EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)
(16)
Among the kings.—Literally,
with. “Because he had done good;” and also, perhaps, as having been regent for so many years, and connected by marriage with the royal house (
2Chronicles 22:11).
24:15-27 See what a great judgment on any prince or people, the death of godly, zealous, useful men is. See how necessary it is that we act in religion from inward principle. Then the loss of a parent, a minister, or a friend, will not be losing our religion. Often both princes and inferior people have been flattered to their ruin. True grace alone will enable a man to bring forth fruit unto the end. Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, being filled with the Spirit of prophecy, stood up, and told the people of their sin. This is the work of ministers, by the word of God, as a lamp and a light, to discover the sin of men, and expound the providences of God. They stoned Zechariah to death in the court of the house of the Lord. Observe the dying martyr's words: The Lord look upon it, and require it! This came not from a spirit of revenge, but a spirit of prophecy. God smote Joash with great diseases, of body, or mind, or both, before the Syrians departed from him. If vengeance pursue men, the end of one trouble will be but the beginning of another. His own servants slew him. These judgments are called the burdens laid upon him, for the wrath of God is a heavy burden, too heavy for any man to bear. May God help us to take warning, to be upright in heart, and to persevere in his ways to the end.
They buried him in the city of David among the kings - This unparalleled honor, due in part to the respect felt for Jehoiada's religious character, was probably, also, in part attributable to his connection with the royal family through his wife
2 Chronicles 22:11, and to the fact that, for 10 or 12 years, he had practically held the kingly office.
Toward his house - "i. e. toward God's house," the temple.
2Ch 24:15, 16. Jehoiada Being Dead.
15, 16. Jehoiada waxed old … and died—His life, protracted to unusual longevity and spent in the service of his country, deserved some tribute of public gratitude, and this was rendered in the posthumous honors that were bestowed on him. Among the Hebrews, intramural interment was prohibited in every city but Jerusalem, and there the exception was made only to the royal family and persons of eminent merit, on whom the distinction was conferred of being buried in the city of David, among the kings, as in the case of Jehoiada.
He had done good in Israel, i.e. in Judah, which was an eminent part of Israel, and the only part of it which owned God, or was owned by God as his Israel, to whom therefore he oft appropriates this name, thereby signifying that the other tribes were unworthy of that honourable title, and had forfeited all their right in it to Judah.
See Poole "2 Chronicles 21:2".
And they buried him in the city of David among the kings,.... In honour to him, he having been the preserver of the king, and of the kingdom, and being by marriage a relation of the present king, uncle to him:
because he had done good in Israel; in that part of it which belonged to the kingdom of the house of David:
both towards God, and towards his house; both for the restoring the pure worship of God, and the repairs of the temple.
And they buried him in the city of David among the{h} kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God, and toward his house.(h) Signifying that they could not honour him too much, who had so excellently served in the work of the Lord, and in the affairs of the commonwealth.
