Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comJamieson Fausset Brown Commentary - 2 Chronicles 24:20 - 24:20
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada - probably a younger son, for his name does not occur in the list of Aaron’s successors (1Ch 6:4-47).
stood above the people - Being of the priestly order, he spoke from the inner court, which was considerably higher than that of the people.
and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper, etc. - His near relationship to the king might have created a feeling of delicacy and reluctance to interfere; but at length he, too, was prompted by an irresistible impulse to protest against the prevailing impiety. The bold freedom and energy of [Zechariah’s] remonstrance, as well as his denunciation of the national calamities that would certainly follow, were most unpalatable to the king; while they so roused the fierce passions of the multitude that a band of miscreants, at the secret instigation of Joash, stoned him to death. This deed of violence involved complicated criminality on the part of the king. It was a horrid outrage on a prophet of the Lord - base ingratitude to a family who had preserved his life - atrocious treatment of a true Hebrew patriot - an illegal and unrighteous exercise of his power and authority as a king.