These advantages rendered the kingdom of Israel more potent than that of Judah. He, how ever, sought no quarrel with that kingdom ; but when he received a defiance from Amaziah, king of Judah, he answered with becoining spirit in a parable, which by its images calls to mind that of Jotham [PARABLEs] : the cool disdain of the answer must have been, and in fact was, exceed., ingiy galling to Amaziah. The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife ; and there came by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trod down the thistle.' This was admirable ; nor was the application less so : Thou hast, indeed, smitten Edom, and thine heart hath lifted thee up : glory of this, and tarry at home ; for why shouldcst thou meddle to thy hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou and Judah whit thee ?' In the war, or rather action, which followed, Joash was victorious. Having defeated Arnaziah at Beth shemesh, in Judah, he advanced to Jerusalem, broke down the wall to the extent of 400 cubits, and carried away the treasures both of the Temple and the palace, together with hostages for the future good behaviour of the crest-fallen Amaziah. Joash himself did not long survive this victory ; he died in peace, and was buried in Samaria (2 Kings xiii. 9-25 ; xiv. 1-17).—J. K.
Five others of the name of Joash are mentioned in the O. T., viz.—z. The father of Gideon, a man of wealth among the Abiezrites, who, though so far led astray by the prevailing tendency as to have an altar dedicated to Baal on his grounds, was the first to applaud the act of his son in destroying that altar (Judg. vi. II, 29-3z) ; 2. A person described as the king's son,' to whom the superintendence of the royal prison was entrusted (2 Chron. xviii. 25) ; it is not necessary to suppose that he was a brother of Ahab, as any prince of the blood-royal might be called the king's son ;' 3. A descendant of Judah, and apparently the son of Shelah (r Chron. iv. 22) ; 4. A Benjamite who resorted to David at Ziklag, and helped hint against the rovers to whose attacks he was exposed (I Chron. xii. 3, 21) ; 5. An officer of David, who had charge of the cellars of oil (I Chron. xxvii. 2S). The A. V. prcsents another Joash, the son of Becher (1 Chron, vii. 8) ; but in the Heb. this name is different from the preceding, being 03p, not t;;Ni+. The LXX.
also makes both the same, 'hods. —W. L. A.