in the Lord’s temple.”) ¹⁶So they arrested her as she came to the street where the horses enter the royal palace, and there she was killed. 

¹⁷Jehoiada made a promise to the Lord on behalf of the king and his people that they would be the Lord’s people. He made other promises between the king and the people. ¹⁸Then all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed Baal’s altars and his statues and killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars. 

Next, the priest appointed officials to be in charge of the Lord’s temple. ¹⁹He took the company commanders of the Carites and the guards and all the people of the land, and they brought the king from the Lord’s temple. They went down the street that goes through Guards’ Gate to the royal palace. Then Joash sat on the royal throne. ²⁰All the people of the land were celebrating. But the city was quiet because they had killed Athaliah with a sword at the royal palace.^b

King Joash of Judah—2 Chronicles 24:1–23

²¹Joash^cwas seven years old when he began to rule. 

12TH CHAPTER^a

¹Joash began to rule in Jehu’s seventh year as king of Israel, and he ruled for 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Zibiah from Beersheba. ²Joash did what the Lord considered right, as long as the priest Jehoiada instructed him. ³But the illegal places of worship weren’t torn down. The people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense at these worship sites. 

⁴Joash told the priests, “⸤Collect⸥ all the holy contributions that are brought into the Lord’s temple—the money each person is currently required to bring and all the money brought voluntarily to the Lord’s temple. ⁵Each of the priests should receive it from the donors and use it to make repairs on the temple where they are needed.” 

⁶But by Joash’s twenty-third year as king, the priests still had not repaired the temple. ⁷So King Joash called for Jehoiada and the other priests and asked them, “Why aren’t you repairing the damage in the temple? Don’t take any more money from the donors ⸤for your own use⸥. Instead, use it to make repairs on the temple.” ⁸The priests agreed neither to receive money from the people ⸤for personal use⸥ nor to be responsible for repairing the temple. 

⁹Then the priest Jehoiada took a box, drilled a hole in its lid, and put it at the right side of the altar as one comes into the Lord’s temple. The priests who guarded the entrance put the money that was brought to the Lord’s temple in the box. ¹⁰Whenever they saw a lot of money in the box, the king’s scribe and the chief priest would collect and count the money that was donated in the Lord’s temple. ¹¹Then they would give the money that had been weighed to the men who had been appointed to work on the Lord’s temple. They used it to pay the carpenters, builders, ¹²masons, and stonecutters. They also used it to buy wood and cut stones to make repairs on the Lord’s temple and to buy anything else that they needed for the temple repairs. ¹³But no silver bowls, snuffers, dishes, trumpets, or any other gold and silver utensils were made for the Lord’s temple with the money that was brought. ¹⁴Instead, the money was given to the workmen, and they used it to repair the temple. ¹⁵They didn’t require the men who were entrusted with the money for the workers to give an account, because they were honest people. ¹⁶The money from the guilt offerings and the offerings for sin was not brought into the Lord’s temple. It belonged to the priests. 

¹⁷At this time King Hazael of Aram fought against Gath and conquered it. He was also determined to attack Jerusalem. ¹⁸So King Joash of Judah took all the gifts his ancestors Kings Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah of Judah, had dedicated to the Lord, the things he had dedicated to the Lord, and all the gold that could be found in the storerooms of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. He sent these things to King Hazael of Aram, who called off the attack on Jerusalem. 

King Joash Is Assassinated—2 Chronicles 24:24–27

¹⁹Isn’t everything else about Joash—everything he did—written in the official records of the kings of Judah? ²⁰His own officials plotted against him and killed him at Beth Millo on the road that goes down to Silla. ²¹Joash’s officials Jozacar, son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad, son of Shomer, executed him. They buried him with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Amaziah succeeded him as king.