This page offers questions and answers for studying 2 Chronicles 24, the account of King Joash repairing the temple and then turning away after the death of the priest Jehoiada. It suits a small group, a Sunday class, or personal reflection. Each set of questions comes with a leader’s note so you can move through the chapter without preparing a separate summary.
2 Chronicles 24 at a Glance
The chapter opens with Joash crowned as a boy of seven and shaped by the priest Jehoiada, who guides him to do what is right for as long as Jehoiada lives. Joash then sets out to repair the temple. The Levites are slow to collect the tax, so the king has a chest placed at the temple gate, and the people give generously until the work is funded and completed.
After Jehoiada dies, the leaders of Judah persuade Joash to abandon the Lord and serve idols. God sends prophets, and Zechariah, Jehoiada’s son, speaks boldly and is stoned at the king’s command. The chapter closes with Syrian invaders, a wounded king, and his own servants killing him in bed. Read as a whole, it traces how a faithful beginning can slowly give way to a faithless end.
Observation Questions
Use these questions to slow the group down and let everyone see what the text plainly reports before anyone offers an interpretation. Ask people to point to specific words in the passage when they answer, and resist explaining too quickly.
2 Chronicles 24:2
Joash did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
(WEB)
This verse summarizes the early reign of Joash and names the source of his faithfulness. Reading it first helps the group see that the chapter begins on a hopeful note before the turn.
2 Chronicles 24:10
All the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had filled it.
(WEB)
Reading this verse highlights the joy and generosity of the people as they fill the chest for the temple. It gives the group a picture of wholehearted participation in God’s work.
2 Chronicles 24:20
The Spirit of God came on Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God, ‘Why do you disobey the LORD’s commandments, so that you can’t prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, he has also forsaken you.’”
(WEB)
Zechariah’s words are central to the chapter’s message about the connection between forsaking the Lord and losing his blessing. Reading them aloud brings the prophetic warning into sharp focus.
2 Chronicles 24:22
Thus Joash the king didn’t remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. When he died, he said, “May the LORD look at it, and repay it.”
(WEB)
This verse records the king’s forgetfulness of Jehoiada’s kindness and his violence against Zechariah. Hearing it aloud helps the group feel the weight of ingratitude and its consequences.
2 Chronicles 24:24
For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men; and the LORD delivered a very great army into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers. So they executed judgment on Joash.
(WEB)
This verse explains the defeat of Judah by a small force and ties it to the people’s abandonment of the Lord. It anchors the chapter’s theology of judgment for the group’s discussion.
Memory Verse for 2 Chronicles 24
A Closing Prayer for the Group
Father, we come to you grateful that you raise up faithful teachers and send voices to call us back when we drift. Forgive us for the times we have forgotten your kindness, followed the crowd, or resisted correction. Give us hearts that give willingly to your work, the way the people did when the chest was filled. Help us remain faithful even after the guides who strengthened us are gone, and let our faith rest on you alone. Make us people who remember your mercy and keep our eyes on you. Amen.
