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JEHOIADA

(Heb. yĕhôyāḏāʿ) (also JOIADA)

1. A priest from Kabzeel, in southern Judah. He was the father of Benaiah, chief of David’s bodyguard (2 Sam. 8:18; 23:20, 22 = 1 Chr. 11:22, 24; 27:5).

2. A late-9th-century priest in Jerusalem (2 Kgs. 11–12; 2 Chr. 23:1–24:16). Jehoiada led the coup that ousted Athaliah (ca. 843-ca. 837 b.c.e.) and installed Joash (ca. 837-800?) on the Davidic throne. The 2 Kings narrative depicts his leadership, military control, and manipulation of dynastic and covenantal symbols. 2 Chronicles emphasizes his leadership in the renewal of the sanctity of the temple.

2 Kings credits Joash’s correct behavior to Jehoiada’s instruction. 2 Chronicles, however, limits the king’s acceptable behavior to Jehoiada’s lifetime in an effort to explain theologically certain negative events later in Joash’s reign. In the account on the temple restoration, 2 Kings reports first Jehoiada’s inaction, then his cooperation with the king’s initiative to fund temple repairs. 2 Chronicles reduces Jehoiada’s direct role while crediting his tenure with the proper restoration of the temple and its ritual. Rivalry between royal and religious hierarchies, typical of agrarian states, underlies both narratives.

Chronicles adds details: Jehoiada’s wife was Jehosheba, he selected wives for Joash, and he was buried with the kings in the city of David. These details may have annalistic veracity but also reveal a rhetorical interest in the priest’s role.

3. A son of Benaiah, successor to Ahithophel as king’s counselor (1 Chr. 27:34).

4. A priest of the Second Temple period, son of the high priest Eliashib (7; Neh. 13:28). His son’s marriage into the foreign Sanballat family was condemned by Nehemiah. Elsewhere the name appears as Joiada.

5. A priest who was replaced by Zephaniah, probably as part of factional infighting in late First Temple Judah (Jer. 29:26).

Bibliography. P. Dutcher-Walls, Narrative Art, Political Rhetoric: The Case of Athaliah and Joash. JSOTSup 209 (Sheffield, 1996).

Patricia Dutcher-Walls

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

JEHOIADA

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)