2 Chronicles 24:19

2Ch 24:19 Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the LORD; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear.

Ver. 19. Yet he sent prophets to them.] As God loveth to foresignify; such is his pity and patience.

And they testified against them: but they would not give ear.] The Vulgate rendereth it, Quos Protestantes illi audire nolebant: which Poynes {a} the Papist construeth thus, Whom those Protestants would not hear; and therehence, very doctor like, inferreth that it was foretold in the Old Testament that the Protestants were a malignant church, whereas Protestantes there is to be referred to prophets going before; and so it followeth better that the name of Protestants - though in contempt put upon the reformed churches by the Papists, by reason of their protestation against the Romish religion made at Spires above a hundred years since - yet is ancient and honourable; and that they were idolaters that would not give ear to those Protestants of old - as neither will they to this day - who called heaven and earth to witness against them.

{a} Preface to his book Of the Sacraments. Sic et Duacerises, Anglice

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_24:19-21

Yet He sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the Lord.

Judahs apostasy

I. Prophetic denunciation of apostasy resented.

II. Zechariahs death was parallel with that of St. Stephen.

1. His offence was the denunciation of the sin of the leaders of Judah (Act_7:51-53).

2. Stoned as a blasphemer.

III. Contrast in the spirit of Judaism and Christianity--

1. Zechariahs last words: The Lord look on it and requite it.

2. Stephens: Lord lay not this sin to their charge.

IV. Reflections.

1. The value of a wise and true friend. Jehoiadas influence on Joash.

2. The necessity of a moral reformation as well as a political to secure permanent results in religious changes. The reformation under Joash was merely outward conformity.

V. The certainty that a faithful ministry implies the unpopularity of those who exercise it.

1. All the prophets suffered under Judaism (Mat_23:35; Luk_11:51).

2. Christ, Stephen, the apostles, the early Christians. Reformers all through history.

3. Human nature always the same. It hates those who attack its sins.

VI. The spirit that resents faithful reproof always entails retribution on itself (verse 23). To do wrong and refuse instruction is the greatest misfortune a man can suffer.

VII. The necessity to do right for dutys sake, without expecting gratitude or acknowledgment. (J. C. Geikie, D.D.)

The goodness of King Joash

1. In ten years from the death of Jehoiada, Joash was so utterly another man that you cannot recognise in him one feature of that godly disposition which distinguished his earlier years. He is a sad illustration of the deceitfulness of the human heart; of the weakness of the natural man; and of the perishing nature of that impulsive goodness which rests solely for its permanence upon the constraining influences of others.

2. Joash still represents a large class--persons of warm and susceptible feelings, acting habitually under impulse, of a temper of mind volatile, or pliable, or keenly sensitive, upon which impressions are easily made and as easily effaced.

3. Speaking as I am in a university city, I am reminded that I can point to no spot more suggestive than this of the evanescent quality of that light of the soul which is simply reflected, of that transient goodness which walks by sight and not by faith. How many young men have gathered here, filled with noble emulation, and strong in their own resolution to fulfil the purpose of their coming! And what has followed? First the whisper of the arch-tempter, You are free; eat, drink, and be merry. Then the sceptic, asking contemptuously, What is truth? The controversial humourist, commending his ingenious sophistries with insidious drollery. The listless idler, intruding his unwelcome presence upon the conventional hours of study. The voluptuary, putting his bottle to his companions, and filling them with shame for glory. The sinner in the city, whose house is in the way to hell. The tradesman with his offer of unlimited credit. The sordid moneylender, weaving his web of usury. These, and such as these, have made their obeisance, like the princes of Judah; and behold, Jehoiada is gone, and Joash has hearkened to them! He has left the God of his fathers. He cannot prosper, because God has forsaken him.

4. Oh, if I am to send my son to fight the good fight of faith, to wrestle against the powers of darkness, let me stablish him with this fact as the counterpoise and antidote to the delusions of the world--that he is now a responsible being. (Henry Drury, M.A.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ch 24:19. Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again — God’s goodness was astonishing, in sending messengers to reclaim such a base people; whose wickedness was no less wonderful, in that they hearkened to the great men among them, rather than to those whom they knew to be true prophets of Jehovah.

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

They took heaven and earth and all creatures to witness, that except they returned to the Lord, he would most grievously punish their infidelity and rebellion, Neh. 9:26.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Yet he sent prophets--Elisha, Micah, Jehu son of Hanani, Jahaziel son of Zechariah (Ch2 20:14), Eliezer son of Dodavah (Ch2 20:37), lived and taught at that time. But all their prophetic warnings and denunciations were unheeded.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(19) Yet.—And.

To them.—Among them.

And they testified against them.—Solemnly besought them, exhorted them in the name of God (Exo_20:21; 2Ki_17:13).

But they would.—And they did.

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

19. he sent prophets] Cp. 2Ch_36:15.

to them] Rather, among them.

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.

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, Mat 23:35; see Gill on Mat 23:35.

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

Them. Calling heaven and earth to witness (C.) the unity of God. H. --- These prophets might have been performing their sacred commission ever since the reign of Josaphat; during which time Eliseus, Micheas, Jehu, and others, lived, C. xx. 14., and xviii. 27. C.

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).

Prophets. The name of only one, Zechariah, as in next verse, is given (see by the side of this verse the emphatic and touching language. (2Ch_36:14-16)

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