21. in the court) An aggravation of the murder; compare xxiii. 14. The altar of burnt-offering stood in the court (compare viii. 12) and the execution (Luke xi. 51) took place between this altar and the Temple itself.
²²Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The Lord look upon it, and require it.
22. The Lord look upon it, and require it] Compare 2 Maccabees xiv. 45, 46, and contrast Acts vii. 60.
23, 24 (compare 2 Kings xii. 17, 18).
The Syrian Invasion.
In 2 Kings the invasion is not represented as a judgement on Joash, for no sin is mentioned for which this could be the punishment.
As regards the campaign itself 2 Kings says that the Syrians were bought off with a heavy bribe from attacking Jerusalem; nothing is said of the amount of damage done during the invasion. The Chronicler on the contrary says nothing of the cause of the withdrawal of the Syrians, but simply says that a small force of them inflicted great loss and took much spoil.
²³And it came to pass at the end[¹] of the year, that the army of the Syrians came up against him: and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them unto the king of Damascus.
[¹] Hebrew revolution.
23. at the end of the year] Rather, in the course of a year, i.e. when the same time of the year had come round again.
the princes] Who had been leaders in the apostasy (verse 17).