2 Chronicles 24:24

For 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 God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(24) For the army of the Syrians.—This verse is explanatory of 2Chronicles 24:23. Literally, For with fewness of men had the host of Syria come, and Jehovah had given into their hand a host in exceeding abundance. “Fewness of men” (miç’ar ‘anāshîm) is a phrase not found elsewhere. (Comp. Genesis 19:20.) The parallel account informs us that Hazael had intended to march against Jerusalem in person, as it would seem, after the battle in which the Syrian division had defeated the Jewish princes. Joash, however, bribed his for bearance by a present of the treasures of the Temple and palace (2Kings 12:18).

So they executed judgment against Joash.—A phrase always used of Divine requital. (Comp. Exodus 12:12; Ezekiel 5:10.) (The construction here is unique: “they did judgments with Joash,” whereas the ordinary form would be, “they did judgments in Joash.” )

As compared with Kings, the present narrative regards the Syrian invasion from a prophetic and religious point of view, and, therefore, while it omits certain details which are there clearly specified, it is careful to mention such facts as most vividly point its moral, e.g., the destruction of the idolatrous princes, and the rout of “a great host” by the attack of “a small company.”

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 24:24. For, or rather, although, the army of the Syrians came with a small company — Or was a small company of men. This more manifestly showed that the punishment proceeded from the hand of God, who took away their courage, so that, even with a great host, they could not withstand a mere handful of their enemies. This, as all the circumstances of it make manifest, was a distinct war from that mentioned 2 Kings 12:17; as the reader will easily see if he compare that passage with this. The case seems to have been as follows: When the Jews began to apostatize, Hazael was sent to chastise them, as is recorded 2 Kings 12:17; but God, in his great long-suffering, either that he might give them further space for repentance, or because he saw some partial repentance had already taken place among them, permitted Hazael to be diverted, by Joash’s presents, from his purpose of leading his army against Jerusalem. But in the end of the year, the king and people being still more sunk in idolatry, and this horrid wickedness of murdering his prophet being committed, he sent a party of these same Syrians to execute this awful judgment against Joash, who had commanded it to be committed; against the princes, who had been the instigators of it; and against the people, who had so readily obeyed such an unrighteous mandate of their apostate king and princes.

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

They executed judgment against Joash - By defeating his army, slaying his nobles, and pressing on against Jerusalem, etc. (2 Kings 12:18 note).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ch 24:23-27. He Is Slain by His Servants.

23. at the end of the year the host of Syria came up—This invasion took place under the personal conduct of Hazael, whom Joash, to save the miseries of a siege, prevailed on to withdraw his forces by a large present of gold (2Ki 12:18). Most probably, also, he promised the payment of an annual tribute, on the neglect or refusal of which the Syrians returned the following year, and with a mere handful of men inflicted a total and humiliating defeat on the collected force of the Hebrews.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men,.... It consisted but of few:

and the Lord delivered a very great host into their hand; which the king of Judah and his princes had got together to oppose them:

because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers; therefore the Lord forsook them, and gave them up into the hand of their enemies:

so they executed judgment against Joash; were the instruments God made use of to execute his vengeance on him for his idolatry and murder.

Geneva Study Bible

For 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 God of their fathers. So they {o} executed judgment against Joash.

(o) That is, reproved and checked him, and handled him rigorously.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 24. - Came with a small company... the Lord delivered a very great host (so Leviticus 26:8; Deuteronomy 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" (2 Chronicles 21:15). 2 Chronicles 24:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

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 2 Kings 12:18-21 also, the progress of Hazael's invasion being more exactly traced; see the commentary on 2 Kings 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, 2 Chronicles 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 (2 Kings 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 2 Chronicles 24:24 that the Syrians, with a small army, gained a victory over the very large army of Judah, and executed judgment upon Joash. שׁפטים עשׂה, as in Exodus 12:12; Numbers 33:4, frequently in Ezekiel, usually construed with בּ, here with את, analogous to the את טּוב עשׂה, e.g., 1 Samuel 24:19. These words refer to the wounding of Joash, and its results, 2 Chronicles 24:25. In the war Joash was badly wounded; the Syrians on their withdrawal had left him behind in many wounds (מחליים only met with here, synonymous with תּחלאים, 2 Chronicles 21:19). Then his own servants, the court officials named in 2 Chronicles 24:26, conspired against him, and smote him upon his bed. In 2 Kings 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 בּני is perhaps only an orthographical error for בּן, occasioned by the preceding דּמי (Berth.); but more probably it is, like בּנין, 2 Chronicles 28:3 and 2 Chronicles 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 2 Chronicles 28:3. Upon the murdered king, moreover, the honour of being buried in the graves of the kings was not bestowed; cf. 2 Chronicles 21:20. On the names of the two conspirators, 2 Chronicles 24:26, see on 2 Kings 12:21. In 2 Chronicles 24:27 it is doubtful how ורב is to be read. The Keri demands ירב, 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, 2 Chronicles 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 ירב relatively: et quam creverit s. multiplicatum fuerit. Without doubt, the Keth. ורב or ורב is the correct reading. המּשּׂא, too, is variously interpreted. Vulg., Luther, and others take it to be synonymous with משׂאת, 2 Chronicles 24:6, 2 Chronicles 24:9, and understand it of the money derived from Moses' tax; but to that עליו is by no means suitable. Others (as Then.) think of the tribute laid upon him, 2 Kings 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 2 Chronicles 24:19, that God sent prophets against him. As to the Midrash of the book of Kings, see the Introduction.