"Jehoash"

Jehoash, a.k.a. Joash (r. 800-784 B.C.E.) – The son of Jehoahaz, who persisted in the calf cult but, like Jehoram before him, humbly sought out the God of Israel’s prophets. He was deeply attached to the prophet Elisha and sorely grieved the latter’s death. On his deathbed, Elisha had laid his hands on those of the king who was grasping bow and arrow, and had the king shoot an arrow of victory out an open window facing eastward and then strike the arrows on the ground, which Jehoash did thrice, a sign that he would thrice gain victory over Aram.

Aided by the Assyrian king Adad-Nirari III’s assaults on Aram, Jehoash repeatedly defeated the weakened Arameans and retook the Israelite towns which Hazael and Ben-Hadad III had claimed from his father Jehoahaz. Under Jehoash, one of Israel’s greatest monarchs, the kingdom’s armed forces were significantly replenished. He later went to war against the hubristic King Amaziah of Judah at Bet Shemesh at the latter’s behest and was triumphant, taking Amaziah prisoner and claiming hostages and plunder from Jerusalem and dismantling part of its walls. He died soon thereafter and was buried in Samaria.