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Day 361: 2 Chronicles 21-24 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango

Sep 15, 2026 · 21 min27

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The story of Joash is a wild tale of hidden heirs, temple coups, and spiritual whiplash. In 2 Chronicles 21–24, Judah spirals from royal assassinations to priest-led reform—all hinging on a single child who was hidden in the temple for six years. God’s covenant with David is nearly destroyed by Athaliah’s demonic reign, but a priest named Jehoiada steps up with courage, covenant, and conviction. Dr. Manny walks us through this rollercoaster of betrayal, revival, and decline—and what it teaches us about leadership, influence, and legacy.

✈️ Overview:

• Jehoram becomes king and kills all his brothers, turning Judah toward idolatry

• Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, influences her son Ahaziah and later seizes the throne herself

• After Ahaziah is assassinated, Athaliah kills the entire royal family—but Joash is secretly hidden by Jehosheba

• Jehoiada the priest organizes a coup, crowns Joash as king at age 7, and leads national reform

• Joash repairs the temple and leads well—until Jehoiada dies, and he abandons the Lord

🔎 Context Clues:

• Ezra’s chronicling of Judah excludes Israel entirely—shining a spotlight on covenant faithfulness

• The only woman to rule Judah is framed as an anti-Messiah figure trying to kill the Davidic line

• Jehoiada isn’t royalty—but his priestly leadership preserves God’s promise and saves the nation

• Ezra centers temple restoration as a sign of spiritual renewal and covenant obedience

• The narrative shift after Jehoiada’s death reveals how dependent Joash was on outside influence

🤓 Nerdy Nuggets:

• Elijah sends a letter to Jehoram after Elijah’s departure—a rare prophetic mic drop from beyond

• Jehoram dies of a gruesome disease—his funeral is dishonorable, and no one mourns

• Jehosheba, wife of the high priest, becomes a hidden hero by saving baby Joash

• Athaliah’s reign mirrors Jezebel’s agenda—an anti-Davidic infiltration of Judah

• Joash uses a collection box (chest with a hole) to fund temple repairs—a rare Old Testament GoFundMe

• Joash turns on Zechariah, Jehoiada’s son, and has him stoned in the temple—foreshadowing future rejection of prophets

✅ Timeless Truths:

• Who influences you matters—your character is revealed when godly voices go silent

• God keeps His promises—even when the enemy tries to kill every last heir

• Hidden obedience (like Jehosheba’s) can change the course of history

• Reform is fragile when it relies solely on leadership, not personal conviction

• Don’t mistake early faithfulness for lifelong integrity—your legacy depends on endurance

From royal murder to radical reform, this episode reminds us that legacy isn’t just about what you build—it’s about who you listen to when the music stops. Don’t just hide in the temple. Be the kind of person who builds it back up, even when no one’s watching. Finish well.

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We're a couple days away from the end of our reading plan, which means you're about to be a part of the 6% of Christians that have actually read the entire Bible cover to cover. So stay tuned until the very end of this episode to hear about something special that we have planned just for you. Bible nerds, let's dive in to today's episode. Okay, Emily, welcome to day 361. We are in our final week of this Bible reading plan. I'm super, super excited to jump in to second Chronicles, chapters 21 to 24. Talk about action, act chapters. Like the drama is real. Like this is some Game of Thrones level drama. And if you haven't done the reading for the day, honestly, you're missing out because this is just full of action. Tons of characters to keep track of. Tons of just humans. And I'm gonna try to keep track of it all. And if you have done the reading, then this next invitation is not for you. But if you haven't done the reading, I'm gonna invite you to stop the video, pause the audio and go get the reading done, okay? This reading, the chapters are feeling longer, in my opinion, but they're moving. But there's a lot of details to keep track of, okay? That's just the nature of this section of Chronicles, all right? So with no further ado, let's jump into context clues, then nerdy nuggets, and then we'll leave the episode off

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of the timeless truth. And our timeless truth today really points to Jesus, and I'm excited about it. So make sure that you stick around for the end of the episode to hear the timeless truth for the day. Context, we got a lot of characters today. So almost opposite of yesterday, yesterday, all four chapters, 17, 18, 19, and 20, centered around one main character. His name is Jehoshaphat. And it's really sad because he could have been a great king. He ended up being an okay king, but his decision really creates a domino effect that means that these next couple of kings are gonna be the worst. And like the decision to form a marriage alliance with Ahab and Jezebel are gonna bring the Davidic line almost to the brink of disaster. Like it's gonna be one couple that really saves everything for the Davidic line. And so man, this is nuts, okay? So Jehoram, we're gonna see Jehoram come to power in chapter 21. Chapter 21 starts like, so I'm just gonna flip there. There we go. Then Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the city of David. And Jehoram, his son, succeeded him as king and skipped out of verse four.

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When Jehoram established himself firmly over his father's kingdom, he put all his brothers to the sword along with some of the officials of Israel. Uh oh, this is not getting off to a good start, yo. Not gonna lie. Bruh, you're killing your brothers. Like, and obviously this is normal in the secular world. Okay, for Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, killing any rival claim to the throne normal. In Israel, terrible. Like legit, just like he's acting like a pagan. However, I mean, it says this, and verse six is gonna give us a reason. He followed the ways of the kings of Israel as the house of Ahab had done. So it's like, he's acting like his father-in-law, Ahab, for he married a daughter of Ahab. So we're already at... Mm. The Bible's not trying to blame the wife necessarily. The Bible's just saying he's being influenced by the person he's married, which I could get into a Thomas Truth right there. Like, your spouse is going to have a influence on your life. Whether that be positive or negative, there is no doubt whether or not your spouse is gonna influence you and your destiny and your purpose and your spiritual vitality

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and everything about your life, all right? So he did evil in the eyes of the Lord. So Johorim's gonna get a thumbs down, it's a terrible king. And he is married to Atholiah, okay? So when it says, "For he married a daughter of Ahab, that daughter of Ahab is Atholiah and the home girl The Edomites surrounding him as chair commanders, but he rose up and broke through to this day. Edom has been a rebellion in rebellion because your format forsaken the Lord and the God of his ancestors. He also built high places on the hills of Judah and caused the people of Jerusalem to prosecute themselves and had led Judah astray. And so we're going to get a cameo from our dude Elijah, Elijah the prophet who obviously is featured heavily in Kings in the book of Kings, but not in Chronicles. But we're going to get this, essentially this letter that like, dude, Jehorm, you're going to die of like a bowel disease, dude. And that's exactly what happens. Okay. He passes away. And then this is a sad verse, man, verse 20. Jehorm was 32 years old when he became king and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. Okay. So there's only 40 years old when he dies. He passed away to no one's regret. That's just sad to no one's regret and was buried in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings. All right. So Jehorm married to Atheliah, daughter of ahab and Jezebel, essentially like Jezebel Jezebel Jr, bro. And she's trash. Like she literally influences this man in an incredibly negative way. But it doesn't stop there. It doesn't stop there. Atheliah is now going to go from being the wife of Jehorm to being the mom of Ahaziah. So chapter 22 starts, the people of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, Jehorm's youngest son king in his place since the raiders who came with the Arabs into the camp had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah, son of Jehorm, king of Judah, begin to reign. Verse three, he too followed the ways of the house of Ahab for his mother encouraged him to act wickedly. So Jehorm's going to be a terrible king because of his wife, Atheliah. And then their son, Ahaziah, is going to be a terrible king because of his mom, Atheliah. Common denominator here is homegirl Atheliah. Atheliah is trash. Jezebel Jr is trash. Okay. And, and that's just, that's so bad. So, uh, now Ahaziah is actually going to, is, is also going to die. Okay. It says this, uh, Jehu, who we've heard a lot about in kings. All right. Like Jehu familiar character. Okay. Uh, it says this while J, uh, this is verse eight of chapter 22. While J who was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, he found the officials of Judah in the

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sons of Ahaziah's relatives who had been attending Ahaziah and he killed them. He then went in search of Ahaziah and his men captured him while he was hiding in Samaria. He was brought to Jehu and put to death. They buried him before they said he was a son of Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all his, his heart. So there was no one in the house of Ahaziah powerful enough to retain the kingdom. So now, Atheliah is going to perform a coup. All right. That's, that was going to happen. So, verse 10, when Atheliah, the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family of the house of Judah. So I'm pretty sure I said this yesterday that Atheliah is on a demonic rampage. Like she is on a mission from hell to just destroy the messianic seed. Like that, there's no other way to describe like what this woman is doing. As a wife, she has completely ruined Jehoshaphat as a mom. She's ruined Ahaziah. And now she is killing every single heir of David so much she could find. Okay. Verse 11, but Jehoshaphat, the daughter of King Jehoshaphat. Okay. So this is also, this may be Atheliah's stepdaughter or daughter. Okay. Took Joash son of at Ahaziah. This is going to be her nephew, right? Yeah, nephew, maybe cousin. My brain will not compute which family member this is, but you can let me know in the comments on YouTube. Okay. Install him away from among the royal princes who were about to be murdered and put him in his nurse and his nurse in a bedroom because Jehoshapha the daughter of King Jehoshaphat and the wife of the priest, Jehoshaphat. Now these characters are going to become really Husband's name is Jehoya. Okay. The wife of the priest, Jehoya was Aziah's sister. She hid the child from Atholiah, so she could not kill him. So, Atholiah is out here killing children. And they hide the only heir left. Okay. So verse 12, he remained hidden with them at the temple of God for six years, while Atholiah ruled the land. So now you have this wicked woman that's actually like in leadership, terrible. In the seventh year Jehoya to show his strength, he made a covenant with the commanders of the units of 100. And what he's going to do, he's going to provide like armed protection for this, this young boy named Joash. Okay. And Joash is going to come to power. All right. So chapter 24 says Joash was seven years old when he became king. Oh, sorry. Let me go up one verse to chapter 23 verse 21. All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was calm because Atholiah had been slain with the sword. So somebody finally freaking kills Atholiah. Thank God. Wicked. Just wicked evil woman. So that somebody finally kills her, they praise God. And now Joash is seven years old and he becomes king. Okay. So I'm pretty sure this is the youngest king, like that Judah is going to have in the entire Bible. But it's not like

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he's just going to rule. It's Jehoida, who's really going to be leading, even though Joash is the king. So Joash gets a grade just like every king gets a grade verse two. Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years of Jehoida the priest. That's kind of like an asterisk. As long as Jehoida the priest is alive, Joash is on the street narrow. Okay. So Joash wants to repair the temple. All right. He wants to make sure that there's time and tax for the repair of the temple. I want you in chapter 24 to just note how many times the word repair. Okay. I see the word repair in verse five. And then I see the word rebuilt in verse 13 reinforced in verse 13. As long as Jehoida lived, burnt offerings were presented continually in the temple of the Lord. That's verse 14. Verse 15. Now, Jehoida was old and full of years. He died at the age of 130. He was buried with the kings in the city of David because of the good he had done in Israel for God and his temple. Oh, this is Ezra. Oh, this got Ezra written all over. This is so as Gen Z would say, Ezra coded. Okay. This content is Ezra coded. All the officials and all the people brought the contributions gladly. Verse 10 of chapter 24. Dropping them into the chest until it was full. So this is kind of a reminiscent of how the people brought offerings for the temple when David was was honestly like about to die, but making preparations for his son to take over the temple. Okay. So Jehoram, Isaiah, Joash. Okay. The only reason that Joash is even able to lead at the age of seven is because Jehoida and Jehoshaba have honestly like spared this boy's life. Unfortunately, Jehoida is going to die. Verse 15 chapter 24. Jehoida was old and full of years and he died at the age of 130. Okay. Now skip verse 17. After the death of Jehoida, the official of Judah came and paid homage to the king and he listened to them. They abandoned the temple of the Lord. Come on, man. Ezra's got one wish that you would just not abandon the temple. Okay. They abandoned the temple of the Lord, the God of their ancestors and worshiped astral poles and idols because of their guilt. God's anger came on Judah and Jerusalem. So 24 is actually going to be where Zechariah is going to get killed. We've talked about that before and then finally verse 24. Although the army and army had come with only a few men, the Lord delivered into their hands a much larger army because Judah had forsaken the Lord. The God of their ancestors judgment was executed on Joash. All right. So and we get a shout out to the book of Kings. Okay. Verse 27. I mean, I'm sorry. I've transitioned into nerdy nuggets a long time ago. Just forgotten to say anything so sorry about that don't skip those first of all, I'm so proud of you.

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Second, you probably know this, but you're my kind of people. I really enjoy hanging out with Bible nerds. So I've got exciting news for you, and it's called the 6% Club. For anyone that has finished their entire Bible in a calendar year, we have exclusive content, newsletters, giveaways, live events. Oh yeah, live events, baby, and more all throughout the year. You can find out about all of that if you go to the Bible department.com/club to officially join the 6% Club. Why don't we call the 6% Club? 'Cause only 6% of Christians have actually read their entire Bible cover to cover. And every year, Bible nerds, like you, finish our Bible reading plan, and we get asked, what's next? Well, we've got an answer, and you don't want to miss out. So head over to the Bible department.com/club or click the link in the description to get access. We'll see you in the club. Let's go! First 27, the account of his sons, the many prophecies about him, and the record of the Restoration of the Temple of God are written in the annotations of the Book of the Kings. And Amaziah, his son, succeeded him as king. And so tomorrow, we will start talking about Amaziah, okay?

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And so, remember I said that we are on a loop, like we're gonna get decline and reform, decline and reform, decline and reform. So, Jehorm and Ahaziah represent decline. Joash represents some form of, you know, like reform. It's just only while Jehoye does alive. Only while Jehoye does alive, which is unfortunate. So, we had a lot of characters today. We had Jehorm, we had Ahaziah, okay? Athaliah is Jehorm's wife, Ahaziah's mom. So, both of these kings are gonna get negatively influenced by the same woman, okay? Idol-worshipping, demon-worshipping woman, and then we're gonna get Joash. So, Athaliah is trying to kill her grandson, okay? And if it's not for Jehoshaba and Jehoyeta, she would have successfully killed her grandson, and Joash wouldn't have been able to enact any other reforms that he was able to enact. - And honestly, the entire story of Jehoshaba, Jehoyeta, Joash, Athaliah, all these characters lead a seamlessly into our timeless truth, which is the house of David goes to the brink of extinction. I mean, one person away from the prophecy that God gave like being null and void, and all hope is found in the hands of a toddler. That's right, like if this toddler's not hidden and then revealed this toddler won't be able to be the means of salvation for David's line. And man, if that's not foreshadowing another toddler

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that's gonna have to be hidden, because Herod is gonna wanna kill him. The same toddler who is threatening power of people much older than him. So, David's line comes to the brink of extinction, but someone's wise enough to hide that which is valuable because they hid that which is valuable, that leader, that king, in this instance, it's Joash, but for the future, it's gonna be Jesus. It survives the enemy's planned attack against the seed that God wants to grow and sprout. And so, David's lineage lives to see another generation. And honestly, that's not just relevant for Joash or Jehoida or Jehoshaba, that's relevant for you, it's relevant for me because man, we're embarking on the Christmas season and we believe that a child that was born, a toddler, that all of glory was downloaded into this one toddler and he's the hope of the world. He is the hope of the world. And I'm super excited that I get to worship Jesus. And so, everything was on the brink of failure and extinction and if it had not been for a baby, aka a toddler, who was hidden, we would not be sitting here enjoying salvation and deliverance and freedom. So, that is not just true for Jehoida and Jehoshaba and Joash. That's true for you, that's true for me. If we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Tomorrow, we got day 362. We're gonna be looking at second chronicles, chapters 25

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with all of you. I love you. I'm proud of you. I'll see you tomorrow. Love you. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible department podcast. Hey, we're almost there. I bet you can see the light at the end of the tunnel where towards the end of the year and I'm so proud of you. If this episode and this year of reading through the Bible was helpful, how about you invite a friend to join you on the journey next year? To learn more about the show, head to the Bible department.com and to learn more about the 6% club, make sure you go to the Bible department.com/club. We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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