CHAPTER 24 Oct. 27 
Joash Zealously Restores the Temple
Joash was seven years old when he began to reign; and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. 2Joash did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh all the days of Jehoiada the priest. 3Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he fathered sons and daughters. 4It happened after this that Joash intended to restore the house of Yahweh. 5He gathered together the priests and the Levites and said to them, Go out to the cities of Judah, and gather money to repair the house of your God from all Israel from year to year. See that you hasten this matter. However the Levites didn’t do it right away. 6The king called for Jehoiada the chief and said to him, Why haven’t you required of the Levites to bring in the tax of Moses the servant of Yahweh, and of the assembly of Israel, out of Judah and out of Jerusalem, for the tent of the testimony? 7For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up God’s house; and they also gave all the dedicated things of the house of Yahweh to the Baals. 8So the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it outside at the gate of the house of Yahweh. 9They made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in for Yahweh the tax that Moses the servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness. 10All the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end. 11It was so, that whenever the chest was brought to the king’s officers by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king’s scribe and the chief priests’ officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to its place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance. 12The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of the house of Yahweh. They hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of Yahweh, and also those who worked iron and brass, so as to repair the house of Yahweh. 13So the workmen worked, and the work of repairing advanced in their hands, and they restored God’s house to its proper condition and strengthened it. 14When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, from which were made vessels for the house of Yahweh, even vessels with which to minister and to offer, and spoons, and vessels of gold and silver. They offered burnt offerings in the house of Yahweh continually all the days of Jehoiada. 15But Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died. He was one hundred and thirty years old when he died. 16They buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and toward God and His house. 
Joash Departs from Yahweh
17Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king listened to them. 18They forsook the house of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols. Wrath came on Judah and Jerusalem for this their guiltiness. 19Yet He sent prophets to them, to bring them again to Yahweh; and they testified against them. But they would not listen. 20The spirit of God came on Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood above the people and said to them, Thus says God, ‘Why do you disobey the commandments of Yahweh, so that you can’t prosper? Because you have forsaken Yahweh, He has also forsaken you’. 21They conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of Yahweh. 22Thus Joash the king didn’t remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. When he died, he said, May Yahweh witness it, and require it. 23It happened at the end of the year, that the army of the Syrians came up against him. They came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus. 24For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men; and Yahweh delivered a very great army into their hand, because they had forsaken Yahweh, the God of their fathers. So they executed judgment on Joash. 25When they had departed from him (for they left him very sick), his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and killed him on his bed, and he died; and they buried him in the city of David, but they didn’t bury him in the tombs of the kings. 26These are those who conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonitess and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabitess. 27Now concerning his sons, and the greatness of the burdens laid on him, and the rebuilding of God’s house, behold, they are written in the commentary of the book of the kings. Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

Commentary

24:10 People do respond generously when someone gives them firm leadership and explains the need; see on 23:21.  
24:14 All the days of Jehoiada- Joash’s zeal for restoring the temple appears to have been all on his own initiative. But clearly his zeal for God was all the result of Jehoiada’s influence upon him, and as soon as Jehoiada was dead, he turned to other gods (:17,18). People can serve God, even in a very zealous way, purely as the result of others’ influence upon them. This is why how we end our spiritual journey is so important- when those who influenced our youth are no longer with us, and we serve God with no possibility of the motivation of pleasing those we respect. It seems Joash was grateful to Jehoiada for saving his life and organizing the coup which led to his having the kingdom at seven years old- when his gratitude should’ve been to God, who used Jehoiada merely as a human channel. If we don’t see our spiritual elders as channels used by God, but glorify them in themselves, then we will tend to do spiritual things just to please those elders. And when they are no more, we are left with no real relationship with God Himself. This would explain how immediately on the death of Jehoiada, Joash turned to other gods.
24:17 The king listened to them- So often the history of the kings repeats itself. This was exactly the mistake of Rehoboam- listening to bad advisors and rejecting the Godly advice of older men (1 Kings 12:8,10). Our life situations likewise tend to repeat in essence the situations faced by Biblical characters; and we really are expected to learn the lessons. We have to ask how often it is that we base a life decision specifically upon a Biblical precedent... How much does Bible history really affect our life choices today?
24:21 At the commandment of the king- See on 23:11.
24:22 May Yahweh look at it, and require it- This is one of many Biblical indications that at the day of judgment, situations in this life will as it were be played back to the wicked, and be ‘required’ from them. All their sins will be mentioned unto them, whereas this will not be the case for the righteous, whose sins have been forgiven (Ez. 18:22; 33:16).