Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Chronicles 24:15

"But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days, and he died; a hundred and thirty years old was he when he died." — 2 Chronicles 24:15 (ASV)

DEATH AND BURIAL OF JEHOIADA. NATIONAL APOSTASY AND MURDER OF ZECHARIAH BEN JEHOIADA THE PROPHET (2 Chronicles 24:15–22).

This section is entirely missing in the Kings. It serves as a moral explanation of the later history of Joash, recorded there and here (2 Kings 12:17–21).

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 used in this way here and in 1 Chronicles 23:1. (Compare Psalms 91:16.) The ancient expression was adjectival, “full of days” (Genesis 25:8; Genesis 35:29; Job 42:17; 1 Chronicles 29:28, only).

One hundred and thirty years old.—According to some modern physiologists, one hundred and five is the proper limit of human life, meaning five times the period usually required for the attainment of full growth. Under favorable 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 preventable causes. As a French medical writer has remarked, “Men do not commonly die; they kill themselves.” The age of Jehoiada, then, would seem to be not impossible, although an error of transcription in our text is also not impossible.