2 Chronicles 24:15

But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

DEATH AND BURIAL OF JEHOIADA. NATIONAL APOSTACY AND MURDER OF ZECHARIAH BEN JEHOIADA THE PROPHET (2Chronicles 24:15-22).

This section is wholly wanting in the Kings. It serves as a moral explanation of the after-history of Joash, recorded there and here (2Kings 12:17-21).

(15) But Jehoiada . . . when he died.—Literally, And Jehoiada became old, and was satisfied with days, and he died. The verb “to be satisfied” is only so used here and in 1Chronicles 23:1. (Comp. Psalm 91:16.) The ancient expression was adjectival, “full of days” (Genesis 25:8; Genesis 35:29; Job 42:17; 1Chronicles 29:28, only).

An hundred and thirty years old.—According to some modern physiologists, one hundred and five is the proper limit of human life; that is to say, five times the period usually required for the attainment of full growth. Under favourable conditions it is even supposed that life might extend to half a century longer (M. Flourens, of the French Academy of Sciences). When persons of advanced age (eighty to one hundred) die, it is usually from preventible causes, As a French medical writer has remarked, “Men do not commonly die; they kill themselves.” The ago of Jehoiada, then, would seem to be not impossible, although an error of transcription in our text is also not impossible.

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 24:15-16. A hundred and thirty years old was he, &c. — By which it appears, that he was born in Solomon’s time, and had lived six entire reigns before this. They buried him among the kings — With this honourable encomium, (perhaps inscribed upon his grave-stone,) that he had done good in Israel — But the little religion that Joash had, was all buried in his grave. See how great a judgment, to any prince or people, the death of holy, useful men is! Both toward God, and toward his house — He had been an instrument in restoring the divine worship, which now, they were sensible, was a great blessing, and in repairing the decays which were in the temple, and furnishing it with vessels for the service of God.

2 Chronicles 24:17. Came the princes of Judah — Some of the great men, who continued Baalites in their hearts; and made obeisance to the king — And in that posture presented their requests to him, that they might not be confined to troublesome journeys to Jerusalem, but might have the liberty, which their forefathers enjoyed, of worshipping God in the high places. This liberty once obtained, they knew they could worship idols without disturbance, which was the thing at which they aimed: and for the prevention of such abuses, God obliged all to worship him in one place. Then the king hearkened unto them — He consented to their request, that they might worship in the high places. For fair words and flatteries easily deceive princes, as Grotius here observes; and they wanted not specious reasons to persuade the king, not to be so strict as to insist on their worshipping only at the temple.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

24:15-27 See what a great judgment on any prince or people, the death of godly, zealous, useful men is. See how necessary it is that we act in religion from inward principle. Then the loss of a parent, a minister, or a friend, will not be losing our religion. Often both princes and inferior people have been flattered to their ruin. True grace alone will enable a man to bring forth fruit unto the end. Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, being filled with the Spirit of prophecy, stood up, and told the people of their sin. This is the work of ministers, by the word of God, as a lamp and a light, to discover the sin of men, and expound the providences of God. They stoned Zechariah to death in the court of the house of the Lord. Observe the dying martyr's words: The Lord look upon it, and require it! This came not from a spirit of revenge, but a spirit of prophecy. God smote Joash with great diseases, of body, or mind, or both, before the Syrians departed from him. If vengeance pursue men, the end of one trouble will be but the beginning of another. His own servants slew him. These judgments are called the burdens laid upon him, for the wrath of God is a heavy burden, too heavy for any man to bear. May God help us to take warning, to be upright in heart, and to persevere in his ways to the end.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

An hundred and thirty years old - Most critics suppose the number in the text to be corrupt, and suggest 103 or 83 in its stead.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ch 24:15, 16. Jehoiada Being Dead.

15, 16. Jehoiada waxed old … and died—His life, protracted to unusual longevity and spent in the service of his country, deserved some tribute of public gratitude, and this was rendered in the posthumous honors that were bestowed on him. Among the Hebrews, intramural interment was prohibited in every city but Jerusalem, and there the exception was made only to the royal family and persons of eminent merit, on whom the distinction was conferred of being buried in the city of David, among the kings, as in the case of Jehoiada.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died,.... A very old man; few at this time arrived to such an age; he was a rare instance:

One hundred and thirty years old was he when he died; the oldest man we read of from the times of Moses, and older than he by ten years.

Geneva Study Bible

But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

15–19 (no parallel in 2 Kin.). The Apostasy of Joash

15. when he died] R.V. and he died.

an hundred and thirty years] The age of Jacob (Genesis 47:9).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 15. - But Jehoiada... died; an hundred and thirty years old. This good man, husband of Jehoram's daughter (2 Chronicles 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! 2 Chronicles 24:15

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Jehoiada's death: the fall of the people into idolatry: the protest of the prophet Zechariah against it, and the stoning of him. - This section is not found in 2 Kings 12, but is important for the understanding of the later history of Joash (2 Chronicles 24:23.). With the death of the grey-haired high priest came a turning-point in the reign of Joash. Jehoiada had saved the life and throne of Joash, preserved to the kingdom the royal house of David, to which the promises belonged, and had put an end to the idolatry which had been transplanted into Judah by Joram's marriage into the royal house of Ahab, restoring the Jahve-worship. For this he was honoured at his death, his body being laid in the city of David among the kings: "For he had done good in Israel, and towards God and His house" (the temple). According to 2 Kings 12:7, he still took an active part in the repair of the temple in the twenty-third year of Joash, and according to 2 Chronicles 24:14 he lived for some time after the completion of that work. But after his death the people soon forgot the benefits they owed him.