2 Chronicles 24 · a question people ask
Does 2 Kings tell Joash's reign the same way?
In places the same, in places not. Here are five places, side by side. The verdict: "Joash did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes all the days of Jehoiada the priest" (24:2); in 2 Kings, "Jehoash did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him" (2 Kings 12:2). The chest: here "they made a chest, and set it outside at the gate of the LORD’s house" (24:8); in 2 Kings, "Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the LORD’s house" (2 Kings 12:9). The vessels: here, from the rest of the money "were made vessels for the LORD’s house" (24:14); in 2 Kings, "there were not made for the LORD’s house cups of silver, snuffers, basins, trumpets, any vessels of gold or vessels of silver, of the money that was brought into the LORD’s house" (2 Kings 12:13). The two servants: "Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonitess and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabitess" (24:26); in 2 Kings, "Jozacar the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad the son of Shomer" (2 Kings 12:21). The burial: here "they didn’t bury him in the tombs of the kings" (24:25); in 2 Kings, "they buried him with his fathers in David’s city" (2 Kings 12:21). Only 2 Chronicles tells of Jehoiada's death, the turning after it and Zechariah (24:15-22), and only it gives a reason for the servants' conspiracy, "for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest" (24:25); 2 Kings 12's honest questions set those verses beside 2 Kings, and set the Syrians' coming (24:23-24) beside the gifts sent to Hazael (2 Kings 12:17-18). Neither book says why they differ, and these notes don't explain it.
The verses
“Joash did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes all the days of Jehoiada the priest.”
“Jehoash did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.”
“So the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it outside at the gate of the LORD’s house.”
“But Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the LORD’s house; and the priests who kept the threshold put all the money that was brought into the LORD’s house into it.”