Bible Commentaries

The reign of Joash; cf. 2 Kings 12. - In both accounts only two main events in Joash's reign of forty years are narrated at any length, - the repair of the temple, and the campaign of the Syrian king Hazael against Jerusalem. Besides this, at the beginning, we have a statement as to the duration and spirit of his reign; and in conclusion, the murder of Joash in consequence of a conspiracy is mentioned. Both accounts agree in all essential points, but are shown to be extracts containing the most important part of a more complete history of Joash, by the fact that, on the one hand, in 2 Kings 12 single circumstances are communicated in a more detailed and more exact form than that in which the Chronicle states them; while, on the other hand, the account of the Chronicle supplements the account in 2 Kings 12 in many respects. To these latter belong the account of the marriage of Joash, and his many children, the account of the death of Jehoiada at the age of 130 years, and his honourable burial with the kings, etc.; see on 2 Chronicles 24:15.

As to the repair of the temple, see the commentary on 2 Kings 12:5-17,where both the formal divergences and the essential agreement of the twonarratives are pointed out.

וגו יביא בּעת ויהי, translate: It came topass at the time when they brought the chest to the guard of the king bythe Levites, i.e., to the board of oversight appointed by the king fromamong the Levites. עת stat. constr. before a sentence following. בּכום ליום does not denote every day, but every time when there was much money in the chest.

ארוּכה ותּעל, and there was a band laid upon the work,i.e., the restoration of the house of God was furthered; cf. for thissymbolical expression, Nehemiah 4:1; Jeremiah 8:7.

כּלים ויּעשׂהוּ, therefrom (the king) caused to bemade (prepared) vessels for the house of Jahve, (namely) vessels of theservice, i.e., according to Numbers 4:12, in the holy place, and for the offeringof burnt-offering, i.e., altar vessels, and (besides) bowls, and (other)vessels of gold and silver. The last clause of 2 Chronicles 24:14 leads on to thefollowing: “They (king and people) offered burnt-offering continually solong as Jehoiada lived.”

Jehoiada's death: the fall of the people into idolatry: the protest of theprophet Zechariah against it, and the stoning of him. - This section is notfound in 2 Kings 12, but is important for the understanding of the laterhistory of Joash (2 Chronicles 24:23.). With the death of the grey-haired high priestcame a turning-point in the reign of Joash. Jehoiada had saved the life andthrone of Joash, preserved to the kingdom the royal house of David, towhich the promises belonged, and had put an end to the idolatry which had been transplanted into Judah by Joram's marriage into the royal house of Ahab, restoring the Jahve-worship. For this he was honoured at his death, his body being laid in the city of David among the kings: “For he had done good in Israel, and towards God and His house” (the temple). According to 2 Kings 12:7, he still took an active part in the repair of the temple in the twenty-third year of Joash, and according to 2 Chronicles 24:14 he lived for some time after the completion of that work. But after his death the people soon forgot the benefits they owed him.

The princes of Judah besought the king to allow them to worship theAstartes and idols, and the king hearkened to them, did not venture todeny their request. למּלך ישׁתּחווּ, they bowed themselves beforethe king, i.e., they besought him. What they thus beseechingly requested isnot stated, but may be gathered from what they did, according to 2 Chronicles 24:18. They forsook Jahve the God of their fathers, etc. There came wrath upon Judah because of this their trespass. קצף, a wrathful judgment of the Lord, cf. 2 Chronicles 29:8, viz., the invasion of the land by Hazael, 2 Chronicles 24:23. On the construction זאת אשׁמתם, cf. Ew. §293, c, S. 740. Against this defection prophets whom the Lord sent did indeed lift up their testimony, but they would not hearken to them. Of these prophets, one, Zechariah the son of the high priest Jehoiada, is mentioned by name in 2 Chronicles 24:20., who, seized by the Spirit of the Lord, announced to the people divine punishment for their defection, and was thereupon, at the king's command, stoned in the court of the temple. With לבשׁה רוּח cf. 1 Chronicles 12:18, and the commentary on Judges 6:34. לעם מעל, above the people, viz., as we learn from 2 Chronicles 24:21, in the inner, higher-lying court, so that he was above the people who were in the outer court. “Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, and (why) will ye not prosper?” Fidelity to the Lord is the condition of prosperity. If Israel forsake the Lord, the Lord will also forsake it; cf. 2 Chronicles 12:5; 2 Chronicles 15:2.

And they (the princes and the people) conspired against him, and stonedhim, at the command of the king, in the court of the temple. Thisזכריה is the Æá÷áñéwhose slaughter is mentioned byChrist in Matthew 23:36 and Luke 11:51 as the last prophet-murder narratedin the Old Testament, whose blood would come upon the people, althoughMatthew calls him õéÂáñá÷éAccording to thesepassages, he was slain between the temple and the altar of burnt-offering,consequently in the most sacred part of the court of the priests. That theking, Joash, could give the command for this murder, shows how hiscompliance with the princes' demands (2 Chronicles 24:17) had made him the slave ofsin. Probably the idolatrous princes accused the witness for God of being aseditious person and a rebel against the majesty of the crown, and therebyextorted from the weak king the command for his death. For it is not saidthat Joash himself worshipped the idols; and even in 2 Chronicles 24:22 it is only thebase ingratitude of which Joash had been guilty, in the slaughter of the sonof his benefactor, which is adduced against him. But Zechariah at his deathsaid, “May the Lord look upon it, and take vengeance” (דּרשׁ, toseek or require a crime, i.e., punish it). This word became a prophecy,which soon began to be fulfilled, 2 Chronicles 24:23.

The punishment comes upon them. Joash afflicted by the invasion ofJudah by Hazael the Syrian; and his death in consequence of a conspiracyagainst him. - These two events are narrated in 2 Kings 12:18-21 also, theprogress of Hazael's invasion being more exactly traced; see thecommentary on 2 Kings 12:18. The author of the Chronicle bringsforward only those parts of it which show how God punished Joash forhis defection from Him.

“At the revolution of a year,” i.e., scarcely a year after the murder of the prophet Zechariah, a Syrian army invaded Judah and advanced upon Jerusalem; “and they destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people,” i.e., they smote the army of Joash in a battle, in which the princes (the chief and leaders) were destroyed, i.e., partly slain, partly wounded. This punishment came upon the princes as the originators of the defection from the Lord, 2 Chronicles 24:17. “And they sent all their booty to the king (Hazael) to Damascus.” In this booty the treasures which Joash gave to the Syrians (2 Kings 12:19) to buy their withdrawal are also included. In order to show that this invasion of the Syrians was a divine judgment, it is remarked in 2 Chronicles 24:24 that the Syrians, with a small army, gained a victory over the very large army of Judah, and executed judgment upon Joash. שׁפטים עשׂה, as in Exodus 12:12; Numbers 33:4, frequently in Ezekiel, usually construed with בּ, here with את, analogous to the את טּוב עשׂה, e.g., 1 Samuel 24:19. These words refer to the wounding of Joash, and its results, 2 Chronicles 24:25. In the war Joash was badly wounded; the Syrians on their withdrawal had left him behind in many wounds (מחליים only met with here, synonymous with תּחלאים, 2 Chronicles 21:19). Then his own servants, the court officials named in 2 Chronicles 24:26, conspired against him, and smote him upon his bed. In 2 Kings 12:21, the place where the king, lying sick upon his bed, was slain is stated. He met with his end thus, “because of the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest” which had been shed. The plural בּני is perhaps only an orthographical error for בּן, occasioned by the preceding דּמי (Berth.); but more probably it is, like בּנין, 2 Chronicles 28:3 and 2 Chronicles 33:6, a rhetorical plural, which says nothing as to the number, but only brings out that Joash had brought blood-guiltiness upon himself in respect of the children of his benefactor Jehoiada; see on 2 Chronicles 28:3. Upon the murdered king, moreover, the honour of being buried in the graves of the kings was not bestowed; cf. 2 Chronicles 21:20. On the names of the two conspirators, 2 Chronicles 24:26, see on 2 Kings 12:21. In 2 Chronicles 24:27 it is doubtful how ורב is to be read. The Keri demands ירב, which Berth. understands thus: And as regards his sons, may the utterance concerning him increase; which might signify, “May the wish of the dying Zechariah, 2 Chronicles 24:22, be fulfilled on them in a still greater degree than on their father.” But that is hardly the meaning of the Keri. The older theologians took ירב relatively: et quam creverit s. multiplicatum fuerit. Without doubt, the Keth. ורב or ורב is the correct reading. המּשּׂא, too, is variously interpreted. Vulg., Luther, and others take it to be synonymous with משׂאת, 2 Chronicles 24:6, 2 Chronicles 24:9, and understand it of the money derived from Moses' tax; but to that עליו is by no means suitable. Others (as Then.) think of the tribute laid upon him, 2 Kings 12:19, but very arbitrarily. On the other hand, Clericus and others rightly understand it of prophetic threatenings against him, corresponding to the statement in 2 Chronicles 24:19, that God sent prophets against him. As to the Midrash of the book of Kings, see the Introduction.