International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

Josephus was already aware (Ant., IX, viii, 5) of the chronological difficulty involved in the cross-references in 2Ki_13:1 and 2Ki_13:10, the former of which states that Jehoahaz began to reign in the 23rd year of Jehoash of Jerusalem, and reigned 17 years; while the latter gives him a successor in Jehoash's 37th year, or 14 years later. Josephus alters the figure of 2Ki_13:1 to 21; and, to meet the same difficulty, the Septuagint (Aldine edition) changes 37 to 39 in 2Ki_13:10. The difficulty may be met by supposing that Jehoahaz was associated with his father Jehu for several years in the government of the country before the death of the latter, and that these years were counted as a part of his reign. This view has in its favor the fact that Jehu was an old man when he died, and may have been incapacitated for the full discharge of administrative duties before the end came. The accession of Jehoahaz as sole ruler may be dated about 825 bc.

When Jehoahaz came to the throne, he found a discouraged and humiliated people. The territory beyond Jordan, embracing 2 1/2 tribes, or one-fourth of the whole kingdom, had been lost in warfare with the Syrian king, Hazael (2Ki_10:32, 2Ki_10:33). A heavy annual subsidy was still payable to Assyria, as by his father Jehu. The neighboring kingdom of Judah was still unfriendly to any member of the house of Jehu. Elisha the prophet, though then in the zenith of his influence, does not seem to have done anything toward the stability of Jehu's throne.

Specially did Israel suffer during this reign from the continuance of the hostility of Damascus (2Ki_13:3, 2Ki_13:4, 2Ki_13:22). Hazael had been selected, together with Jehu, as the instrument by which the idolatry of Israel was to be punished (1Ki_19:16). Later the instruments of vengeance fell out. On Jehu's death, the pressure from the east on Hazael was greatly relieved. The great conqueror, Shalmaneser II, had died, and his son Samsi-Ramman IV had to meet a revolt within the empire, and was busy with expeditions against Babylon and Media during the 12 years of his reign (824-812 bc). During these years, the kingdoms of the seaboard of the Mediterranean were unmolested. They coincide with the years of Jehoahaz, and explain the freedom which Hazael had to harass the dominions of that king.

Particulars of the several campaigns in which the troops of Damascus harassed Israel are not given. The life of Elisha extended through the 3 reigns of Jehoram (12 years), Jehu (28 years) and Jehoahaz (12 or 13 years), into the reign of Joash (2Ki_13:1). It is therefore probable that in the memorabilia of his life in 2 Ki 4 through 8, now one and now another king of Israel should figure, and that some of the episodes there recorded belong to the reign of Jehoahaz. There are evidences that strict chronological order is not observed in the narrative of Elisha, e.g. Gehazi appears in waiting on the king of Israel in 2Ki_8:5, after the account of his leprosy in 2Ki_5:27. The terrible siege of Samaria in 2 Ki 7 is generally referred to the reign of Jehoram; but no atmosphere is so suitable to it as that of the reign of Jehoahaz, in one of the later years of whom it may have occurred. The statement in 2Ki_13:7 that “the king of Syria destroyed them, and made them like the dust in threshing,” and the statistics there given of the depleted army of Jehoahaz, would correspond with the state of things that siege implies. In this case the Ben-hadad of 2Ki_6:24 would be the son of Hazael (2Ki_13:3).

Jehoahaz, like his father, maintained the calf-worship in Bethel and Dan, and revived also the cult of the Asherah, a form of Canaanitish idolatry introduced by Ahab (1Ki_16:33). It centered round a sacred tree or pole, and was probably connected with phallic worship (compare 1 K 2Ki_15:13, where Maacah, mother of Asa, is said to have “made an abominable image for an Asherah” in Jerusalem).

The close of this dark reign, however, is brightened by a partial reform. In his distress, we are told, “Jehoahaz besought Yahweh, and Yahweh hearkened unto him” (2Ki_13:4). If the siege of Samaria in 2 Ki 6 belongs to his reign, we might connect this with his wearing “sackcloth within upon his flesh” (2Ki_6:30) - an act of humiliation only accidentally discovered by the rending of his garments. 2Ki_6:5 goes on to say that “Yahweh gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians.” The “saviour” may refer to Joash, under whom the deliverance began (2Ki_13:25), or to Jeroboam II, of whom it is declared that by him God “saved” Israel (2Ki_14:27). Others take it to refer to Ramman-nirari III, king of Assyria, whose conquest of Damascus made possible the victories of these kings. See JEHOASH.

(2) A king of Judah, son and successor of Josiah; reigned three months and was deposed, 608 bc. Called “Shallum” in Jer_22:11; compare 1Ch_3:15. The story of his reign is told in 2Ki_23:30-35, and in a briefer account in 2Ch_36:1-3. The historian o 2 Kings characterizes his reign as evil; 2 Ch passes no verdict upon him. On the death of his father in battle, which threw the realm into confusion, he, though a younger son (compare 2Ki_23:31 with 2Ki_23:36; 1Ch_3:15 makes him the fourth son of Josiah), was raised to the throne by “the people of the land,” the same who had secured the accession to his father; see under JOSIAH. Perhaps, as upholders of the sterling old Davidic idea, which his father had carried out so well, they saw in him a better hope for its integrity than in his elder brother Jehoiakim (Eliakim), whose tyrannical tendencies may already have been too apparent. The prophets also seem to have set store by him, if we may judge by the sympathetic mentions of him in Jer_22:11 and Eze_1:3, Eze_1:4. His career was too short, however, to make any marked impression on the history of Judah.

(3) In 2Ch_21:17; 2Ch_25:23 = AHAZIAH, king of Judah (which see) (2Ki_8:25; 2Ch_22:1).

Taken from: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia by James Orr, M.A., D.D., General Editor