JEHOIADA. 1. Father of Benaiah, the successor of Joab, 2 Samuel 8:18; 2 Samuel 20:23 etc. It is probably the same man that is referred to in 1 Chronicles 12:27; 1 Chronicles 27:34 , where we should probably read ‘Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.’ 2. The chief priest of the Temple at the time of Ahaziah’s death ( 2 Kings 11:4 etc.). The Book of Chronicles makes him the husband of the princess Jehosheba (or Jehoshabeath, 2 Chronicles 22:11 ), by whose presence of mind the infant prince Jehoash escaped the massacre by which Athaliah secured the throne for herself. Jehoiada must have been privy to the concealment of the prince, and it was he who arranged the coup d’état which placed the rightful heir on the throne. In this he may have been moved by a desire to save Judah from vassalage to Israel, as much as by zeal for the legitimate worship.

H. P. Smith.