(25) And when they were departed from him.--Omit were. The Syrians retired, instead of besieging Jerusalem, as they had purposed to do.

For they left him in great diseases.--Some refer this to the wounds which Joash had received from the Syrians in battle. But it is not said that Joash himself was wounded, but only that the destruction of his princes and the defeat of his army were judgments upon him. The word rendered "diseases" (mah?l-yim) only occurs here; but it is obviously a near synonym of the term used of the last sickness of Jehoram (tah?l-'im, 2chron xxi, 19), and the probable meaning is "pains," or "suffering." Calamity may have brought about the sickness of Joash, or perhaps the invasion had come upon him when already prostrate with disease, and unable to resist in person.

His own servants conspired against him.--2Kings 12:20, "And his servants arose and made a conspiracy." Comp. the similar circumstances in the murder of Ishbosheth (2Samuel 4:5).

For the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest.--The LXX. and Vulgate correct this, and read "son," meaning Zechariah the prophet (2Chronicles 24:22), and the plural may be due to a transcriber's mistake. More probably it is used rhetorically, as in 2Chronicles 28:16, and elsewhere.

The writer does not mean to say that revenge for the death of Jehoiada's posterity was the motive which actuated the conspirators, but that their deed was a judgment upon the king for that crime. In Kings the place of the assassination is specified, "Beth-millo that goeth down to Silla." But nothing is there said of the sickness of Joash, and his being murdered in his bed.

But they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings.--See Note on 2Chronicles 21:20, where the same remark is made about the burial of Jehoram.

Verse 25. - They left him in great diseases. See note above, and observe further that this parenthetic clause, as treated in both Authorized Version and Revised Version, prepares the way for what follows, and especially for the fact that it was on his bed that they slew him. Render thus, And after they had betaken themselves away, whereas they left him sorely ill, his own servants conspired... and slew him in his bed. His own servants. These had the opportunity the rather at hand, in that he was so ill and in bed. That he died by the conspiring together of a couple of servants, whose foreign and heathen maternity is particularly recorded, was the more ignominious end for him, who had commanded Zechariah to be openly stoned - a death highly honourable in comparison. The parallel (2 Kings 12:20) adds that it was in "the house of Mille, which goeth down to Silla" (for the explanation of which passage, see note ad loc.), that the servants' conspiracy to kill Joash took effect. The sons of Jehoiada. We know of only one son, Zechariah; there may have been other sons, or other lineal relations of Jehoiada may be covered by the word "sons." We are not obliged to interpret the avenging act of the servants as one to which their own pious and patriotic zeal led them, which, considering their maternal pedigree, is perhaps something unlikely, though of course not impossible, but one to which they were incited by the retributive providence of him who held their hearts also in his hand. In a word, it was a deed done for the bleed - required (see note and references under ver. 22). Not in the sepulchres of the kings. See note on ver. 16, and references there quoted; as also the ambiguous expression of the parallel (ver. 21), "They buried him with his fathers in the city of David."

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.And when they were departed from him,.... Having got what wealth and spoil they could:

for they left him in great diseases; through the wounds they gave him, and the distress they brought him into:

his own servants conspired against him, for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest; for perhaps more than one was slain at the same time; the rest vindicating the cause of their brother, shared the same fate; or the plural is put for the singular:

and slew him on his bed; in the house of Millo, where he lay ill of his wounds, and sick of his diseases, and could not defend himself:

and he died: of the wounds his servants gave him:

and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings; see 2 Kings 12:21.