Jehoash ( he, ''Yəhō’āš'' or ''Yō’āš'';

Israelian Hebrew Israelian Hebrew (or IH) is a northern dialect of biblical Hebrew (BH) proposed as an explanation for various irregular linguistic features of the Masoretic Text (MT) of the Hebrew Bible. It competes with the alternative explanation that such fe ...

: *''’Āšīyāw'';

Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...

: 𒅀𒀪𒋢 ''Yaʾsu'' 'ia-'-su'' la, Joas; fl. c. 790 BC), whose name means "

Yahweh Yahweh *''Yahwe'', was the national god of ancient Israel and Judah. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age if not somewhat earlier, and in the oldest biblical literature he posse ...

has given,""Joash, Jehoash;" ''New Bible Dictionary''. Douglas, J.D., ed. 1982 (second edition). Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, IL, USA. , pp. 597–598 was the twelfth king of the ancient northern

Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) The Kingdom of Israel (), or the Kingdom of Samaria, was an Israelite kingdom in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. The kingdom controlled the areas of Samaria, Galilee and parts of Transjordan. Its capital, for the most part, was Sama ...

and the son of Jehoahaz. He was the 12th king of Israel and reigned for 16 years.

William F. Albright William Foxwell Albright (May 24, 1891– September 19, 1971) was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist, and expert on ceramics. He is considered "one of the twentieth century's most influential American biblical scholars." ...

has dated his reign to 801–786 BC, while E. R. Thiele offers the dates 798–782 BC. When he ascended the throne, the Kingdom of Israel was suffering from the predations of the

Arameans The Arameans ( oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; syc, ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ, Ārāmāyē) were an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Near East, first recorded in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. The Aramean ...

, whose king

Hazael Hazael (; he, חֲזָאֵל, translit=Ḥazaʾēl, or , romanized as: ; oar, 𐡇𐡆𐡀𐡋, translit= , from the triliteral Semitic root ''h-z-y'', "to see"; his full name meaning, " El/God has seen"; akk, 𒄩𒍝𒀪𒀭, Ḫa-za-’- il ...

was conquering land controlled by Israel.

Biblical account of his reign

According to the second book of Kings, Jehoash was sinful and did evil in the eyes of Yahweh for tolerating the worship of the

golden calves According to the Bible, the golden calf (עֵגֶל הַזָּהָב '' ‘ēgel hazzāhāv'') was an idol (a cult image) made by the Israelites when Moses went up to Mount Sinai. In Hebrew, the incident is known as ''ḥēṭə’ hā‘ēgel ...

, yet outwardly at least he worshiped Yahweh. He reigned as king of Israel for 16 years and led the Israelites through some decisive battles, including a war with the

kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah ( he, , ''Yəhūdā''; akk, 𒅀𒌑𒁕𒀀𒀀 ''Ya'údâ'' 'ia-ú-da-a-a'' arc, 𐤁𐤉𐤕𐤃𐤅𐤃 ''Bēyt Dāwīḏ'', " House of David") was an Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Ce ...

Death of Elisha

Jehoash went to visit the prophet

Elisha Elisha ( ; or "God is my salvation", Greek: , ''Elis îos'' or , ''Elisaié,'' Latin: ''Eliseus'') was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a prophet and a wonder-worker. His name is commonly transliterated into English as Elisha via Hebrew, Eli ...

, who was sick with the illness that would eventually lead to his death. He held the prophet

in honor, and wept by his bedside while he was dying. Jehoash pleased Elisha, addressing him in the words Elisha himself had used when

Elijah Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) was, according to the Books of ...

was carried up into heaven: "O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof." When Jehoash failed to completely obey Elisha's instructions, Elisha predicted that Jehoash would only defeat the Arameans three times rather than five or six times, which may have been enough to end the Syrian threat. In three signal and successive victories Jehoash overcame the Syrians, and retook from them the towns which Hazael had captured from Israel."Jehoash", ''Jewish Encyclopedia''
/ref>

War with Judah

Later in his reign, Jehoash led the men of the Kingdom of Israel in the defeat of king Amaziah of Judah. Amaziah had begun to worship some of the idols he had taken from the

Edomites Edom (; Edomite: ; he, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and east.N ...

, which the author of

Chronicles Chronicles may refer to: * ''Books of Chronicles'', in the Bible * Chronicle, chronological histories * ''The Chronicles of Narnia'', a novel series by C. S. Lewis * ''Holinshed's Chronicles'', the collected works of Raphael Holinshed * ''The Idhu ...

believes led to his ruin and his defeat by Jehoash, whom he had challenged to battle. Jehoash had warned Amaziah, saying: "A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, 'Give your daughter to my son in marriage.' Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle underfoot. You have indeed defeated Edom and now you are arrogant. Glory in your victory, but stay at home! Why ask for trouble and cause your own downfall and that of Judah also?"2 Kings 14:9–10; "Joash var. Jehoash." ''The Anchor Bible Dictionary'', Vol III, 1992. Freedman, David Noel., ed., New York: Doubleday. pp. 857–858 Jehoash utterly defeated Amaziah at Beth-shemesh, on the borders of

Dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoi ...

and

Philistia Philistia (; Koine Greek (LXX): Γῆ τῶν Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''gê tôn Phulistieìm''), also known as the Philistine Pentapolis, was a confederation of cities in the Southwest Levant, which included the cities of Ashdod, Ash ...

. Jehoash then advanced on

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, broke down a portion of the wall, and carried away the treasures of the

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

and the palace. Jehoash took Amaziah as a prisoner. Amaziah's defeat was followed by a conspiracy that took his life. Jehoash also took hostages to assure good conduct. After the battle he soon died and was buried in

Samaria Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first- ...

Archaeology

The excavation at

Tell al-Rimah Tell al-Rimah is a tell, or archaeological settlement mound, in Nineveh Province (Iraq). Its ancient name may have been either Karana or Qattara. It is located in Nineveh Province (Iraq), roughly west of Mosul and ancient Nineveh in the Sinjar re ...

yields a

stele A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...

Adad-nirari III Adad-nirari III (also Adad-narari) was a King of Assyria from 811 to 783 BC. Note that this assumes that the longer version of the Assyrian Eponym List, which has an additional eponym for Adad-nirari III, is the correct one. For the shorter eponym ...

which mentioned "Jehoash the Samarian" and contains the first cuneiform mention of

by that name. The inscriptions of this "Tell al-Rimah Stele" may provide evidence of the existence of King Jehoash, attest to the weakening of Syrian kingdom (cf. ), and show the vassal status of the northern kingdom of Israel to the Assyrians. A postulated image of Jehoash is reconstructed from plaster remains recovered at

Kuntillet Ajrud Kuntillet Ajrud ( ar, كونتيلة عجرود) is a late 9th/early 8th centuries BCE site in the northeast part of the Sinai Peninsula. It is frequently described as a shrine, though this is not certain. Excavations Kuntillet Ajrud (Arabic ك ...

.Pirhiya Beck (1982) ''The Drawings from Horvat Teiman (Kuntillet 'Ajrud)'', Tel Aviv, 9:1, 3–68, DOI: 10.1179/033443582788440827Tallay Ornan (2016) ''Sketches and Final Works of Art: The Drawings and Wall Paintings of Kuntillet 'Ajrud Revisited'', Tel Aviv, 43:1, 3–26, DOI: 10.1080/03344355.2016.1161374 The ruins were from a temple built by the northern Israel kingdom when Jehoash of Israel gained control over the kingdom of Judah during the reign of Amaziah of Judah.Nir Hasson
A strange drawing found in Sinai could undermine our entire idea of Judaism
Is that a 3,000-year-old picture of god, his penis and his wife depicted by early Jews at Kuntillet Ajrud?. ''Haaretz''. April 4, 2018

References

{{IsraeliteKings 9th-century BC Kings of Israel 8th-century BC Kings of Israel House of Jehu

Biblical account of his reign

Death of Elisha

War with Judah

Archaeology

See also

References