2 Kings 13:1-9

Kings of Israel: Jehoahaz and Jehoash

1 In the twenty-third * year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu became king over Israel at Samaria, and he reigned seventeen * years.
2 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, and followed * the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, 1with which he made Israel sin; he did not turn from them.
3 2So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and He gave them continually * into the hand of 3Hazael king of Aram, and into the hand of 4Ben-hadad the son of Hazael.
4 Then 5Jehoahaz entreated the favor of the LORD, and the LORD listened to him; for 6He saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Aram oppressed them.
5 The LORD gave Israel a 7deliverer, so that they escaped from under the hand of the Arameans; and the sons of Israel lived in their tents as formerly *.
6 Nevertheless they did not turn away from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, 8with which he made Israel sin, but walked in them; and 9the Asherah also remained standing in Samaria.
7 For he left to Jehoahaz of the army not more * than * fifty horsemen and ten chariots and 10,000 * footmen, for the king of Aram had destroyed them and 10made them like the dust at threshing.
8 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?
9 And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria; and Joash his son became king in his place.

2 Kings 13:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 13

This chapter gives an account of the wicked reign of Jehoahaz son of Jehu king of Israel, and of the low estate he was brought into by the Syrians, 2Ki 13:1-9, and of the reign of his son Joash, 2Ki 13:10-13, and of the sickness and death of Elisha; of the visit Joash made him in his sickness; and of his prediction of the king's success against the Syrians; and of the reviving of a dead man cast into the prophet's sepulchre, 2Ki 13:14-21 and of the success of Joash against the Syrians, according to the prediction of the prophet, 2Ki 13:22-25.

\\of Judah\\ The same year he was so zealous and busy in repairing the temple, 2Ki 12:6,

\\Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria\\; whereas Joash began to reign in the seventh year of Jehu, and Jehu reigned but twenty eight years, 2Ki 10:36, and 2Ki 12:1, this could be but the twenty first of Joash; to reconcile which it must be observed, that it was at the beginning of the seventh year of Jehu that Joash began to reign, and at the beginning of the twenty third of Joash that Jehoahaz began to reign, as the Jewish commentators observe:

\\and reigned seventeen years\\; the two last of which were in common with his son, as Junius, see 2Ki 13:10 17831-941219-2104-2Ki13.2

Cross References 10

  • 1. 1 Kings 12:26-33
  • 2. Judges 2:14
  • 3. 2 Kings 12:17
  • 4. 2 Kings 13:24, 25
  • 5. Numbers 21:7-9
  • 6. Exodus 3:7, 9; 2 Kings 14:26
  • 7. 2 Kings 13:25; 2 Kings 14:25, 27; Nehemiah 9:27
  • 8. 2 Kings 13:2
  • 9. 1 Kings 16:33
  • 10. Amos 1:3

Footnotes 4

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