Chapter XXIV
1–3 (compare 2 Kings xi. 21–xii. 3).
Joash begins to Reign.
¹Joash was seven years old when he began to reign; and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba. ²And Joash did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
2. After this verse Kings adds “Howbeit the high places were not taken away: the people sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.” This the Chronicler omits, for it was quite irreconcilable with his notion of the religious reformation which marks the opening years of the reign of Joash.
³And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters.
3. And Jehoiada, etc.] This verse is not in Kings. It was the duty of a Jewish father to provide his son with a wife; Jehoiada standing in loco parentis does this for Joash.
4–14 (= 2 Kings xii. 4–16).
The Restoration of the Temple.
⁴And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to restore the house of the Lord. ⁵And he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out unto the cities of Judah, and gather of all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that ye hasten the matter. Howbeit the Levites hastened it not.
5. and the Levites] Not in Kings; compare xxiii. 2 (note).
Go out unto the cities of Judah] According to Kings, the restoration fund was to consist of a poll-tax (paid at the Temple at the Great Feasts, Exodus xxiii. 14–17) and of free-will offerings paid in money, and nothing is said there about collecting money outside Jerusalem.
hastened it not] In Kings, “in the three and twentieth year of king Jehoash the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house.” Such protracted neglect of the repairs of the Temple appears the more reprehensible (in Kings) since the money was paid at the Temple, and therefore was actually in the hands of the priests. At the same time, to the Chronicler, the royal command to use money from the poll-tax and free-will offerings for the purpose of repairs was an infringement of the priests’ prerogatives. He therefore relieves the situation, partly by representing that the money was to be obtained by a special collection throughout the land, and also by softening the twenty-three years of inaction into “hastened it not.”
⁶And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said unto him, Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the tax of Moses the servant of the Lord, and of the congregation of¹ Israel, for the tent of the testimony?
¹ Or, for Israel.
6. of the Levites] See note on verse 5.
the tax of Moses] i.e. the half-shekel due from each male for support of the sanctuary, according to Exodus xxx. 14–16, xxxviii. 25, 26.
the tent of the testimony] “The testimony” refers to the Ten Commandments, which contained the substance of God’s testimony (protestation) to Israel. To illustrate the use of the phrase, note that the two tables of stone were called “tables of the testimony” (Exodus xxxi. 18, Revised Version); the ark which contained them was called the “ark of the testimony” (Exodus xxv. 22); the veil which hung before the ark was the “veil of the testimony” (Leviticus xxiv. 3); the tent which contained the ark was either the “tabernacle (Hebrew mishkān) of the testimony” (Exodus xxxviii. 21, Revised Version) or the “tent (Hebrew ōhel) of the testimony” (Numbers ix. 15). The tabernacle, with all its contents, was to be a standing protest to Israel that Jehovah was with His people according to covenant, and that every breach of the covenant would call forth punishment. Compare Deuteronomy iv. 25, 26, viii. 19, etc.
⁷For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord did they bestow upon the Baalim. ⁸So the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it without at the gate of the house of the Lord.
7. the sons of Athaliah] To be understood figuratively, “the adherents of Athaliah.” So “a son of the apothecaries” (Nehemiah iii. 8; compare Authorized Version with Revised Version) is “a member of the apothecaries’ guild” and “the sons of the prophets” (2 Kings ii. 15, etc.) are “the adherents (or ‘scholars’) of the prophets.”
had broken up] Rather, had broken into.
all the dedicated things] Compare xv. 18; 1 Chronicles xviii. 10, 11. Probably gold, silver and brass.
did they bestow upon the Baalim] Or, did they make into images of Baal. Compare Hosea ii. 8, Revised Version margin.
⁹And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in for the Lord the tax that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness. ¹⁰And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end.
9. Kings has nothing corresponding to this verse; compare verse 5 (note).
¹¹And it was so, that at what time the chest was brought unto the king’s office¹ by the hand² of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king’s scribe³ and the chief priest’s officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to its place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance. ¹²And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of the Lord; and they hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of the Lord, and also such as wrought iron and brass to repair the house of the Lord.
¹ Or, officers.
² Or, which was under the hand.
³ Or, secretary.
11. at what time... by the hand of the Levites] This clause is not in Kings.
the chief priest’s officer] According to Kings the high-priest was present himself. It would seem as if the Chronicler was concerned for the dignity of the high-priest, and desired to equate it with that of the king; if the latter was to be represented only by an officer, the former must be also.
¹³So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected¹ by them, and they set up the house of God in its state², and strengthened it.
¹ Hebrew healing went up upon the work.
² Or, according to the proportion thereof.
13. in its state] i.e. according to its former state.
¹⁴And when they had made an end, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, whereof were made vessels for the house of the Lord, even vessels to minister, and to offer withal¹, and spoons, and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Jehoiada.
¹ Or, pestles.
14. the rest of the money... whereof were made vessels for the house of the Lord] This verse conflicts with 2 Kings xii. 13, 14, which states that the money gathered was not spent on gold and silver vessels for the Temple but was given to the workmen who repaired the house. The lack of such utensils and the paucity of money implied in Kings was evidently not credited by the Chronicler.
continually] Perhaps primarily in allusion to the morning and evening daily sacrifice (Numbers xxviii. 3–6), but having also a wider reference to the whole round of sacrifices.
15–19 (no parallel in 2 Kings).
The Apostasy of Joash.
¹⁵But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days, and he died; an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died.
15. an hundred and thirty years] The age ascribed to Jacob in Genesis xlvii. 9. Its incongruity here is well pointed out by Curtis who notes that, were the figure correct, Jehoiada’s wife must have been about 25 years old and he about 100 at the time of Athaliah’s assassination. The ascription of so great length of life and the honours of his burial (verse 16) are suitable to the respect which the Chronicler felt Jehoiada to have merited.
¹⁶And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and toward God and his house.
16. among the kings] Compare verse 25 and xxi. 20.
¹⁷Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them.
17. made obeisance] Obeisance foreshadowed a request; compare 1 Kings i. 16.
¹⁸And they forsook the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their guiltiness.
18. they forsook the house of the Lord] Compare xxix. 6, “[they] have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord.” These phrases are a euphemism meaning “to commit apostasy.”
the Asherim and the idols] Compare xiv. 3 (note).
wrath] Hebrew qec̣eph; compare xix. 2 (note). The calamities in question are narrated in verses 23 ff.
¹⁹Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the Lord; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear.
19. he sent prophets] Compare xxxvi. 15.
to them] Rather, among them.
20–22 (no parallel in 2 Kings).
The Martyrdom of Zechariah son of Jehoiada.
This martyrdom is referred to by our Lord in Luke xi. 51, “from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zachariah who perished between the altar and the house,” i.e. “the temple” (compare Matthew xxiii. 35). As Chronicles is the last book in the Jewish Canon, “From Abel to Zachariah” practically includes the whole Old Testament. In the text of Matthew Zachariah is called “son of Barachiah” either by a confusion with Zechariah the prophet contemporary with Haggai, or, possibly, owing to confusion with a certain Zechariah, son of Berachiah, mentioned in Josephus (War of the Jews IV. v. 4) as having been murdered in the Temple by the Zealots, circa 67, 68 A.D. (see e.g. Weiss, Schriften des N.T., pp. 376, 377).
²⁰And the spirit of God came upon¹ Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you.
¹ Hebrew clothed itself with.
20. came upon] Hebrew “clothed itself with”; compare Judges vi. 34; 1 Chronicles xii. 18.
stood above the people] Compare Jeremiah xxxvi. 10 (Baruch reads Jeremiah’s words from the window of an upper chamber to the people assembled in the court below); Nehemiah viii. 4 (Ezra reads the Law from a pulpit of wood).
²¹And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord.
21. in the court) An aggravation of the murder; compare xxiii. 14. The altar of burnt-offering stood in the court (compare viii. 12) and the execution (Luke xi. 51) took place between this altar and the Temple itself.
²²Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The Lord look upon it, and require it.
22. The Lord look upon it, and require it] Compare 2 Maccabees xiv. 45, 46, and contrast Acts vii. 60.
23, 24 (compare 2 Kings xii. 17, 18).
The Syrian Invasion.
In 2 Kings the invasion is not represented as a judgement on Joash, for no sin is mentioned for which this could be the punishment.
As regards the campaign itself 2 Kings 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.
²³And it came to pass at the end¹ of the year, that the army of the Syrians 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.
¹ Hebrew revolution.
23. at the end of the year] Rather, in the course of a year, i.e. when the same time of the year had come round again.
the princes] Who had been leaders in the apostasy (verse 17).
from among the people] The reading of the Hebrew is doubtful; the words should perhaps be expunged.
²⁴For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men; and the Lord delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. So they executed judgement¹ upon Joash.
¹ Hebrew judgements.
24. because they had forsaken the Lord] Mark the Chronicler’s insistent enforcement of a religious meaning in history.
25–27 (compare 2 Kings xii. 19–21).
The End of Joash.
²⁵And when they were departed from him, (for they left him in great diseases,) his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons¹ of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings.
¹ The Septuagint and Vulgate read, son.
25. for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada] No reason is alleged for the conspiracy in Kings.
sons] LXX. and Vulgate “son”; compare verse 20.
on his bed] In Kings it is simply “smote Joash at the house of Millo, on the way that goeth down to Silla.”
²⁶And these are they that conspired against him; Zabad¹ the son of Shimeath the Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith² the Moabitess.
¹ In 2 Kings xii. 12, Jozacar.
² In 2 Kings xii. 21, Shomer.
26. Zabad] In 2 Kings “Jozacar.” The difference between the names is not great in Hebrew.
Shimeath the Ammonitess... Shimrith the Moabitess] In 2 Kings simply Shimeath and Shomer (no mention of their nationality being added). In Kings the names are masculines, Shimeath and Shomer being the fathers of the murderers. The Chronicler makes them out to be the mothers by altering Shomer to Shimrith (Shimeath already has a feminine termination); and by calling them respectively women of Ammon and Moab he casts increased obloquy upon the apostate Joash, the victim (so we are to surmise) of half-breed men whom presumably his foreign idolatries had encouraged to dwell in Jerusalem. At the same time the evil of foreign marriages is emphasised by the story.
²⁷Now concerning his sons, and the greatness of the burdens laid upon¹ him, and the rebuilding² of the house of God, behold, they are written in the commentary of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.
¹ Or, uttered against.
² Hebrew founding.
27. the burdens laid upon him] Render (with margin), the burdens (i.e. the prophetic rebukes) uttered against him. Compare verse 19. The Hebrew text of the first half of the verse is uncertain.
the commentary] Hebrew midrash. Compare Introduction, § 5.