2 Kings 12 · a question people ask
Was it wrong for Jehoash to send the holy things to Hazael?
The chapter tells it and passes no verdict on it. Hazael "set his face to go up to Jerusalem" (12:17); Jehoash sent him the dedicated things and the gold of both treasuries, "and he went away from Jerusalem" (12:18). Kings tells of other kings of Judah doing the same kind of thing: Asa "took all the silver and the gold that was left in the treasures of the LORD’s house, and the treasures of the king’s house" and sent them to the king of Syria (1 Kings 15:18), and later Hezekiah, who had sent to the king of Assyria (18:14), "gave him all the silver that was found in the LORD’s house" (18:15). 2 Chronicles tells of the Syrians' coming differently: "the army of the Syrians came up against him" (2 Chronicles 24:23), and "the LORD delivered a very great army into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers. So they executed judgment on Joash" (2 Chronicles 24:24). Chronicles doesn't mention the gifts from the treasuries, and Kings tells of Hazael fighting against Gath (12:17), not of a battle with Judah. Each account says what it says; neither is added to the other here.
The verses
“Then Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath, and took it; and Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem. Jehoash king of Judah took all the holy things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own holy things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the LORD’s house, and of the king’s house, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria; and he went away from Jerusalem.”
“Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that was left in the treasures of the LORD’s house, and the treasures of the king’s house, and delivered it into the hand of his servants. Then King Asa sent them to Ben Hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who lived at Damascus, saying,”
“Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have offended you. Withdraw from me. That which you put on me, I will bear.” The king of Assyria appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the LORD’s house and in the treasures of the king’s house.”
“At the end of the year, the army of the Syrians came up against him. They came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all their plunder to the king of Damascus. For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men; and the LORD delivered a very great army into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers. So they executed judgment on Joash.”