Matthew Henry on 2 Chronicles 24:15–end
We have here a sad account of the degeneracy and apostasy of Joash. God had done great things for him; he had done something for God; but now he proved ungrateful to his God and false to the engagements he had laid himself under to him. How has the gold become dim, and the most fine gold changed! Here we find,
I. The occasions of his apostasy. When he did that which was right it was not with a perfect heart. He never was sincere, never acted from principle, but in compliance to Jehoiada, who had helped him to the crown, and because he had been protected in the temple and rose upon the ruins of idolatry; and therefore, when the wind turned, he turned with it. 1. His good counsellor left him,…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Chronicles 24:23
HE IS SLAIN BY HIS SERVANTS. (Ch2 24:23-27)
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 (Kg2 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.
Adam Clarke on 2 Chronicles 24:22
The Lord look upon it, and require it - And so he did; for, at the end of that year, the Syrians came against Judah, destroyed all the princes of the people, sent their spoils to Damascus; and Joash, the murderer of the prophet, the son of his benefactor, was himself murdered by his own servants. Here was a most signal display of the Divine retribution.
On the subject of the death of this prophet the reader is requested to refer to the note on Mat 23:34, Mat 23:35.
John Gill on 2 Chronicles 24:23
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…