Jehoi´ada (God-known), high-priest in the times of Ahaziah and Athaliah. He is only known from the part which he took in recovering the throne of Judah for the young Joash, who had been saved by his wife Jehoshebah from the massacre by which Athaliah sought to exterminate the royal line of David. The particulars of this transaction are related under other heads [ATHALIAH; JOASH]. Jehoiada manifested much decision and forecast on this occasion; and He used for good the great power which devolved upon him during the minority of the young king, and the influence which he continued to enjoy as long as he lived. The value of this influence is shown by the misconduct and the disorders of the kingdom after his death. He died in B.C. 834, at the age of 130, and his remains were honored with a place in the sepulcher of the kings at Jerusalem (2Ki 11:12; 2 Chronicles 23; 2 Chronicles 24).
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\par
Jeho-i’ada. (Jehovah knows).
1. Father of Benaiah, David’s well-known warrior. 2Sa 8:18. 1 Kings 1 and 1 Kings 2. passim; 1Ch 18:17; etc. (B.C. before 1046).
2. Leader of the 3,700 Aaronites, that is, the priests; who joined David at Hebron. 1Ch 12:27. (B.C. 1053-46).
3. According to 1Ch 27:34, son of Benaiah; but in all probability, Benaiah, the sons of Jehoiada, is meant. Probably an error in copying. 1Ch 18:17; 2Sa 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. See 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. Jer 29:25-29; 2Ki 25:18.
6. Son of Paseach, who assisted to repair the old gate of Jerusalem. Neh 3:6.
1. Father of BENAIAH. Prince leader of the 3,700 Aaronites, i.e. priests who joined David at Hebron (1Ch 27:5; 1Ch 12:27).
2. Benaiah’s son, named after his grandfather; succeeded to Ahithophel as one of David’s chief counselors (1Ch 27:34).
3. Amariah’s successor in the high-priesthood. Married, king Jehoram’s daughter, sister of king Ahaziah, on whose death by Jehu’s hands the queen mother Athaliah slew all the seed royal; but Jehosheba stole Joash the youngest son, and with her husband hid him in the house of God six years.
These summoned the Levites and heads of families throughout Judah, probably under pretext of a festal celebration. Then Jehoiada with the whole assembly "made a covenant with the king in the temple, saying, Behold the king’s son shall reign, as Jehovah hath said of the sons of David" (2Ch 23:3), or, as 2Ki 11:4 expresses it, "Jehoiada made a covenant with the rulers over hundreds, the captains, and the guard, taking an oath of them and showing them the king’s son." The Levite temple servants entering upon the sabbath service (relieving guard), and those being relieved, Jehoiada directed, under the captains of the royal body "guard" (2Ki 11:11,
The second to guard the king’s house (2Ch 23:5, not the royal palace, but the young king’s place of residence in the temple), at the gate behind the guard, i.e. the gate of the guard (2Ki 11:6; 2Ki 11:19), the gate leading from the temple court to the royal palace on Zion; or else this division had to guard the royal avenue to the temple from the palace outside, they watching from a post in the outer courts what went on in the palace. The third to guard the house (the temple) "that it be not broken down" (Keil, "to ward off" intruders), "to be guards (’porters’) of the thresholds" (of the ascent to the temple, 1Ch 9:19 margin, 2Ch 23:4 margin). Jehoiada furnished them with David’s weapons stored in the temple. Some of the royal "guard," on whom the captains could rely, were with the Levites (2Ch 23:12; 2Ki 11:13).
Those relieved on the sabbath, whom Jehoiada still retained (for "he dismissed not the courses," 2Ch 23:8) kept watch of Jehovah’s house about (in respect to) the king (2Ki 11:7) in two divisions; these answer to (2Ch 23:5) "all the people (the remainder besides the three bodies under the captains) in the courts of the house of Jehovah" (2Ki 11:13; 2Ki 11:19). The whole royal body guard, probably after Athaliah’s slaughter, joined the people in the courts, to lead the king thence to the palace; at all events the relieved Levite guards were with the people in the courts, and probably some of the royal guards who took share in the plot. 2 Kings emphasizes the part performed by the royal body guard; 2 Chronicles that performed by the Levites: there is no irreconcilable discrepancy. The guard and people kept to the courts, none but the priests and consecrated Levites entered the holy place (2Ch 23:6).
Any coming within the ranks ("ranges," 2Ki 11:8) of the guards so stationed, i.e. within the temple precincts (2Ch 23:7), were to be put to death. The captains over hundreds (2Ki 11:9) answer to "all Judah," namely, "chiefs of the fathers" (2Ch 23:2; 2Ch 23:8), with "the Levites." He "dismissed not the courses" (who had charge of the temple service, 1 Chronicles 24-26), answering to 2Ki 11:7, "all you that go forth ... shall keep the watch." Jehoiada, having enthroned Joash, restored the temple worship as David had settled it, it having been neglected under the idolatrous Athaliah. Mattan the Baal priest alone was slain by the people when breaking Baal’s images and altars. Jehoiada made a solemn covenant between the king and all the people, "that they should be the Lord’s people." Joash repaired the house by his help, "doing that which was right in the sight of Jehovah" all the days "wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him." Joash ordered "the money of the dedicated things" to be applied to the repair of the temple, namely,
(1) "the money of every one that passeth" the census (not "the account), half a shekel, Exo 30:13;
(2) "the money that every man is set (valued) at," namely, the valuation in redeeming the firstborn (Num 18:15-16), or in payment for a vow;
(3) "all the money that cometh into any man’s heart to bring into the house of Jehovah," freewill offerings.
When, in the 23rd year of Jonah’s reign, the temple was still not repaired, through the Levites’ and priests’ dilatoriness, he took the money and the repairs out of their hands; "the priests consented to receive no more money of the people (i.e. for repairs), neither to repair." Jehoiada then took a chest, with a hole made in the lid, and set it against the outer wall beside the burnt offering altar on the right, by the S. entrance into Jehovah’s house, to receive the people’s freewill offerings for the repairs. No golden or silver vessels, basins, knives, etc., were made with the money, until the repairs were first completed (2Ki 12:13, compare the complementary, not contradictory, statement 2Ch 24:14). The trespass money and freewill gifts to the priest, for his trouble in offering the sin offerings, the priests retained; this money did not go to the repairs. Jehoiada died (2Ch 24:15-16) at last, 130 years old, "full of days."
But there is perhaps an error; Lord A. C. Hervey would read 83. Otherwise he would be 95 at Joash’s accession, supposing him to live 35 of Joash’s 40 years of reign, which is improbable; fifteen years before, when Jehoram was 32 (whose daughter he married), he would have been 80 (2Ch 21:5; 2Ch 22:1; 2Ch 22:12). Disinterested patriotism, loyalty where loyalty was at immense risks, tact and practical wisdom, power of influencing others, above all deep reverence (e.g. his jealous care, amidst the irregularities of a revolution, that none should "come into Jehovah’s house save the priests and ministering Levites," also that Athaliah should be thrust forth outside "the ranges," and not be slain "in the house of Jehovah," 2Ch 23:6; 2Ch 23:14), and zeal for the Lord’s honour and the purity of His worship, were conspicuous in Jehoiada.
His death was the fatal turning point of Joash’s declension. The religion that leans on man only will fail when the earthly prop is removed. Jehoiada had saved Joash’s life and throne, and had been God’s providential instrument in preventing the extinction of David’s line, which then hung upon the one seemingly frail thread, but which could not be broken since to it belonged the promises of Messiah; he had stifled the idolatry transplanted into Judah by Joram’s marriage into apostate Ahab’s house, and restored Jehovah’s worship. He therefore was honoured (1Sa 2:30) with the unique privilege of interment "among the kings in the city of David, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and toward His (God’s) house." The fickle people, princes, and king soon forgot all his benefits, and slew his son Zechariah "in the court of the Lord’s house," (the very scene of Jehoiada’s reverent care to remove pollution, 2Ch 23:14, in restoring the throne and the temple,) for his faithful reproofs of their idolatry (2Ch 24:15-16; 2Ch 24:20-22).
4. Second priest (
5. Neh 3:6.
Jehoiada (je-hoi’a-dah), whom, Jehovah knows. 1. The father of Benaiah, which see. 2Sa 8:18; 1Ki 1:32 ff.; 1Ch 18:17. This Jehoiada was the chief priest, 1Ch 27:5, and therefore he was the leader of the priests who came to David at Hebron. 1Ch 12:27. By a copyist’s error, Benaiah is said to have been the father of Jehoiada instead of the son. 1Ch 27:34. 2. A high priest of the Jews, and husband of Jehosheba. 2Ki 11:4. See Athaliah and Joash. His administration was so auspicious to the civil and religious interests of the nation, 2Ki 12:2; 2Ch 23:16, that when he died, at an advanced age, he was buried in the royal sepulchres at Jerusalem. 2Ch 24:16. Many do not accept the age of 132 years assigned to him, for the reason that if he lived so long, then, when he married the daughter of Jehoram, he must have been 80, while Jehoram was only 32. It has been proposed to read "83" instead. 3. The second priest in the reign of Zedekiah. Jer 29:25 to Jer 29:4. One who helped repair the wall. Neh 3:6. R. V. "Joiada."
[Jehoi’ada]
1. Father of Benaiah one of David’s officers. 2Sa 8:18; 1Ki 1:8-44, etc. In 1Ch 27:5 he is called ’a chief priest,’ which makes it possible that he is the same person as No. 3; but in the margin he is called ’principal officer.’
2. High priest during the usurpation of Athaliah. He preserved the life of Joash, the infant son of Ahaziah, and succeeded, with wisdom and energy, in placing him on the throne, and then caused the death of Athaliah. It is recorded that Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada; but on the death of the priest, the king forgot his kindness and slew Zechariah his son. 2Ki 11:4-17; 2Ki 12:2; 2Ki 12:7; 2Ki 12:9; 2Ch 22:11; 2Ch 23:1-18; 2Ch 24:2-25.
3. Leader of the Aaronites (or ’prince of Aaron’) who resorted to David at Hebron. 1Ch 12:27.
4. Son of Benaiah and one of David’s counsellors. 1Ch 27:34.
5. Son of Paseah: he repaired the ’old gate ’ of Jerusalem. Neh 3:6.
6. Priest mentioned by the false prophet Shemaiah in his letters against Jeremiah. Jer 29:26.
By: Emil G. Hirsch, Bernhard Pick
High priest under Ahaziah, Athaliah, and Jehoash (Joash). By his marriage with the princess Jehosheba or Jehoshabeath, daughter of Jehoram, he became the brother-in-law of Ahaziah (II Chron. xxii. 11). After the death of Ahaziah at Megiddo, Athaliah slew all the royal family of Judah (II Kings ix. 27, xi. 1; II Chron. xxii. 10) with the exception of Jehoash (Joash), whom Jehoiada and his wife had stolen from among the king's sons and whom they kept hidden for six years in the Temple.
Athaliah, who had usurped the throne of Judah (842-836 B.C.), promoted the worship of Baal and produced disgust among those who adhered to the true worship. In the seventh year of her reign a great and enthusiastic assembly took place in the Temple which hailed Jehoash (Joash), whom Jehoiada had brought from his hiding-place, as the legal claimant to the throne of Judah. Under the guidance of Jehoiada, Baal-worship was renounced, the altar and temple of Baal were destroyed, and other measures were taken for the purification of theTemple. Jehoiada died at the age of 130, "and was buried in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God, and toward his house" (II Chron. xxiv. 16).
JEHOIADA.—1. Father of Benaiah, the successor of Joab, 2Sa 8:18; 2Sa 20:23 etc. It is probably the same man that is referred to in 1Ch 12:27; 1Ch 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 (2Ki 11:4 etc.). The Book of Chronicles makes him the husband of the princess Jehosheba (or Jehoshabeath, 2Ch 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.
(1) Father of Benaiah, the captain of David’s body-guard (2Sa 8:18; 2Sa 20:23; 2Sa 23:20, 2Sa 23:22; 1Ki 1:8, etc.). Jehoiada was “the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel” (2Sa 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 (Jos 15:21). In 1Ch 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 1Ch 12:27 (Hebrew, 1Ch 12:28) 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 1Ch 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 Ki 11:4-12:16 (Hebrew 17) = 2 Ch 23:1 through 24:14; 2Ch 22:11; 2Ch 24:14-16, 2Ch 24:17-20, 2Ch 24:22, 2Ch 24:25). In 2Ki 12:10 (Hebrew, 2Ki 12:11) 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 2Ch 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 Ch 23:1-21 differs in many respects from that in 2 Ki 11:4-20, but even the latter has its problems, and Stade (ZATW, 1885, 280ff) 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 (2Ki 11:16, 2Ki 11:20), and the construction of the Hebrew for “making a covenant” is different in 2Ki 11:4 from that in 2Ki 11:17. Stade holds that there is one narrative in 2Ki 11:4-12, 2Ki 11:18-20 and another in 2Ki 11:13-18.
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 th e young prince, Jehoash, who had been kept in hiding, shall be proclaimed. The captains do this, and the prince is crowned and proclaimed (2Ki 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; 2Ki 11:5 refers to a third of the guard who “came in on the sabbath,” and 2Ki 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.” 2Ki 11:9 makes clear the connection between 2Ki 11:5 and 2Ki 11:7. But 2Ki 11:6 introduces a difficulty: it seems to denote a division of those who “enter” into three divisions, i.e. the two in 2Ki 11:6 and one in 2Ki 11:5. If 2Ki 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 (
(b) The 2nd narrative (2Ki 11:13-18) begins suddenly. Presumably, its earlier part was identical with the earlier part of the 1st narrative, unless 2Ki 11:6 was a part originally of this 2nd account. Athaliah hears the noise of the people (2Ki 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 2Ki 11:15), so that she should not be slain in the temple, and she is murdered at one of the palace entrances (2Ki 11:16, where the Revised Version (British and American), following Septuagint of 2Ch 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 (1Ki 11:17, 1Ki 11:18). 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 Ch 23:1-21, though following that of 2 Ki 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, Le sacerdoce lévitique dans la loi et dans l’histoire des Hébreux, 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 Ki 11:21 through 12:16 (Hebrews 12:1-17) parallel 2Ch 24:1-14. Here again the narratives of 2 Ki and 2 Ch 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., 101-14) defends the former.
According to 2Ch 24:15, Jehoiada lived to be 130 years old, and was buried among the kings - a unique distinction.
(3) The King James Version in Neh 3:6 = JOIADA (which see).
(4) There is a Jehoiada, the priest mentioned in Jer 29:26, in whose stead Zephaniah was declared priest by Shemaiah in a letter.
Giesebrext 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.
The Bible mentions a number of people named Jehoiada. The only one concerning whom it speaks in any detail is the chief priest in Jerusalem who was the main influence for good in the life of the Judean king Jehoash (or Joash) (2Ch 22:10-12; 2 Chronicles 23; 2Ch 24:1-25; for details see JEHOASH).