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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 2 Chronicles 24:23 - 24:23
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The punishment comes upon them. Joash afflicted by the invasion of Judah by Hazael the Syrian; and his death in consequence of a conspiracy against him. - These two events are narrated in 2Ki 12:18-21 also, the progress of Hazael's invasion being more exactly traced; see the commentary on 2Ki 12:18. The author of the Chronicle brings forward only those parts of it which show how God punished Joash for his defection from Him.
“At the revolution of a year,” i.e., scarcely a year after the murder of the prophet Zechariah, a Syrian army invaded Judah and advanced upon Jerusalem; “and they destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people,” i.e., they smote the army of Joash in a battle, in which the princes (the chief and leaders) were destroyed, i.e., partly slain, partly wounded. This punishment came upon the princes as the originators of the defection from the Lord, 2Ch 24:17. “And they sent all their booty to the king (Hazael) to Damascus.” In this booty the treasures which Joash gave to the Syrians (2Ki 12:19) to buy their withdrawal are also included. In order to show that this invasion of the Syrians was a divine judgment, it is remarked in 2Ch 24:24 that the Syrians, with a small army, gained a victory over the very large army of Judah, and executed judgment upon Joash. שְׁפָטִים עָשָׂה, as in Exo 12:12; Num 33:4, frequently in Ezekiel, usually construed with בְּ, here with אֵת, analogous to the אֵת טֹּוב עָשָׂה, e.g., 1Sa 24:19. These words refer to the wounding of Joash, and its results, 2Ch 24:25. In the war Joash was badly wounded; the Syrians on their withdrawal had left him behind in many wounds (מַחֲלֻיִים only met with here, synonymous with תַּחֲלֻאִים, 2Ch 21:19). Then his own servants, the court officials named in 2Ch 24:26, conspired against him, and smote him upon his bed. In 2Ki 12:21, the place where the king, lying sick upon his bed, was slain is stated. He met with his end thus, “because of the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest” which had been shed. The plural בְּנֵי is perhaps only an orthographical error for בֶּן, occasioned by the preceding דְּמֵי (Berth.); but more probably it is, like בָּנָין, 2Ch 28:3 and 2Ch 33:6, a rhetorical plural, which says nothing as to the number, but only brings out that Joash had brought blood-guiltiness upon himself in respect of the children of his benefactor Jehoiada; see on 2Ch 28:3. Upon the murdered king, moreover, the honour of being buried in the graves of the kings was not bestowed; cf. 2Ch 21:20. On the names of the two conspirators, 2Ch 24:26, see on 2Ki 12:21. In 2Ch 24:27 it is doubtful how ורב is to be read. The Keri demands יִרֶב, which Berth. understands thus: And as regards his sons, may the utterance concerning him increase; which might signify, “May the wish of the dying Zechariah, 2Ch 24:22, be fulfilled on them in a still greater degree than on their father.” But that is hardly the meaning of the Keri. The older theologians took יִרֶב relatively: et quam creverit s. multiplicatum fuerit. Without doubt, the Keth. וְרֹב or וְרַב is the correct reading. הַמַּשָּׂא, too, is variously interpreted. Vulg., Luther, and others take it to be synonymous with מַשְׂאַת, 2Ch 24:6, 2Ch 24:9, and understand it of the money derived from Moses' tax; but to that עָלָיו is by no means suitable. Others (as Then.) think of the tribute laid upon him, 2Ki 12:19, but very arbitrarily. On the other hand, Clericus and others rightly understand it of prophetic threatenings against him, corresponding to the statement in 2Ch 24:19, that God sent prophets against him. As to the Midrash of the book of Kings, see the Introduction.