2 Kings 13:1

THE REIGNS OF JEHOAHAZ AND JOASH IN ISRAEL; THE DEATH OF ELISHA

The affairs in Judah are here dropped for the moment as this chapter takes up the progress of corruption in Israel. "This chapter represents how insidiously sin entrenches itself and spreads in spite of repeated efforts to check it."[1] "Here we find the glory of Israel in ashes, buried and lost and turned into shame. How unlike does Israel appear here to what it had been and what it might have been. Here her crown is profaned and her honor dragged in the dust. It was the honor of Israel that they worshipped the One True God; but by changing the glory of the incorruptible God into the similitude of an ox and the truth of God into a lie, they had lost their glory and their honor and leveled themselves with the nations who worshipped the work of their own hands."[2]

The first reign mentioned here is that of Jehoahaz the son of Jehu, and, "The story of his reign is one of unrelieved gloom. During the whole of it, Israel was under the domination of Syria and was reduced to a state of complete helplessness."[3] The apostate nation actually deserved to be cast off forever, but the heavenly Father, out of regard for his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob spared them yet awhile.

THE REIGN OF JEHOAHAZ; THE SON OF JEHU; IN ISRAEL

"In the three and twentieth year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and followed the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, wherewith he made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom. And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael continually. And Jehoahaz besought Jehovah, and Jehovah hearkened unto him; for he saw the oppression of Israel, how that the king of Syria oppressed them. (And Jehovah 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, wherewith he made Israel to sin, but walked therein: and there remained the Asherah also in Samaria). For he left not to Jehoahaz of the people, save fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria destroyed them, and made them like the dust in threshing. 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."

"In the three and twentieth year of Joash" (2 Kings 13:1). Cook wrote that this should be corrected to the "one and twentieth year on the basis of what is written in 2 Kings 13:10."[4]

"He ... followed the sins of Jeroboam" (2 Kings 13:2). We cannot accept the allegations that the calf worship set up by Jeroboam I at Dan and Bethel was anything other than outright rebellion against God. It is disgusting to this writer how one liberal scholar after another lines up to claim that there was in any manner whatever a suggestion of the true worship of God in all that calf business. For example, Auld wrote that, "The shrines at Bethel and Dan were in fact a part of Yahweh worship."[5] Ridiculous! They were no such thing. The worship of those calves was sinful, reprobate, licentious and totally wicked. Some appeal to the fact that Aaron did it in the wilderness with his Golden Calf. All right, go back to that episode and see what happened!

God Himself declared that the people "had corrupted themselves" (Exodus 32:7). Some claim that they were, in fact, "worshipping God"; but God himself said that, "They have made a calf and worshipped it and that they sacrificed to it"! (Exodus 32:8). There was absolutely no worship of God whatever in that reversion ` to paganism.

Under heavenly orders from God Himself, three thousand persons were put to death that day for their departure from the truth (Exodus 32:27-28). "The almost universal combination of unchastity with pagan rituals raises a suspicion that those who frequented the calf shrines in Dan and Bethel were not innocent of impurity."[6] The wickedness of that calf worship indicates that nothing whatever in it entitled it to be considered any less wicked than the outright worship of Baal. The apologists for that calf worship are totally in error.

Note especially the words in Exodus 32:6, where it is stated that, "They sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." There was nothing innocent in that "playing." It is called "dancing" in Exodus 32:19; but whatever it was, it precipitated the fierce anger of God Himself. There was nothing innocent about it. The slaughter of three thousand people compels us to equate what happened in Exodus 32 with what happened in Numbers 25, where the reason for the slaughter of a similar high number of the so-called `worshippers' sheds much more light on what happened.

"Continually" (2 Kings 13:3). "Israel during this period was little more than a vassal of Syria."[7]

"Jehoahaz besought Jehovah ... And Jehovah gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hands of the Syrians" (2 Kings 13:4-5). The terrible oppression of Syria upon Israel forced Jehoahaz to turn to God in prayer. "He had forgotten God, forsaken him and betrayed him. But now that he is at his wits' end, he turns to him. This is the only kind of religion some people know. As long as all goes well, they manage all right without religion; but let calamity bend them low, and they cry to God in prayer."[8]

"Jehovah gave Israel a saviour" (2 Kings 13:5). Scholars differ about who that saviour was. Dentan thought he was, "Adad-nirari III, an Assyrian ruler who subjected Damascus and crippled Syria's military domination of Israel."[9] However, LaSor rejected that interpretation on the basis that, "The date of Adad-nirari who subjected Damascus in 805 BC does not fit Biblical chronology."[10] Perhaps the safest opinion is that of Keil who wrote that, "The saviour was neither an angel nor the prophet Elisha, but the two successors of Jehoahaz, namely, Joash and Jeroboam II."[11] Hammond thought that perhaps, "The prophet Jonah, who prophesied the great deliverance by Jeroboam II, might also have been in mind."[12]

"And there remained the Asherah also in Samaria" (2 Kings 13:6). Some have expressed surprise at an Asherah being in Samaria; but no surprise is in order. It was a thoroughly pagan city. As a matter of fact they even had their gold calf just like Dan and Bethel (See Hosea 8:6).[13]

"He left Jehoahaz ... ten chariots" (2 Kings 13:7). This indicates that Hazael had forbidden Jehoahaz to maintain any kind of an armed force except for a small token for use on state occasions. "During the reign of Ahab, Israel had over 2,000 chariots; but now they were reduced to ten"![14] What had become of all those soldiers of Ahab? The next clause tells us.

"The king of Syria destroyed them and made them like the dust in threshing" (2 Kings 13:7b). Yes, this is a metaphor, perhaps; but it also described a merciless and brutal type of destroying defeated enemies after a battle. Amos referred to this as follows: "I will not turn away the punishment of Damascus; because they threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron" (Amos 1:4). This was accomplished by making the defeated troops lie down; and then their conquerors drove iron threshing instruments over them to slay them. Those instruments were something that resembled harrows.

"Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz ..." (2 Kings 13:8). These words are a kind of formula repeated in connection with all of the kings whose lives are reported in 1Kings and 2Kings, and their verbatim repetition time after time in the exact words, "Indicates that both 1and 2Kings are by one author and that they form only one book."[15]