* Footnote * 4_Kings 11 : 21
Now Joas was seven years old when he began to reign.* Footnote * 4_Kings 12 : 1
In the seventh year of Jehu, Joas began to reign: and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Sebia, of Bersabee.*H And Joiada took for him two wives, by whom he had sons and daughters.
Ver. 3. Him. Joas, as Prot. (H.) and most interpreters understand it, with the Syr. &c. Joiada was too old to think of marrying again, as the Rabbins would explain the Heb. conformably to the Sept. and Arab. "himself." C. — Joas did not probably marry two at once. Salien, A. 3766. — Amasias was born of Joadan. C. xxv. 1. M. — The high priest considered Joas as his son, being married to his aunt. H.
*H And he assembled the priests, and the Levites, and said to them: Go out to the cities of Juda, and gather of all Israel money to repair the temple of your God, from year to year: and do this with speed: but the Levites were negligent.
Ver. 5. Money. The half sicle, (Ex. xxx. 13. 4 K. xii. 4. C.) which at first was required for the tabernacle, and afterwards for the repairs of the temple. W.
*H And the king called Joiada the chief, and said to him: Why hast thou not taken care to oblige the Levites to bring in out of Juda and Jerusalem the money that was appointed by Moses the servant of the Lord for all the multitude of Israel to bring into the tabernacle of the testimony?
Ver. 6. Chief "priest," (v. 11,) where he is called the first. Heb. "the head priest."
*H For that wicked woman Athalia, and her children have destroyed the house of God, and adorned the temple of Baal with all the things that had been dedicated in the temple of the Lord.
Ver. 7. Children. All but Ochozias had been slain by the Arabs. The plural is often put for the singular. S. Jerom (Trad.) explains it of the priests of the idols, whom Athalia cherished as her own offspring.
* Footnote * Exodus 30 : 12
When thou shalt take the sum of the children of Israel, according to their number, every one of them shall give a price for their souls to the Lord, and there shall be no scourge among them, when they shall be reckoned.*H And all the princes, and all the people rejoiced: and going in they contributed and cast so much into the chest of the Lord, that it was filled.
Ver. 10. That, &c. Heb. "till it was done," according to the law. Pagnin.
*H And when it was time to bring the chest before the king by the hands of the Levites, (for they saw there was much money,) the king's scribe, and he whom the high priest had appointed went in: and they poured out the money that was in the chest: and they carried back the chest to its place: and thus they did from day to day, and there was gathered an immense sum of money.
Ver. 11. From day. Lit. "every day," (H.) when the chest was replenished. M.
*H And when they had finished all the works, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Joiada: and with it were made vessels for the temple for the ministry, and for holocausts and bowls, and other vessels of gold and silver: and holocausts were offered in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Joiada.
Ver. 14. And for. Heb. "and to offer," such as (H.) "mortars." Prov. xxvii. 22. Eali is thus translated. C. — Prot. "and spoons and vessels."
*H And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good to Israel, and to his house.
Ver. 16. Israel, particularly to those of the kingdom of Juda. H. — His, David's, house, (M.) as he had restored the crown to his offspring.
*H And after the death of Joiada, the princes of Juda went in, and worshipped the king: and he was soothed by their services and hearkened to them.
Ver. 17. Worshipped. Heb. "bowed down to the king, and he hearkened to them." H. — The Jews say that the princes flattered him with the title of god, as he had been educated in the temple. E. — But this is improbable. C. — They petitioned for leave to re-establish the worship of Baal, (M.) and paid greater honours to the king than were becoming. D.
*H And they forsook the temple of the Lord the God of their fathers, and served groves and idols, and wrath came upon Juda and Jerusalem for this sin.
Ver. 18. Idols. Heb. "sorrows." Sept. "the Astartes and idols." C.
*H And he sent prophets to them to bring them back to the Lord, and they would not give ear when they testified against them.
Ver. 19. Them. Calling heaven and earth to witness (C.) the unity of God. H. — These prophets might have been performing their sacred commission ever since the reign of Josaphat; during which time Eliseus, Micheas, Jehu, and others, lived. C. xx. 14. and xviii. 27. C.
*H The spirit of God then came upon Zacharias the son of Joiada the priest, and he stood in the sight of the people, and said to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Why transgress you the commandment of the Lord which will not be for your good, and have forsaken the Lord, to make him forsake you?
Ver. 20. Priest, refers to Zacharias. Sept. "Azarias." H. — It is not certain whether this was the person whom Jesus Christ speaks, (Mat. xxiii. 35. C.) as S. Jerom believes; (ib.) or our Saviour alludes to one of the minor prophets, (T.) or to the father of the baptist. Baronius. H. — Sight. Heb. "above," perhaps on the steps between the two courts. C. — To make. Heb. "therefore hath he forsaken you."
*H And king Joas did not remember the kindness that Joiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. And when he died, he said: The Lord see, and require it.
Ver. 22. Require it. I commit my cause into his hands. M. — The vengeance of the Lord was not slack. H.
* Footnote * Matthew 23 : 35
That upon you may come all the just blood that hath been shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the just, even unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, whom you killed between the temple and the altar.*H And when a year was come about, the army of Syria came up against him: and they came to Juda and Jerusalem, and killed all the princes of the people, and they sent all the spoils to the king of Damascus.
Ver. 23. Damascus. Hazael had before invaded Jerusalem. 4 K. xii. 17. The Syrian army, which routed Juda, was comparatively small. C. — The idolatrous princes now received the due punishment of their crimes, v. 17.
* Footnote * 4_Kings 12 : 17
Then Hazael, king of Syria, went up, and fought against Geth, and took it, and set his face to go up to Jerusalem.*H And whereas there came a very small number of the Syrians, the Lord delivered into their hands an infinite multitude, because they had forsaken the Lord the God of their fathers: and on Joas they executed shameful judgments.
Ver. 24. Shameful, is not expressed in Heb. But the putting a king to the torture, (v. 25.) and upbraiding him with his ingratitude and perfidy, was a great indignity. H. — He had probably entered into engagements with Hazael, when he prevailed on him to depart, the year before. C. — Nabuchodonosor treated Sedecias in like manner. 4 K. xxv. 6. The author of the Heb. Trad. among the works of S. Jerom, (H.) asserts that the children of Joas were slain before his eyes, while the Syrians reproached him for the unjust murder of Zacharias. C.
*H And departing they left him in great diseases: and his servants rose up against him, for revenge of the blood of the son of Joiada the priest, and they slew him in his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.
Ver. 25. Servants. By whom the man is slain, who had murdered his spiritual father. W. — Son. Heb. "sons." See v. 7. Some think that the brothers of Zacharias were slain, that they might not attempt to revenge his death. — Kings. These sepulchres are amazingly beautiful and spacious. The doors are six feet high, and formed, like the rest, of solid stone, cut in the most elegant manner. Doubdan 26. C.
*H Now the men that conspired against him were Zabad the son of Semmaath an Ammonitess, and Jozabad the son of Semarith a Moabitess.
Ver. 26. Moabitess. Sept. read, "the Ammonite....and Moabite." See 4 K. xii. 21. H.
*H And concerning his sons, and the sum of money which was gathered under him, and the repairing the house of God, they are written more diligently in the book of kings: and Amasias his son reigned in his stead.
Ver. 27. And. Sept. "And all his sons: for five came upon him," with the rest of the conspirators. H. — They have read differently. C. — Sum. Heb. "the greatness of the burden on him," (H.) imposed by the Syrians, (v. 24) or denounced by the prophets. Mossa is often taken for a prophetic menace. C. — More. Heb. "in the researches." Prot. "story of the book." Addo entitled his book Modross. C. xxii. 22. H. — Only some extracts from these works have come down to us. Esdras had them before him. The abridgments have occasioned their loss, as has been the case with many other excellent works. This was the more easy, as writing was not then so common. C.