Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 24:15
But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; a hundred and thirty years old [was he] when he died.
15 19 (no parallel in 2 Kin.). The Apostasy of Joash
15. when he died ] R.V. and he died.
an hundred and thirty years ] The age of Jacob (Gen 47:9).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
An hundred and thirty years old – Most critics suppose the number in the text to be corrupt, and suggest 103 or 83 in its stead.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Ch 24:15-16
Jehoiada waxed old.
A message for the aged
I. Examine the name of this aged priest. Jehoiada–one who has knowledge of Jehovah.
1. He had been experimentally acquainted with Jehovah in His fatherly and merciful character.
2. He had as priest special opportunities of gaining acquaintance with God.
II. Consider his beneficent influence in–
1. Instructing the youthful king.
2. Acting as regent of the kingdom.
3. Patriotically serving his country and promoting the well-being of her people.
4. Doing good to, and in connection with, the house of God.
III. Contemplate the honoured close of a long and useful life. (Fairfax Goodall, M.A.)
Religious instructors useful to civil society
Some have conjectured that these words were a part of an epitaph put upon Jehoiadas tomb. They express the high sense which the nation entertained of his eminent usefulness in his sacred profession.
I. The common opinion of mankind respecting the usefulness of religious instructors in civil society. The opinion of the world upon this subject is evidenced by their uniform and immemorial practice. Jews, Christians, and heathen have universally agreed to support religious teachers.
II. This common opinion of mankind respecting religious instructors is well founded.
1. The common opinion of the world is generally just. Men seldom form a wrong judgment of those things which come under their own observation and experience.
2. Another argument is drawn–
(1) From the duties which the ministers of religion ought to teach.
(a) The duties which rulers owe to their subjects.
(b) The duties which subjects owe to their rulers.
(c) Every private as well as public duty.
(2) From the motives by which they ought to enforce all their religious instructions.
(a) The being and presence of the all-seeing and heart-searching God.
(b) The infinite authority of all His precepts and prohibitions.
(c) The controlling influence of His universal providence.
(d) Future and eternal rewards and punishments.
III. Suggestions.
1. Since men in all ages have generally and justly agreed in the opinion that religious instructors are useful in civil society, it discovers no less ignorance than presumption in those who adopt and endeavour to propagate the opposite sentiment.
(1) It betrays want of knowledge in the science of politics.
(2) It betrays ignorance of the impotency of human laws.
2. None are fit for civil rulers who would exclude religious instructors from civil society.
3. A people ought to consider the gift of wise and faithful ministers as a great public blessing.
4. It is the wisdom and duty of civil rulers to favour the cause of religion and employ every proper method to promote the general diffusion of religious knowledge.
5. It argues a great degree of infatuation in those who govern to oppose or restrain religious instruction.
6. It is extremely difficult for civil rulers to subvert a good government while religious teachers faithfully discharge their duty.
7. Ministers of the gospel ought to exert all the power and influence which their sacred office gives them to prevent the ruin of the nation.
8. We have great reason to fear the displeasure of God for neglecting and abusing the ministrations of His Word. (N. Emmons, D.D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
15, 16. Jehoiada waxed old . . . anddiedHis life, protracted to unusual longevity and spent in theservice of his country, deserved some tribute of public gratitude,and this was rendered in the posthumous honors that were bestowed onhim. Among the Hebrews, intramural interment was prohibited in everycity but Jerusalem, and there the exception was made only to theroyal family and persons of eminent merit, on whom the distinctionwas conferred of being buried in the city of David, among the kings,as in the case of Jehoiada.
2Ch24:17-22. JOASH FALLSINTO IDOLATRY.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died,…. A very old man; few at this time arrived to such an age; he was a rare instance:
One hundred and thirty years old was he when he died; the oldest man we read of from the times of Moses, and older than he by ten years.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Jehoiada’s death: the fall of the people into idolatry: the protest of the prophet Zechariah against it, and the stoning of him. – This section is not found in 2 Kings 12, but is important for the understanding of the later history of Joash (2Ch 24:23.). With the death of the grey-haired high priest came a turning-point in the reign of Joash. Jehoiada had saved the life and throne of Joash, preserved to the kingdom the royal house of David, to which 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 2Ki 12:7, he still took an active part in the repair of the temple in the twenty-third year of Joash, and according to 2Ch 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.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Joash Slain by His Servants. | B. C. 845. |
15 But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; a hundred and thirty years old was he when he died. 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. 17 Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 26 And these are they that conspired against him; Zabad the son of Shimeath an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess. 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.
We have here a sad account of the degeneracy and apostasy of Joash. God had done great things for him; he had done something for God; but now he proved ungrateful to his God and false to the engagements he had laid himself under to him. How has the gold become dim, and the most fine gold changed! Here we find,
I. The occasions of his apostasy. When he did that which was right it was not with a perfect heart. He never was sincere, never acted from principle, but in compliance to Jehoiada, who had helped him to the crown, and because he had been protected in the temple and rose upon the ruins of idolatry; and therefore, when the wind turned, he turned with it. 1. His good counsellor left him, and was by death removed from him. It was a mercy to him and his kingdom that Jehoiada lived so long-130 years (v. 15), by which it appears that he was born in Solomon’s time, and had lived six entire reigns before this. It was an encouragement to him to go on in that good way which Jehoiada had trained him up in to see what honour was done to Jehoiada at his death: They buried him among the kings, with this honourable encomium (perhaps it was part of the inscription on his grave-stone), that he had done good in Israel. Judah is called Israel, because, the other tribes having revolted from God, they only were Israelites indeed. Note, It is the greatest honour to do good in our generations, and those who do that which is good shall have praise of the same. He had done good towards God; not that any man’s goodness can extend unto him, but he had done good towards his house, in reviving the temple service, ch. xxiii. 8. Note, Those do the greatest good to their country that lay out themselves in their places to promote religion. Well, Jehoiada finished his course with honour; but the little religion that Joash had was all buried in his grave, and, after his death, both king and kingdom miserably degenerated. See how much one head may sustain, and what a great judgment to any prince or people the death of godly, zealous, useful men is. See how necessary it is that, as our Saviour speaks, we have salt in ourselves, that we act in religion from an inward principle, which will carry us on through all changes. Then the loss of a parent, a minister, a friend, will not involve the loss of our religion. 2. Bad counsellors got about him, insinuated themselves into his affections, wheedled him, flattered him, made obeisance to him, and, instead of condoling, congratulated him upon the death of his old tutor, as his release from the discipline he had been so long under, unworthy a man, a king. They tell him he must be priest-ridden no longer, he is now discharged from grave lessons and restraints, he may do as he pleases: and (would you think it?) the princes of Judah were the men that were so industrious to debauch him, v. 17. His father and grandfather were corrupted by the house of Ahab, from whom no better could be expected. But that the princes of Judah should be seducers to their king was very sad. But those that incline to the counsels of the ungodly will never want ungodly counsellors. They made obeisance to the king, flattered him into an opinion of his absolute power, promised to stand by him in making his royal will and pleasure pass for a law, any divine precept or institution to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding. And he hearkened to them: their discourse pleased him, and was more agreeable than Jehoiada’s dictates used to be. Princes and inferior people have been many a time thus flattered into their ruin by those who have promised them liberty and dignity, but who have really brought them into the greatest servitude and disgrace.
II. The apostasy itself: They left the house of God, and served groves and idols, v. 18. The princes, it is likely, had a request to the king, which they tell him they durst not offer while Jehoiada lived; but now they hope it will give no offence: it is that they may set up the groves and idols again which were thrown down in the beginning of his reign, for they hate to be always confined to the dull old-fashioned service of the temple. And he not only gave them leave to do it themselves, but he joined with them. The king and princes, who, a little while ago, were repairing the temple, now forsook the temple; those who had pulled down groves and idols now themselves served them. So inconstant a thing is man and so little confidence is to be put in him!
III. The aggravations of this apostasy and the additions of guilt to it. God sent prophets to them (v. 19) to reprove them for their wickedness, and to tell them what would be in the end thereof, and so to bring them again unto the Lord. It is the work of ministers to bring people, not to themselves, but to God–to bring those again to him who have gone a whoring from him. In the most degenerate times God left not himself without witness; though they had dealt very disingenuously with God, yet he sent prophets to them to convince and instruct them, and to assure them that they should find favour with him if yet they would return; for he would rather sinners should turn and live than go on and die, and those that perish shall be left inexcusable. The prophets did their part: they testified against them; but, few or none received their testimony.
1. They slighted all the prophets; they would not give ear, were so strangely wedded to their idols that no reproofs, warnings, threatenings, nor any of the various methods which the prophets took to convince them would reclaim them. Few would hear them, fewer would heed them, but fewest of all would believe them or be governed by them.
2. They slew one of the most eminent, Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, and perhaps others. Concerning him observe,
(1.) The message which he delivered to them in the name of God, v. 20. The people were assembled in the court of the temple (for they had not quite left it), probably on occasion of some solemn feast, when this Zechariah, being filled with the spirit of prophecy, and known (it is likely) to be a prophet, stood up in some of the desks that were in the court of the priests, and very plainly, but without any provoking language, told the people of their sin and what would be the consequences of it. He did not impeach any particular persons, nor predict any particular judgments, as sometimes the prophets did, but as inoffensively as possible reminded them of what was written in the law. Let them but look into their Bibles, and there they would find, [1.] The precept they broke: “You transgress the commandments of the Lord, you know you do so, in serving groves and idols: and why will you so offend God and wrong yourselves?” [2.] The penalty they incurred: “You know, if the word of God be true, you cannot prosper in this evil way; never expect to do ill and fare well. Nay, you find already that because you have forsaken the Lord he hath forsaken you, as he told you he would,” Deu 29:25; Deu 31:16; Deu 31:17. This is the work of ministers, by the word of God, as a lamp and a light, to expose the sin of men and expound the providences of God.
(2.) The barbarous treatment they gave him for his kindness and faithfulness in delivering this message to them, v. 21. By the conspiracy of the princes, or some of their party, and by the commandment of the king, who thought himself affronted by this fair warning, they stoned him to death immediately, not under colour of law, accusing him as a blasphemer, a traitor, or a false prophet, but in a popular tumult, in the court of the house of the Lord–as horrid a piece of wickedness as perhaps any we read of in all the history of the kings. The person was sacred–a priest, the place sacred–the court of the temple (the inner court, between the porch and the altar), the message yet more sacred, and we have reason to think that they knew it came from the spirit of prophecy. The reproof was just, the warning fair, both backed with scripture, and the delivery very gentle and tender; and yet so impudently and daringly do they defy God himself that nothing less than the blood of the prophet can satisfy their indignation at the prophecy. Be astonished, O heavens! at this, and tremble, O earth! that ever such villany should be committed by men, by Israelites, in contempt and violation of every thing that is just, honourable, and sacred–that a king, a king in covenant with God, should command the murder of one whom it was his office to protect and countenance! The Jews say there were seven transgressions in this; for they killed a priest, a prophet, a judge, they shed innocent blood, and polluted the court of the temple, the sabbath, and the day of expiation: for on that day, their tradition says, this happened.
(3.) The aggravation of this sin, that this Zechariah, who suffered martyrdom for his faithfulness to God and his country, was the son of Jehoiada, who had done so much good in Israel, and particularly had been as a father to Joash, v. 22. The affront done by it to God, and the contempt put on religion, are not so particularly taken notice of as the ingratitude there was in it to the memory of Jehoiada. He remembered not the kindness of the father, but slew the son for doing his duty, and what the father would have done if he had been there. Call a man ungrateful, and you can call him no worse.
(4.) The dying martyr’s prophetic imprecation of vengeance upon his murderers: The Lord look upon it, and require it! This came not from a spirit of revenge, but a spirit of prophecy: He will require it. This would be the continual cry of the blood they shed, as Abel’s blood cried against Cain: “Let the God to whom vengeance belongs demand blood for blood. He will do it, for he is righteous.” This precious blood was quickly reckoned for in the judgments that came upon this apostate prince; it came into the account afterwards in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans–their misusing the prophets was that which brought upon them ruin without remedy (ch. xxxvi. 16); nay, our Saviour makes the persecutors of him and his gospel answerable for the blood of this Zechariah; so loud, so long, does the blood of the martyrs cry. See Matt. xxiii. 35. Such as this is the cry of the souls under the altar (Rev. vi. 10), How long ere thou avenge our blood? For it shall not always go unrevenged.
IV. The judgments of God which came upon Joash for this aggravated wickedness of his. 1. A small army of Syrians made themselves masters of Jerusalem, destroyed the princes, plundered the city, and sent the spoil of it to Damascus, 2Ch 24:23; 2Ch 24:24. God’s people, while they kept in with God, had often been conquerors when the enemy had the advantage of the greater number; but now, on the contrary, an inconsiderable handful of Syrians routed a very great host of Israelites, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers, and then they were not only put upon the level with their enemies, but opposed them with the utmost disadvantage; for their God not only departed from them, but turned to be their enemy and fought against them. The Syrians were employed as instruments in God’s hand to execute judgments against Joash, though they little thought so, Isa 10:6; Isa 10:7, and see Deut. xxxii. 30. 2. God smote him with great diseases, of body, or mind, or both, either like his grandfather (ch. xxi. 18), or, like Saul, an evil spirit from God troubling him. While he was plagued with the Syrians he thought that, if he could but get clear of them, he should do well enough. But, before they departed from him, God smote him with diseases. If vengeance pursue men, the end of one trouble will but be the beginning of another. 3. His own servants conspired against him. Perhaps he began to hope his disease would be cured–he was but a middle-aged man and might recover it; but he that cometh up out of the pit shall fall into the snare. When he thought he should escape death by sickness he met it by the sword. They slew him in his bed for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada, by which it should seem that he did not only slay Zechariah, but others of the sons of Jehoiada for his sake. Perhaps those that slew him intended to take vengeance for that blood; but, whether they did or not, this was what God intended in permitting them to slay him. Those that drink the blood of the saints shall have their own blood given them to drink, for they are worthy. The regicides are here named (v. 26), and it is observable that the mothers of them both were foreigners, one an Ammonitess and the other a Moabitess. The idolatrous kings, it is likely, countenanced those marriages which the law prohibited for the prevention of idolatry; and see how they resulted in their own destruction. 4. His people would not bury him in the sepulchres of the kings because he had stained his honour by his mal-administration. Let him not be written with the righteous, Ps. lxix. 28. These judgments are called the burdens laid upon him (v. 27), for the wrath of God is a heavy burden, too heavy for any man to bear. Or it may be meant of the threatenings denounced against him by the prophets, for those are called burdens. Usually God sets some special marks of his displeasure upon apostates in this life, for warning to all to remember Lot’s wife.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
DEATH AND BURIAL OF JEHOIADA. NATIONAL APOSTACY AND MURDER OF ZECHARIAH BEN JEHOIADA THE PROPHET (2Ch. 24:15-22).
This section is wholly wanting in the Kings. It serves as a moral explanation of the after-history of Joash, recorded there and here (2Ki. 12:17-21).
(15) But Jehoiada . . . when he died.Literally, And Jehoiada became old, and was satisfied with days, and he died. The verb to be satisfied is only so used here and in 1Ch. 23:1. (Comp. Psa. 91:16.) The ancient expression was adjectival, full of days (Gen. 25:8; Gen. 35:29; Job. 42:17; 1Ch. 29:28, only).
An hundred and thirty years old.According to some modern physiologists, one hundred and five is the proper limit of human life; that is to say, five times the period usually required for the attainment of full growth. Under favourable conditions it is even supposed that life might extend to half a century longer (M. Flourens, of the French Academy of Sciences). When persons of advanced age (eighty to one hundred) die, it is usually from preventible causes, As a French medical writer has remarked, Men do not commonly die; they kill themselves. The ago of Jehoiada, then, would seem to be not impossible, although an error of transcription in our text is also not impossible.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. A hundred and thirty years old Longevity without parallel since the days of the patriarchs. Compare Gen 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, 2Ch 24:17-22.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Defection of Joash and its Punishment
v. 15. But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died, v. 16. And they buried him in the City of David among the kings, v. 17. Now, after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah and made obeisance to the king. v. 18. And they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers and served groves, v. 19. Yet He, v. 20. And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, v. 21. And they, v. 22. Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada, his father, had done to him, v. 23. And it came to pass at the end of the year, v. 24. For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, v. 25. And when they were departed from him, (for they left him in great diseases, v. 26. And these are they that conspired against him: Zabad v. 27. Now, concerning his sons, and the greatness of the burdens laid upon him,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
2Ch 24:15 But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; an hundred and thirty years old [was he] when he died.
Ver. 15. But Jehoiada waxed old. ] And therefore, haply, had been the more remiss. 2Ch 24:6
And was full of days.
When he died.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
an hundred and thirty years. Unprecedented since Joshua (2Ch 24:29). Born in Solomon’s reign, he lived through six others.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
2Ch 24:15-19
2Ch 24:15-19
THE SHAMEFUL APOSTASY OF JOASH
“But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days, and he died; a hundred and thirty years old was he when he died. And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and toward God and his house. Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them. And they forsook the house of Jehovah, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their guiltiness. Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto Jehovah; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear.”
E.M. Zerr:
2Ch 24:15-16. Jehoiada was a priest, but he was buried among the kings because of his good deeds in behalf of the Lord and his house. It will be remembered that he virtually was a king while Joash was young, and influenced him for good. It was fitting, therefore, to give him that kind of a burial.
2Ch 24:17. This is a verse where we may “read between the lines.” Obeisance is from a word with a wide range of meaning. Strong defines it, “a primitive root; to depress, i. e. prostrate (especially reflexively in homage to royalty or God.)” In the King James Version it has been translated by, bow down, humbly beseech, fall down, crouch, etc. Since “humbly beseech” is one of the meanings, the connection shows that the princes had “an ax to grind,” and preceded their petition with a flattering attitude toward the king. It had the effect they desired, for it says the king hearkened.
2Ch 24:18. Idols were always wrong, groves were usually so. But there was a certain amount of indefiniteness about the right and wrong of them. See my comments at 2Ki 17:16 on the groves and trees. Judah, and Jerusalem. are mentioned together because the first was the name of the kingdom, and the second was its capital.
2Ch 24:19. The prophets had a great work to perform in the time of the Old Testament. They uttered the predictions of God when directed to do so, and were the ones who stood on the “walls of Zion” to admonish the people concerning their duties, and the danger of departing from the living God. Would not give ear corresponds to Isa 1:3. The reason the people did not know any better in the days of that man of God was, they “did not consider.” In the days of Jehoiada, or soon thereafter, the people “would not give ear.” As one result, they overlooked their duties and brought upon themselves the wrath of God.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
am 3162, bc 842
and was full of days: Wyyisba 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. Gen 15:15, Gen 25:8, 1Ch 23:1, Job 5:26, Psa 91:16
an hundred: Gen 47:9, Psa 90:10
Reciprocal: 2Ch 24:3 – took for him Mar 6:20 – feared
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ch 24:15-16. A hundred and thirty years old was he, &c. By which it appears, that he was born in Solomons time, and had lived six entire reigns before this. They buried him among the kings With this honourable encomium, (perhaps inscribed upon his grave-stone,) that he had done good in Israel But the little religion that Joash had, was all buried in his grave. See how great a judgment, to any prince or people, the death of holy, useful men is! Both toward God, and toward his house He had been an instrument in restoring the divine worship, which now, they were sensible, was a great blessing, and in repairing the decays which were in the temple, and furnishing it with vessels for the service of God.
2Ch 24:17. Came the princes of Judah Some of the great men, who continued Baalites in their hearts; and made obeisance to the king And in that posture presented their requests to him, that they might not be confined to troublesome journeys to Jerusalem, but might have the liberty, which their forefathers enjoyed, of worshipping God in the high places. This liberty once obtained, they knew they could worship idols without disturbance, which was the thing at which they aimed: and for the prevention of such abuses, God obliged all to worship him in one place. Then the king hearkened unto them He consented to their request, that they might worship in the high places. For fair words and flatteries easily deceive princes, as Grotius here observes; and they wanted not specious reasons to persuade the king, not to be so strict as to insist on their worshipping only at the temple.