And they forsook the house of Jehovah the God of their fathers, and served the Asherahs and idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And he sent prophets among them to bring them again to Jehovah, and they testified against them; but they would not give ear.
Judah had abandoned the temple they had only just repaired, and God's wrath came on them for it. Then He sent prophets — so what does God do with people He has already sentenced, and why would they not listen?
The order matters. Wrath comes first, and the messengers come after.
This is what man is like in his corrupt nature! But the gracious Lord did not give them up. His righteousness demanded judgment, yet in infinite mercy He sent prophets to bring them back. These unnamed prophets testified against them, but they would not pay attention. They hardened their hearts against the Lord and His prophets.
There is a reason He keeps sending, and it is not that the judgment has been called off.
The nation follows the king. But God is still patient with Joash and with his people. He sends prophets to them. The judgment is very near, and as certain as their sin, yet He remembers His covenant with them.
Joash was faithful while Jehoiada the priest was alive. So what was that faithfulness resting on?
As long as Jehoiada the priest lived, Joash did what was right in the Lord's sight. But outside influence, however holy, can never change the heart. The heart is like a bow held bent: it springs back to its own shape the moment the pressure stops. How often we see this solemn fact in Christian families! How often a son leaves the godly restraints of his father's house and plunges into the sinful pleasures of the world with even greater eagerness!
They would not hear the prophets. But the king had already been listening to someone else.
Sadly, Joash had only formally accepted Jehoiada's leadership. He did not follow the faith and example of Jehoiada. Instead of standing firm for God, he listened to the leaders of Judah. They came and bowed down to him, meaning to draw him back into the worship of idols. How many since him have been more swayed by a desire to please men and therefore forget to please God!
The unnamed prophets of this verse were not God's last word to Joash. He also sent a messenger the king had every natural reason to hear.
His mercy and patience are clearest toward Joash. God sends him a special messenger. This man has a strong natural claim on him, and Joash would listen to him more closely than to anyone else. The All-wise God knows how to use natural feelings for His purposes of mercy. When those feelings are trampled on, it shows all the more how much power Satan has over man. Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada and a cousin of the king, carries God's message and rebuke.
Judah's refusal did not begin with these prophets.
We must catch the least warning. We must listen to the smallest whisper of God's voice and obey it quickly. There are always warnings that we have neglected before chastisement comes.
Judah's refusal ended with Zechariah murdered in the temple. Centuries later, Jesus laid that blood at the feet of men who were not yet born.
The Lord Jesus spoke of this solemn event to the scribes and Pharisees. He spoke of "the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar" (Matt. 23:35). Barachiah may have been Zechariah's grandfather, but we have no record of Jehoiada's father. Why did the Lord Jesus accuse the scribes and Pharisees of murdering Zechariah, when this had happened years before? Because they were showing the same cruel, unbelieving attitude toward God. They opposed Christ, an infinitely greater Messenger than Zechariah was. By their attitude they were identifying themselves with those who hated God.
- Wrath. Judah had earned judgment, and God had already announced it. The verse begins after the sentence, not before.
- Yet. His righteousness demanded judgment. In mercy He still sent prophets to bring them back, because He remembered His covenant.
- Reach. When Judah ignored the unnamed prophets, God sent the king's own cousin, Zechariah. He uses natural ties for His purposes of mercy.
- Refusal. A heart held straight only by someone else's influence springs back when the pressure lifts. Joash chose to please men, and would not pay attention to God.
- Result. The same refusal turned up in the men who opposed Christ. Rejecting the messenger put them among those who hated God.
And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood up above the people and said unto them, Thus saith God Wherefore do ye transgress the commandments of Jehovah? And ye cannot prosper; for ye have forsaken Jehovah, and he hath forsaken you.
After Jehoiada the priest died, the king he had raised turned away, and Judah went back to idols. Here God makes His last appeal before judgment: the Spirit takes hold of a priest's son, who stands above the crowd and asks why.
The verse does not say Zechariah decided to speak. It says the Spirit of God clothed him. Other men were lifted out of ordinary life the same way, for one moment of testimony.
There were others like Gideon, Amasai, and Zechariah. The Spirit clothed Himself with them for the time being, so that He might witness through them… But in all these cases the Spirit acted on men from the outside. He used them for His purpose without regard to their inner moral character.
The words are not a fresh sentence God invented for Joash. They repeat terms Judah already knew. The covenant had two sides. God's part never fails, and Israel's does.
Both sides had to keep this covenant. The LORD always keeps His side, for He is faithful. But if Israel were unfaithful, they would certainly fall under the judgment of God, who must forsake them.
That is why the warning is framed as a cause, not a mood: they cannot prosper because they have left Him.
Since this was spoken by a priest of God who was Jehoiada's son, we should expect Joash at least to pay serious attention, but instead Joash issued the command to stone Zechariah to death in the court of the house of the LORD!
God did not pick a stranger to carry this warning.
God is still patient with Joash and with his people. He sends prophets to them, for though the judgment is so near, and as certain as their sin, He remembers His covenant with them. He sends a special messenger to Joash — one who has a strong natural claim on him, and who would be listened to more closely than anyone else. The All-wise God knows how to use natural feelings for His purposes of mercy. When those feelings are trampled, that is even greater evidence of Satan's power over man. Zechariah, son of Jehoiada and a cousin of the king, carries God's message and rebuke. Humanly speaking, the king owes his life to Jehoshabeath, and he will listen to her son, if only out of gratitude, even though he pays no attention to the One who sent the words.
The messenger's standing should have guaranteed a hearing.
A priest of God, Jehoiada's own son, spoke these words. We should expect Joash at least to pay serious attention. Instead he gave the command to stone Zechariah to death in the court of the house of the LORD! So Joash was guilty of despising the blessing he had received through Jehoiada, and of coldly rejecting the God of Israel.
Joash had done right for years. But what held him up was not his own trust in God. It was a good man standing beside him.
Yes, but it was more the influence of Jehoiada than faith in the living God. An influence, sooner or later, must fail. The influence of man is not the faith of God's elect.
The pattern did not end with Joash.
The case of King Joash shows this. A faith based only on training vanishes once the influences holding it up are gone.
Jesus spoke of "the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar." Did He mean this Zechariah, or a later prophet with the same name? Commentators differ. One line of reading points to the place of Chronicles in the Hebrew Bible:
This probably refers to Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, whom the king ordered killed. In one of the places "son" may mean "grandson." Chronicles closes the Hebrew Bible, so this murder of a righteous man may well count as the last, just as Abel's was the first.
Others hold that the father's name points elsewhere:
It seems clear that this refers to Zechariah the prophet, son of Berechiah. Another Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, died as a martyr in the court of the temple. But the son of Berechiah prophesied much later, to the remnant that had returned.
- Sent — Judah ran after idols. God sent prophets before He sent judgment, and this man came last.
- Spirit — Zechariah did not volunteer. The Spirit clothed Himself with him for that moment and bore witness through him.
- Cause — the warning names a reason, not a fate. They could not prosper because they had left the LORD. The covenant had two sides to keep.
- Mercy — God picked the speaker with the strongest claim on the king's heart. Trampling that tie showed how far Joash had fallen.
- Collapse — Joash ran on Jehoiada's faith, not his own. Borrowed faith fails when the person holding it up is gone.
And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the command of the king in the court of the house of Jehovah.
Joash owed his throne and his life to Jehoiada the priest, who guarded him as a child and made him king. Now that same king orders the stoning of Jehoiada's son in the temple courtyard. Two questions follow. How did a reign that began so well end in murder? And why did the Lord Jesus later lay this death at the feet of people born centuries afterwards?
Joash began well. One writer contrasts faith with mere human energy, which he calls the flesh:
Flesh may be even more zealous than faith. But there is this difference: faith continues, while the effort of flesh is short-lived. It may begin well, but the question is whether it continues. Its continuance is always the great proof of what is divine. Joash did not continue as he had begun.
Before judgment fell, God sent prophets. The last one had a claim on the king that no other messenger had. Zechariah was the king's cousin, and the son of the man who saved his life.
His mercy and patience are clearest toward Joash, for He sends him a special messenger. This man has a strong natural claim on the king, who would hear him and listen to him closely beyond all others. The all-wise God knows how to use natural feelings for His purposes of mercy. When those feelings are trampled on, that is so much greater evidence of Satan's power over man.
The warning came through a man the king had every reason to hear. His answer shows how far he had already gone.
A priest of God spoke this, and he was Jehoiada's son. So we would expect Joash at least to pay serious attention. Instead Joash issued the command to stone Zechariah to death in the court of the house of the Lord! So Joash was guilty of despising the blessing he had received through Jehoiada and coldly rejecting the God of Israel.
The verse fixes the blame exactly: the crowd threw the stones, but the order came from the king.
What ingratitude! What treachery toward the son of his own close relative, the man who had guarded his life! The Spirit of God records it in words that touch the heart: "Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah's father, had shown him, but killed his son."
Zechariah died asking God to see and repay. Within a year a small Syrian force destroyed the princes who had led the king astray. Joash's own servants then killed him in his bed.
And He did, and quickly too — for He does not ignore the dying prayers of men like Zechariah.
Zechariah's last words are often set beside Stephen's.
There is a difference between the last words of this martyr-prophet and the last words of the first martyr of the church. Stephen prayed, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." Zechariah said, "May the Lord see and avenge!"
Why the difference? One writer points to what had changed between the two deaths:
Zechariah died in a time ruled by law, where "every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution." Grace reigned in Stephen's day, as it still does in ours. That is why the two dying prayers differ. Both prayers, unlike as they are, exactly fitted the time in which each man bore witness.
Jesus charged the scribes and Pharisees with the blood of "Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar." He was reaching back to a killing long past. Matthew names the father as Barachiah, while Chronicles calls Zechariah the son of Jehoiada. One writer sets that puzzle beside the far weightier charge:
It may be that Barachiah was the grandfather of Zechariah, but we have no record of Jehoiada's father. Why did the Lord Jesus accuse the scribes and Pharisees of murdering Zechariah? It had happened years before. Because in opposing Christ they showed the same cruel, unbelieving attitude toward God. And Christ is an infinitely greater Messenger than Zechariah was. By their attitude they were identifying themselves with those who hated God.
- Zeal fades. Joash began well but did not continue. Human zeal can burn hotter than faith for a while. Only what lasts proves to be from God.
- Mercy sent. God chose the one messenger the king could least ignore. He used family ties to call Joash back before judgment fell.
- Mercy refused. The king answered the warning with stones, in the temple court, by his own command. He despised the blessing he had received and rejected the God of Israel.
- Mercy repaid. Zechariah asked God to see and repay. The answer came fast: a small Syrian force, a wasting disease, and murder by his own servants.
- Mercy refused again. Centuries later, men who opposed a far greater Messenger took the guilt of that old blood as their own.
And king Joash remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, Jehovah see and require [it]!
Joash owed his life and his crown to Jehoiada the priest. This verse records how he paid that debt — with the blood of Jehoiada's own son, killed in the temple court. Two hard questions follow: how did a reign that began well end in murder, and what do we make of a dying man's cry for God to avenge him?
The order came from the throne, and it fell on a man tied to Joash by blood and upbringing.
"At the commandment of the king"! How sad — Joash was unfaithful to God, and shamefully ungrateful to the man who had done so much for him! Zechariah was his cousin, and his foster-brother too!
God chose the one messenger the king had every human reason to hear.
God is still patient with Joash and with his people. He sends prophets to them, for He remembers His covenant with them — even though the judgment is so near, and as certain as their wickedness. His mercy and patience show most clearly toward Joash. He sends him a special messenger: a man with a strong natural claim on him, a man Joash would hear and take seriously beyond all others… The all-wise God knows how to use natural feelings for His purposes of mercy. To trample on those feelings is so much greater evidence of Satan's power over man.
Joash did right while Jehoiada lived. One writer explains why that kind of goodness never holds.
But outside influence, however holy, can never change the heart. Like a bow held under strain, the heart springs back to its normal bent the moment the pressure stops. How often we see this solemn fact in Christian families! How often a son leaves the godly restraints of his father's house! He then dives all the harder into the sinful pleasures of the world.
Zechariah dies asking God to see and avenge. One writer sets that prayer beside two later deaths.
As Zechariah died, he said, "May the LORD see and avenge!" (v. 22). This was consistent with his being under law. How different were the words of the Lord Jesus at His death: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). How different, too, were the words of Stephen as they stoned him: "Lord, do not hold this sin against them" (Acts 7:60). But God answered Zechariah's prayer, and serious consequences fell on Joash and his kingdom.
Another writer reads the same cry forward rather than backward, as the voice of a coming generation of martyrs.
Zechariah said, "May the LORD see and avenge!" In type he stands for the tribulation martyrs of the Jewish remnant. They will bear the testimony about righteousness and the coming King at the end of the present age, and their blood will cry to heaven for vengeance (Rev. 6:9-11).
The prayer was not left hanging. The answer came fast, and from more than one direction.
"May the LORD see and avenge!" And He did, and very quickly too. He does not ignore the dying prayers of men like Zechariah. "… For the army of the Syrians came with few men, and the LORD delivered a very great army into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash… his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest."
Jesus brought this murder up again centuries later.
The Lord Jesus referred to this when He spoke to the scribes and Pharisees: "the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar" (Matthew 23:35). Barachiah may have been Zechariah's grandfather, but we have no record of Jehoiada's father. Why did the Lord Jesus accuse the scribes and Pharisees of murdering Zechariah, when this had happened years before? They were showing the same cruel, unbelieving attitude toward God. They opposed Christ, a messenger infinitely greater than Zechariah. By their attitude they were identifying themselves with those who hated God.
Judgment fell. But this chapter is about more than a score settled.
Retribution is an essential part of God's government, and we can see it in 2 Chronicles 24:25. But something matters even more than repayment. The line of kings, the sons of David, was wicked at the time, and their position only increased their guilt. Yet that line had to be kept until He comes — the great Son who will reign in righteousness.
- Owed — Joash owed his life and crown to Jehoiada. That is the kindness the verse says he did not remember.
- Forgotten — outside influence never changes a heart. With Jehoiada gone, Joash sprang back to his real bent.
- Rejected — in mercy God sent the messenger with the strongest natural claim on the king. Joash killed him anyway.
- Avenged — God answered the dying prayer fast: a small Syrian force, then murder by his own servants.
- Preserved — repayment is real. The bigger story is the royal line God kept until the Son who will reign in righteousness.