2 Chronicles 24:23

And it came to pass at the end of the year, that the host of Syria 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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

THE LORD’S VENGEANCE, viz., THE SYRIAN INVASION AND SLAUGHTER OF THE PRINCES, AND THE MURDER OF JOASH (2Chronicles 24:23-27). (Comp. 2Kings 12:17-21.)

(23) At the end of the year.—At the running out of the year, viz., the year of the murder of Zechariah. (See for the phrase, Exodus 34:22.)

The host of Syria came up against him.—Comp. 2Kings 12:17. Our passage seems to show that a small part (2Chronicles 24:24) of the besieging army was detached, and sent against Jerusalem. (Comp. 2Kings 18:14; 2Kings 18:17.) The princes of Judah (2Chronicles 24:17) at the head of a large force met the invaders in the field; but the Syrians routed them, and “destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people.” We may suppose that they made it their special aim to cut off the leaders of the Jewish host. (Comp. 2Chronicles 18:30.) Thus the apostate princes were overtaken by the prophetic doom. (LXX., “the princes of the people among the people; “Syriac and Vulg. and Arabic omit “from among the people.” But comp. Isaiah 7:8.)

And sent all the spoil of them.—To Hazael, who was probably still at Gath with the main body of his troops.

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 24:23. At the end of the year the host of Syria came up — So soon did God hear the cry of his holy prophet’s blood and revenge it. They came and destroyed all the princes — That it might appear they were sent and directed by God, to single out to destruction the first beginners, and chief promoters, of this general apostacy. And sent all the spoil unto the king of Damascus — To Hazael the king of that part of Syria called Syria Damascena, from its capital city Damascus.

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

On the unusual character of this expedition, see the marginal reference 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

At the end of the year; so soon did God hear the cry of his holy prophet’s blood, and revenge it.

Destroyed all the princes of the people; that it might appear they were sent and directed by God to single out to destruction the first beginners and chief promoters of this general apostacy.

Unto the king of Damascus; to Hazael, the king of that part of Syria called Syria Damascena, from its capital city Damascus.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And it came to pass at the end of the year,.... After the death of Zechariah; so soon had his prophecy its accomplishment:

that the host of Syria came up against him; against Joash, king of Judah, under Hazael king of Syria, or however sent by him; for some think this is a different expedition from that in 2 Kings 12:17 though others take it to be the same:

and they came to Judah and Jerusalem; not only came into the land of Judah, but as far as Jerusalem, the forces of Joash not being able to stop them:

and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people; the idolatrous princes of Judah, 2 Chronicles 24:17, which is very remarkable that they should be distinguished from the people in their destruction, who had been the chief cause of the wrath of God coming upon them:

and sent all the spoil of them unto the king of Damascus; all the riches that were taken from them were sent to the king of Syria at Damascus; this looks as if Hazael was not with this army.

Geneva Study Bible

And it came to pass at the end of the year, that the host of Syria 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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

23. at the end of the year] Rather, in the course of a year, i.e. when the same time of year had come round again.

the host of Syria] R.V. the army of the Syrians (as in 2 Chronicles 24:24).

the princes] Who had been leaders in the apostasy (2 Chronicles 24:17).

from among the people] The reading of the Heb. is doubtful; the words should perhaps be expunged.

23, 24 (cp. 2 Kings 12:17-18). The Syrian Invasion

In 2 Kin. the invasion is not represented as a judgment on Joash, for no sin is mentioned for which this could be the punishment.

As regards the campaign itself 2 Kin. simply 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. The two accounts supplement rather than contradict each other.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 23. - At the end of the year; Hebrew, תְּקוּפַת; margin, both of the Authorized Version and the Revised Version, revolution. The word is found three other times, Exodus 34:22; 1 Samuel 1:20; Psalm 19:7. The versions, of course, express correctly what is meant, but probably the season of spring is also conveyed (2 Samuel 11:1; 1 Chronicles 20:1). The host of Syria. Their king was Hazael (2 Kings 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 (2 Kings 13:3, 4, 22), the way was paved to Gath (2 Chronicles 11:8; 2 Chronicles 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 (ver. 18 in parallel), 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 ver. 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. 2 Chronicles 24:23

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.