Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 24:21

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.

In the court of the house of the Lord – Between the altar and the Temple, or directly in front of the temple porch, if it be this Zechariah of whom our Lord speaks Mat 23:35. A horror of the impious deed long possessed the Jews, who believed that the b ood could not be effaced, but continued to bubble on the stones of the court, like blood newly shed, until the temple was entered, just prior to its destruction, by Nebuzaradan.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 21. Stoned him – at the commandment of the king] What a most wretched and contemptible man was this, who could imbrue his hands in the blood of a prophet of God, and the son of the man who had saved him from being murdered, and raised him to the throne! Alas, alas! Can even kings forget benefits? But when a man falls from God, the devil enters into him; and then he is capable of every species of cruelty.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

They conspired, i. e. the people to whom he preached, who were easily corrupted by the examples of their apostate king and princes.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And they conspired against him,…. Consulted together to take away his life, and got the order of the king to do it:

and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord; where he had stood and reproved them; this they did before he went out, while in the temple; and if he is the same Zechariah, as some think, our Lord speaks of, he was slain between the temple porch and the altar, Mt 23:35,

[See comments on Mt 23:35].

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

And they (the princes and the people) conspired against him, and stoned him, at the command of the king, in the court of the temple. This is the whose slaughter is mentioned by Christ in Mat 23:36 and Luk 11:51 as the last prophet-murder narrated in the Old Testament, whose blood would come upon the people, although Matthew calls him . According to these passages, 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 the king, Joash, could give the command for this murder, shows how his compliance with the princes’ demands (2Ch 24:17) had made him the slave of sin. Probably the idolatrous princes accused the witness for God of being a seditious person and a rebel against the majesty of the crown, and thereby extorted from the weak king the command for his death. For it is not said that Joash himself worshipped the idols; and even in 2Ch 24:22 it is only the base ingratitude of which Joash had been guilty, in the slaughter of the son of his benefactor, which is adduced against him. But Zechariah at his death said, “May the Lord look upon it, and take vengeance” ( , to seek or require a crime, i.e., punish it). This word became a prophecy, which soon began to be fulfilled, 2Ch 24:23.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

(21) And they conspired against him.The conspiracy of 2Ch. 24:25 was the Divine recompense for this one.

And stoned him.The legal penalty of idolatry (Lev. 20:2; Deu. 17:2-5).

At the commandment of the king.Probably Zechariahs words had been represented to Joash as treasonable. The Syrian invasion may have been already threatening, when his prophecy was uttered; and in that case it would be easy to allege against the prophet that his wish was father to his thought. (Comp. the similar case of Jeremiah, Jer. 32:1-5; and 1Ki. 21:8-13.)

In the court of the house of the Lord.There is little doubt that the allusion of Christ (Mat. 23:35; Luk. 11:51) to the death of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the Temple and the altar, refers to this murder. The altar stood in the court, before the Temple. Barachias (Berechiah) may have been Zechariahs father, and Jehoiada his grandfather. Moreover the Lord appears to be thinking of the honourable burial of Jehoiada, in contrast with the murder of his son, in Mat. 23:29-32, verses which immediately precede the mention of Zacharias.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

What an awful state is Joash fallen into! see, Reader! how faithfulness brings forth the glorious crown of martyrdom. Do you not suppose that at the last day, when Jesus comes to be glorified in his saints, his holy army of martyrs, who have really sealed the testimony of his truth with their blood, will appear with peculiar marks of distinction amidst the throng? I am inclined to think that this Zechariah is the same of whom our Lord speaks, Mat 23:35 . For though he is said to be the son of Barachias, yet it is well known that the Jews had two names. And Jehoiada and Barachias might be one and our same person. And I am the more inclined to this opinion because our Lord’s declaration concerning Zecharias in his blood being required, corresponds with what is here said by the dying prophet; the Lord look upon it, and require it; that is, he spake under the spirit of prophecy; the Lord will visit for it.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

2Ch 24:21 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.

Ver. 21. And stoned him with stones. ] This is mercis mundi: this is the lot of downright dealing prophets, even the same as of hares that will needs give laws to lions: it is Aristotle’s comparison. a The post truly saith,

“ Nihil est violentius aure tyranni. ”

Tyrants are very touchy: Tange montes et fumigabunt, Touch those mountains, and they will smoke: none but silken words will down with them. Maneinellus, for his plain dealing in a sermon preached at Rome before Pope Alexander VI, had first his hands cut off, and then his tongue cut out, of which wound he died. Savanarola was served in like manner; so was Lambert, bishop of Trajectum, for reproving King Pipin, &c. Muleasses, king of Tunes, cruelly tortured to death the Manifet and Mesnar by whose means especially he had attained to the kingdom, grieving to see them live to whom he was so much beholden, and therefore rewarded them with such sharp punishment. Who knoweth but Joash might be of the same mind toward good Zechariah? See 2Ch 23:11 .

a In Politic.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)