Jehoiada was a prominent priest in the history of Judah, known for his pivotal role in preserving the Davidic line and restoring the worship of Yahweh. His account is primarily recorded in the books of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles.

Background and Role:

Jehoiada was the husband of Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram of Judah and sister of King Ahaziah. During the reign of Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, Jehoiada played a crucial role in safeguarding the future of the Davidic dynasty. Athaliah, upon the death of her son Ahaziah, seized the throne and attempted to exterminate the royal family. However, Jehosheba, with Jehoiada's support, rescued Joash, the infant son of Ahaziah, and hid him in the temple for six years (2 Kings 11:1-3; 2 Chronicles 22:10-12).

Restoration of the Monarchy:

In the seventh year of Athaliah's reign, Jehoiada orchestrated a coup to overthrow her and restore the rightful heir to the throne. He gathered the commanders of hundreds, the Carites, and the guards, and made a covenant with them in the house of the LORD. Jehoiada presented Joash to them and secured their loyalty to the young king (2 Kings 11:4-12; 2 Chronicles 23:1-11).

Jehoiada's strategic planning culminated in a dramatic public coronation of Joash, during which Athaliah was executed. The people rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah was put to death by the sword (2 Kings 11:13-20; 2 Chronicles 23:12-21).

Religious Reforms:

Jehoiada's influence extended beyond political restoration; he was instrumental in religious reforms. He renewed the covenant between the LORD, the king, and the people, ensuring that they would be the LORD's people. Under his guidance, the temple of Baal was destroyed, its altars and images were broken, and Mattan, the priest of Baal, was killed (2 Kings 11:17-18; 2 Chronicles 23:16-17).

Jehoiada also reorganized the temple services, appointing priests and Levites according to the divisions established by David. He ensured that burnt offerings were made to the LORD as prescribed in the Law of Moses, and he restored the order and sanctity of temple worship (2 Chronicles 23:18-19).

Legacy and Death:

Jehoiada's leadership had a lasting impact on the kingdom of Judah. As long as he lived, Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, guided by Jehoiada's counsel (2 Kings 12:2; 2 Chronicles 24:2). Jehoiada lived to the age of 130, and his death marked the end of an era of faithfulness and reform. He was honored with a burial among the kings in the City of David because of the good he had done in Israel for God and His temple (2 Chronicles 24:15-16).

After Jehoiada's death, however, the spiritual state of Judah declined. Joash, influenced by the officials of Judah, abandoned the house of the LORD and served idols, leading to divine judgment upon the nation (2 Chronicles 24:17-18).

Jehoiada's life exemplifies the profound impact of godly leadership and the importance of faithfulness to God's covenant. His actions preserved the Davidic line and restored true worship in Judah, leaving a legacy of devotion and reform.Jehoiada

knowledge of the Lord

Jehoiada

(Jehovah knows).

1. Father of Benaiah, David's well-known warrior. (2 Samuel 8:18) 1Kin 1 and 2 passim ; (1 Chronicles 18:17) etc. (B.C. before 1046.)
2. Leader of the Aaronites, i.e. the priests; who joined David at Hebron. (1 Chronicles 12:27) (B.C. 1053-46.)
3. According to (1 Chronicles 27:34) son of Benaiah; but in all probability Benaiah the sons of Jehoiada is meant. Probably an error in copying. (1 Chronicles 18:17; 2 Samuel 8:18)
4. High priest at the time of Athaliah's usurpation of the throne of Judah, B.C. 884-878, and during the greater portion of the forty-years reign of Joash. He married Jehosheba; and when Athaliah slew all the seed royal to Judah after Ahaziah had been put to death by Jehu, he and his wife stole Joash from among the king's sons and hid him for six years in the temple, and eventually replaced him on the throne of his ancestors. [ATHALIAH] The destruction of Baal-worship and the restoration of the temple were among the great works effected by Jehoiada. He died B.C. 834.
5. Second priest, or sagan, to Seraiah the high priest. (Jeremiah 29:25-29; 2 Kings 25:18)
6. Son of Paseach, who assisted to repair the old gate of Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 3:6)

Jehoiada

A high priest, who preserved the life and throne of the young Josiah against the usurping Athaliah. His wisdom and piety continued to bless the kingdom until he dies, B. C. 834, aged 130, and was buried

Jehovah-known.

(1.) The father of Benaiah, who was one of David's chief warriors (2 Samuel 8:18; 20:23).

(2.) The high priest at the time of Athaliah's usurpation of the throne of Judah. He married Jehosheba, or Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram (2 Chronicles 22:11), and took an active part along with his wife in the preservation and training of Jehoash when Athaliah slew all the royal family of Judah.

The plans he adopted in replacing Jehoash on the throne of his ancestors are described in 2 Kings 11:2; 12:2; 2 Chronicles 22:11; 23:24. He was among the foremost of the benefactors of the kingdom, and at his death was buried in the city of David among the kings of Judah (2 Chronicles 24:15, 16). He is said to have been one hundred and thirty years old.

JEHOIADA

je-hoi'-a-da (yehoyadha`, "Yahweh knows"; Iodae):

(1) Father of Benaiah, the captain of David's body-guard (2 Samuel 8:18; 2 Samuel 20:23; 2 Samuel 23:20, 22 1 Kings 1:8, etc.). Jehoiada was "the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel" (2 Samuel 23:20), but commentators read with Septuagint and Ewald, "Benaiah (the son of Jehoiada) a man of valor." Kabzeel was a town belonging to Judah on the border of Edom in the South (Joshua 15:21). In 1 Chronicles 27:5, we read "Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, chief," the Revised Version (British and American), but the Revised Version margin has "chief minister" wrongly. Yet Jehoiada is nowhere else called a priest or even a Levite, though in 1 Chronicles 12:27 (Hebrew, verse 28) a Jehoiada is mentioned as a military "leader of the house of Aaron," who came to David to Hebron with other members of the house of Levi. In 1 Chronicles 27:34 there is named among David's counselors, "Jehoiada the son. of Benaiah," where some commentators would read with two manuscripts, "Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada" though Curtis, Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Books of Chronicles, 295, keeps the Massoretic Text.

(2) Priest in the reigns of Ahaziah, Queen Athaliah, and Jehoash (Joash) of Judah (2 Kings 11:4-12:16 (Hebrew 17) = 2 Chronicles 23:1-24:14 2 Chronicles 22:11; 2 Chronicles 24:14-16, 17-20, 22, 25). In 2 Kings 12:10 (Hebrew, verse 11) he is called "high priest," and is the first to be given that title, but as the priest lived in the temple, there is no meaning in saying that he "came up," so commentators omit the words, "and the chief priest." According to 2 Chronicles 22:11, he had married Jehoshabeath (= Jehosheba), the daughter of the king, i.e. Jehoram.

1. Jehoiada and the Revolt against Athaliah:

(a) The account in 2 Chronicles 23:1-21 differs in many respects from that in 2 Kings 11:4-20, but even the latter has its problems, and Stade (ZATW, 1885, 280;) pointed out two sources in it. This view is accepted by many. A reader is struck at once by the double reference to the death of Athaliah (2 Kings 11:16, 20), and the construction of the Hebrew for "making a covenant" is different in 2 Kings 11:4 from that in 11:17. Stade holds that there is one narrative in 11:4-12, 18b-20 and another in 11:13-18a.

In the first, Jehoiada makes an agreement with the captains of the foreign body-guard, and arranges that both the incoming and outgoing temple-guard shall be kept in the temple at the time when the guard should be changed on the Sabbath, and also that the young prince, Jehoash, who had been kept in hiding, shall be proclaimed. The captains do this, and the prince is crowned and proclaimed (2 Kings 11:4-12). Then officers are set up in the temple, and Jehoash is taken to the royal palace and enthroned. The revolt proves popular with the people of Jerusalem and those of the district, and Athaliah is slain in the palace.

But there are difficulties in this narrative, though the above gives the trend of events; 2 Kings 11:5 refers to a third of the guard who "came in on the sabbath," and 11:7 to two companies who "go forth on the sabbath"; the Hebrew is, "they that enter the sabbath" and "they that go out of the sabbath." 2 Kings 11:9 makes clear the connection between 11:5 and 7. But 11:6 introduces a difficulty: it seems to denote a division of those who "enter" into three divisions, i.e. the two in 11:6 and one in 11:5. If 11:6 be omitted, as is proposed by many, this difficulty vanishes. But there still remains the question of the change of guards. Commentators say that "they who enter the sabbath" are those who leave the temple and enter their quarters at the beginning of the Sabbath, presumably, while "those who go out" are those who leave their quarters to mount guard. This is not impossible as an explanation of the Hebrew. It is further believed that the guard at the temple on the Sabbath was double that on other days. The other explanation, held by older commentators is that on the Sabbath the guard was only half its usual size; this gives another meaning to the Hebrew phrases. On the other hand, it may be held that the revolt took place at the close of the Sabbath, and that the double-sized guard was kept by Jehoiada even after the usual-sized one had come to take their place. It should be added that Wellhausen proposed to read (tse`adhoth), "armlets" (compare Isaiah 3:19), for (`edhuth), "testimony," in 2 Kings 11:12; and in 11:19 the words "and all the people of the land" are held to be an addition.

(b) The 2nd narrative (2 Kings 11:13-18 a) begins suddenly. Presumably, its earlier part was identical with the earlier part of the 1st narrative, unless 2 Kings 11:6 was a part originally of this 2nd account. Athaliah hears the noise of the people (11:13, where "the guard" is a gloss and so to be omitted), and comes to the temple, where she witnesses the revolt and cries, "Treason! treason!" Jehoiada orders her to be put forth (omit "between the ranks" in 11:15), so that she should not be slain in the temple, and she is murdered at one of the palace entrances (11:16, where the Revised Version (British and American), following Septuagint of 2 Chronicles 23:15, translates the first sentence wrongly: it should be "So they laid hands on her"). Jehoiada then makes the king and the people enter into a solemn covenant to be Yahweh's people, and the result is the destruction of the temple of Baal, and the death of Mattan, its priest (1 Kings 11:17, 18 a). This 2nd narrative gives a religious significance to the revolt, but it is incomplete. The other narrative presents a very natural course of events, for it was absolutely necessary for Jehoiada to secure the allegiance of the royal foreign body-guard.

(c) The account in 2 Chronicles 23:1-21, though following that of 2 Kings in the main, differs from it considerably. The guard is here composed of Levites; it does not mention the foreign body-guard, and relates how the revolt was planned with the Levites of the cities of Judah-a method which would have become known to Athaliah and for which she would have made preparations, no doubt. Ch makes it a wholly religious movement, while 2 Kings gives two points of view. The value of the Chronicler's account depends largely on one's estimate of the Books of Chronicles and one's views as to the development of the Jewish priestly system. A. Van Hoonacker, Lesacerdoce levitique dans la loi et dans l'histoire des Hebreux, 93-100, defends the account in 2 Chronicles.

2. Jehoiada and the Restoration of the Temple:

The part which Jehoiada played in the restoration of the temple buildings is described in 2 Kings 11:21-12:16 (Hebrew 12:1-17) parallel 2 Chronicles 24:1-14. Here again the narratives of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles differ to a large extent.

(a) According to 2 Kings,

(i) the priests are commanded by Jehoash to devote the dues or free-will offerings of the people to repairing the breaches in the temple. They fail to do so, and

(ii) Jehoiada is summoned by the king and rebuked. Then

(iii) a new regulation is put into force: the offerings, except the guilt offerings and sin offerings, are no longer to be given to the priests, but to be put into a chest provided in the temple for the purpose.

(iv) The money got in this way is devoted to repairing the temple, but

(v) none of it is used to provide temple vessels.

(b) Chronicles, on the other hand,

(i) relates that the priests and Levites are commanded to go through Judah to collect the necessary money. They "hastened it not." Then

(ii) Jehoiada is summoned to account for this disobedience, and

(iii) a chest is put outside the temple to receive the tax commanded by Moses.

(iv) This the people pay willingly, and the temple is repaired. There is such a surplus that

(v) there is money also to provide vessels for the temple.

It is at least questionable whether the additions in 2 Chronicles are trustworthy; the contradictions against 2 Kings are clear, and the latter gives the more likely narrative, although Van Hoonackcr (op. cit., 10114) defends the former.

According to 2 Chronicles 24:15, Jehoiada lived to be 130 years old, and was buried among the kings-a unique distinction.

(3) The King James Version in Nehemiah 3:6 = JOIADA (which see).

(4) There is a Jehoiada, the priest mentioned in Jeremiah 29:26, in whose stead Zephaniah was declared priest by Shemaiah in a letter.

Giesebrecht takes him to be the same as the priest of Athaliah's time (see (2) above), but Duhm says that nothing is known of him. In any case, Zephaniah could not have been the direct successor of the well-known Jehoiada, and so the reference can scarcely be to him if it is to have any meaning.

David Francis Roberts

2197. Zacharias -- Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist ...
... Zacharias Phonetic Spelling: (dzakh-ar-ee'-as) Short Definition: Zechariah Definition:
Zechariah, (a) a priest referred to as a son of Jehoiada, (b) another ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2197.htm - 6k3111. Yoyada -- Jehoiada, Joiada
... 3110, 3111. Yoyada. 3112 . Jehoiada, Joiada. Transliteration: Yoyada Phonetic
Spelling: (yo-yaw-daw') Short Definition: Jehoiada. ... Jehoiada, Joiada ...
/hebrew/3111.htm - 5k

3089. Yehosheba -- "the LORD is an oath," wife of Jehoiada the ...
... "the LORD is an oath," wife of Jehoiada the priest. Transliteration: Yehosheba Phonetic
Spelling: (yeh-ho-sheh'-bah) Short Definition: Jehosheba. ...
/hebrew/3089.htm - 6k

3077. Yehoyada -- "the LORD knows," the name of several Israelites
... "the LORD knows," the name of several Israelites. Transliteration: Yehoyada Phonetic
Spelling: (yeh-ho-yaw-daw') Short Definition: Jehoiada. ... Jehoiada. ...
/hebrew/3077.htm - 6k

Jehoiada and Joash
... THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS JEHOIADA AND JOASH. 'And when Athaliah the mother
of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture g/jehoiada and joash.htm

How Athaliah Reigned Over Jerusalem for Five [Six] Years when ...
... CHAPTER 7. How Athaliah Reigned Over Jerusalem For Five [Six] Years When Jehoiada
The High Priest Slew Her And Made Jehoash, The Son Of Ahaziah, King. ...
/.../josephus/the antiquities of the jews/chapter 7 how athaliah reigned.htm

Joash
... THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES JOASH. 'And Joash did that which was right in the
sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest....17. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/maclaren/expositions of holy scripture g/joash.htm

The Boy Joash on the Throne of Judah
... But in the seventh year Jehoiada the priest called together the officers of
the royal guard and brought them into the temple of Jehovah. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/sherman/the childrens bible/the boy joash on the.htm

Glad Givers and Faithful Workers
... Howbeit the Levites hastened it not.6. And the king called for Jehoiada the chief,
and said unto him, Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture g/glad givers and faithful workers.htm

Hazael Makes an Expedition against the People of Israel and the ...
... 2. Now Jehoash, king of Jerusalem, had an inclination to repair the temple of God;
so he called Jehoiada, and bid him send the Levites and priests through all ...
/.../josephus/the antiquities of the jews/chapter 8 hazael makes an.htm

Methodical Liberality
... that in the three and twentieth year of king Jehoash the priests had not repaired
the breaches of the house.7. Then king Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture g/methodical liberality.htm

What Happened to Solomon
... He was brought up by Jehoiada, the high priest, who was a man that feared God; and
as a result of the influence brought to bear upon the young king, he grew up ...
/.../naylor/heart talks/talk twenty-seven what happened to.htm

David Appointing Solomon
... And king David said, Call me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah
the son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king.33. ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture f/david appointing solomon.htm

The Instance of Joash, King of Judah, Showing what was the ...
... For Joash the king of Judah at the age of seven was summoned by Jehoiada the priest
to the kingdom and by the witness of Scripture is commended for all his ...
/.../cassian/the works of john cassian /chapter xxi the instance of.htm

Jehoiada (51 Occurrences)
... Chronicles 24:15, 16). He is said to have been one hundred and thirty years
old. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. JEHOIADA. je-hoi'-a-da ...
/j/jehoiada.htm - 36k

Benai'ah (43 Occurrences)
... Benai'ah (43 Occurrences). 2 Samuel 8:18 and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over
the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David's sons were chief ministers. ...
/b/benai'ah.htm - 18k

Jehoi'ada (50 Occurrences)
Jehoi'ada. Jehoiada, Jehoi'ada. Jehoiakim . Multi-Version Concordance
Jehoi'ada (50 Occurrences). 2 Samuel 8:18 and Benaiah the ...
/j/jehoi'ada.htm - 21k

Units (14 Occurrences)
... 2 Kings 11:4 In the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the captains over hundreds
of the Carites and of the guard, and brought them to him into the house ...
/u/units.htm - 10k

Benaiah (44 Occurrences)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary Built up by Jehovah. (1.) The son of Jehoiada, chief priest
(1 Chronicles 27:5). He was set by David over his body-guard of ...
/b/benaiah.htm - 26k

Kerethites (9 Occurrences)
... 2 Samuel 8:18 and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the
Pelethites; and David's sons were chief ministers. (See NIV). ...
/k/kerethites.htm - 9k

Pelethites (7 Occurrences)
... Pelethites (7 Occurrences). 2 Samuel 8:18 and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over
the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David's sons were chief ministers. ...
/p/pelethites.htm - 10k

Pelethite (7 Occurrences)
... Pelethite (7 Occurrences). 2 Samuel 8:18 and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over
the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David's sons were chief ministers. ...
/p/pelethite.htm - 8k

Pel'ethites (7 Occurrences)
... Pel'ethites (7 Occurrences). 2 Samuel 8:18 and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over
the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David's sons were chief ministers. ...
/p/pel'ethites.htm - 8k

Cherethites (11 Occurrences)
... 2 Samuel 8:18 and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites
and the Pelethites; and David's sons were chief ministers. ...
/c/cherethites.htm - 11k

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