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2Ch_24:1
His mother's name … Zibiah of Beersheba. We do not read, in the brief account of Ahaziah, Joash's father, whom he married. Nothing is as yet known of Zibiah, but there must be some significance underlying the mention of her name and native place, or known place of residence. The references Amo_5:5 and Amo_8:14 may possibly contain the clue, in holding up Beersheba as the most idolatrous of idolatrous places. Beersheba offers another reference of unhappy associations (1Sa_8:2). As a terminus of the land, "Dan to Beersheba" (Jdg_20:1; 2Sa_24:2; 1Ch_21:2); as a terminus of the divided Judah, "Beersheba to Mount Ephraim" (2Ch_19:4), "Geba to Beersheba" (2Ki_23:8); and as a terminus of this Judah yet reduced after the Captivity, "Beersheba to the valley of Hinnom" (Neh_11:30); its mention is notorious. The references Gen_21:31 and Gen_26:18, Gen_26:31-33 are full of interest, as bearing on the way in which the spot is first known in Bible history.
2Ch_24:2
All the days of Jehoiada. Of the "forty years" mentioned in the former verse, these "days of Jehoiada" will cover, some, at any rate, say, two years more than "twenty-two years;" for compare our 2Ch_24:6, 2Ch_24:12-15 with the parallel, 2Ki_12:6, 2Ki_12:7, 2Ki_12:9, noting the thenceforward silence there respecting Jehoiada, and even making ample allowance for it.
2Ch_24:3
That special note is made of Jehoiada's selecting of the wives may at any rate point to the suggestion that he was all a father to Joash, and both for his own sake and the kingdom's sake anxious as to the character of the women by whom a new kingly seed should take rise in place of that destroyed by Athaliah (2Ch_22:10). Our 2Ch_25:1 leaves it probable that "Jehoaden of Jerusalem" was one of these, though it is likely enough that Joash married, whether her or some one else, before he had reached the age of twenty-one. It is also quite likely that we may read between the lines, that in selecting two wives for his young and loved ward, Jehoiada hoped and prayed that Joash might not fall by sin like Solomon's (1Ki_11:3) and that of others of the kings of both Judah and Israel.
2Ch_24:4
To repair. The idea of this verb ( çÈãÇùÑ ) is that of making new.
2Ch_24:5
To repair. The idea of this verb ( çÈæÇ÷ ) is that of making strong. From year to year. The compound adverbial expression çÈãÅÌé , here used for "from," era-braces the idea of" unfailingly from year to year." The command given here to the priests and Levites is expressed very differently, though in no degree contadictorily, in the parallel (see its 2Ch_24:4, 2Ch_24:5). The addition is there found, "every man of his acquaintance;" this expression may glance at the very supposable circumstance that the priest and Levite collecting deputations would naturally go respectively to the towns and cities where they had been located beforetime. A slight ambiguity is perhaps occasioned by the impression that the fourth verse (in the parallel) produces—that the priests and Levites should wait to receive, e.g; in Jerusalem. This, however, is ,sot what is said, and need not, therefore, be made into a difficulty. Howbeit the Levites hastened not. We are not told why this delay was, nor does the subsequent narrative seem to elucidate it, further than this—that the delay somehow seemed to rest with Jehoiada, as the king appealed to him for explanation.
2Ch_24:6
Jehoiada the chief; so. priest, for comp. our 2Ch_24:11; 2Ch_19:11; 2Ch_26:20. In each of those instances the Hebrew text shows äÈøàùÑ , and the Authorized Version "chief" except inconsistently in our 2Ch_26:11. Revised Version "chief" in all the instances. The name "priest" occurs just about six hundred and sixty-six times in the Old Testament, the title "high" or "chief priest" only about twenty-six times, the first occurrence being in Le 2Ch_21:10, the last Zec_6:11; and both set forth by the Hebrew adjective âÈÌãåÉì , as also in fifteen other of the occurrences. Seven times the word øàÉùÑ is the word employed, and ùÈÒøÅé the other two times. In these last two cases, however (Ezr_8:24, Ezr_8:29; Ezr_10:5), it is not "high priests" nor "chief priests" that are perhaps even really intended, but the "princes" of the priests, or those who, for whatever reasons of personal characteristics, were chief. Out of Judah and out of Jerusalem. The statement here is precise, that the call of money was to be made both in the cities of Judah and in the metropolis Jerusalem. The collection; Hebrew, îÇùÀÑàÇú ; Revised Version, better, the tax of, etc. Of this we read in Exo_30:13-15; Exo_38:25, Exo_38:26; Num_1:30. It was of the uniform amount of half a sanctuary shekel, for rich or poor, and was ordered to be set apart "for the service of the tabernacle of the conregation," here called in the Authorized Version the tabernacle of witness; Revised Version, the tent of the testimony. Exodus has îåÉòÅã for our çÈòÅãåÌú . This source of money for the holy design of Joash is again most specifically stated in our verse 9. The version of this whole transaction seems rather confusing as given in the parallel, where verse 4 mentions three sources of money, without any quotation as such of the ordained tax of Moses, which was apparently the first of those three, and where verse 8, at first blush at any rate, might seem to imply recusant priests. The meaning, however, is probably the contrary, the verse purporting that the priests consented to forego what they had been accustomed on receiving to apply to some personal or current-funds purpose, and who consented to forego the superintending of the outlay of the money on. the repairing, that it might be done with more expedition by "scribe" and high priest" (verse 10; comp. verse 16; both of the parallel). All these details the writer of Chronicles passes over, only pursuing the essential business, Joash's pious resolve, the delay in its execution, and how he finally overcame the obstructive delay.
2Ch_24:7
The sons of Athaliah. This verse's testimony against Athaliah's sons explains 2Ch_21:17, and is explained and corroborated by it. That wicked woman; Hebrew, äÇîÄÌøÀùÇÑòÇú ; fem. noun, derivative of øÇùÇÑò ; meaning strictly in the abstract, "the wickedness," equal to that incarnation of wickedness. All the dedicated things; i.e. the holy vessels, treasure, and holy furniture of the house of the Lord, had they desecrated, and robbed' them thence to squander them on their various Baals (2Ch_17:3).
2Ch_24:8
A chest; Hebrew, àÂøåÉï àÆçÈã , "one chest." This is more accurately described in 2Ch_24:9 of the parallel. Without at the gate of the house of the Lord; i.e. in the court opposite the porch, and, as we learn from the parallel, by the side of the altar of burnt offering. Now, not the priests generally, but simply those who kept the door (probably the north door, Eze_11:1-25 :35), receiving the contributions of the people at their hands, into their own hands deposited them in the one chest.
2Ch_24:9
(See notes on 2Ch_24:6.)
2Ch_24:10
Until they had made an end; Hebrew, ìÀëÄÌìÅÌä , piel infin. The meaning can scarcely be till enough was obtained, because day after day, as the next verso tells us, the chest was brought; but either till those who had come that day to give had all given in their contributions, or, as some think with much less probability, till the chest was full for the day. At the same time, the clause, occupying only one word in the original, may quite possibly purport to state summarily by anticipation that the same system was observed to the end, and the method of the chest not departed from.
2Ch_24:11
Unto the king's office. Not "office" in the modern technical business sense; the meaning is the care, charge, or custody of the king, the Hebrew word being ôÀ÷ËãÇÌú ; nor does this necessitate the supposition of the personal care of the king. The body of this verse leaves it quite open to possibility, in harmony with the usage of the Hebrew language and its idiom, that the process described took place, if necessary, more than once in a day, and, on the other hand, not necessarily every evening. The change of the number of the verb in "they emptied," etc; and the apparent statement that those who emptied also carried back the chest, betoken that while the king's scribe (1Ki_4:3) and the high priest's officer stood by, the usual Levite functionaries did the work. The phrase, day by day, is not necessarily equivalent to every evening, but to time after time.
2Ch_24:12
Gave it to such as did the work of the service; i.e. the persons responsible for the work, or "that had the oversight of it" (2Ki_12:11). Carpenters. It is preferable to render here literally workmen or workers. Probably this clause purports that those responsible, as above, hired masons and workmen. And also such as wrought. Supply the preposition found in the Hebrew text, "to" before "such," and render again the same word ( çÈøÈùÅÑé ) literally, workers of iron and brass.
2Ch_24:13
The work was perfected by their hands. The margin gives the literal rendering, "healing" or health, or, i.e; recovery, "went up upon the work." The lively figure of the Hebrew word used ( àÂøåÌëÈä ) is very intelligible. The term is employed in only five other places, viz. Neh_4:7 (Authorized Version, "The walls were made up;" Revised Version better, The repairing of the walls went forward); Isa_58:8; Jer_8:22; Jer_30:17; Jer_33:6; in each of which four instances, in both Authorized Version and Revised Version, the literal rendering "health" or "healing" is found. In his state; equivalent to in its stateliness, perhaps the idea of the Hebrew word îÇúÀëËÌðÀäÌåÉ [only used four other times, and then rendered once "tale" (Exo_5:8), twice "composition" (2Ch_30:1-27 :32, 37), once "measure" (Eze_45:11)], being measure, or proportion, or rate.
2Ch_24:14
And to offer withal. The insertion of the italic type in the Authorized Version "withal" unnecessarily helps suggest uncertainty in this rendering, while the Revised Version gives that word in the ordinary type; margin, both Authorized Version and Revised Version, gives "pestles." The Hebrew word is ( äÇòÂìåÉú ) the hiph. turin, of the familiar verb òÈìÈä or plural of òÂìé with article prefixed; this word, however, seems to occur only once (Pro_27:22), and then in the singular number. The rest of the money … made vessels for the house of the Lord. This passage may harmonize not unsatisfactorily with the parallel (2Ki_12:13), and on the very suggestion of the circumstantial evidence that arises from the place in which the information of our own text is found, by laying emphasis on the expression,."the rest of the money." The writer of Kings meant that nothing interfered with, nothing whatsoever ran even with the execution of the substantial work of reparation of the building, and he neglects to record that finally a remanet of money being available, vessels were made of it for the inner furnishing of the house.
2Ch_24:15
But Jehoiada … died; an hundred and thirty years old. This good man, husband of Jehoram's daughter (2Ch_22:11), only comes to view in virtue of what his wife did, and what he did,; on behalf of Joash the infant and Joash the king for the good of the nation or kingdom of Judah. We seem to know too little of him, and the parallel supplies considerably less than our text in Chronicles. His age, as stated in this verse when he died, seems very improbable, and for a very clear and admirable putting of the case, see Lord Arthur C. Hervey's article in Dr. Smith's 'Bible Dictionary,' 1.944. There is, however, no manifest or even suspicious symptom of corruptness in the text just here, supported as it is by the Septuagint and Josephus, by the stress laid on his old age, whether it showed a hundred and thirty years, or thirty years or fifty years (as have been variously suggested) fewer; the little fact, otherwise looking very significant, that the expression, full of days, is used beside only of Abraham, Isaac, Job, and David, loses its pertinence in that very circumstance that it is used of David, whose age was in no way extreme. The age of the other three, however, exceeded this reputed age given to Jehoiada!
2Ch_24:16
The honour done Jehoiada well belonged to him, not only for his goodness, his greatness, his practical services to the kingdom, but for the fact that those practical services had entailed the necessity of his standing in loco regis for some time. His royal alliance with Jeheram's daughter, and, if it were so, his extreme patriarchal age, may all have contributed to the honour now put upon him. Little stress can be laid, however, upon this last consideration, failing any other allusion to it, or any emphasized statement of what we have in our 2Ch_24:15.
2Ch_24:17
The princes. These turned aside from the better part they had performed (2Ch_23:13, 2Ch_23:20). Made obeisance; Hebrew, éÄùÀÑúÇÌçÂååÌ . This is the word that is used of the sheaves of the brethren of Joseph bowing down, according to his dream, to his sheaf; it is also the repeatedly used word of the worship paid to Jehovah the true God, and to idols and false gods. The word occurs nearly two hundred times. The obeisance of these princes, therefore, on this occasion lacked nothing of the most pronounced character, and the worst species of flattery gained its disastrous ends. Joash must have been now about thirty-six years of age; he was seven years old when he began to reign, he had reigned twenty-three years before the restoring of the temple (2Ki_12:6), and a few years had elapsed since. The words of the princes, to which Joash hearkened, are not supplied by the parallel, which indeed at once proceeds to speak of the threatening attitude of the Syrian king Hazael, and of how Joash bought him off. Our next verse, however, shows to what end those words tended.
2Ch_24:18
Served groves; Revised Version, the Asherim, correctly (see note, 2Ch_14:3). For this their trespass. Comparing the emphatic language of 2Ch_24:23," destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people," we may conclude that stress is to be laid on the pronoun "their" in the present verse. The worship of the true God was not left by the whole people, and we are not told it was by the king; but (very probably through want of moral courage) he incurred the severest sort of blame, and was without even the excuse of strong personal temptation.
2Ch_24:19
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 of 2Ch_36:14-16).
2Ch_24:20
Came upon; margin, clothed; Revised Version margin, clothed itself with (1Ch_12:18). Compare the beautiful expression of Rev_1:10, ,I was in the Spirit;" it was not merely that the Spirit deigned to visit St. John in Patmos, but so possessed him that he was in the Spirit. The son of Jehoiada; i.e. very possibly grandson of Jehoiada (Jehoiada's great age the rather countenancing this interpretation) and "son of Barachias" (Mat_23:35). That ye cannot prosper. The Hebrew text says, "and ye will not prosper." This clause may read all the more forcibly if kept under the dominance of the why of the former, reminding us of such appeals as "Why will ye die?" etc. (2Ch_15:2; Deu_18:1-22, throughout). Reading these two clauses in the preterite or present tense will make them neither less forcible nor less correct, so indicating that they, the princes and the nation, were already beginning to eat the fruit of their ways, and "rumours of war," if not war itself, were on them.
2Ch_24:21
Stoned him. Yet this was their Law's punishment for themselves, for idolaters (Le 2Ch_20:2). At the commandment of the king. The king, who had yielded to the flattering obeisance and worship of the princes, is now driven on a grievous length further. In the court of the house of the Lord. So Mat_23:35, "between the temple [Revised Version, 'sanctuary'] and the altar."
2Ch_24:22
Remembered not the kindness (Gen_40:23). The Lord look upon it, and require it. So, too, the Revised Version, which also, according to its custom, removes the italic type from the two neuter pronouns "it." But probabaly a better and correcter rendering is, "The Lord will see and will require" (for it is not necessary to regard this as a prayer of Zechariah); and thus bring it into comparison with those divinest prayers of the Saviour and of St. Stephen. The words on dying Zechariah's lips were perhaps rather the vivid reminiscence of his own well-versed knowledge of the Law, or "the Scriptures" (Gen_9:5; Gen_42:22). The sentence of the dying priest and prophet in one, is, by the writer of Chronicles at any rate, directed in its fall with fearful straightness to the door of Joash the king himself. Remarkable as is the absence of the matter of this and the five preceding verses from the parallel, it will not escape notice how it is implied in verses 17,18 there, while the inclusion of it here is again in patent harmony with the great object of the writer.
2Ch_24:23
At the end of the year; Hebrew, úÀÌ÷åÌôÇú ; 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, but probably 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, 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 verse 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.
2Ch_24:24
Came with a small company … the Lord delivered a very great host (so Le 2Ch_26:8; Deu_28:25, etc.). So they executed judgment against Joash. The Hebrew says literally, "and on Joash they executed judgments." What the judgments were we do not read, but surely it is probable that they are glanced at in the next verse, "For they left him in great [or, 'many'] diseases," or perhaps "in great illness" (2Ch_21:15).
2Ch_24:25
They left him in great diseases. See note above, and observe further that this parenthetic clause, as treated in both Authorized Version and Revised Version, prepares the way for what follows, and especially for the fact that it was on his bed that they slew him. Render thus, And after they had betaken themselves away, whereas they left him sorely ill, his own servants conspired … and slew him in his bed. His own servants. These had the opportunity the rather at hand, in that he was so ill and in bed. That he died by the conspiring together of a couple of servants, whose foreign and heathen maternity is particularly recorded, was the more ignominious end for him, who had commanded Zechariah to be openly stoned—a death highly honourable in comparison. The parallel (2Ki_12:20) adds that it was in "the house of Mille, which goeth down to Silla" (for the explanation of which passage, see note ad loc.), that the servants' conspiracy to kill Joash took effect. The sons of Jehoiada. We know of only one son, Zechariah; there may have been other sons, or other lineal relations of Jehoiada may be covered by the word "sons." We are not obliged to interpret the avenging act of the servants as one to which their own pious and patriotic zeal led them, which, considering their maternal pedigree, is perhaps something unlikely, though of course not impossible, but one to which they were incited by the retributive providence of him who held their hearts also in his hand. In a word, it was a deed done for the bleed—required (see note and references under verse 22). Not in the sepulchres of the kings. See note on verse 16, and references there quoted; as also the ambiguous expression of the parallel (verse 21), "They buried him with his fathers in the city of David."
2Ch_24:26
Zabad. The name Jozachar of the parallel is probably the correct word, and a copyist's corruption may with some plausibility be argued as the cause of the form Zabad in our text. The parallel omits the names of the mothers' nationality. Shimrith. The parallel has Shomer, probably an Hebraized form of the Moabitish name of our text.
2Ch_24:27
His sons. We only know of one, Amaziah, his successor. The burdens laid upon him. Some explain this expression of the tribute and bribe Joash had to pay Hazael; others of prophetic "burdens" uttered against him; and others (much favoured by the position of the clause just before the repairing of the house, etc.) of the task which he had so voluntarily undertaken, the money-raising and all (Eze_24:25; comp. our Eze_24:6, Eze_24:9, Eze_24:11). The repairing; Hebrew, åÄéñåÉø . Render, with the Revised Version, the rebuilding. The story of the book of the kings. The Revised Version renders the Hebrew text ( îÄãÀÌøÇùÑ ñÅôÆø ) "the commentary of the book of the kings," probably to be followed by the words, "of Judah;" the parallel has "the book of the Chronicles [ ñÄôÆã ãÄÌáÀøÅé äÇéÈîÄéí ] of the kings of Judah". The word rendered "story" or "commentary" in our text is employed only once beside (2Ch_13:22). Its verbal root, however, is found about a hundred and sixty-two times, invariably in the sense of inquiring, and almost invariably rendered in the Authorized Version by the word "inquire," or "seek;" so that perhaps the word "study" or "pursuit" might, idioms being allowed for, be the nearer rendering. It is rabbinic literature mostly that has determined the preference for the word "commentary."
I. ONE WHICH HAD BEEN, IN THE VERY INCEPTION, NURSING, AND FIRST REARING OF IT, ALMOST MIRACULOUSLY SAVED AND GUARDED—THE VERY CREATURE OF PROVIDENCE, THE CHILD OF DIVINE CARE AND WATCHFUL LOVE. Many an analogy really every whit as strong and impressive may be found and instanced by the practical preacher here; also cases which may be well within the knowledge of the parish or the country.
II. ONE THE RIGHT BEGINNING OF WHICH WAS CONSPICUOUS BOTH FOR THE GREATNESS AND THE WORTHINESS OF ITS ZEAL.
III. ONE WHICH HAD ENJOYED THE SUSTAINING HELP OF THE BEST AND MOST FAITHFUL OF FRIENDS. These friends had been of the kind that well remind us of the psalm of Joash's ancestor; for his "father and mother had indeed forsaken him," when "the Lord took him up," in the persons of. the. priest and. his wife. All. the incalculable advantages of the best of early associations and religious prepossessions had been the happy portion of Joash, now—when every recollection and reminiscence should have been gilding itself with fresh sacredness—to be flung away to the winds, as though they were presences to the mind as much to be dreaded as in fact they were worthy to be cherished.
IV. ONE THE WRENCH OF WHICH WITH THE PAST WAS SURPRISINGLY VIOLENT AND ABSOLUTE; AND ITS MOTIVE AS SURPRISINGLY UNJUSTIFYING OF IT. This apparently absolute reversal of what had hitherto seemed character and goodness was above all witnessed to by one central blackest blot in the conduct of Joash. Guiltily did he forget the debt his own very pulse and beating heart owed to the preservers of his life, when he commanded that Zechariah, the son of their love, be stoned to death for his righteous remonstrance and warning. His dying words, "The Lord look upon it, and require it," no doubt did not mark the spirit of unforgivingness; they did mark, and justly, the turpitude of the sin which was bound to "find out' the perpetrator of it! And then the motif of the conduct of Joash! It is written in verse 17. The brief suppressed language, which does there write it, tells the more significantly of its dishonourableness and despicableness, only fit to shun the eye of day! And the warnings of the Lord God of the fathers of Joash and his people, are so touchingly expressed, especially in verse 19! These preclude the possibility of our deducting anything of blame from Joash, on the ground of his being taken unawares, or surprised by some sudden gust of temptation. This type of thing has indeed numbered its antitypes, times without number; but was it not thus forcibly delineated, deeply graven or etched, that whoso should have eyes to see might see, and ears to hear might hear?
V. ONE THE END OF WHICH REVEALED MOST FEARFULLY ALIKE THE REVULSION OF MAN AND THE SOLEMN RETRIBUTION OF GOD. With what smitten wonder our awed thought follows unwittingly, but trembles to essay to track the ways of God's hidden judgment, when the account of this present life is once summed up,—hidden because that account is summed up! What solemn need for every man to watch and pray; to walk humbly; to take heed how he stands; and to remember the warnings of those of whom this is the record, that they "did run well"!
I. DISREGARDED OF GOD AND MAN. For such men as Joash the prophet of the Lord has no word of general commendation, though he has words of rebuke to utter (2Ch_24:19, 2Ch_24:20). With them God "is not well pleased." And man is also and equally dissatisfied. Men that are wrong and strong will find their advocates; indeed, they find all too many to honour and praise them, both while they live and when they are departed. But men that are good and weak find none to admire them. They may start, as Joash apparently did, with fair intentions and blameless desires, but they have no force of character, and being "driven with the wind and tossed," carried about hither and thither according to the passing breeze, they are the object of disregard, if not of positive contempt. There is nothing honourable or admirable in them.
II. FRUITLESS OF ANY POSITIVE GOOD. Such men as Joash may do some good during one half of their life, or at different parts of their life; but the good they then do is counterbalanced by the harm they work during the other half or on other occasions; and no one can say which prevails over the other. The measure of many a man's life-influence is a nice sum in spiritual subtraction; and when everything is known it will perhaps be found to be a "negative quantity." It is a poor and a pitiful thing to see a man first building up and then pulling down; one day working with the people of God and the next associating with the enemies of true and pure religion; subscribing to a Christian charity and attending a demoralizing spectacle; pulling in contrary directions. What can such a man do? What witness can he bear, what work achieve, what contribution bring to the great end we should have in view—the elevation of our kind? That will be represented by a cypher—or something worse.
III. UNNECESSARY. It may indeed be said that this is a question of natural endowment, and rests with our Creator and not with ourselves; that men receive from him either strength and force of will or else pliancy of spirit, sensitiveness of soul and readiness to be affected by influences from outside. This is true, in part; but it is not the whole truth. We must not make our heavenly Father responsible for our short-comings. Moral weakness is a defect of character. It is the result of a wrong choice.
1. Let a man give himself, as he should, in full surrender to the God whoso he is and whom he is most sacredly bound to serve, to that Divine Saviour who has bought him with the price of his own redeeming blood, and he will then be in the way of gaining single-heartedness and strength.
2. Let him be regularly and repeatedly renewing his act of self-dedication. Joash did, when he was a child, pledge himself to the service of Jehovah (2Ch_23:16). But he was then too young to understand all that such a covenant meant. He should have continually renewed that solemn pledge. We have the amplest opportunities and invitations to reconsecrate ourselves to the service of Christ, and if we accept these, we shall retain our thorough loyalty to him, and then we shall not be moved and swayed, but be "steadfast and immovable."
3. Let him gain strength from above. There is an unfailing Divine resource on which all the good may draw. "When I am weak, then am I strong," said Paul. For when he was most conscious of his own insufficiency, then he looked up for help to the "Lord of all power and might," to him who can and will "strengthen us with strength in our soul," who will "strengthen us with all might by his Spirit in the inner man," who will make us strong
(1) to endure;
(2) to overcome;
(3) to bear witness;
(4) to labour in the holy fields of Christian work.—C.
2Ch_24:4-14
I. CHURCH RENOVATION. Here were all the elements that ordinarily occur.
1. Dilapidation, or the condition of being out of repair. In this case there had been profanation, deliberate injury, spoliation (2Ch_24:7); but always there will be waste and decay even in "the house of the Lord." The elements of nature do not spare the most sacred sanctuary.
2. An energetic leader. Joash signalized his otherwise ordinary career by taking this matter much to heart and taking it thoroughly in hand. He prompted Jehoiada himself; he incited the hesitating priests (2Ch_24:5-9); he called forth the energy of the people themselves.
3. Co-operation. "All the princes and all the people rejoiced" when they were zealously engaged in the work, and the masons and the carpenters did their part regularly and faithfully (2Ki_12:15).
4. Liberality. When the chest was made the people responded freely; they all "cast into it until they made an end," until there was "much money," "money in abundance." When an appeal is made to the spontaneous liberality of Christian men, in a cause that is recognized to be good, there is usually a response. If under the Law there was this readiness to give, how much more should there be such forwardness and consecration of substance under the more constraining influences and for the/at higher privileges of the gospel of Jesus Christ!
5. Perseverance under discouragement. The king charged the priests and Levites to "hasten the matter. Howbeit the Levites hastened it not" (2Ch_24:5). But the enthusiastic king was not to be daunted; he would not let this slackness on the part of those who should have been eager and diligent constitute any serious stumbling-block. He used his ingenuity to devise other and more effective measures, and his determination prevailed, as it will prevail. If we allow a good work to be dropped because some of our coadjutors are found wanting, we shall do but little. A holy perseverance under discouragement is the condition of success. As with the leaders, so with those that follow; the workmen must patiently continue until the work is perfected. Then comes the crowning circumstance, viz.:
6. The use of the building for the worship of God (vet, 14). We pass on to that which is far more important—
II. THE RENOVATION OF THE CHRISTIAN CAUSE.
1. It may be that the cause of Christ is quite "out of repair." Some "sons of Athaliah" have come in and done devastating work. Where there was all that satisfied the observant eye of the Divine Lord, there is now a sad decline and decay; there is feebleness where there should be strength, barrenness where there used to be fruitfulness, poverty and paucity where there once was fulness. There are unsightly and blameworthy breaches in the walls. Then there arises in some heart:
2. A strong, compelling eagerness to repair. First it fills one heart, then it is communicated to another and another; finally it moves "all the people," and they resolve that the flagging cause of Christ shall be revived.
3. Then they give themselves to
(1) penitence for past neglect;
(2) prayer for Divine inspiration and guidance;
(3) solemn renewal of first vows of dedication;
(4) active and energetic work.
4. Their reconsecration is crowned with sacred joy, and with a happy restoration to the end for which they were called into existence (2Ch_24:14). All this is based upon—
III. THE RENEWAL OF THE INDIVIDUAL HEART. For if the cause of Christ has declined, it is because the spiritual life of the individual men has been languishing. There has been a cooling of love, a lessening of faith, an abatement of zeal, a lack of devotion. What is needed is:
1. A sense of departure and loss.
2. A humbling of the heart before God.
3. A reconsecration of heart and life to the Redeemer.
4. A patient continuance in well-doing.—C.
2Ch_24:15, 2Ch_24:16
I. A NOBLE CHARACTER. And this:
1. Was based upon true piety. Jehoiada was the man he was because he was a faithful servant of Jehovah. He was rich "toward God." His mind and heart were turned toward him, to worship in his house, to study and to do his will, to promote his glory. Everything else that was good in him rested on his religious conviction and practice as on a sure foundation; every other virtue took its root and found its source and spring in that.
2. Acquired great strength. By the exercise and cultivation of his piety and moral worth, by his confidence in God, and by all that he daily gained from God in response to his devotion, he acquired great force of goodness. He was a man that "seemed to be a pillar," and who was such; a strong stay, which no antagonism could remove, no treachery undermine. He "stood foursquare to all the winds that blew." Men felt that in him they would find a determined and powerful enemy to whatever evil thing they might propose.
3. Shone forth in unselfish service. He fearlessly and nobly risked everything in order to rid his country of a vile usurper, and place upon the throne one that would rule in righteousness. And though he certainly lent all the weight of his influence to the support of the sovereign, he does not appear to have arrogated any undue authority (see 2Ch_24:6). He was actuated by a pure, magnanimous devotion to the highest interests of his country. So he lived—
II. A USEFUL LIFE.
1. He effected a most desirable and salutary revolution; overturning a dynasty that had no right to the throne, and restoring the family of David; exchanging an idolatrous ruler for one that reigned in the fear of God.
2. He solemnly pledged the people to the service of Jehovah, and arranged for systematic services in his temple (2Ch_23:16-18).
3. He sustained the hand of Joash in his work of repairing the temple. This we might assume, but this the words of the text, "toward his house," clearly indicate.
4. He did much (as the following verses show) to maintain the worship of God in the land, against all reactionary influences, whether at court or among the princes or the people. He "did good to Israel" indeed. If we except the judges and kings as those whose official positions gave them quite exceptional opportunities, we may safely say that there are not more than three or four men who rendered such distinguished service to their country as Jehoiada the priest. He was well worthy, when he died in an honoured old age, to be "buried among the kings." Probably few kinglier men than he have been "gathered to their fathers."
We learn:
1. That honour rests upon faithful service, on true usefulness—such honour as is worth possessing.
2. That usefulness is the product of excellency of character. Men may be eloquent, ambitious, capable, endowed with large administrative abilities, but if they are not unselfish, if they do not know how to subordinate their own aims and interests to the public weal, they are as likely to be harmful as helpful in their course. Only solid worth of character, rectitude allied with patriotism and philanthropy, is any security for substantial usefulness.
3. That character is only sound when it is sacred; that it is only the man who reveres God, and who places himself and his life under Divine guidance, on whom we can thoroughly rely. All other defences and inspirations fail. "The fear of God" of which the devout Israelite spoke, the love and service of Jesus Christ of which we speak,—this is the rock on which to build a noble character and a useful life.—C.
2Ch_24:17-25
I. DEPARTURE FROM THE LIVING GOD. Not being "rooted and grounded" in reverence and in attachment to Jehovah, as soon as the directing and sustaining hand of Jehoiada was missed, Joash gave heed to the evil counsel of the reactionary "princes of Judah" and "left the house of the Lord." The young may be habituated to sacred services, and they may be brought up in the practice of good behaviour, but if they have not fully and firmly attached themselves to the Divine Lord whose praises they have been singing and whose will they have been respecting, their piety will not endure. "Being let go," being released, as they must be in time, from the human restraints that hold them to the right course, they follow the bent of worldly inclination; it may be that they yield to the solicitation of unholy passion; but they decline from the path of Christian worship and godly service. It is a melancholy sight for the angels of God, and for all earnest human souls, to witness—that of a man who knows what is best, who has stood face to face with Christ, who has often worshipped in his house, and perhaps sat at his table, declining to lower paths, "going after Baal," letting another power than that of his gracious Lord rule his heart and occupy his life.
II. RESENTMENT AT THE DIVINE REBUKE. The true and honoured servant of the Lord, Jehoiada, was well succeeded by a faithful son, Zechariah. He did his work right nobly, and testified against the apostasy of the king and court. But the monarch, in the haughtiness of his heart, resented the rebuke of the Lord's prophet, and only aggravated his offence by persecution and even murder (verses 20, 21). Thus sin slopes down, and at some points with sad and startling rapidity. When God's rebuke is heard, coming through the voice of one of his ministers, or coming in his Divine providence; and when that rebuke, instead of being heeded and obeyed, is resented by the rebellious spirit, then there ensues a very rapid spiritual decline. Men go "from bad to worse," from indifference or forgetfulness to hostility, from doubt to disbelief, from laxity to licentiousness, from wrongness of attitude to iniquity in action. To resent the rebuke of the Lord is to inflict upon ourselves the most serious, and too often a mortal, injury.
III. THE PENALTY OF DISOBEDIENCE. In the case of Joash, it was:
1. Humiliating defeat in battle (verses 23, 24).
2. Bodily sufferings (verse 25).
3. A violent and miserable death (verse 25).
4. Dishonour after death (verse 25).
In the case of the spiritual transgressor now, the penalty that has to be feared is:
1. Grave and grievous spiritual decline.
2. The serious displeasure of the Divine Master.
3. The loss of the esteem of the truest and best human friends.
4. Condemnation in the day of judgment.—C.
The early years of Joash.
I. HIS PARENTAGE.
1. His father. Jehoabaz, Ahaziah, or Azariah (2Ch_21:17; 2Ch_22:1, 2Ch_22:6), Jehoram's youngest son, who ascended the throne on his father's death, reigned one year, was slain by Jehu (2Ch_22:9), and buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David, because, though himself bad, he was a good man's son (2Ch_22:9).
2. His mother. Zibiah of Beersheba, concerning whom nothing is known. Perhaps beautiful, as her name "Gazelle" may suggest; considering who her husband was, it will not be safe to say she was good, though the place she came from once had an aroma of piety about it (Gen_21:33).
II. HIS REIGN.
1. Early begun. When seven years old. Such early promotion would not have been safe for the kingdom (Ecc_10:16) or good for himself had Jehoiada not been beside him as counsellor of his inexperience, and, in fact, as virtual ruler.
2. Long continued. Forty years. Shorter by fifteen than that of Manasseh (2Ch_33:1), his occupation of the throne was only one year shorter than that of Ass (2Ch_16:13), and as long as that of Solomon (2Ch_9:30).
III. HIS CHARACTER.
1. Promising. "He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord." But:
2. Imperfect. "The high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places" (2Ki_12:3). And:
3. Unstable. He behaved well only so long as Jehoiada lived to counsel, and perhaps restrain him.
IV. HIS MARRIAGES. "Jehoiada took for him two wives," one of whom was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem (2Ch_25:1). Perhaps:
1. Good policy, to ensure a succession to the throne. But:
2. Bad morality, and against the Law of God, though recommended by a pious priest, and sanctioned by the example of godly kings. Joash's subsequent declension may have been in part due to this.
Learn:
1. That early greatness is not always accompanied by early goodness.
2. That many begin to run well in youth who nevertheless decline in after-years.
3. That religious education is not sufficient in itself to overcome the force of inbred corruption.
4. That permanence is an indispensable quality in all moral and spiritual excellence.
5. That all the opinions of a good man are not necessarily good.
6. That good men sometimes occasion sin in others.—W.
2Ch_24:4-11
1. The reparation of the house of the Lord.
(1) What this signified. The reconstruction, not of the whole but of such parts of the temple walls and edifices as had been overturned and destroyed. A project both becoming and right—becoming that Jehovah's house should be restored to its pristine completeness and beauty (1Ch_22:3); right, inasmuch as on Judah had been devolved the duty of protecting and preserving it (2Ch_7:16-22). In the same way is it proper for, and incumbent on, believers to have regard to the strength and beauty, symmetry and adornment, not merely of the material edifices, but also and chiefly of the spiritual temples of the Christian Church.
(2) Why this was needed. On account, not of the ravages of time upon its massive masonry, but of the demolition it had suffered at the hands of Athaliah (and Jehoram) in order to construct the temple of Baal, whose walls and pillars, altars and images, had just been broken in pieces by the revolutionaries of Judah (2Ch_23:17). So by false systems of religion, as well as by systems of no religion, have breaches sometimes been made in the Christian Church—adherents seduced from the faith, doctrines obscured, perverted, or rendered inoperative—which demand the utmost efforts of Christians to repair, even after the false systems, like Baal's temple, have been shattered to pieces.
(3) By whom this was projected. By Joash, who, even if not impelled by higher motives, certainly had reason to remember the house in which his infant years had been sheltered, and himself when a boy had received his crown. If Joash moved in this matter of his own accord, the fact spoke well for his goodness; if even he required to be urged to it by Jehoiada—which is not stated—the fact that he listened to the priest attested the reverence he possessed for Jehovah's servant. The pity was that neither his goodness nor his reverence were deeply rooted or permanent.
(4) When this was moved. "After this," an indefinite note of time which might mean either after the revolution or after Joash's marriages. If the former, which is doubtful, the king evinced praiseworthy alacrity—if his business demanded haste (2Ch_24:5), much more did God's (2Ch_15:15; 2Ch_31:21; Ecc_9:10; Rom_12:11); if the latter, his dilatoriness was not without blame (Mat_6:33).
2. The replacement of the dedicated things which had been bestowed upon the Baalim (2Ch_24:7). Not the dedicated things Solomon had brought into the temple (2Ch_5:1); the spoil, in articles of gold and silver, David had taken from his enemies (1Ki_7:51), since these had been pillaged and carried off by Shishak (2Ch_12:9); probably the silver, gold, and vessels dedicated by Abijah, Asa (2Ch_15:18), and Jehoshaphat (2Ki_12:18); the spoil taken by the first from Jeroboam (2Ch_13:16), by the second from the Cushites (2Ch_14:12), and by the third from the Ammonites (2Ch_21:1-20 :25).
II. WAYS AND MEANS. Two plans for obtaining the money requisite for the undertaking.
1. The plan that failed.
(1) What it was. That the priests and Levites should in all the cities of Judah raise a contribution to repair the house of God (2Ch_24:5); that the amount levied from each man should be "the tax of Moses the servant of the Lord, and of the congregation of Israel, for the tent of the testimony" (2Ch_24:6); and that this should be done annually (2Ch_24:5). In 2 Kings (2Ki_12:4) the money is defined as of three sorts (Keil):
(a) The "money of the numbered," or, "of every one that passeth the numbering," i.e. the poll tax of half a shekel required of every Israelite as a ransom for his soul (Exo_30:12-16);
(b) the "money of the persons for whom each man is rated," i.e. the sums arising from the redemption of devoted persons (Le 27:1-8); and
(c) "the money that it cometh into any man's heart to bring into the house of the Lord," i.e. the free-will offerings of the people. According to another interpretation (Bahr), only the two last sorts were intended, and the phrase, "money of the numbered," should be rendered "in current money" (Revised Version)—the reason for this instruction that the contributions should be in current money being, it is said, that the money "was to be paid out at once to mechanics for their labour" (Thenius).
(2) Why it failed. Not because the priests embezzled the money (J. D. Michaelis, De Wette), which is not stated, and should not be suggested (Psa_140:3; Tit_3:2), but probably because of
(a) their dilatoriness in setting about the work entrusted to them—that the work should have been entrusted to them was the first mistake in the proposed plan;
(b) the difficulty they had in gathering in the money, which from the manner of its levying had the appearance of a compulsory payment—this the second mistake in the proposed plan; and
(c) the too lavish expenditure demanded by their own personal necessities (a legitimate charge upon the collected funds), leaving too small a balance for the work of temple-repairing—that the priests should have been left to distribute the taxes and offerings of the people between their own needs and the public requirements was the third mistake in the proposed plan.
"If self the wavering balance shake,
It's rarely right adjusted."
(Burns.)
The result was that in the three and twentieth year of Joash—the year of a new reign in Israel (2Ki_13:1)—the priests had done little or nothing in the way of repairing the breaches of the temple (2Ki_12:6).
2. The plan that succeeded.
(1) The details of the new plan. According to 2 Kings, the work of collecting money for themselves, the temple worship, and the repair of the building was no more to be entrusted to their hands, neither were these three items of expense to be in future defrayed out of a common fund; but the trespass-money and sin-money should be assigned to the priests for the first two of these purposes, as the Law of Moses prescribed (Le 2Ki_5:16; Num_5:8), while the taxes and the free-will offerings should be devoted to the third (2Ki_12:7-16). According to the Chronicler, whose statements are supported by those of the Book of Kings, by Joash's command a chest or collection-box of wood was made with a hole bored in its lid, and placed "without at the gate of the house of the Lord," i.e. in the outer court "beside the altar as one cometh into the house of the Lord" (2Ki_12:9). Next a proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem that the people should themselves, of their own free will and pleasure, bring in the temple rates prescribed by the Law, and the free-will offerings to which they were impelled by their own hearts, and deposit these, unseen by any eye but Jehovah's, into the box. Again, it was arranged that, as often as the chest or box was full, it should be conveyed by the hands of the Levites into the king's office, where the money should be emptied out by or before the king's secretary and the high priest's assistant, who should put it into bags, weigh it and hand it over to them "that did the service of the house of the Lord," after which the chest should be carried back again to its place at the temple gate.
(2) The recommendations of the new plan. It avoided the mistakes of the first scheme. It put the work into the hands of a board of oversight better fitted to command the confidence of the community. It avoided the irritating weapon of compulsion, and relied upon the free will of the people, even with regard to the levying of taxes. It simplified the financial arrangements by keeping the money given for the temple separate from that paid to the priests.
(3) The success of the new plan. The people entered into it as their forefathers had done when invited to contribute towards the building of the tabernacle (Exo_35:21, etc.), universally—"all the princes and all the people cast into the chest;" cheerfully, with no sense of constraint or compulsion upon them—"they rejoiced;" liberally—money was "gathered in abundance;" unweariedly—not once or twice merely, but regularly and constantly they went on with their collecting "until they had made an end," i.e. of the enterprise they had in hand, the repairing of the temple. N.B.—The above principles should regulate Christian giving, which should be universal—"every one of you" (1Co_16:2); cheerful—"God loveth a cheerful giver" (2Co_9:7); liberal—"see that ye abound in this grace [of liberality] als