21. And they conspired against him, &c.] So degenerate was this prince grown, that he suffered that very temple, which he himself had piously repaired, to be profaned with the blood of a virtuous man, the son of his best benefactor, to whom he owed his life and his crown. Pyle. To what extremities of wickedness will not wretched man proceed, when deserted by his Maker! King Joash is turned, not idolater only, but persecutor; yea, which is more horrible to consider, persecutor of the son of that Jehoiada, to whom he owed his own life. Zechariah, his foster brother, the only issue of those parents, by whom Joash lived and reigned, is, for his conscientious rebuke of the idolatry of prince and people, unto 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. Before CHRIST 840. Darmstadt. 22. — he said, The Lord look upon it, and require it.] The Prophet resigned his breath without any the least reviling word; only telling them that God would not fail to punish such outrageous impieties. The words, "The Lord look upon it, &c." are not an imprecation, but a prophecy: they are to be taken in a future sense, "The Lord will look upon it and require it." Pyle. Assuredly, his zeal for justice, not the uncharitable thirst of revenge, drew forth these words. God heard his dying words, and soon called Joash to a severe account. His crime made him odious when living, and deprived him, when slain, of the sepulchre of his fathers, ver. 25; as if this last mark of royalty were too good for him who had forgotten the law of humanity. Bp. Hall. 23. — all the princes of the people] Those who had advised Joash to restore the worship of Baal. Bp. Patrick.