For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men,.... It consisted but of few:
and the Lord delivered a very great host into their hand; which the king of Judah and his princes had got together to oppose them:
because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers; therefore the Lord forsook them, and gave them up into the hand of their enemies:
so they executed judgment against Joash; were the instruments God made use of to execute his vengeance on him for his idolatry and murder.