Bible Commentaries
2 Chronicles 24

Verse 1

Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Zibiah of Beersheba.

Joash ... began to reign - (see the notes at 2 Kings 12:1-3.)

Verse 2

And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

No JFB commentary on this verse.

Verse 3

And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters.

Jehoiada took for him two wives, [ low (H3807a)] - for him or for himself. If the reference is to Jehoiada himself, the rabbis may be right in maintaining that he married this second wife on the death of the first, because there is nothing in the context to warrant the conclusion that he married the two together; and besides, there is no recorded instance of polygamy in a priest. If the meaning is, though, that Jehoiada took for Joash two wives-and the generality of interpreters apply this statement to the young king-the fact mentioned of Joash, that he "did that which was right in the sight of the Lord," does not justify this double marriage in the eye of the law, anymore than the same affirmation made respecting David justifies the numerous sins that he committed. The whole amount of meaning attached to this phrase is, that the king's public conduct, as a theocratic ruler, was generally acceptable to God.

Verse 4

And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to repair the house of the LORD.

Joash was minded to repair the house of the Lord. (See the notes at 2 Kings 12:4-16.)

Verses 5-6

And he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out unto the cities of Judah, and gather of all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that ye hasten the matter. Howbeit the Levites hastened it not.

No JFB commentary on these verses.

Verse 7

For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also all the dedicated things of the house of the LORD did they bestow upon Baalim.

For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God, [ hamirsha`at (H4849)] - wickedness (concrete) for the wicked woman. A voluntary contribution was resolved upon for the due repairs of the temple, from the dilapidations committed upon it by Athaliah and her emissaries for enriching the worship of Baal.

Verses 8-14

And at the king's commandment they made a chest, and set it without at the gate of the house of the LORD.

No JFB commentary on these verses.

Verse 15

But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died.

Jehoiada waxed old, and ... died. His life, protracted to unusual longevity, and spent in the service of his country, deserved some tribute of public gratitude, and this was rendered in the posthumous honours that were bestowed on him. Among the Hebrews, intramural interment was prohibited in every city but Jerusalem, and there the exception was made only to the royal family and persons of eminent merit, on whom the distinction was conferred of being buried in the city of David, among the kings, as in the case of Jehoiada.

Verse 16

And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God, and toward his house.

No JFB commentary on this verse.

Verse 17

Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them.

Now ... came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Hitherto, while Joash occupied the throne, his uncle had held the reins of sovereign power, and by his excellent counsels had directed the young king to such measures as were calculated to promote both the civil and religious interests of the country. The fervent piety, practical wisdom, and inflexible firmness of that sage counselor exerted immense influence over all classes. But now that the helm of the state ship was no longer steered by the sound head and firm hand of the venerable high priest, the real merits of Joash's administration appear; and for want of good and enlightened principle, as well as, perhaps, of natural energy of character, he allowed himself to be borne onward in a course which soon wrecked the vessel upon hidden rocks.

The king hearkened unto them ... They were secretly attached to idolatry, and their elevated rank affords sad proof how extensively and deeply the nation had become corrupted during the reigns of Jehoram, Abaziah, and Athaliah. With strong professions of allegiance, they humbly requested that they might not be subjected to the continued necessity of frequent and expensive journeys to Jerusalem, but allowed the privilege their fathers had enjoyed of worshipping God in high places at home; and they framed their petition in this plausible and least offensive manner, well knowing that, if excused attendance at the temple, they might-without risk of discovery or disturbance-indulge their tastes in the observance of any private rites they pleased. The weak-minded king granted their petition; and the consequence was, that when they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, they soon "served groves and idols."

Verse 18

And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.

Wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem. The particular mention of Jerusalem as involved in the sin, implies that the neglect of the temple and the consequent idolatry received not only the king's toleration, but his sanction; and it naturally occurs to ask how, at his mature age, such a total abandonment of a place with which all his early recollections were associated can be accounted for. It has been suggested that what he had witnessed of the conduct of many of the priests in the careless performance of the worship, and especially their unwillingness to collect the money, as well as apply a portion of their revenues for the repairs of the temple, had alienated and disgusted him (Leclerc).

Verse 19

Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the LORD; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear.

Yet he sent prophets - Elisha, Micah, Jehu son of Hanani, Jahaziel son of Zechariah (2 Chronicles 20:14), Eliezer son of Dodavah (2 Chronicles 20:37), lived and taught at that time. But all their prophetic warnings and denunciations were unheard and unheeded.

Verse 20

And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you.

The Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada - probably a younger son, because his name does not occur in the list of Aaron's successors, (1 Chronicles 6:1-81.) [Septuagint, Azarias].

Stood above the people. Being of the priestly order, he spoke from the inner court which was considerably higher than that of the people.

And said unto them ... His near relationship to the king might have created a feeling of delicacy and reluctance to interfere; but at length he, too, was prompted by an irresistible impulse to protest against the prevailing impiety. The bold freedom and energy of his remonstrance, as well as his denunciation of the national calamities that would certainly follow, were most unpalatable to the king, while they so roused the fierce passions of the multitude, that a band of miscreants, at the secret instigation of Joash, stoned him to death (cf. Matthew 23:35). This deed of violence involved complicated criminality on the part of the king. It was a horrid outrage on a prophet of the Lord-base ingratitude to a family who had preserved his life-atrocious treatment of a true Hebrew patriot-an illegal and unrighteous exercise of his power and authority as a king.

Verse 21

And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD.

No JFB commentary on this verse.

Verse 22

Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The LORD look upon it, and require it.

When he died, he said, The Lord look upon it, and require it. These dying words, if they implied a vindictive imprecation, exhibit a striking contrast to the spirit of the first Christian martyr (Acts 7:60). But, instead of being the expression of a personal wish, they might be the utterance of a prophetic doom. The resting place of Zechariah is still pointed out, according to immemorial tradition, in a monument detached from the rock which fronts the area of the temple and bearing a strong resemblance to that of Absalom (so-called).

Verse 23

And it came to pass at the end of the year, that the host of Syria came up against him: and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them unto the king of Damascus.

At the end of the year ... the lost of Syria came up. This invasion took place under the personal conduct of Hazael, whom Joash, to save the miseries of a siege, prevailed on to withdraw his forces by a large present of gold (2 Kings 12:18). Most probably, also, he promised the payment of an annual tribute, on the neglect or refusal of which the Syrians returned the following year, and, with a mere handful of men, inflicted a total and humiliating defeat on the collected force of the Hebrews.

Verse 24

For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, and the LORD delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash.

No JFB commentary on this verse.

Verse 25

And when they were departed from him, (for they left him in great diseases,) his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings.

They left him in great diseases. The close of his life was embittered by a painful malady, which long confined him to bed.

His own servants conspired against him. These two conspirators (whose fathers were Jews, but their mothers aliens) were probably courtiers, who, having constant access to the bed-chamber, could the more easily execute their design.

For the blood of the sons - read 'the son' of Jehoiada. Public opinion seems to have ascribed the disasters of his life and reign to that foul crime; and as the king had long lost the esteem and respect of his subjects, neither horror nor sorrow was expressed for his miserable end.

They buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings. The sepulchres of the kings, hewn out of the rock, and situated about a mile to the northwest of the modern Jerusalem, have long presented a scene of interest to travelers in that famous city. Of course, it is a question whether those sepulchres were the tombs of the Jewish sovereigns; because it is expressly said that the real Sepulchres were in "the city of David." But there are none now to be seen on mount Zion; and yet, in favour of these tombs being "the sepulchres of the kings," it must be borne in mind that, though they are considerably removed from the northern wall of the town, they seem to have been included within the wall of the ancient city, which is universally allowed to have extended far in that direction (cf. 2 Kings 12:20; Sepp's 'Jerusalem and the Holy Land,' in which the site of Millo is fixed, according to the Septuagint, at the extreme north of the city, where he locates also the city of David).