son of Ahaziah, king of Judah. When the impious Athaliah undertook to extinguish the race of the kings of Judah, that she might seize the crown herself, she ordered all the princes, her grandchildren, to be murdered. But Jehosheba, the sister of Ahaziah, and wife to the High Priest Jehoiada, rescued young Joash, then a child, from the cruelty of Athaliah, and lodged him in the temple with his nurse. Here he abode six years. In the seventh year Jehoiada procured him to be acknowledged king, and so well concerted his plan, that young Joash was placed on the throne, and saluted king in the temple, before the queen was informed of it. She was killed without the temple, 2Ki 11:1, &c. Joash received the diadem, together with the book of the law, from the hands of Jehoiada, the high priest, who, in the young king’s name, made a covenant between the Lord, the king, and the people, for their future fidelity to God. He also obliged the people to take an oath of fidelity to the king. Joash was only seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years at Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. He governed with justice and piety, so long as he was guided by the High Priest Jehoiada. Yet he did not abolish the high places.
Jehoiada, during the king’s minority, had issued orders for collecting voluntary offerings to the holy place, with the design of repairing the temple; but his orders were ill executed till the twentieth year of Joash. Then this prince directed chests to be placed at the entrance of the temple, and an account to be given him of what money was received from them, that it might be faithfully employed in repairing the house of God. Jehoiada dying at the age of a hundred and thirty years, Joash was misled by the evil counsel of his courtiers, who had before been restrained by the high priest’s authority. They began to forsake the temple of the Lord, and to worship idols, and groves consecrated to idols. Then the Spirit of the Lord coming upon the High Priest Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, he reproved the people; but they who heard him stoned him, according to orders from their king. It was not long before God inflicted on Joash the just punishment of his ingratitude to Jehoiada, whose son he had so lately murdered. Hazael, king of Syria, besieged Gath, which belonged to Judah; and having taken it he marched against Jerusalem. Joash, to redeem himself from the difficulties of a siege, and from the danger of being plundered, took what money he could find in the temple, which had been consecrated by Ahaziah his father, Jehoram his grandfather, and himself, and gave the whole to Hazael. It is believed by some, that the next year the Syrian army marched again into Judah; but Hazael was not there in person. The Syrians made great havoc, defeated the troops of Joash, entered Jerusalem, slew the princes of Judah, and sent a great booty to the king of Syria at Damascus. They treated Joash himself with great ignominy, and left him extremely ill. His servants then revolted against him, and killed him in his bed, by which the blood of Zechariah the high priest was avenged. He was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the royal sepulchre. Amaziah his son succeeded him.
Joash, 1
Jo´ash (God-given), a contraction of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah and eighth king of Judah, who began to reign in B.C. 878, at the age of seven, and reigned forty-one years.
Joash, when an infant, was secretly saved by his aunt Jehoshebah, who was married to the high-priest Jehoiada, from the general massacre of the family by Athaliah, who had usurped the throne [ATHALIAH; JEHOIADA]. By the high-priest and his wife the child was privily brought up in the chambers connected with the temple till he had attained his eighth year, when Jehoiada deemed that the state of affairs required him to produce the youthful heir of the throne to the people, and claim for him the crown which his grandmother had so unrighteously usurped. Finding the influential persons whom he consulted favorable to the design, everything was secretly, but admirably, arranged for producing Joash, and investing him with the regalia, in such a manner that Athaliah could have no suspicion of the event till it actually occurred. On the day appointed, the sole surviving scion of David’s illustrious house appeared in the place of the kings, by a particular pillar in the temple-court, and was crowned and anointed with the usual ceremonies. The high-wrought enthusiasm of the spectators then found vent in clapping of hands and exulting shouts of ’Long live the king!’ The joyful uproar was heard even in the palace, and brought Athaliah to the temple, from which, at a word from Jehoiada, she was led to her death.
Joash behaved well during his nonage, and so long after as he remained under the influence of the high-priest. But when he died the king seems to have felt himself relieved from a yoke; and, to manifest his freedom, began to take the contrary course to that which he had followed while under pupilage. Gradually the persons who had possessed influence formerly, when the house of David was contaminated by its alliance with the house of Ahab, insinuated themselves into his councils, and before long the worship of Jehovah and the observances of the law were neglected, and the land was defiled with idolatries and idolatrous usages. The prophets then uttered their warnings, but were not heard; and the infatuated king had the atrocious ingratitude to put to death Zechariah, the son and successor of his benefactor Jehoiada. For these deeds Joash was made an example of the divine judgments. He saw his realm devastated by the Syrians under Hazael; his armies were cut in pieces by an enemy of inferior numbers; and he was even besieged in Jerusalem, and only preserved his capital and his crown by giving up the treasures of the temple. Besides this, a painful malady embittered all his latter days, and at length he became so odious that his own servants conspired against him, and slew him on his bed. Joash was buried in the city of David; but a place in the sepulcher of the kings was denied to his remains (2 Kings 11; 2 Kings 12; 2 Chronicles 24).
Joash, 2
Joash, son and successor of Jehoahaz on the throne of Israel, of which he was the twelfth king. He began to reign in B.C. 840, and reigned sixteen incomplete years. He followed the example of his predecessors in the policy of keeping up the worship of the golden calves; but apart from this, he bears a fair character, and had intervals, at least, of sincere piety and true devotion to the God of his fathers. He held the prophet Elisha in high honor, looking up to him as a father. When he heard of his last illness he repaired to the bed-side of the dying prophet, and was favored with promises of victories over the Syrians, by whom his dominions were then harassed. These promises were accomplished after the prophet’s death. In three signal and successive victories Joash overcame the Syrians, and retook from them the towns which Hazael had rent from Israel.
These advantages rendered the kingdom of Israel more potent than that of Judah. He, however, sought no quarrel with that kingdom; but when he received a defiance from Amaziah king of Judah, he answered with becoming spirit in a parable, which by its images calls to mind that of Jotham [PARABLE]: the cool disdain of the answer must have been, and in fact was, exceedingly galling to Amaziah. In the war, or rather action, which followed, Joash was victorious. Having defeated Amaziah at Beth-shemesh, in Judah, he advanced to Jerusalem, broke down the wall to the extent of 400 cubits, and carried away the treasures both of the temple and the palace, together with hostages for the future good behavior of the crest-fallen Amaziah. Joash himself did not long survive this victory; he died in peace, and was buried in Samaria (2Ki 13:9-25; 2Ki 14:1-17).
Jo’ash. (to whom Jehovah hastens, that is, to help), contracted from Jehoash.
1. Son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, (B.C. 884), and the only one of his children, who escaped the murderous hand of Athaliah. After his father’s sister, Jehoshabeath, the wife of Jehoiada, the high priest, had stolen him from among the king’s sons, he was hidden for six years in the chambers of the Temple. In the seventh year of his age, and of his concealment, a successful revolution, conducted by Jehoiada, placed him on the throne of his ancestors, and freed the country from the tyranny, and idolatries of Athaliah.
For at least twenty-three years, while Jehoiada lived, his reign was very prosperous; but after the death of Jehoiada, Joash fell into the hands of bad advisers, at whose suggestion, he revived the worship of Baal and Ashtaroth. When he was rebuked for this by Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, Joash caused him to be stoned to death, in the very court of the Lord’s house. Mat 23:35. That very year, Hazael, king of Syria, came up against Jerusalem, and carried off a vast booty, as the price of his departure.
Joash had scarcely escaped this danger, when he fell into another and fatal one. Two of his servants conspired against him, and slew him in his bed, and in the fortress of Millo. Joash’s reign lasted forty years, from 878 to 838 B.C.
2. Son and successor of Jehoahaz, on the throne of Israel, from B.C. 840 to 825, and for two full years, a contemporary sovereign with Joash, 1. 2Ki 14:1. Compare this with 2Ki 12:1; 2Ki 13:10. When he succeeded to the crown, the kingdom was in a deplorable state, from the devastations of Hazael and Ben-hadad, kings of Syria.
On occasion of a friendly visit, paid by Joash to Elisha on his death-bed, the prophet promised him deliverance, from the Syrian yoke in Aphek. 1Ki 20:26-30. He then bade him smite upon the ground, and the king smote thrice and then stayed. The prophet rebuked him for staying, and limited to three his victories over Syria. Accordingly, Joash did defeat Ben-hadad three times on the field of battle, and recovered from him the cities, which Hazael had taken from Jehoahaz.
The other great military event of Joash’s reign, was the successful war with Amaziah, king of Judah. He died in the fifteenth year of Amaziah, king of Judah.
3. The father of Gideon, and a wealthy man, among the Abiezrites. Jdg 6:11. (B.C. before 1256).
4. Apparently, a younger son of Ahab, who held a subordinate jurisdiction, in the lifetime of his father. 1Ki 22:26; 2Ch 18:25. (B.C. 896).
5. A descendant of Shelah, the son of Judah, but whether his son or the son of Jokim is not clear. 1Ch 4:22.
6. A Benjamite, son of Shemaah of Gibeah, 1Ch 12:3, who resorted to David at Ziklag.
7. One of the officers, of David’s household. 1Ch 27:28.
8. Son of Becher, and head of a Benjamite house. 1Ch 7:8.
("Jehovah gifted".)
1. Gideon’s father, an Abiezrite of wealth.
2. 1Ch 4:22. Ruled anciently in Moab.
3. 1Ch 7:8.
4. 1Ch 12:1-3; 1Ch 12:21. One of David’s "helpers in the battle ... against the band (
5. 1Ch 27:28.
6. Ahab’s son, viceroy in his absence at Ramoth Gilead (1Ki 22:26; 2Ch 18:25), or else left with the governor of the city, Amon, for military education.
7. The only son of Ahaziah king of Judah that escaped Athaliah’s murderous hand, and the only surviving descendant of Solomon, for his grandfather Jehoram had killed all his brethren (2Ch 21:4; 2Ch 21:17; 2Ch 22:1; 2Ch 22:8-11), and all his own sons except Jehoahaz or Ahaziah the Arabians had slain; and on Ahaziah’s destruction by Jehu Athaliah his mother (the instigator of sin becoming the instrument of punishment, compare 2Ch 22:3 with 2Ch 22:10) destroyed all the seed royal of Judah except Joash, hidden by his aunt Jehoshabeath, Ahaziah’s sister, Jehoiada’s wife.
Baal’s house, altars, and images were first of all destroyed by the people under Jehoiada; and Mattan, Baal’s priest, was slain (2Ch 23:17; 2Ki 11:17-19), The high places alone were spared, the people still sacrificing and burning incense on them. But after his faithful counselor Jehoiada was dead the princes with flattering "obeisance" (compare Pro 29:5) persuaded the weak king to forsake Jehovah for Asheerah and idols. Wrath from God visited Judah for their trespass; then Zechariah, Jehoiada’s son, standing in the inner higher court, "above the people" in the outer court, denounced their apostasy and declared God’s consequent withdrawal of blessing (2Ch 24:20; compare 2Ch 12:5; 2Ch 15:2).
They stoned the prophet "at the king’s commandment in the court of Jehovah’s house," "between the temple and the altar" (Mat 23:35); contrast Jehoiada’s reverent care not to slay Athaliah there (2Ch 23:14). Joash slew other "sons" of Jehoiada also (2Ch 24:25). Zechariah left his cause in the Lord’s hands, "the Lord look upon it and require it." So Hazael, as executioner of God’s judgment, with a small Syrian army came to Judah and Jerusalem, and in battle destroyed all the princes (a just retribution on the instigators of the apostasy, 2Ch 24:23). Joash bought his withdrawal only at the cost of all his own and the temple treasures (2Ki 12:17-18).
Severely wounded and sick, in his helpless state he was slain on his bed in the house of Millo by two conspirators, Zabad or Jozachar, son of an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad, son of a Moabitess; from the nations whose idols he adopted came also God’s punishers of his idolatry. His body at death was excluded from the royal sepulchres, to which good Jehoiada for his special goodness had been admitted. His reign lasted 40 years (878-838 B.C.). Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah are the three omitted in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus Christ.
8. Jehoahaz’ son and successor as king of Israel (840-825 B.C.). For two years contemporary of Joash of Judah (2Ki 14:1; compare 2Ki 12:1; 2Ki 13:10). God, in pity to Israel’s extreme oppression by Hazael and the Syrians, remembered "His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," and by Elisha on his deathbed promised deliverance through Joash. The king had lamented the prophet’s near decease as the loss of "the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof," using the same language as Elisha had used of Elijah. By Elisha’s direction Joash put his hand on a bow, Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands (for God must bless our handiwork, else we labour in vain: compare Gen 49:24). Then Joash shot eastward and Elisha promised that Joash "should smite the Syrians in Aphek until he consumed them." Then by Elisha’s direction Joash smote on the ground with arrows.
Smiting only thrice he was reproved by the prophet: "thou shouldest have smitten five or six times, then hadst thou smitten Syria until thou hadst consumed them, whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice." So Joash took again out of the hands of Hazael’s successor, Benhadad, Israel’s cities and beat him thrice. Joash overcame at Bethshemesh, and took Amaziah, who challenged him because of the depredations of Israelite mercenaries whom Amaziah had sent away (2 Chronicles 25) and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim gate (or that of Benjamin leading northward) to the N.W. corner gate, 400 cubits, (the N. side being Jerusalem’s only accessible side,) and carried away the gold and silver found under Obed Edom’s charge in the temple and in the palace.
Joash (jô’ăsh), Jehovah gives. 1. The son and successor of Ahaziah, king of Judah, called also Jehoash. On the murder of his brethren by Athaliah, he was saved by his aunt Jehosheba, the wife of Jehoiada the high priest, who hid him for six years in one of the rooms of the temple. When Joash was 7 years of age, Jehoiada planned with Azariah and others, to place young Joash upon the throne, and to dethrone his grandmother, the wicked Athaliah; and the young king was crowned in the court of the temple with great solemnity. 2Ki 11:1-21. Joash behaved himself well while Jehoiada lived and was his guide; but no sooner was this good man dead than he began to listen to the counsels of his wicked courtiers. Zechariah the priest, son of Jehoiada, warned him of his sin and danger; but as a reward of bis fidelity, he was, by order of Joash, stoned to death between the porch and the altar, prophesying that God would avenge his death. 2Ch 24:20-22. After suffering a variety of injuries from the Syrians, and after being loaded with ignominy, Joash was murdered by his own servants, after a reign of 41 years. His remains were refused a place in the royal sepulchre. See also 2Ki 12:1-21; 2Ki 13:1; 2Ch 22:10-12; 2Ch 23:1-21; 2Ch 24:2. The son and successor of Jehoahaz, king of Israel. He reigned two or three years with his father and alone 14 years. He departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat; nevertheless he was successful in three campaigns against the Syrians: and in one against Amaziah, king of Judah. Joash seems to have been possessed of more talents than virtues. He Is also called "Jehoash." 2Ki 13:10-25; 2Ki 14:1 to 2Ki 16:3.. The father of Gideon. Jdg 6:11. 4. A son of Ahab, king of Israel. 1Ki 22:26; 2Ch 18:25. 5. One of David’s distinguished warriors. 1Ch 12:3; 1Ch 21:6. A descendant of Judah. 1Ch 4:22.
[Jo’ash]
1. Son of Ahaziah king of Judah. When his grandmother Athaliah attempted to cut off all the seed royal, Joash, then an infant, was hidden and preserved by his aunt, Jehosheba, the wife of Jehoiada the high priest. When he was about seven years old, Jehoiada succeeded in placing him, as the preserved seed of David, on the throne, and putting Athaliah to death. Thus, at that time, did the Lord secure the sure mercies centred in the house of David. He reigned forty years, from B.C. 878 to 839.
During the life of Jehoiada, Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and with zeal caused the temple to be repaired. But on the death of the high priest, the princes of Judah and the king turned to idolatry. God sent them prophets, but they would not hear. Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, attempted to call them back to the worship of God, but by command of the king he was stoned to death in the court of the temple. God sent the Syrians to punish them: a small company of whom overcame a very great host of Judah, the princes were destroyed, and Joash gave all the treasures of the temple and of the king’s house to the Syrians. Joash was now greatly diseased; and his servants conspired against him and slew him. He is very frequently called JEHOASH. 2Ki 11:2; 2Ki 11:21; 2Ki 12:1-20; 2Ki 13:1; 2Ki 13:10; 2Ch 22:11; 2Ch 24:1-26; 2Ch 25:23; 2Ch 25:25.
2. Son and successor of Jehoahaz, king of Israel: he reigned sixteen years: B.C. 841 to 825. He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, even as Jeroboam; but when Elisha was dying Joash visited him, and wept over him, uttering the same words which Elisha had uttered as he beheld Elijah taken to heaven. Joash had the sense that the power which translated Elijah had been with Elisha, who was now departing. Elisha then prophesied that he should smite Syria. He told the king to smite upon the ground with arrows, and he smote three times. Elisha said that if he had smitten more times he would have consumed Syria; but now he should defeat them only three times. This was fulfilled, Joash smote them three times and recovered the cities of Israel that the king of Syria had taken. After this Amaziah king of Judah asked Joash to let them ’look one another in the face.’ Joash in a parable called Judah a thistle, and himself a cedar, and advised Amaziah to stay at home; but he would not, and Judah was smitten. Joash went to Jerusalem, brake down the wall of it, and took away all the treasures of the temple and of the king’s house, and returned with hostages to Samaria. Thus the two kingdoms punished each other. 2Ki 13:9-25; 2Ki 14:1-27; 2Ch 25:17-25; Hos 1:1; Amo 1:1. Called also JEHOASH.
3. Father of Gideon: he defended his son when he had thrown down the altar of Baal, saying, If Baal "be a god, let him plead for himself." Jdg 6:11; Jdg 6:29-31; Jdg 7:14; Jdg 8:13; Jdg 8:29; Jdg 8:32.
4. Son of Ahab king of Israel. 1Ki 22:26; 2Ch 18:25.
5. Descendant of Shelah, a son of Judah. 1Ch 4:22.
6. Son of Becher, a son of Benjamin. 1Ch 7:8.
7. Son of Shemaah: he resorted to David at Ziklag. 1Ch 12:3.
8. One who had the care of the stores of oil in the time of David. 1Ch 27:28.
(
, contraction of 
= "given by Yhwh").
By: Emil G. Hirsch, M. Seligsohn, Solomon Schechter, Ira Maurice Price
Table of Contents
1. (Called also Jehoash.) —Biblical Data:
Son of Ahaziah and Zibiah of Beer-sheba; eighth king of Judah (II Kings xii. 1, 2). Joash was the only descendant of the house of David living at the time of Ahaziah's death that escaped slaughter at the hand of his grandmother Athaliah. Only a year old when the royal family was exterminated, he with his nurse was concealed by his paternal aunt Jehosheba in "the bedchamber," where he remained six years (II Kings xi. 1-3; II Chron. xxii. 10-12). When he was seven years old he was brought out from his hiding-place by Jehoiada and placed on the throne of his ancestors. As Joash was the only living member of David's line his coronation is particularly narrated; after he was crowned the covenant was renewed between God, the king, and the nation, and after having destroyed the altars of Baal and killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, the king was conducted with great ceremony to the throne (II Kings xi. 4-19; II Chron. xxiii. 11-20). Jehoiada, desiring to secure the permanence of the throne of David, chose two wives for Joash, who begat sons and daughters (II Chron. xxiv. 3). Under the guidance of Jehoiada the young king established the worship of Yhwh, though the "high places" continued to be used for worship (II Kings xii. 3-4).
The first public religious act of Joash was to order the repair of the Temple, which had been despoiled by Athaliah (II Chron. xxiv. 7). To this end the king entrusted to the priests the duty of setting aside all the money resulting from the sale of dedicated things and the money offered by the people. But the twenty-third year of Joash's reign saw the Temple still unrepaired, so the king took away from the priests the charge of the money (II Kings xii. 5-8). In II Chron. xxiv. 5 it is stated that the king ordered the priests and Levites to travel through the cities of Judah and collect money, but that the Levites were slow in their mission. A chest was therefore placed by Jehoiada beside the altar (according to II Chron. xxiv. 8, without the gate and at the command of Joash), in which the princes and all the people placed contributions, and when enough had been collected the money was given to the artisans that restored the Temple (II Kings xii. 10-17; II Chron. xxiv. 8-14). After the death of Jehoiada, Joash proved weak enough to permit himself to be worshiped by the princes of Judah, and this turned the people from the worship of Yhwh. Joash showed his ingratitude toward Jehoiada by slaying the latter's son Zechariah for censuring his (the king's) acts (II Chron. xxiv. 17-22).
An important event in Joash's life is differently stated in II Kings and II Chronicles; according to the former (xii. 18-19 [A. V. 17-18]) when Hazael, the Syrian king, marched against Jerusalem, Joash bribed him with the gold of the royal and sacred treasuries to turn back; in the latter (xxiv. 23-25) it is said that after the Syrian army had destroyed all the princes of Judah the soldiers "executed judgment against Joash," so that they "left him in great diseases." Joash was assassinated by his own servants at Beth-milo, after a reign of forty years, and his assassination is recorded as an act of revenge for the blood of the son of Jehoiada (II Kings xii. 1, 21; II Chron. xxiv. 1, 25). II Kings and II Chronicles differ also with regard to the burial of Joash: according to the former (xii. 22), Joash was buried with his fathers in the city of David, while in the latter (xxiv. 25) it is expressly said that he was buried in the city of David, but "not in the sepulchers of the kings."
—In Rabbinical Literature:
As the extermination of the male descendants of David was a divine retribution for the extermination of the priests by David (comp. I Sam. xxii. 17-21), Joash escaped death because in the latter case one priest, Abiathar, survived (Sanh. 95b). The hiding-place of Joash was, according to R. Eleazar, one of the chambers behind the Holy of Holies; according to R. Samuel b. Naḥman, one of the upper chambers of the Temple (Cant. R. i. 66).
Although a king who is the son of a king need not be anointed, exception was made in the case of Joash, as well as of Solomon and Zedekiah, the succession of each of whom was contested (Lev. R. x. 8). Particular mention is made of the crown placed on Joash's head (II Kings xi. 12), because it fitted exactly, showing that he was qualified for kingship ('Ab. Zarah 44a).
Joash was one of the four men who pretended to be gods. He was persuaded thereto particularly by the princes, who said to him. "Wert thou not a god thou couldst not come out alive from the Holy of Holies" (Ex R. viii. 3). He was assassinated by two of his servants, one of whom was a son of an Ammonite woman and the other the offspring of a Moabite (II Chron. xxiv. 26); for God said: "Let the descendants of the two ungrateful families chastise the ungrateful Joash" (Yalk., Ex. 262).
S. S. M. Sel.2. (Called also Jehoash.)
King of Israel 798-782 B.C. He was the son and successor of Jehoahaz, and one of the greatest of the Israelitish kings. In three signal and successive victories he overcame the Syrians, and retook from them the towns which Hazael had captured from Israel. He was also involved in a war with Amaziah, King of Judah. In the battle at Beth-shemesh Jehoash defeated Amaziah, advanced to Jerusalem, broke down the wall of that city for a distance of 400 cubits, and carried away to Samaria the treasures of the Temple and of the palace (II Kings xiv. 11-14). Although Jehoash, like his predecessors, worshiped the golden calves, he held the prophet Elisha in high honor, looking up to him as a father. When Elisha was about to die, Jehoash repaired to the bedside of the prophet, "wept over his face, and said, O my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof" (ib. xiii. 14). Jehoash died soon after his victory over Amaziah, and was buried in Samaria (ib. xiv. 16; comp. II Chron. xxv. 17-24).
3.
Father of Gideon (Judges vi. 32; II Sam. xi. 21). Joash belonged to the tribe of Manasseh andlived at Ophrah, where he was buried. He must have been a man of importance, because an altar of Baal was in his house, and he had more than ten servants (Judges vi. 25, 27); and he alone was able to check the fury of the people against his son (ib. 30-31). See Gideon.
M. Sel.4.
Son of Ahab. When the latter was about to set out to meet the Syrians in battle at Ramothgilead, he entrusted the prophet Micaiah, whose prophecy had been against him, to Amon, the governor of Samaria, and to Joash, the king's son, saying, "Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace" (I Kings xxii. 26, 27). It may be that Joash was an under-officer of Samaria; or, as Rawlinson suggests, the word translated "king's son" may refer to a state officer, such as is found in Jer. xxxvi. 26. There is no other mention of this Joash.
I. M. P.5.
A descendant of Shelah, the son of Judah; one of the men "who had the dominion in Moab" (I Chron. iv. 22).
6.
Son of Shemaah the Gibeathite; one of David's warriors (ib. xii. 3).
7.
(
.) Son of Becher, the son of Benjamin (ib. vii. 8).
8.
Overseer of David's cellars of oil (ib. xxvii. 28).
(1) Father of Gideon, of the clan of Abiezer and the tribe Manasseh (Jdg 6:11, Jdg 6:29, Jdg 6:30, Jdg 6:31; Jdg 7:14; Jdg 8:13, Jdg 8:19, Jdg 8:32). Gideon declares (Jdg 6:15) that the family is the poorest in Manasseh, words similar to those of Saul (1Sa 9:21), and not to be taken too literally. Joash would be a man of standing and wealth, for Gideon was able to command 10 servants to destroy the altar and the Asherah (Jdg 6:27, Jdg 6:34), and also to summon the whole clan to follow him. Further, the altar that Joash had was that used by the community (Jdg 6:28), so that he would be the priest, not only of his own family qua paterfamilias, but also of the community in virtue of his position as chief. When Gideon destroyed the altar and the Asherah or sacred pillar by it, Joash refused to deliver his son to death, declaring that Baal, if he was a god, should avenge himself (compare Elijah in 1 Ki 18).
(2) Called “the king’s son” (1Ki 22:26; 2Ch 18:25; compare Jer 36:26; Jer 38:6), or, less probably, “the son of Hammelech,” the Revised Version margin; perhaps a son of Ahab. Micaiah the prophet was handed over to his custody and that of Amon by Ahab.
(3) A Judahite, descendant of Shelah (1Ch 4:22).
(4) A Benjamite recruit of David at Ziklag. Commentators read here, “Joash the son of Shemaiah (or Jehoshamai), the Gibeathite” (1Ch 12:3).
(5) In 2Ki 11:2, etc. = Jehoash, king of Judah.
(6) In 2Ki 13:9, etc. = Jehoash, king of Northern Israel.
See JEHOASH.