2 Chronicles 21:14

2Ch 21:14 Behold, with a great plague will the LORD smite thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy goods:

Ver. 14. Smite thy people.] Because too flexible to thy will.

And thy children] For a just punishment of thy fratricide.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ch 21:14. Behold, with a great plague, &c. — There was no calamity that could be thought of which did not befall this wicked prince: whose kingdom was destroyed and depopulated by the fiercest nations; his treasures ransacked; his wives carried into captivity; his children slain; and he himself laboured under a sore disease for two years; and when he was dead, had not the honour of royal sepulchre, such as his ancestors had. All which calamities were threatened in the writing sent him, that he might not think they came by chance, but by the special direction of Almighty God, as a punishment for his wickedness. But why should his people suffer, who are here threatened to be plagued? 1st, Because their base fear made them comply with him in his idolatry: and, 2d, Because he suffered in his people’s destruction: for as the honour, and safety, and strength of a king lie in the multitude and prosperity of his people; so when they are diminished, and destroyed, the king is very much weakened and endangered by it. And thy children, and thy wives — Whose lives shall go for the lives of thy brethren.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 14. Will the Lord smite] "The WORD of the Lord will send a great mortality." - Targum.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(14) Behold, with a great plague will the Lord smite thy people.—Literally, Behold, Jehovah is about to smite a great smiting in thy people and in thy sons. The immediate object of the verb is not expressed. (Comp. 2Ch_21:18.) It was Jehoram himself who was smitten in his people, and in his sons, and in his wives, and in all his goods, as 2Ch_21:17 shows. The “smiting “—i.e., heaven-sent stroke, or Divine visitation—consisted in an invasion of Philistines and Arabs, who sacked Jerusalem and the royal palace.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. with a great plague will the Lord smite] R.V. the LORD will smite with a great plague (“stroke,” mg.). For “plague” cp. 2Ch_6:28-29. Jehoram’s “plague” is described in 2Ch_21:16-17.

thy goods] R.V. thy substance (Gen_12:5); the Heb. word includes both “goods” and “chattels” (i.e. live stock).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Moreover, the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines,.... Which had been depressed in the times of Jehoshaphat, to whom they brought their presents and tribute willingly, Ch2 17:11.

and of the Arabians that were near the Ethiopians; not the Ethiopians of Africa, as the Targum, for the Arabians were not near them, but the Chusaean Arabs or Midianites, see Num 12:1. The Targum is, the Word of the Lord did this.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The fulfillment of the threat is given in 2Ch 21:16-17.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Thee is not expressed in Heb., but it is in the Sept. and the king was not only afflicted with illness, but with the losses of his people and family. H.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The Lord will smite thy people.

Quest. Why the people for his sin?

Answ. 1. Because the generality of them sinned in complying with his wicked and idolatrous commands through fear, 2Ch 21:11.

2. Because he suffered in his people’s destruction: for as the honour, and safety, and strength of a king lies in the multitude and prosperity of his people, Pro 14:28; so when they are diminished and destroyed, the king is very much weakened and endangered by it.

Thy children and thy wives; whose lives shall go for the lives of thy brethren, 2Ch 21:4.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. A great plague — Margin, a great stroke. It was the judgment of disastrous war, as shown in 2Ch_21:16-17.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A great plague; Hebrew, hpGem. Out of the twenty-six occurrences of this word, it is rendered (Authorized Version) twenty-three times by the word "plague," twice by the word "slaughter", (2Sa_17:9 2Sa_18:7) and once "stroke". (Eze_24:16) It is not the word (gg) which about sixty times (chiefly in Leviticus) describes the physical plague, but both of the words are applied to the plagues, e.g. of Pharaoh, and to the suffering that came of any severe smiting of the people. As no physical affliction in the shape of disease visited, so far as we know, the people, wives, and children of the king, and as his goods are reckoned in for the great plague, the general opinion is probably the correct one, that the invasions spoken of (vers. 16, 17) fulfilled the punishment now announced.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.