Jehoahaz

2 Kings 13:1‑9  •  5 min. read  •  grade level: 10
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Jehovah-seized
Contemporary Prophets: Elisha, and Jonah
When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. Prov. 29:22When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. (Proverbs 29:2)
In describing the reign of Jehoahaz, the Bible gives no variation from the same sorrowful formula usually used in describing the moral conduct of these Israelitish kings: “He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.” His ways may not have appeared sinful in the sight of his fellows; but God, who “seeth not as man seeth,” pronounced it “evil,” and sent on him and his subjects the chastisement their wicked idolatry deserved.
“And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael, all their days.” Hazael’s conquest of the kingdom had begun in the days of Jehu, Jehoahaz’ father: “In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short: and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel; From Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan” (2 Kings 10:32-3332In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short: and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel; 33From Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan. (2 Kings 10:32‑33)). Jehu, though so “swift to shed blood” in the beginning of his reign, was more slow to take the sword in defense of the land and people of God toward the end. Men of this class are seldom really good soldiers. They may be exceedingly active in obtaining the position they love and covet, while very careless about the true interests of the people of God. There is no hint that Jehu made the slightest attempt to resist these inroads of the king of Syria in his dominion. He probably remained timorously passive at Samaria while the encroachments on God’s territory were being made. The Black Obelisk records that he (“Jahua”) sent gold and silver to Shalmaneser I at this time, probably to invoke the Assyrian’s aid against Hazael. Certainly valor was not characteristic of Jehu. Impetuosity is not courage, nor must we mistake enthusiasm for the earnestness of conviction. To boast when putting on the armor is an easy matter; the wise will wait until the time to take it off (1 Kings 20:1111And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off. (1 Kings 20:11)). Even then the truly wise will glory only in the Lord.
And Jehoahaz besought the Lord, and the Lord hearkened unto him: for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them. (And the Lord gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians: and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents, as beforetime. Nevertheless they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin, but walked therein: and there remained the grove [Asherah, N.TR] also in Samaria) (2 Kings 13:4-64And Jehoahaz besought the Lord, and the Lord hearkened unto him: for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them. 5(And the Lord gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians: and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents, as beforetime. 6Nevertheless they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin, but walked therein: and there remained the grove also in Samaria.) (2 Kings 13:4‑6)).
In this parenthetic paragraph we see how Elisha’s prophecy of Hazael’s pitiless oppression of the children of Israel was fulfilled (2 Kings 8:11-1311And he settled his countenance stedfastly, until he was ashamed: and the man of God wept. 12And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up their women with child. 13And Hazael said, But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, The Lord hath showed me that thou shalt be king over Syria. (2 Kings 8:11‑13)). Well might the man of God, who so dearly loved Israel, weep as before him stood the destined perpetrator of these cruelties against his people. Through these afflictions, God was seeking to turn them back to repentance from their idolatries. This bitter chastisement appears to have had a salutary effect on Jehoahaz, for he “besought Jehovah.” When the goodness of God fails to bring men to repentance, His severity is required, and used (see Psa. 78:3434When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and inquired early after God. (Psalm 78:34); Hos. 5:1515I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early. (Hosea 5:15)). “Accordingly God accepted of his repentance instead of virtue,” Josephus wrote, “and, being desirous rather to admonish those that might repent, and not to determine that they should be utterly destroyed, he granted him deliverance from war and dangers. So the country having obtained peace, returned to its former condition, and flourished as before” (Antiquities 9.8.5).
2 Kings 13:4-64And Jehoahaz besought the Lord, and the Lord hearkened unto him: for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them. 5(And the Lord gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians: and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents, as beforetime. 6Nevertheless they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin, but walked therein: and there remained the grove also in Samaria.) (2 Kings 13:4‑6) seems to imply a temporary deliverance under the reign of Jehoahaz. This restoration to prosperity began in its fullness under Joash son of Jehoahaz (2 Kings 13:2525And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities, which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times did Joash beat him, and recovered the cities of Israel. (2 Kings 13:25)), and culminated during the reign of his grandson Jeroboam II (2 Kings 14:2525He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gath-hepher. (2 Kings 14:25)). Prayer is frequently answered after the petitioner has passed away. So let none say, like the wicked of old, in reference to God, “What profit should we have, if we pray unto him?” (Job 21:1515What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him? (Job 21:15)) What profit? Ah, true prayer is always heard at the throne: “Whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” (1 John 5:1515And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. (1 John 5:15)).
“Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz” (2 Kings 13:2222But Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. (2 Kings 13:22)). There was no respite until Joash’s day. This must have been a test to Jehoahaz’ faith, if his repentance was really the result of godly sorrow for his and the nation’s sins. But when has untried faith ever flourished? Stagger not, then, nor stumble, beloved fellow believer, at “the trial of your faith.” God heard Jehoahaz, though he died with Hazael busy at his work of devastation in his realm. “Neither did he leave of the people to Jehoahaz but fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria had destroyed them, and had made them like the dust by threshing” (see Amos 1:33Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron: (Amos 1:3)).
“Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria: and Joash his son reigned in his stead.”