Commentary - 2 Chronicles 24:25-27

Bird's-eye view

In these closing verses of chapter 24, we witness the bitter harvest of King Joash's apostasy. Having turned from the Lord after the death of his mentor, the high priest Jehoiada, Joash stained his hands with the blood of Jehoiada's own son, the prophet Zechariah. What we see here is the outworking of God's meticulous and covenantal justice. The passage details the conspiracy against Joash, his assassination, and the final indignity of his burial. It serves as a stark reminder that covenantal rebellion, especially from a king who had been so graciously preserved and instructed, carries with it severe and unavoidable consequences. God is not mocked; a man, and particularly a king, reaps precisely what he sows. The details are not incidental; they are freighted with theological meaning, from the motivation for the conspiracy to the identity of the conspirators.

This is a story of how a man who started well can finish in utter ruin. It is a story about the necessity of heart-deep faithfulness, not merely external conformity propped up by a godly counselor. When the prop was removed, the true character of Joash's reign was revealed. The end of his life is a case study in divine judgment, where God uses the sinful actions of men, even palace insiders, to fulfill His righteous decrees. The blood of a martyred prophet cried out from the ground, and God answered.

Outline

Context In 2 Chronicles

The Chronicler has just recounted the glorious early years of Joash's reign, a time of reform and restoration of the Temple, all under the godly influence of Jehoiada the priest. But the story takes a dark turn after Jehoiada's death. The leaders of Judah lead the king into idolatry, and when God sends Jehoiada's son, Zechariah, to rebuke them, Joash commands him to be stoned in the very court of the Lord's house. This is a shocking act of ingratitude and rebellion. Immediately following this, the Chronicler shows the swiftness of God's judgment. A small Aramean army defeats a large Judean force, and Joash is left severely wounded. Our text picks up at this point, showing the final stage of God's judgment on the king. This is not random palace intrigue; it is the divinely orchestrated consequence of shedding innocent, prophetic blood.

Key Issues

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

v. 25 When they had gone from him (for they left him very sick), his servants conspired against him... The "they" here refers to the Aramean army that God had just used to discipline Judah and Joash. God's judgments often come in waves. First the foreign army, and now the domestic conspiracy. Joash is left vulnerable, not just politically, but physically. His sickness is part of the judgment. When a man is abandoned by God, he finds himself abandoned by health and by loyalty. It is his own servants, the men who were supposed to protect him, who turn on him. This is a classic outworking of the covenant curses found in Deuteronomy. When a king rebels, his own house will rise against him. The very men who ate at his table now plot his demise. This is what happens when the fear of God is replaced by the fear of man, and then even that is lost in a sea of contempt.

...because of the blood of the son of Jehoiada the priest, and killed him on his bed. Here the Chronicler gives us the explicit reason for the conspiracy. This is not just a power grab. The motive, in the economy of God, is bloodguilt. Joash had murdered Zechariah, the son of the man who had saved his life and his throne. The dying prophet's last words were, "May the Lord see and avenge!" (v. 22). And here we see the Lord doing just that. Innocent blood pollutes the land, and the blood of a prophet cries out to God for justice. It is a profound irony that Joash, who was hidden in a bedchamber as a child to escape murder (2 Chron 22:11), is now murdered in his own bed. The place of safety becomes the place of execution. God's providential justice is filled with such poetic reversals. He was killed in a place of rest and vulnerability, a picture of his ultimate spiritual state. He was defenseless before God, and so he was defenseless before his own servants.

So he died, and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings. Death is the great leveler, but not all deaths are the same, and not all burials are the same. In the Old Testament, burial was a matter of great significance. To be buried with one's fathers was a sign of honor and belonging. For a king of Judah, burial in the royal tombs was the ultimate mark of a reign that was, at least in some measure, faithful to the covenant. Joash is denied this honor. He is buried in Jerusalem, but he is excluded from the company of the faithful kings. This is a public, posthumous verdict on his life and reign. He had defiled the Lord's house with the blood of a prophet, and so his own body is denied a place of honor among the Lord's anointed. This is a visible sign that he had broken covenant. He had started as a Davidic king but ended as an outcast.

v. 26 Now these are those who conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabitess. The Chronicler wants us to know the names of the instruments God used. But more than that, he wants us to know their lineage. Both assassins are identified by their mothers, and both mothers are foreigners, an Ammonitess and a Moabitess. This is not an insignificant detail. Ammonites and Moabites were excluded from the assembly of the Lord (Deut. 23:3). Joash had allowed the influence of foreign idolatry to creep back into Judah after Jehoiada's death. Now, he is killed by the sons of foreign women. The very element of compromise that he tolerated becomes the instrument of his destruction. He opened the door to foreign ways, and that same door let in his assassins. This is a picture of how sin works. The compromises we make with the world will eventually turn and devour us. God used these men, whose very presence in the court was a sign of spiritual compromise, to execute judgment on the king who allowed that compromise.

v. 27 Now as to his sons and the many oracles against him and the rebuilding of the house of God, behold, they are written in the treatise of the Book of the Kings. Then Amaziah his son became king in his place. The Chronicler points his readers to other historical sources for more details. He mentions the "many oracles against him," reminding us that God did not leave Joash without warning. Prophets spoke against him, but he did not listen. His story is one of grace received, grace despised, and judgment deserved. The mention of the rebuilding of the house of God is a final, tragic irony. He restored the physical building but then desecrated it with apostasy and murder. A restored temple is worthless if the king's heart is a ruin. The chapter ends with the simple note of succession. The line of David continues, but not because of Joash's faithfulness. It continues because of God's faithfulness to His covenant with David. God's purposes will not be thwarted by the rebellion of individual kings. The throne is preserved, waiting for the true Son of David who would not fail.

Application

The story of Joash is a sobering warning against a dependent faith. For as long as Jehoiada was alive, Joash walked the straight and narrow. But his righteousness was borrowed. When his godly mentor was gone, the king's true heart was revealed. We must all ask ourselves if our faith is our own, rooted and grounded in Christ, or if we are simply coasting on the faith of our parents, our pastor, or our spouse. A secondhand faith will not withstand the pressures of this world.

Secondly, we see that sin, particularly the sin of shedding innocent blood, has consequences. God is a God of justice, and He will avenge the blood of His servants. Joash thought he could silence the prophet of God with stones, but the prophet's blood cried out louder than his voice ever did. We must take sin seriously, because God certainly does. We cannot presume upon His grace. The covenant has blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience, and this principle runs straight through both testaments.

Finally, we see the faithfulness of God. Even in the midst of this sordid tale of apostasy and murder, the line of David continues. A new king, Amaziah, takes the throne. God's plan of redemption was not derailed by Joash's sin. This points us to the ultimate King, Jesus Christ, the Son of David who was perfectly faithful. He too was killed by conspirators, but His death was not for His own sin, but for ours. His blood does not cry out for vengeance, but for forgiveness. The story of Joash shows us our desperate need for a King who would not fail, a King whose righteousness is His own, and a King who can give us a new heart so that our faithfulness is not borrowed, but real.