Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 24:25
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 sepulchers of the kings.
25 27 (2Ki 12:19-21). The End of Joash
25. for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada ] No reason is alleged for the conspiracy in Kings.
sons ] LXX. and Vulg. “son”; cp. 2Ch 24:20.
on his bed ] In Kings it is simply “smote Joash at the house of Millo, on the way that goeth down to Silla” (R.V.).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For the blood of the sons of Jehoiada, i.e. of Zechariah his son; the plural number sons put for the singular son, as it is frequently, both in Scripture, as Gen 46:7; Num 26:42, and in Cicero and other profane authors. Or he might kill other sons of Jehoiada with him, either because they owned him in what he had said, or lest they should revenge his death.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
25. they left him in greatdiseasesThe close of his life was embittered by a painfulmalady, which long confined him to bed.
his own servants conspiredagainst himThese two conspirators (whose fathers were Jews,but their mothers aliens) were probably courtiers, who, havingconstant access to the bedchamber, could the more easily executetheir design.
for the blood of thesonsread “the son” of Jehoiada. Public opinion seemsto have ascribed the disasters of his life and reign to that foulcrime. And as the king had long lost the esteem and respect of hissubjects, neither horror nor sorrow was expressed for his miserableend!
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And when they were departed from him,…. Having got what wealth and spoil they could:
for they left him in great diseases; through the wounds they gave him, and the distress they brought him into:
his own servants conspired against him, for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest; for perhaps more than one was slain at the same time; the rest vindicating the cause of their brother, shared the same fate; or the plural is put for the singular:
and slew him on his bed; in the house of Millo, where he lay ill of his wounds, and sick of his diseases, and could not defend himself:
and he died: of the wounds his servants gave him:
and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings; see 2Ki 12:21.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(25) And when they were departed from him.Omit were. The Syrians retired, instead of besieging Jerusalem, as they had purposed to do.
For they left him in great diseases.Some refer this to the wounds which Joash had received from the Syrians in battle. But it is not said that Joash himself was wounded, but only that the destruction of his princes and the defeat of his army were judgments upon him. The word rendered diseases (mahlym) only occurs here; but it is obviously a near synonym of the term used of the last sickness of Jehoram (tahlm, 2chron xxi, 19), and the probable meaning is pains, or suffering. Calamity may have brought about the sickness of Joash, or perhaps the invasion had come upon him when already prostrate with disease, and unable to resist in person.
His own servants conspired against him.2Ki. 12:20, And his servants arose and made a conspiracy. Comp. the similar circumstances in the murder of Ishbosheth (2Sa. 4:5).
For the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest.The LXX. and Vulgate correct this, and read son, meaning Zechariah the prophet (2Ch. 24:22), and the plural may be due to a transcribers mistake. More probably it is used rhetorically, as in 2Ch. 28:16, and elsewhere.
The writer does not mean to say that revenge for the death of Jehoiadas posterity was the motive which actuated the conspirators, but that their deed was a judgment upon the king for that crime. In Kings the place of the assassination is specified, Beth-millo that goeth down to Silla. But nothing is there said of the sickness of Joash, and his being murdered in his bed.
But they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings.See Note on 2Ch. 21:20, where the same remark is made about the burial of Jehoram.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2Ch 24:25. His own servants conspired against him These two murderers, whose fathers were Jews, but their mothers aliens, (see the next verse,) were perhaps of the king’s bed-chamber, and, having constant access to him, might more easily accomplish their design. However, he was so weak and feeble that he could make no resistance, and had fallen into such contempt and disesteem that his guards cared not what became of him. He was not allowed to be buried in the sepulchre of the kings. Though the people could not punish wicked kings for their impieties while they lived, yet they fixed an odium upon their memory when dead; whereby they both preserved the sacredness of the supreme power, and kept kings in some measure under awe, for fear of what might befal them after death; as Grotius remarks, De Jur. B. et P. lib. 1 cap. 3.
For the blood of the sons of Jehoiada The blood of the son of Jehoiada. See 2Ch 24:22. Houbigant.
REFLECTIONS.1st, Under Jehoiada’s influence, Joash continued to reign with credit and honour. See 2Ki 12:1. We may add to what was there observed,
1. How great a mercy it is for young people, when they fall into good hands.
2. That to be advised and influenced by age and experience, shews the truest wisdom.
3. Many a fair profession has no root at the bottom. The religion which is put on through prejudice of education, or maintained purely by the influence of others, will, when these restraints are removed, be easily shaken off; or, if the form still continue, it can but more fatally deceive those who are destitute of the power of godliness.
4. Many a commendable action, as Joash’s repairing the temple, has appeared in those, who, being still in the flesh, cannot please God; though their zeal is a just reproof of the backwardness of better men.
2nd, The sun, which rose so bright, sets eclipsed in darkness.
1. Jehoiada dies. Long had God spared his useful life, during six reigns before Joash. His character was exemplary, and his last works greater than his first. From respect to his memory, the people, sensible of their deep obligations to him, honoured him with a sepulchre among the kings of Judah; but while they thus respected his corpse, they quickly forget his counsel. Note; (1.) A long life is a blessing, when thus employed in the cause of God. (2.) They who in life have been most useful, deserve after death the most honourable remembrance. (3.) The departure of a great good man is a national affliction. (4.) They who continue to reverence the memory of great and good reformers, often grievously degenerate from their practice and precepts.
2. The princes of Judah never truly changed, though conforming to the reformation, seize the present favourable opportunity; and, with obsequious flattery gaining the king’s ear, easily prevail on him to restore idolatry, and to plant again those groves which he had destroyed. Note; (1.) Many conform to religion when it is fashionable, who are glad of the first opportunity to throw off the restraint. (2.) Flatterers about the throne are often the ruin of the prince.
3. God left not himself without witness. His prophets, commissioned from him, rebuked this shameful idolatry, and particularly Zechariah, the worthy son of the great Jehoiada, stood up, moved by the Holy Ghost, and plainly and seriously reminded them of the perverseness of their ways, and the danger thereby incurred. Note; (1.) Ministers must be faithful to men’s souls. (2.) In times of great degeneracy, much zeal is needful to oppose the torrent of ungodliness. (3.) In the worst of days, God will not want some witnesses for him. (4.) They who hate to be reformed shall at least be left without excuse.
4. Vile indeed was the treatment that these holy men received. In general, the people despised their admonitions; and as Zechariah’s reproof, though mild and gentle, particularly exasperated them, at the instigation of the princes, and by the command of the king, they raised a tumult, even in the Lord’s house, and stoned him to death between the porch and the altar; neither restrained by the sacredness of the place or the person, daringly defying his warnings, and ungratefully forgetting the innumerable obligations which they owed to his pious father. Note; (1.) God’s ministers, who are zealous for the truth, must expect to suffer for it. (2.) Ingratitude is among the greatest sins. (3.) They are ripe for ruin, who fill up the measure of their iniquities with the persecution of God’s prophets.
5. The dying martyr foretels the vengeance of God, which was ready to overtake them; not desiring that it might come out of a spirit of revenge, but predicting its certainty from the spirit of prophesy. Note; (1.) God will avenge the blood of his saints. (2.) Though we must not wish to avenge ourselves, we may desire the manifestation of God’s justice, and the vindication of his injured honour.
6. God soon arose to judgment. A small army of Syrians vanquished the more numerous both of Joash, plundered his capital, flew his princes, and left him lingering either under the wounds they had given him, or under some disease which had seized him; but what they left unfinished, his own servants accomplished; a conspiracy was formed, and they slew him on his bed: and, since he had degenerated so greatly from his ancestors, they judged him unworthy to sleep in their sepulchres. Thus justly did God require blood for blood, and laid on him the heavy burdens which his iniquities had provoked. Note; (1.) Woe unto any people, when God hath forsaken them; they cannot but fall an easy prey to every invader. (2.) Nothing but blood can satisfy for blood. (3.) They who lie down under the wrath of God, will feel the intolerable burden to eternity.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
XIV
THE REIGNS OF JEHOASH AND JEROBOAM (OF ISRAEL) AND OF AMAZIAH AND UZZIAH (OF JUDAH)
2Ki 13:10-14:29
Jehoahaz was followed by Jehoash his son who was a better man and an abler man and more successful. He had great encouragement from Elisha to fight with Syria and to redeem his kingdom from the iron grasp of Benhadad. Jehoash was encouraged at the outset. Elisha told him to shoot his arrows against Syria, and three times he smote upon the ground. The prophecy came true. Three times Jehoash smote the Syrian army and recovered the cities taken from his father by Benhadad. In the meanwhile Syria and Damascus had been assaulted by Assyria and were brought almost to the verge of extinction. Assyrian annals tell how the king of Assyria took Damascus and almost destroyed it, and it was largely because Syria was thus weakened by Assyria that Jehoash was able to recover and relieve Israel from its oppression.
Amaziah succeeded Joash on the throne of Judah. His character is described as one who was wicked and lazy, though he was better than the general run of the northern kings. His policy was to destroy the servants who killed his father, but he spared their children in accordance with the positive prohibition found in Deu 24:16 . Here arises a question of the morality of the killing of Achan’s sons, Naboth’s sons and Ahab’s sons. Two causes operated in favor of the exception to this prohibition: (1) the sons were apt to be accessories to the crimes of their fathers and thus incriminate themselves; and (2) the “blood feud” that was to follow. Then we should consider these cases either under the direct command of God or in the hands of Oriental monarchs.
In 2Ki 13:20-21 , we have recorded the last miracle of Elisha, viz: that in his tomb. This occurred, perhaps, to give special light to the heathen, a testimony to the power of the God of Israel, and to encourage the king and the people with respect to Elisha’s unfulfilled prophecies. Close upon this follows the account of the fulfilment of Elisha’s dying prophecy and Joash’s success over Benhadad (2Ki 13:23-25 ). In this we note that, notwithstanding the sins of Israel, God gave them victory over Syria for the sake of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; that the “as yet” shows his mercy still extended to Israel; that Hazael, king of Syria) died, and that Benhadad III, his son, reigned in his stead.
We will find that Amaziah in the latter part of his reign committed a very grievous and particular sin that brought a host of evil consequences. The sin committed by him was that, when he proposed to wage war against Edom lying south of his territory, he hired a hundred thousand mercenary soldiers of the Northern Kingdom to aid him in the war, and when an unnamed prophet of God comes and rebukes him, he says, “If I don’t take these men now that I have paid for them, I will lose my hundred talents of money.” The prophet replied, “The Lord can give you more than that.” So he yielded to the protest of the prophet and rejected the services of the men a hundred thousand whom he had already paid for. That of course made the mercenaries very mad. They were not only buoyed up with the hope of their pay but the hope of capturing a great deal of booty in the war, and when they were not permitted to go to the war, on their return home they swept all that part of Judah that lay between them and their own land as dry as if a fire had passed over it. Now Amaziah having committed the sin, first, of relying upon the mercenaries instead of relying upon Jehovah, committed a second sin by importing the gods of Edom for which a prophet rebuked him, and he made him forbear. Stirred up in his mind by these degradations that had been committed upon his people by the hundred thousand mercenaries on their way home and the prophet’s rebuke, without consulting God or any prophet he sends a braggadocio challenge to the king of Israel, and says, “Come, set your face up before mine,” and the king of Israel replied, “Why should you make this challenge? It will likely prove to be very disastrous to you.” Well, Amaziah shook his fist at him and told him to come on and set his face up, and he did come and set his face up, and he wiped the army of Amaziah off the face of the earth in the great battle that followed, and Judah was sorely straightened by that defeat; even Jerusalem was captured, her walls broken down, and all her vast treasures plundered and carried away. All this indicates that Jehoash was one of the most fortunate, most successful, most able, and most kind and benevolent rulers northern Israel ever had, but at the same time southern Israel had a foolish king.
Jehoash was succeeded by Jeroboam II, Jehoash had saved his country from the terrible oppression of Syria, had conquered Judah, had obtained enormous spoils which almost set the kingdom again upon its feet) and ushered in a period of prosperity. He was followed by his grandson Jeroboam il, the greatest of all the monarchs of northern Israel. Jeroboam II was the most successful of all, for in his day nearly all of northern Israel that had previously belonged to Solomon’s kingdom was recovered and he reigned to the north as far as Hamath and to the south all the land of the Jordan and reconquered the land on the east side of the Jordan. The kingdom was at the height of its prosperity under Jeroboam II.
There have been four kings of the dynasty of Jehu, and only in the latter part of the reign of the third king, Jehoash, has Israel in any way succeeded in loosing herself from the bonds of oppression at the hand of Syria. The record says, “The Lord gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hands of the Syrians: and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents as before time.” Who was that saviour? Some think probably it was Jehoash, the preceding king and father of Jeroboam II, who was the means of a threefold defeat of the Syrian army. But it may be interpreted as referring to Jeroboam II, the greatest of all the northern kings, who freed his country entirely from the dominion of Syria. Price in The Monuments and the Old Testament , thinks it refers to an Assyrian king, Adad Nirari, who at about this time made an onslaught on the kingdom of Syria and especially the city of Damascus and almost totally destroyed it. In that case he was indeed saviour, in that he destroyed the country that was oppressing Israel. The dynasty of Jehu lasted altogether about 102 years and in that time there were five kings. Jeroboam II is the fourth and greatest of all. He reigned forty-one years, the longest reign in the history of the Northern Kingdom.
In 2Ki 14:25 reference is made to Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet which was of Gathhepher. This is the time in which Jonah the prophet lived. About this time he made his strange expedition to Nineveh the capital of Assyria, and preached there. He had doubtless preached in northern Israel also. At this time arises also a greater prophet, Amos, and in the pictures which Amos gives we have a vivid and lurid representation of the sins of northern Israel. So the reign of Jeroboam II, though the most glorious in the history of northern Israel, was attended by these two great prophets who pronounced the inevitable and irretrievable doom of the nation. Just as this time occurred the death of Amaziah at the hand of his conspirators and Uzziah his son succeeded him. But according to some authorities there was an interregnum between Uzziah and Amaziah. This conclusion is based upon the following facts as given in the record: First, it says that Amaziah died and that he had reigned fifteen years before Jeroboam II, king of Israel. Kings and Chronicles both say that he reigned twenty-nine years in all and that the last fifteen years of the twenty-nine was contemporaneous with the reign of Jeroboam II. In other words, he died in the fifteenth year of Jeroboam, but 2Ki 15:1 says that Uzziah his successor did not begin to reign until the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam, so if both statements be correct then Judah had no king from the fifteenth year of Jeroboam to the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam, a period of at least eleven years and possibly twelve. The whole question turns on the accuracy of the text in 2Ki 15:1 where it says that Uzziah began to reign in the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam. Now, if we accept that text as accurate, then there was an interregnum of eleven years. Josephus does not accept it. He says the number is wrong; that it ought to be in the fourteenth year instead of the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam. But it is quite easy to accept this text, not question it at all, and then we account for that interregnum of eleven years by the extreme youth of Uzziah when Amaziah died. He was only five years old when Amaziah died. They seem to have deferred making him king until he was sixteen. In other words, there was a regency for that period of eleven years. Now, that is the only chronological difficulty in the whole period and it is not a very serious one.
Amaziah’s son, Uzziah, at a very tender age became king and he reigned fifty-two years. That is a long period, over half a century. The record about it is very fine on a number of points. While he did not destroy the high places, he did walk in the ways of David so far as relates to the worship of Jehovah in the appointed place in the Temple. He was a great builder of fortifications and towns and cities. One thing said about him constitutes a fine text: He loved husbandry. In his wars he had conquered a fine section of country, very fruitful, all the Philistine country clear on to the entrance of Egypt and that Negeb, or south country, from the days of Isaac was remarkable for the yield of its crops. It is said of Isaac that he reaped a hundredfold, i.e., if he sowed one bushel of wheat, he would reap a hundred bushels from that one. Uzziah devoted a great deal of attention to matters of that kind. He was very successful in his wars, not only against Philistia but against the Arabians and against the Ammonites. He became exalted in his power.
In 2Ki 14:28-29 we have a summary of the reign of Jeroboam and an account of his death. The condition of Syria during the reign of Jeroboam II was one of weakness and consequent inactivity. The great kings had come and gone, and some weak monarchs sat on the throne which had been almost crushed by Assyria, and was in no position to oppress Israel. This gave Jeroboam II his opportunity. Being a great man, an able general and administrator he carried the boundaries of northern Israel almost as far north as David and Solomon had done, capturing all the northern part that had been taken by Syria. He retook all eastern Palestine as far as the land of Moab, and likewise he recaptured the land of Moab that had revolted and freed itself from the dynasty of Omri. The extent of his kingdom was almost as great as that of David’s with the exception, of course) of southern Israel, and with this great extension of his kingdom there was a great influx of wealth and prosperity. The depression of the three reigns preceding was followed by an abundance of prosperity and the result was a corresponding excess of luxury and sin. Their prosperity produced all the evils of civilization, and they went to excess with it. Jeroboam died and after an interregnum of twenty-two years, was succeeded by his son Zechariah. This interregnum is determined by comparing 2Ki 14:23 and 2Ki 15:1-2 ; 2Ki 15:8 .
QUESTIONS
1. What was the character of Jehoash?
2. What was Elisha’s encouraging prophecy on his deathbed, and what incidents of its delivery?
3. Who succeeded Joash and what was his character?
4. What was his policy, and where in the book of Moses is found the statement which occurs in 2Ki 14:6 and 2Ch 25:4 , and how do you harmonize this passage in Deuteronomy with the killing of Achan’s sons, Naboth’s sons, and Ahab’s sons?
5. What was the last miracle of Elisha and why this miracle?
6. Notwithstanding the sins of Israel what the Lord’s dealings with them and why, what change occurred just at this time in Syria, and what prophecy of Elisha was here fulfilled?
7. What were Amaziah’s plans against Edom, what was the result of each step taken and what can you say of the cruelty of Judah?
8. How did the Israelitish mercenaries deport themselves when sent back?
9. What was Amaziah’s further wickedness, what was his warning and how did he receive it?
10. Recite the account of the war between Amaziah and Jehoash, and what was the parable of Jehoash and its application, what was the result and what is the modern name of stealing?
11. Who succeeded Jehoash and what was his character?
12. What were the possibilities of Jeroboam II, and what did he accomplish for Israel?
13. What prophet comes in here, what was his commission and how did he receive and discharge it?
14. Give an account of the death of Amaziah.
15. What of the interregnum in Judah here and how does the author determine it?
16. Uzziah what was his other name, how was he made king, how long his reign, and how does it compare with the reigns of others?
17. What of his character and prosperity and wherein did he fail?
18. During his prosperous years what (1) of his building of Eloth, (2) of his success of war, (3) of his building and husbandry, (4) of his army, (5) of his fame?
19. Give an account of the death of Jeroboam II.
20. What of the interregnum here in Israel and how determined by the author?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
2Ch 24:25 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.
Ver. 25. And when they were departed from him. ] So that he had time to repent, but did not.
For they left him in great diseases.
For the blood of the sons of Jehoiada,
a Act. and Mon., 1902.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
sons. Put by Figure of speech Synecdoche (of Genus), App-6, for Jehoiada’s one son: thus emphasizing the son who was slain (2Ch 24:20-21). The Septuagint and Vulgate read it “son” (without the Figure of speech)
not in the sepulchres. As Ahaz (2Ch 28:27).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
2Ch 24:25-27
2Ch 24:25-27
JOASH’S ILLNESS AND MURDER BY HIS OWN SERVANTS
“And when they were departed from him (for they left him very sick), his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons[1] 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 sepulchre of the kings. And these are they that conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shemeath the Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabitess. Now concerning his sons, and the greatness of the burdens laid upon him, and the rebuilding of the house of God, behold, they are written in the commentary of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.”
2Ch 24:23-27 is parallel with 2Ki 12:18-21; and we have written additional comments on these verses in that commentary.
E.M. Zerr:
2Ch 24:25. The army of Syria was content at the havoc that had been wrought against the princes of Judah and the property that had been acquired; they did not care about Joash personally. Besides, he had fallen a victim of some disease and could do no harm to anybody, so the invaders left him to his fate, whatever that might be. But the king was not destined to escape personal judgment even though the Syrians departed from him. Being in bed, his own servants attacked him because of his wrongs against the sons of Jehoiada. There was nothing right in the actions of Joash in his treatment of the sons of the priest, but two wrongs do not make one right. These servants of the king did wrong also when they took advantage of him in his sickness, and assassinated him. They not only slew him, but further dishonored his body by refusing it burial in the sepulchres of the kings.
2Ch 24:26. The most interesting fact of this conspiracy is that it was headed by some descendants of Lot, the Ammonites and Moabites.
2Ch 24:27. A reference is made to some “outside” history. See my comments at 1Ki 14:19 for explanation of such a subject.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
great diseases: 2Ch 21:16, 2Ch 21:18, 2Ch 21:19, 2Ch 22:6
his own servants: 2Ki 12:20, 2Ki 14:19, 2Ki 14:20
for the blood: 2Ch 24:21, 2Ch 24:22, Psa 10:14, Rev 16:6
the sons of Jehoiada: Houbigant reads, “the sons of Jehoiada;” but perhaps Joash slew some other sons of Jehoiada.
not: 2Ch 24:16, 2Ch 21:20, 2Ch 28:27
Reciprocal: 2Sa 4:5 – went 2Ki 9:26 – of his sons 2Ki 21:18 – and was buried 2Ch 25:3 – he slew 2Ch 25:27 – made 2Ch 33:24 – General Ecc 5:17 – much Isa 14:18 – all of
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ch 24:25. They left him in great diseases, &c. The chastisement by the invasion of the Syrians, and their destroying the princes, and plundering the city, not answering the end intended, of humbling Joash, and bringing him to repentance, God proceeded to smite him with sore diseases; and as even this did not reclaim him, his own servants were permitted to conspire against him and slay him. For, when vengeance pursues guilty men, the end of one trouble is often but the beginning of another. For the blood of the sons of Jehoiada By which it seems Joash slew, not only Zechariah, but his brothers also. And perhaps they that slew him intended to take vengeance for that innocent blood. However, that was it which God intended in permitting them to do it.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
24:25 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 {p} 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.
(p) Meaning Zachariah, who was one of Jehoiada’s sons and a prophet of the Lord.