From the Death of Ahab to the Captivity of the Ten Tribes - Flavius Josephus

Chapter 8
Jehoash Commands Zechariah to Be Stoned
1. Now Hazael, king of Syria, fought against the Israelites and their king
Jehu, and spoiled the eastern parts of the country beyond Jordan, which
belonged to the Reubenites and Gadites, and to [the half tribe of] Manassites;
as also Gilead and Bashan, burning, and spoiling, and offering violence to all
that he laid his hands on, and this without impeachment from Jehu, who
made no haste to defend the country when it was under this distress; nay, he
was become a contemner of religion, and a despiser of holiness, and of the
laws, and died when he had reigned over the Israelites twenty-seven years.
He was buried in Samaria, and left Jehoahaz his son his successor in the
government.
2. Now Jehoash, king of Jerusalem, had an inclination to repair the
temple of God; so he called Jehoiada, and bid him send the Levites and
priests through all the country, to require half a shekel of silver for every
head, towards the rebuilding and repairing of the temple, which was brought
to decay by Jehoram, and Athaliah and her sons. But the high priest did not
do this, as concluding that no one would willingly pay that money; but in the
twenty-third year of Jehoash's reign, when the king sent for him and the
Levites, and complained that they had not obeyed what he enjoined them,
and still commanded them to take care of the rebuilding the temple, he used
this stratagem for collecting the money, with which the multitude was
pleased. He made a wooden chest, and closed it up fast on all sides, but
opened one hole in it; he then set it in the temple beside the altar, and desired
every one to cast into it, through the hole, what he pleased, for the repair of
the temple. This contrivance was acceptable to the people, and they strove
one with another, and brought in jointly large quantities of silver and gold;
and when the scribe and the priest that were over the treasuries had emptied
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