demands (2Ch 24:17) had made him the slave of sin. Probably the idolatrous princes accused the witness for God of being a seditious person and a rebel against the majesty of the crown, and thereby extorted from the weak king the command for his death. For it is not said that Joash himself worshipped the idols; and even in 2Ch 24:22 it is only the base ingratitude of which Joash had been guilty, in the slaughter of the son of his benefactor, which is adduced against him. But Zechariah at his death said, “May the Lord look upon it, and take vengeance” (דּרשׁ, to seek or require a crime, i.e., punish it). This word became a prophecy, which soon began to be fulfilled, 2Ch 24:23.
Verses 23-27
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 2Ki 12:18-21 also, the progress of Hazael's invasion being more exactly traced; see the commentary on 2Ki 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, 2Ch 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 (2Ki 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 2Ch 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 Exo 12:12; Num 33:4, frequently in Ezekiel, usually construed with בּ, here with את, analogous to the את טּוב עשׂה, e.g., 1Sa 24:19. These words refer to the wounding of Joash, and its results, 2Ch 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, 2Ch 21:19). Then his own servants, the court officials named in 2Ch 24:26, conspired against him, and smote him
