Bible Commentaries

15. A hundred and thirty years old — Longevity without parallel since the days of the patriarchs. Compare Genesis 47:9. A number of critics, however, regard the number as corrupt, and propose to substitute one hundred and three, or eighty-three. This aged priest had been as a sun and a shield to his people. He had preserved the royal seed of David from destruction, delivered the kingdom from the curse of Athaliah’s rule, exalted Joash to the throne, and counseled him in the ways of Jehovah, and lived long to guard and strengthen his reign. Well might a grateful people bury him “among the kings,” and remember and chronicle the “good” he had done in Israel. The death of this high priest is mentioned as the turning-point in the reign of Joash. When his priestly friend and counsellor was gone, he was soon led astray by evil advisers, and thus brought judgment upon himself and his people.

DEFECTION AND WICKEDNESS OF THE KING AND THE PEOPLE, 2 Chronicles 24:17-22.

17. The princes of Judah — Whether these were the same who assisted in the overthrow of Athaliah, or a younger class of men, we have no means of knowing. Probably, however, they were the sons of those who helped Joash to the throne, and had grown tired of Jehoiada’s rigid observance of the law, and wished for a change.

18. They left — King and princes left, and multitudes of the people soon followed them.

Left the house of the Lord — Forsook the temple service.

Groves and idols — The Asherah worship involved idolatry. See note on 1 Kings 14:15.

20. Zechariah the son of Jehoiada — The son and successor of the aged priest nobly stood above the people, (that is, took a bold and elevated position before them,) and rebuked their evil ways, and so became a martyr. The memory of this dark crime became fixed in Jewish tradition, and according to the Talmud, the martyrs’ blood continued to bubble, like blood yet warm, upon the pavement of the court, until the temple was destroyed by Nebuzaradan, who, it is said, slew eighty thousand young priests to avenge the blood of Zechariah. This legend shows what a hold the martyrdom of the high priest took upon the Jewish mind. The “Zacharias, son of Barachias,” to whom our Lord referred, is to be identified with this Zechariah. See Matthew 23:35, note. His blood, crying from the ground like that of Abel, was heard yet in Messiah’s day, as if repeating, “The Lord look upon it, and require it.” 2 Chronicles 24:22.

The writer proceeds to show that Joash and his people were speedily punished for their sins by the Syrian invasion, and the king himself soon after fell by the hand of assassins. The remainder of the chapter is to be compared with 2 Kings 12:17-21. One writer supplements the other, though both accounts are brief. The difference in the names of the conspirators (2 Chronicles 24:26) is doubtless owing to a corruption of the text.