Bible Commentaries

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

2 Chronicles 24

Clinging to a Counterfeit Cross
Introduction

1  Joash reigns well all the days of Jehoiada.
4  He gives order for the repair of the temple.
15  Jehoiada's death and honourable burial.
17  Joash, falling into idolatry, slays Zechariah the son of Jehoiada.
23  Joash is spoiled by the Syrians, and slain by Zabad and Jehozabad.
27  Amaziah succeeds him.
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.
A. M. 3126-3165. B.C. 878-839. Joash. Joash, or [Yow'ash] is merely an abbreviation of Jehoash, [Y@how'ash] by the elision of [Hê] {hay,} and here also of [Vâv] {wav.}
2 Kings 11:21, 12:1
Jehoash
1 Chronicles 3:11
seven years old
As Joash was hidden six years in the temple, and was but seven when he came to the throne, he could have been but one year old when secreted by his aunt.
Verse 2

And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
A. M. 3126-3162. B.C. 878-842
Joash
25:2, 26:4,5, 2 Kings 12:2, Psalms 78:36,37, 106:12,13, Mark 4:16,17
all the days of Jehoiada
17-22, Isaiah 29:13
Verse 3

And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters.
took for him
Not for himself, as the Jewish expositors suppose, but for Joash; for Jehoiada's advanced age renders it highly improbable that he should take them for himself. He was born in the reign of Solomon, and lived through six successive reigns; and must, on any computation, have been upwards of 100 years old when Joash began to reign.
15, Genesis 21:21, 24:4
two wives
Genesis 4:19, Matthew 19:4-8
Verse 4

And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to repair the house of the LORD.
A. M. 3148. B.C. 856. repair. Heb. renew
Verse 5

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.
gather of all Israel
29:3, 34:8,9, 2 Kings 12:4,5
Howbeit
2 Kings 12:6,7
Verse 6

And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said unto him, Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the collection, according to the commandment of Moses the servant of the LORD, and of the congregation of Israel, for the tabernacle of witness?
Why hast thou
2 Samuel 24:3
the collection
This was the poll-tax fixed by Moses, of half a shekel, which was levied on every man of twenty years old and upwards, as "a ransom for their souls, that there might be no plague among them."
Exodus 30:12-16
tabernacle
Numbers 1:50, 17:7,8, 18:2, Acts 7:44
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.
the sons of Athaliah
As Jehoram's sons, Ahaziah excepted, whether by Athaliah or any other, were all slain before his death (ch. 22:1), this spoilation of the temple must have taken place in his life-time.
21:17
that wicked
28:22-24, Esther 7:6, Proverbs 10:7, 2 Thessalonians 2:8, Revelation 2:20
the dedicated
2 Kings 12:4
did they bestow
Deuteronomy 32:15-17, Ezekiel 16:17-21, Daniel 5:2-4,23, Hosea 2:8,9,13
Verse 8

And at the king's commandment they made a chest, and set it without at the gate of the house of the LORD.
at the king's
2 Kings 12:8,9, Mark 12:41
Verse 9

And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in to the LORD the collection that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness.
proclamation
Heb. voice. collection.
6, Matthew 17:24-27
Verse 10

And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end.
rejoiced
1 Chronicles 29:9, Isaiah 64:5, Acts 2:45-47, 2 Corinthians 8:2, 9:7
Verse 11

Now it came to pass, that at what time the chest was brought unto the king's office by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king's scribe and the high priest's officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to his place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance.
at what time
2 Kings 12:10-12
the king's scribe
It was necessary to associate with the high priest some civil authority and activity, in order to get the neglected work performed.
Thus they did
1 Corinthians 16:2
Verse 12

And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of the LORD, and hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the LORD, and also such as wrought iron and brass to mend the house of the LORD.
gave it to such
34:9-11
masons
1 Kings 5:15
Verse 13

So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in his state, and strengthened it.
the work was perfected by them
Heb. the healing went up upon the work by their hand.
Nehemiah 4:7
they set, etc
That is, "they restored it to its former proper state."
in his state
1 Chronicles 22:5, Haggai 2:3, Mark 13:1,2
Verse 14

And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, whereof were made vessels for the house of the LORD, even vessels to minister, and to offer withal, and spoons, and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the LORD continually all the days of Jehoiada.
vessels of the house
2 Kings 12:13,14
vessels to minister
1 Kings 7:50
to offer withal
or, pestils.
Proverbs 27:22
And they offered
It appears from this, that the daily morning and evening sacrifices had been previously intermitted; and that they were again neglected after the death of Jehoiada.
Exodus 29:38-42, Numbers 28:2-29
all the days
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.
A. M. 3162. B.C. 842. and was full of days. {Wyyisbâ yammim,} "satiated with days;" which seems to be a metaphor taken from a guest regaled by a plentiful banquet, used to express the termination of life without reluctance
Genesis 15:15, 25:8, 1 Chronicles 23:1, Job 5:26, Psalms 91:16
an hundred
Genesis 47:9, Psalms 90:10
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.
in the city
1 Samuel 2:30, 1 Kings 2:10, Acts 2:29
because
23:1-21, 31:20, Nehemiah 13:14, Hebrews 6:10
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.
A. M. 3162-3165. B.C. 842-839. Now after
Deuteronomy 31:27, Acts 20:29,30, 2 Peter 1:15
the princes of Judah
10:8-10, 22:3,4, Proverbs 7:21-23, 20:19, 26:8,28, 29:5, Daniel 11:32
Then the king
Proverbs 29:12
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.
And they left
4, 21:13, 33:3-7, 1 Kings 11:4,5, 14:9,23
wrath
19:2, 28:13, 29:8, 32:25, 36:14-16, Joshua 22:20, Judges 5:8, 2 Samuel 24:1, Hosea 5:10,11,14, Zephaniah 1:4-6, Ephesians 5:6
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
36:15,16, 2 Kings 17:13-15, Nehemiah 9:26, Jeremiah 7:25,26, 25:4,5, 26:5, 44:4,5, Luke 11:47-51, 16:31, 20:9-15
but they would
Psalms 95:7,8, Isaiah 28:23, 42:23, 51:4, 55:3, Matthew 13:9,15,16
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.
And the Spirit
15:1, 20:14
came upon
Heb. clothed.
Judges 6:34, 1 Chronicles 12:18
the son
23:11
transgress
Numbers 14:41, 1 Samuel 13:13,14, 2 Samuel 12:9,10, Zechariah 7:11-14
because
15:2, Deuteronomy 29:25,26, 1 Chronicles 28:9, Jeremiah 2:19, 4:18, 5:19,25
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.
conspired
Jeremiah 11:19, 18:18, 38:4-6
stoned him
Matthew 21:35, 23:34-37, Acts 7:58,59
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.
remembered
Psalms 109:4, Luke 17:15-18, John 10:32
but slew his son
Proverbs 17:13
The Lord
These words were prophetic, and not imprecatory; and should be rendered as Houbigant proposes, in the future tense: "The Lord will look upon it, and avenge it." The event soon verified this prediction; for, before the year was expired, the Syrians came up against Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people, and Joash himself was slain in his bed by his own servants. Many circumstances served to aggravate this barbarous act. Zechariah was a high-priest and a prophet, upright and unblameable in the discharge of his high offices; this murder was perpetrated within the very precincts of the courts of the Lord; and this truly good man was by blood the nearest relative of Joash, and the son of the man who had save him from being murdered, and raised him to the throne!
Genesis 9:5, Jeremiah 11:20, 26:14,15, Luke 11:51, 2 Timothy 4:14,16, Revelation 6:9-11, Revelation 18:20, 19:2
and require it
Psalms 10:14, Jeremiah 51:56
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.
A. M. 3165. B.C. 839. at the end. Heb. in the revolution
1 Kings 20:22,26
the host
Deuteronomy 32:35, 2 Kings 12:17,18
princes
17,18, Psalms 2:10,11, 58:10,11, 82:6,7
Damascus
Heb. Darmesek.
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.
came
Leviticus 26:8,37, Deuteronomy 32:30, Isaiah 30:17, Jeremiah 37:10
delivered
16:8,9, 20:11,12, Leviticus 26:25, Deuteronomy 28:25,48
So
22:8, Isaiah 10:5,6, 13:5, Habakkuk 1:12
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.
great diseases
21:16,18,19, 22:6
his own servants
2 Kings 12:20, 14:19,20
for the blood
21,22, Psalms 10:14, Revelation 16:6
the sons of Jehoiada
Houbigant reads, "the sons of Jehoiada;" but perhaps Joash slew some other sons of Jehoiada.
not
16, 21:20, 28:27
Verse 26

And these are they that conspired against him; Zabad the son of Shimeath an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess.
Zabad
or, Jozachar.
2 Kings 12:21
Shimrith
or, Shomer.
Verse 27

Now concerning his sons, and the greatness of the burdens laid upon him, and the repairing of the house of God, behold, they are written in the story of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.
burdens
2 Kings 12:18
repairing
Heb. founding.
story
or, commentary.
9:29, 16:11, 20:34
Amaziah
25:1, 2 Kings 12:21, 1 Chronicles 3:12

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