2 Chronicles 24:23

HE IS SLAIN BY HIS SERVANTS. (Ch2 24:23-27)

at the end of the year the host of Syria came up--This invasion took place under the personal conduct of Hazael, whom Joash, to save the miseries of a siege, prevailed on to withdraw his forces by a large present of gold (Kg2 12:18). Most probably, also, he promised the payment of an annual tribute, on the neglect or refusal of which the Syrians returned the following year, and with a mere handful of men inflicted a total and humiliating defeat on the collected force of the Hebrews.

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

THE LORD’S VENGEANCE, viz., THE SYRIAN INVASION AND SLAUGHTER OF THE PRINCES, AND THE MURDER OF JOASH (2Ch_24:23-27). (Comp. 2Ki_12:17-21.)

(23) At the end of the year.—At the running out of the year, viz., the year of the murder of Zechariah. (See for the phrase, Exo_34:22.)

The host of Syria came up against him.—Comp. 2Ki_12:17. Our passage seems to show that a small part (2Ch_24:24) of the besieging army was detached, and sent against Jerusalem. (Comp. 2Ki_18:14; 2Ki_18:17.) The princes of Judah (2Ch_24:17) at the head of a large force met the invaders in the field; but the Syrians routed them, and “destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people.” We may suppose that they made it their special aim to cut off the leaders of the Jewish host. (Comp. 2Ch_18:30.) Thus the apostate princes were overtaken by the prophetic doom. (LXX., “the princes of the people among the people; “Syriac and Vulg. and Arabic omit “from among the people.” But comp. Isa_7:8.)

And sent all the spoil of them.—To Hazael, who was probably still at Gath with the main body of his troops.

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

2Ch 24:23 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.

Ver. 23. And it came to pass, &c.] Agminatim mala irruunt: now began their misery in answer to Zechariah’s last, whether prayer or prophecy. Sir Con. MacGenis, one of the late Irish rebels, after he had murdered one Mr Trug, a minister, was so haunted with the furies of his own conscience, that he thought his ghost followed him day and night. {a} The like we may very well think of bloody Joash. But besides what he felt within, "the Syrians before and the Philistines behind came upon him with open mouth to devour him; and for all this God’s anger was not turned away, but his hand was stretched out still." {Isa 9:12} {See Trapp on "2Ki 12:17"} {See Trapp on "2Ki 12:18"}

And destroyed all the princes.] Those cursed clawbacks that had marred a good king. {2Ch 24:17} Now it comes home to them, by God’s special direction to the enemy, who executed judgment upon Joash. {2Ch 24:24}

{a} Mr Clark’s Martyrol., 36.

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 24:23. At the end of the year the host of Syria came up — So soon did God hear the cry of his holy prophet’s blood and revenge it. They came and destroyed all the princes — That it might appear they were sent and directed by God, to single out to destruction the first beginners, and chief promoters, of this general apostacy. And sent all the spoil unto the king of Damascus — To Hazael the king of that part of Syria called Syria Damascena, from its capital city Damascus.

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

24:23-26 God could use war to render judgment on Israel just as surely as on any other nation; one of the characteristics of a “holy war” was a small force’s defeat of a much larger army.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

23. at the end of the year] Rather, in the course of a year, i.e. when the same time of year had come round again.

the host of Syria] R.V. the army of the Syrians (as in 2Ch_24:24).

the princes] Who had been leaders in the apostasy (2Ch_24:17).

from among the people] The reading of the Heb. is doubtful; the words should perhaps be expunged.

23, 24 (cp. 2Ki_12:17-18). The Syrian Invasion

In 2 Kin. the invasion is not represented as a judgment on Joash, for no sin is mentioned for which this could be the punishment.

As regards the campaign itself 2 Kin. simply says that the Syrians were bought off with a heavy bribe from attacking Jerusalem; nothing is said of the amount of damage done during the invasion. The Chronicler on the contrary says nothing of the cause of the withdrawal of the Syrians, but simply says that a small force of them inflicted great loss and took much spoil. The two accounts supplement rather than contradict each other.

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 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 Kg2 12:21.

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

On the unusual character of this expedition, see the marginal reference note.

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

Damascus. Hazael had before invaded Jerusalem, 4 K. xii. 17. The Syrian army, which routed Juda, was comparatively small. C. --- The idolatrous princes now received the due punishment of their crimes, v. 17.

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).

At the end of the year; so soon did God hear the cry of his holy prophet’s blood, and revenge it.

Destroyed all the princes of the people; that it might appear they were sent and directed by God to single out to destruction the first beginners and chief promoters of this general apostacy.

Unto the king of Damascus; to Hazael, the king of that part of Syria called Syria Damascena, from its capital city Damascus.

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

At the end of the year; Hebrew, tpWqT; margin, both of the Authorized Version and the Revised Version, revolution. The word is found three other times, Exo_34:22; 1Sa_1:20; Psa_19:7. The versions, of course, express correctly what is meant, butprobably the season of spring is also conveyed (2Sa_11:1; 1Ch_20:1) The host of Syria. Their king was Hazael, (2Ki_12:17) whether actually with them is perhaps not certain, but the last clause in the verse just quoted would seem to convey that impression. He was King of Damascus (Aram, or Syria), and having already temporarily mastered Israel, (2Ki_13:3, 2Ki_13:4, 2Ki_13:22) the way was paved to Gath, (2Ch_11:8 2Ch_17:11) whence wistful eyes were bent on Jerusalem, nearly thirty miles distant thence. Destroyed all the princes of the people; i.e. as in the next verse. And sent all the spoil. Whether intended so here or not, probably the strict subject of the verb in this clause is Joash and his counsellors (ver. 18 in parallel), in their fright and just fright helpless after the slaughter chronicled in our following verse, bribing off Hazael and his host, as in parallel. The suggestion is most plausible that tidings of Zechariah"s martyrdom and of the occasion of it were the very incentive to Hazael"s incursion, and an illustration of the "means" by which God works, and by which he wrought his purpose in this instance. The spoil of them. If this means only the spoil of the defeated army strictly, then our text gives no trace of the contents of ver. 18 in parallel just alluded to; but the frequent dislocation incident to copied extracts and matter borrowed from original sources, and so often evidenced in the present history, when we have been comparing the two derived accounts to which we are indebted for it, incline us to the above view, as one quite open at any rate to possibility.

Vers. 23-27.

Divine retributions; or, the predictions and prayers of a dying mar, coming true.

I JUDAH INVADED BY THE SYRIANS. (Ver. 23.) Zechariah had predicted that prosperity should no longer attend Judah in consequence of her apostasy from Jehovah (ver. 20); and, before breathing his last, had prayed, and so practically predicted, (Jam_5:16) that Jehovah would avenge his murder upon the king, his princes, and people (ver. 22). That this incursion of Hazael, (1Ki_19:15) who had first assassinated Benhadad II and seized upon the throne, (2Ki_8:7-15) and whose historicity is guaranteed by an inscription on Shalmaneser"s black obelisk, which says, "In my eighteenth year, for the sixteenth time the Euphrates I crossed. Hazael of Damascus to battle came In my twenty-first campaign, to the cities of Hazael of Damascus I went. Four of his fortresses I took" ("Records," etc., 5:34, 35; Schrader, "Keilinschriften," p. 206) that this incursion of the Syrian monarch into Judaean territory, as far even as to Jerusalem, was an instalment of the wrath which the nation"s apostasy had stirred up against itself, several things convinced the Chronicler.

1. The time when it happened. "At the end," or revolution, "of the year." No doubt Divine judgment often tarries, and when it does inert are apt to question its existence. (Ps 1) But sometimes it hastens on the heels of crime, as it did in the cases of Cain, (Gen_4:8, Gen_4:9) Pharaoh, (Exo_14:27) Israel in Shittim (Num_25:4) the murderers of Ishbosheth, (2Sa_4:12) (1Ki_22:34-37) Haman, (Est_7:10) Judas (Acts, (Mat_27:5) and others; and their observers instinctively exclaim, "Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth". (Psa_58:11)

2. The success it attained.

(1) The Syrian army, having probably conquered Israel, succeeded in capturing Gath, one of the five cities of the Philistines, (Jos_13:3) which David annexed to Judah, (1Ch_18:1) and which may still have belonged to the kingdom of Jonah.

(2) Next it moved upon Jerusalem, which was not far distant, and defeated the Judaean troops in a pitched battle, in which all the princes of Judah were cut off, and Joash himself seriously wounded.

(3) As an inducement to make peace and withdraw his forces from the capital, Hazael obtained from Joash "all the hallowed things that Jehoshaphat, and Jehoram, and Ahaziah his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated," which had been recovered from the temple of Baal (ver. 7), "and his own hallowed things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the house of the Lord and in the king"s house". (2Ki_12:18)

(4) That which specially revealed the hand of God in this disaster was not so much the extent as the incidence of it. The blow descended, indeed, upon the common people, who are chief sufferers in most wars; but in this instance a striking fitness was visible in the cutting off of the princes who had instigated the sovereign and his subjects to idolatry, and in the despoliation of the temple, which they had desecrated by their idolatries.

3. The weapon it employed. A small army, which had routed Judah"s large host. This was reversing the experience of Judah, as, e.g., when Asa with five hundred and eighty thousand soldiers defeated Zerah with a million of infantry and three hundred charioteers. (2Ch_14:10) As Asa"s victory was due to Jehovah"s help, so Joash"s surrender was explicable only on the supposition that Jehovah had forsaken him and Hazael been commissioned to execute wrath upon him.

II JOASH SLAIN BY CONSPIRATORS. (Ver. 25.)

1. When? "After the Syrians had departed from him." Though he had escaped the doom which sought him on the battlefield, it seemed as if justice would not suffer him to live. (cf. Act_28:4) Scarcely had the Syrians departed than the sleuth-houn1d of retribution was again upon his trail. Only wounded by soldiers" spears, he was slaughtered by assassins" swords.

2. Where? In his castle-palace at Mille, (2Ki_12:20) and on his bed, i.e. while invalided by his wounds. Death found him in a fortress, behind which he doubtless expected to be secure, and at a moment when, perhaps, that expectation was high through the healing of his wounds.

1. By whom? His own servants, whose names are given: "Zabad or Jozakat, Kings the son of Shimeath an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess." Led astray by those who should have been his servants, the princes, he was put to death by his actual servants. He had betrayed his country to foreign gods, by men of foreign extraction he was destroyed. Divine retributions frequently correspond to the character of the offence they punish.

2. Why? Because of the "blood of the son of Jehoiada the priest." They meant to reward him for his truculent deed against Zechariah. How they came to champion the cause of Jehoiada"s murdered son is not said. Perhaps they shared the popular feeling, which trod never wholly approved of the murder; and when they witnessed the disaster which had come upon their arms, with the judgment that had fallen on the princes, they concluded that Zechariah"s blood must be avenged if prosperity was again to return to Judah; and believing they would find, in the public mind, approval for their action, they despatched the wounded man upon his bed at Mille. Their calculations concerning the verdict of the people were not astray. Nobody regretted Joash"s untimely end. His subjects "buried him in the city of David," where his fathers lay entombed, but they suffered not his carcase to desecrate the mausoleum of the kings.

Learn:

1. The overruling providence of God. Things come to pass at his ordering.

2. The certainty that sin will be punished. Though judgment be delayed, itis not averted. W.

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

The year - So soon did God hear the cry of his holy prophet's blood, and revenge it. The princes - That it might appear they were sent and directed by God to single out to destruction the first beginners of this general apostacy.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

It came about

This phrase is used here to mark the beginning of a new part of the story. If your language has a way for doing this, you could consider using it here.

sent all the plunder from them

"sent all the plunder from Judah and Jerusalem"

victory over a very great army

"victory over the much larger army of Judah"

In this way the Arameans brought judgment on Joash

This refers to God's judgment. This can be stated as an action. AT: "In this way God used the Arameans to judge Joash" (See: Abstract Nouns and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

Aram

Judah

Jerusalem

Damascus

judge

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

And it came to pass at the turn of the year Because the sons of Judah sinned more than the other tribes, as it is written above (verse 18): “And they forsook the House of the Lord, the God of their fathers.”

and they destroyed all the princes of the people This refers back to the above (verse 17): “And after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and prostrated themselves to the king,” and caused Joash to sin after them. Because of that, they were paid in kind: the army of Aram came and destroyed all the princes of the people.

from among the people from being a people.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.