2 Chronicles 24:1-27
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.
2 And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
3 And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters.
4 And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to repaira the house of the LORD.
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.
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?
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.
8 And at the king's commandment they made a chest, and set it without at the gate of the house of the LORD.
9 And they made a proclamationb through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in to the LORD the collection that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness.
10 And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end.
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.
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.
13 So the workmen wrought, and the workc was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in his state, and strengthened it.
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 offerd 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.
15 But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; an 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 camee 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; Zabadf 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 repairingg 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.
2 Chronicles 24:6. The collection required by Moses for the erection of the tabernacle, of the half shekel. Dr. Lightfoot contends that it was but the half of the half shekel, the eighth part of an ounce.
2 Chronicles 24:7. The sons of Athaliah that wicked woman had broken up the house of God. She had managed Ahaziah by her counsel, 2 Chronicles 22:3; and having done it during the time she swayed the sceptre, she would not be wanting to repeat the crime; or if she had sons by another husband, they could not be more than six or seven years of age.
2 Chronicles 24:20. The Spirit of God came upon Zechariah. The same phrase is used of Jahaziel: 2 Chronicles 20:14.
2 Chronicles 24:21. They stoned him at the command of the king. Jehoiada lived to the vast age of a hundred and thirty years; and having saved Joash, the only male branch of David's house, and completely repaired the temple, he acquired the surname of Berachiah, the blessed of the Lord. He left the pontificate to his son Zechariah, who inherited all the virtues of his sire. Now, because Baruch had a son named Zechariah, who was slain with myriads more at the taking of Jerusalem, our critics have too much displayed their learning in raking up whatever is known of the latter Zechariah. Certainly the Jews were not to blame for his death. It was the apostate nobles of Judah who prevailed on king Joash to restore idolatry, and in this glorious struggle Zechariah fell at his post resisting idolatry. They stoned him at the altar; so that as Hosea says, “blood touched blood.” While dying, with uplifted hands he testified his faith, and called on God to avenge his blood. Presently Joash, who had ordered him to be slain, was assassinated by two of his captains; so that his death had a striking resemblance to that of Zechariah. A chain of other calamities followed on the country. Before the death of Joash, Hazael king of Damascus carried his bloody conquests to Philistia; an earthquake also followed, which much desolated the country, while drought one year denied vegetation, and another year, the locust devoured the land. Joel 2.
2 Chronicles 24:27. The greatness of the burdens laid upon him; that is, the tribute which the Syrians had imposed. The Vulgate reads here, “The sum of money gathered by him.”
REFLECTIONS.
The fall of Athaliah and the elevation of Joash have already been considered. 2 Kings 11. How illustrious was the character of Jehoiada, so long the highpriest of Israel. His great wisdom, and his mild and paternal talents for administration, are sufficiently displayed by the share he must have had in the government during the happy reigns of Asa and of Jehoshaphat. His virtues were so conspicuous as to procure him a princess of the blood. His address and cool prudence, while idolatry and wickedness prevailed under Athaliah, acquired him the highest applause. He protected his wife, sister to the murdered princess: he succeeded in concealing the heir apparent at the hazard of his life, and he retained an influence with the elders of Judah which placed him on the throne while an infant, and overthrew Athaliah, the grand enemy of God and of David's house. His temperance, founded on piety, prolonged his happy constitution far beyond the usual age of man. He had seen Solomon on his throne of ivory; and now having attended the funeral of seven kings, his hands, not yet feeble, placed the crown on the ninth monarch of David's line. If among so many excellencies he had a defect, it was an excess of mildness, in not stirring up the levites to repair the breaches in the walls of the temple. Truly he long wore a mitre of glory, and a breastplate of righteousness: his sun set resplendent with every virtue. Having lived a hundred and thirty years, he died the admiration of his country, and the brightest ornament of the altar, which he left surrounded with sons who inherited the virtues of their sire: 2 Chronicles 26:7.
The death of a great and good man is a calamity to the nation and to the church, and especially when no one is found to succeed him, whose rising excellence promises the attainment of equal worth: but when he is succeeded by a time-serving, or a wicked man, the loss is more than can be conceived. To Israel the loss was great; but to Joash it was irreparable. The princely rulers and families of Judah, in whose hearts former reformations had checked but not eradicated the roots of idolatry, availed themselves of Jehoiada's death to gain an ascendancy over the king, and to restore the liberty of worshipping idols according to every one's pleasure. And when a man claims the right of choosing his god, and consequently his creed, he is little short of making an idol of himself.
Zechariah, a worthy son of Jehoiada, surnamed in after ages Berachias, or the blessed of the Lord, Matthew 23:35, seeing this awful progress of apostasy and breach of covenant with God, like another Phinehas, interposed his life with holy zeal to stop the evil; but the profane and infidel princes, impatient of controul, stoned him between the porch and the altar. The guilt of apostasy, and of innocent blood, often meets with its reward earlier than is expected. They were deaf to the prophets, deaf to the priests; and Joash was most ungratefully deaf to all cries for the execution of the murderers; but heaven had ears, and arms of vengeance too. God sent the king of Damascus the ensuing spring, with but a small army, and they plundered Jerusalem, murdered the princes, and left Joash sorely afflicted with disease. Nor had he repose from his own servants, for they avenged the blood of Zechariah; and it would seem, from the plural number being used here, that he had slain others of Jehoiada's house. Thus blood has a voice which pierces heaven, and he who will not do justice shall receive justice at the hand of God.