Jehoahaz of Israel

Jehoahaz was the son of Jehu, who preceded him as king of Israel. The surviving account does not name Jehoahaz’s mother.[4] It says Jehu was buried in Samaria after ruling Israel there for twenty-eight years, and that Jehoahaz succeeded him.[5]

Jehoahaz belonged to the royal line established by Jehu. The Jewish Encyclopedia identifies him as the second king of northern Israel’s fifth dynasty.[1]

The biblical account places Jehoahaz’s accession in the twenty-third year of Joash, king of Judah, and gives him a seventeen-year reign over Israel from Samaria. It supplies no absolute dates for his rule.[2] The Jewish Encyclopedia dates the reign to 814–797 BCE, whereas Encyclopaedia Judaica gives approximately 814–800 BCE.[1][3]

The narrative portrays the reign as a period of sustained Aramean oppression. Israel was repeatedly placed under the power of Hazael, king of Aram, and Hazael’s son Ben-hadad; the account says Hazael oppressed Israel throughout Jehoahaz’s rule.[2] Encyclopaedia Judaica describes the kingdom as declining and Jehoahaz as a vassal of Aram while Hazael and Ben-hadad III exercised broad regional power.[3]

The scale of Israel’s military weakness is conveyed through the forces left to Jehoahaz: fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers. The text says Aram’s king had destroyed the army and “made them like the dust in threshing.”[2] A Hebrew Union College thesis organizes the episode around continuing conflict with Aram, military weakness, and the biblical narrator’s negative religious judgment. It also notes that Israel retained its independence, though with difficulty.[4]

Second Kings evaluates Jehoahaz negatively, saying he continued the sins associated with Jeroboam son of Nebat. It also reports that an Asherah sacred post remained standing in Samaria.[2] These judgments form part of the narrative’s religious interpretation of the king and his reign.

The same account says Jehoahaz pleaded with God because of Israel’s suffering and that God heard him and granted Israel a deliverer. It describes the Israelites as escaping Aramean control and resuming life as before, while also saying that they did not abandon the practices associated with Jeroboam.[2] Encyclopaedia Judaica calls this the only story in Kings in which a northern king implores God, and compares it with an account of Zakkur of Hamath appealing to Baalhamayn during a siege.[3]

The biblical account says Jehoahaz died and was buried in Samaria, and that his son Joash succeeded him. It states that the other events, actions, and exploits of his reign were recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Israel.[2]

After Hazael’s death, Joash fought Ben-hadad, Hazael’s successor. Second Kings says Joash defeated him three times and recovered the towns Aram had taken from Jehoahaz in war.[2] The Jewish Encyclopedia dates Joash’s reign to 798–782 BCE and likewise records his three successive victories and recovery of the captured towns.[6]

The succession continued the dynasty promised to Jehu, whose descendants were to occupy Israel’s throne for four generations.[5] Farrar’s commentary presents Jehoahaz’s reign as a low point for Israel and contrasts it with the comparatively stronger and more independent kingdom left by Joash.[7]

Accounts of Jehoahaz’s reign rely substantially on the biblical narrative, which combines regnal and military information with theological judgments about the king and Israel’s conduct. Its statements about divine anger, Jehoahaz’s plea, and deliverance therefore represent the narrative’s religious framing rather than independently verified explanations of events.[2][4] Later in the chapter, the narrative attributes Israel’s preservation to God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.[2]

The absolute chronology varies among the cited works. The Jewish Encyclopedia gives 814–797 BCE, while Encyclopaedia Judaica gives approximately 814–800 BCE and observes that the synchronism with Joash of Judah implies fourteen years rather than the stated seventeen. It proposes either a three-year co-regency with Jehu or a change in dating systems.[1][3] Heinrich Graetz instead assigns Jehoahaz’s reign to 859–845 BCE.[8] Farrar uses 814–797 BCE but cautions that the regnal synchronisms contain uncertainties and that such dates are approximate.[7]

The identity of the deliverer in Second Kings is also unresolved. The Jewish Encyclopedia says the identity and timing are undetermined, suggesting Jehoahaz’s son Joash or grandson Jeroboam II as possible fulfillments and also noting Assyrian campaigns against Damascus.[1] Encyclopaedia Judaica connects Israel’s lasting release from Aramean oppression with Adad-Nirari III’s defeat of Ben-hadad III in 796 BCE, around the beginning of Jehoahaz’s son Jehoash’s reign.[3] Both are interpretations; the biblical passage itself does not name the deliverer.