DEATH AND BURIAL OF JEHOIADA. NATIONAL APOSTACY AND MURDER OF ZECHARIAH BEN JEHOIADA THE PROPHET (2 Chronicles 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 (2 Kings 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 1 Chronicles 23:1. (Comp. Psalm 91:16.) The ancient expression was adjectival, "full of days" (Genesis 25:8; Genesis 35:29; Job 42:17; 1 Chronicles 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.
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!
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.
This section is wholly wanting in the Kings. It serves as a moral explanation of the after-history of Joash, recorded there and here (2 Kings 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 1 Chronicles 23:1. (Comp. Psalm 91:16.) The ancient expression was adjectival, "full of days" (Genesis 25:8; Genesis 35:29; Job 42:17; 1 Chronicles 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.
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.