Albert Barnes Commentary 2 Chronicles 24
Albert Barnes Commentary
2 Chronicles 24
Albert Barnes Commentary
2 Chronicles 24
"Joash was seven years old when he began to reign; and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem: and his mother`s name was Zibiah, of Beer-sheba." — 2 Chronicles 24:1 (ASV)
This chapter is parallel with 2 Kings 12, but it treats the matters common to both narratives in a different and, apparently, supplemental way.
"And Joash did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah all the days of Jehoiada the priest." — 2 Chronicles 24:2 (ASV)
Jehoiada lived at least 23 years after the accession of Joash (2 Kings 12:6). Thus, the idolatries of Joash were confined to the last 10 or 15 years of his reign (2 Chronicles 24:18).
"And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters." — 2 Chronicles 24:3 (ASV)
Athaliah’s destruction of the royal line had left Joash without a natural successor, and his marriage at the earliest suitable age was therefore a matter of state policy. One of his wives was probably “Jehoaddan of Jerusalem,” the mother of Amaziah (2 Chronicles 25:1), whom Joash must have married as early as his 21st year.
"And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said unto him, Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the tax of Moses the servant of Jehovah, and of the assembly of Israel, for the tent of the testimony?" — 2 Chronicles 24:6 (ASV)
It appears from 2 Kings 12:4 that Joash had also assigned two other payments to the restoration fund.
"And it was so, that, at what time the chest was brought unto the king`s officers by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king`s scribe and the chief priest`s officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to its place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance." — 2 Chronicles 24:11 (ASV)
The king’s scribe ... came and emptied ... — Rather, the text should be read as, “the king’s scribe came ... and they emptied,” with “they” referring to the Levites who brought the chest from the temple and emptied it in the scribe’s presence.
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