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JehizkiahAid to Bible Understanding
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JEHIZKIAH
(Je·hiz·kiʹah) [Jehovah strengthens].
A leading Ephraimite who not only opposed Israel’s making captives of their brothers from the southern kingdom when the Israelites under King Pekah defeated Judah, but also gave material assistance to the captives. Jehizkiah was the son of Shallum.—2 Chron. 28:6, 8, 12-15.
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JehoaddahAid to Bible Understanding
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JEHOADDAH
(Je·hoʹad·dah) [Jehovah has numbered or adorned].
A Benjamite descendant of Saul through Jonathan and Merib-baal (Mephibosheth). Three sons of Jehoaddah are included in the genealogy. (1 Chron. 8:33-36; 2 Sam. 9:6, 12) He is called Jarah at 1 Chronicles 9:42.
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JehoaddanAid to Bible Understanding
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JEHOADDAN
See JEHOADDIN.
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JehoaddinAid to Bible Understanding
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JEHOADDIN
(Je·ho·adʹdin) [Jehovah is delight].
Mother of Judah’s King Amaziah; wife of Jehoash. (2 Ki. 14:1, 2) In the Hebrew text the name is written “Jehoaddin,” with a marginal note saying it should be read as “Jehoaddan,” as at 2 Chronicles 25:1.
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JehoahazAid to Bible Understanding
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JEHOAHAZ
(Je·hoʹa·haz) [Jah has taken hold].
1. Variant spelling of the name of Ahaziah, who succeeded his father Jehoram as king of Judah in the late tenth century B.C.E. (2 Chron. 21:16, 17; 22:1) This alternate spelling, also found in the Masoretic text at 2 Chronicles 25:23, simply transposes the divine name (Jah) to serve as the prefix instead of the suffix without changing the meaning of the name. Once this king of Judah is called Azariah.—2 Chron. 22:6b; see AHAZIAH No. 2.
2. King of Israel; son and successor of King Jehu. For seventeen years Jehoahaz reigned, from 876 to about 860 B.C.E. (2 Ki. 10:35; 13:1) When he succeeded his father to the throne, much of the realm was controlled by Syrian King Hazael of Damascus, who had seized from Jehu all of Israel’s territory E of the Jordan River. (2 Ki. 10:32-34) And because Jehoahaz did what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, God allowed Hazael to continue to oppress Israel all the days of Jehoahaz, reducing his fighting force to a mere fifty horsemen, ten chariots and ten thousand foot soldiers. Finally, Jehoahaz sought Jehovah’s favor, and because of the covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Jehovah did not allow Syria to bring Israel completely to ruin. (2 Ki. 13:2-7, 22, 23) Upon his death Jehoahaz was buried in Samaria and was succeeded on the throne by his son Jehoash.—2 Ki. 13:8, 9; 2 Chron. 25:17.
Certain translations, and the Masoretic text, spell the name Joahaz in 2 Kings 14:1.—See JOAHAZ No. 1.
3. King of Judah; fourth son and successor of Josiah. His mother’s name was Hamutal. (2 Ki. 23:31) Ezra and Jeremiah, according to certain manuscripts, call him Shallum, which some suggest may have been his name prior to his accession to the throne. (1 Chron. 3:15; Jer. 22:11) After the death of his father at the hands of Pharaoh Nechoh of Egypt, Jehoahaz, the youngest son of Josiah, was apparently the people’s choice as successor to the throne. (2 Ki. 23:29, 30) In 2 Chronicles 36:2, where this same event is mentioned, certain translations (AS, AT, JP, Ro) have the shortened form Joahaz for Jehoahaz.—See JOAHAZ No. 3.
Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when made king, and he ruled badly for three months in the early part of the year 628 B.C.E., until he was imprisoned at Riblah by Pharaoh. Later he was taken to Egypt, where he died in captivity, just as the prophet Jeremiah had foretold.—2 Ki. 23:31-34; Jer. 22:10-12.
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JehoashAid to Bible Understanding
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JEHOASH
(Je·hoʹash) [Jehovah is strong or Jehovah has bestowed].
1. King of Judah for forty years, from 898 to 858 B.C.E. He was the youngest son of Judah’s King Ahaziah; his mother was Zibiah from Beer-sheba. (2 Ki. 12:1; 1 Chron. 3:11) In the Masoretic text his name is often abbreviated to Joash.
The death of Ahaziah gave Athaliah, the wicked grandmother of Jehoash, an excuse to make herself queen. But to prevent anyone in the future from challenging her seizure of the throne, she killed off all the sons of Ahaziah with the exception of young Jehoash, who at the time was an infant less than a year old. He escaped the massacre because his aunt Jehosheba, the wife of High Priest Jehoiada, took him and his nurse and secretly hid them in the temple for six years.—2 Ki. 11:1-3; 2 Chron. 22:10-12.
When the child reached seven years of age, Jehoiada took into his confidence five chieftains to whom he revealed for the first time the legal heir to the throne. Jehoiada then armed the five hundred men under the command of these chieftains with shields and weapons from the temple and instructed them to stand guard around Jehoash at the coronation ceremony in the temple courtyard. Anyone attempting to interfere was to be killed. (2 Ki. 11:4-12, 21; 2 Chron, 23:1-11) Upon hearing the people shouting, Athaliah came running, at the same time crying, “Conspiracy! Conspiracy!” She was quickly ushered out and at the entry of the horse gate they put her to death. Jehoiada then made a covenant of faithfulness between Jehovah, the newly installed king and the people, after which they tore down the house of Baal and destroyed its altars and images and even killed Mattan the priest of Baal.—2 Ki. 11:13-20; 2 Chron. 23:12-21.
Thereafter, as long as High Priest Jehoiada lived and acted as father and adviser to Jehoash, the young monarch prospered. Married by the time he was twenty-one, he had two wives, one of whom was named Jehoaddan, and by these Jehoash became father to sons and daughters. In this way the line of David leading to Messiah, which had come so near to being completely severed, was once again made strong.—2 Ki. 12:1-3; 2 Chron. 24:1-3; 25:1.
Jehovah’s house was badly in need of repairs, not merely because of age (now no more than 150 years old), but due to neglect and plunder during the reign of Athaliah. As a consequence, Jehoash urged the Levites to raise the money for the restoration by going from city to city throughout Judah, but the response of the Levites was not wholehearted, and the work was not getting done. (2 Ki. 12:4-8; 2 Chron. 24:4-7) In time the arrangements for gathering and administering the funds were changed. The people responded well, and the repair work moved ahead to its completion.—2 Ki. 12:9-16; 2 Chron. 24:8-14.
After the death of faithful High Priest Jehoiada at the age of 130, the princes of the realm gradually turned King Jehoash and the people away from Jehovah to the worship of pagan idols and phallic “sacred poles.” And when Jehovah raised up prophets to warn them they refused to give heed. (2 Chron. 24:15-19) Jehoash went so far as to kill Zechariah, the very son of Jehoiada, because through him God reprovingly had asked: “Why are you overstepping the commandments of Jehovah . . . ?” Zechariah’s dying words were: “Let Jehovah see to it and ask it back.”—2 Chron. 24:20-22.
Retribution was not long in coming. With Jehovah’s protection removed, a small military force of Syrians led by Hazael was able to invade Judah’s territory, forcing Jehoash to give over the gold and treasures of the sanctuary, as well as his own possessions, leaving him a broken and diseased man. (2 Ki. 12:17, 18; 2 Chron. 24:23-25) It was not long after that when two of his servants formed a conspiracy and put Jehoash to death at the comparatively young age of forty-seven. They buried him in the city of David with his forefathers, and his son Amaziah reigned in his place.—2 Ki. 12:19-21; 2 Chron. 24:25-27.
2. King of Israel; son of Jehoahaz and grandson of Jehu. The shortened form of his name Joash often appears in the Masoretic text, as noted in the New World Translation, 1955 edition. (See, for instance, Hosea 1:1; Amos 1:1 and footnotes on 2 Kings 13:9, 12-14, 25.) He ruled for sixteen years in the middle of the ninth century B.C.E. During the first part of the reign of this Jehoash (son of Jehoahaz) over the northern kingdom of Israel, Jehoash son of Ahaziah was king over the southern kingdom of Judah.—2 Ki. 13:10.
Jehoash generally did what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes and allowed calf worship to continue throughout the land. Nevertheless, when the prophet Elisha was sick and near death Jehoash went down and wept over him, saying: “My father, my father, the war chariot of Israel and his horsemen!” (2 Ki. 13:11, 14) In response to the prophet’s request Jehoash shot an arrow out the window toward Syria, and then beat the earth with his arrows. However, he only beat three times. Elisha was incensed at this, for had he continued to beat the earth five or six times, Elisha said, then Jehoash would have been completely victorious over the Syrians; but now, the prophet declared, he would enjoy only three partial victories. (2 Ki. 13:15-19) In Jehoash’s three campaigns against the Syrians he did have a measure of success, recovering a number of Israelite cities that Ben-hadad’s father Hazael had taken from the northern kingdom.—2 Ki. 13:24, 25.
Jehoash also hired out a hundred thousand of his troops to the king of Judah to fight against the Edomites. However, on the advice of a “man of the true God” they were dismissed, and although they had been paid a hundred silver talents, equivalent to $142,359, in advance, they were angered at being sent home, probably because of losing out on their anticipated share of the booty. So after their return N they plundered towns of the southern kingdom, from Samaria (perhaps their base of operations) as far as Beth-horon.—2 Chron. 25:6-10, 13.
It was probably in retaliation for this that the king of Judah provoked Jehoash to fight. In the battle that followed Judean King Amaziah was captured at Beth-shemesh, and in the follow-up Jehoash’s forces broke through the wall of Jerusalem, looting the temple and house of the king of their gold and silver and taking hostages back to Samaria. (2 Ki. 14:8-14; 2 Chron. 25:17-24) Finally, Jehoash died and was buried in Samaria and his son Jeroboam II ruled in his place.—2 Ki. 13:12, 13; 14:15, 16.
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JehohananAid to Bible Understanding
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JEHOHANAN
(Je·ho·haʹnan) [Jehovah has been gracious].
1. A Korahite gatekeeper during the reign of David; the sixth son of Meshelemiah.—1 Chron. 26:1-3.
2. An army chief under King Jehoshaphat, in direct charge of 280,000 men of Judah. (2 Chron. 17:12, 14-16) Possibly the same as No. 3 below.
3. Father of the Ishmael who stood up with Jehoiada and other chiefs to depose Athaliah and put Jehoash on Judah’s throne. (2 Chron. 23:1-3) Possibly the same as No. 2 above.
4. An Ephraimite whose son Azariah was a leader in that tribe around 760 B.C.E., when Kings Ahaz of Judah and Pekah of Israel were ruling.—2 Chron. 28:1, 6, 12.
5. Head of the priestly paternal house of Amariah during the days of Joiakim the successor of High Priest Jeshua.—Neh. 12:10, 12, 13.
6. Son of Eliashib. Ezra retired to Jehohanan’s temple dining hall to mourn over the unfaithfulness of the people.—Ezra 10:6.
7. One of four sons of Bebai who dismissed their foreign wives and sons in Ezra’s day.—Ezra 10:28, 44.
8. Son of Nehemiah’s antagonist Tobiah the Ammonite. Jehohanan married an Israelite girl.—Neh. 6:17-19.
9. A priest positioned at the temple during the inauguration of Jerusalem’s rebuilt wall.—Neh. 12:40-42.
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JehoiachinAid to Bible Understanding
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JEHOIACHIN
(Je·hoʹia·chin) [Jehovah firmly establishes].
Son of Judean King Jehoiakim by Nehushta. (2 Ki. 24:6, 8; 2 Chron. 36:8) He is also called Jeconiah (a variant of Jehoiachin) and Coniah (a contraction of Jeconiah).—Esther 2:6; Jer. 28:4; 37:1.
At the age of eighteen Jehoiachin became king and continued the bad practices of his father. (2 Ki. 24:8, 9; 2 Chron. 36:9 [see NW, 1955 ed., ftn.]) Jehoiachin’s father, Jehoiakim, had been under subjection to Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, but rebelled in his third year of such vassalage (618 B.C.E.). (2 Ki. 24:1) This resulted in a siege being laid against Jerusalem. The expression “during that time” (2 Ki. 24:10) may not necessarily refer to Jehoiachin’s brief reign, but may refer to the general period in which it fits, hence allowing for the siege to have begun during his father Jehoiakim’s reign, as Daniel 1:1, 2 seems to indicate. It appears that Jehoiakim died during this siege and Jehoiachin ascended the throne of Judah. His rule ended, however, a mere three months and ten days later, when he surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar (617 B.C.E., in the month of Adar, according to the Babylonian Chronicles). (2 Ki. 24:11, 12; 2 Chron. 36:9) In fulfillment of Jehovah’s word through Jeremiah, he was taken into Babylonian captivity. (Jer. 22:24-27; 24:1; 27:19, 20; 29:1, 2) Other members of the royal household, court officials, craftsmen and warriors were also exiled.—2 Ki 24:14-16.
The record at 2 Kings 24:12-16 states that Nebuchadnezzar took these captives into exile, along with “all the treasures of the house of Jehovah and the treasures of the king’s house.” The account at Daniel 1:1, 2 refers to only “a part of the utensils” as being taken to Babylon. The explanation may be that the treasures referred to at Second Kings involved particularly the gold utensils, which are emphasized in that account, and that other utensils were allowed to remain. Another possibility is that, when Jerusalem yielded to the Babylonian siege (which came as a result of Jehoiakim’s rebellion against the king of Babylon), “some of the utensils of the house of Jehovah” were taken to Babylon, and that a short time later, when Jehoiachin himself was transferred to Babylon, other “desirable articles of the house of Jehovah” were taken along. This possibility is suggested by the account at 2 Chronicles 36:6-10. From the Chronicles account, it appears that Nebuchadnezzar, after successfully conquering Jerusalem, returned to Babylon and from there “sent and proceeded to bring [Jehoiachin] to Babylon with desirable articles of the house of Jehovah.” In a similar way, ten years later, in the final conquest and destruction of Jerusalem (607 B.C.E.), Nebuchadnezzar retired to Riblah “in the land of Hamath,” leaving the post-conquest details to his chief of the bodyguard, Nebuzaradan.—2 Ki. 25:8-21.
While in Babylon, Jehoiachin fathered seven sons. (1 Chron. 3:16-18) In this way the royal line leading to the Messiah was preserved. (Matt. 1:11, 12) But, as prophecy had indicated, none of Jehoiachin’s descendants ever ruled from earthly Jerusalem. It therefore was as though Jehoiachin had been childless, with no offspring to succeed him as king.—Jer. 22:28-30
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