Jehoiada

In the biblical narrative (chiefly 2 Chronicles 22–24 and parallel passages), Jehoiada is a priest active during the reigns of Ahaziah, Athaliah, and Joash. He and Jehosheba rescued the infant Joash from Athaliah's massacre of the Davidic line, hid him in Solomon's Temple for six years, and later organized a coup that deposed and resulted in the death of Athaliah. The chronicler portrays him as an authoritative temple leader who reformed cult practice, destroyed Baal's altar and temple, and established a covenant declaring the people the LORD's (2 Chronicles 23:16). Later sources (e.g., Josephus; medieval Seder Olam Zutta) differ on whether to style him formally as High Priest.

The supplied sources give no physical description (height, facial features, clothing beyond priestly office). Biblical and later texts identify him by his priestly role and biographical markers: he is the temple leader who hid Joash, led the coup against Athaliah, enacted cult reform, was reported by Chronicles to have lived 130 years, and was "buried very honorably among the kings in the city of David" (2 Chronicles 24:15). The Chronicle's age statement is treated in the sources as chronologically notable or problematic.

Jehoiada's capacities in the sources are institutional and political rather than supernatural: he exercises temple-level authority as a senior priest (Chronicles uses a term translated "chief"; Josephus refers to him as "high priest" in narrative, while Seder Olam Zutta lists him as a High Priest — these titular claims are contested). His recorded actions include protecting the royal heir (hiding Joash), organizing and executing a coup d'état that removed Athaliah, directing the destruction of Baal's altar and temple to end Baal-worship in Jerusalem, and arranging a national covenant that the people should be the LORD's. He functions as protector, organizer, cult-reformer, and kingmaker within the chronicler's ideological frame.